Chapter Ten: Back To Normal
Tsukasa looked up as the doorbell rang. He stayed quiet remembering what Daddy had said about being quiet. He heard his father sigh again. Tomonori was lying on his bed, the lights off with a cold cloth on his head. He had woken up with a migraine. Kaname and Mana were supposed to be coming over to watch Tsukasa while he slept and gave the medicine time to work, but he had only just gotten off the phone with them, so he knew it wasn't them. The doorbell rang again causing the man to wince. He hadn't had a migraine in a long time and it had been even longer since he had one this intense. "Daddy?" he heard Tsukasa whisper very quietly. Thankfully the child hadn't questioned him about needing to be quiet, and he had simply obeyed the order.
"Mmm… just let the doorbell ring. Kaname and Mana will be over later, but that isn't them. If they really want to see us they'll come back later. Just lay down and be still until Mana and Kaname get here, okay?" He didn't hear the child say anything, but he did feel the mattress sink a little beside him and felt the child's hand in his. Tomonori laced his fingers with the child's as the boy gave his hand a comforting squeeze. The man squeezed the child's hand in return, telling him that he was okay. Tsukasa had been quite upset when he had found out that his father didn't feel good. He had wanted to make him feel better, but the man had reassured the child that he would be fine once he took some medicine and went back to bed. This had reassured the four-year-old somewhat, but he still wanted to make Daddy feel better just like Daddy had always made him feel better.
Tsukasa frowned as the doorbell rang again. Why wouldn't they just leave? Didn't they understand that they didn't want to see them? They needed to stop ringing the doorbell so Tomonori's headache would go away. Tsukasa listened intently and heard footsteps going across the hall. Ms. Shiraki, he thought. Of course it had been her. Why did she keep bothering them, asking for help hanging, or moving something? He didn't want anyone new in his life, especially not someone who might take his father away. Half an hour passed slowly as Tomonori dozed off and on, trying to stay awake until Mana-san and Kaname-san came to wake Tsukasa. Tomonori's hand jerked in Tsukasa's grip as the doorbell rang once again. "Go answer the door. It should be them now." Tsukasa slipped his hand out from his father's and slid off the bed. He padded softly to the front door and stopped.
"Who's there?" he called quietly so as not to hurt his father's head more, but still loud enough for the couple outside the door to hear.
"It's us, Mana and Kaname." Tsukasa smiled as he recognized his master's voice. He unlocked the door and opened it, smiling. Mana smiled cheerfully down at him before picking him up and giving him a big hug. "How are you doing?" she asked quietly.
"I'm fine," he said seriously, "but Daddy has a really bad headache, so we have to be quiet until he feels better." Mana carried the child into Tomonori's room so she could tell him that they were there. Tsukasa wriggled out of Mana's arms and sat down next to his father at the top of the bed, kissing the man's cheek. Tomonori opened his eyes and smiled fondly at the child. The man opened his arms and pulled Tsukasa down. He hugged the child tightly, and kissed the top of his head before letting Mana and Kaname take him.
"Once I'm asleep you can be a little louder. This medicine really knocks me out." His sentence was punctuated by a huge yawn affirming what he had just said.
"Don't worry about it," Kaname answered. "We'll keep the little squirt quiet." He tickled Tsukasa's sides getting a small giggle out of the worried child. Tomonori nodded, eyes closing again. The teens left the room bringing Tsukasa with them. They went into Tsukasa's room. Mana convinced the child to draw his father some pictures and then color some while she and Kaname did a little of the school work they had brought along, but were more than willing to put that aside for several minutes to help Tsukasa color. Coloring was always much more fun than any homework they had to do. Mana and Kaname fixed themselves and Tsukasa peanut butter sandwiches for lunch, and they each had a bowl of ice cream when the teens were unable to say no to Tsukasa's pleading. A couple of hours later, Tomonori woke up much to Tsukasa's delight.
"Does your head still hurt?" the child asked, his voice laced with worry. Tomonori smiled widely at the child, touched by how worried the child was over him.
"Nope, it's all better. The medicine works quickly. What have you done with Mana and Kaname while I slept?" Tsukasa told him and gave him the pictures he had drawn. Tomonori promptly hung them up on the refrigerator, making Tsukasa smile with pride that his father had liked them. He went back into the living room, Tsukasa holding his hand.
A couple of more days passed before Tomonori returned to school with Tsukasa in tow. The child stayed by his side the whole day, scared that he would be kidnapped once again. He had been doing much, much better, but that was at home when it was only he and Tomonori. Going back to school was the first time where he had been in a situation where there were a lot of people. After the first week he was okay with all the people and ate lunch with his friends, instead of his father. One thing he didn't like though was how much time his father was beginning to spend with Ms. Shiraki. She had been eating lunch with him at school and had dropped by their apartment several times already.
