Title: Decisions Of His Own
Characters: Yamato
Chapters: 1-1||Words: 999
Genre: General||Rated: G
Prompt: Ishida Yamato Week 2022, day #5, Childhood
Notes: This takes place when Yamato is nine years old, two years before their trip to the Digital World and one year after seeing Greymon and Parrotmon fight one another.
Summary: Yamato gets his lunch ready. When you're doing it yourself, you can make what you want.
Yamato dragged open the refrigerator door and stared for a few moments, trying to find what he wanted. His dad usually bought the groceries, but he brought Yamato along, so the boy had a pretty good idea of both refrigerator and cabinets might contain. But what he wasn't sure of was what he wanted right now. But if he stared long enough, he was pretty sure that he'd see something he wanted.
Slowly his attention flicked across item after item. So far nothing had really grabbed his attention. This was going to be his lunch tomorrow and he wanted to make it something that he would enjoy. He had to make this right.
Being nine years old didn't mean he couldn't cook entirely. His dad had shown him some of his favorite meals, the ones that were ideal for someone like him to be able to do, and Yamato learned very fast. He'd had to. Eating would have been an absolute misery if he had to depend on his dad to remember to make his lunch every day.
He tries, Yamato reminded himself as he finally made his choices and pulled what he needed out. But his dad loved his job to the point it wasn't unusual for him to come back at the oddest hours, exhausted, awake only because he'd downed more energy drinks than Yamato thought he'd ever be allowed, and then crash on the sofa without even bothering to go to the bedroom. Usually once he woke up, he ate whatever he saw that was close enough and at least resembled food.
When he did that four days earlier, he'd not even seemed to notice that Yamato left only a single bowl of matcha green tea ice cream and a can of tea he'd bought at the corner store. He was too busy eating it to really pay attention, and proceeded to almost fly out the door once he'd cleaned up and changed clothes.
Yamato still had no idea of what sort of story his dad was chasing down, and had decided long ago that in this case, ignorance was definitely bliss. He'd heard something like that on the television and it felt like it fit right now.
But being home on his own meant everything was so very quiet when he didn't do something to fill the emptiness. His dad made sure that he could be trusted on his own before sliding back to working so much, and Yamato wasn't going to do anything to lose that trust. He was a lot prouder than he wanted to admit out loud that he didn't need someone to keep an eye on him. All he had to do was make some simple food and get his homework done. It wasn't that hard.
He carefully watched the eggs as they boiled, diverting his attention briefly to check on the sausage he wanted to go with it. Octopus? His mom had cut their sausages to resemble various little animals all the time. But he didn't think he could manage an octopus.
Well, he could, but he didn't want to. He wondered if Takeru still got octopus sausages. He quickly pushed the thought out of his head, and decided to try something different. It would probably be harder, but no one could ever claim that he didn't try!
Eggs, with a nice dose of mayonnaise on them, some cut sausages, rice, and a few other odds and ends he liked to go with it all. One of the perks of making his own food was being able to add in what he liked the most. Once everything was done, he packed it all into his favorite bento box, and set in the refrigerator to wait until tomorrow.
Then he settled down on the living room couch and pulled out the harmonica his dad had given him for his birthday all those years ago. It was one of the few things he'd really wanted to keep when they'd moved here. So now he played quietly. He wasn't very good at it yet, playing mostly the default melodies that he'd heard on the television, but he liked it anyway. It brought back memories of better times.
He thought about what he and Takeru had seen that night. It hadn't been a dream, no matter what mom said. Two monsters fighting one another – his dreams weren't ever that awesome, and Takeru had seen the exact same thing. Sure, they said it was a terrorist attack. Yamato didn't believe that, either. He just had no idea of why a giant lizard and a giant bird would be fighting outside the apartments.
Maybe it's like the movies? He'd seen those before, where two monsters fought just because they did. But those were movies and Yamato knew better than to think real monsters would just show up to roar at each other for the benefit of a couple of kids.
Maybe he'd find out one of these days. If he did, he would make sure to let Takeru know as soon as possible.
If Takeru even remembers. That he couldn't be sure about. They so rarely got the chance to speak, and their parents were always there when they did. He wasn't going to bring up the monsters. He saw the way his mom sighed and fidgeted and looked annoyed when he did. So it was better if he and Takeru just hung out and he played his harmonica for his little brother.
That was one reason he kept on practicing. Takeru always said he liked it no matter what, so Yamato worked on getting better, so that one day he could believe it when Takeru said it. That, and making music helped him feel good no matter what. He thought he could use that, especially on days when his dad came home so very late.
Like tonight, when by the time Ishida Hiroaki came home, Yamato slept soundly on the couch, harmonica still in hand.
The End
Notes: I like Hiroaki, but being a workaholic helped shape Yamato into who he is.
