Hey Guys!~ Haha, guess who doesn't know the meaning of restraint? :D That's right I don't. I am coming at you guys with a whole new story!
I hope you enjoy this one as it is a lovely concept that I fell in love with and hope to see to the end.
This one will be for the most part pretty tame? Maybe I don't think I should promise that... I'll let you know if the content changes ^^;
As always I own nothing in regards to One Piece or any other referenced media. Enjoy!~
"Dad!" An excited voice yelled into the silence of the apartment, not at all caring that he would in turn wake up his father.
"Dad! It's time!" Marco's bed began to move as soon as the toddler hoisted himself and his sibling onto the taller surface. The jostling didn't stop there though, pretty soon Marco's body started to jump in time with the motions that were imposed on the bed as the toddlers decided that jumping on the bed would be the perfect follow up to the fine morning.
"Yeah Papa! Today is the day, right, right?" The second voice chimed in and started pulling at Marco's arms with as much force as a three year old could.
"I am" Marco groaned closing his hand around the two small ones that pulled at his arm in case his daughter lost her grip.
"I'm awake, yoi." Marco murmured and opened his eyes to look at the smiling pair of children.
"Good morning!" Thatch and Haruta exclaimed cheerfully in unison to their sleepily disoriented father.
"Morning you two, did you get any sleep?" Marco asked as he lifted himself off of the bed and yawned, rubbing the rest of his sleep out of his eyes once his hands were freed from Haruta's grip.
"Uh-Huh! I slept for this many hours!" Haruta said, proudly displaying both of her open palms to Marco, while Thatch slipped off of the bed and nodded. "We slept lots!"
"That's good, you guys need your sleep after all, yoi." Marco smiled reaching out to ruffle the hair of his two children. Both toddlers grinned as they each took his hands and pulled him off of the bed with encouragements of "C'mon"'s and "We don' wanna be late."
Marco chuckled as he climbed onto his feet and looked over the two with the fondness only a father could possess. Marco was a single father of two–twins to be exact. They were no more than three–barely out of their two's by a month–with Haruta as the oldest of the two by four minutes, though it was clear that Thatch loved to take on the 'older sibling' role between the two.
Marco had to admit that they were quite a handful, he had had a lot of help during their infant years while he was living with Oyaji and the rest of his family, but recently his job had required him to move cities. Marco had been unable to refuse the offer, and to be quite honest with himself, the pay was infinitely better.
Unfortunately, taking on the new position and job had meant that he and his children would have to relocate to a different city and he could no longer entrust them to his sister Izo or any of his other numerous brothers. So Marco had had to look around the area and search for a daycare for his two precious children. And after a couple of weeks of searching, he found one that he was comfortable with. The daycare he found most suitable for his babies was called Ohara Daycare Center, the reviews he had read online were all very positive. Each and every one read that the staff was very friendly and attending to the children. They were in a highly safe environment where they were also taught socializing skills as well as basic academic things according to their ages.
When Marco had gone to scout out the place he had met with Robin, the founder of the little establishment and one of the teachers there. She had assured Marco that every child was looked after, they took every precaution when it came to signing the children in and signing them out at the end of the day. The children were allowed breaks between every two hours and were given snacks in the middle of the day, the meals were either provided by the daycare or lunches packed by their parents. Robin had also given Marco a pamphlet that detailed their activities and schedules depending on their age groups.
Marco had taken the information home and gone over it a million times by himself and with his family until Izo made him see that Ohara was a really great environment for his children to be, and that it would actually be beneficial for them to get a head start on their learning practices.
Marco had not been entirely convinced until he checked out the complete history of the daycare's credentials and looked into their licenses. In the end, everything checked out, they were approved by school boards–recommended even–all of their staff knew basic first aid, and had training in CPR, they all held child development degrees and certificates, and some even held degrees in child psychology. It was only then that Marco returned to the daycare and enrolled his beloved children.
And this new experience was exactly why Thatch and Haruta were so ecstatic that morning. However, it wasn't the only first of that week, now that Marco was more or less settled into his new apartment, he was now supposed to resume his job at his new location.
Marco was least excited about that little detail, but had long since come to terms with it and was much more invested in the twins special experience. Thatch and Haruta got along great with the kids in their old neighborhood, and with their extended family they had never had a shortage of people to look after them. For Marco, it was both equally wonderful and terrifying to finally face the day. He was glad that his children were going to have a change in their perspective and were going to have a little more of experience with the world, but the thought of leaving them with people he didn't entirely know also pained him; yet Marco knew that it was a step he needed to take.
So with that encouraging thought in mind, Marco got to work on pouring the cereal, Thatch preferred the chocolate flavored sweets while Haruta liked cereal of the fruity variety. Marco then placed some slices of bread into the toaster and got the coffee machine running before he excused himself to ready their clothes. In what little time he had to ready himself, Marco managed to brush his teeth, get dressed and brush his hair before returning to the kitchen where he served his kids their toast and picked up their empty bowls.
