Hiroshi was relieved when he spotted a shock of light blue hair through the window at Maji Burger. Tetsu was here. Thank every deity in existence. He pushed his way through the door, already pulling out his cellphone to text Taiga.
His step hesitated when he saw the man sitting across the booth from Tetsu. Average height for a Japanese man, dark hair, rumpled suit. Face twisted with anger. Broken nose.
Tetsu's father.
This all began to make a little more sense. Hiroshi's steps quickened, eager to take him there, but he was still several meters away when Tetsu's father suddenly stood up, moved to Tetsu's side of the booth, and started dragging him out by the arm.
"Enough of this." His voice was harsh, cruel. "You're my son, and you're coming home with me. Right this instant, Tetsuya, do you hear me? You're coming home now, and I'll never let you go again."
"Father, no!" Tetsu's voice was high with terror. He grabbed onto the table, the edge of the booth, anything he could to slow it down, but he was a child weak with injury and illness, and his father was a sturdily built man strengthened by his rage. "Please stop!"
"Oi!" Hiroshi was on them. He grabbed the man's wrist, hard, and twisted. Kuroko-san dropped Tetsu's arm with a gasp. Hiroshi shoved him away hard enough that he fell to the floor. Hiroshi was not sorry.
Tetsu scrambled to get away, pushing himself back into the far corner of the booth. Hiroshi turned to him, his heart jumping in his throat. This was not the way he had wanted their first meeting to go. "Tetsu-chan?"
The boy was small. He was smaller than Hiroshi had expected. Hiroshi had only ever seen him through the distance of a small, inadequate webcam, sitting with Taiga on a bed. He had been able to tell that Tetsu was shorter and slighter than Taiga, but that was hardly surprising, since Taiga had inherited Hiroshi's ridiculous genes. Seeing Tetsu in person was another thing entirely.
His cheeks were flushed dark red, even worse than they'd been last night. He had jammed himself into the corner of the booth, holding on to the table and the back of the seat as if to lock himself in place. His entire body was stiff with tension, and his knuckles were white.
He'd been crying. His face was still wet with tears. His chest heaved for breath, and his blue eyes were wide and astonished. "H-Hiroshi-san? Are you really here?"
Hiroshi nodded. His heart throbbed in pain. "It's me. I'm here. I came early. I had to see you as soon as possible."
Tetsu just stared at him, struggling to catch up. He looked like he was about to faint.
"Hiroshi-san?" Tetsu's father was on his feet again. His voice was a snarl. "You're Kagami Hiroshi?"
Hiroshi turned to him with a frown. He deliberately looked down his nose at the shorter man. "That is my name. You must be Kuroko-san."
It didn't seem right for this scum of the earth to share a name with such a sweet and innocent person as Tetsu. Hiroshi wished he could call him something else.
"I know who you are. You're trying to take my son from me."
Hiroshi took a step toward him, fuming. He could loom when he wanted to. He wanted to now. "No one took Tetsu-chan from you. You lost him all on your own."
Kuroko-san tried to hold his ground, but he was wavering already. Hiroshi entertained the hope that this was going to be easy.
"Father. Hiroshi-san." Tetsu's voice was small and trembling. "You're making a scene."
Hiroshi looked around. Several people were pretending not to look at them, though they couldn't help glancing their way now and then. A small child stared at them shamelessly while her mother tried to direct her attention elsewhere. A couple were rising from their seats to remove themselves from the uncomfortable atmosphere.
This wasn't good. If Hiroshi wanted to threaten Kuroko-san with the loss of his reputation, he couldn't ruin it before they even discussed the terms. Hopefully the people here would be good Japanese and do their best to ignore this embarrassing display and forget everything they'd seen and heard so far.
Hiroshi turned back to Kuroko-san and offered him a smile, wide and entirely false. "I apologize for my rude entrance, Kuroko-san. Please forgive me and have a seat so we can discuss matters like rational human beings."
Kuroko-san hesitated, but he looked around and clearly had the same thoughts as Hiroshi. It was never good to cause a scene. He nodded, slowly, still overflowing with anger but doing his best to contain it, and sat down on the other side of the booth. Hiroshi slid into the booth next to Tetsu.
A cup and a cellphone rested on the table. Hiroshi opened the cup and wasn't surprised to find it full of half-melted vanilla shake. He pushed both items over to Tetsu. It was easy to soften his voice for the boy. "Why don't you take a drink, Tetsu-chan? You look like you need it."
Tetsu shook his head. He was still holding onto the booth with both hands, though his grip was beginning to loosen with Hiroshi's proximity. Hopefully he would feel a little safer, a little sheltered, with Hiroshi nearby. "I don't want to. It doesn't taste good."
"Hmm." Hiroshi studied him. Tetsu's fever had gotten worse. His entire face was reddened now, and he was shivering as with terrible chills. Worse, his lips were dry and beginning to crack. "You're getting dehydrated." He turned to the man across the table, who sat watching them with narrowed eyes, his expression set in resentment.
"Kuroko-san, do you love your son?"
Kuroko-san's eye twitched. "What is this? How dare you ask such a question?"
"Please answer me." Hiroshi kept his voice deliberately smooth.
"Of course I love him. He's my son. I love him with all my heart."
Hiroshi nodded, considering him carefully. "Then please go and get some water for him."
Kuroko-san stiffened. "What? Why are you asking this?"
"Is it such a difficult request?" Hiroshi's hand, flat on the table, curled into a fist. He didn't mean it as a threat. He simply couldn't help himself when faced with such a man. "Tetsu-chan needs water. I do not want to leave him alone with you. Please go and get some for him."
