Anonymous requested: can there be a day-care AU with Rokkaku in charge and Kirishima, Saeki, Kinoshita, Hirahara, Tagami and Tanizaki as the children? also Kirika can help.
Admin Notes: How did you discover that daycare AUs are the greatest things ever?! I looooove baby escorts! OMG! Rokkaku must be a very busy babysitter… There's more in the undercut! -Admin Hirahara
Rokkaku was always the first to arrive at the Gokuto Daycare, where he'd prepare the day's activities, put the schedule on the blackboard, and patiently wait for the six kids to arrive. Each of them were rather energetic and playful, getting into new adventures every day. Although it was exhausting work, Rokkaku enjoyed their company, and felt like a father figure to the six children.
On this particular morning, he was hurrying to put on his red apron when he heard someone step in through the sliding doors. Kirika, the other caretaker, gave him a tap on the shoulder. "Morning, Rokkaku." She smiled. Her lavender hair was put up in a bun, and she reached around the taller man to get her matching lavender apron. Rokkaku nodded in greeting, looking around the empty room. He wondered if he had time for a quick smoke before anyone started coming in. His thoughts were crushed as he heard small footsteps running towards the entrance.
"FIRST!" Came a small boy's voice, followed by a stomping on he front step. It was followed by another young boy's heavy breathing.
"Tanizaki…! That's no fair!" Rokkaku heard as he approached the door. The violet eyed Tanizaki and his neighbor, Kinoshita, were the first to run over to the daycare, both out of breath.
"Rokkaku-san!" Tanizaki greeted when he realized the caretaker was watching. "I wanted to be the first one here to say 'good morning'!" Rokkaku nodded and smiled, giving the small boy a pat on the head. Tanizaki looked away in some embarrassment. Kinoshita, following close behind, pouted.
"You only won because you surprised me…!" he complained. Rokkaku gave the other boy a pat on the head as well. That made the emerald eyed boy smile.
It was so cute, the caretaker wished he had a camera on him. They stepped into the room where Kirika said hello to them and offered them some things to do. It wasn't long after that another boy came in through the door.
"Good morning, Rokkaku-san!" Came the cheerful voice of an icy eyed boy, Saeki. He was a particular kid who liked wearing a cape that draped over his knees. When Rokkaku first asked why the boy wore such strange attire, he said it was because the cape was a good place for hiding his things. Particularly, Rokkaku sometimes found pieces of candy that trailed after the little boy. "Is Kirishima here yet?"
"Good morning, Saeki," Rokkaku smiled, leading the boy inside. "No, he isn't here yet. Just wait, though. He's sure to show up." Saeki and Kirishima were two kids that got along very well. They didn't live in the same neighborhood, but somehow they bonded easily. Saeki sometimes read picture books with Kirishima, and they could also be found taking naps together. Saeki was only a little down to hear that his friend had not come yet, but quickly cheered up when he saw Kirika and the other two boys. He ran over to them, saying something about drawing something for Kirishima when he came.
After a few more minutes, Rokkaku heard the pitter patter of footsteps running at full speed towards the door. "Rok-ka-ku-san!" He heard as someone hit his head against the wooden pole without sliding the door open. In a panic, Rokkaku ran to the entrance to see what had happened. Lying on the floor, face first, was an orange haired boy. He was being poked by another amber eyed boy, who wasn't really showing a lot of expression.
"Ah, Rokkaku-san," the second boy muttered, yawing. Tagami was always tired in one way or another. He was found sleeping in various places of the daycare, from the playground to under the furniture. It was almost like a game of hide and seek to find the boy. Hirahara, the boy who had face planted, got up suddenly with a smile.
"Rokkaku-san! Let's play!" He exclaimed. He had a bit of a bruise that Rokkaku was sure would go down in no time on his forehead. Still, the caretaker sent him straight away to get Kirika to put a bandaid over it. Tagami, on the other hand, was about to sit down on the steps and go back to sleep. Rokkaku managed to convince him it would be more comfortable sleeping at a table and got him all the way next to Saeki before he curled up and went back to sleep. That left one more child yet to arrive.
