Chapter Text
“Do we need anything else?” Shoko asks as she surveys the kitchen counter that’s covered in food for the barbecue they’re having.
Utahime shakes her head. “No, I think that’s everything.”
“We’re forgetting something.” Satoru insists, wracking his brain to figure out what it is.
All at the same time, it comes to them.
“Ice!” They all looked at each other, panicked.
Shoko buries her face in her hands. “And everyone is going to be here in a few minutes.”
“Well, we can ask someone that’s coming… right?” Utahime looks confused.
Shoko throws her hands up, overwhelmed. “I don’t know! I’ve never hosted a party before!”
“Well I haven’t either!” The omega copies her. They start talking over each other and Satoru himself gets overwhelmed.
Satoru cuts in, rolling his eyes. “Yes! We can ask someone, chill out! Someone text Nanami, I’m going to change. You guys are stressing me out.” Yelling has been hard to deal with the last few years, especially from an alpha like Shoko is, and though they weren’t yelling angrily it still scrambled his brain and made him anxious.
They look at him apologetically, both saying sorry at the same time. Satoru takes a deep breath as he walks through the kitchen to the sliding glass door that leads to the back yard.
He walks through the yard and garden before coming upon the small two bedroom guest house he lives in, entering with a sigh.
“Mama!” His stress immediately melts away as he comes face to face with his pups.
Tsumiki, his four year old and Megumi, his three year old are sitting on the living room floor playing together as their babysitter, Yuta sits on the couch near them working on his homework.
“Hi guys, how’s it going in here?” Satoru asks with a smile, crouching down to kiss both of their little foreheads. They both stand afterward, making grabby hands at him. Gladly he leans down to pick them up, one in each arm. Both of them nuzzle their faces into his neck where his scent glands are, making happy hums.
“Good, mama!” Miki says, pointing down at the toys they’re playing with. “Gumi put the blocks in himself!”
Sure enough, all of the random shaped blocks had been pushed through their slots. He gasps excitedly, looking at the little boy. His deep blue eyes are alight with pride at his mama’s excitement.
Satoru peppers his little face with kisses, making him squeal and giggle. “Good job, Megumi! Can you show me?”
He nods his head eagerly, wiggling to signal he’s ready to be put down. Satoru crouches down next to him again, in between him and Miki.
Gumi picks up the box and opens the little door on the bottom that lets them all fall out before he picks up the star block and carefully puts it in the star shaped hole. His little tongue sticks out the side of his mouth and his brows are furrowed in concentration and he looks just like Satoru himself does when he’s focusing.
Satoru is extremely thankful that his two babies are mini carbon copies of him and look almost nothing like their… sperm donor. Megumi’s black hair is the same as that man’s, and even though his eyes are the same deep blue color, they look much more vibrant, like Satoru’s own bright blue. Tsumiki’s brown eyes, too.
When Megumi finishes he looks up to see their reactions. “Good job Gumi! You did it perfectly!” He, Miki and Yuta all clap for him.
He gives them his little toothy grin and claps for himself too, and Satoru thinks he could just die right now from the cuteness.
Satoru kisses their foreheads again. “Okay babies, mama has to go get dressed.”
He makes his way to his bedroom digging through his closet until he finds the outfit he wants to wear. A navy button down with the top two buttons undone, white jeans and brown casual loafers. He adds a slight bit of black eyeliner and brushes his teeth before heading back to the living room.
Tsumiki stands, looking at him with wide eyes. “Wow, mama. You look pretty!”
Megumi looks up and smiles, standing quickly to run to Satoru. “Yeah, mama!”
Satoru coos, crouching down to hug them both. “Thank you, babies.”
Satoru lets them go and gestures for them to go play again. He stops in front of the teenager on the couch, smiling down at him. “Thank you again for doing this Yuta, I always appreciate your help.”
“No problem Mr. Gojo! They’re sweet kids, I don’t mind at all.” He grins back. “And it gives me extra time to do my homework.”
Yuta is one of his students at the local high school. He teaches calculus to the small class of juniors, preparing them for senior year and graduation. His course is an elective, so he only ever really gets students who are passionate about the subject and want to continue the subject on their own.
