It was two in the morning when Nezumi abruptly awoke due to two wild kids shrieking, followed by a rather loud thud.
The man sighed heavily, his weight falling back on his pillow as he stared at the ceiling. What in God's name could be they be doing at this hour? He turned to look at Shion, but his partner appeared to be still sound asleep. Nezumi released another exasperated breath. It was up to him, then.
Nezumi glided out of the bed so slowly and smoothly, like it was made out of glass, in order not to awaken his dreaming companion. His footsteps padded softly across the carpeted floor and out of the bedroom, up the stairs, and then finally standing in front of the door of the noisy kids. The man yawned and rubbed at an eye and reached for the knob, but paused and tensed. He was a little startled when he didn't hear fits of giggles, but instead… whimpering. From them both.
Turning the knob and pushing the door open, he saw that the lamp between the two beds was switched on, and both the children were huddled together on Jiro's bed, their little cheeks damp with tear streams. Both of their small faces looked up at Nezumi with such utter relief.
"Hey, hey… what's the matter?" Nezumi asked softly, sauntering over to the bed and kneeling on the end of it. He gave a lovingly-concerned look as a silent ask for an explanation.
"Th-there's… a monster… in this room, Dad… ghosts!" Jiro sobbed, holding his little sister closer against him.
Nezumi tilted his head at them and shook his head. "There's no such thing as—" he cut himself off with another look at his children, who were hugging each other tighter and tighter as the minutes passed, it seemed, like they would eventually just sink into each other.
Nezumi sighed. "All right… what did you see?" He inquired gently.
"Th-there was a black shadow… it was really big, it was even darker than dark… a-and, we both saw it move acros-s the floor and under Safu's bed… so I told her to come here…" Jiro explained, his voice still noticeably shaking.
Nezumi listened patiently as he sat on the edge of their bed in a casual position, his hands lying gracefully on top of each other in his lap. He closed his eyes and smiled a little, letting out a single breath of an inner chuckle, then got up and started exploring the room without hesitation. Jiro and Safu watched him in the midst of their quiet whimpers, hoping to everything that they wouldn't witness a giant, shadowed and clawed hand reaching out and grabbing Nezumi's leg and dragging him under the bed or something of the sort.
"Hmm," Nezumi strode around the room boldly, first checking under Safu's bed, then Jiro's, then their closet, each time saying in between, "Nope, not here!" in a strangely cheerful voice. He also tossed a playful grin to the children over his shoulder each time. He figured, with the state the kids were in, it would be good to put his acting skills to use and make sure they cheer up a little by the end of his expedition.
It worked. By the time Nezumi had finished exploring every hidden corner of the room he could think of, Safu and Jiro were holding fists to their lips and trying to keep in giggles. Nezumi put his hands to his hips, proud of himself.
"Well, I didn't find a single bad, scary monster, my dears." He announced, his voice taking on that of a woman's as he briefly went into Eve's character. Then, returning to his normal voice, he said, "Maybe you just saw one of the mice. Particularly Tsukiyo. He can be a sneaky little thing."
"No, but the shadow was huuuge!" Jiro exclaimed, letting go of Safu to raise his limbs up and palms flat out above his head to emphasize the imagery. "It was like a portal to the other side or something!"
"Yeah, and what if it comes back when you go away, Dad…?" Safu asked quietly, clutching at her older brother's nightshirt. She suddenly looked like she was about to cry again.
Nezumi's arms dropped to his sides, and he exhaled a tired breath, almost defeated sounding. He thought for a moment on what he could do. It had to be nearing 2:15 in the morning now, and he knew he was so dead tired he could collapse and sleep on their floor that moment, but it didn't feel right to him to tuck them into bed again and leave, knowing that they were still frightened and anticipating whatever it was to make a hasty return. They definitely wouldn't get to sleep at all, and it wouldn't be good for their health.
Coming to a decision, Nezumi offered his hands to them. "Come. Let's go downstairs." Not questioning it, Safu, with a cat plush hugged in one of her arms, and Jiro, detangled and scrambled out of the bed, running to their father's side and taking hold of his bigger hands. They exited the room and slowly descended the stairs into the living area, where Nezumi deposited them on the couch and told them to wait there a few minutes, disappearing into the kitchen.
