(n.) German: being homesick for a place you have never been
Hirato cared for his children. For all of his children.
But right now he was a bit worried.
Gareki sat at the window, book on his lap, but he wasn't reading. His gaze fixed far behind the horizon. His other children had realized this odd behaviour by now. Nai blinked softly whenever he saw it, Tsukumo seemed hesitant to do anything and Yogi was almost ready to tackle him to get his attention back. But he didn't. His gaze was clearly worried.
Hirato could almost hear the relived sigh when Gareki went back to the book.
It wouldn't have been a big deal if it happened once, but it started to happen with a frequency. He was almost relived that Yogi didn't do anything imprudent whenever it happened.
But he decided it wouldn't be right to step in just now, so he waited. Watched. Waited for something to happen.
How Yogi had taken to spend even a bit more time with Gareki, how Gareki once had almost leaned in to his touch while he was spaced out, just to snap out the very moment and hit him. But the blond haired adult didn't stop, maybe even watched a bit more. Gareki narrowed his eyes at the behaviour.
But when Gareki's appetite decreased slightly, Hirato decided to ask. Slyly like usual. Gareki would blink at him and mumble something about 'The hell do you mean?' which didn't answer his question. He decided to watch him a little more and leave him alone for now. Maybe it was just a phase, teenager were prone to them after all.
But when he heard Gareki mentioning to Yogi that he was interested in seeing other countries, leaning in just the tiniest bit when the older one already sat a bit too close to him, Hirato smiled softly to himself, deciding that Gareki's inquisitiveness would be satisfied with the next mission he had just signed.
But now he had to watch out for something else.
He sent the sheep away after assigning it to watch out for his boys.