Kirishima ended up wandering through the doors half an hour after everyone else. He was lightly scratched and hiding something behind his back as he walked in. "What do you have in your hands?" Rokkaku asked the young boy. Kirishima shook his head as if to say that there was nothing behind him, only to have it given away by the meow it produced. Kirishima had managed to drag a white cat with him to the daycare.
"I found him on the way here," Kirishima explained, letting go of the poor creature. The cat hissed angrily before running off the porch and hiding under a pillar. Rokkaku watched it run.
"Kirishima, we can't just pick up stray animals and bring them with us. They might not want to be disturbed." Rokkaku explained. When Kirishima looked down at his shoes like he'd done something wrong, the caretakers sighed and knelt down to face the small boy at eye level. "Tell you what; we can leave out a plate of milk for him around snack time." With that, Kirishima brightened up.
With all the children accounted for, Rokkaku let Kirika take over for the first activity: painting. Kirika had asked each of them to paint their favorite things with the colors they were provided. This also gave the two caretakers a change to take a breather. Nothing usually happened that was too drastic around this time. With the kids happily drawing away, Rokkaku and Kirika usually chatted about non-important things.
The crimson eyed man decided, after some time, to see what everyone had drawn. To his surprise, he was strangely sure each of them drew some version of himself and Kirika in the pictures. He complimented them all on their unique pictures, and pointed it out to Kirika when they went to show her their creations. She only giggled and praised each for how well she and Rokkaku were depicted.
—
After that, it was time for the kids to go out into the yard and get some fresh air and sunshine. Tanizaki immediately wanted to challenge Kirishima to some absurd game in the playground, like "whoever can reach the flag on the monkey bars first wins" or "the first one down the slide is the winner" while Saeki just watched with amusement. He usually offered his candy to the winner. Kinoshita found a nice shady spot near the swings where Kirika was pushing him, and Hirahara had convinced Tagami to dig a hole with him in the sandbox.
It wasn't long before Kirishima got tired of Tanizaki's challenges and went over to the swings as well, where he and Saeki took turns pushing each other. Kinoshita decided to play with Tanizaki on the fort. Tagami also gave up on the hole and hid under the same fort to take another nap. Hirahara had gotten Rokkaku to help him finish his hole.
"What are you digging for?" Rokkaku asked. Without missing a beat, Hirahara replied that he was building a trap for the cat he saw earlier that morning. Rokkaku abruptly stopped him and asked if he could go play something else. Kirishima was sure to be sad if he found out his new friend had fallen into the sandbox.
—
During snack time, like Rokkaku promised, he set out a dish of milk on the front porch, hoping for the white alley cat to come back and get a drink. Kirishima continuously asked if Kasha had come, to which Rokkaku usually had to reply with 'no'. He wasn't really focused on the cat, anyways. Kinoshita had made a mess with his apple juice and Tanizaki was calling him an idiot. Hirahara was also stealing orange slices from Tagami, but the latter didn't seem to care. It was, all together, a very hectic snack time.
Rokkaku gave the porch one more glance before he had to clean up the tables, and noticed that the milk from the dish was completely gone. He didn't want to tell Kirishima, for fear the child would get his hopes up.
—
When it was indoor play time, Tanizaki and Kinoshita were working together to build something from the wooden blocks. Kirika was teaching Hirahara how to make origami cranes, to which Hirahara would get confused and give up several times. Tagami had made his own separate stack of paper cranes, before going over to see what Kirishima was doing. The azure eyed boy was playing by himself, interacting with a plushie.
"Rokkaku-san…" The caretaker heard his name being called. He looked down to see Saeki holding up a book with curiosity. "Can you read this to me?" He asked. Rokkaku looked down at the particular picture book.
"You want to hear about Shitakirisuzume?" Rokkaku asked. Saeki nodded rapidly. Shrugging, Rokkaku sat down on the ground and opened the storybook. As he told the story of the old man, the old woman, and the Sparrow, the other kids gathered around to hear as well.