The child still didn't really like her, but was beginning to warm up to her. His father seemed to like her, and he was happy when he was with her. He was happy when he was with Tsukasa, but the child could tell that it was a different kind of happiness. As long as she didn't interfere with his time with Tomonori he wouldn't do anything to her. Not yet at least. They looked to be just friends, but Tsukasa doubted that it would stay that way for long. Tomonori was beginning to look at her the way that Kaname looked at Mana, and he knew those two were deeply in love. Did that mean that his father would have a new special someone in his life?
But Kaname and Mana still were friends with him even though they loved each other. They hadn't forgotten about their friends when they started going out. So if Tomonori started going out with Ms. Shiraki that didn't mean that he would forget about Tsukasa, did it? He would still play with him, and do all the things he did now once he started going out with Ms. Shiraki, wouldn't he? And the child knew that his father would end up going out with Ms. Shiraki. It was inevitable.
Tsukasa had come to that conclusion on his eighth day back to school, and it was also the eighth consecutive day that Ms. Shiraki had ate lunch with his father at school. "Daddy, what's Ms. Shiraki's first name?" Tomonori looked up from the paper on his desk. Tsukasa was sitting in his lap, face turned upward to look at this father.
"Her first name is Isuzu. Why do you ask?" Tomonori wrapped both his arms around the child as his next class started coming in. The four-year-old shrugged and smiled.
"Just wondering. Can I color?" Tsukasa turned to his father's desk looking for the crayons. Tomonori pulled open one of his drawers open and gave the crayons to the child along with some blank sheets of paper. He stood up as the last few stragglers came in. The school day ended and Tsukasa headed home. Tsukasa immediately went to the couch and turned on the TV wanting to watch his favorite show. Tomonori sat down beside him while pulling out some papers to grade.
Maybe he was moving things a little to fast. The child probably wasn't ready for someone new to enter their lives. It still hadn't been very long since he had been kidnapped, about two weeks. But he felt such a connection with her, something that he had never had with his few previous girlfriends. He felt like she was his soul mate. But Tsukasa came first. He was the number one person in his life, and was his first priority. If, after a while, the child still didn't like her he would have to call it off. The man shook his head as if to dispel his thoughts. He hadn't even asked her out, and he was already thinking that far ahead. He must have it really bad. He jumped as he felt someone pulling at his sleeve. He looked down at met Tsukasa's big blue eyes. (A/N I think this has come up before, but I don't know what color his eyes are. I made them purple in my painting, but I don't think that's the real color.) Tomonori smiled and took a big breath. "Tsukasa, you startled me. What is it? Is something wrong?" The child looked worried, a small frown on his face.
Tsukasa bit down on his lip, frowning deeper. He took a deep breath before saying, "Do you like Ms. Shiraki? Are you going to ask her out?" Tsukasa avoided looking at his father hoping that he wouldn't get in trouble. Maybe he shouldn't have asked that. Tomonori blinked, surprised, and looked down at the child. Had he noticed something between them? He moved the papers from his lap and scooped Tsukasa up in his arms. Dread was bubbling up in the child's stomach. What if Daddy really was mad at him for asking that question? "I'm sorry," he said quietly, quickly. "Just forget that I asked. It's probably none of my business."
Tomonori shook his head and wrapped his arms tighter around the child. "You don't have anything to apologize for. And it is your business if I ask her out because it would affect you since you are my top priority, and the person that I care most about in the whole world. What made you think that I might ask her out?" Tomonori tried to see the child's face, but Tsukasa had buried his face in the man's shirt. Tsukasa mumbled his answer into his father's shirt. "I can't understand you," Tomonori said gently while rubbing the child's back.
"She had been eating lunch with you a lot, and just other things," the child mumbled again, but loud enough for the man to hear. Tomonori mulled this over while continuing to rub the child's back. So he had noticed how much time they had been spending together, but was it really that obvious that they liked each other? Did the whole school know? Or did only Tsukasa know? Small children sometimes were overly sensitive to these things especially when it came to their own parents. "So are you going to ask her out?" Tomonori thought a minute before answering.
"I might, eventually, but it won't be for a while. You're still recovering from being kidnapped. You need time to heal. Just out of curiosity, what would you say if I did ask her out?" Tomonori could feel the child stiffen and cursed silently. He shouldn't try to push the child like this. He should just wait for Tsukasa to come to him.
"I don't know. I can tell you like her the way Kaname and Mana like each other, but…" Tsukasa stopped himself saying more. His father didn't need to know about his insecurities. He had enough to deal with without adding on his petty troubles.
"Tsukasa, even if some day in the future I do ask her out it will not change my feelings for you. I will always be your father no matter what happens, and you will always be my top priority. You will be the one I care most about, okay? I will always love you no matter what happens, or whoever enters our life. Do you believe me?" Tsukasa pulled back slightly and nodded.
"So you're not going to ask her out for a little while? And you are going to ask her out, I can tell. You look at her the same way Kaname looks at Mana and everyone knows how much in love those two are." Tomonori didn't bother with answering the child knowing that he said was true. He didn't think he loved Isuzu, but he knew it could turn into that if he gave it enough time, but Tsukasa did come first.
