Supper big thank you to theplayer3929 on Ao3 for coming up with these ideas and basically egging me on to write an alternate universe version of the Genma Shiranui: Mother Hen Extraordinaire story- a version in which Genma ends up in a relationship with both Hiashi Hyuga and Ibiki Morino.

These one-shots will not be placed in chronological order because why be normal? This first one takes place after the Chunin Exams and the destruction of Genma's home- roughly.

From the prompt: 3. Hiashi, surprisingly, he's the one who realizes first. He is the one who figures the moment he liked Genma as well as the moment he started to like Ibiki.

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CHAPTER 1: Revelations

The night was cool, the smell of incoming rain was a nice perfume, and there was a silence reigning over them that was supposed to be familiar, yet had not been in common ever since Genma and his children moved in.

Hiashi had only just finished this particular brew of tea when Genma announced his entrance into the kitchen with a heavy, long-suffered sigh.

Without turning to greet his guest, Hiashi began to serve their individual drinks- making sure to add a single drop of honey into Genma's own brew. Even though Genma had never flat out stated it, Hiashi believed that he enjoyed a bit of sweetness in his green tea. Most shinobi weren't prepared to admit that they enjoyed sweet things in their life, so it wasn't very surprising to Hiashi that Genma didn't say anything about his own tastes. But there was a clear difference in how the younger male savored his tea when it had some honey added and when it was plain and Hiashi found no issue in indulging him in this one small thing.

After having lost a home, almost lost an important friend, constantly being worked ragged day in and day out both in his professional career and personal life, and taking care of multiple children and young adults that had no true blood-relation to him, Genma Shiranui deserved some bright moments, even if they were just small drops of honey in his green tea.

This small kitchen was a small addition for the Main Branch to utilize if in need of something of simple preparation outside of the regular hours in which their chefs were working. In reality, its inception had initially been to keep the less impressive members of the branch as isolated from the rest of the family without being outright negligible with their needs, but part of its inherent cruelty had been washed away by the presence of Genma and his charges.

Hinata had been the one to most use this small area recently, seeing how his and Hanabi's own rooms were positioned much closer to the main area of the compound; still within the same building, but not so far separated. But now it was common to find multiple genin lounging around this area during the day when they wanted to avoid having to attend practice or when they were allowed some free time between practice sessions and missions.

During some nights, though, it was common to find him within, preparing a small teapot for himself and Genma to share in the balcony outside of his room. It wasn't often that Genma came in while he brewed the tea, seeing how Hiashi tended to work quickly and finish preparing their drinks before Genma crossed the entirety of their clan's compound.

Ah, that must be it.

Once both drinks were served, Hiashi grabbed ahold of both cups and turned to the man with much too heavy bags beneath his eyes.

Naruto and Sasuke were off on a mission with their final teammate, and it wouldn't be a stretch to find out that Haku had been either handed off to another one of their friends to not have to stay alone within his family's home or Hinata and Hanabi were keeping him busy by avoiding returning to their proper home.

There weren't any children within the compound to stop Genma and keep him from making his way into this area.

Genma's eyes were a rather plain color of brown; and yet, Hiashi always felt an odd sort of comfort seep into him whenever he looked into them. There was a kindness that never faltered within those plain eyes… it was no wonder that Genma had managed to become such an important person in the lives of many of his greatest friends. Such kindness deserved to be nurtured and even protected.

"You may tell me all about your stressful day over tea." Hiashi motioned to both cups and, within an instant, Genma's shoulders had drooped, and all of his body seemed to melt, losing the harsh edges of tension it had undoubtedly acquired during the day.

Genma stepped out of the way and led the way into his room, sliding his door open to allow Hiashi to step within before he closed it back up. Hiashi stood still within the center of the man's unimpressive, mostly barren of decoration room and then watched with no hurry whatsoever as Genma then made his way towards the screen door at the very back and opened it up.

When Hiashi stepped out into the balcony, the cool night breeze caused a small smile to appear on his lips.

He lowered both cups onto the wooden table at the center of the enclosed space before he moved towards the left side and knelt down on the dark cushion that had become 'his' for these quiet conversations.

Genma gracelessly fell onto the cushion opposite him, barely keeping himself upright in his own kneeling position before he grabbed the cup of tea and took a quick, short sip.

"This is delicious."

The small smile on his face became just somewhat larger upon hearing the honest praise; Hiashi merely nodded in gratitude and grabbed a hold of his own cup. He kept his gaze directly in front of him, though, towards the long treeline that obscured this area from the rest of their Village.

Faintly, he heard the soft goings-on of his clan around him. It was rather late at night, so the sounds he heard were those common to hear during the winding-down hours of the day; the hours in which one prepared themselves to get some rest and prepare for another day.

Genma took another, slightly louder drinks from his cup before sighing heavily.

"You know, I'm really grateful for you."

This… was not generally part of their quiet nights.

Hiashi was pulled from some of his thoughts upon hearing such a surprising thing. He moved his chin slightly to the side, looking over at Genma through the periphery of his vision, only to find him looking down with a crooked smile at the cup in his hands.

