CHAPTER 3

Aomine let out a loud sigh, letting his head fall back against the door. Inside he could hear his daughter's muffled sobs. "Mitsuko, please come out."

"No!"

"Mitsuko, sweetheart-"

"Go away!"

Taiga chuckled, leaning bodily against the wall opposite. "She doesn't want to see you, Daiki."

"She hates me, doesn't she."

"Nah." He offered his hand, helping pull Daiki to his feet. "She's got more birthdays to come, she'll forgive you."

"No she won't. She's five now. She holds grudges like fucking… I don't know, who holds grudges?"

"Seriously, Daiki. She'll get over it. Especially when she's older, she'll realise sometimes you can't just skip work to attend birthday parties."

Aomine groaned, resting his head on his husband's shoulder. "But that's later on. I have to deal with this now! She expects me to put everything on hold for her, and Goddamn I want to, but my superior is hardly going to let me call in sick or something."

Taiga smiled, stroking his fingers through Aomine's hair. "You tried. You tried to get the day off and it's not your fault. She'll realise this."

"No she won't. I tried to explain, you know what she said? She said she wished Ryouta was her dad instead, because he always has time to play with Yoichi."

"Wow… but Kise doesn't have a real job, of course he can take time off."

"Not the point, Taiga. My daughter told me, to my face, she wished I wasn't her dad anymore."

Taiga sighed, pulling Aomine into a tight hug. "She doesn't mean it, Daiki, you know that. She's five. She's melodramatic. Everything's the end of the world to her."

"I know, but…"

"No buts. She still loves you, that's why she's so upset. I'm sure if you tell her how much she's hurt your feelings she'll say sorry."

Aomine shook his head, running a hand through his hair. "No… I'll think of something. Anyway, I'd better be going." He moved back to his daughter's door, knocking three times. "Daddy's going to work now, Mitsuko, are you going to come and say bye?"

"No! I hate you!"

Taiga cringed, taking his husband's hands in his own. "Ouch. Look, I'll do some damage control. You have a good day."

Aomine frowned, letting Taiga pull him into a quick kiss. "Not likely… see you later."


Aomine finally returned home after his long day at work, slumping against the wall to kick his shoes off. The abundance of shoes in the genkan told Aomine there were still guests over; guests he wasn't looking forward to entertaining. He shuffled through to the living room, frowning when he noticed most of the evidence there'd been a birthday party had been cleaned up.

"Welcome home, Aominecchi!"

Aomine forced a smile, lifting a hand up to greet his friends. "Where's Taiga?"

"Kitchen."

"How was work, Aomine-kun?" Kuroko asked, shifting up on the sofa to make space for him to sit. Aomine shrugged, flopping down, not caring he'd partially sat on Kise's lap.

"Crap. It was all paperwork all day… where's the birthday girl?"

"In her room with Yoichi, playing with her new toys."

"Ah… how was the party?"

Kise grinned, throwing an arm around Aomine's shoulder. "It was beautiful, Aominecchi! There was cake and ice-cream and party games and music, and Midorimacchi and Takaocchi brought baby Kichirou over!"

"Really? Did Midorima let anyone hold him?"

"When he had to use the bathroom Takao quickly passed him round," Kuroko said, hiding a chuckle behind his hand. Aomine smirked.

"Wow. Years of experience with children and four-eyes wouldn't let any of you hold the baby?"

"He said I'd taint him if I so much as touched him! So mean!" Kise wailed, shaking Aomine's arm.

"Yeah, I understand that… Anyway, I need to see if my daughter wants to talk to me yet." Aomine pulled himself up, groaning as he did so as his back muscles strained from being slouched all day. He dragged himself through the house to his daughter's room; he knocked gently on the door before peering in. Mitsuko was sat by her dollhouse, narrating everything 'Daddy Dinosaur' was doing whilst Yoichi pushed the toy jeep around himself in circles. Aomine smiled, remembering fondly the day Mitsuko had tossed out the dolls that came with the dollhouse, replacing them with a dinosaur family instead.

"Mitsuko? I'm home."

Mitsuko's head snapped up, her smile instantly morphing into a frown. "Go away."

Aomine sighed, leaning against the doorframe. "You can't still be upset with me."

"I am, now go away, I'm busy."

"Mitsuko-"

"Go away!"

Frowning, Aomine slipped out of his daughter's room, going to find his husband for a comforting hug. Taiga was ready for him when he shuffled into the kitchen, wrapping his arms around him tightly.

"I heard, is she still not talking to you?"

Aomine shook his head, gripping tightly onto Taiga's shirt. "I'm going to cry myself to sleep."

Taiga chuckled, pressing a kiss against the side of Aomine's head. "She missed you today. She made me take so many pictures so you could feel like you were there too, she even wrote a letter to your boss, telling him off for keeping you from her."

Aomine managed a smile. "I still upset her, though. On her birthday."

"You'll make it up to her."