He never has kids that don’t want to be there, so for him, this school is perfect.
Yuta is one of his favorite students. Though he wasn’t sure about Satoru’s co*cky, sarcastic demeanor at first, they got comfortable with each other relatively quickly and then Satoru was Yuta’s favorite teacher. His classmates, Maki, her twin sister Mai, Toge, Miwa, Kokichi, Nishimiya, Noritoshi and a boy who prefers to be called Panda and only ever wears hoodies that have pandas on them, all had similar sentiments at first, but they love him now too.
“I never have to worry about that with you.” Satoru holds up his hand for a high five, getting a fond eye roll in return.
After that Satoru makes his way back to the yard where Shoko is talking to a few people and Utahime was making sure the food was set up nicely.
“Hey, Satoru!” The raven haired woman calls, coming toward him. “I’m sorry about earlier, we know you don’t like yelling.”
Satoru shakes his head with a smile. “It’s okay Hime, I know you weren’t doing it on purpose. Who’s bringing ice?”
“Shoko texted Nanami but he said his friend that’s coming with Haibara can bring some with him. I’m not sure who his friend is, I’ve never met him before.”
He nods and looks around at the few people who are already here. Yaga, the principal of the high school Satoru teaches at, is talking to Nanami and Shoko and nods when he catches sight of the omega.
There are a few of Shoko’s colleagues that Satoru’s never met and a few more faculty from the school he works at. Akari, Ijichi, Kusakabe, along with the extremely overenthusiastic physical education student teacher, Aoi Todo.
Satoru doesn’t like parties. He doesn’t like crowded spaces and he really doesn’t like going to parties where he only knows a few people. But, since he lives on their property he feels like he has to attend. He knows Shoko and Utahime would never force him and that it’s his decision, but he’s also using this as practice.
He needs to get reacquainted with other people, his therapist told him gatherings like this one are perfect. He has safe people, it’s not too crowded, his house is 80 feet away in case he needs an escape, and he can check on his babies anytime he feels the need.
When he was with Toj–
No, not now. Satoru pushes that thought aside. Now is not the time.
A hand lands on his shoulder, making him jump. It’s just Utahime, and once again she apologizes. “It’s just me, I’m so sorry! I thought you heard me.”
“No, sorry. I was… thinking.” Satoru lets out a breath.
Utahime comes around him, placing her hands on his shoulders. “Satoru, are you okay?”
He nods, swallowing. “Yes, sorry, I just got a little stressed for a minute.”
“Okay,” She searches his face. “Just remember you’re free to leave if you need to, we won’t be upset.”
He nods again. “I know. Thank you.”
Shoko walks past them. “Haibara and their friend are here with the ice, I’m going to go get drinks ready.”
Seeing an opportunity to be around less people for a moment, Satoru mumbles, “I’ll come with you.”
He follows Shoko back inside to the kitchen where Nanami and his mysterious friend are standing. From the back, Satoru sees that he’s tall, much taller than him, and broad shouldered, with long black hair that’s tied up in a half bun.
“Thank you soooo much!” Shoko calls as they approach the pair standing in front of the freezer. “When we realized we forgot f*cking ice we panicked, you guys are life savers.”
Haibara turns around, followed by the other man and when Satoru sees his face his heart stops in his chest. Suguru.
Suguru, the one and only best friend he ever had, and he wanted more than that with him. They were childhood friends, they went to school together until their high school graduation. The two had been planning on going to college together too until Suguru’s parents decided to move away and take their son with him. They refused to pay for his college unless it was a school near them, hours away from Satoru.
Satoru would’ve loved to stay in contact with him, he never felt like they were finished, but when he was 19 he met Toji, and that simply wasn’t allowed.
Suguru’s mouth drops at the sight of him, surprised. He looks amazing, happy and healthy and still beautiful after not seeing him for six years. “...Satoru?”
He’s frozen. He wouldn’t have expected this, ever. He opens his mouth, tilting his head to the side. “Suguru.”
He’s not sure how to continue, but Suguru is. He approaches him slowly, bringing a hand up to tilt Satoru’s face up before pulling him into his arms, crushing him into a hug.
