A/N: This story was requested by mlim8 for my 200 follower fic giveaway on Tumblr (and I took forever to get around to it...)
Original Prompt: cute fluffy child!MakoRin
"C'mon, Onii-chan!"
"Yeah, hurry up!"
"Don't worry, guys, the park isn't going anywhere," Makoto insisted, though he didn't try to fight the grin that inched across his face. With a sigh he gave in, allowing Ran and Ren to each take him by the hand and drag him the rest of the way down the street to the park.
"We should play in the sandbox!" Ran shouted excitedly, quickening her pace.
"No!" Ren shouted back, sticking out his tongue at her. "I want to go down the slide!"
"Don't be such a meanie! We did the slide last time! Sandbox!"
"Slide!"
"Guys, guys!" Makoto said, suddenly planting his feet on the pavement and bringing them all to a stop just outside of the park entryway. The twins looked up at him in surprise, Ren managing to look decently ashamed while Ran merely pouted. "We'll have time to do both," Makoto reassured them, looking between the two sternly. "But you need to behave, or else I'll take you back home to Mom. Understand?"
The twins nodded solemnly, waiting for Makoto's approval before rocketing into the park, picking up their argument as if they hadn't been interrupted. Makoto shook his head and sighed, following after them at a much slower pace.
The park was fairly empty, which wasn't all that surprising given the chilly fall weather. There was one girl sitting at the edge of the sandbox, and Makoto felt immediate regret for her as his siblings charged over. The girl couldn't have been much younger than him, and she smiled as the twins sat down near her, shaking her head of surprisingly bright hair-hair that, now that he thought of it, seemed awfully familiar…
"Oi, Makoto?"
Makoto turned to find Rin approaching, shoulders bent forward and hands in his jean pockets as he shuffled nearer.
"Are those the twins you're always babbling on about?" Rin asked, glancing over at Ran and Ren.
"Yup," Makoto replied, watching them with a big smile.
Rin whistled, his eyebrows inching up into his bangs. "I've seen embatteries/em with more energy than them."
Makoto laughed. "They're just a little rambunctious is all. Is that your sister?"
"Yup," Rin replied, all nonchalance, although Makoto caught the small smile that flitted across Rin's face as he glanced at her.
"I didn't know you had any siblings," Makoto said, watching as the girl walked over to Ran and Ren and showed them how to make a castle with her bucket.
"Yeah, well, we're not usually out this way." Rin kicked at the ground, looking away. "I needed to come to Iwatobi to turn in some papers to Coach Sasabe. Mom's busy cleaning at home for some company, so Gou wound up coming along with me. I promised her she could play at the park afterward."
"Aw, that was sweet of you," Makoto replied, confused when Rin crossed his arms and looked away with embarrassment.
"RAN!"
Makoto whirled around to see Ren shouting and pointing angrily at his sister, who had her arms crossed and was yelling back just as loud. Gou sat anxiously in the middle, watching them both as if unsure how to react. Makoto hurried over to the sandbox, stepping in between the twins.
"Ren, what's wrong?" he asked, surprised to see tears in his little brother's eyes.
"S-she wrecked my castle!" Ren sobbed. Makoto looked down to see a crushed pile of sand with Ran's distinctive footprint in the middle.
"It was an accident!" Ran yelled back, pouting. "I didn't mean to!"
"LIAR!" Ren shouted, wiping angrily at his tears. "YOU'RE SUCH A LIAR!"
"Guys!" Makoto said firmly, taking each of them by the hand. "It'll be alright. Ran, why don't you apologize for wrecking his castle." She opened her mouth, ready to argue, but Makoto quickly cut her off and added, "emEven/em if it was an accident."
"Sorry," she mumbled, crossing her arms and looking away.
"Good. And Ren, why don't emyou/em apologize for screaming at her?"
"S-sorry," Ren sniffled, still wiping his tears away.
