Basket Baby - TkmcAnti - 東京卍リベンジャーズ (2024)

Chapter 1: I

Chapter Text

Draken saunters over to the door of D&D Motors to turn the sign from 'open' to 'closed' so that he can clean up, then head home to his apartment for a nice, warm dinner and much needed sleep.

He feels a little weird, though, like there's something outside that shouldn't be there.

He sighs, thinking it's just the exhaustion playing with him, but exists the shop to look around the place anyway. Upon seeing a basket near the building, he halts in his steps and furrows his brows.

Draken hopes that this is some sort of joke or maybe just a random discarded basket and not what he thinks it is.

As if on cue, the sound of a baby's gurgle enters his ears, and he feels his heart skip a beat. There is no way that this is actually happening.

Cautiously, the tall man walks closer to the basket to get a better look at what's inside—all the while hoping that he's experiencing auditory hallucinations—and curses under his breath when big, round, and very blue eyes look up at him curiously.

'This isn't real!' he thinks. 'I must be dreaming!' He pinches his arm in hopes of waking up, but absolutely nothing changes. He's still here and so is the baby.

Sighing exasperatedly, Draken brings his hand up and drags it down his face. This isn't something that he wants to deal with at all, but it's a cold night, and he can't just leave the kid outside, so he quickly picks up the loaded basket and rushes back into the shop.

Setting it down on the couch that's against the wall, Draken starts to pace back and forth, panicked and frustrated on what to do.

He turns and opens his mouth towards the staff room to yell for Inupi, but pauses upon remembrance that the man left work early due to an emergency.

Draken groans and goes for his phone. He needs someone to talk to and help him with this. He looks at the options in his contacts, hands shaking like a leaf, and thinks about whom he should call.

There's Mikey, and there's Mitsuya. The two people he's closest with.

Mitsuya is usually a level-headed person, and if there's anyone who can give good advice, it's definitely him. Mikey, on the other hand, can be...a manchild sometimes, and Draken doesn't need his night to become anymore stressful than it already is.

After three rings, Mitsuya picks up the phone, sounding tired. "Hello?"

"Hey. Uh...sorry for calling so late, but I need your help. There's...um...a baby here."

There's a beat of silence.

"What do you mean? Did you get someone pregnant?"

"No!" Draken shouts. He quickly apologizes for the outburst and continues at a quieter volume, "I found a baby outside my shop in a basket a couple minutes ago, and I don't know what to do with it."

Another beat of silence.

"...I'll be there soon."

"Good."

The call ends, and Draken goes to look at the infant again. 'They're cute,' he thinks.

The baby is chubby with adorable baby fat and has soft-looking, rosy cheeks. Their hair is as black as night and curly, and the eyes are so big and so blue, they're like the ocean.

As the new guest quietly sucks away on a few fingers, Draken notices a bottle of milk by the foot of his thin blanket, a small plush toy, and something he assumes is a letter.

He picks up the folded paper and reads it.

"I'm so sorry for dumping a baby on you," it reads, "but things are hard, and I just can't take care of him anymore. His name is Takemichi, and he's three months old. Feed him the milk when he starts crying. I left a couple of yen under his body to buy formula. It's not much, so it won't last long, but I hope you can provide after that. Sorry once again."

Draken stares at the paper in his hand, rendered completely speechless. He blinks a few times and reads the words that are written again.

What do they mean that the money won't last and that they hope he can provide? Do they think that they've left him with a dog or a cat? This is a baby! You don't just dump a whole baby on a random person for them to deal with it.

Draken crumples the letter, feeling very much annoyed. Why him?

Chapter 2: II

Chapter Text

By the time Mitsuya comes over to D&D Motors, the baby, Takemichi, is in tears.

Before the man arrived, Draken had been trying desperately to feed Takemichi the bottle of milk, but he kept refusing it and just wailed on and on.

"What's wrong with him?" Draken frustratingly asks his friend.

Mitsuya steps closer to have a good look at the loud and tiny creature. "He's probably hungry. Give him the bottle."

"I've tried!" Draken complains. "He doesn't want it!"

"Well, maybe he wants to be held or something. Pick him up."

"How do I do that?"

Mitsuya sighs and gingerly picks up the baby to demonstrate. "Wow, he really has quite the lungs in him," he comments.

He walks around the room with the infant, bouncing him in his arms and patting him gently on his small back. "Does he have a name?"

"There was a letter in the basket. It said his name is Takemichi," Draken replies. He carefully watches the way Mitsuya delicately holds the baby and tries to comfort him.

"Takemichi," Mitsuya repeats thoughtfully. "It's a cute name for a cute baby. Oi, oi, Takemichi, what's the matter, hmm?"

Takemichi answers him with crying that is yet to cease despite the fact that he's being held, so Mitsuya pulls back his diaper to see if it's full.

"Ah," he says calmly. He walks over to Draken and gives him the baby. "Your son needs a diaper change."

Draken collects Takemichi, stressed on if he's holding him properly or not but thinking that it's okay since Mitsuya doesn't correct him, and frowns. "First of all," he says with much annoyance, "he's not my son, and I don't know how to change a diaper! Also, there isn't even any in the basket to begin with!"

Mitsuya sighs again and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Fine, I'll change him, but you need to go and buy him some diapers."

"Great! What kind?"

"Hmmm." Mitsuya looks at the brand that Takemichi is wearing. "Moony, and he's small, so buy the small sized ones."

Draken nods and hands the upset baby back to Mitsuya who accepts him eagerly and coos. "Shush, little one. We'll get you cleaned up soon."

He turns to look at Draken with a bored expression, like he has multiple children of his own and this is barely anything to fuss about. "Oh, and get him some baby wipes, I doubt you have anything in here to properly clean him. You should buy him some formula too. That bottle of milk won't last very long against a hungry baby."

"Tell me, how do you know all of this?"

"I have two little sisters, remember? I practically raised them myself."

"Right..."

Draken sighs for what feels like the 100th time for the night and continues, "I'll go buy the stuff. Might as well get some dinner while I'm at it. Do you need anything?"

Mitsuya only shakes his head, then goes on to completely ignore him by giving his full attention to the wailing Takemichi.

"'Kay." Draken grabs his keys, wallet and helmet from the staff room, then quietly leaves D&D Motors.

'Tonight is such a crazy night,' he muses as he starts up his bike. 'I already have a bad headache.'

______

Mitsuya rests a clean and fed Takemichi back into his cozy-looking basket and plops down next to Draken who looks very tired.

"So, what are you gonna do with him?"

"I don't know. Maybe take him to the police? I'm sure they'll find a good home for him."

"But what if they don't?" Mitsuya asks.

Draken looks at him. "Huh?"

"I mean, not every abandoned baby ends up in a good home. What if he turns out to be one of them? Then what?"

Draken looks at the fast asleep infant. "I...I didn't think about that. I just know that I can't take care of him."

"And why not? This could be great for you," Mitsuya says.

Draken shoots him a displeased look. "I have work, and I don't know anything about taking care of a baby," he argues.

"Well, I have some experience, and there's the internet and books. I'm sure we can work it out."

"Why are you so calm about this and why are you attempting to dissuade me from giving him up?" Draken inquires as he stares at his friend with a co*cked brow.

Mitsuya shrugs, then chuckles. "In all seriousness, you could use a little company besides me and the guys, and you probably didn't realize it, but you were panicking over the kid's discomfort like a worried father.

"Plus," Mitsuya smiles, "Takemichi seems to really like you. He cried even louder when you left to go buy his stuff, and he kept looking at you with those adorable, little eyes of his in fascination while being cleaned and fed. It's like I wasn't even here anymore. I think you two would make a great duo."

Draken sighs, again, and shakes his head. "I don't know, Mitsuya. Taking care of a baby is a huge responsibility. I'm not prepared for something like that."

"Well, how about this? Keep him for a couple of days and see what happens. If you don't change your mind, go to the police, but, if you do, then we'll raise him. Simple."

Draken frowns. "I don't think-"

"Man, I'm too tired to ride home tonight," Mitsuya off-handedly says, deliberately cutting him off and yawning.

Draken growls at his friend for ignoring him on such an important topic but tells him, "You can use the sofa in the staff room. I'll stay out here with Takemichi."

"Nah, you use it, I'm sure you're exhausted. You need that sofa more than me. I'll stay out here with Takemichi and tend to him whenever he wakes up."

"But he's my responsibility, and I'm the one who dragged you out here after all. Just sleep on the sofa, man."

"Oho? Your responsibility, huh?" Mitsuya teases with a smirk. "And here I thought you said that you can't handle the responsibility."

Draken looks away and stutters, "I f-found him first."

A snort. "Ha, there's no way you're lasting three days against Takemichi's cuteness."

"Shut up!"

"Otou-san! Otou-san!"

"I'm warning you!"

Chapter 3: III

Chapter Text

Draken wakes up from the shortest nap of his life, at the crack of dawn, with a splitting headache and aches in his joints from sleeping on the couch in a sitting position.

He didn't get much sleep. Takemichi woke up crying at least four times throughout the remainder of the night and the early morning hours; two times because he was hungry, one time due to a full diaper and the other because of discomfort.

In summary, Draken was struggling while Mitsuya was sleeping like a corpse in the staff room, completely unaware of his friend's distress.

The man is just grateful that the staff room has an electric kettle, water and a few utensils because he is not sure about what he would've done to satisfy the hungry baby.

Right now, all he wants to do is go home, take a much needed shower and hopefully get some sleep, but he decides to wait and let Mitsuya rest for a little longer.

Draken scrolls through multiple apps on his phone as he sits in silence that is momentarily interrupted by the comforting chirps of birds.

________

Inupi looks into the basket and blankly stares at the peacefully sleeping, chubby baby.

A couple of seconds go by, and he blinks slowly once, twice and a third time, then points a finger at Takemichi. "That is a baby," he says, rather matter-of-factly.

"Obviously," Draken snaps.

Inupi ignores the annoyance in his voice. "Why is there a baby here?"

"I found him outside the shop last night. Someone abandoned him."

"Well, obviously. It's not like he could've brought himself here."

Draken sends him a glare, and Inupi smirks like the snarky bastard that he is.

"You look terrible, by the way," the sunflower blonde comments. "Did you even sleep?"

"You try staying asleep with a tiny human that needs constant attention," Draken grumbles.

Inupi simply dismisses him with an unenthusiastic wave of his hand and moves away to put his things in the staff room.

When he comes out again, completely unbothered by Mitsuya's presence, Draken speaks up.

"I'm going to take the day off today. I've been here since yesterday, and I'm exhausted."

"It's fine. I'll take care of the shop."

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it. By the way, what are you going to do with the baby?"

"I'm not keeping him," Draken says with much determination.

Inupi looks at him and Takemichi for a moment and tilts his head to the side.

"Hmm," he hums. "I see."
.
.
.

When Mitsuya wakes up, he and Draken are ready to leave with Takemichi, but they decide to call an uber because they highly doubt that it's safe to ride a motorcycle with a three-month-old lying in a basket.

As the two men wait for the ride, they have a chat.

"So you're gonna take my words into consideration?"

Draken sighs and adjusts his hold on the basket, careful to not wake up the baby. "I'm only keeping him for today. I'm too tired right now, so I'll take him to the police station tomorrow."

"I'm betting money on you having a change of heart overnight and adopting him as your kid."

"That's never gonna happen," Draken replies, irritated, but there's a bit of hesitation to continue arguing with Mitsuya when he looks down at Takemichi's peaceful, sleeping face.

