Sometime in the future...

[senselessness]

Himawari's crying was usually enough to make her doting father fly, an anxiety-inducing siren call that hit something primal in a part of his soul so deep he hadn't even known it was there--

But there on the stairs, directly in his way, was a different little damsel in distress, and she was not an obstacle he needed to overcome, she was not a problem he needed to solve, and if he kept saying this to himself he might believe it.

"Yukiko-chan, what's the matter?" Yukimura glanced up at the exact part of the ceiling that happened to be underneath his infant's crib and wondered why humans hadn't evolved X-ray vision.

"My tummy hurts."


"Still?" He was concerned. It'd been a couple of hours since she'd gone to lay down over it. He hadn't wanted to jump right to medicine, especially since it would have been somewhere in Bunta's boxes and crates, and he didn't trust himself to recognize the right one anyway.


"It's because I didn't have Hanabi to stay with me," she said, with the roughly the same conviction he'd had when he said he was going to go undefeated across all three years of middle school.

No, when he ordered his teammates to go undefeated.

She was going to be formidable if she took up sports.

"Did Daddy pack Hanabi up?" He'd seen pictures of the stuffed mouse Jackal gave her the day she was born, but no sign of it (her?) since he'd welcomed the Maruis into his home late last night. (Or was it early this morning? The commencement of Himawari's control over his life seemed to have negated his awareness of the passage of time.)


"When did you last see her, and where? Do you remember what box Daddy might have put her in? Or where he put the boxes?"

Yukiko just started up at him with a slowly crumpling face, and Yukimura might have said a few things Yukiko shouldn't repeat, but he knew damn well she'd immediately repeat them, probably to her brother, and he needed to calm her down after his barrage of questions clearly overstimulated her.

And he should have gotten Atobe to move in, because that bastard did have X-ray vision, he thought, as Himawari wailed again.

"Let's go look upstairs together," he said quickly, hoping against hope that Marui managed to get some of the kids' belongings upstairs by now. "I'll carry you," he added, assuming it would be faster and leave less risk of him trampling her in his need to get to Himawari, now.

He opened his arms and luckily she cooperated, and he forced himself not to groan because he'd had no idea she was this heavy and what if he needed to check Himawari's temperature, he was going to need a free arm, could he hold her with just one? At least he didn't have to choose which one... his athleticism was getting him up the stairs under the weight of an eight year old girl and he'd developed Mirage Mirror so he could use either hand for anything, right? Right.

There were crates between Himawari's and Yukiko's room, luckily, and Yukimura somehow, with Herculean strength, kicked it into Himawari's room so he split his attention between both girls.

"Now my ears hurt," said Yukiko, and Yukimura gave her a little squeeze.

"I'm sorry, honey."

"She needs a Hanabi too."

"Soon, soon," he murmured, shifting Yukiko, who, with the patience of a saint and not an elementary schooler, waited for him to look over Himawari frantically.

"What's the matter, darling?" he wondered out loud, unable to stop himself from hoping for an eloquent and detailed answer.

Comments

[volleygenius]

Once he's finished coughing from having the wind knocked out of him, Bunta sits up and indulges in a massive yawn. There's a crick in his neck and his lower back is sore. Throat is parched.

Pancakes. Kid needs food. Bunta pushes himself up, collects the mostly-empty glasses from the prior night, and starts walking for the kitchen with Keita hot on his tail.

"With the pillow top and strawberry!" Keita eagerly added.

"Right. Pancakes with whipped cream and strawberry. Banana too?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay. We remember pancakes take time to make, right? Do you want to wait for pancakes or do you want to eat something now?"

"PAAAANCAAAAAAAAAAAKES."

Bunta dumps the drink remnants down the sink and rinses the glasses. "I can't hear you when you're that loud! Try an indoor voice."

"PANCAKES PANCAKES PANCAKES PAAAAAAAAAAANCAAAAAKES!"

"Huh? What's that? Boiled spinach and natto you said?"

A little alarm bell goes off in Bunta's head as he hears Keita's voice transform into a whine teetering on tears. "Nooooooooooo, I want pancakes...!"

"Got it. Thanks for not yelling inside so I can hear you. Pancakes coming soon."

Without too much thought beyond that, he washes his hands and starts pulling ingredients for pancake batter. Might as well make enough for everyone!

When he notices Yukimura return with Himawari, he calls over his shoulder, "Hey, want pancakes with us? I can make something lighter too."

[senselessness]

"Papapapa," Himawari answers. Yukimura looks at her suspiciously.

Hopefully. But also, suspiciously.

"Are you big enough for pancakes?" he asks her, deciding that she probably wanted breakfast more than the devoted charioteer ferrying her around in his arms.

"Do you have time for pancakes?" he asked, after a moment of contemplation. Himawari, as usual, was less than forthcoming...

By the time it sank in that she couldn't answer him in sentences and he would be better served babytalking, he thought, she'd probably be graduating.

[volleygenius]

"Do you have time for pancakes?"

Three... two... one...

