Chapter Text
Makoto still remembered the day Gou sat him down and told him she wanted to start a family. He remembered the day she called him at school to tell him they conceived, her voice so full of joy he could cry (he almost did). He could still remember with startling clarity the day Minoru was born (how could he ever forget?), his offended cry silenced the moment he was placed in his mother’s arms. Not once throughout his son’s childhood did Makoto think it would one day all be over, that one day his little boy wouldn’t be so little. He was too busy enjoying every second, delighting in each new accomplishment, in each word learned, in each star given at school, in every “I love you, Papa” and every request for just one more bedtime story.
Makoto had been an early bloomer- the first of his friends to experience a change in his voice, first of his friends to buy a razor. Now, as he watched his son dutifully help his daughter with her homework, he realized Minoru was quickly approaching that stage in his life.
“No, no, Maiha, you take this number here and carry it over,” Minoru rasped, his voice cracking. He blushed, but Maiha seemed to take it in stride. Makoto knew Maiha adored her brother. She wouldn’t dare risk upsetting him with teasing.
There was no denying that Minoru was growing up. At thirteen he already reached Makoto’s shoulder- if he kept growing like his father, Makoto knew he would likely reach six feet by his first year of high school.
Gou was the first to bring up the issue.
“Look what your son brought home today,” she tossed a bag full of chocolates on their bed. There were pink envelopes littering the pile.
“My son?” Makoto felt his eye twitch.
“He said a girl confessed to him today too,” Gou raised an eyebrow.
“A girl? Already?” He was a little hurt that he was hearing this from Gou and not his son. “He didn’t tell me anything about it.”
“He probably didn’t think it was a big deal. I asked him about it; it’s what you have to start doing with him. He’s getting to be that age, you know.”
“I guess so.” Makoto looked thoughtfully at the bag. “He got a lot of chocolates. What are the envelopes?”
“He said they’re more confessions,” Gou gave her husband a sly look. “I have a feeling his father had similar issues.”
“And his mother didn’t?”
“Not the point. Did you notice his voice?”
Makoto sighed. “Yes.”
“He’s growing up, Makoto. He’s not a little baby anymore, is he?” She sounded almost sad. With a soft smile, Gou reached for her husband, and let him pull her into a hug. “You’re going to have to talk to him about this.”
“I will?”
She pulled back and gave Makoto a look. “Who else is he going to talk to?”
“Well, I talked to my dad, but Ren came to me. He said it was less embarrassing. Maybe Minoru wants to talk to someone else too.”
“But you two are so close!”
“Gou,” Makoto deadpanned. “He didn’t even want to tell me about the girl that confessed to him.”
“True.”
He groaned into her hair. Gou smiled, sympathetic. “Well, we have a son and a daughter. Eventually, it will be my turn.”
He held up a hand, horrified. “One child at a time, please.”