Without waiting for Hiashi to tell him anything, Genma continued, "You've taken a lot of shit from your clan for helping me and the kids out… and I know it's not easy to bear so much for some simple civilian like me… so, I just…" he shrugged, then turned his smile fully towards Hiashi and… all breath was pulled from his lungs when those plain, kind eyes looked at him, sparkling in the faint moonlight. "I don't say it often, but thank you, Hiashi."

His body became rigid; tense; taught.

He was not sure what his body thought was coming, but it was almost as if he was preparing himself for an attack… or, no, not that. His body was preparing to run away.

Dumbly, he continued to look at Genma through the corners of his eyes; not even capable of turning his face completely in his direction.

Genma's eyelashes weren't particularly long, Hiashi noted as Genma's eyes closed and he turned his face back to face forward. But this wasn't something he was just noticing. He had known this for quite some time now. Much of Genma's appearance was mundane and most conspicuous- perfectly acceptable for a shinobi.

And yet…

"Sorry for suddenly getting sappy on you. But with the way things have been, I just feel like I should be honest, you know?" after this, Genma drank from his tea once again and asked, "So, is it okay for me to tell you what new insanity Kotetsu and Iwashi got up to over at T&I? By saving their dumb asses, I almost put mine over fire."

Genma was stupidly kind.

It was… admirable, really.

Clearing his throat softly, Hiashi raised his own drink to his lips and nodded. He made a point of drinking to Genma in an attempt to not have to utilize his own voice quiet yet- he was still much too stunned to trust himself to not misspeak.

Everything about the night was mundane and perfectly routine. Everything about Genma was predictable and familiar.

It seemed only fitting that Hiashi would figure out these feelings during such an uneventful moment in their lives.

~/~

Hiashi did not do anything with these newfound feelings, naturally.

There were plenty of reasons as to why he remained quiet about them. There were plenty of arguments as to why doing anything about them would be a bad idea.

First of all, he did not want to make Genma feel as if he should pull himself away from the home he was creating within the Hyuuga compound simply because he did not reciprocate Hiashi's feelings. If he were to confess and Genma did not feel the same way, the fool would undoubtedly attempt to leave the compound to give Hiashi the space he would believe the Hyuuga would need, which he wouldn't, but Genma was stupidly selfless as well as kind.

Second of all, his clan elders were not big fans of Genma; they only truly tolerated him at this point because they knew that Genma was someone important within the Village. If Hiashi were to become even more independent from the elders' wishes from what he had already become, it may just be all that was necessary for them to finally revolt and attempt to retire him from his post as standing clan head.

Third of all, they were both much too busy with their own lives at the moment to make proper time for more than just a few minutes with each other. Genma was running himself ragged, as he usually did, but Hiashi himself was barely capable of going more than two weeks without being assigned some sort of mission. Konoha was still rebuilding after the disastrous attack on their lands and every single villager needed to work hard to bring normalcy back into the lives of all.

And, last and most importantly of all, Hiashi was a coward.

He could not bear to think of a life in which Genma avoided him because he did not know how to handle the way Hiashi felt for him. And he would much rather remain on friendly terms and never even explore a possible romantic relationship with him than risk losing Genma and their quiet moments together.

No, even though he now understood that his feelings for Genma ran deeper than just respect and a need to have a friend; now that he was aware of the way his heart would begin to race whenever Genma smiled at him or asked him if they could share some tea or even walked into the same room as he; Hiashi knew that both of their lives would be better lived if nothing between them changed.

~/~

Some time after realizing his feelings, Hiashi sees something that should have shattered his heart and made him stop thinking about Genma as someone he liked and wanted to constantly be around.

Genma had asked if he could invite the current Head of T&I, Ibiki Morino, to one of their tea-drinking nights. The man was, apparently, giving Genma a run for his money in the categories of overworking and not getting enough rest. Genma believed that some clam conversation with a level-headed adult like Hiashi would be just the right kind of medicine for a man that was constantly having to work with crazed and impulsive adults like Anko Mitarashi every single day.

Hiashi had agreed with no hesitation. Genma barely ever asked for anything, so it was only right to give him what he wanted when he actually took the time to allow himself to be selfish.

To a degree, being with both men made Hiashi feel somewhat old.

This was something that did not happen often when around other adults because Hiashi barely ever was bothered to contemplate differences in the ages of his comrades. The only time he truly felt his age was whenever he was around the young adults that were also part of Genma's army of loyal soldiers; their skills were impressive, and yet their maturity was very different from what Hiashi had always been exposed to when dealing with such power.

But now, Ibiki and Hiashi were able to reminisce over their days in the Academy- Hiashi could not comment much on his own experience because he had barely spent a year in the Academy before he had been promoted to genin and shipped off to fight in a war.

Their experiences had been similar because all of them had grown up during wartime… and yet, their experience had been very different from his own. They had managed to graduate after they had been ten years old, after all.

