Chapter 2
The first thing Yokozawa ended up doing when they got to the beach, right after he changed into swim trunks at Kirishima's insistence, was take a nap. He was tired, when it came right down to it, and just because he was being dragged around on this trip didn't mean he had to relax in the exact ways Kirishima approve of.
Of course, leaving himself wide-open for Kirishima and Hiyo to have fun with him probably wasn't the best idea. They'd brought shovels so Hiyo could make sand castles, and as soon as Kirishima saw that Yokozawa was dead to the world, he broke them out and they started burying him. Hiyo couldn't stop herself from giggling as she got sand closer to the shore so it would cake and stay in place better, and Yokozawa started stirring before they were entirely done.
Hiyo stopped burying him with buckets of sand, but Kirishima merrily continued with his task, dumping shovelfuls on his chest and humming until Yokozawa woke up enough to realize what was going on. "What the hell."
"Language, Yokozawa. Hiyo's right here," Kirishima said without a care in the world. He pointed to Hiyo, who smiled and dumped another bucket on him.
"Unbury me right now," Yokozawa said, doing his best to keep his voice level.
"No," Kirishima answered simply. He jumped in surprise when Yokozawa managed to move by himself despite the sand heaped on him, and without a second thought, he scooped Hiyo up onto his shoulders and shouted, "Run, Hiyo!"
Hiyo giggled madly as they ran down the beach, getting odd looks from other people as Yokozawa struggled to get to his feet and run after them. "I told you it was a bad idea, Papa!"
"Hey, you went with it, too!" Kirishima replied. Yokozawa was finally running after them, and Kirishima decided to go into the water. Yokozawa had said earlier that he didn't really like swimming, so the hope was that he wouldn't catch them if they went in there.
Of course, what he hadn't anticipated was Yokozawa throwing the shovel and buckets at them from the shore and saying, "You really need to grow up."
"Not true," Kirishima said, taking Hiyo from his shoulders and letting her get the bucket and shovels. "You're just too uptight for your own good. Of course I could do something about that."
Yokozawa blushed at that, turning his head so he could hide his face when Hiyo looked at him. It seemed the comment had gone right over her head, because she said, "Papa, can I get a beach ball from one of the stands?"
"Sure, Hiyo," Kirishima said, his voice full of laughter. His eyes were even twinkling as Hiyo ran back to their spot on the beach to get some money, hands still full of sand castle supplies. Yokozawa sighed and sat down there at the edge of the water, it pushing up to lap against his toes every few seconds, and Kirishima plopped down beside him. "Ah, you were right, I wasn't spending enough time with her. These days I'm always surprised at how cute she still is." He pushed his bangs out of his eyes before turning to Yokozawa and added, "Never forget that about you, though."
"I still don't see how you can think I'm cute," Yokozawa said, rolling his eyes. He leaned away from Kirishima when he moved closer and said, "We're in public, Kirishima-san."
"And your point is?" Kirishima shifted his eyes over to Hiyo, who'd retrieved enough to get a beach ball and was going over to one of the beach toy stands. "I was under the impression that your only protest was Hiyo finding out about us, and currently, she's over there." He pointed vaguely in Hiyo's direction, and Yokozawa scowled and stood up. "You're no fun."
"Why don't you go spend some time with your daughter like the original plan was?" Yokozawa muttered.
Kirishima seemed to think about that, and then he stood up and put a hand on Yokozawa's back, guiding him along as well. "She's as good as your daughter too, you know."
"She still sees me as her older brother," Yokozawa said, glaring at the hand Kirishima had on his back but not pushing it away or saying anything about it. It was a small concession he could give, and it would hopefully prevent Kirishima from compensating for his rejections by getting even more touchy.
"We could change that you know."
Yokozawa just glared at him and went to wait for Hiyo to come back with a beach ball.
xxx
After lunch, Kirishima got considerably less insistent that Yokozawa go swimming. Hiyo had made a friend and was spending most of her time over with the girl, building sand castles and just all the things that two little girls would do at a beach. Though without Hiyo around, Kirishima had decided it was imperative that he hold Yokozawa's hand despite the many protests. Kirishima would just point out that there were plenty of couples there and questioned why it was different for them, which only served to fluster Yokozawa.
Yokozawa by no means wanted Kirishima to think he was ashamed of him, but he just wasn't the public displays of affection type. He couldn't remember a time when he'd held hands with any of his girlfriend in public let alone kissed them. He'd sometimes been what could pass as affectionate with Takano in public, but it had only ever been in places where no one was watching (well, occasionally Onodera was watching, and that had been entirely intentional).
The conversation he'd had with Kirishima's mother, however, had him thinking.
"Papa, Oniichan!" Hiyo called, running up the beach with the girl and her mother beside her. Yokozawa ripped his hand from Kirishima's, but all Hiyo saw was the warm smile he gave her when she finally got to their place on the sand. "This is Mako-chan, and her mama!"