Shoko, Utahime, and Haibara are staring at them in shock. None of them have ever seen Satoru be so okay with an alpha touching him before, but the omega immediately wraps his arms around Suguru’s neck. “Suguru.”
Satoru feels tears overflow from his eyes as he smells the familiar woodsy eucalyptus scent of his best friend. Suguru had always been his rock, his lighthouse in the storm of his life, and in that moment he feels like a part of him has come back to him.
It’s overwhelming, but this time it’s a good overwhelming. Distantly he hears the others clearing out, but he’s too scared to let go of Suguru to pull back, feeling like he might disappear if he does.
Finally he makes himself, wanting to see Suguru’s face again. Suguru’s eyes are watering, too as he looks down at the omega. “Satoru.”
“I…” Words are hard to find. “What are you doing here?”
Suguru smiles. “I moved back, I just finished getting my master’s degree. I’m a new professor at the college.”
Satoru grins back. “That’s amazing, congratulations!” His eyes search Suguru’s face, memorizing it. “I can’t believe you’re back.”
Suguru’s smile dims just a little and he looks around to make sure they’re alone. “Satoru, what happened? We promised we’d keep in touch and then I just stopped hearing from you.”
Satoru’s joy grinds to a halt as he suddenly remembers… everything since he saw Suguru last. His anxiety climbs again and he finds himself subconsciously making himself smaller as he looks around too. “Uh, it’s a very… long story. And not a very pleasant one.”
Suguru watches all the changes in Satoru’s demeanor, still knowing the omega like the back of his hand. Based on these changes, a bad feeling grows in his stomach. Satoru was always bright, vibrant, and vivacious in everything he did. “What do you mean?”
Satoru shakes his head, “I can’t do this here, talk about this I mean. I-I will tell you, just not right here.”
“Satoru–” He starts to say before Satoru grabs his hand and pulls him upstairs to the guest room upstairs. Suguru sits on the bed and watches as Satoru paces in front of him.
Satoru tries to find it in himself to just say it to him, when it took so long for Satoru to even talk about it with a therapist. But this is Suguru, and despite having not seen him in over half a decade he knows with everything in him that he can still trust him.
Finally decided, he sits across from Suguru on the bed. “I’m going to cry. Just a warning, don’t be freaked out I just.. Can’t help it.”
Even more concerned, Suguru’s brows furrow. When they were kids, Satoru’s family had been horrible and even through all of that he’d almost never seen Satoru cry. He nods and reaches for one of Satoru’s hands to play with his fingers.
Satoru sniffs and shakes his head. “Okay,” He whispers, closing his eyes. “Okay. I wanted to stay in contact with you Suguru, that’s all I wanted. But after you left, I met this guy, an alpha. He very quickly convinced me that he loved me, he was okay at first. Not great, but not awful. Not long into the relationship… um.” He pauses to look at the ceiling, trying to will away the tears. “He came back to my place one night, drunk and angry.”
Suguru feels his heart seize, and he knows what’s coming next. “He hit me, for no reason. I was just working on my homework from class that day. He apparently had gotten into a fight with a guy he knew while he was at the bar, and when he walked in he snapped at me for something and all I said was that he should get some rest and we could talk about it tomorrow. He didn’t like that, and said that an omega should make time for their alpha when they ask.
“Before I could even apologize he slapped me across the face. As soon as I looked back at him he realized what he’d done. He changed his whole demeanor and apologized, said he’d never do it again and he didn’t know what came over him.”
Suguru feels angry, so angry that someone could touch Satoru, his Satoru, that way and live to talk about it. But he also is gathering that Satoru needs him to stay calm right now.
A few tears fall from Satoru’s eyes and he hurries to wipe them away. “After that it happened more, but I was stupid enough to let him convince me he was sorry every time. He would punch me, kick me, scream in my face and force me to have sex with him.” Suguru’s blood boils. “This went on for years. Until about a year ago, I finally got away. I had to, because–” He comes to the part that will be the biggest change for Suguru. “I have kids.” He wanted to word it differently but it’s too late now.
Suguru’s jaw drops. “You do?”
He nods, and while his eyes are still leaking tears he gets a small smile on his face, as he always does when he thinks about them. “Two of them, a girl and a boy.” Suguru gets a look of wonder on his face.
