I decided to make this a mini sequel series. I mean...hopefully it doesn't turn out to be so long, but sometimes I go overboard. Anyway, I decided to make this a series because my brain wouldn't leave me alone; I've had this idea brewing since yesterday. If you guys could tell me if this is a good start or not. That would be awesome ^^ Just a couple notes before we begin.
Notes: Chapter sizes will vary. There will be Multiple POVs throughout this series. I rated this "T" just to be safe. Shizuo has a cursing problem so yeah XD Lastly, I sped up to when they already had kids because it was troublesome for my brain to create a storyline for that type of story. I'm sorry if this disappoints people. Anyway, please enjoy and review!
When I was younger my mother had taught me the small lessons of what it meant to be a parent and I've got to say that it's probably the hardest job in the world. I deal with a bunch of bastards every day at work. When I was younger there were jerks that came out of nowhere who'd pick fights with me; that doesn't happen anymore, at least not when I'm with my children. Everyone in Ikebukuro knows me as the strongest man, Shizuo Heiwajima and then they know my husband, Izaya Heiwajima as the best information broker.
But they also know our two kids, Shiro and Kuro Heiwajima. Shiro is our eldest son; he just turned five. Kuro is obviously the youngest; he's four. To me and Izaya, they're our world. I'm sure almost every parent feels like that about their children. If they don't then I really question their humanity. Well, that's just my opinion because I'm very attached to my children. Shiro is more attached to his mother than he is to me whereas Kuro prefers me over Izaya. It's strange, but Izaya and I aren't too concerned about it.
"Shiro, what has your mother told you about picking up your toys?" I ask my eldest son as I try to swim through the ocean of assorted toys—broken, new, old, big and small. I sigh as I start to pick up some of the toys to clear a path. Shiro looks up at me with the same mocha colored eyes as me and hums. He's not much of a talker.
"When is mom coming home…?" He asks shyly.
"Ah…well he's kind of busy with a bunch of appointments today, but I'll be around here to take care of you and Kuro since I'm off work today."
"I want mom…" Shiro says as he walks to the couch and buries himself in the sofa cushions. He usually builds some sort of a fort, but the last time he did Kuro tore it apart since he wouldn't make room for him. Ever since then, he hasn't made another one.
"What, you don't like daddy?" I ask as I sit next to him on the couch.
"No." He says simply. I flinch from surprise and then scratch the back of my neck nervously. "Can I call him?" He asks me as he emerges from underneath the pillows and looks at me dully. He kind of reminds me of Kasuka when he looks at me with this emotionless expression. I only see him making different expressions at Izaya, which irks me, but I'm not extremely mad.
"He's really busy, Shiro." I repeat as relax and turn on the TV. Suddenly, Kuro comes in and tackles me, jumping into my lap—not even realizing that he accidently hit me in the nuts. "H-hello…Shiro…" I say as I try to power through the pain in my groin.
"Daddy, can you play with me?" Kuro asks happily as he shows me his new plane his mother bought him at the toy store.
"Why don't you play with your brother this time? Don't you guys usually play together anyway?"
"Yeah, but, but daddy's been working late now. We hardly get to play." Kuro says sadly. I look at him with a smile and ruffle his hair. He looks a lot like Izaya every time I look at him. He has Izaya's facial features and reddish-brownish eyes, but he has my original brown hair. Shiro looks more like me, but his hair is black like Izaya's. Shiro is the strong one like me, but Kuro is an easier crier like Izaya used to be. I'm not sure where Shiro got his reserved nature, but I'm guessing from his uncle Kasuka, whom he adores a lot too. He watches all his movies. Kuro doesn't really like Kasuka too much. He always hides when he comes over and always informs me that the "statue faced man" is here. I haven't told Kasuka yet.