This particular story was about an old woodcutter who brought home a sparrow who he thought was cute. The wife, on the other hand, did not like it, and after the sparrow ate the starch, she cut it's tongue out. After it was driven from the home, the old man decided to search for it, and endured many trials to finally reach a bamboo grove.
When he entered, a voice asked if he was the old man or old woman. When he replied honestly, he was introduced to a world full of cranes in beautiful kimonos. They had tea and celebrated, and the old man departed with a gift upon his back. When he revealed to his wife that it was a basket full of gold coins, the woman decided to go herself.
Since she was mean to the sparrow, she was given a basket as well, but when she went to see what was in it, she discovered many poisonous bugs in it and was killed by their bite. Saeki listened intently to the story, and when it was done, asked Rokkaku to tell it again.
"Actually, it should be nap time." Rokkaku replied, looking over at the clock on the wall. Reluctantly, Saeki stopped asking. Kirika had gotten the mats ready, and she offered each of the children a place to sleep. Stretching, Rokkaku got off the ground and put the book away.
—
"Rokkaku-san, I can't sleep…" Nap time had just started, the most of the kids were dozing. All except Kirishima, who was standing holding his pillow in his hands. Kirika had gone over to see if lunch was ready, and Rokkaku was left alone with the kids.
"Why not, Kirishima?" Rokkaku whispered back, not wanting to wake everyone else. Kirishima went on to explain that he had planned to sleep with Kasha, but since Rokkaku never managed to bring the cat back, he didn't think he could go to sleep. "I see…" Rokkaku thought, before asking his question. "Is there anything that would help you go to sleep?"
Kirishima thought about it for a minute before pointing to Rokkaku himself. "Can I hug your arm?" The caretaker gave a confused look. "I think I can go to sleep if I hug your arm for a while…" Not seeing a reason not to, Rokkaku shrugged and walked over to where Kirishima had laid his mat. He slid down next to the young boy, and let him take his arm hostage. It was fine, he'd sneak away later when Kirishima was asleep. His plan did not go accordingly.
Once Kirishima was sound asleep, and Rokkaku was planning to get up, Saeki awoke, realizing his friend was no longer beside him. Looking over and seeing Rokkaku lying on the ground with Kirishima in one arm, Saeki dragged his mat over and placed it next to Kirishima and adjacent to Rokkaku's hip, using the man as a pillow before falling back to sleep holding Kirishima's hand. This became harder for Rokkaku to escape, but he thought he could manage.
Until Tanizaki woke up from the shuffling and saw that Saeki and Kirishima were getting close to Rokkaku. Feeling cheated, he went over and placed his mat next to Rokkaku on the other side, snuggling under Rokkaku's other arm. In the process, he had batted Kinoshita, who lazily looked up, saw the 'giant pile' and wanted to join in, and fell asleep on Rokkaku's leg. Hirahara, who really didn't actually sleep during nap time, saw all the commotion, thought it was a game, and didn't want to feel left out. He dragged Tagami, asleep on his mat, over so that he was just above Kinoshita but under Tanizaki, and crawled onto Rokkaku's stomach to use the caretaker as a bed. He, for once, actually fell asleep.
This put Rokkaku in a very interesting predicament. His chances of escape were thin, at best. He hissed for Kirika to hurry and come and help him, but he realized that she was probably too far away to hear him. Giving up on his struggling, Rokkaku decided to just close his eyes and wait for Kirika to come back. "A quick break…" he thought to himself.
—
Kirika walked back into the dark room, wondering where Rokkaku slipped off to. She had gotten lunch ready, but couldn't alert her assistant if he was nowhere to be found. Noticing the strange pile of children, Kirika walked closer to get a better look. It turned out to be Rokkaku, fast asleep, surrounded by the children. Smiling deviously, Kirika went to her bag and pulled out her always handy camera, turning off flash, and taking a couple of pictures.
"This'll look great in the scrapbook…" She giggled, putting the camera away. Occasionally, she would use the pictures to blackmail Rokkaku into buying her dinner or helping her locate their new white alley cat. The embarrassment on the man's face whenever she brought up the 'special nap time' was priceless.