"Do you want Jelly or peanut butter, yoi?" Marco asked as he opened the cabinet, getting a request for both condiments by each child.
Marco smiled fondly and helped them coat their toasts with both spreads just as his coffee machine finished topping off his mug and beeped to let him know that it was done.
Marco put the peanut butter and jelly away and took his cup of coffee into his hands breathing in the scent of the fresh brew before taking that first mouth watering sip; allowing himself a small moment to revel in the bitter taste of his coffee before getting back to business. Once Thatch and Haru were finished with their toast, he lead them away to the room they shared and started the process of getting them ready.
"Dad are you gonna do my hair? I want it to be this big!" Thatch held his hand high above his head as he looked expectantly to Marco, while Haruta kicked her feet in the air and made the untied laces of her shoes swing with the motion.
"Do you think you can tie your shoelaces Haru, yoi?" Marco asked as he took a comb and started to work on Thatch's hair. His son was introduced to some old kung fu movies by Jozu and from that moment forward Thatch had been adamant that he wanted his hair to resemble that of the starring hero. Izo was the first to give it a shot on the small boy after a couple of months of growing his hair out. Needless to say that under Izo's crafty hands Thatch was able to sport a little pompadour upon his head.
Haruta pouted as she looked at her feet, watching the shoelaces bounce and sway with each kick. "But it's hard." she grumbled.
"It's only hard at first sweetie, but if you keep trying I'm sure that you can do it. C'mon give it a try, yoi." Marco encouraged while he puffed up Thatch's hair.
"But I can't do it." Haruta whined, her lower lip sticking out as she intensified her pout.
"Sure you can, give it one try and I will help you when I'm done with Thatch." Marco said patiently and placed a hand over Thatch's face while warning him to take a breath before he released the cloud of hair spray. Marco knew that many experts didn't recommend shoe lacing until five years and above, but Marco saw it as a skill that should be taught sooner rather than later, and if he was quite honest with himself he believed that his children were slightly smarter than others; this of course could be a complete biased statement on his part.
Marco had always been a patient person, even as a child. It was rare to see him flustered and even more rare to see him lose his collected demeanor, but Marco admitted that he had had his moments of rebellion and blatant disregard for rules particularly around the end of his college career. But after that bout of rebellion Marco had gotten his act together and became the parent he was today.
Patience truly was a virtue, but Marco had caught on early on that with children you had to take things step by step. Losing one's cool was never the correct response and often lead to a negative experience for the child. So Marco always did his best to explain to his twins that they were capable of doing things even if they thought they couldn't, and if they failed then that was alright because he was there to help.
With a gentle guiding hand and the right amount of encouragement and positive feedback Marco was able to teach Thatch and Haruta their address and his cellphone number for emergency reasons. Of course he had still gone out and had the identifying bracelets with his home address and phone number made for them. Marco hoped that they would never have to use the bracelets, but it was best for him to be absolutely sure that they could have the information handy.
With no further complaints Haruta had seated herself on the floor and pulled her foot to herself while she took one of her laces into each of her hands and repeated the rhyme that had been taught to them. "Over and ov-no under...and puuuull it tight." she hummed.
Marco smiled as he tapped Thatch's untied shoe as well. "You too buddy, try for me, yoi?"
"Make a bow." Haruta sang and Thatch's blue eyes followed her movements as she crossed the loops and paused.
"Oh, oh! I know!" Thatch chimed cheerfully. "Pull it through and do it tight! Right dad!"
"You're both right. Good job I am very proud of both of you, yoi." Marco grinned and helped Haruta out with her second shoe while Thatch tried out the rhyme on his own shoe.
After that it was smooth sailing, Marco tied his tie and ushered his children into his small economic car. A little four door automatic five-speed sedan with a 1.8 liter engine that took fifty-six miles per gallon all while purring silently under the hood. To say that Marco didn't love his third child would be a lie, Marco's car was another member of his family. Marco had had his car for five years now and had customized him in a light shade of aqua and accented some pieces with gold. The seats were of course white leather and rimmed with purple, on the middle of each seat was an embroidered symbol, a cross with what appeared to be a U looping through its middle. The logo of their family crest.
The Newgate family was of course known throughout his hometown, since Edward–or Oyaji as Marco and his siblings called him–was a very prominent member of their city. He was a kind man that had inherited a large amount of money from his family who had ran a successful boating company in their time, and though Oyaji still partook in the trade involving vessels and cargo shipping, his true passion came in a different way. Along with the money he had inherited a rather large household which he later converted into a foster home and housed many of the town's children who had nowhere to go. It was there that Marco had met Edward and had been subsequently been the first child adopted into the Newgate family.
Homesickness washed over Marco for a brief moment but he didn't let that show as he strapped Thatch and Haruta into their car seats. Marco made extra sure that they were buckled in safely before checking that the child lock option on the doors was pressed and only then did he feel comfortable enough to close the doors.