"Very good," Makoto said gently, patting Ren on the back. From the corner of his eye, he saw Rin walk up to the sandbox. "Now, why don't we find something else to play, hm?" He smiled at this sibling, then looked over at Gou. "What do you think?" he asked her, smiling wider when she looked at him in surprise at the sudden attention. "What would you like to play?"
"I like playing house," she said with surprising decisiveness. Makoto couldn't help a grin-yes, she definitely was Rin's sister.
"That sounds nice," Makoto told her. Then he glanced back to Ran and Ren. "What do you guys think?"
"I like house!" Ran said excitedly, Ren nodding more timidly behind her.
"Great," Makoto said, relieved that this hadn't become yet another argument. "Let's play house."
"emI'll/em be the little sister," Ran said proudly, smiling at Gou. "And emyou/em can be the older sister! I always wanted an older sister!"
"Okay," Gou said, giggling.
"I'll be the dog!" Ren said, dropping onto his knees.
"You can't be the dog!" Ran told him stubbornly, crossing her arms again. "You need to be my brother!"
"But I want to be the dog!" Ren whined, looking beseechingly over to Makoto. "I get to be the dog, right Onii-chan?"
"Yes," Makoto told him, glancing warningly over at Ran. "Ren can be whatever he wants."
"Fine," Ran sighed, pouting again. But her frown quickly dissolved into another excited grin. "And you'll be the Daddy, right Onii-chan? You're always the Daddy-you have to be!"
"Yes, yes, I'll be the Daddy," Makoto told her.
"And that makes emyou/em the Mommy!" Ran said happily, pointing to Rin.
"W-What!?" Rin spluttered, backing away from the sand pit. "But I'm a guy! I can't be the Mom!"
"Well, I'm a boy, not a dog," Ren told him patiently, as if it made all the sense in the world. And in a way it kind of did. "Besides, you even have long hair like a Mommy! You should be the Mommy."
"C'mon, Onii-chan," Gou told him, rolling her eyes. "It's just a game."
Rin was still spluttering, but Makoto shrugged at him. "What do you say-just this once?"
Rin turned bright red, crossing his arms and turning his head away from the hand Makoto offered him. "M-mommy's very tired," he grumbled through his embarrassment, not meeting Makoto's eyes. "I'm going to sit on the couch. … You kids be good." And then he turned away and stalked over to the park bench, sitting down on the edge facing away from the rest of them.
Makoto watched him, worry squirming in his stomach. He hadn't meant to make Rin so mad-he was just trying to keep the twins happy. Forcing a grin on his face, Makoto turned back to the kids. "Okay everyone," he said in a false-deep voice, mimicking his dad. "Mommy's tired and needs some alone time. Why don't you surprise her and make dinner for her?"
"Yay!" Ran said excitedly, holding Gou's hand and jumping up and down. "Let's make pie for dinner! We can, right? I want pie!"
"Bark!" Ren agreed in a rather poor imitation of a dog.
"Okay, I'll go check on Mommy," Makoto told them. "You kids"-Ren frowned, and Makoto quickly added-"emand/em dog work on dinner. Be careful not to ruin the surprise!"
Makoto shot Gou a grateful smile as she sat back down with the twins in the sandbox and got to work making sand pies.
Slowly he walked over to Rin, trying to decide how he should say sorry. He sat down hesitantly next to him on the cold bench, watching the kids play while he tried to formulate the perfect apology.
"You know, you could be the Daddy, if you want," Makoto finally managed to spit out, his worry rising as he watched Rin's back tighten. "And I can be the Mommy."
"That's not any better, you dummy," Rin grumbled, so quietly that Makoto could barely hear him.
"Oh…" Makoto said dejectedly, not quite understanding why Rin was so upset. With a deep breath, he added, "I didn't mean to say anything that would make you mad. I'm sorry."
Rin growled and spun around, sitting forward and resting his elbows on his knees and burying his face in the make-shift nest. "It's. Not. You," Rin gritted out angrily. "Okay?"
