Work Text:
The first time Cougar came to visit, he hadn’t taken Maria with him. It was nearly a year after Will and Yamato had left the UK.
Thinking back on that, he probably should.
To be honest, the two of them –Cougar and Will, that is- had probably looked a little pathetic, both frantically trying to decide whether to take a fevered nine year old to the hospital, and majorly failing at figuring out how to take care of him.
See, Kippei had the flu. But, not just that, Yamato had to work with Tamaki and Sou on some sort of crazy business plan right now, leaving Will home alone, waiting for Cougar with an upset child who refused to un-cling from his person.
Maybe he should take Kippei to IBELICE… no, if he did that, Yamato would just snip at him for getting the other kids sick too.
There was a firm knock on the door, making him nearly just out of his skin when Kippei let out a whine against his throat. Will stopped in the hallway a moment, taking a deep breath so he didn’t kill whoever was on the other side of the door.
Cougar was standing there on the other side, a mess of bags next to him while he looked amused at Will’s murderous face.
“You’re early.”
Cougar raised an eyebrow, “Am I?”
Will nodded, “Yes-“ He turned around and checked the calendar next to the door, “I think-“
“Then your calendar is wrong.”
Will turned back, biting into his lower lip while he pulled his cell phone to email Yamato about this. “You know, this is his fault, he’s the one that marks the calendar.”
“Nuh-uh, Tama-chan did that, not Mama.”
Will looked down, as if surprised that the little face looking up at him was so accusatory. Kippei was nothing if not protecting of Yamato. “Okay, Tamaki is an idiot.”
Kippei nodded solemnly, “He is.”
Kippei’s throat sounded scratchy and his voice was nasal, making Will frown. “You can bring the bags in, right? I need to get him to blow his nose again.”
When Cougar followed him into the kitchen, Kippei was glaring at Will like he was the enemy. Cougar leaned in the doorway with a smirk, “He’s domesticated you. I expected some household chores, or maybe babysitting the littluns, but you’re a parent now.”
Will in turn, glared at Cougar, “And if he has, is that an issue? I like taking care of Kippei.”
Cougar just snickered a little, “Well, I didn’t expect anything less, to be honest. What’s wrong with the kid?”
Will sighed when Kippei took the tissue from him with a grumble, blowing his nose so hard that Will could actually hear one of his ears pop. Kippei pulled back with a look of shock on his face before doing it again. “Flu. Yamato says he’ll be fine, just not to let him eat junk food all day.”
Cougar nodded, “Well, there’s a reason I never had kids, so I’m probably no help.”
Will rolled his eyes, letting the winded child back into his arms after Kippei was done. “Trust me, I know you won’t be.”
“Good, just as long as we’re clear.”
Will let Kippei climb him like a little monkey again, moving to the fridge so he could grab Cougar a beer and start lunch while the child was relatively calm.
“So, how was the flight?”
Cougar frowned, “It’s a commercial airline, how do you think?”
“Bad?”
“Yeah.”
Kippei tugged on Will’s shirt, making the man look down at him. “What’s up, Kippei?”
Kippei frowned, pointing at Cougar. “Why’s he so angry?”
Cougar looked entirely offended, and Will nearly burnt himself on the stove, he was laughing so hard. “I’m sorry, Kippei, he looks that way naturally.”
Kippei looked solemn, “That’s sad.”
“Yeah, it is.”
***
Actually, to be perfectly clear, both of them were pretty useless. Though, this fact was not fully realized until someone who was less useless, came home. That someone, being Yamato.
Finally.
Yamato came into his and Will’s room with a small huff, seeing both Will and Cougar uselessly trying to get the boy to take a thermometer, something that Yamato could have told them was going to go nowhere.
“What are you two doing?”
Kippei perked up on the bed, yelling out behind his hands, “Mama! Tell them to stop!”
Yamato raised an eyebrow at them, “Are you seriously trying to get him to willingly stick something in his mouth without it being candy?”
Will let out the most frustrated sound, putting his head into the pillow next to Kippei’s body, “He’s too hot, Yamato, we need to know if we should take him to the hospital or not.”
Yamato nodded, “Yeah, but, that’s not how you do it. Do you even know how fast a fever can spike in a child under ten? Very. This is a temporary and mostly useless solution.”
He ranted all the way into the bathroom, and came back out with a thin packet that he peeled open. He sat on the bed next to Kippei, and quietly asked him, “What sticker do you want, Kii-chan?”
Kippei looked over with hazy eyes, before brightening up again, “Bunny!”
Yamato smiled, “Of course you do.” He peeled the sticker off, and after brushing some stray hairs off the boy’s forehead, smoothed the rabbit sticker over his forehead for him. “Temperature stickers. Now, back when I was a kid, we just had plain black ones, but now days, they’re pretty creative. You find faster ways to check a child’s temperature when you also have ten other kids to watch at the same time.”
Yamato pulled Kippei into his lap, “Has he eaten anything, recently?”
Will sighed, checking the clock, “Uh, he had a power bar-“
“No, that was too long ago, he should have something now. He keeps saying he doesn’t want to, though.” Cougar added in. It’s been a long afternoon.
Yamato nodded, sliding off the bed with Kippei, setting the little boy down on his feet so he could cling to the hem of Yamato’s shirt while trailing after him. Yamato wasn’t as big as Will was, and Kippei was getting big. “Leave that to me. Sticker says he’s fine for now, no hospital.”
When Yamato left the room, Cougar and Will both gave each other a look. “Well, now we both look useless.”
Cougar nodded, “Great guy, you got there, though. He’s good with kids. You two thinking about having one of your own?”
Will smiled, “I’m pretty sure we already do.”