Title: Playing House

Author: Hawk Clowd

Disclaimer: Gravitation does not belong to me. Let's just leave it at that, all right? The midgets (you know, the kids), on the other hand, do.

Blood Type: vodka. It's good for you, really.

Warnings: very few.

Part: five

Author's Notes: ... Yay for writing things during class!

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The night didn't come soon enough for Eiri. Shuichi helped him put the three kids to bed, spreading out futons on the living room floor and telling the midgets a story while Eiri went to find more aspirin. Miho avoided Shuichi and the singer, obviously sensing the hostility, kept his distance as well. The highlight of the exercise came in the middle of Shuichi's second story, a short tale about a goat and a caterpillar, when Hibiki started coughing loudly. Eiri, who was rooting through the medicine cabinet, could hear the boy at the other end of the apartment. He wouldn't have cared overly much if it had been a regular sort of cough, but it wasn't. It was the sort that came from the bottom of the throat and ripped its way out of the mouth... not the good sort.

Eiri winced and hesitated before going back into the living room. "Now what?"

Shuichi looked up. "Nothing. Can you get some water out of the kitchen?"

Water. Right. He could do that. Eiri retreated into the kitchen and filled a glass from the tap (he assumed the water was safe to drink. He rarely drank water straight from the sink but he did cook with it...). He had a thought as he came back and handed the cup down to Shuichi, who sat Hibiki up and started forcing the boy to drink.

"You're getting over a cold, aren't you?" Eiri asked the coughing boy shortly. He seemed to remember being told something along those lines.

It seemed his memory was accurate, at least on this count; Hibiki looked up at him and nodded. At least, Eiri assumed it was a nod--it was a bit hard to tell, what with Shuichi literally pouring water down the boy's throat. In any case, Eiri was almost positive it was a nod. That confirmed, he began searching for Hibiki's bag. He found it by the door and quickly found a bottle of cough medicine in there. He returned with it, skimmed the label, and poured out a bit of medicine.

As soon as he'd measured out the medicine, Namiko lunged forward and clung to his leg. This knocked him off balance... and he would up spilling nasty, grape-scented medicine all down his front. He fumed and tried very, very hard not to lose his temper.

"You want something, Namiko?" he asked coldly.

"You thould read uth a thtory, too! After Thindou-thama ith done with hith one about the goat!" the little girl insisted. "My mommy thays you tell thtories to people all the time!"

"Not those kinds of thto--of stories," he snapped. "Get back into your futon."

Eiri could practically see the tears welling up in the little girl's eyes and he knew, long before the waterworks actually started, that he was going to have to buy more aspirin. As Namiko wailed, Hibiki started to cough again... and Shuichi shot him a Look. Eiri nearly left and bought himself a plane ticket to Siberia. Never again, he swore. Never. Again.

Miho rose wordlessly from her futon and took the medicine from Eiri's hands. The writer had all but forgotten she was there and so the action surprised him. She took a considerable amount of time reading the label on the medicine and then poured out a considerable amount of medicine. Then she stuck the stuff in Hibiki's mouth and used both hands to clamp the boy's mouth shut until she was sure he'd swallowed it. When she released him, he began to gag, so Shuichi went back to pouring water down his throat.

Miho seemed to consider Namiko for a moment. Once she apparently reached the conclusion that the situation was hopeless, she took her futon and dragged it into another room--Eiri's study. She came back for her doll and then retreated back, shutting the door behind her. Eiri heard a very distinct 'click' and guessed that she'd locked the door. Son of a... The writer sighed; he wouldn't be getting any more work done tonight.

Seemingly satisfied that Hibiki was all right, Shuichi pried Namiko off of Eiri's leg and started cooing at the girl, trying to calm her down. The wails eventually turned to whimpers and the river of tears subsided into a mere stream. Once that was accomplished, Shuichi looked up at Eiri, who was stunned by the note of displeasure in the singer's eyes.

"Do you want--"

"I think you should go to the bedroom," Shuichi said quickly, interrupting Eiri. His voice was laced with frost. "I'll put Hibiki and Namiko to bed."

Eiri didn't argue. He needed to change his shirt anyway; it smelled like cough medicine.

Shuichi came in several minutes later, clicking the door shut and stomping quietly over to Eiri, an amazing feat all on its own. He jabbed a finger at the writer's chest.

