Fic for a Pic- Childhood
Fic 2 of 3 today!
Title: Because everything’s under control
Category: Childhood
Rating: PG
Words: 2,236
Pic:
You have got to be kidding...
Tuti had been staring at Takashi’s message for five minutes and still he couldn’t formulate a reply that didn’t degenerate into foul language and long-winded complaints.
Takashi must be joking.
The rattling movement of the train made him sway where he stood, one hand holding onto the metal bar about level with his head and the other cradling his phone. The assorted charms dangled from between his fingers, the tiny Ichimaru occasionally stabbing at his knuckles whenever the train made a sharper turn than usual.
He’s got to be winding me up; this is Takashi after all, no way would he forget something like this.
Tuti shifted his stance a little as the train pulled into the next stop, hunching his shoulders as he continued to frown at the illuminated screen and the brief, apologetic message it was displaying. All around him the salary men, housewives and school kids bustled on or off the train with their newspapers, shopping bags and friends in hand. Unlike the men in their dull suits and the teenagers in their school uniforms, Tuti was wearing an uncoordinated ensemble of yellow flip-flops, a white t-shirt scrawled with incomprehensible English and jeans. If Takashi could have seen him, he’d probably chastise him for topping it all off with their latest bag and a flower-print cap, but then if Takashi had his way he wouldn’t be seeing Tuti today, or for the rest of the week.
Tuti’s phone beeped once at him, the sound lost amongst the chatter of the high-schoolers nearby.
Glaring at the contraption for interrupting his gloomy line of thought, Tuti opened up the new message.
Are you sulking? - Takashi x
Tuti opened his mouth to say that he most definitely wasn’t and then remembered where he was.
The phone beeped again.
You are sulking, aren’t you. Tuti, stop being such a predictable ass and say something. Takashi x
As tempting as it was to just let his boyfriend stew by remaining silent, Tuti hit the reply button.
Why would I sulk about being stood up? After all, it’s not like we didn’t see each other on Saturday. Oh wait, we didn’t, cause monkey-boy just had to persuade you to go out with him. - Tuti P.S. I’m not predictable.
Letting out a long breath as his phone screen showed the message flying off to Takashi, Tuti adjusted his hold on the rail and waited for the irritable response he’d undoubtedly provoked.
He didn’t have to wait long.
Kinda hard to stand you up when I’m warning you in advance, idiot. And don’t drag Gakkun into this, you’re the one who assumed I’d be free Saturday without checking with me first. Takashi x P.S. You are predictable. And you sulk more than a teenage girl.
Trying not to grind his teeth together, Tuti replied.
I didn’t assume, I snuck a look at your schedule, if you can’t keep it more up to date that’s not my fault. And you’re sidetracking - I haven’t seen you in over a week, if we don’t spend today together then when’s the next chance we’re gonna get? - Tuti x
The train doors behind Tuti slid open just as the message flew away, forcing him to move further down the carriage as a gaggle of female foreigners got on. By the time he’d worked his way far enough down the train that the babble of giggling English was lost in the general hum of train noises and conversation, Tuti had his answer.
Look, I am sorry Tuti, do I need to repeat that? But I see Rin-chan less than I see you, and I promised my brother I’d take her today. We’ll figure something out for this weekend, promise. Takashi xxx
Tuti frowned afresh at the message, all concise finality, and wished Takashi could just be a little more selfish when it came to how he spent his rare days off. But before he could type a reply, another message popped up.
I miss you too, idiot xxxxxx
It was wrong of Tuti to blame his idea on such a short email, he knew it then even as the smirk spread across his face, but that didn’t stop him from jumping off the train at the next stop and catching the next Yamanote back to Akiba.
***
You have got to be kidding...
When Rin had pointed out of the window and cried, “Uncle Takashi, Uncle Takashi, there’s a superhero in the street!”, Takashi had put it down to a child’s overactive imagination. When his doorbell had rung a few minutes later, Takashi had assumed that an item of post had been misdirected and one of his neighbours was returning it. When he’d pulled the door open and taken a look outside, Takashi had found himself fervently hoping he was seeing things.
He wouldn’t... he hasn’t... not even Tuti would do something this stupid, would he?
Wriggling past Takashi, Rin pointed out the door and crowed delightedly, ‘See! I told you I’d seen a superhero!’ because there was indeed a superhero (of sorts) standing outside Takashi’s front door. No, not standing, posing. Posing with gloved hands on his denim covered hips and his head turned to one side to show off his manly profile that had been daubed with sparkly, gold stage make-up. Posing with a golden cape fluttering from his shoulders, a t-shirt stretched tight across his chest with a gaudy initial dead centre, and his hair spiked up with far more enthusiasm than Takashi had seen for months. Posing with an assortment of bags at his feet and a grin on his face that made something within Takashi feel warm, even as his conscience wanted to yell at his boyfriend for not listening to him.
He has got to be winding me up...
‘Uncle Takashi, can we invite him in?’ Rin was pulling on Takashi’s t-shirt, her expression so innocent that Takashi fleetingly considered whether she was in on the scheme. At least until he reminded himself that she was only seven.
‘I don’t know, you mum doesn’t like you talking to strangers...’
Takashi’s objections couldn’t get much further though, because with an excited bounce more often seen on stage, Tuti sprang from one pose into another. It was a crouched pose that put him on eye-level with Rin, his face illuminated by a wide, fixed grin and one hand raised in a salute of sorts that consisted of two fingers making a “v” right beside his eyes... Takashi couldn’t stop the groan of recognition just as Tuti announced, ‘Ohayo! I’m the incredible Randy, the Golden Ninja!’
