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Osomatsu loved his son with all his heart, they’re always been together since the day the decision to adopt was made. Fortunately, Osomatsu had been more than willing to become the stay at home dad and raised the baby all on his own. But sometimes even Osomatsu needed a break from his quickly growing son, and he luckily had a more than willing younger brother with a beautiful wife who were always joyful to take a turn.
Every time Osomatsu would take Minimatsu to the daycare, he would return to pick up his package only to hear how great of a time Mini had had with Jyushimatsu and his wife. It always warmed Oso up inside to know that his son was in good hands. But Osomatsu is a joker, he always has been, and one day he cracked a joke at the wrong time. Choromatsu was speaking with Jyushimatsu as he and Osomatsu went to once again pick up Minimatsu from finishing another one of their dates. Osomatsu had been squat down to Minimatsu’s level with a cheeky grin, listening to his son frantically tell him all the stories he had to share.
“Well Gee, Lil’ Matsu, you have such a good time here,” he rubbed his finger under his nose, standing up after feeling his knees ache, “Maybe one day Choro and I shouldn’t pick you up!”
A SMACK echoed through the room as Choromatsu’s hand collided with the back of Osomatsu’s head. He was surprised for a second, but he laughed anyway. The other couple in the room had a laugh as well, knowing Choro and Oso always had silly moments like what just happened. However, Minimatsu was impacted a little differently as he stared in awe. His father looked to his husband with a grin, rubbing the back of his head, not noticing the state their son was in.
Minimatsu reflected on the realization Choromatsu was often giving Osomatsu backhands to the arm or swats to his head whenever Osomatsu said something ridiculous. He looked from one father to the other before pulling shyly on Osomatsu’s sleeve.
He hummed at the tug, looking down, even squatting again which caused Choromatsu to turn his attention as well. Both of them waited patiently for their boy to get the right words formulated in his head and out his throat. But when they did, both men were stunned beyond words.
“Why do you always get hit? I see on TV that it’s bad for parents to hit each other.”
Upon their arrival at home after a very silent car ride, Choromatsu immediately went into their bedroom, leaving Osomatsu with his son in the living room. “Hey, Minimatsu, come here.” He wiggled a finger as he dropped onto the couch, smiling as Mini padded his way across the wooden floor and up beside him. Osomatsu flicked on the tv and wrapped an arm around his boy, pulling him in close.
When Choromatsu was finally calm enough to come out he was met with the other two men in the house cuddled up on the couch fast asleep as the television played an evening cartoon. It was safe to just assume the subject of Choro’s hitting Osomatsu had now been dropped for good. So Choro moved on with his life.
Every morning after that Choromatsu would wake up in the morning and promptly wake up Minimatsu, letting Osomatsu sleep in as long as he liked. Together the two of them would brush their teeth and comb their hair with small talk from tired mouths. After that they got changed, Mini throwing on the outfit one of his dad’s picked out the prior day as Choro buttoned up a crisply ironed shirt and suit, fastening his tie. Before they left both of them would have a small breakfast of cereal and toast or maybe rice with an egg mixed in before rummaging the kitchen for lunch supplies. They would both pick out and pack a lunch they found delicious and put it in their pack, walking out the door together.
And every morning just before they walked out the door Choromatsu would always leave a note for Osomatsu, always signed “Love Choromatsu” while Minimatsu added his name under it, watching Choro top it off with a heart or some other quick drawing.
The two would walk to the train station and Choromatsu would drop his son off at the school before making his way hurriedly back to the train to make it to work on time.
That was their morning routine.
And every day when Minimatsu was finished with school he would navigate his way home with the neighbors from upstairs. He would excitedly open the door to see Osomatsu busying himself with one thing or another, the note gone from the counter where Choromatsu would stick it. He would rush over very excitedly and start blabbering to his dad about how great school was and what they did that day. And Osomatsu always mustered enough energy to engage his full attention to his son and excitedly tell Mini about his own day.
However today was different. When Minimatsu gleefully opened the door and politely closed it behind him before kicking off his shoes, he saw Osomatsu was simply sitting on the couch doing what looked like absolutely nothing. This was new.
Cautiously, Minimatsu approached his father, dropping his schoolbag against the wall halfway across the room then climbing up onto the couch. His dad smiled, rubbing his nose before promptly ruffling his son’s hair, just like every other day. Maybe this wasn’t any different at all.
Or at least, that’s what it seemed like until Osomatsu wrapped an arm around his son, turning the television off. Minimatsu watched color vanish to black before looking up at his dad with curiosity.
“You know, whenever Choromatsu hits me it never hurts.”
Everything came flooding back to Minimatsu. The incident at the daycare and what he said. He was sure that everybody forgot he’d said that, sheesh, even he forgot he said it. The subject was just swept under the rug. That happened at least a week ago anyways. But Mini said nothing, focusing his undivided attention on his dad.
