Samurai Flamenco (Babyfic) - samflam_69min: Ninja [Gotoyoshi]

[scriveyner]

Title: samflam_69min: Ninja
Fandom: Samurai Flamenco
AU: Babyfic
Characters/Pairing: Gotou/Masayoshi
Rating: T
Length: 1233
Summary:

The crib was empty.

Gotou stood beside it, looked down into it, and then looked up. He prodded at the bundle of blankets, smoothing them out - no baby. Masanori had made nests in the blankets before, to the point where he had to be unrolled like an unruly caterpillar, but there was no baby lurking in the balled-up blankets shoved in the corner of the crib. He took a step back, looked around the room, and then looked back in the crib.

Still no baby.

Don’t panic. Don’t panic, don’t panic.

He looked under the crib - across the room was Keiko’s bed, sheets pulled up smooth and her two favorite stuffed animals (that battered, well-chewed black cat and a UFO catcher of Neo Red Axe) sitting on the pillows. He looked under her bed too, and then checked the crib again, hoping that maybe everything had glitched and the baby spawned when he wasn’t looking. No luck - and no baby.

Masayoshi was in the living room with Keiko, sitting patiently on the floor while she braided tiny braids into his hair. “Um,” Gotou said. “So, don’t panic, but I’ve lost the baby.”

There was a moment’s pause as Masayoshi blinked at him, clearly very confused by this. “What?”

Keiko, who was sitting behind Masayoshi on the couch, put both of her hands on his head and leaned forward. “‘nori’s not lost,” she said with conviction. She tugged at Masayoshi’s hair and he turned his head automatically, allowing her to braid another tuft of his tawny hair.

“Ow,” Masayoshi said mildly, not very put out. “Did he get out of his crib again? He can’t’ve gone far.”

“Again?” Gotou said.

“I thought I told you yesterday,” Masayoshi scratched his nose, and this time winced. “Ow, Keiko - not so hard.”

“Sorry, daddy.”

“No, you definitely did not tell me that,” Gotou said. At least his heart was starting to slow down now that this wasn’t an emergency situation. “He’s not in his crib, where did he go? And why didn’t we hear him?”

“Where did he go yesterday?” Masayoshi asked Keiko, who thought about this a moment, a brightly-colored hair tie held in her mouth.

“Bookcase.”

“Ah, that’s right. I found him on the bookcase. He was snoring though, so it was only cheating a little.”

“You are remarkably blase about the fact that the baby escaped and was found on a bookcase,” Gotou said with a deep sigh, and turned about to return to the kids’ room. He didn’t hear Masayoshi respond, but then there was a yelp, and another “ow!”

Unfortunately for Gotou, there was no sleepy toddler on the bookshelf by the crib. He looked around the room again, and then had a thought. He padded down the hallway to the far room, and to his gratification found the door to the storage room slightly ajar. “Gotcha,” Gotou murmured.

Masayoshi’s toku collection had grown, even with a slowdown in purchases - but it wasn’t as large as it had been. There were still display cases, though - and Kaname had gifted Masayoshi a full set of the original Red Axe armor that stood in its own display case that lit when the dimmer lights were thrown. Sleeping, sprawled, on top of that display case was Masanori, belly to the ceiling. Gotou stood in front of the display case and sighed, and then looked around. There weren’t any bookshelves nearby that toddler could have climbed - and he realized, a little unsettled, that he had no idea how Masanori got up there on his own. He himself had to get up on his tip-toes to reach, it would have been easier if he’d acquiesced and gotten the stepping stool but he managed to gather up Masanori and safely retrieve him from the top of the glass display case. “What on earth,” he wondered. “Were you doing up there?”

Masanori yawned and blinked sleepy blue eyes up at Gotou, before realizing he’d been discovered. Masanori looked wildly around as Gotou slapped the lights off and closed the door behind them. “Your daddy would go nuts if he caught you sleeping on the costumes,” Gotou murmured as Masanori scrunched up his face and tried to decide if he was upset or not at being woken up. “And I don’t know which nuts it would be, but I’m afraid it’s going to end in capes and I don’t want to deal with that.”

Masayoshi met him at the end of the hallway, a dozen tiny braids in his hair. “Oh good, you found him.”

“Yup,” Gotou said, jogging Masanori to his hip. “You look ridi-” Keiko peered around the corner, face expectant. “Uh, that’s an … interesting … look,” he said instead, and Masayoshi raised an eyebrow at him, clearly awaiting a better critique of his daughter’s handiwork.

“Re’ Axe!” Masanori said helpfully, and Masayoshi switched tangents and beamed.

“Oh, do you want to watch Master’s show?”

“Masta!” Masanori waved a chubby fist in the air, and Keiko magically appeared between them, tugging on the bottom of Gotou’s shirt.

“Can we watch Neo Red Axe?” she asked.

Gotou sighed, amused, and looked at Masayoshi - who was looking at him with the exact same expectant expression that Keiko and Masanori both wore. “What, why are you all looking at me like that?”

“Pick one!” Masayoshi said.

“Hell no, I’m not choosing sides in this,” Gotou said. “I don’t care what we watch.”

“Neo Red Axe it is, then,” Masayoshi said cheerfully. When Masanori’s lip quivered, Gotou rubbed his back comfortingly. “Ahh, little bird, Master’s in the new show too! We’ll make sure to watch his episodes, okay?” Masanori nodded his head woefully, and Gotou sighed, still amused, as Masayoshi took Masanori from his arms. “Let’s get your hair stuff cleaned up,” he told Keiko. “Before we watch the DVD, okay?”

“'kay,” Keiko said obediently.

“I’ll start on dinner, then,” Gotou murmured, and Masayoshi smiled happily at him. “And don’t even ask, it’s not curry.”

Masayoshi stuck his tongue out at Gotou, and then nudged Masanori in his arms. “Make a face at dada okay?” Masanori obediently stuck out his tongue as well, and Gotou rolled his eyes and laughed, tugging on one of the little braids sticking out of Masayoshi’s head, before heading toward the kitchen to get to work.