Marui's face falters. "Crap...!" And high-tails it up the stairs to Yukiko's room, where he pats her lightly on the shoulder until she wakes.

"We messed up. Past time for school-- up up!"

This, unfortunately, left an already fragile-from-hunger-and-teasing Keita standing alone and abandoned in the kitchen. No more pancakes??

That little thread of warning Bunta heard moments ago now fully unravels into a fit of tears and wailing.

"I waaaaaaaaaaaaant paaaaaaaaaaaaancaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaakes...!"

[senselessness]

Yukimura's eyes close, and he tries to hold Himawari in such a way that she doesn't--

But of course she joins in, with a heartfelt wail of sympathy.

"Paaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Quickly, quickly-- he doesn't have time to count to ten and he doesn't feel right about setting Himawari down while she wails so pitifully, but the cause is what has to be remedied right now, and Yukimura racks his brain for a pancake recipe that isn't forthcoming.

And Marui couldn't be kind enough to work from a mix.

Still, Yukimura just has to assure him of pancakes, right? He quickly gets Himawari settled in a high chair and looks up pancake recipes on his phone.

"We should have time for pancakes if we gets things started for your father," Yukimura tried. He quickly cracked an egg into a bowl. Things should be fine if he kept the wet and dry ingredients separate, right?

[volleygenius]

Once he's confident Yukiko is up for good, Bunta rushes back down the stairs and to the kitchen to find Yukimura Doing His Best. Sure got noisy down here.

"I told you, didn't I?" He says to Keita with just a slight edge of exasperation in his voice. "Pancakes take time. Try and wait a little."

Moving to the counter, he places a giant mixing bowl on top and measures out the flour into a sifter. Now that Keita's crying is in full swing, it isn't so easy for him to turn it off, so Bunta simply works through it. Trying to calm him down will make pancakes take longer, and sometimes a kid just has to cry it out. Sucks for their ears!

"Thanks-- we're gonna need three more of those!" He says to Yukimura as he starts sifting through another round of flour. "Five cups of milk after that."

Once the flour is sifted, he adds baking powder, salt, and sugar to the dry ingredients bowl.

[senselessness]

Yukimura obeys, his face rigid with the attempt not to betray his annoyance where Keita might notice it. He doesn't really seem to notice Yukimura's attempts to help, but Yukimura is fairly certain he'd notice any hint of negativity, and he still wants the Maruis to feel welcome.

(For some reason.)

Having a task helps. He can concentrate on that.

Yukiko stumbles into the room with her uniform on but hair unbrushed, and sits at the table, ignoring the crying baby and also Yukimura's daughter. Her earplugs were safe under her pillow, and she regretted it.

"Can you stop?"

[volleygenius]

"One and a half sticks of butter, melted," Bunta adds to Yukimura's wet ingredient instructions. Having finished the dry ingredients, he gets the vanilla extract and eyeballs out a drizzle into the milk and eggs.

Keita by now actually has been starting to wind down-- until his sister grouches at him and he, in all the glory the logic of a four-year-old can muster, fires back the wittiest comeback he can think of in defense through a pitiful screech.

"You stop...!"

"Hey, hey," Bunta warns from a few feet away. "Both of you, stop and take a breath."

[senselessness]

Yukimura has the butter in a pan and is just about to bless the quieting but then the little girl adds to it.

He hears a gasp of air and sees Yukiko take a breath and not give it back. Keita quickly copies her.

He glances at Marui, thinking that this cannot be something he taught them. This is childish innovation.

Himawari's calmed enough to just look curiously, and Yukimura doesn't want his peace bought by the children's faces turning blue.

"I need proof you can both still eat before I give over this butter," he says, a bit concerned.

[volleygenius]

Bunta didn't really mean for them to hold that breath, but he sees some accidental genius at work with it, so rolls with it. He mentally counts to six while watching them and breaks into a defeated grin.

"Ah! You both got me. Good job. Ok, who wants sprinkles on their pancakes?!"

"Meeee, meee!" Keita quickly calls out, his tiff with Yukiko and the upset that preceded it forgotten. Sprinkles!!!

[senselessness]

"Me!!" Yukiko only yells once, like a grown-up, but not too grown up for sprinkles, still.

This is the future, Yukimura thinks idly. And the present. Marui's always had an enviable ability to just roll with whatever happens to happen around him, and it's probably what's made him so close to his children. He has so much patience for them. Yukimura's felt a sudden sympathy for parents who terrify their children into submission, but it makes Marui the better person that he hasn't.

He sees a cue to put coffee on, however, thankful that he fell asleep before drinking enough to trigger a hangover.

"Mmmmee!" Himawari adds, earning herself a smile from her adoring parent.

[volleygenius]

Never lose sight of the goal, whatever it is for the moment. Stop the crying. Nip the brewing squabble in the bud. Change the mood. It's a simple mindset of present-tense pragmatism that Bunta can credit for his success.

His attention shifts to Himawari with her most recent vocalization, moving over to get a better look at her face (and honestly, how is anyone supposed to not be delighted watching a baby learning to talk?).