"What. Was. That?" the singer demanded. Eiri had the feeling that it was not a rhetorical question.

"What was what?" Eiri asked in return. He batted Shuichi's hand away.

"You know what I'm talking about," Shuichi said. "What was that? Out there?" He didn't leave Eiri any time to reply. "Namiko just wanted her daddy to spend time with them and tell a story! Granted, it was bad timing, but that's not the point! You just... just blew her off!" His voice never went above a hiss; Eiri was impressed by that.

"She didn't have to cry," Eiri snapped back. "It isn't like I yelled at her."

Shuichi fumed. "You didn't have to," he said. "All you had to say was 'no'. She's just a little girl who wants her father--who she never sees--to like her, Yuki!"

"Maybe I don't like her. And maybe I don't want her to like me, either."

"What is wrong with you? You have four kids and three of them are staying the weekend to see you, but all you do is leave me with them and shut yourself away! It's all well and good that I play with them, but you're their father. You could at least try and give a damn!" Shuichi's hands balled into fists. "Why do you do this every year?" he demanded. "Why do you even bother trying to--"

"Lower your voice before they hear you," Eiri scolded.

"Stop pretending to care if you really don't!" Shuichi finished.

Eiri scowled. "I care."

"Then why don't you act like it?" Shuichi asked. "Would telling a story really have been so bad, Yuki?"

"I don't know any children's stories," Eiri said, as if that were an excuse.

"I don't know any either," Shuichi said with a sigh. "Why do you think I was making up all that crazy stuff about goats and lobsters and caterpillars? They don't care what you tell them about, Yuki, so long as you take the time to tell them something."

Eiri frowned. "All right, all right. I'll try to do better. Are you happy now?"

"Not really," Shuichi said honestly in a tone of voice that clearly said 'if that's the best you can do, I guess it's better than nothing'. Eiri had the feeling that was the best he would get out of Shuichi that night, so he retreated into the shower. When he emerged, Shuichi took his turn in the thing without complaint. This was a bit odd for the singer, who still had trouble grappling with the concept of western-style bathrooms, but Eiri didn't question it.

Eiri had picked up a book and was skimming the first chapter, trying to figure out if he wanted to read it or not, when there was a small, timid knock on the door. He bit back a sigh. "It's open," he offered.

The door creaked loudly as Namiko stepped inside. She approached the bed cautiously. "Daddy Eiri-than?"

Eiri hesitated; he wanted nothing more than to cart her back home to her mother, but that wouldn't do. He quelled the urge and set his book aside. "What is it?"

Apparently encouraged by his feigned interest, Namiko came closer. "Your house makes funny noithes and I can't thleep."

Hm. If he gave the girl a sleeping pill, he would probably kill her and, as a result, her mother would kill him. "So what should I do about it?"

She gave him a look that told him that she thought he was being stupid. He wanted to defend himself by playing the 'I don't like children and I don't normally have to deal with brats like you!' card, but he didn't. "My mommy things to me to help me thleep."

... Her mother did what? Eiri had to take a moment to translate. "She... sings to you?"

Namiko nodded that 'are you stupid?' nod again.

Eiri winced. "Well, Shuichi is a much better singer than I. Why don't you wait until he's out of the..." He paused as he realized that this was exactly what Shuichi had just been scolding him about. He sighed. "I don't sing."

"I could teach you a thong," Namiko offered.

"Er... no thanks." Eiri frowned. "What else does your mother do?"

Namiko shrugged. "The thinging uthually works."

Eiri sighed. "All right. Teach me a song."

Having been given permission, more or less, Namiko climbed up onto the bed next to Eiri and launched into a song that Eiri half-remembered from his own childhood, complete with hand motions. Shuichi came out of the bathroom halfway through (thankfully covered with at least a towel) and had to duck back into the bathroom to keep from laughing out loud.

Namiko did eventually fall asleep--after about an hour of singing--and so Eiri put her back to bed in the living room. Shuichi was standing in the doorway when he returned.

"You see," he began, "that was good. Well done."

"Shut up," Eiri mumbled. "What was I supposed to do? You were in the shower and I didn't want her to cry again..."

Shuichi interrupted Eiri with a kiss on the forehead. "You did just fine."

---to be continued---