Back when Satoru and Suguru were planning to go to school together, Suguru had been working up the courage to ask Satoru to be with him, but his parents ruined that. So he promised Satoru that they’d keep in contact and he would come back for him, that they would have their time together. He’d wanted a life with the omega, it just wasn’t their time.
He sees the more hopeful look on Satoru’s face as he speaks about them and wants to keep it there. “Tell me about them.”
The sadness almost completely leaves his face, Satoru looks at his hands as he speaks. “Tsumiki and Megumi. She’s four and he’s three, and they’re the best things that even happened to me.” Suguru smiles at the shy happiness on his face, though it dims again after a moment. “I left for them. My parents don’t want anything to do with me or them, which is fine, they don’t deserve to know them, but they gave me enough money to finish school and support the two of them throughout all of it, but they disowned me. I haven’t spoken to them in three years, around when I had Gumi.”
He takes a shuddering breath. “I never left them alone with Toji, I knew better than that, but one day he came home and Tsumiki was sick, she had an ear infection and had been screaming all day. He had been drinking again and while I was making dinner he yelled at her. She was three years old, had never been yelled at in her life, and she looked terrified. She started crying all over again and I just… hated myself, Suguru.” He meets the alpha’s eyes as more tears fall, and Suguru reaches out to pull the omega into his arms. “I let them be in that situation, for years. I knew that needed to change. I screamed right back at him, which I had never done before, and it shocked him silent. I picked up Tsumiki, packed Megumi into his car seat and left. I came to Shoko, I met her in school and she became one of my best friends.”
Suguru is shocked with the story of Satoru’s last few years. When he left after high school he never would’ve expected this, and it makes him feel even guiltier for leaving Satoru. He feels almost like it’s his fault Satoru went through all of that, though he knows he shouldn’t. None of them could have known, but he does feel guilty for not trying harder to stay in touch.
“Jeez,” Satoru sniffles and rubs his eyes again. “I’m sorry, it’s the first time we’ve seen each other in so many years and I’m unloading on you.”
Suguru shakes his head. “I’m here now, I’m back, like I told you I would be. I’m just sorry I’m so late, Satoru.”
The omega puts his hand on Suguru’s cheek, echoing the thought Suguru just had. “You couldn’t have known, don’t apologize.”
Suguru just holds him close for a few minutes, trying to come to terms with everything that’s happened to his Satoru in the time they’ve been apart. “Satoru,” The omega looks back at him. “It’s okay if not, I know this has been a lot, but… I’d love to meet them, your pups.”
Satoru gets a happy look on his face. “Yeah?”
Suguru chuckles. “Yeah.”
Satoru nods. “Well… they’re here if you want to now?”
Surprised, Suguru nods quickly. Satoru smiles again and stands, turning to leave the room only to be pulled back by Suguru again. He looks up at him, surprised and Suguru just stares for a moment before pulling him into another tight hug. “I’m here now, Satoru. I’ll be right here with you from now on.”
He hears a sniffle again and some wetness covers his shoulder. “I missed you.” Satoru whispers.
“I missed you, too. I’m sorry I was gone so long, I should’ve tried harder to stay in contact.”
Satoru shakes his head vehemently. “No Suguru, it wouldn’t have mattered. Toji took over every aspect of my life. He made me change my number, you couldn’t have stayed in contact. He didn’t let me talk to anyone, he isolated me and made sure I was only dependent on him.”
“What if I could’ve stopped it?” Suguru whispers as he pulls away.
Satoru gives him a wobbly smile. “It doesn’t matter now, and I got my babies out of it.”
Suguru feels a deep pleasure at hearing Satoru speak about his kids like that. He always knew Satoru would be a good mom someday.
“Come on,” Satoru nods toward the door. “They’re out back.”
He leads Suguru down the stairs, through the kitchen and yard and back down the path to the guest house. He waves at Shoko, letting her know he’s okay, and reaches the sliding glass door again, pulling it open gently before looking back at Suguru with a tentative smile.
Suguru returns it reassuringly and steps into the small house. It’s a beautiful little place with a nice white and brown color scheme, well decorated and covered in kids toys. Their voices reach him before he sees them.
