The highway and all grown up children
by Mashiro
Digimon fandom, Father's Day one-shot, some spoilers for Yamato's family situation
FAMILY: Hiroaki x Yamato
updated: November 11th 2007, Father's Day (Sunday)
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This story is dedicated to my absolutely amazing father. Thank you for being there. For loving and accepting me no matter what.
I suppose this can be seen as sort of a sequel to my 'White Cable and coffee' Mother's Day one-shot. When some years have passed.
I'm really not sure I like it, but I get two sets of vibes from this story. Innocent vibes and... err... not so innocent vibes. It's really confusing, I did not intend that! This was supposed to be a very innocent present for my dad after all. Geh...
Anyway, hope you'll like it. I really want to write more Digimon stories!
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DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon. I'm just a fan. This is FAN FICTION.
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The highway and all grown up children
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Ishida-san found himself out of work. It was barely two hours after lunch and... he was out of work. For a moment he just sat in wonder and stared at the bustling office around him. Then he started doubting. He couldn't be out of work. He hadn't been out of work since... since ever! There wasn't any out of work for a company employee. It was as likely as sharks swimming around in the desert. As dinosaurs walking the streets of Tokyo. For comics and movies.
He went though his day and his schedule in his mind; tried to find what he had missed, because he had to have missed something. But he hadn't. There was nothing left to do. Sure, there were things to do (it wasn't like the company had disappeared and Tokyo had run out of work) but all those things were for other days. Tomorrow, the day after tomorrow. For other employees. He was out of work, today. This afternoon.
After a walk around the office, asking if there was anything he could do and getting various versions of absolutely astonishing 'no, why don't you go home early?', Ishida-san took his things, his coat, and headed for the elevator. Slowly; in case he suddenly woke up from having fallen asleep somewhere. He didn't want to be fooled by the illusion and fall over from too much velocity. Colleagues bowed their heads and smiled as they hurried around workspaces and other colleagues. They would be going at it for at least four more hours. Probably five or six. In some cases even more. But not Ishida-san. Ishida-san was going home early.
When the doors to the elevator closed and stole away his view of the office, the realization of what this meant finally fully came to him. When the doors opened again on the bottom floor Ishida-san ran toward the exit.
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His kid was easy to spot. Seeing him among the flocks of darker haired students leaving the school building made it even clearer how very blond he was. It was a sunny day too. The strands shone like rice fields in September. Ishida-san couldn't help but think of Natsuko.
It was scary in a way, how alike the two were. More than once Ishida-san had come home in the evening after drinking with his colleagues and found his wife... ex-wife, poking around in the kitchen. Only it wasn't her at all.
They had the same eyes too. The same glare some other evenings when Ishida-san came home too late. 'Like I never got divorced,' he thought some times.
When Yamato was half way across the school yard, a boy broke through the flock of students and bumped into him from behind; grabbed his shoulder and leaned closer. Taichi-kun. The fine, blond strands of hair fluttered as Yamato turned his head.
The pace across the school yard slowed and Ishida-san watched as the boys talked over his son's shoulder. Looked like plan-making; Ishida-san saw it often at the office. 'Want to go have a beer after work?', 'Could we go over this after lunch?' Though Ishida-san doubted they were planning for beer or going over a report. What did kids that age do these days anyway?
Half a minute or so passed, then something seemed to have been settled. Taichi-kun grinned and nodded, Yamato gave a smile. The friend pushed away, throwing Yamato's walk off with weight on his shoulder. Yamato didn't seem to mind, barely notice; started walking faster again. Threw a glance after Taichi-kun as the boy disappeared (running, pushing through the crowd that stood in his way).
Ishida-san realized he had to get out of the car or his son wouldn't see him.
Yamato stopped and for a short moment just stared when his name was called. Ishida-san smiled and waved over the car roof. The son started walking again with a frown wrinkling his forehead. Worry was there too.
"Did you get fired?"
"N-no." It was Ishida-san's turn to frown. "No, of course not, I... I got off early."
"Why?"
The son had stopped. Hadn't reached the car yet though. Reasonable speaking distance. He was still frowning and still looked worried.
"I just... did," Ishida-san shook his head. "Look, nothing is wrong. Your mother and Takeru are fine, I just want to..."
There were people, students, staring at them. Or rather, throwing curious and wary glances at the two of them like a father and a son weren't supposed to talk by their car after school.
"Could we get in the car? I want to get out of the city before..."
But Yamato turned away; started walking again, away.
"Sorry, I've got plans."
"With Taichi-kun?" Ishida-san moved around the car to catch up with the child. "You see him every day, I thought we could..."
"Are you sure you didn't get fired?" the boy snapped around and the glare was there. Mother's eyes and mother's hair. What traits had he gotten from his father?
"I've got an afternoon off," Ishida-san said, his voice softening. He was desperate to get the child to understand, but tried not to show it. "I just want to... do something with you."
Yamato gave a half snort; rolled his eyes and looked away. His father waited. They got hit by more glances as students walked around them. Time passed.
"Fine," the child sighed. Like it was a burden. "Wait in the car. I'll go talk to Taichi."
"You could call him later," Ishida-san said and tried to make it not sound like he wanted to leave quickly before Yamato changed his mind. "I've got my cell phone, we should get going before..."
"He was coming over," Yamato had already turned and started walking back. Not smiling anymore.
Ishida-san watched his son's back until the son disappeared around the corner of a building.
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"Where are we going?" Yamato asked.
The car was leaving Tokyo. The highway was almost deserted, compared to rush hour. They would get out before it started. In a way it felt like they were running from a war. A war that, had it been any other day wouldn't have mattered.