Kuro on the other hand is livelier, bubblier. He plays tricks sometimes, but not severe ones. He's a handful more so than his older brother, which is why after we had Kuro we decided that two was enough. Izaya originally wanted four, but he said that he didn't want to make Kuro feel confined or lonely, since more kids would be less attention to any one in particular. Kuro is an attention hog, so he'd probably fight with his younger brothers or sisters if we did have more.
Kuro takes my hand and leads me into his room. He tells me that he wants to play baseball at the park so I grab his equipment and then grab my sunglasses.
"Shiro, let's go to the park so we can play ball." I say as I shake him. He groans and talks to me, but his words are muffled since he buried his face in pillows again. I uncover him and pick him up. "I can't hear you, buddy." I say as I swing him over my shoulder.
"I don't wanna go!" He whines as he starts kicking. "I wanna be here when mom comes back."
"Shiro, don't be like that. Come on, mom isn't gonna be home until dinner time. Let's go to the park." I say as I carry him to the door. I take his jacket for if it gets chilly later and then tell Kuro to take his. "I'll buy you both an ice cream cone when we get there, okay?"
"…Okay…" He finally says as he clings onto me so he doesn't fall. Shiro isn't much of a crier, but he'll whine for his mother. He's too attached to him, I swear. Kuro is plenty attached to me, but not in the same intensity as Shiro is attached to his mother. Izaya says it's because when Shiro was little I wasn't around too much as I was with Kuro. When Shiro was little I had started working long hours because I had gotten another job working late as a bartender (again). I quit that job a few years ago, after Kuro was born. Tom pays well, but at the time before Shiro was born, I really needed the money since Izaya was off work because of maternity leave. Then after he was born, I still had to keep the job because Izaya really wanted to stay home with Shiro. Since Shiro was our first child, Izaya really wanted to stay home. He was really emotional about it too.
And then when Kuro was born Izaya worked couple days afterwards and I stayed home most of the time. It wasn't that Izaya didn't care about Kuro, but he felt really bad for making me work all those hours. He's really changed since we had the kids.
"Hi! Hi! Hi!" Kuro repeats as we pass people on the streets. I laugh inwardly as people start smiling and waving at my youngest son. Thankfully, both of them don't wander off. They hold onto my hands obediently. "Daddy, can we get a pet?" I look at Kuro curiously and shake my head.
"You know how your mother feels about pets…" I say sadly as I sigh. Shizzy-chan passed away a few years ago before the kids were born and Izaya hasn't wanted to bring another pet since then. It really hit him hard. It was really rough those few days afterwards. He wouldn't eat or talk. He'd just occupy himself in his work and sleep really early. "One day, we'll see if your mother will consider it, okay?"
"Alright… Can we go see uncle Shinra and aunt Celty?" Shinra isn't really their uncle, but Shiro was the one who gave him the title when he first met him and the Kuro just picked up on it.
"When your mother has his check-up we can go; that way we can visit him and get that business out of the way at the same time."
"You don't like uncle Shinra, Daddy." Shiro adds dully.
"I do." I say simply. "I just have issues with his methods of doctoring. Anyway, let's go get some ice cream." I suggest calmly. Suddenly, before we can even reach the ice cream shop, Kadota and his gang shows up. "Not them…"
"Kya! It's Shiro-kun and Kuro-kun." Erika says as she approaches us immediately. "How are you two?" She says as she claps her hands together. Kuro clings onto me, looking as if he's about to cry and Shiro glares at Erika, probably for scaring his younger brother. Usually Kuro isn't so much of a sensitive or shy kid, but with strange people or scary people he tends to feel fearful. "They don't talk too much, eh Shizuo?"
"You freak them out. Of course they won't want to talk." I say angrily as I hold my children closer to me. "Look, we're kind of busy…"
"Ah, taking your kids out for a walk? We understand." Erika says happily as she pets them. "They're adorable though; even more adorable each time I see them." Kadota kneels down and pats Shiro's head and gives him something and then does the same with Kuro. I eye him suspiciously and then he tells me it's just a keychain.