There's a certain pull when it comes to this infant. It makes Draken want to coddle him and protect him from the world, but he quickly shakes those thoughts away and slowly takes in a deep breath.

'No,' he thinks, grounding himself. 'I can't keep him.'

"We'll see about that," Mitsuya says with amusem*nt, as if reading his mind. "There's your uber." He tilts his head in the direction of the vehicle, then gently brushes a few fingers through Takemichi's curly hair before heading to his parked bike and waving over his shoulder at Draken.

"Call me if you need anything."

"Whatever."

________

Draken blinks his eyes open.

Since he and Takemichi came home, he's managed to get some sleep. In just a couple of hours, he's grown very sensitive to the baby's presence, so the sleep wasn't anything deep, and he hasn't rolled over to the other side of the bed where Takemichi is resting, barricaded by pillows.

Draken looks at the baby and frowns.

It's been hours and there hasn't been a single cry. He finds that to be a bit worrying.

He sits up in bed to examine Takemichi and sighs a breath of relief when he sees the small rise and fall of his chest, but just to be extra sure, he puts his hand forward and places a finger just under the baby's tiny nose.

'Good. He's alive.'

Draken sighs and moves to lie down again, but noise in his apartment catches his attention and he stiffens in place.

With bated breath, he glances at Takemichi one more time, then gets up from the bed, fists clenched, and slowly approaches his bedroom door.

He stops in his tracks and thinks that he should probably get a weapon, but before he can even look around for one, the door to his room bursts open and in pops the last person he wanted to see for the day: Mikey.

"Ken-chin!" Mikey greets, all loud and annoying. "Where's my nephew?"

"Stop being so noisy, you bastard! You'll wake Takemichi up!" Draken whisper-yells. The headache he once had is now coming back with full force, and he briefly thinks about how nice it will be when his fist kisses Mitsuya's cheek.

Mikey ignores him and zooms over to Takemichi with much excitement. "He's so cute!" He pokes a chubby, rosy cheek, and Draken growls when Takemichi shifts in his sleeps.

"Don't touch him!" he quietly commands.

Mikey looks at him incredulously. "And why not? Wait, don't tell me that you've already grown attached?" He chuckles. "Mitsuya said in the group chat that you don't want to keep him, but you're already so protective."

Draken groans. "What do you want Mikey?"

"I came to see Takemitchy!"

"It's Takemichi, and now that you've seen him, you can leave."

Mikey pouts like a child. "But Ken-chin, I just got here!"

"Keep your stupid voice down! And I don't care, you literally broke in."

"I have a spare key, remember?"

"Remind me to take it ba- I told you to stop touching him! You're gonna wake him up, you idiot!"

Mikey pulls his finger away from Takemichi's cheek and grumbles, "Geez, fine! You're such a mean dad!"

Draken is getting very tired of this. "He's not my kid, Mikey. You and Mitsuya are so annoying."

"Uh-huh." The shorter man yawns. "Do you have any snacks around? I'm hungry."

"Go buy your own."

"But I don't have any money!"

"Don't you have a job, Mikey?"

"Yeah. So what?"

Draken sighs, and he notes that he's getting pretty sick of all the sighing.

'I really cannot deal with this nonsense today.'

Chapter 4: IV

Chapter Text

Draken is going through a crisis.

What was supposed to be only one day of keeping Takemichi, quickly turned into four, and Draken wants to laugh at himself.

"How did I get here?" he seriously asks at the end of everyday.

He's becoming very concerned.

Why can't he muster up enough courage to take Takemichi to the police station? Why does he feel some sort of obligation to take care of this baby? Is it okay to have an abandoned baby for so long without notifying the authorities? Will Takemichi find a good family to raise him? Why does Draken feel some sort of annoyance at the thought of someone else being the infant's guardian?

The questions keep piling up with so many new emotions, and the man feels like he's losing a battle.

Every morning he wakes up with the assertion that he'll finally go to the police station, but one look at Takemichi is all it takes for him to crumble and change his mind and say that he'll do it later.

After the third day, Mitsuya called his phone to make fun of him and said, "I knew it! I knew you'd keep him! You owe me 5,000 Yen, Draken!"

Even all of his other friends have met Takemichi at this point, and they all seem accepting of him, like he's meant to be apart of the group or something, but it's all so terrifying for Draken because this is a baby!

Takemichi is not an animal or a mere plant, he's a helpless human being with way more needs.

That's a very huge responsibility, and Draken keeps trying to run away from it, not because he doesn't have the financial stability or he's the busiest man on earth with little to no room to care for someone other than himself, but because he's scared that he'll royally screw this up.

He believes that Takemichi needs someone who is more mature and ready to take care of him, and he can't see himself as that person.

Yet, he finds it hard to just not care so much and simply let him go.

_______

Eleven, full days have passed, and Draken still has the baby.

He's somewhat given up on his claims to hand him over to the police and has already started doing research on how adoption works because this is getting too ridiculous.

He's grown accustomed to Takemichi; knowing the hours at which he wakes up and starts crying for food, how to skillfully change his diapers and properly hold him in different positions, what makes him laugh or upset, the sounds that seem to scare him, and so much more.

Draken has also noticed how Takemichi's presence in his life has affected him positively in such a short amount of time. Sure, he's still terrified that he'll mess things up, but he can't help but feel very content.

In the moments that he isn't overthinking everything, he gets to appreciate Takemichi's wonderful, hearty giggles, the way he wraps his tiny hand around one of his fingers, those lively, shining blue eyes, the way his tiny toes curl and uncurl, and even the way he adorably suckles on his bottle with sleepy eyes as he plays with his tiny ear.

It warms Draken's heart and makes him want to shed a tear or two sometimes because he can't fathom that someone can be this small, beautiful, and precious.

Before finally making a firm decision that will set everything in stone, he's decided that he'll seek Mitsuya out again for help one last time, but first, he'll try to speak with Inui as he's someone who hasn't really tormented him much about being a new 'dad' since Takemichi's arrival.

Chapter 5: V

Chapter Text

Draken enters D&D Motors with two large grocery bags in his hands.

He and Inupi decided to close the shop for a little over a week due to the place needing a little renovation. They're taking the day off before commencing, but Inupi came by to fix his own bike because the engine keeps making weird noises.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Inupi looks a little confused at the serious tone but nods his head and stops tinkering with the bike in front of him. "Sure. What's up?" he asks, giving Draken his full attention.

Draken sits on the leather couch. "What do you think of Takemichi?"

"The baby? Well, he's really cute and lifts the mood around here. Everyone loves him, and I can tell that he makes you happy too, even if you try to fight against it." He lightly scrunches his brow. "Why are you asking?"

"I just...want to know what's the right decision to make. And you're right, Takemichi does make me happy, no doubt, but he also makes me anxious." Draken knits his brows and continues, "It's like-"

"Is it because he's so small and fragile?" Inupi interrupts him, already seeing where this is going.

"Yeah..."

"Ha..." Inupi smiles. "I'm sure being anxious over a baby is completely normal. They're very vulnerable after all, so I understand your fear, but that's why you have me and the others. I don't know anything about babies, and I'm sure most of the other guys don't either, but we can always learn."

Inupi picks up his tool and faces the bike again. "I highly doubt it's easy for any new parent with their first child. They're most likely just as nervous as you are and maybe even more. Besides, I think you're already doing a great job at caring for Takemichi. You should give yourself more credit."

Draken takes in those words, slowly letting them marinate into his brain. He thinks that Inupi has a point. He's also aware of the type of friends that he has. They're the most loyal people he's ever met, and they wouldn't hesitate to render their assistance in difficult times.

He remembers when Pah-chin visited Peh-yan everyday to take care of him after he broke one of his legs in an accident, that time, years ago, when Baji took a knife to the shoulder for Kazutora during a robbery gone wrong, the other time when Mitsuya and Chifuyu defended Hakkai and his sister, Yuzuha, from their older, abusive brother, Taiju, even when they were both battered and bloodied, how Inupi helped Koko through his trauma of losing his first crush who was Inupi's older sister, Akane. Even some of the things that Mikey, Nahoya and Souya have done come to mind.

Draken has definitely been allowing his overthinking to overshadow the fact that he is not alone in any of this.

As he sits on the couch and muses about his situation while Inupi fixes his bike, he feels less and less paranoid and more and more at ease.

He still wants to speak with Mitsuya before making his decision, though, so he gets up, bids Inupi farewell, and walks his way to Mitsuya's house.

________

Draken finally arrives at Mitsuya's place, and, Mana, his baby sister, opens the door. "Oh, hey, Draken-san. How are you?"

"I'm alright, Mana-chan. How about you?"

The young woman steps aside to let him in. "I've been better. Exams are just around the corner, so I'm a little stressed."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll do great."

Mana smiles at his comment. "Thank you."Draken hums in response and looks towards the stairs. "Is your brother still working?" he asks."I came home just a couple of minutes before you showed up and I haven't been upstairs to his room yet, so I don't know. He should be up there, though."

Draken hums in response and looks towards the stairs. "Is your brother still working?" he asks.

"I came home just a couple of minutes before you showed up and I haven't been upstairs to his room yet, so I don't know. He should be up there, though."

"Okay, thanks."

Draken leaves his bags on the kitchen table, then climbs up the stairs and opens the first door to his left. It's the one that belongs to Mitsuya's workroom.

When his friend became a professional fashion designer, he dedicatedly saved up a lot of money to be able to move out of the apartment complex he and his younger sisters used to live in. He was able to buy a nice, but humble house with an extra room that's specifically used to make clothes at home whenever he doesn't feel like working at the firm.

"Yo," Draken greets upon entering the room. He takes heed to not raise his voice too high just in case Takemichi is asleep.

"Yo," Mitsuya greets back. He's sitting at his desk, cutting a piece of neon colored fabric.

In a corner, on a futon and in his baby sleeping bag that Chifuyu bought him, Takemichi is sleeping soundly.

The choice was between leaving him with Mikey or Mitsuya (since they were the only ones available) before going to the supermarket and then to the bike shop to talk with Inupi. Draken doesn't trust Mikey enough as yet to not drop Takemichi and present him with a dent on his forehead, so he picked Mitsuya, who was more than happy to watch over the infant, in a heartbeat.

"How long has he been asleep?"

Mitsuya glances at Takemichi over his glasses. "I'd say about two hours."

Draken looks at the baby again, satisfied that he looks comfortable, and moves to sit on a chair near the window.

The room is in comfortable silence, leaving only the sounds of Mitsuya's soft humming and his scissors cutting through the fabric to be heard.

Being in Mitsuya's presence has never once been uncomfortable. It is always filled with a sense of calmness and warmth.

Draken leans his head back and fixes his gaze on the ceiling before stretching out his long legs. "Do you think I'd be a good guardian to Takemichi?" he inquires.

Mitsuya looks up from what he is doing. His expression is serious, but shows nothing of annoyance, just absolute reassurance. "I don't think. I know," he replies. "You're already doing a great job at tending to his needs, and you both make each other happy."

He smiles at Draken. "Just remember that if you end up falling a couple of times along the way, you have us, your friends, to help you get back up. And we love Takemichi like he's our own. You shouldn't worry so much, Ken."

Draken's lips upturn slightly. 'You sound just like Inupi,' is what he wants to say, but he stays silent and just blinks at the ceiling.

Soon enough, the sound of fabric being cut fills the air again.

________

It's a little after three hours since Draken's arrival at the Mitsuya's when Takemichi rouses from his sleep.

He squirms and whimpers in his sleeping bag, and Draken quickly gets up and rushes over to him before he starts to cry.