But it wasn't just their days in the Academy that made Hiashi feel isolated. It was also the fact that they worked together from time to time; whereas Hiashi barely ever got to work with shinobi that weren't jounin like himself. They had friends in common they could gripe about; Hiashi only knew of these friends because of their professional relation to him and a few stories about the misadventures the children had gotten up to.

There was a particular enjoyment of poking fun at Anko and Kakashi- both human disasters, in Genma's words.

Even a blind person would have been able to see just how well these two got along… how well they were for each other.

Hiashi's smile didn't reach his eyes as he raised his cup up to his mouth.

"I'm sure we're putting you to sleep with these stories, Lord Hiashi." Ibiki's voice was smooth and deep, a lower timber than both his and Genma's own. He had a calming quality to him, even though it would be hard to assume such a thing due to his rough appearance. "Please, tell us something about your day."

Both men had the habit of pulling him into the conversation whenever they deemed he had remained too quiet for too long.

Hiashi had expected this of the much too kind Genma.

It was… a nice surprise to see that Ibiki was similar to Genma in such a respect.

"I'm sure those stories would put you both to sleep." he answered levelly before motioning for Ibiki to speak up once again, "Did Hanabi truly attempt to utilize your summoning jutsu on her classmate?"

Ibiki had been around for most of his children's life, much like Genma. But unlike Genma, Hiashi had never truly needed to interact with Ibiki before. Their professional careers had never intersected and there had never been a personal reason to reach out to him…

Admittedly, in the past, there had been. Ibiki had been a presence in the children's life for quite some time, even though he wasn't as consistent as Genma. Neji had taken a shine early on to him, and Hinata and Hanabi both enjoyed his presence- much like many of the children under Genma's care. But back when he had first become a part of his children's life, Hiashi had been much too busy to even present himself properly to him. Now, too many years had passed to even attempt such a thing. Ibiki was important to his children's lives, he knew; he had just… never reached out.

With a small sigh, Ibiki crossed his arms over his broad chest and casually shook his head. "I am sorry about that, Lord Hiashi. It seems that Neji passed on some of the scrolls I gave him and… well…"

Hiashi smiled easily, "It is alright- the more jutsu she learns at a young age, the more she will be prepared to become a genin. Although, I would appreciate it if you took some time to speak to her about the severity of your techniques."

Ibiki nodded quickly, closed his eyes, and agreed that such a thing would be for the best. He apologized a second time, Hiashi placated him, and then Genma asked how fearsome it would be to have Hiashi's three children as part of the Torture and Interrogation team now that Ibiki had clearly influenced them all positively.

"Well, they may bring some stability." Hiashi lowered his cup for a moment as he contemplated how the Hyuuga's calm manners might clash with the chaotic energy so feared in T&I. "Although, they may succumb to Anko's ways… no, maybe it would be for the best if such a thing never occurred."

Ibiki nodded sagely, "Neji's got talent and Hanabi's got a cold demeanor, but I'd rather all three of them stay away from Anko."

Genma glanced towards his right at Ibiki then towards the left, at Hiashi, before smiling softly.

"It's amazing how we can all agree Anko's the true danger."

Ibiki chuckled a sudden, melodious sound that caught Hiashi off guard.

It was pleasant to hear.

~/~

Ibiki became a recurring guest in the Hyuuga compound; it became common for him to visit at least once a month to drink tea with Hiashi and Genma.

Hiashi was not completely sure if part of the reason why he regarded Ibiki in such a positive manner; why he enjoyed his company and didn't mind it whenever they wound up sharing the same space and time; why his heart faintly fluttered whenever he caught sight of the large man… but he was very sure that it had something to do with the positive feelings Genma's very presence emitted.

Oftentimes, whenever he was with Ibiki, he was also with Genma. Together. The three of them. They spent their time together in pleasant, calm manner. Whenever they were together, there was never a rush, never a worry, just… them.

Hiashi was much more aware of the way his feelings adapted to Ibiki than what he had been previously, with Genma. Because of this, he had been aware of the moment in which hearing Ibiki's name made his ears perk up, rather than remaining mostly disinterested, as they had in the past.

He even knew the precise moment when he began to prepare his appearance to be neat and presentable for Ibiki- an odd day in which the Heads of different forces in Konoha and Clan Heads had to go to the same meeting to be able to talk about some of the important decisions the new Hokage would need to take to be able to continue working with the very necessary reconstruction of the Village.

Genma was not supposed to have been there.

And yet Hiashi made sure that his hair was pristinely combed and his clothes were elegant, yet sedate, fitting of a clan head.

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I'm thinking of making the next chapter be about either the way in which this version of Hinata, Neji, and Hanabi were raised with Ibiki much more present in their lives or about how Ibiki figures out he likes both Genma and Hiashi. Genma is the last to find out. Trust. He's the dumb-dumb.

Anyway, I hope y'all liked this little blurb! Let me know your thoughts and if you're interested in seeing the rest of the ideas theplayer3929 gave me.

For any wondering about the next chapter of These Chickadees will be the Death of Me- it's in the works. Trust.