"One of them is a white dog and the other a black cat. I thought the key chains fit them well." Kadota explains happily. Shiro looks at the small white dog keychain in his hand and watches it glitter and shine then looks over to Kuro's black cat keychain. "We'll see you guys later. Don't be afraid to take the kids out more often, Shizuo." Kadota says as he pats my shoulder.
I sigh out of exhaustion (and we're not even at the park yet) and take Shiro and Kuro inside the ice cream shop. Kuro immediately picks out a flavor he likes, but then changes his mind right afterwards while Shiro sticks to one flavor the first time. Once I choose a flavor, Kuro immediately smiles and says to the man that he wants the same flavor as me. He always does that.
"Are you sure you like pistachio…?" I ask as I look at Kuro curiously. He nods with a smile and licks his ice cream. "Alright…" Sometimes Kuro forces himself to eat things or do things just because I do them. He sometimes copies me, doing everything I do as a game. If I'm on my cell phone with someone he'll take our home phone and pretend he's talking to someone. Its kind humorous because he tries to copy my words too, but I talk too fast for him, so he just mumbles.
"Can we call mom right now?" Shiro asks pleadingly. "Please?" He says as he grabs onto my sleeve and tugs on it. I nod my head and fish out my cell phone and dial Izaya's number.
"Izaya Heiwajima, the great information broker. How may I help you?" He knows it's me. Idiot. I get really happy when I hear him say his full name though. It reminds me of our wedding day. And though he sometimes annoys me, I love to hear his voice.
"Flea, I know that you know it's me." I say simply. I still call him "flea" but not as much as I used to and usually not in front of my kids. But sometimes it slips out because of habit. They really don't mind though since they don't know what it means. They just think it's a pet name. "Look, I just called to—"
"Say that you love me? How cheesy, Shizu-chan." Izaya says with a laugh. "Isn't that some title of an American song?"
"Shut up, flea. I wasn't gonna say that." I walk a little way from my kids so they don't hear me argue with him. "I just called because Shiro insisted that I call."
"Aw, so you weren't dying to call me yourself?" Izaya asks with a laugh. "He's still clingy…" He says a little worriedly.
"Yeah…you don't think it's anything that's gonna pose a problem?"
"Nah, once he starts meeting friends at school, he'll be just fine." Izaya says happily.
"Dad, I want to talk to him." Shiro asks as he tries to grab my cell phone, but he's too short to reach.
"Ah, yeah, he's gonna start kicking me if I don't hand the phone over to him, so I'll talk to you after you get off work." I say tiredly.
"Alright; love you, bye." Izaya says sweetly.
"Love you too." I answer lovingly as I then give my cell phone to Shiro. He walks off to the bench and sits down and talks with Izaya. A couple of times Shiro has been a bit violent towards me, especially whenever Izaya and I bicker. That's why Izaya and I try to settle out our problems privately. Kids shouldn't get involved in parental problems anyway. It's just Shiro gets himself involved because he always searches for his mother. I think that he might hate me…
"Kuro, you love your mother right?" I ask as I sit next to him.
"Yeah, mommy loves me a lot and I love mommy back, but I like playing with daddy more." He explains with a face full of ice cream. I clean his face with a napkin and ruffle his soft hair.
So…if Kuro loves his mother, but just prefers me…is it the same with Shiro? I can't really tell since he usually acts indifferently towards me. I hope I didn't do anything wrong…Maybe I did and don't know it? If that's the case, then that's the first thing I'm doing wrong—not remembering what I did wrong.
I feel like I'm in some horrible movie.
"Mom says he's gonna meet us in the park since he's done with work early." Shiro says happily. That's the only time I see him smile is when he's talking about Izaya or when he's with Izaya. I'm not jealous…just a little hurt.
"Well…until he gets here, how about we all play some baseball?" I ask as I grab the mitt and ball while Kuro takes the two bats he carried. "Shiro, are you gonna join in?"
"I want to play with mom…" He says as he puts his hands in his lap and drops his head, probably so he doesn't have to look up at me. "I'll just sit here."