As soon as Takemichi sees the man, he stops moving and quiets down. He stares at Draken for a few seconds, then a very cute, toothless grin graces his little mouth.

Draken feels his heart soar, and it's then that he realizes that he already loves this child. He returns the baby's smile and finally comes to a decision. "I'll do it," he says out loud with no hesitation.

Mitsuya looks over at him curiously. "Do what?"

Draken gingerly takes Takemichi out of the sleeping bag and picks him up, then turns to face his friend. "I'll adopt Takemichi."

It's silent as the other man just blankly stares at him until it clicks, and he beams, "Finally!" Mitsuya hurries over to the two and lightly pinches Takemichi's fluffy cheeks. "Say 'uncle', Takemichi. Un-cle."

The baby giggles at the touch while Draken's brows furrow. "This is the tenth time you're trying to get him to call you that. Just give it up already."

"Oh, shut up! 'Uncle Mitsuya' will be his first words, just you watch!"

Draken rolls his eyes. "I highly doubt that."

"Why are you always stinking up the place with your negativity, huh?"

"You're becoming too childish these days, you know. You need to stop hanging around Mikey so much."

Mitsuya huffs. "You're just too boring, that's the problem."

Before their childish banter can continue, Takemichi whines in Draken's arms.

Mitsuya stops harassing his cheeks and coos, "I'm so sorry, Takemichi. Was I too rough?"

The whining turns into quiet sobbing, and the infant buries his face into Draken's chest. The tall man immediately recognizes the situation. "Where's his bottle?"

Mitsuya's mouth forms a small 'o'. "Downstairs, in the fridge."

Draken deadpans at him. "Well? What are you still standing here for? Go heat it up."

"Say please!"

________

That night, when the father and son are comfortable back at their home, Draken messages the group chat.

Draken: I'm going to adopt Takemichi

Draken: Inupi, I won't be in tomorrow. Sorry.

Nahoya: FINALLY!!!

Kazutora: geez its about time

Mitsuya: you still owe me 5000 yen Draken

Draken: shut up

Inupi: It's cool Draken. I'll just close up early. Congratulations btw 😁

Pah-chin: we all say this coming tbh

Chifuyu: saw*

Chifuyu: Let's go shopping soon Draken-kun. I wanna buy Takemichi some more things

Baji: aren't u broke?🤨

Chifuyu: Mind your own business

Baji: screw you🖕🏻

Peh-yan: "sAw*" 🙄

Chifuyu: 🤨

Souya: Congratulations Draken! You're finally adopting Takemichi! We're glad! 🤗❤

Peh-yan: Yeah takemichi is cute

Kazutora: ikr 🤧💕

Baji: I cnt wait to teach him how to be a menace😈

Draken: Do that and I will kill you.

Mikey: Takemitchy! 🥰🥰🥰

Mikey: Bring him over tmrrw Ken-chin I wanna play with him

Draken: no 😑

Draken: bastard

Chapter 6: VI

Chapter Text

It's been three months since Draken adopted Takemichi, making him a six-month-old baby, and there has been some adjustments to their little routine due to the baby's development as well as some other changes.

Takemichi, thanks to his self-proclaimed uncles, now has everything and more that a child of his age requires, and Draken and his friends have worked out a sort of schedule on who gets to babysit him and when.

Within the three months, the six-month-old has started showing interest in solid foods (much to Draken's pleasure because formula is expensive for no reason), two of his bottom incisors have started to grow in, and he talks a lot.

Well, more like he babbles a lot, and Draken absolutely loves it.

When it comes to the 'uncles,' his favorites are Chifuyu, Kazutora, Mitsuya, Pah-chin, Hakkai, Souya and, unfortunately, Mikey. Draken honestly doesn't get what Takemichi sees in Mikey, but he figures that it must be because Mikey acts more like a child sometimes rather than an adult.

Nahoya and Souya often ask Takemichi for his reviews on their recipes as if he understands jack about cooking or knows what their spicy noodles of death even taste like.

Mitsuya keeps on sewing him clothes and no matter how many times Draken tells him that Takemichi's closet barely has any space left for more, he doesn't listen. Instead, he always goes on endless ramblings about how there's no such thing as too many baby clothes.

Chifuyu and Kazutora buy him toys along with other necessities and show him pictures of the animals from the pet shop.

Baji sneakily tries to teach the baby a long list of cuss words (Draken had to beat him up a few times and he's banned from being around Takemichi without supervision).

Pah-chin advised Draken to open a bank account for Takemichi, and he and Peh-yan deposit generous amounts of money into it on a regular basis. Everyone else adds to the account too.

Inupi helps with the grocery shopping and he talks to Takemichi a lot to help with his speech development, and Hakkai babysits whenever he has a day off from modeling. He likes to tell Takemichi that they should go bowling when he's older.

Mikey, just like Baji, isn't allowed to babysit. Not yet at least. Draken just has an ominous feeling about the entire thing, but the shorter man does get to be around Takemichi more than Baji ever could.

________

Right now, it's a peaceful Saturday afternoon, and Draken and Takemichi are relaxing on the bed with Takemichi resting his head on a baby pillow, peacefully suckling away on his bottled formula, and treating the side of Draken's face like it's a sidewalk.

Draken, who is on his phone, isn't even bothered by the blatant disrespect anymore.

At this point, he is used to being treated as a trampoline (there are too many instances of Takemichi shakily leaning on the headboard for support and attempting to stand on his head to bounce away on it) and a punching bag (those little, harmless-looking fists actually carry a lot of power).

Draken is just happy that his baby is happy and in good health.

The tall man's attention is snatched away from the screen of his phone when an empty bottle crashes into his face. He turns his head to the side to look at Takemichi, and the baby smiles cheekily at him, obviously happy about his perfect aim.

Draken squints. "Oi," he sits up and lightly taps the baby on his nose, "don't throw things, okay?"

Takemichi giggles and Draken smiles at him. He lifts the infant, rubs his cheek against his (it's very soft), and gets up from off the bed.

He checks the time on his phone and moves to the living room to turn on the television. Takemichi's favorite show, Cocomelon, comes on at 3PM every afternoon and Draken hates to let him miss it.

He puts the six-month-old in a comfortable sitting position, supporting his small body with two pillows, and waits for the Cocomelon theme to start playing.

"Cocomelon!" the television says, and Takemichi lets out an excited squeal.

He shakes his little fists enthusiastically when the characters come on screen and turns his head to the side. He points a chubby finger at the television and starts babbling away to Draken.

Draken nods like he understands the gibberish and coos, "Yes, Michi, those are kids."

Their exchange always makes the man feel as though they're having some really great father and son bonding time. He can only imagine what life will be like once Takemichi can form clear words and sentences.

The baby babbles something again, as if agreeing with Draken, then immediately forgets about his existence, too fascinated with all of the sounds and movements that are coming from the show.

Draken isn't even sad about being ignored. He finds everything that Takemichi does to be adorable.

And as he watches him form his little mouth into a small 'o' and his blue eyes twinkle with glee, Draken knows that he will never regret making this child his own and that he'll love him until his dying breath.

Chapter 7: VII

Chapter Text

Draken urgently needs a babysitter, but he doesn't have one.

Emma is back home in Japan after finishing her studies abroad, and she and Draken are going on a date. They've been in a long distance relationship the entire time, but they've managed to make things work despite all of the challenges.

Draken is really excited about going out with his woman, but if he doesn't find a reliable person to watch Takemichi while he's away, the date will have to be canceled.

Everyone just so happens to be busy today, except for Mikey (Baji doesn't even count), but Draken is uncertain about choosing his best friend to look after his kid.

It's Mikey, for puppy's sake. He's as much of a child as Takemichi is.

"Come on, Draken," Emma says through the phone. "Mikey can be immature sometimes, but we both know that he'll do his best to take care of Takemichi and won't let anything bad happen to him."

Draken sighs and doesn't say anything for a moment. He knows that Emma is right, but he just can't stop being paranoid, especially since he'll be out with her until nighttime.

"Hello? Draken?"

The man groans in defeat and answers, "I'm here." He hesitates for a bit, then says, "And I'll let Mikey babysit Takemichi, but if anything happens to him, I'm beating Mikey's ass."

Emma chuckles. "I'm sure Takemichi will be fine. Stop worrying so much."

________

"Aww, the pictures don't do him justice, Draken. He's beautiful," Emma coos as she reaches out to gently squeeze Takemichi's chubby cheeks. "So soft," she adds.

She looks on the brink of tears from just the sheer adorableness of the baby, and she grins from ear to ear when Takemichi squeals at her touch.

Emma looks at Draken with pleading eyes, and he sighs fondly and hands the baby over.

As soon as the infant is in her arms, they stare for a long moment at each other, and then Takemichi gives Emma a big, two-teeth smile and babbles something.

"It seems he likes you," Draken says, feeling a surge of pride in his chest.

"Well, I like him too," Emma happily comments. Takemichi rests his head on her shoulder and she really lets herself cry a little then.

Getting Takemichi's approval has been her goal ever since she realized that he wasn't going anywhere (which is before Draken himself even realized that), and actually getting it is just too much for her heart.

"Let's bring him inside," she says. "Mikey is practically shaking with excitement to see him."

They walk into the house, and Mikey immediately appears. "Takemitchy!" he beams, hurrying over to snatch the infant away from his sister. "You came to see me, didn't you? Yes, you did!"

He turns into a mushy, cooing mess, and Takemichi obviously loves the attention, so he squeals and giggles heartily.

As Draken watches them, he thinks that perhaps things will actually go just fine and he won't receive a bad call or something.

While Emma grabs her jacket and her purse, Draken t̶h̶r̶e̶a̶t̶e̶n̶s̶ tells Mikey about being mindful of Takemichi's safety and gives him a list of things he should and shouldn't do depending on the situation.

He collects Takemichi to hug and kiss him, and Mikey has to pry the baby out of his hands because of his reluctance to let go.

Soon enough, Draken and Emma are out the door, and Mikey is left to babysit for a couple of hours.

________

"Yes, Takemitchy!"

The baby babbles to him again and smacks the carpet with his palm.

"I know right!" Mikey agrees. "Tell me about it!" He sneakily eats two slices of Takemichi's banana as soon as he turns his attention back to the children's show on television.

As if sensing the thievery, Takemichi turns to look at Mikey again, and the man stops chewing. He blinks owlishly at the baby, and the infant reaches over and slaps him on the mouth, then goes back to his TV show.

They continue to sit like this on the floor until a small, yellow bird comes up to the living room window and starts tapping its beak on the glass.

Takemichi snaps his head up and stares curiously at the little, noisy creature. "That's a bird, Mitchy," Mikey excitedly tells him. "The little birdy is saying hi to you."

He carefully picks him up and takes him to get a closer look. They watch the bird in fascination together, and the small creature stops its tapping to rest on the sill and stare back at them.

Takemichi's mouth opens in awe and his blue eyes twinkle, but the bird soon flies away and leaves him staring off, confused, in the direction that it left.

Mikey notices the drop of his countenance and the slight pout at the absence of the bird, and he feels his chest ache. "Takemitchy."

Said person looks at him with unhappy eyes. "How about we go for a walk, hmm? Then, we can see more birdies!"

The child looks at him, not really understanding what he's saying, but Mikey doesn't mind.

He soon puts a hat on the baby's head and his tiny shoes on his tiny feet, then he puts on bigger shoes on his own feet, and they leave the house to go walk around the neighborhood.

________

As Mikey goes down the street with Takemichi, the baby turns his head in all directions to get a good look at everything. He's only six months old, so he's understandably curious and fascinated by most things that he sees.