“Mama!” Two little voices exclaim. Suguru turns his head to see where they came from. The two small children are laying on the floor by who he assumes is their babysitter, coloring together with crayons.
They look just like him. Both kids have the same features as Satoru, though their hair and eyes are different colors. There’s no mistaking that these children are Satoru’s.
The two of them jump up and start running to their mom stopping in front of him to make grabby hands at him and it reminds him of when Satoru used to do the same to him.
“Hi, babies!” Satoru bends down to pull them into his arms and Suguru watches, entranced, as the two pups hug him and press their tiny faces into his neck.
The smile on Satoru’s face is beautiful, like the omega’s previous anxiety is completely forgotten as he hugs them and kisses their cheeks. His beautiful blue eyes dart up to Suguru’s face from where he’s crouched on the floor in between them, the same bright smile on his face.
Suguru’s heart is pounding in his chest as he stares down at the three with a large smile on his face too, and Suguru decides that this is their time. They didn’t get their chance six years ago, but he’ll make sure they do now.
“Suguru,” He starts with a more excited smile now. “These are my pups.” The two kids turn their attention to Suguru.
“Megumi, Tsumiki, this is Suguru, mama’s best friend.” They stare up at him curiously so he crouches down to their height, staying a comfortable distance away so as not to make them uncomfortable.
“Hi, guys. It’s nice to meet you both.” He smiles at them reassuringly and after another moment of studying him, the two pups smile at him.
Megumi waves and looks bashful, scooting further into Satoru. “Hi.”
Tsumiki offers more words. “It’s nice to meet you, too. How do you know mama?”
“We’ve been friends since we were kids, but I had to move away for a while. I just got back a few days ago.”
Tsumiki nods before looking a little more serious. “Are you going to be nice to mama?” Tsumiki has faint memories of Toji, especially the one of him yelling at her, much to Satoru’s sadness and every time she says something reminiscent of him, the omega’s shame rears its head again.
His eyes burn slightly and he closes them, trying to stop the tears before they start and leans his head against Gumi’s. Megumi senses his mother’s distress and turns his head to face him and places his little hand on Satoru’s cheek to comfort him.
Satoru makes a quiet cooing sound that Suguru’s never heard from him before and it’s adorable.
Returning his attention to the little girl in front of him, he nods just as seriously. “Yes, your mama is my best friend in the whole entire world, I promise I’ll never be mean to him.”
She searches for something in his face, seeming to find it because she smiles again and turns around to hug her mom. Satoru has a relieved expression on his face, happy that after what they’ve all been through, his daughter isn’t distrustful of all alphas.
Satoru pretends to try to bite them, making them giggle and squeal. Suguru feels the wide smile on his face and notices the teenager on the couch smiling at them too. Satoru peppers kisses all over their faces before standing again.
He looks at the teenager with a fond smile. “I’ll be back in a few minutes and then I can take you home.”
“Are you sure?” The boy asks. “I can stay for the full time.”
Satoru nods. “It’s okay, Yuta. I’m not really in the mood for a party anymore.”
The boy, Yuta, nods back. “Okay. And I can just walk, it’s only a few blocks and it’s nice out.”
Satoru walks over to the kitchen counter where his wallet is sitting and pulls out $60, handing it to the boy. “Here,” Satoru ruffles a hand through the boy's hair as he takes it. “I’ll be right back, I’m just going to let Shoko know I’m staying inside.”
Satoru and Suguru exit the small home and Satoru pauses before they move on. “I know you came for the party, so you can stay if you’d like.”
Suguru shakes his head. “I came for the party, but now I’m staying for you. Can I hang out with you? I don’t really want to let you out of my sight yet, I just found you again.”
Satoru grins, relieved. “I don’t want you to go either.”
Decided, Satoru heads over to Shoko, where she, Hime, Nanami and Haibara are talking. They all look at them curiously.
“How do you two know each other?” Nanami asks.
Satoru grins and bumps his shoulder against Suguru’s. “He’s my best friend, we grew up together.”
Shoko’s face lights up. “That’s right! Suguru! I remember you telling me about him.”
Haibara exclaims, “That’s crazy, what are the odds?” Nanami nods along with him.