Kuroko-san held still for a moment longer. Then he slowly pushed himself up from the table. "I will. For Tetsuya, not because you asked me to."
Hiroshi nodded. "That's fine. No ice. It will not feel good if it's too cold."
Kuroko-san glared at him for a second, then went. Hiroshi turned to Tetsu. "Are you all right?" he asked urgently. "Where did he hurt you?"
As soon as his father was out of sight, Tetsu relaxed almost completely. He fell limp in the corner of the booth, his entire body trembling. "I'm fine. He just grabbed my arm, that's all."
"Let me see." Hiroshi gently took his hand and pushed up the sleeve of his hoodie to check for bruises. He was only somewhat relieved to find none. No new ones, anyway.
Tetsu's hand was warm and shivering in his. Hiroshi closed his fingers around his palm and let the sleeve fall down again. "I'm sorry, Tetsu-chan. This is not the way I wanted us to meet for the first time in person."
Tetsu stared at him. He made no attempt to pull his hand away from Hiroshi's. If anything, his fingers curved around his palm in return, slow and hesitant, not pressing at all but still cautiously seeking contact. "I don't understand what you mean."
Hiroshi smiled crookedly. This child was so sweet. How could anyone hurt him? Anyone at all, let alone his own father? "Your first sight of me caught me in a towering rage. It wasn't what I wanted. You've seen enough anger, enough dark emotions. I didn't want to be another source of that in your life."
Tetsu tilted his head in confusion. "But...your anger was on my behalf. Why would that trouble me?"
Hiroshi shook his head. "I thought it would."
"Oh." Tetsu looked forward, frowning. His fingers tightened further around Hiroshi's hand. "I appreciate your thoughtfulness. But your anger did not frighten me. If anything, I believe I found it comforting."
"Ah." Hiroshi slumped in relief. "That's good then."
Tetsu gave him a sideways quirk of a smile, looking at him shyly out of the corner of his eye. "I do spend time with your son on a regular basis, you know. I know how the Kagami rages work."
Hiroshi chuckled softly. "Yes, I suppose that's true."
"I don't...I don't yet understand how you came to be here, though. I'm...I'm very grateful. Very grateful. But I don't understand. I thought you were still in America, or perhaps would just now be boarding a flight."
"Yes, I probably should have told you boys when my flight was coming in. As I said, I decided to come early. I worked very hard in the first part of the week so that I could take a flight as soon as the big meeting on Thursday was done. I wanted to surprise you. When I got to the apartment, though, neither of you were there. I thought you might be at basketball practice, so that was where I went. Then Taiga showed me your text message, and I came right away." Hiroshi squeezed his hand, and his voice went even softer. "It was very wise of you to send that message, Tetsu-chan. I'm glad you gave us a hint to find you."
Tetsu nodded shakily. "I wanted to talk to him first," he said so quietly that Hiroshi had to bend closer to make out the words. "I knew I would want Kagami-kun's presence afterward, but I wanted to understand my father. And now I do, and..."
"It's all right, Tetsu-chan." Hiroshi held his hand as gently and firmly as he could. "You don't have to say anything else. I think I understand what kind of man your father is."
Tetsu nodded and slumped into his side, his head going limp on Hiroshi's shoulder. Hiroshi's heart squeezed with a sweet, familiar pain. Yes, this boy was his son. It didn't matter that Tetsu still belonged to Kuroko-san in the eyes of the government. He was Hiroshi's child, and Hiroshi would do whatever it took to keep him safe.
Kuroko-san finally returned with the water. Hiroshi was tempted to ask what had taken so long, but decided there was no need to be combative on such a trivial issue. He let go of Tetsu's hand so he could reach across the table for the water, his other arm curling around Tetsu's shoulders as if on instinct. He removed the lid from the cup and nudged Tetsu to sit up, just a little. "Please drink, Tetsu-chan. As much as you can."
Tetsu's reached out with both hands. They were still shaking. Hiroshi held the cup for him for until he was sure his grip was firm, then watched him take one long swallow, then another. He could feel the heat of Tetsu's body pressed along his side. This fever was bad, and the day of rest had not done much good. Or any least, any good had been undone by this meeting.
Kuroko-san watched them across the table, his eyes dark and resentful. Hiroshi did his best to ignore him. That man had forfeited all rights to feel possessive over this boy. That he had not realized this yet was simply a testament to his own idiocy, his inability to read a situation. It was not Hiroshi's responsibility to spell things out for him as he would for a slow-witted child.
When Tetsu had drunk all he could and pushed the cup away, Hiroshi wet a napkin in the remaining water and carefully, gently scrubbed away the tracks of tears on his face. Tetsu sighed and went limp against his shoulder again, his eyes falling shut. Hiroshi swiped his forehead and the sides of his face, too. It was not enough, but it would have to do until they could get back home, where the cold compresses were. Or perhaps to the nearest hospital.
When Tetsu was as comfortable as Hiroshi could make him, Hiroshi set the napkin aside and faced forward to meet Kuroko-san's eyes again. The man stared back at him, seething. Hiroshi was not bothered.
"Now," he said comfortably, his voice rumbling in his chest. "We can discuss terms."
Kuroko-san's eyes lit with fire. "And what would those be? I don't understand what you mean."
"You have two options, Kuroko-san, and only two. I will explain them to you as thoroughly as they need to be explained. But these are your options: You can sign custody of Tetsu-chan over to me immediately, completely and utterly relinquishing every right you could possibly have to him. Or I will ruin you in every single way that a man can be ruined."
Kuroko-san stared at him. He blinked, once.
Hiroshi smiled crookedly. "Choose wisely."
He was done playing nice.