Mikey walks for a while, making turns and random stops. He points out things to Takemichi and entertains his babbles.

"Look, Mitchy!" Mikey points at a white, fluffy cat that's walking across the street. "It's a cat!"

Takemichi watches the animal move gracefully and suddenly lurches forward, probably in an attempt to reach the cat, but Mikey holds him firmly and laughs.

"No, Mitchy," he lightly scolds the child. "You can't just try to run away like that."

They walk around the neighborhood some more, but the fun comes to an end when the weather suddenly changes and the place grows a little dark and cloudy.

"Looks like it's gonna rain," Mikey mutters to himself, a little annoyed. He's never been a big fan of rainy days. The place gets too wet, muddy and unexciting.

He hurries to get back home before the rain starts, but his efforts are futile because within a minute, it begins to pour.

Mikey wants to run, but he's afraid of jostling Takemichi too much and making him dizzy. These droplets are like bullets, though. It's as if the afternoon wasn't nice and warm just minutes prior.

The short man holds the infant closer to his chest and quickly looks around for shelter. Unfortunately, he finds none good enough, so he really has no choice but to make a dash for it.

He doesn't want Takemichi to get sick and certainly not for Draken to wring his neck.

In less than five minutes, they're back at the Sano's, and Mikey makes haste to strip them of their soaked clothes to avoid them catching a cold.

He dries Takemichi off with a small, clean towel that he found in his baby bag, puts a vest on him, and lets him stay in just that with his diaper.

________

Mikey tries to loosen Takemichi's painfully strong grip from his hair so that he can heat up his formula, but instead of cooperation, he gets some of those Superman slaps, with the other hand, that Draken often talks about.

Why are babies so strong and feisty?

"Takemitchy, please!" Mikey cries, his bigger hand trying to grab the tiny one. "I want to heat up your meal! You gotta let me g- Ow! Stop pulling my hair, it hurts!"

Takemichi keeps on pulling on it anyway, and Mikey gasps in pain. He briefly regrets every bad thing he's ever said or done to his best friend in all of the years that he's known him.

Suddenly getting a cunning idea, Mikey brings the bottled formula into Takemichi's line of vision, and, just like he'd hoped, Takemichi immediately stops his attack and stretches forward for the bottle.

Mikey quickly lifts it above his head, of course, and smirks at the scrunch that forms between the baby's brows.

"So, formula is your weakness, huh?" He chuckles. "You'll get it soon, I just need to heat it up first."

To avoid possibly gaining a few bald spots, he goes to the living room and lays Takemichi on the couch. "Stay here," he says. "I won't be long."

He then hurries back to the kitchen to heat up the bottle under the tap.

________

Mikey leaves the bottle on the counter and runs to the living room like The Flash. He definitely heard that thud.

When he reaches, he finds Takemichi on the floor, squirming and wailing, and he quickly and carefully picks him up. He checks his body for any bruises or scratches and breathes a sigh of relief when he finds none.

The baby is still very much upset, though—red, wet, and loud.

"I'm so sorry, Mitchy," Mikey tells him in a soft, sympathetic voice. "I'm sorry you fell."

He hugs Takemichi and rubs soothing circles on his tiny back to comfort him, but the infant pushes away and keeps on crying.

Mikey tries the bouncing method next, but that doesn't work either. He truly hopes that Takemichi isn't hurt.

"Are you ready for your formula?" he asks, heading back to the kitchen with him.

In response, he only gets tears, but as soon as Takemichi sees his meal, his crying stops and he whimpers longingly. He puts his chubby hands out for the bottle, and Mikey doesn't hesitate to grab it.

He takes them back to the couch, puts the bottle on the coffee table, positions Takemichi (he coos at how perfectly the baby fits in his arm), and then feeds him his formula.

Takemichi's tiny mouth latches onto the nipple and he suckles away like a hungry lion. He holds his bottle and closes his eyes, enjoying the flavor of his dinner.

Mikey just might cry at this blessed sight before him. It's literally one of the most adorable things that he's ever seen. He's never really cared much about having kids before, but this baby just might make him change his mind.

He watches Takemichi drain the bottle and he wonders what baby formula tastes like.
'Is it delicious?' If Takemichi leaves any remainder, maybe he'll take a sip.
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Unfortunately for Mikey, Takemichi had no intentions of sharing.

________

"How's Takemichi doing?" Draken asks.

Mikey looks at where the baby is conked out soundly on his bed, through the crack of his bedroom door. "He's fine," he answers quietly. "He fell asleep not so long ago."

"Oh, good. Emma and I will be there in an hour."

"'Kay. Bring me back someth-"

"Bye." Draken hangs up.

"...Big, ugly bastard."

________

When Draken and Emma arrive at the Sano's, Takemichi is still asleep in a circle of pillows on Mikey's bed.

The three adults talk with each other for a while, and then Mikey heads up the stairs to bring down Draken's baby.

In the meantime, Draken is slowly losing his mind in the living room. Is Takemichi really 'fine'? What if he has a dent in his forehead? Is he even breathing? What if Mikey accidentally hit his head on the door frame and that's why he's 'asleep'?

There's question after question, but all of them are silenced once he sees Takemichi, very much alive (he shifts a little in his sleep) and sleeping in Mikey's arms like the little angel that he is.

Draken gets up from beside Emma to collect his child, but he pauses in his action when he sees a small bruise a little above his elbow.

"What's that?" he questions Mikey.

Mikey looks to where he's pointing and frowns. "Ah...," he says after a short silence. "I think he got that from falling off the couch..."

"He fell off the couch?" Draken is careful to not raise his voice since Takemichi is sleeping.

Mikey smiles nervously and he catches the incredulous look that Emma is giving him from her place on the couch.

"Well, uh, it was an accident. I put him on the couch so I could heat up his formula, and I told him to stay put, but I guess he rolled off anyway."

"Of course he didn't stay put, fool! He's a baby!"

"Well..." Mikey doesn't know how to respond to that.

Draken takes Takemichi away and gives him a once-over, and Mikey has a feeling that this is probably his last time babysitting Takemichi for a long while.

He feels bad. He never intended for Takemichi to get hurt, it was an accident.

His expression must've said a lot because Draken sighs and calms himself a little. "Oi, fix that damn ugly face of yours. Things could've gone worse."

Emma gets up and moves closer to her brother. She pats him on the shoulder. "Yeah, at least we came back and found Takemichi in one piece."

Mikey scowls at her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

She smiles, amused at his expression, and shakes her head. "Oh, nothing."

Eventually, Draken takes his baby home, but not before pushing Mikey into a mud puddle outside his own yard.

The shorter man honestly saw some sort of attack coming, so he wasn't fazed at all, but, on the bright side, Draken didn't say anything about him never babysitting again, so all is well.
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Draken: I forgot to tell you

Draken: You're not babysitting him again

Draken: At least not until he's 5 or maybe 10 I really want him to see his 5th birthday

Mikey: 😔 geez

Mikey: I didn't break his bones or anything🙄

Draken: Yet.

Mikey: 🖕🏻

Chapter 8: VIII

Chapter Text

"Peh-yan! Grab him!"

Before said man can even properly process the words that came out of Kazutora's mouth, Takemichi quickly crawls between the gap of his long legs like a spider.

For a being with such small limbs, he's surprisingly fast. Fast enough to skyrocket Draken's daily paranoia.

When the eight-month-old had began crawling at seven months, Draken had to heavily baby-proof his entire apartment because he'd look to the left for five seconds and when he'd look back to the right, Takemichi was gone as if he wasn't in the room to begin with.

It sometimes felt like all of his hard work to keep him out of trouble was done in vain, though, because not only had the baby somehow managed to get himself stuck under the sofa at least once or twice, he'd learned how to open the baby gates a month later.

Nevertheless, apart from all of the crawling that keeps the man on his toes, the loud banging of toys on the wall, and Takemichi putting just about anything in his mouth, Draken really enjoys watching his kid grow.

Raising a baby has certainly been more stressful than he'd ever imagined, but it's still a worthwhile experience to him. It feels like it was just yesterday when he'd found Takemichi outside of his shop in that basket, tiny and abandoned.

Presently, he stands in his way to stop him in his tracks, but the infant is smart, so he swerves to the right and hurries away on his little hands and knees, diapered butt moving comically.

He doesn't get to make it that far, though, because Kazutora picks him up from off of the floor and immediately showers him in kisses.

"Where do you think you're going, Takemichi?" He places a quick peck on the baby's soft cheek and smiles as he giggles through his pacifier from being tickled by his long hair.

"Why do you keep crawling away from me, hmm?" The man puts on a dramatic show of feigned sadness, sniffling and changing the tone of his voice to make it sound like he's really hurt. "Do you not love me anymore?"

"Of course he doesn't love you anymore, skunk!" Baji taunts from where he's sprawled on Pah-chin's sofa.

Pah-chin's wife, Emma and her best friend Hinata, Mitsuya's little sisters, and Hakkai's older sister are out together, doing whatever it is that women find entertaining, and the guys are all at their friend's house, hanging out, since it's been a while.

Kazutora turns his head to scowl at Baji so fast, he almost snaps his neck. "Who are you calling skunk, fu...," the insult dies on his tongue, "I mean, you as..."

He huffs, knowing that he can't use the words that he wants to in front of Takemichi, and settles on calling Baji a sewer rat, only for the man to laugh at his lame insult and call him pathetic.

Draken rolls his eyes and shakes his head at their antics, then looks around the large room.

Chifuyu, Souya and Nahoya are all huddled together on one sofa, running their mouths about something stupid. Hakkai and Inupi are by the television with the remote, looking for something good to watch, and Peh-yan is now sitting in an armchair, checking the time on his phone and complaining about food because he's too impatient to wait for it to arrive.

Baji is taking up the other sofa in the room as if he pays the bills in the house, and he's been playfully kicking Mikey's shoulder for the past fifteen minutes just to rile him up.

The aforementioned blonde is sitting criss-cross on the floor, nibbling on a bag of marshmallows and scrolling through his phone. He's doing an excellent job at remaining composed and ignoring Baji, and Draken is a little impressed by that.

Kazutora is still standing with Takemichi in his arms, but he's now trying to explain to the baby, who clearly isn't listening to him, that hair-pulling is bad.

'I guess I'll go help Mitsuya and Pah,' Draken thinks. He starts walking towards the kitchen to help his two friends bring beverages for everyone. 'I've got nothing better to do.'

________

Take-out finally arrives, and everyone quickly makes themselves comfortable again in Pah-chin's living room with their boxes or plates and their beverages.

Hakkai had put on an animated, kid-friendly movie, and though it's not everyone's taste (except Hakkai's himself), they're cool with it since Takemichi is there.

As the noises of the telly and everyone's eating sound in the background, Draken sits Takemichi to face forward on one lap so that he can see the movie and balances his plate on the other.

He tries to feed his son some of the crushed sweet potatoes he prepared with love and brought from home, but Takemichi is more interested in what's inside of Peh-yan's bowl than to appreciate his efforts.

He keeps pushing Draken's hand away to get a good look at Peh's fried rice, and said man is too distracted by the flavors of his food to even notice that his meal is being eyed up by the greedy baby next to him.

Before Draken can softly chide his kid and tell him that he has his own food, Takemichi quickly leans over and dips his small hand into his neighbor's bowl. He pulls out a fistful of rice, completely unfazed by Peh-yan's sputterings, and brings it to his mouth.

"Takemichi!" Draken is incredulous, but a part of him honestly feels like he should've seen this coming. He quickly reaches out to grab the offending hand to pull it away from the baby's mouth. "That's not very nice!"

