Comfort and Security
by: zulka
genre: family/general
pairing: KaixHiromi
rating: K
prompt 5: Aliens
When Kai picked him up, he noticed that he was upset. He thought about asking what was wrong but decided that it was probably because he was late and had ruined Gou's routine. Even when he was really young, Gou hated any change in his routine, and changes were often met with endless crying. Now that he was older, there were no more crying fits, but his son could become extremely sullen after any routine disturbances. Now that he was much older, and held a different kind of life experience, Kai worried about the challenges his son might face. Life, after all, was never straightforward.
When they arrived home, Kai watched him as he quickly ran out of the car, leaving his school bag behind, and ran into the house. Kai frowned. This behavior was definitely new, and he wondered if this was Gou's new way of showing his displeasure. It wasn't until Gou began brooding that he realized how exasperated Kinomiya, Hiromi and the others must have been with him when they were younger. Shaking his head and grabbing his school bag, he locked the car and headed for the front door.
"Where is she?" Kai looked up to see him standing there, looking lost. Kai noticed the apprehension in his eyes.
"What's wrong?" Kai asked, as he noticed his eyes get glassy before he ran up the stairs.
"Hey, Hey!" Kai called as dropped the school bag and chased after him. He found him a few minutes later, lying on his bed crying softly.
Kai's eyes narrowed, he had been acting weird ever since he came back from Makoto's on Sunday night. He had always been apprehensive about letting Gou spend so much time with Kinomiya's kid. He didn't want him to pick up on Takao's bad habits.
His cries were soft, and Kai knew he was trying to contain his tears. But Gou felt hopeless and the thought that was repeating in his head was what that kid from school had told him and Makoto.
"They're gonna steal your parents and eat them!"
He and Makoto had been terrified after that. Now, it seemed that that kid was right!
"Gou, what's wrong?" he heard his dad ask as he sat on the edge of the bed.
He wasn't sure how to answer, how could he tell his dad that the aliens came and took his mom and probably ate her? How would his dad react? And then what if they decided to take his dad too? Then he would be all alone. This only made him cry harder.
"Hey, it's okay." Kai told him as he rubbed his back. He then sighed as he remembered why Gou had been acting strange. Aliens. He had been terrified after coming home Sunday night. Apparently, he and Makoto had gone into the living room, unaware that Kinomiya and company had been watching a horror film. "Nothing is going to happen." He told his son.
Gou sat down and launched himself onto Kai, taking him by surprise. "But—But they t—took mom!" He could feel his tears starting again.
Kai wanted to laugh, but for the boy's sake, he refrained. He hugged him back and said, "So that's what this is about. You think the aliens took your mom."
"She was supposed to pick me up today and the boy at the school said that they would steal our parents and eat them!" he whispered.
Kai raised an eyebrow. So, not only was Gou scared of aliens, he also thought that they ate Hiromi since she was missing. He smiled.
"It's not funny. What if they get you too? I don't want to be left all alone."
Kai's eyes softened at that, and he hoped that his son would never know the loneliness he had known before meeting Kinomiya and the others.
"That's not going to happen." He then answered with such confidence that Gou looked up at him.
"But mom…" Thinking about his poor mom made him want to start crying all over again.
Kai sighed. "Your mom is with your grandma right now. She was in an accident, nothing serious but your mom went to see her to make sure. She called me and told me that she wouldn't be able to pick you up. She's going to stay with grandma tonight."
He looked down; replicas of his own bright mahogany eyes were staring straight at him. This miniature version of himself, as Hiromi sometimes called him, was ready to start crying again in relief.
"Are you sure?" his little version asked softly.
Kai nodded. "We'll go see her tomorrow."
He could tell what he was thinking. There was apprehension in his eyes still. Gou looked away from him for a few minutes before looking back.
"Are you sure?"
Kai nodded.
"Okay." Gou said as he hugged his dad.
"Do you want to call her just to make sure?" Kai asked him as he grabbed his cell phone from his pocket.
Gou nodded. He watched as Kai dialed and then he heard his mother's voice saying a faint, 'Hello?' before his dad answered with 'Gou wants to speak with you.' before giving him the phone. Gou swallowed, took the phone and tentatively said, "Mom?"
His mother's reply was all he needed. "Hi sweetheart, is everything okay?"
Kai watched his son as he spoke with Hiromi. The fear in his eyes fading to relief the moment he heard her voice. He reclined against the bed post. He knew Hiromi would ask him what had happened. He smiled inwardly at the response he was going to give.
He snapped back to attention when he heard Gou speaking to him, "Can we go right now?"
"Yeah," Kai answered.
On the way to his grandma's house, another thought occurred to him, turning to his dad he asked, "You wouldn't let them take mom away, right?"
Kai smiled as they turned into the driveway, and turning to him he said, "I would never let them take your mom."
And Gou smiled, happy that he could always count on his dad.
.
.
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Old AN: so, it's been a while and I suddenly got the inspiration to write. Hope y'all liked it.
2018: once more this was part of the 'Moments' collection. the prompt came from smos, a long time ago. However, now I feel like making this into it's own collection of one-shot with daddy!Kai and his reflections as he watches Gou grow. lol. what do you guys think?