As he explains to Shoko that they’re going to be in the guest house, she nods. He turns to leave and she catches his hand. He looks at her with raised brows.
“Satoru, you’re safe with him, right?”
Satoru nods quickly. “I’m safe with him.”
She nods as well, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “I’m happy for you. I know how much you’ve missed him.”
Satoru kisses hers back and returns to Suguru, pulling him by the hand back to the guest house. As soon as they enter, they take off their shoes and Satoru says goodbye to Yuta, ruffling his hair.
The pups continue with their coloring while Satoru gestures for Suguru to sit on the couch. “Would you like anything to drink?”
Suguru shakes his head. “I’m okay for now, thank you. Can I just…” He looks at the omega longingly, trying to find the right words.
Despite the six year gap between now and when they last saw each other, Satoru knows what he wants. A gentle smile takes over his face and he moves to sit on the couch with Suguru, scooting as close to him as possible. Suguru wraps his arms around him and it feels right to have him there.
There was a kids show on the tv, but neither of the kids were paying attention so Suguru turned on a random show for them to watch.
Satoru begins a soft purr as he leans into the alpha and Suguru watches with a heart filled to the brim with love as the pups both look up at the sound. The two of them abandon their coloring pages in favor of climbing up onto the couch next to their mom and cuddling together.
Suguru has this surreal feeling. When they were teenagers, Suguru dreamed of being with Satoru. Dreamed of getting married and having kids with him.
He couldn’t have predicted this future, but he did predict what an amazing mom Satoru would be, as evidenced by the sight of the omega snuggling his babies with a soft smile on his face as he runs his fingers through Tsumiki’s hair with one hand and cradles Megumi in his other arm.
No, Suguru is not letting him go again.
After a little while, Satoru stops his purrs and carefully sits up. Tsumiki sits up too but Megumi tightens his hold on the omega, not wanting to move yet. Satoru smiles lovingly and cradles him like a baby. Megumi is a little smaller than most three year olds. Not in any concerning way, he’s just a small boy, and he fits in Satoru’s arms perfectly.
Satoru leans down with a smile and brushes their noses together, making the little boy giggle. Suguru’s heart feels like it could explode from the amount of love in it right now.
“What do you guys want for dinner?” Satoru asks, running a hand through Gumi’s hair.
“Can we have pasghetti?” Miki asks with an excited look on her face.
Megumi nods excitedly too, making Satoru and Suguru laugh. “Spaghetti.” He corrects gently. The two nod, not worried about it in the slightest.
Satoru looks at Suguru as well. “Spaghetti?”
Suguru nods too and Satoru snorts, “Spaghetti,” and stands up. He makes his way to the kitchen area and begins pulling out what he needs.
Suguru turns the kids show back on and follows him a moment later.
“Do you need any help?” He asks as he stops next to the omega. He’s surprised to see that Satoru has all of the ingredients to make the sauce from scratch on the counter, the Satoru from when they were teenagers could burn water and survive on sweet things. Suguru himself liked to cook, but he would’ve just used sauce out of a jar.
Teasingly Suguru wiggles his eyebrows. “So you know how to cook now. And from scratch.”
Satoru teases him right back. “Yeah, that happens when you have kids. It’s not like I could feed them the garbage I used to eat.” He looks over at the kids lovingly.
“And I like making it from scratch, you know how it was when I was a kid. My parents were never around, we had a chef or if my parents were around it was always takeout. I want to give them a better childhood than I had, and I failed at that at first. I want to be the best I can be for them, and I want to be the mom who makes them dinner from scratch.”
Suguru stares at him, feeling unbelievably lucky that the stars aligned today and reunited them.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Satoru asks, pausing in his task.
Suguru shakes his head. “You’re incredible. Even more so than when we were kids.” Satoru blushes, looking away for only a moment. “There are just so many things that I want to say to you.”
Satoru gives him a watery smile. “Me too. I’ve missed you so f*cking much Suguru.”
Suguru pulls him into a hug, wrapping his arms around the small omega’s waist as the other wraps his arms around Suguru’s shoulders, burying his face into his neck.
Suguru takes a deep breath with Satoru pressed against him. “I’ve missed you, and I’m here now Satoru. Nothing will happen to you while I’m here, you or your pups.” He feels the omegas shoulders shake as he quietly sobs into Suguru’s neck.