"I don't want to leave you alone here." I say as I grab his hand. "Come on, you can sit under the tree over there while Kuro and I play ball." He doesn't struggle this time around. He follows us to where we're deciding to play and obediently stays put. All the while, he's looking for his mother.
I don't want to think that this is a psychological problem…but…maybe it is? Or am I just paranoid? Kuro isn't as attached as Shiro is. Shiro's attachment to his mother is almost like an obsession. I'm a bit worried. I'm not sure what one does when this sort of thing happens. Shiro has been like this since he was born, I suppose, but the intensity of his attachment has grown as he's gotten older.
I throw the ball to Kuro and watch as he spins around, trying to swing at the ball. I smile and toss it a few more times, each time Kuro desperately trying to hit the ball. Finally after a few more tries, he hits the ball, though it doesn't go too far. I clap and pick him up, place him on my shoulders and tell him that he's my little champ. I know people are probably staring, but it's just instinctive. I act this way with my kids. It's not a damn crime!
"How come people always stare this way, daddy?" Kuro asks as he retrieves his mitt and waits for me to toss him the ball so he can catch it.
"Ah, they just can't believe how cute you and Shiro are." I say nervously. "Anyway, you don't have to pay attention to them; they're nosey people." I toss the ball and he catches perfectly in his mitt. He's always been better at catching. I smile as he catches the next few tosses. "You're doing better at catching; we just need to work on your hitting."
"Then I can play with the pros?" Kuro asks as he smiles.
"Yeah, if you work hard enough and if you really strive for it." I say as I ruffle his hair.
"Always the dream inspirer." I hear a familiar voice say behind me. I turn around and see Izaya holding Shiro's hand. Shiro attaches himself to Izaya's pants all the time, so seeing him cling onto him like this is not unusual. "How long have you guys been out here?"
"Not too long. Kuro really wanted to come to the park." I explain as I ruffle Kuro's hair again. Kuro then runs over to his mother and nuzzles his face against his leg. This irks Shiro, but he allows his brother to do this. "How was work?"
"Fine. A customer cancelled so that's why I'm here." He says as he bends down and hugs both Shiro and Kuro. When I look upon this kind of scene I feel happy, but why does it also feel like there's something missing? "How about we go home and I whip us something tasty for dinner?" Both Shiro and Kuro agree to the suggestion.
On the way home, Kuro walks beside me skipping happily, while Shiro stays with his mother and talks to him about things that he probably never wants to talk to me about. I really want Shiro to love me even if it's not as much as his mother.
"So…how has everything been?" Izaya asks as he hangs his jacket when we arrive home. I sigh and shake my head.
"No progress…he still won't talk to me…or even give me a smile unless he's talking about you…" I say sadly. "I mean, I get why he loves you so much." I say as I kiss Izaya's forehead. "But…I don't get why he hates me."
"He doesn't hate you." Izaya says as he ruffles my hair. "He just…isn't used to you…?"
"You don't sound too sure about your answer. I thought you were supposed to be the 'great information broker,' eh?" I say bitterly.
"It's not my fault that I don't know." Izaya says as he heads into the kitchen. "Maybe he doesn't like your bitter attitude."
"I wouldn't be bitter if you didn't have him hate me!" I say angrily. Thankfully, the kids went upstairs and shut their doors so they could play. I'm hoping they don't hear us.
"Look, can you just let me make dinner? I rather not fight about this right now. I just got off work." Izaya explains simply.
"It's always about you." I whisper as I sit down on the couch before turning on the TV. We keep quiet after that.
It's not like I want to fight with him, but I just get so upset. It's not a good feeling when you know you're child doesn't particularly adore you…It's not supposed to be like this…
A/N: Aw, Shizuo's having problems D: He will prevail though...hopefully...I mean what child wouldn't adore a father who's strong like Shizuo? Or just Shizuo, period. Anyway please review!