Which was when Rin broke into spontaneous applause.
‘Tuti -’ Takashi began, as Rin pounced on his boyfriend, wanting to look at his t-shirt and pull on his cape and giggle at his make-up all at once.
‘Nyah, you weren’t listening!’ Tuti whined, his voice pitched just a fraction higher than usual. ‘I’m not Two-tea, what sort of name is that anyway, I’m Raaaaa-n-dy. Although you can call me Randy-sama,’ the addition was accompanied with a wink directed solely at Takashi.
‘Randy-sama, Randy-sama, are you staying to play with us?’ Rin was tugging on Tuti’s cape again, pulling it crooked and making Tuti look like a very dishevelled superhero.
‘Of course! Randy is here to brighten your boredom, so won’t you persuade your grumpy uncle to let Randy inside?’
Rin immediately spun round, part of Tuti’s cape still clutched in her hands, ‘Uncle Ta-ka-shi...’
‘Fine, we’ll let Randy-sama come in,’ Takashi conceded, trying to maintain his frown even as Rin crowed her delight and Tuti rose out of his crouch.
‘Thank you, Mr Treasure Hunter.’ Tuti’s grin was definitely not child-friendly as he stepped past Takashi into the apartment, nor was the way he used the movement to brush against his boyfriend’s body, but Takashi was inclined to forgive the gold-covered idiot. At least until he looked outside and realised Tuti had left him to bring half a dozen bags inside.
***
That had been four hours ago and since then Takashi had found himself both relieved that his boyfriend had decided to intrude and exasperated by Tuti’s habit of bringing chaos in his wake.
The abrupt appearance of “Randy-sama” had initially made life easier, allowing Takashi to leave Tuti and Rin cross-legged on his floor while he washed up and threw his laundry into the machine. Tuti, never being one to waste an audience, had spent a full half an hour regaling Rin with the tale of Randy’s childhood, ninja-apprenticeship and eventual conversion to all things kira-kira, somehow managing to incorporate impressions, quite a bit of leaping about and face-painting into the story. All of which meant that when Takashi was able to give his niece his full attention again, she had gold stars painted on both cheeks and a rapt expression of awe underneath.
‘Uncle Takashi, you never told me you knew someone as amazing as Randy-sama!’ had been the girl’s response, a comment that Tuti had then milked for all he was worth until Takashi had to smack him on the back of the head when Rin wasn’t looking.
What had been less welcome though was Tuti then deciding that they needed cookies and, when Takashi’s cupboards were discovered to be lacking this vital food group, announcing that “Randy will have to make some then; Rin-chan must not be deprived!” Of course, ingredients had to then be purchased and some part of Takashi’s dignity had shrivelled within him as he’d walked into the nearby store with Tuti in his haphazard “Randy” get-up, carrying Rin on his back. They’d made it back without giving too many elderly people heart attacks, only for Takashi to remember that he’d always been warned not to let Tuti cook, although he couldn’t recall why until a few minutes later when he was hanging out of the window in a desperate attempt to breathe clean air.
Rin, however, had been delighted with Tuti’s attempt at burning down Takashi’s apartment block, not realising that plunging a flaming cape into a sink full of left-over washing up water wasn’t a normal part of the process. She even ate the singed cookies without complaint, devouring three while Takashi was telling a grinning Tuti off and another two while Tuti wailed about the injustice of it all and how Takashi didn’t understand him. Takashi’s answer had been that he didn’t want to understand a full grown man who’d chosen to kit himself out in such a weird outfit, but Tuti had just laughed it off with a “well it was the best I could do at short notice” before turning to one of the many bags he’d brought with him.
What Tuti had then produced had been a succession of toys and weird oddities, a hodgepodge of stuff from 100-yen stores and Animate and who knew where else, things that sparkled or beeped or that he could throw to Takashi and beg him to juggle with. The three of them had sprawled on the floor to play snap with Prince of Tennis playing cards and put together toys from the latest Rider series and hauled out some old t-shirts that had been lurking in the bottom of Takashi’s closet to paint on. Takashi had attempted to feed Rin proper food rather than cookies and she’d choked on it because Tuti wouldn’t stop making funny faces at her, so Takashi had made Tuti do the washing up whereupon Tuti had burst into song about the loss of his cape for all of twenty seconds before he started laughing.
And somewhere, in amongst all the silliness and mess, the day had slipped away from them. Takashi wasn’t sure now where it had gone, whether Tuti had wound the clock on when his back had been turned, or whether he just hadn’t been paying enough attention to every soggy, paint-splattered, crumb-covered minute. Tuti’s make-up had smeared long ago, there was glitter in his hair and his ruined cape had been discarded, and yet he was still there, sitting on the floor with Rin almost in his lap while he braided her hair, not complaining that she was squashing his long legs when she was too busy giggling over The Incredibles. Takashi was sure he looked almost as messy, and that it’d take him (and Tuti) hours to clean up later once Rin had gone, and that they’d probably give up half way through and fall into bed together for all the kisses and caresses that they’d been intending to bestow on each other today. He was sure he’d oversleep in the morning, curse Tuti soundly for his snoring, or elbowing him in the back, or stealing the covers, trip over forgotten toys in the morning half-light and frown as Tuti laughed too loudly. Takashi was sure that tomorrow he’d say it had felt like he hadn’t had a day off, that Tuti had behaved like more of a kid than Rin, and that some small part of him would feel relief at not having to take his niece more often if it left his apartment, his life, his hair looking like this.
But right now, as he sat with his back against his bed, his head on Tuti’s shoulder and a milky cup of coffee in his hands, Takashi couldn’t think of any better way to spend his day off.