He looks up to utter a quick apology to Peh-yan, but his friend is already across the floor, holding his bowl close to his chest like it'll be snatched away at any moment.

Draken sighs. It's still early, but he thinks that maybe he should've put this little troublemaker of his to sleep thirty minutes ago when he had knocked Mitsuya's drink out of his hand and smacked his palms into the small puddle of liquid like he was playing a game—all on Pah-chin's nice rug.

He can't help but feel like this is going to be a very long day, especially with the boundless energy that has been displayed so far.

Sighing again, Draken tries to pry open Takemichi's tiny fist—grains of rice are sticking out from between the stubby, greasy fingers—but his iron grip won't budge. He only whines and tries to pull away.

This goes on for a full minute before Takemichi yanks his hand away from Draken's and throws the rice.

It scatters in different directions and disturbs the tranquility that existed prior to the attack. Some of it lands on Pah-chin's already abused rug, and some of it reaches Inupi, causing the sunflower blonde to instinctively jolt and drop the piece of sweet and sour chicken that he was bringing to his mouth.

That unfortunately drops onto the rug too, and Draken tunes out the rest of the commotion to stare at the light gray material that's on the floor. They'd managed to cleaned up most of the stains from earlier, but Pah-chin might just have to throw out the rug at this point or maybe get his hands on one of those fancy, expensive cleaning products.

Draken's attention is brought back downwards when he feels a particularly strong squirm from Takemichi and the plate of food, that was balancing on his right lap, tilt over.

"Take-michi," he scolds, softly tapping a tiny, oily hand with his index finger. "Please behave."

There's nothing but whining and squirming in protest, and Draken has a mini speech about manners and the like before finally putting Takemichi down on the floor so that he can get up, plate in hand, to clean up all of the mess.

He makes eye contact with Pah-chin, and they have a short, silent conversation with each other—something that they've mastered over the years—and from the look of resignation in Pah's eyes, Draken can tell that he's already given up on the rug.

It's been through a lot in just one day, but at least he has the money to buy him a new one.

________

By the time Draken is done with discarding things and washing his hands, Takemichi has already gotten into a situation that could send his blood pressure through the roof.

He comes back into the living room with a new plate of food and looks for a tiny body dressed in a black vest and a diaper. He finds him, surprisingly in the same place that he left him, but with something white and powdery smeared around his mouth and hands.

Draken puts his plate down on the arm of a chair and crouches beside Takemichi with furrowed brows. "Takemichi? What's that?" He takes one of his hands—it's sticky—and brings it to his nose to have a sniff.

‐sniff, sniff-

The smell is familiar, but he can't put a name on it, so he goes in for another whiff.

-snifff-

The creases between Draken's brows deepen. "What is this?" he asks no one in particular. He squints at the substance on Takemichi's mouth and fingers, examining it, and decides to just have a taste because he'll lose his mind trying to figure out what it is.

-tip, tip-

'Hmm?'

-tip, tip, tip-

"Oh," Draken quietly says, confused expression melting into one of recognition, "this is marshmallow."

Behind him, Mikey is trying very hard to remain stoic as he slowly pockets the bag of marshmallows he'd been eating from earlier. It's pointless, though, because Draken whips around and glowers at him.

"Oi, Mikey! You bastard! Why would you give Takemichi marshmallows? Are you that stupid?"

Mikey lifts his brows in surprise and points an accusatory finger at Draken who resists the urge to grab his hand and tear the finger off. "Hey! You're not supposed to use words like that in front of Takemitchy!"

"Shut up, you imbecile! It's not like he understands what 'bastard' even means!"

Baji perks up from his place on the sofa with a hopeful grin. "So, does that mean I can finally say fu-"

Draken gives him a look. "I will kill you today."

Baji huffs indignantly and goes back to drinking his canned beer but not before grumbling something under his breath.

Draken turns back to Mikey. "Mikey, gosh, sometimes I want to strangle you!"

"But he wanted one!"

"So? Just ignore him! He won't die if he doesn't get his way! Babies can choke on marshmallows, you moron!"

"...In my defense, I didn't know any better..."

"Well, learn to! You've known Takemichi for months! Even Hakkai educated himself to be more careful around him and he sees him the least! You're just lazy!"

"So you've never made a mistake with Takemitchy before?"

"I have but not like this! I actually think to read up on things! You, on the other hand, don't even think once! And don't try to turn this around on me!"

"..." Mikey looks down, ashamed, at his lap. He's definitely never going to babysit Takemichi in the future. "I'm sorry..."

"Ugh!"

"Okay, that's enough!" Mitsuya cuts in, walking over and picking Takemichi up. By this point, the television had already been turned down so that everyone could listen to Mikey and Draken's exchange.

"Mikey, you should've asked Draken first if Takemichi could eat marshmallows, and Draken, I know you're upset, but Takemichi is fine. He fortunately didn't choke, so let's all calm down, okay? You guys are scaring him with all the yelling."

Draken looks at Takemichi, and sure enough, the baby's lower lip is jutted out and quivering, and his eyes are shiny with unshed tears.

He sighs and pushes a hand through his hair, then gets up, childishly kicking Mikey's leg as he does so.

"Draken. Come on, man, be mature."

________

Draken brings the bottled formula in front of Takemichi and slowly moves it around. The child's blue eyes follow it side to side and up and down, hypnotized.

"You want it, don't you?"

Takemichi reaches out his little arms and makes grabby hands, but Draken pulls back. "If you want it, you have to calm down first, okay? I can't feed you if you keep moving around."

Takemichi whines for the formula, but Draken puts the bottle back on the nightstand. He positions the baby properly on his lap for the second time, making sure that his head is placed well on his knees, his back on his thighs and his feet on his stomach, then lightly taps him on the nose.

"Don't move, okay? I'm going to feed you now."

He grabs the bottle again, shakes it, takes off the cap with a soft pop, then brings it to Takemichi's lips. The tiny mouth opens up, then closes around the nipple immediately, and Draken settles back into the headboard of the bed with a tired sigh.

They're in one of Pah-chin's guest rooms, away from everyone and all of the noise, because it's finally Takemichi's long-awaited naptime.

Draken feels two soft, small feet move towards his chest, and he looks down in time to see them being folded. He smiles and pokes them.

Takemichi's feet have grown a little since he first saw them, but they're still very tiny, and sometimes he likes to put one of them beside his hand to compare the sizes. There's even a framed picture of a tiny foot versus a large hand on the wall back home.

A few minutes go by, and Draken notices that Takemichi's eyes are getting heavy with sleep. He muses that it's so easy to forget just what a little troublemaker this baby is when he's like this. He's so small, so plump, so cute, and just so adorable in general.

In the future, all Takemichi will probably have to do to get his way is to use the sad puppy eyes move that spoiled kids usually use on their parents because Draken doesn't think that he'll be able to tell him no.

Soon enough, his baby refuses the rest of the formula, and Draken covers the half empty bottle and puts it away. He gently lifts his son up and off the bed to rock him in his arms around the room until he falls asleep.

Belly full and round, Takemichi eventually dozes off, and Draken carefully places him onto the big, soft mattress and surrounds him with pillows so that he won't roll off the bed.

He then places a kiss on Takemichi's forehead and leaves the room quietly, going back to his friends.

________

"How is he?" Mitsuya asks Draken as soon as he walks into the kitchen.

"Probably having the best nap of his life after all the mischief he caused," Nahoya says, smirking.

"He probably is," Draken agrees with a snort. "He's gonna give me gray hairs way too soon."

Baji leans back in his seat. "Good. Maybe you'll die faster that way."

"Tch. Don't you have to go get decapitated and set on fire or something?"

Baji cackles, and Draken decides that he'll stop paying him attention because Baji is Baji, and he's not in the mood for their usual jesting right now.

He makes eye contact with Mikey, who is lolling on the floor in the middle of Souya and Hakkai, and they deadpan at each other for a couple of seconds before Draken looks away. He'll deal with the idiot later.

He goes to sit on one of the counter stools next to Inupi and accepts the drink that he offers him.

It's been a very long and tiring day, even if it's only been about four hours since they've been at Pah-chin's, but things could've turned out a lot worse, so it's fine.

All Draken has to do now is prepare himself for the stress that will come when Takemichi starts walking.

Chapter 9: IX

Chapter Text

When Takemichi started walking, or rather, wobbling, Draken's heart almost exploded due to sheer excitement.

It was one of the things pertaining to Takemichi's development that he was both sad and happy about because it meant that his boy was taking another step closer to no longer being a baby.

The joy over a walking Takemichi quickly disappeared, however, when the child became more stable on his feet and would yank his hand out of Draken's to run into the middle of the streets when they were out for afternoon walks or to try to climb out of his crib.

Terrified is an understatement of how that can make a parent feel, and Draken briefly considered getting Takemichi one of those safety harnesses with the leash, but opted to holding his hands more firmly, keeping the exit at the bike shop closed (thankfully, he has air conditioning), and simply watching him like a hawk, even in the middle of the night when he's fast asleep in his crib, just in case.

As time marched on, Takemichi was ready to add intelligibility to his babblings, and his first word was 'baggy'.

As in Baji. Much to Draken's chagrin.

It wasn't anything cute like 'pa' or 'dada' or even 'no' or 'hi'. It was fricking 'baggy'.

Takemichi was even pointing and smiling at that rabid wolf when he'd said it, so Draken's not mistaken. And if Baji, the smug bastard, got his hair yanked and his face smashed into the wall later that day, it was nobody's business.

Anyway.

Takemichi, the amazing kid that he is, quickly added a few other words to his vocabulary and these include 'Key' for Mikey and 'mama' for Emma, who was a crying mess when it happened.

As for Draken, apparently he's...nothing special. Because his little man doesn't refer to him as anything at all, and boy, does it sting.

"It hasn't been that long since he started talking," Mitsuya says as he picks up a party favor to examine it.

It's Takemichi's first birthday in four days, and they're going to hold a small celebration for him.

"I'm sure he'll call you 'dada' soon though it is a bit odd."

"That's what I'm saying." Draken sighs. He looks at the items on the shelf opposite the one Mitsuya is looking at. "He lives with me and sees me twenty-four seven, but I get nothing."

Mitsuya chuckles at his friend's gloominess and puts back the item to pick up another one. "Well, at least we know he loves you."

"Yeah, but it still hurts, man."

"It could be worse."

Draken turns around and deadpans at him. "Tell me, what could possibly be worse than your own kid not addressing you by anything, but he calls your friends some sort of variation of their names? He doesn't even call me something like 'Kenken' or 'Dra' or whatever. He just...babbles and runs away when I try to teach him what to say."

Mitsuya thinks about it for a moment. "Damn, you're right. That is unfortunate. Still, let's just wait and see what happens. Give him time. I'm sure he'll start calling you pops soon."

Draken huffs. "Yeah, let's hope so."

"Wait. Are you pouting?"

Draken looks away and hurries down the aisle, ignoring Mitsuya's laughter.

________

"Say 'papa', Takemichi. You can do it."

Said child blinks his round eyes at Draken, then proceeds to flatly ignore him.

He dips his hands into his small bowl of pureed fruits and bring them to his already messy face to smear it on like lotion.

Draken seizes the bowl. "Come on, Michi, don't get distracted. Say it with me: papa."

"..."

"Say 'papa'."

"No!"

"Yes."

"No!"

"Please?"

"P..."

Draken perks up. This is it, the moment he's been waiting for!

"..."

Except, Takemichi says nothing further and quickly moves on like nothing happened. He just fusses for the puree, making grabby hands and whiny noises.