It was two in the morning, and Nezumi was making them all hot cocoa, he realized as he stood in the kitchen and turning the burner on to heat the milk, stirring the liquid absentmindedly. He honestly found that he didn't mind that much, though. Usually it was Shion that did these sorts of things, but… he was rather enjoying himself, knowing he was also very much capable of cheering up his kids with something simple like this. He didn't really want to get used to having to do it every night, though.
Once he was finished brewing up the cocoa, he walked back into the living room with the mugs in each hand. Jiro had his knees pulled up to his chest with his cheek resting on his folded arms on top of them with a bored expression, and Safu was petting the fake fur of her cat doll, making sure it was in perfect shape, no matter what. Nezumi smiled a little and handed the mugs to them, then grabbed his own cup and sat down in between them on the sofa.
"Drink up, but don't spill them." Nezumi warned as he watched both the children's' faces lit up instantaneously at the sight of the sweet, brown treat in their hands. As Nezumi stared down into his own mug, he couldn't help but remember that this was what Shion gave him when he first met him that stormy night all those years ago. He'd never really had the pleasure of drinking cocoa before that time. He could never forget the taste of warmth and comfort that simple cup of cocoa brought him, and so he hoped it had the same effect on his children tonight.
"Dad, are you still going to make us go back up to our room after this?" Jiro asked slowly, then took a large gulp of the drink. He didn't want to go back up to that room tonight. He had a feeling Safu was thinking the same thing with the way she paused drinking and instead nervously fidgeted with a paw of her cat plushie, awaiting Nezumi's answer.
Nezumi contemplated that. His eyelids were getting droopy again, and as he finished the last sips of his cocoa, he felt his consciousness fading little by little. It was way too much effort to usher both kids up the stairs again and tuck them into bed and probably sing them a lullaby to help them sleep and, just… it was too much work.
"No," he answered finally. "I'm not going to make you go back up if you don't want to. We can stay right here."
"Okay." Jiro replied. They were already finished downing their drinks and set the mugs on the floor for the time being. Safu was the first to snuggle up against Nezumi, immediately closing her eyes and hugging her plushie under her chin. Her breathing steadied as he coiled an arm around her and she felt his cheek lean against the top of her head, enveloping her almost completely in warmth and safety. Nezumi looked towards Jiro, who rested his chin on his knees again, seemingly deep in his thoughts.
"Hey," Nezumi whispered to him, and the addressed turned. The man smiled tiredly, and reached out his hand to grab the boy by the waist and pull him in closer. Jiro opened his mouth like he was about to protest, but soon closed it and let himself gradually sink into his father's chest. "Time to sleep now, you two…" Nezumi mumbled, but Safu was already long gone, and Nezumi and Jiro weren't far behind her.
Shion had awoken around seven in the morning, blinking curiously over the empty space on the bed next to him. Nezumi was gone? He never got up as early as Shion did.
Shrugging out of bed, the white-haired man padded to the door and entered the living room, his body and his thoughts suddenly stopping. His heart thudded with overflowing love for the scene before him — Nezumi, Jiro, and Safu, all sprawled out on the couch together in deep slumber. Jiro and Safu's positions had definitely changed overnight into none-too-graceful ones, but Nezumi's hold around them had never wavered. Jiro was snoring, though, and he had one hand reached all the way up against Nezumi's cheek, and Safu was curled up in a loose ball, a little drool reaching the edge of her mouth. She had dropped her plushie on the floor sometime during the night. Shion was sure he looked like idiot, as Nezumi would definitely remark, with an incredibly soft and happy grin spreading over his lips as he raised a hand up to hide it and hold back chuckles of adoration.
Quiet as he possibly could, Shion traipsed toward the group and pulled out a large blanket from beside one of the loveseats, and draped it across the three. There wasn't even so much as a stir from any of them. He picked up the empty mugs with cocoa stains in the exteriors and went into the kitchen to wash them off and start making breakfast for his little family that he found he just could not stop loving so dearly.
One of my favorite head canons that me and my friend came up with. This was a ton of fun to write, I found myself grinning almost the entire way through! R&R. Until next update!