The drive to Ohara Daycare was fairly close, a ten minute drive even with the morning traffic. That of course had been another deciding factor for Marco, who needed to know that he was close to the Daycare in the case that he needed to get there fast. Marco had calculated the distance, his home by car was 10 minutes, by foot was 30 minutes, and his work was about the same distance. Marco had also taken into account that if he were to run to the Daycare he would cut his time by half.
Marco pulled into the driveway and let the engine run for a second before turning it off. "Are you ready, yoi?"
Two excited "Yes!"s reached his ears and Marco wondered if he himself was ready to let them go just yet. His blue eyes looked to the excited toddlers through the rearview mirror and Marco decided that he was as ready as he ever would be.
Climbing out of his car and gathering his children from the backseat Marco took each of them into one hand and started the relatively short walk to the daycare.
"I'm only going to be gone for a few hours and I'll pick you guys up around four, that's when the big hand on the clock is on the 12 and the little one on the four, yoi. But if you need anything at all, tell them to call me and I'll be here okay?"
"Okay!" "Yes Papa!" both twins answered and Marco smiled, squeezing each of their hands within his own. Marco was sure that the gesture was more to reassure himself than his babies, but he wasn't about to complain.
Stepping past the doors, Marco was immediately greeted with a friendly environment. Pastel yellows, blues, pinks and greens decorated the walls in wonderful sceneries of small almost realistic animals. Marco had been stunned by the details on his first meeting and even now he was captivated by the attention to detail, and now Marco was not an art enthusiast by any means but he had gone to a couple of art galleries with Rakuyo but that was Marco's extent of knowledge on the matter.
"Good morning, may I help you?" A voice startled Marco out of his admiring and he automatically smiled to the man who had appeared.
"Good morning, I am Marco Newgate, and these are Thatch and Haruta. I met with Mrs. Nico last week about enrollment, yoi. She already briefed me on everything and has given me the tour of the place, she said we were all set for their first day here."
"Ah, yes. Robin did tell me you would be stopping by early today, unfortunately she will be coming in later today so she was unable to be here to welcome you. My name is Sabo Kakumei, it is very nice to meet you." Sabo smiled and after Marco let go of Thatch's hand, he shook it politely.
"I fill in for Robin when she is out, and I am the teacher of Group 3-A, which is where I believe you two are placed." Sabo added and knelt down to a shorter height to address the twins. "How are you two feeling this morning? Ready for your first day at daycare?"
"Yes, good!" Thatch beamed and on Marco's other side Haruta nodded eagerly along with her brother. "Yes, mister Kau..Kamui?"
"Kakumei, yoi." Marco corrected and nudged them to shake the teacher's hand.
Sabo chuckled, "It's okay no worries. I realize that my name isn't exactly the easiest name to remember, so call me Mr. Sabo okay?"
Haruta and Thatch nodded, "Kay Mr. Sabo!"
Marco caught the beaming smile of the teacher and had to smile himself, he was steadily becoming more and more comfortable with leaving his darling kids in the hands of the daycare.
"Do you have any questions for me, Mr. Newgate?" Sabo asked turning Marco's attention back to him and away from his kids.
"Surprisingly none, yoi." Marco smiled, "Ms. Nico was kind enough to give me the complete rundown of your facility. I have packed their lunches and all emergency contact information is in their files, they both have all of their shots and no known allergies…" he trailed off.
"First time at daycare for you too then?" Sabo asked.
Marco smiled sheepishly. "That obvious, yoi?"
Sabo chuckled, "It is completely understandable, I can only imagine what parents feel after they have to leave their kids in our care. Actually, I sometimes feel the same panic when I leave Ace alone at home, but you can rest assured that Haruta and Thatch will be very well taken care of. If you need to stay here longer that is completely fine."
"As much as I would love to." Marco sighed, "I'm afraid I have to report to work can't be late to my other first day."
With that being said Marco knelt down to embrace his twins. A wave of emotion welled and filled Marco as he held them tightly, he didn't–or rather was definitely not ready for this, but he had to push himself through it. Gulping back his unease Marco smiled and kissed each of their cheeks before whispering, "Be nice to Mr. Kakumei okay and remember I'm only a phone call away. I love you both very much."
"We love you too, dad." Haruta and Thatch replied hugging Marco back and after a second pulling away, eager to start their new day.
Above them Sabo smiled and in order to give them a small second of privacy headed over to the counter where he retrieved a book.
Marco signed his twins into the daycare, and with that stroke of the pen he said his final goodbyes of the morning and headed off to work with a heavy heart already counting down the seconds to four in the afternoon.
There is just something so so endearing about Marco as a father!~ And to have double the trouble! Ah I couldn't resist, please let me know what you think! Also any ideas as to who the mom of the twins is I would love to hear your thoughts on that and why she has not been mentioned. Anyone who leaves a theory gets a sneak peek to the next chapter :3
Till Next Time!~