Draken deflates and sighs.

He's been trying to get the brat to call him an affectionate title all day long, a final attempt before his birthday tomorrow, but so far, he's been unsuccessful because Takemichi, quite frankly, couldn't care less about his feelings right now.

Maybe it's time to take Mitsuya's advice and finally throw in the towel.

Surrendering, Draken returns the bowl of puree to the upset baby but soon realizes that he shouldn't have bothered as it ends up decorating the kitchen floor within seconds.

If this was almost a year ago, he would've immediately gotten dizzy from a spike in his blood pressure, but he's already used to this type of behavior by now.

Still, he playfully scolds Takemichi.

"Ta-ke-mi-chi."

"No!"

"Don't 'no' me. You're a bad baby, you know that?"

"No!"

Draken rolls his eyes and picks him up from the high chair, internally commenting that he smells like strawberries, and takes him to the bathroom to give him a bath.

He can take care of the mess on the tiles and high chair after he puts Takemichi to sleep, even if he'll be a little put-off by it's semi dried, sticky state by then.

________

It's finally the day of a new chapter in Takemichi's life, and Draken is helping Chifuyu, Hakkai and Mitsuya with last minute decorations while the birthday boy is with Pah-chin's posh-looking dog and Peh-yan, running around the yard with his shoes off for some reason.

Since Pah-chin's home is the most spacious and has a nice, big backyard, they all agreed that it would be the perfect place for a party even though it's not a big one.

Pah-chin went to pick up Emma who volunteered to make the cake, the twins are bringing the food, Kazutora is working on the music (It's unfortunately the infamous 'Baby Shark'), Baji is entertaining Peke J who refused to be left out, and Mikey is just sleeping in a chair, being the useless person that he is.

All in all, the day is going good so far, and Draken hopes that things will remain that way until the end of this celebration.

He ties up the last bunch of green balloons for the safari themed set up and steps back to appreciate his and his friend's work.

There are green, brown and white balloons arranged in the form of an arch in front of a large, decorative grass square that has Takemichi's name spelled out on it in big, bold, white letters.

A blow-up giraffe is on the right side of the clothed table and a Zebra of the like is on the left. The table is decorated with green, brown and white party favors, only leaving enough space for the cake, and finally, there's a brown cardboard monkey hanging from the array of balloons to look like it's swinging.

"It looks great," Chifuyu remarks, grinning. He puts his hands on his hips. "Takemichi will love it."

"I doubt he'll even care," Draken says. His words would make anyone assume that he thinks this was a waste of money, but his friends know that he's excited, especially since he went all out on the whole safari get up. Takemichi loves animals after all. "He'll be more concerned about eating."

Mitsuya chuckles. "Yeah, well, it's his big day. How often does he even get to eat cake?"

"Not that often."

"Exactly. If I were him, I wouldn't be concerned much about the decorations either, but I'm sure he'll appreciate it one way or another, even if it's when he's older."

"You're right," Chifuyu agrees. "I'll go call the twins to see if they're on their way already. Be right back."

He steps aside to make the phone call, and Draken turns to Mitsuya.

"I've decided to give up."

"What do you mean?" the other man asks, looking at him with a slight frown.

"On getting Takemichi to call me 'pa'. He's got a mind of his own; he'll call me whatever he wants when he's ready. I give up."

Mitsuya observes him carefully, then snorts. "You're saying that now, but I have a feeling you're gonna come to me with another complaint by next week."

Draken rolls his eyes. "I'm serious. I won't let it bother me anymore." That's a lie. "I'm his favorite person anyway."

Mitsuya smiles and shakes his head. "Let's see how long you'll last. I know a good therapist just in case."

"Go to hell."

________

Everyone is finally in one place.

The smash cake is on the table, and the birthday boy is dressed up nicely in the spare clothes that Draken brought, which means that it's time to get the party officially started.

"We need to sing him happy birthday, and then we'll cut the cake," Mikey says, eyes fixated on the Safari themed cake. He looks like he should be kept six feet away from it.

Emma gives him the side-eye. "What do you mean "we'll cut the cake"? It's for Takemichi, not you."

"It's assistance!" Mikey argues, looking at his sister like 𝘴𝘩𝘦'𝘴 the problem. "Takemitchy can't handle the knife by himself!"

"And who told you he was going to do it himself?" Draken asks as he places his kid on the stool and barricades him with his muscular body. "I'll be helping him."

"I can help too."

"So you can try to steal the cake? Not a chance."

Mikey huffs, offended, and whines—really whines. "But Ken-chin!"

Draken sighs. The day is too nice to be putting up with this grown man's childishness. "Shut up, Mikey!"

"Shuh!" Takemichi yells, trying to mimick Draken. He bangs his fists on the table and looks at Mikey with a serious face that can't really be taken seriously. "Shuh, shuh, shuh!"

Everyone laughs, and Mikey pouts. He'd argue all day with Draken, but if Takemichi tells him to shut his trap, he'll do so obediently.

They sing the happy birthday song to the now one-year-old joy of their lives and then let him destroy his cake, phones already up and recording.

It's as Takemichi is bringing a messy hand to his mouth that he stops and looks at Draken.

He smiles a toothy grin at him and offers him the hand, willing to share some of the mushed-up cake.

"Dada!"

And just like that, June 25th becomes one of Draken's most favorite dates in the world.

Chapter 10: X

Chapter Text

🧸Infancy🧸

1. Draken isn't indifferent to children like some people—whomever (literally no one because no one cares)—may think. He likes the little scamps a lot, actually.

He's had a serious crush on Emma ever since they were kids, and now that they're in a relationship, he's thought a lot about their future together.

They both want their own little scamps running around their home after they're married, but that's years away as Emma is currently overseas.

So, really, Draken honestly has nothing against children. He just doesn't know how to interact or take care of them.

But then Takemichi happened, and he had no choice but to learn fast.

He knew that caring for a small child would have its ups and downs, but the constant worrying over Takemichi's safety and the stress were like a slap to the face against the more tranquil and flowery deceptions he'd seen in some movies.

However, he doesn't regret any of it. Having Takemichi in his life wasn't planned, but he'll forever be grateful to his mother for leaving him at his shop and not at someone else's place.

2. Draken slowly brings the panda-themed pacifier to Takemichi's lips and keeps it hovering there for a few seconds.

Nothing happens, and he briefly wonders if the articles online lied about the time a baby can use a pacifier, before Takemichi suddenly opens his mouth, leans his head forward a bit, and takes the nipple.

His cheeks move up and down in a really cute way, and Draken can't help but pick up his phone to record him as he suckles away.

'So adorable,' he thinks, zooming in on Takemichi's face.

He'll have to upgrade his memory card soon if he wants to take more pictures and videos.

🧸Age: One🧸

3. Takemichi waddles happily over to Draken with a closed fist and a four-teeth smile.

"What's in there, Michi?" Draken asks, staring at his balled hand. He can see an orange thing peeping out of it.

Takemichi comes to a stop in front of him and uncurls his tiny fingers to present him with a squashed cheeto. It's damp with saliva and covered in dirt, and Draken fights the urge to make a face.

The toddler is still holding his hand out with his contaminated offering, waiting for Draken to take it, and the man, not wanting to hurt his feelings, accepts the cheeto and puts it in his mouth.

He suppresses a grimace. "Thank you, Michi."

Takemichi gives him his best smile and runs off, and Draken immediately spits out the cheeto.

4. Mikey is in hysterics, screaming and crying on the floor like a person that's being attacked by a crazed assailant, and though Draken loves every second of it, the noise is starting to give him a headache.

Just a few minutes earlier, Takemichi had ran into the living room, bottomless and away from a frantic Emma, with his poop-filled diaper in his hands.

He was heading towards Draken with it but had accidentally dropped the loaded item onto Mikey who was sitting closest to him on the floor.

The mushy stuff landed on the midget's arm, and Mikey froze as if time had stopped, then lost his mind.

"Emma! Get it off! Get it off! It smells so bad! Get it off!"

"Mikey, just get up and go wash it off!"

"But it moves down my arm everytime I try to get up! Wahh! Please help me! I don't wanna die!"

"You're so dramatic! It's just baby poop!"

"Stop talking and help me!"

"No!"

Draken stares at the comedic scene for a minute, then shakes his head and walks away from the two with Takemichi in his arms.

He heads to the Sano's bathroom to clean his kid up.

🧸Age: Two🧸

5. It's finally the day Draken and Emma were dreaming of since they were kids—the one where they tie the knot and become Mr and Mrs Ryuuguji.

They're standing in the church, before the priest and their invitees, staring lovingly into each other's eyes and holding hands.

Emma looks absolutely ethereal in her wedding dress, and Draken looks sharp in his tuxedo (both designed by a very proud Mitsuya).

They've always been able to turn heads, but today, they're shining more than ever.

It's silent in the church as the priest does the traditional custom of asking if there's anyone who is against the union of the bridge and groom, and just as they think that no one will object, Takemichi decides that things are going too smoothly for his liking and opens his mouth.

"No!" he yells, causing several people to gasp and turn their heads. He squirms out of the hold of Baji's mother and runs toward the altar before she can snatch him back.

Draken and Emma, now tense thanks to his objection, watch as he trips over his own feet, then get up just as quickly to continue charging at them.

"No! No! No! No!" He runs unto Emma's wedding dress, marring the bottom of the expensive fabric with his dirty shoes, and reaches up to separate her and Draken's hands.

Emma feels a pang in her chest.

Perhaps she misunderstood Takemichi's behavior towards her and he actually dislikes her?

Before her thoughts can further spiral, however, the toddler turns to her and lifts his arms up to be held, lips pulled into a pout.

The Priest snorts, and after a moment, everyone else expresses their trepidation, now turned to amusem*nt, in some way.

Emma smiles, relieved, and picks Takemichi up.

He's a very affectionate child who sometimes gets jealous when he's being left out, so it's no wonder he couldn't sit still upon seeing the couple holding hands without inviting him to join them.

The ceremony continues smoothly, with Takemichi sitting comfortably in Emma's arms, that is, until the time for the kiss.

Hinata has to carefully unclaw Takemichi's fingers from Emma's hair and quickly take him outside with Chifuyu to calm down all of the kicking and screaming.

All in all, it's definitely a ceremony to remember.

And later at the reception, Takemichi gives his own incoherent speech of congratulations to the newly weds and sneezes on the cake.

6. Draken stares at the animal print shirt that Takemichi is wearing, or specifically, at the part of the shirt that is bulged due to a round, toddler belly.

He and Takemichi are at the mall having some father and son bonding time, shopping for some new clothes for the toddler, and surprisingly, it's going better than Draken envisioned.

Takemichi behaved well most of the time as he was put into different outfits that Draken picked out, and he looked adorable in all of them. It's just that in this one, he looks like he has a miniature beach ball sticking out of his abdomen, and though it's hilariously cute, the shirt clearly isn't the one.

It looked like it would fit well, but turns out it's a bit too tight.

Draken takes it off and puts it back on the metal hanger, and when he looks back to the side seconds later, Takemichi is unsurprisingly gone.

Having experienced this before, the man doesn't panic, but instead, does a quick search of the store until he finds him running around the coat section with another boy who looks his age, both of them shirtless and with their potbellies on display.

The kid's mom (he assumes that she is due to the resemblance) stands close by, watching them with amusem*nt, and Draken snorts and walks over to her.

Perhaps this will be Takemichi's first friend.