Yokozawa stayed where he was, but Kirishima stood, being ever the gentleman and probably used to greeting people like they were the most important people in the world. "Hello," he said with a warm smile, bowing with a flourish. "I'm Hiyori's father, Kirishima Zen. This is Yokozawa Takafumi." He held a hand out indicating Yokozawa, who quickly stood up and bowed as well.
"Ito Miyako." The woman bowed as well. "Hiyo-chan and Mako-chan were talking about getting together after today, so I wanted to meet you. She has a lot of good things to say about you two."
Yokozawa glanced over to Hiyo, who was smiling in a sheepish sort of way. Kirishima waved them off with a smile, and they gladly went back down the beach to play.
With her daughter gone, Ito smiled softly before turning to Kirishima. "She's a very nice girl, Kirishima-san. You and your wife must be very proud," she said.
"Ah, my wife was certainly very proud of her. Unfortunately, she passed away several years ago when Hiyo was a bit too young to remember her." Kirishima waved his free hand about in a vague manner like it would enhance his statement. He reached over to grip Yokozawa's with the other and even squeezed it a bit. "Yokozawa here makes a very good mama to Hiyo though, don't you Yokozawa?"
"I've told you not to call me that," Yokozawa said in a dull voice, most of his fight gone. "But at least you admit I take care of your child better than you do."
"Mama, we're out of soda!" Mako-chan called from down the beach, and her mother tore her eyes away from Kirishima and Yokozawa.
"I'm sorry, duty calls," she said with a smile. She took one last glance at the two before saying, "Hiyo-chan is, of course, free to come over whenever she wants. Perhaps we can all get together some time."
Kirishima nodded and watched her leave, and just to piss off Yokozawa, he let go of his hand and fell back on his beach blanket. "Ah, I don't think she likes us," he said with a smile. Yokozawa was silent, so Kirishima added, "Then again, I'm used to people not liking me. I get hateful stares from you every day."
"That's because you're an asshole," Yokozawa said, because sometimes you just needed a bit of the truth.
"I know plenty of people who wouldn't agree with that statement," Kirishima said, continuing to smile. "Then again, I suppose you know me better than they do."
Yokozawa frowned at that. Maybe he did know Kirishima pretty well when it came to things he liked and his habits (and a few other things that couldn't be mentioned in proper company), but there were things he didn't know about the man simply because they were never brought up. He'd spied pictures of the rumored, deceased wife every now and then, but they weren't kept around the apartment out in the open.
Kirishima seemed to sense that Yokozawa was going into gloom mode, so he said, "Relax, Yokozawa, you don't have to have everyone like you."
Yokozawa snorted. "I'm a businessman, I have plenty of enemies."
"Then what's the matter?" When Yokozawa didn't answer, Kirishima shifted closer and said, "If you don't tell me I'll just have to kiss it out of you."
"Would you not do that." Yokozawa pushed him away. "I was just… wondering why you never talk about your ex-wife."
The look on Kirishima's face showed that he completely understood the situation, or at least he thought he did. "Ah, I see." Kirishima leaned away, propping himself on his elbows and staring up at the sky. "Do you really want to know about her?"
"Admittedly no." Yokozawa couldn't look Kirishima in the eye. "But she was important to you."
"Ah, yes, true," Kirishima said. "She was quite a woman. But very fragile." Kirishima pushed his bangs out of his eyes with one hand and sighed. "Always getting sick. Not that it let her stop her until the last few days." Then he sighed. "It's been several years, though, and Hiyo doesn't even remember her because she was so young. Maybe I'll tell you the rest some day." He reached over and took Yokozawa's hand. "In the meantime, stop worrying so much. Geeze, you're going to make that furrow between your eyebrows come back."
"You act like it doesn't matter," Yokozawa said, his eyes narrowed.
Kirishima rolled his head around once and said, "She does. She was important to me. But she's gone, and now you're important to me. It's not as if you're a replacement, Yokozawa. If I just wanted a replacement I could've gotten one a long time ago."
"Nice to know," Yokozawa said, remembering all too well how easily he'd gotten women to go out drinking with him in that week he'd been 'looking for a mother for Hiyo.' Yokozawa had his doubts that many of them would have gone with him if they'd known that was his motive, though. He snorted to himself, remembering that he'd used his relationship with Hiyo as reason to go to their apartment before he and Kirishima got together. Perhaps he was just a giant softie when it came down to it.
"Papa, Oniichan!" Hiyo called from down the beach where she and Mako-chan were still playing. "Can we get dinner now? I'm hungry!"
"Our child calls, Yokozawa," Kirishima said with that cocky smirk of his.
All Yokozawa could do was roll his eyes and go on ahead before Kirishima even thought to. Someone needed to take care of the starving ten-year-old, after all.