The phone rang, sparing both man and child from having to continue on the slightly awkward conversation. Tomonori placed Tsukasa back on the couch and answered the phone. He talked for a few minutes before hanging up the phone and turning back to Tsukasa. "Who was that, Daddy?" he asked while pulling a coloring book and crayons toward him. Tomonori sat back down on the couch, a flood of emotions washing over him.
"They've found a way to turn you back into a sixteen-year-old," he said simply, pulling the child back onto his lap. Tsukasa looked up at him, surprised. That wasn't what he had been expecting to hear.
"Well," he started slowly, "that's a good thing isn't? That they found why I was little, and now I can be a teenager again?" He wasn't sure if it was a good thing, or not. He liked being held, and tucked into bed. Wouldn't those things have to stop once he was sixteen again? Tomonori blinked down at the child.
"I suppose it is a good thing, but I'm going to miss being able to hold you like this. You're to big for me when you're sixteen," he smiled. "But I can still cuddle you some once you're back to normal. I won't be able to put on my lap like this, but you're welcome to cuddle against me when you're a teenager, if you want. And I'll still tuck you into bed if you want." He smiled as the child blushed lightly. "They said that if you don't take the medicine that you'd have to grow up again. You'd age normally and everything, but the medicine will speed up the process. They said it's just a couple of pills. One to change you back, and one to put you to sleep. They said that if you're awake while your body goes through the changes it'll hurt a lot, but if you're asleep you won't feel a thing. They said we could come by the hospital anytime we want to let you take the pills. Do you want to? If you want to simply grow up again, we could do that…" The man trailed off as Tsukasa shook his head.
"I'm not sure that I really want to be sixteen again, but I don't want to have to grow up all over again. I was looking forward to driving and graduating, and college and all of that. This is just really sudden. It's a lot to process, but I don't really mind being little. I like that you're able to carry me around, and that I don't' feel embarrassed when you tuck me into bed, or kiss me goodnight," he said quietly trying to process the fact that he would be big again. He hadn't though it would be such a shock to be big again, or just how much he enjoyed being little. Tomonori wrapped his arms tighter around the child.
"I'll still do all those things if you want me to, okay? But do you want to be turned back into a sixteen-year-old?" Tomonori looked the shocked child in the eye. Tsukasa thought for a minute before answering.
He nodded his head. "Yes, I do. I like being little, but there's lots of things that I want to do that I can't do since I'm little." Tomonori smiled and hugged him even tighter. Tsukasa smiled back at him, both of them realizing that it was time for him to be a teenager again and face whatever challenges were coming his way.
Tsukasa smiled as he peeked out through the peep whole at his father, Tomonori, and his date, Isuzu Shiraki. It had been a month since he had been turned back into his teenage self. Two weeks after he was back to normal Tomonori had made his move, after several long talks with the teen, and had asked Isuzu out. Once a teenager again, Tsukasa found that many of insecurities about the two going out had disappeared almost completely. He knew that no matter how close the two, and no matter how much the man loved her, he would still have plenty of room in his heart to love him. And once Tsukasa had actually talked to the woman when she came over for dinner he found that he actually liked her. She had been warm and nice, and hadn't forced him to do anything that he didn't want to. She had also been completely understanding about asking Tsukasa if he was okay with whatever they were doing. She thought it was sweet and touching how much Tomonori cared for the teen, and to what length he would go to secure Tsukasa's happiness.
Tonight was the first night that the two had actually gone out alone. Normally, she would come over to their apartment, or Tomonori and Tsukasa would go across the hall to her apartment for dinner. Tomonori still had some of his over protectiveness left from when Tsukasa and had been little, and from his kidnapping. Tsukasa had finally convinced them to go out to dinner and movie after reassuring them a million times that he would be fine alone by himself for a few hours.
Tomonori had always been happy when he had been with Tsukasa, but now he was always ecstatic. Tsukasa could tell the two were meant to be together even if they had only been dating a couple of weeks. He knew they would end up married soon, once Tomonori popped the question. Tsukasa smiled wider as he realized this what he wanted. He wanted Tomonori and Isuzu to get married. Then he would have a mother and father. He knew it would take a while before he actually started calling her Mom, but she had been nothing but nice to him so far and had a motherly feel about her. There were some things, no matter how much he loved Tomonori, there were simply some things the man couldn't give him that Isuzu could.
Even if for some reason things didn't work out, or something happened between himself and Isuzu, he could always be turned back into a four-year-old to work out his emotional problems, and to accept her as his mother.
Author's Note: I know the ending was kind of rushed, I tried not to make it, but I didn't want to have to update this while in school, and I started school on August 8th, or 9th. Whichever one of those is a Monday is when I start. I don't really plan on doing a sequel or anything like that with Tsukasa being little and Tomonori and Isuzu being married. Any of you are welcome to do that if you want to just tell me if you do so I can read it and post the link here so people will know about it.
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