"Okay," Makoto said, feeling even less certain than before. He saw Rin glance at him from the gap under his arm, quietly surveying him.
With a groan, Rin finally lifted up his head, glaring at him full on. "I said I'm not mad at you, okay?" Rin asked him grumpily. "So you don't have to look all sad like that. I… I just…"
Makoto waited patiently, watching Rin with concern.
Rin turned away again before muttering, "I didn't emask/em to look like a friggin' girl."
"You don't look like a girl," Makoto replied, frowning in confusion.
"Yeah right," Rin mumbled, glancing at him in disbelief. "I've heard it from the other guys. My eyes, my hair… I'm a freak."
"No, really," Makoto pushed, hoping Rin would hear how earnest he was. "I mean, Haru's got pretty eyes, and Nagisa's got cute blonde hair, but that doesn't make either of emthem/em look like girls. And it doesn't make you look like one either. You just look like… you."
"... Really?" Rin asked, watching Makoto suspiciously, as if he were waiting for some kind of catch.
"Really," Makoto told him firmly. "But don't worry, like I said to Ren, you don't have to be the Mommy if you don't want to."
"Ah… well… thanks," Rin said quietly, face turning red again. Makoto smiled in reply, relieved that Rin didn't seem to be upset anymore.
"Daaaaad-dy!" Ran called across the park, waving at Makoto. "Dinner's ready~~~"
Chuckling, Makoto waved back. He stood up, looking over at Rin. "C'mon, let's go back." With a shrug, Rin pushed himself up off of the bench and followed Makoto over to the sand pit.
"Look, Mommy, look!" Ran said excitedly, holding up a sand-filled tin. "We made you pie for dinner!"
"Not Mommy," Makoto corrected her, shaking his head. "Rin doesn't want to by Mommy-he's Daddy."
"But emyou're/em Daddy," Ren said-apparently having already given up on his attempts to communicate via barking.
"We're emboth/em Daddy," Makoto said proudly, smiling at the kids. "Isn't that right, Daddy?" Rin spluttered beside him, cheeks turning beet red.
"Is that even possible?" Gou asked curiously, glancing between the two of them.
"Sure!" Makoto said happily, stepping into the sand pit. "Now how about some dinner? I'm starving!"
Grumbling, Rin reluctantly followed and sat down next to Makoto, accepting an imaginary plate from Ran. She handed one to Makoto as well, and he spooned some pie into his mouth, pretending to chew for a few moments.
"Mmm, delicious! Thank you, guys!" he told them, making Ran and Ren beam excitedly. Makoto winked at Gou, who smiled back.
"Oi, Daddy."
Surprised, Makoto turned to Rin, who quickly shoved an imaginary spoon in Makoto's mouth. "Here," he muttered, glancing away with embarrassment. "You can have some of mine." Makoto pretended to eat from his spoon, making Rin's eyes widen in surprise. Rin quickly turned away and shrugged. Then, much quieter, so the kids wouldn't hear, he added, "Thanks."
Makoto couldn't help the gigantic smile that broke across his face, and he giggled as Rin glared at him with red cheeks before returning to his meal.
A/N: When I thought of them as kids, the first thought I had was, "How fun would it be if they both got stuck babysitting their siblings and all wound up playing together?"
I was worried that this was going to be the hardest prompt to write, just because I wasn't sure whether my story idea would be too short for even a drabble. And yet this somehow wound up being the longest of them all? Haha, I had even more fun writing it than I thought I would ^^ Poor embarrassed Rin having to deal with dense Makoto.
Also, as I was writing this, I decided that my new headcanon is that this conversation with Makoto is what helps Rin get over his own self-consciousness about his appearance and spurs him to start wearing whatever he feels he looks good in (thus resulting in his distinctive style we all know and love) ;D
For some reason, I feel like Gou would be good with the twins. Wouldn't it be cute if she babysat them sometime? Hee hee ^^
As always, feel free to come hang/chat/gush with me on Tumblr (Konekat)! ^^