“It never hurts, and that’s why we all laugh. It may sound like it hurts, but it doesn’t. Your daddy doesn’t wanna hurt me, he loves me so much. You know that. You sign the notes too.” He grinned and pulled out a book discretely hidden from between the side table and the couch, dropping it onto his lap before opening it. Inside the book were specially shaped slots for various sized pictures, but instead of pictures, every note that Choromatsu had ever wrote to Osomatsu was inside. In the beginning Minimatsu even noticed how there were any that weren’t signed by him. Ones from before he was living with them, from before he could write. He was awestruck.
“See? He loves me a lot, just like I love him.” Osomatsu slowly shut the book and slid it back into it’s place. “Daddy would never want to hurt me. I know you hear about how married couples get in fights sometimes on the news, but those are bad fights. Daddy and I just like to play around. We make fun of each other all the time, we just handle the teasing differently.” Osomatsu was so focused on his words that he didn’t hear the door open and close. Neither of them heard it. They also did not see Choromatsu come inside, too absorbed in their conversation to notice. After seeing the boys on the couch, Choromatsu stayed put, leaning against the door gently and listening. “It’s just teasing, Mini.”
“Teasing isn’t nice either,” Minimatsu mumbled into the air, earning a quick ‘tsk’ from his dad.
“It’s playful teasing. The kind of teasing that old people who are married and have cute sons can do to each other. We never want to hurt each other’s feelings. And if we do, we tell each other and say sorry and make it up.” He sighed, pulling Mini closer to his side. “I never wanna hurt him either. I love him so much, everything about him is my favorite thing about him. He’s got a smile that can make my bad days be the greatest, a voice that can make the birds sing in the morning, and he’s got the most gorgeous way with words. I almost wish he was telling you this because he would say it so much better than me.” Minimatsu was staring at his hands in his lap, leaning into his dad’s side as he intently listened to every word that was spoken to him.
“He hits you… because he loves you?” His voice was timid, he was nervous to ask the wrong question, not wanting to upset his father because Choromatsu was not yet home to smile and brighten his day.
“No-- Well, yes. That day he hit me because I said something stupid. I shouldn’t have said we should leave you at Jyushimatsu’s. That was mean. Choromatsu always gives me a light smacking when I say stupid things. Especially if it’s about you.” He smiles and closes his eyes, letting his head drop back onto the couch. “I’d never leave you there. I love you too much too. You and Choromatsu are the best things that have ever happened to me, kiddo, you know that?”
Mini nodded against his father’s side and whispered, “So he hit you because you were mean to me?”
“Yup. Because a dad should never be mean to his son. Ever. He hits me because that’s his way of saying stop. But you shouldn’t do that. He can hit me because we’re old people who are married, like I said earlier,” he snickers and looks back down to his son who was now tightly curled up into his side. “And I’m sorry about being mean to you. That was wrong.” All Minimatsu did was nod in response. He took that as a good enough acceptance to the apology and gave his son another ruffle to his already messy hair.
Minimatsu scrunched up his nose and squeezed his eyes shut at the ruffling, a smile making it’s way onto his face. Before he could even return to sitting normally his sides were attacked by ravaging fingers. As he let out a squeal in protest he balled up his body, trying to shield his tummy from further invasion by foreign fingers. “Dad!” Osomatsu snickered evilly as he sat back up and pulled his hands back.
With a hum, Osomatsu looked up to check the time on the wall clock, muttering “Where’s--” He was stopped dead in his tracks when instead of the clock, his eyes locked onto the one who was leaning against the door with arms folded and a soft yet dazzlingly bright smile on his face. “Choromatsu,” he breathed out, a smile instantly spreading across his face. At the name Minimatsu also looked up, popping right off the couch and running to his dad with a grin on his cheeks.
“Daddy!” He collided with Choromatsu’s squat down body, immediately wrapping his arms around his neck. In return Choro gripped tightly around Mini’s torso, standing up and spinning around the floor. Carefully, he was making his way over to Osomatsu while spinning with the boy in his arms. Only did Choromatsu stop when his back collided with a firm yet soft body, being engulfed in a tight embrace.
Choromatsu leaned into Osomatsu’s touch with a content hum, letting the warmth transfer from his husband to him. Osomatsu put his chin on the vacant shoulder and whispered, “How much of that did you catch?” God, Choro could hear the sly grin. But he wasn’t upset at all, instead he just leaned his head against Oso’s with a quiet sigh.
He wouldn’t admit that as he listened to the boy’s talk he was rendered speechless, but he was. Hearing Osomatsu talk about something so seriously yet so gently left Choro breathless. That side of Oso was something even he was not all too experienced with. And that’s why all he was able to reply with was a quiet whisper of “I love you, Osomatsu.”
Giving a content sigh, Osomatsu moved his hand up until he found Choromatsu’s on Mini’s back. Gently his hand slid over the top of Choro’s, feeling the coldness from the outdoors in his slender hand. Idly he tapped his ring finger, listening to the quiet clink his ring made with Choromatsu’s own. “I love you too, Choromatsu.”