7. It's so cute, the way Takemichi snuggles into Emma's side as she reads him a story.

When the family of three moved into a bigger apartment, Emma bought enough children's books to fill the small shelf in Takemichi's room, and she's made it her mission to read one to him every day and night without fail.

She enjoys spending time with Takemichi and doting on him, and the boy absolutely loves the attention.

As she finishes reading a chapter of 'The Cat in the Hat', Takemichi's soft snores pull her focus away from the book.

Emma looks down at him—mouth slightly parted and left arm hugging her belly—and smiles, chest warm with love.

She loves this little man like he's her own flesh and blood.

🧸Age: Two And A Half🧸

8. "Why?"

Hakkai sighs and turns to his sister, eyes pleading for her help.

He loves Takemichi with all his heart, really, he does, but he can never see himself ever wanting kids if this is how they typically are on any good day.

If all of these 'why, why, why' questions were modeling gigs, he'd be booked and busy right now instead of babysitting a very curious and relentless Takemichi who has him close to frustrated tears.

Hakkai understands that it's only natural for children to want to know the answers to everything, but do they really need to ask "Why?" at least fifty million times in one day?

Yuzuha hums thoughtfully, like she's actually thinking the answer over and says, "Because playing with those kinds of rats is bad."

Takemichi furrows his brows together. "Why?"

"They can make us sick."

"Why?"

"Because they have a disease—that's a type of sick—called rabies."

"Why?"

"Uh," Yuzuha tilts her head to the side, "they just get it, like in fights with other animals and stuff."

"Why are they fighting other animals?"

"I guess it's 'cause they just don't like each other."

"Why?"

Yuzuha sighs. "That's just life, Takemichi."

"Why?"

Yuzuha meets Hakkai' eyes, now the one asking for help.

Hakkai traitorously looks away.

The siblings endure another ten minutes of questions until Hakkai excuses himself from the room to make a phone call to Draken.

"Hey, is everything okay?" the man asks, voice sounding a bit far away. He's probably still buying equipment for his shop.

"No. Takemichi asks a lot of questions."

Draken snorts. "I know. Now you know how it feels."

"Yes, and I'm sorry for doubting you, man. I don't know how you do it."

Hakkai shifts his weight from foot to foot. "Anyway, I'm calling to remind you that there's an hour and...," he checks his watch, "forty-three minutes left. Please make it less if possible."

A snicker comes through the phone. "Just one hour of babysitting a two-year-old and you're already fraying at the seams. Pathetic."

"We just can't do it, man. Do you know how many times he's asked me and Yuzuha "why" in the past hour?"

"At least 3,000?"

"Feels like a million! Please, Draken, I'm begging you! Save us!"

Draken chuckles. "Fine, I'll be there soon. Endure it for another thirty minutes."

"Thank you! Thank you!"

9. "You've gotta eat your vegetables Takemichi," Draken argues, weary.

They've been going at this for the past fifteen minutes.

"No!"

"Yes."

"No!"

"How about some fruit, then?"

"No!"

"Don't tell me no."

Takemichi puckers up his lips challengingly. "No."

"Well, if you don't want to eat, go pack your toys in their bin."

"Don't wanna!"

"Take-michi."

"No!"

"Ta-"

"No! No! No! No!"

"Michi!"

He starts screaming to drown out Draken's voice, and Draken thinks that he's definitely going to ground him for this when he's older.

The brat.

10. Takemichi is spending the day with his uncles Chifuyu and Kazutora at the pet shop.

Chifuyu gently lifts Peke J, the black cat that he, Kazutora and Baji share, and brings him over to Takemichi who is sitting on the ground, rubbing the coat of a cute, brown rabbit.

One thing about Takemichi that Chifuyu really loves is the child's ability to connect with animals and be gentle when playing with them. He's seen a lot of kids be rough with the little creatures, including their own pets, but Takemichi, even though he's still so young, always tries his best to be careful.

Chifuyu sets down Peke J and steps back to watch as Takemichi leaves off petting the rabbit to hug the feline to his small chest.

Loving the attention, Peke J snuggles into his warmth, and Chifuyu coos and takes his phone out of his apron to snap a few pictures.

"They're bestfriends. You really can't convince me otherwise," says Kazutora, showing up behind his friend from seemingly out of nowhere and startling him.

Chifuyu manages to hold onto his phone and gives him the stink eye. "You need to stop sneaking up on me like that."

Kazutora huffs. "And you need to be more aware of your surroundings."

Chifuyu kisses his teeth and turns back to Takemichi and Peke J. "Can you blame me, though? They're so cute."

"I agree though I've gotta say that it's all thanks to Takemichi. Peke J is kinda ugly."

Chifuyu rolls his eyes. "You're just saying that because he rejected your gift and proceeded to ignore you."

"It was the best plush toy in the store!"

"If that's your definition of "best", it's no wonder Peke J hates you."

They bicker back and forth some more before they get interrupted by Takemichi's excited, high pitched voice.

"I got Peke J a toy!" the child beams. "It's in my bag!"

Chifuyu crouches to Takemichi's level and smiles. "Is that so?"

Takemichi nods his head vigorously. "Can I give it to him, please?"

"Of course."

Moments later, Chifuyu comes back, completely amused, with the same exact plush toy Kazutora bought for the cat.

The men exchange glances, and the toy is handed to Takemichi. They then wait, tense, for the cat's most likely rejection.

Except it never comes.

Because, much to the men's surprise, Peke J accepts Takemichi's gift with glee and starts playing around the room with it, the child hot on his heels and laughing.

Kazutora and Chifuyu look at each other again.

"Damn, I guess he really does hate you."

11. "Aunt Yumi's gonna go BOOM!"

Draken swallows his food and lifts a brow. "Oh? And why's that?"

"She's fat, and her tummy's this big!" Takemichi spreads his arms wide apart to show just how big, but of course, it's exaggerated. "She'll go BOOM!"

Inupi sputters from the other end of the room and fake coughs into his elbow to hide his laugh.

Draken rolls his eyes. "She's having a baby, Takemichi."

"A baby?" the boy repeats, eyes wide with interest.

"Yes."

"So she won't blow up?"

Inupi fake coughs again.

"No, Takemichi. She won't blow up."

"Oh."

Takemichi thinks about this new piece of mind-blowing (haha) information for a minute before asking, "How did the baby get in her tummy?"

Inupi laughs out loud now, and Draken groans.

12. "sh*t!"

Draken and Inupi look in Takemichi's direction and then do a double take.

"Takemichi? Did you just say something?"

Said child turns around to look at his dad, nods his head, then turns back around to his art book.

Draken blinks, dumbfounded. He exchanges glances with Inupi before abandoning his tools and getting up to interrogate his kid.

"You know, you're not supposed to say that word."

"What word?" Takemichi asks, blue eyes round and innocent.

"The one you just said."

"sh*t?"

Draken cringes but nods. "Yes. Please don't say it again."

The boy frowns. "Why not?"

"It's a bad word, that's why."

"But Uncle Baji said it."

Draken refrains from swearing and dragging his hand down his face. 'Of course he learned it from that dumb dog!' he thinks, annoyed.

"That's because Uncle Baji is mentally ill, meaning he's sick up here." Draken points at his head. "You don't wanna be like him."

Takemichi thinks it over and not wanting to get head sick like his uncle, agrees. "Okay!"

Draken smiles and ruffles his already unruly curls. "Thanks, kiddo."

At least thirty minutes go by without anymore cuss words being spewed into the air, but it doesn't go beyond thirty minutes because Draken and Inupi learn that "ass" had also been added to Takemichi's vocabulary.

Baji just might turn up dead in some random alleyway during the week.

13. "Takemichi," Draken starts.

"We have something to tell you," Emma continues, hand on her belly.

The boy blinks at them to go on as he kicks his feet against the armchair.

"You're going to be a big brother."

Takemichi's face lights up. "Really?" He jumps off the chair and hurries over to them.

Emma nods, tearing up. "Yes, you're going to have a little sister."

Takemichi basks in this reality for a moment before looking between Draken and Emma. "Is the stork gonna bring this baby in a basket too?"

Emma stares at him, a little confused at first, until she recalls the story that Draken had told her about Yumi, and she snorts.

Draken playfully nudges her with his elbow.

"Yes," he says, all serious like he's telling the truth and nothing but the truth, "it is."

🧸Age: Three🧸

14. 𝘚𝘯𝘢𝘱!

There goes another picture from another angle.

It's Takemichi's first day of preschool, and Emma is obsessed with him in his uniform.

His knee-length pants and airy shirt go so well with his long socks and bucket hat, not forgetting the little, shiny shoes. And Emma is practically melting through the floorboards right now, overwhelmed by the utter cuteness.

'This needs to be framed!' she muses, snapping her 12th picture. 'This needs to be framed!'
.
.
.
School is over and Emma just picked Takemichi up.

The boy is babbling on about the fun things he'd done on his first day, like coloring, building legos, nap time, and so on, and especially about some "pink girl" named Senju.

"Pink girl?" Emma echoes, confused.

"Mhn!" Takemichi hums. "Her hair's so pink and soft! She's really pretty!"

Emma chuckles. "Oh."

They stop at an ice-cream parlor on the way home, and as Takemichi messily downs his strawberry ice-cream, Emma snaps thirteen more pictures of him for the day, mumbling to herself that at least one of them needs to be framed.

15. Can I have a snack please, mama?"

Emma shakes her head, remaining firm when it comes to Takemichi's diet. "No, you need to eat your vegetables first."

"But they're yucky!"

"Really? That's too bad. How are you going to get strong, then, hmm?"

"I can beat people up like uncle Baji!" the child says, raising his arms to show off his non-existent buff. "He said it makes him strong!"

Emma clenches her fork but smiles for Takemichi. She knows exactly who will be getting beaten up later.

Being seven months pregnant won't stop her from smacking Baji upside the head.

16. In the month of November, on a chilly, autumn day, baby Hana is brought into the world, screaming and crying her little lungs out.

When she comes home from the hospital, Takemichi, probably the one most eager to meet her, immediately abandons his conversation with Hinata to run over to Emma.

He puts his hands up, silently asking for permission to hold her, and Emma chuckles.

"Hello to you, too."

"Hi!" Takemichi wiggles his fingers, prodding her to hurry up and hand over the baby, but Draken grabs him by the middle and takes him over to the sofa.

"Hey!"

"You need to sit first."

"Why?"

"So you won't accidentally drop her on the floor."

"...Okay."

Once he's comfortable, Emma gently places Hana into his arms, and Takemichi stares at her for long time, marveling at the sight of his new baby sister.

He leans over and kisses her on the forehead, making Emma and Hinata let out aw's at the display of affection, and then looks up at Draken.

The man believes that Takemichi is going to say something sweet, since it's of his character to be gentle and loving, but instead the child surprises him by saying,

"Please get her off."

🧸Age: Four🧸

17. Draken is having the best sleep he's had all week when something heavy lands on his stomach, waking him up with a start and knocking the air out of his lungs.

He wheezes as the thing rolls off him to allow him some respite, and once he can breathe a little better, he turns to see that it's Takemichi.

"Takemichi!" he croaks. "Please don't ever do that again!"

The four-year-old mutters an apology, then something else.

"What's that?"

"Said 'm hungry."

Draken rubs at his eyes and slowly sits up. "Already? What time is it?"

Takemichi shrugs, pouting. "I dunno, but I'm hungry."

Draken picks up his phone from beside his pillow and turns it on to check the time. The screen reads 5:30PM.

"Oh, sh*t!" he utters, surprised that he's slept for so long. He meant to lie down on the bed beside Takemichi until he fell asleep, but he got carried away.