"Ohhh, you too? Good taste! But I think you'll like pancake better without for now."

"How come?" Keita asks as Bunta moves back to the ingredients, gives the pan a shimmy to move the melting butter around, and begins forming a well in the middle of the dry ingredients bowl.

"Hima-chan is still learning how to eat solid food. Pancake is big and soft, but sprinkles are small and hard. Trying to eat both at once could give her trouble. What do you think, Hima-Papa?"

[senselessness]

"Yukiko and Keita will get more sprinkles if she doesn't," he observes. He doesn't make a face at Marui for this new nickname he's come up with, but he isn't sure how he feels about it. The reality he's fine with; it's Marui cutesyfying him in front of people that makes him feel weird.

But they're children, and it shouldn't matter.

So he metaphorically smooths his ruffled feathers and settles into a chair near Himawari, watching Marui work. He's going to have to step up his game for her, isn't he? Cooking adequately was never a priority when he was skipping between airports.

"It won't be too hot for her, will it?" he can't help asking.

[volleygenius]

"It'll be fine once it's cut up enough," Bunta assures him. With the butter melted, he pours it in with the milk and eggs, stirring as he adds to distribute the heat evenly. Wouldn't do for those eggs to cook before they even had batter.

The wet ingredients then go into the pit in the middle of the dry ingredients, and he begins to fold it together.

"I'm making strawberry, banana, and whipped cream for Keita's. Anyone else?"

[senselessness]

"Chocolate chips!" Yukiko immediately calls for. She's enjoying the sudden lack of urgency. "On top of everything else."

Yukimura wonders idly if they even have chocolate chips... but then again, Marui did do the grocery shopping.

"Just banana for me," he says, figuring he might as well. "Plain for Himawari, but maybe she'll like a little banana by itself, too."

[volleygenius]

"Oh! That's my girl," Marui grins, almost disturbingly proud of this idea for even more sugar in breakfast.

Keita, immediately realizing his error, chimes in, "me too, me tooooooo!"

"Okay, okay." And offers a silent salute to Yukimura in acknowledgment of his request before turning around and--

Shit.

"Ah... Sorry. I didn't buy chocolate chips at the store. Yukiko, check the boxes in my room by the mini-fridge. There might be some in there. Be quick."

Meanwhile, Bunta sprays the pan, finishes mixing together the batter, and scoops a few dollops onto the surface. While they cook, he juggles preparation of whipping cream, strawberries, and banana. When the first batch comes off the heat, one small one goes onto its own plate and the other two are stacked with banana sliced over the top, then served to Yukimura. The end of the banana goes into a small dish and gets mashed with a spoon for Himawari, passed to Yukimura along with silverware for cutting up his and his daughter's cakes.

Keita eyes the pancakes longingly. "Daddy where's mine??"

"Up next, sport. Let's see if your big sister found any chips upstairs."

"Agghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I'm so hungryyyyy! They smell good!"

"Almost there."

Another batch goes into the pan while he cuts up another banana, a few strawberries, and finishes whipping the cream.

[senselessness]

Yukimura hides a smile behind his hand as Yukiko dashes like lightning for her chocolate, suddenly wide awake.

The smell of the pancakes frying alone is enough for him to think cooking at home more will be worth it. It would be nice to have Himawari think as highly of him as Yukiko and Keita do of their father. Nice if he can earn it.

He can at least start getting the banana into her system. Start with the familiar! Once she seems happy enough to stick her hand into the banana mash and... she's eating some of it, at least, and the floor is getting the rest... he takes a moment to cut up the pancakes.

"DADDY, WHICH BOX?" Yukiko suddenly hollers.

[volleygenius]

"HAH?? THE ONE WITH THE CHOCOLATE CHIPS IN IT!" He projects back, as though being helpful.

He flips the pancakes on the range to finish cooking.

"Keita, decision time. Do you want pancakes with no chocolate chips now, or do you want to wait to see if your sister finds them?"

"I WANT... CHOCK-A-CHIPS!"

"I hear you. We might not have any. How about one pancake with everything else while we wait and see?"

"YES PEAS."

"Roger that. Indoor voices for someone in the same room, remember!" He cheerfully reminds Keita and gets to work creating his plate, a couple of minutes later passing over a small fork and a plate of pancake already cut into bite-size pieces in a bed of whipped cream, the fruit and sprinkles scattered over the top.

While the next round of pancakes cooks, he grabs a paper towel and wipes up the banana mush.

"What do you think?" He asks Yukimura with a tip to the pancakes and his typical abundance of confidence. "Aren't they brilliant?"

[senselessness]

"Is your genius going unrecognized, Marui?" he asked, batting his eyelashes.

And, belatedly, cuts up his own now-room-temperature pancakes to taste.

"If you want to go fishing, ask Tezuka," he added, after swallowing. "But I hope you make pancakes tomorrow, too."

[volleygenius]

"That's cold," Bunta teases, wholly unfazed in his confidence. He should have expected as much from Yukimura; it was part of the man's magnetism, after all.

"Well, challenge accepted: tomorrow I'll make something even more delicious."