Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters mentioned.
An Afternoon with Masashi
"Kaede! Help!"
"…what is it?"
"I need help! Please… he won't stop crying!"
"Who? What? Where the hell are you?!"
"He… argh! Just come! I'm at my cousin's place. It's just one street down from your block, the blue building. Come quick, I think he's gonna die!"
Rukawa slammed the phone down and groaned inwardly. Just what kind of idiotic trouble had his boyfriend gotten himself into this time? The last time he received a similar call from Sendoh, the Shonan ace had been at the pier fishing without his tee shirt on, and his tee shirt had been taken by the wind.
Rukawa almost wanted to slam the door in Sendoh's face and then head home, when he arrived at the apartment Sendoh was at and found the lanky youth with a baby in his arms. He would have left had Sendoh not pleaded for him to stay, saying that the baby would die from crying too much.
"Did you knock some girl up or what?!" Rukawa asked with a scowl on his face as he stepped into the apartment.
"No way! I'm just babysitting! This is my cousin's son, Masashi."
"This is your idea of a summer vacation job? Babysitting?"
"It's just for today. My cousin had something urgent to attend to so I offered to help… but he just won't stop crying!"
"And what makes you think I know what to do? Aho!"
"But… but you're good with animals… dogs, at least."
Rukawa rolled his eyes and slapped Sendoh on his head, then took a look at the baby. He had never carried a baby, but it didn't seem too difficult… he cradled the small bundle in his arms, then realizing some thing odd.
"Why the hell did you wrap him up so tightly? It's summer for god's sake!"
"I didn't want him to catch a cold…" Sendoh muttered with a remorseful look on his face as he watched Rukawa unwrap the baby blanket, and then carefully helped Masashi take off the little cardigan he was wearing. They put Masashi into his crib, and waited for awhile, but he didn't stop crying either.
"Maybe he wants milk…" Rukawa said with a shrug. Perking up like an excited puppy, Sendoh rushed to the kitchen and came back with a bottle of milk in a few minutes, smiling widely, proud of himself that he had remembered the ratio of milk formula and water his cousin had instructed. He carefully carried the baby, and placed the teat of the bottle to the baby's mouth… but the baby just refused to drink. Rukawa reached over to take the bottle, and promptly dealt Sendoh with a death glare.
"Are you trying to cook the baby or what, aho!" he muttered, pressing the bottle against Sendoh's face. Sendoh's eyes widened for a moment, and then he grinned sheepishly. Taking the bottle of milk to the kitchen, Rukawa then put the bottle under a running tap for a few minutes to cool it slightly. When he got back into the room, he saw Sendoh attempting to make the baby stop crying by making funny faces, and he couldn't help but let out a rare chuckle.
"You suck at it." He murmured, walking over and carefully feeding the bottle to the baby in Sendoh's arms. The baby soon quietened down as he drank at his own pace.
Sendoh let out a sigh of relief when the baby finished drinking the milk and stared up at him with sleepy eyes.
"Here, hold him…" he muttered, pushing the baby into Rukawa's arms and taking the empty bottle.
"I'll go wash the bottle, and then we can watch some movie! My cousin has lots of cool foreign films." He said with a wide grin, exiting the room.
"Watch a movie? And what, leave the baby to die? Aren't you supposed to babysit?" Rukawa questioned, following Sendoh out of the room, struggling to keep the baby from turning about in his arms without using too much strength that he'd accidentally kill him.
"He can watch with us. Babies at this stage don't do much anyway. Well… at least that's what my cousin said." Sendoh said with a shrug as he came out of the kitchen. He stared at the baby clutching on to Rukawa's shirt and a wide grin stretched across his face.
"He seems to like you. I made such a good choice in calling you to come over."
Rukawa glared at Sendoh, and the baby in his arms let out a merry chuckle. He looked down at the baby and sighed, rolling his eyes.
"Can we find some place to put him down now? I'll kill you if he decides to puke on me."
Sendoh walked over to the sofa and bent down to extend it. Good thing it was a sofa bed, or else they would probably squash Masashi since the both of them were rather broad and lanky. Rukawa moved over to where Sendoh was and carefully put the baby down. He then sat down next to Masashi and watched as the boy's legs kicked around as he attempted to turn over.
"Go to sleep, you." He muttered, then leaned back and found a comfortable position where he could stretch his legs out but not kick the baby by accident, deciding to ignore the baby since he wasn't crying now.
Sendoh picked out an English comedy movie and put it into the player, then moved to sit down on the sofa on the other side of Masashi. He reached out and attempted to pull Rukawa closer so he could cuddle him but Rukawa refused to budge from his comfortable spot.
Sendoh pouted and sank back into the sofa, "You're so unlovable, Kaede." He muttered.
An icy gaze looked over at Sendoh, "Unlovable? You're the one who just wasted one afternoon of my summer holiday."
"Aww c'mon. It's not that bad. At least we get to spend time together? Masashi likes you anyway…"
Rukawa closed his eyes, even though the movie had started. He would rather be out getting scorched on the basketball court, or sleeping on the floor at home. Babysitting was so not his thing. Nor was it Sendoh's thing, it seemed.
"Why did you offer to babysit? It's not like you're good at it."
Sendoh glanced over at Rukawa, a small frown on his lips. "Because it's near your place." He murmured almost inaudibly.
Rukawa opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling for a moment, before stealing a glance at Sendoh.
When the movie was over, Sendoh looked down to find Rukawa asleep on his chest. That wasn't too surprising. What surprised him was to find the baby sleeping soundly on top of Rukawa. He smiled and ran his fingers through his lovers' smooth black hair. Rukawa was surprisingly quite good with babies. He had uncovered another unbelievable fact about Shohoku's Ice Prince.
Rukawa almost never said any mushy things, nor had he ever verbally admitted to their relationship, but he knows that this was Rukawa's way of showing that he was someone special to him. Rukawa was always there when he needed help, and he had shown him the little things in his life that nobody else knew. Sometimes he wished Rukawa could be a little warmer and more loving, but this much he could live with. He knew that he had already melted the Ice Prince's heart, and that was good enough for him. He didn't want Rukawa to lose his icy demeanor; it was one of the many things about Rukawa that he fell in love with after all.
-end-
[AN: I had originally written this for SenRu day, but never got around to posting it. Took me long enough! Happy RuSen Day~ Life has been busy as crap... I have lots of stuff already written, but not posted. Blah. Maybe if I can finish up the other SD fic I'm writing I'll still be in time for a second tribute this round! XD
As always, thank you for reading. And of course, comments and reviews much appreciated! Tatas~]