"You said a bad word!" the boy shrieks, looking at him like he's just killed Peke J. "I'm telling!"

Draken blinks, confused, then swears internally. "Sorry, I didn't mean it."

"Liar! You're bad! You're not 'spose to cuss!"

"It was an accident, Takemichi. I'm sorry. Besides, I'm an adult. I can say it if I want."

Takemichi wrinkles the space between his brows and points to himself. "So I can say it when I'm an adult?"

"I guess."

"Okay..."

Silence.

"Will I really be a bad boy if I say it before I'm an adult?"

Draken thinks of what to say to both end this discussion and dissuade Takemichi from becoming a miniature Baji. He needs to prepare him something to eat.

"Yes. The monster under your bed will come out and bite off your lips while you sleep, too."

Takemichi stares at his dad, horrified, then promptly bursts into tears, and Draken mentally berates himself for saying that of all things.

18. Mikey was gone for five minutes (five, literal minutes!) to begrudgingly help his sister put away the groceries he'd brought, when Takemichi came out of his room and sipped his beer.

Or more like chugged it since he drank half the bottle!

Okay, Mikey is exaggerating. It was only about three mouthfuls before he got caught (at least according to Takemichi), but with a father like Draken, who still has Mikey on his 'disgraceful people' list with Baji, he might as well be dramatic because Draken will exaggerate things himself anyway.

Mikey can already hear the conversation.

"First, you tried to suffocate him—"

"I didn't know babies couldn't eat marshmallows! And nothing happened to him anyway—"

"Then you dropped him and broke his limbs!"

"Stop making things up!"

"And now you've turned him into a drunk!"

"Hey!"

"There's no way you're ever babysitting him!"

"Ken-chin! Why are you‐"

"How many times do I need to tell you to stop calling me that? Are you hard of hearing?"

And then they'll go on and on until Emma tells them to shut up.

Mikey knows not to take his friend's hyperboles to heart, but it still annoys him how Draken and Emma 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘗𝘢𝘩-𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯 aren't even wrong for forbidding him from babysitting.

Like imagine screwing up enough that you get lumped together with someone as degenerate as Baji Keisuke. It's like he's cursed or something!

Anyway, Mikey is stewing in his own distress, even though Emma's already reassured him that Takemichi will be fine, because he knows that he's not really off the hook.

At this rate, he'll finally get to babysit Takemichi again when he's 11 and Hana, when she's 10.

"Ugh!"

19. Takemichi puts his hands on his eyes for a few seconds and then opens them like a window.

"Peek-a-boo!"

Hana squeals.

"Peek-a-boo!"

She giggles.

If there's anything Takemichi loves most when it comes to spending time with his sister, it's either helping her eat or playing their favorite games.

Hana is always the happiest when they play Peek-a-Boo together, and it really makes Takemichi feel like he's a good big brother for making her smile and laugh so much.

20. "Can we get a pet?" Takemichi smiles his most brilliant smile. "Please?"

Draken huffs, amused. "Can you even take care of a pet?"

Takemichi nods his head fervently, comically looking like one of those bobblehead dolls.

"And what exactly do you know about taking care of pets?"

"Well, you gotta feed 'em and pet 'em and...and bathe 'em." He thinks about what else to say. "And take them to see the pet doctor!"

"Yes," Draken agrees, pleased. "And the doctor is called a veterinarian."

He knows that Takemichi will struggle to pronounce the word, but that's why he said it. A Takemichi struggling to say big words correctly is a very adorable Takemichi.

"Vegetarian!"

Draken stifles a laugh. It's just so cute!

"Close enough." He shakes his head fondly. "Anyway, the answer is no."

Takemichi visibly deflates.

"But."

He perks up again, hopeful.

"You can get one when you turn five. That's five months away. You think you can wait that long?"

Takemichi beams and nods, practically vibrating with excitement. "Yes, yes, yes!"

"Well, then wait, but you gotta be on your best behavior too." Draken smirks. "You have to eat your vegetables."

"Eww!" The child throws his head back. "I don't wanna!"

Draken snorts.

If there's anything Takemichi has a problem with, it's his vegetables. He only wants to eat junk and ice-cream all the time, forcing him and Emma to have to constantly find new ways to trick him into eating healthily.

It's a bit of a nightmare, but this here is just the perfect opportunity to remedy it.

"I'm serious, Michi. No vegetables, no pet."
.
.
.
.
Five months later, Takemichi gets the pet—a small, furry, energetic white cat from the Baji trio's pet shop.

He gives it the name Puddy Tat (Kazutora's 'brilliant' idea), and all Draken can think about is Takemichi's fascinating determination throughout the months leading up to the purchase of the animal.

He'd never seen such a small child eat so much spinach in his life.

But all in all, both sides got what they wanted, and Takemichi doesn't downright hate the idea of eating vegetables anymore.

21. "You smell!"

The chattering in Mitsuya's living room immediately dies down at the outburst, and everyone turns to look in Takemichi and Peh-yan's direction.

Everyone's been wanting to meet up and catch up for months now, and since it's Mitsuya's fifth anniversary as a successful designer, they all agreed to gather at his place to have a humble celebration.

"What?" Peh asks, taken aback. The music is the only sound in the background.

"Your foot! It smells!"

Someone, probably Inupi or Pah-chin, snickers, and Peh-yan rolls his eyes.

He looks at his sock covered foot that's resting on his knee, noticing how it's at the same level of Takemichi's head, and gets an idea.

"My foot's really smelly, am I right?"

Takemichi nods, faced twisted in judgement and scorn, and opens his mouth to say something about washing one's feet, when Peh-yan swiftly rubs the bottom of his foot with his palm and presses his hand to his nose.

Takemichi yelps, shoves the offending hand away, and runs away screaming towards Draken.

Everyone gets a good laugh out of it.

🧸Age: Five🧸

22. It's Hana's birthday, and Takemichi is hell-bent on making her a special gift.

He got up early, at the literal crack of dawn (what normal five-year-old wakes up that early??) to terrorize Draken out of his much-needed rest so that they could draw birthday art together.

Draken didn't want to do it, but one look at Takemichi's manipulative, sad puppy, heartbroken face had him sighing and giving in—a losing battle before it even started.

They've been drawing for two hours straight at this point, and Draken is about to call it quits and pass out on the floor because he has no idea how Takemichi can be this active on such an early Saturday morning.

"Done!" Takemichi chirps, jumping to his feet.

'Finally!' Draken internally cheers, already thinking about the sleep they can catch up on, that is, if Takemichi wants to go back to bed after this.

"Is it good?"

He looks down at the drawing being presented to him by small hands and notes that he needs to cut Takemichi's finger nails later.

"Yes, it's great." A lie, of course.

It looks just like the typical drawing of a child—chaotic, comical, and ugly, but Draken would rather get shot three times in the chest than ever say that.

He studies the work and realizes that it's an odd-looking bear being ridden by what's supposed to be a girl with an oversized head.

Draken assumes that it has something to do with Hana's obsession with teddy bears.

"Lovely," he says, genuinely complimenting it this time. "Excellent."

It's the thought that counts.

"You think so?" Takemichi asks bashfully, looking down at his feet.

Draken's heart melts. "I know so. You're the next Picasso."

Takemichi looks up. "Pi...?" He frowns cutely. "Pi... Who?"

Draken chuckles. "Nevermind. Anyway, your sister will love your gift."

23. Emma doesn't know whether she should cry or scream, but she just might do both.

Because she stepped away for ten minutes to put the cookies in the oven and strain the pasta for dinner, only to come back to a total mess.

Hana is fully covered in powder, her cosmetics are all over the place, the wall has lipstick, Draken's shirts are on the floor, and Takemichi is squeezing hand lotion into one of her recently bought stilettos.

She takes in a deep breath and makes her presence known, then starts cleaning up the mess, all the while threatening the kids with no ice-cream for a month.

24. Draken is no fool.

He knew that by choosing to raise Takemichi, he'd have to someday answer some very uncomfortable questions, like this one: "Why do we look different?"

It started with Draken going to Takemichi's school to pick him up and finding him in a sour mood. He looked like he was on the brink of tears, and things only got worse when Draken asked him what was wrong.

At first, he thought that maybe he'd gotten physical with one of the other kids again, but Takemichi was unscathed and didn't look disheveled enough for a fight, and when asked, even his teacher was clueless.

She said that Takemichi was his usual, energetic self all day long and only became sulky after school was over. She tried questioning him, but just like with Draken, he refused to say anything.

Now the duo are in the back room of Draken and Inupi's shop, sitting on the worn, leather sofa, facing each other.

"Takemichi, please talk to me."

Takemichi sighs and unfolds his arms. He slowly peels away at a piece of wrinkly leather.

"It was after the bell rang. Mina threw up out of nowhere, and Miss Fujita told us to stay in our seats, then went to the washroom with Mina to clean up the vomit."

Takemichi swallows and frowns. "I was talking to Senju when some kids came up to us to be mean. They started saying bad stuff about us and then they..."

Takemichi's lower lip wobbles. "They said Senju's big brother Takeomi is a junkee and that I probably got picked up from a dumpster 'cause I don't look anything like you or mama."

He's crying at his point, and Draken feels so angry and heartbroken, he wants nothing more than to hug Takemichi and protect him from the world. That, and to seriously fight some five-year-olds.

"I was gonna hit them, Senju too, but Miss Sato came to keep the class company until Miss Fujita came back."

Takemichi ends his story with a sniff, and Draken slowly exhales and inhales, thinking of the right response to this.

"Michi," he starts. The child watches him like a hawk, "you didn't come from a dumpster. I...found you in a basket outside my shop one night. Your mom...she, uh, she couldn't take care of you and asked me to do it."

"So...we're not related." His voice sounds so small and pained. He looks Draken in the eyes. "She didn't want me?"

Draken flicks Takemichi lightly on the forehead. "Hey, that's not what I said. I said your mom couldn't take care of you anymore, so she brought you to someone else who could help—me."

He pokes his side affectionately, just the way he likes. "Besides, you have me, your mama and Hana. We all want you. It doesn't matter how you look. We love you, Takemichi."

Takemichi peers at him through his wet eyelashes. "You sure?"

"I'm sure."

"You won't get tired and get rid of me?"

Dang, is there any way to legally fight five-year-olds? Draken feels horrible.

"I promise, Takemichi. We'll never give up on you, even if you turn into a shark one day," he pinches Takemichi's nose, making him giggle, "or don't listen when we tell you to behave. There's nothing you can do to make us stop loving you."

Takemichi thinks about his words for what feels like forever, then suddenly holds his little finger out

"Pinky promise?" he asks, voice filled with so much hope.

Draken holds out his own little finger and links it with Takemichi's. "Pinky promise. Cross my heart and hope to die."

🧸Age: Six🧸

25. "Michi!"

"Hana!"

"Michi!"

"Yes!"

"Help me! I'm dying!"

"I'm coming!" Takemichi runs to his sister, scared that she might've gotten hurt, only to find her struggling to tie her shoe laces.

She smiles up at him and lifts her leg, wobbling in the unsteady position. "Tie this! I can't do it!"

Takemichi gives her a very unimpressed look.

26. "Say cheese!"

Draken, Emma, Takemichi and Hana all smile into Yazuha's polaroid for a New Year's picture as the fireworks go off in the background.

"Cheese!"

𝘚𝘯𝘢𝘱!

"How does it look?" Emma asks, fixing her bangs.

"Great," Yazuha says, smiling contentedly at the way the picture came out. "You guys look great."

She brings the camera back to her face. "Now pose for another one."