"Away," Ishida-san said. Turned to the son in the passenger seat and smiled. Yamato sighed and turned away to look out the window. The father's smile faltered; but he persevered.
"How was your day?"
"Normal," Yamato said to the window. "Until I left school."
Well, at least he'd gotten into the car.
The highway was followed until the signs above told Ishida-san to turn. He watched in the corner of his eye as Yamato's head turned as his gaze locked to the names of places. The son hadn't been here before. At least he shouldn't have. But what did the father know really? Maybe Yamato had a friend that had a friend that had a car and liked just driving.
"Do you spend a lot of time with Taichi-kun?"
"I suppose," Yamato shrugged. Didn't turn away from the landscape running past them outside. Had his chin rested on his hand, elbow against the car door.
"What do you do? You and him."
"Just stuff. Nothing special."
"Will you get together tomorrow instead of today?"
"No. He's got things to do tomorrow. With his family."
Ishida-san felt guilty. Shifted his focus back to the road and gripped the steering wheel harder. The journey went on.
He had no right really. No right to show up suddenly and expect the child to sit around and wait for him. No right to mess up plans. But apologizing got old, didn't it? Especially apologizing for things you knew you couldn't change. Like years that were already passed and things you had already done. Like work.
It should be forbidden for children to grow when their parents weren't there to see it. Should be possible and allowed to stop time for occasions like that. Or maybe just possible and allowed to change the mind of stubborn, idiot parents. There must have been something someone could have said, one part of Ishida-san felt. Something someone could have done. Another part was sadly assured that there hadn't been. Stubborn idiots were stubborn idiots, no matter how quickly their children grew up.
Ishida-san stopped at a Seven Eleven by the road; ran in and bought them boxed dinners, drinks and dessert. Yamato stayed in the car. Whether it was because he had been told to or because he didn't want to come, Ishida-san would never know. That had been the whole point of asking him to stay in the car.
"Can you tell me where we're going?"
Yamato asked when Ishida-san had twisted to put the bag with their dinner in the back seat. When he twisted back again the blue eyes were aimed at him. There was no annoyed frown and no frustration this time. There was a tiredness to him; voice and blue eyes. Like a sigh and 'come on, just tell me.'
"I... thought it'd be a surprise," Ishida-san said and wished, wished that the forehead would remain without frown. Wished all the way into his bones that this would become a nice afternoon, evening. For both of them. Even though it was unfair that it happened so rarely and always only on Ishida-san's terms. When he got time off work.
Time with the children; was there anything more precious? Maybe they should have brought Takeru as well.
Yamato seemed to do some thinking; looked away for a second but turned his eyes back quickly. Opened his mouth to say something, but hesitated and then closed it again. Gave a soft sigh and shrugged.
"Well, then are we there yet?"
The tone in the son's voice took a weight off Ishida-san's heart; like 'fine.' 'Okay.' 'Not like it will kill me.' The smile couldn't stay hidden anymore. Ishida-san shook his head and turned on the engine.
"Not yet," he said.
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They talked after that. Just casual conversation about every day things, but it made all the difference in the world.
Takeru had done really good on a test the other day. The band was playing on the school festival. Taichi-kun had managed to twist his ankle a while back and had been let back into normal practice again just yesterday. Ishida-san had managed to run out of work even though everyone knew that was impossible.
He found he remembered the way. Had been years since he was here but it was like every turn had been engraved into his bones. The houses grew smaller and further apart; separated by fields and patches of forest. Civilization drew back and nature advanced.
"Do you have a girlfriend?" Ishida-san asked when he realized he had no idea.
"No," Yamato said and frowned in disbelief. As if his father was crazy. Snorted. Though his cheeks reddened, and he took the corner of his lower lip between his teeth.
"No?"
"No."
Ishida-san smiled. Yamato sighed loudly, a good sigh, and looked out the window. Muttered something so low and grumbled that it couldn't be translated into words from a car's width away. The color stayed on his cheeks.
Far away from them Tokyo was ready to burst its seams with rush hour. Ishida-san took the car to an even smaller road.
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"I came here once after work," the father said. Put down his emptied boxed dinner box on the ground beside him. The side where Yamato wasn't. Sighed; a good sigh. "Years ago, I can't believe I remembered the way."
The view lay spread out beneath them; a small town, fields, hills, trees. It was so quiet. A bit chilly but blankets had been packed in the car before and were wrapped around them now. Fall had colored the view with spots of yellow and red.
"I just wanted to get away," he continued. "I got in the car and just drove in the other direction. Drove until I ended up here. Stayed until I felt I could leave."
Ishida-san looked at the son sitting beside him and Yamato looked at him.
"Before I went home I bought and drank enough beer that it would convince your mother I'd just been out drinking after work."
For a moment they just looked at each other.
"I want to just get away sometimes too," Yamato said after a while, with a soft sigh. They were the perfect words for blame; for 'we all want to but we don't because we're decent human beings'; but there wasn't a trace of anything like that in his voice. He was just sharing. He wanted to get away too sometimes.
"It's okay," Ishida-san found himself saying. "Sometimes... You can get away. I mean, you're allowed to, even if you're not supposed to. It's okay."
Yamato thought about it. Ishida-san could see it in his eyes.
"Okay," he said when the thinking was over. Gave a soft hint of a smile. Ishida-san smiled too.
"Come here," he said. Without waiting for the son to move, the father shifted closer. Tossed his blanket and arm around Yamato's shoulder and pulled him closer. The world became warmer.
"Thank you for coming with me."
"Thank you for bringing me."
For a moment they sat like that; close together, watching the small town surrounded by nature. Then they had dessert.
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