When he can finally calm down Satoru sniffles and wipes before pulling back to smile at Suguru again. “Thank you, I’m sorry I’ve been so emotional. I think that’s a requirement to be a mom.”
Suguru chuckles, swiping a thumb across the delicate skin under one of his shiny crystal blue eyes. “Don’t apologize, sweetheart.”
Satoru looks at him with a fragile hope in his eyes before blinking a few times and going back to making dinner. Suguru volunteers himself to boil the water for the noodles and cook the meat that will be added to the sauce.
They work in tandem perfectly, moving around each other as expertly as they always had. People back then got sick of how close they were, they rolled their eyes whenever they’d see Satoru hanging off of him or pouting dramatically at him, they’d look at Suguru confused whenever Satoru was doing something questionable and Suguru would act like it was completely normal.
Suguru missed this.
When dinner is ready Suguru helps Satoru set the table and watches, completely enraptured as Satoru calls the pups over and lovingly guides them through washing their hands before pressing kisses to both of their foreheads and sending them back to the table.
Satoru helps them both into their booster seats and sets their kid sized plates and silverware in front of them alone with cups of juice while Suguru plates up dinner for them.
They eat dinner together, with the kids asking him random kid-like questions (what’s your favorite animal, color, etc.) and Suguru answers them happily. He makes the kids laugh and tells them jokes and stories about when he and Satoru were little like them. Satoru relaxes and laughs more in that hour than he has in the last six years of his life (not including with the pups, obviously).
When dinner is over, he follows Satoru while he gives them a bath and goes through their bedtime routine. Suguru leans against the door jam of the pup’s room and watches as Satoru reads them a book and kisses them goodnight before he and Suguru leave the room after Satoru turns on their nightlight and sound machine.
Suguru waits in the living room and when Satoru returns he apologizes. “Sorry, Gumi is scared of the dark and Tsumiki has a hard time falling asleep sometimes so the noise machine helps.” He seems to think he over-explained and immediately shrinks in on himself again, eyes darting away from Suguru.
The alpha just smiles and pulls Satoru into his arms again. After a moment Satoru relaxes against him with a deep breath. “Sorry.”
Suguru chuckles quietly. “You don’t have to apologize to me.”
Satoru just nods into his chest. “Can you stay tonight? I still don’t want you to leave.” The request is slightly muffled but Suguru understands.
“Of course. I still don’t want to either. I would miss you too much.” Suguru missed Satoru’s lavender and rain scent.
He hears Satoru sniffle again and Suguru feels a deep hatred for the piece of sh*t that turned his loud, sassy, vibrant Satoru into this subdued, anxious, skittish Satoru. If he ever saw him he would kill him.
Satoru pulls back and takes his hand to lead him to his bedroom. He gives Suguru a pair of red pajama pants and a baggy white shirt Satoru uses to sleep in that fits the bigger man perfectly. Satoru himself changes into a pair of grey sweatpants and a thin blue t-shirt that’s distressed from age and Suguru recognizes it as one of his own t-shirts from high school.
He smiles, feeling possessive. Through all of the torment that he went through he kept a piece of him with him the whole time. “You still have it.”
Satoru blushes. “It’s one of the only things I had from you, of course I kept it.”
Suguru sits on the bed, scooting back a bit and gestures for Satoru to come to him. With no hesitation Satoru sits in front of him. He takes hold of Satoru’s hands and intertwines their fingers. “Can I tell you now?” Satoru nods.
“When we graduated, we planned on going to college together too, but my parents ruined that. I promised I would come back when I finished school, and I promised that because I wanted to be able to get a good job that paid well so that I could come back and ask you to be with me, and be able to give you a life you deserve.” He pauses, because he sees Satoru’s face cloud over and he shakes his head.
“I didn’t know.” Satoru says in a quiet, panicked voice. “I didn’t know that. If I had, I would've waited for you, Suguru!”
Suguru realizes that Satoru thinks that he’s upset with him. “No, no, no. Shhh, sweetheart, that’s not what I’m saying.” He pulls the omega closer. “I’m saying I’m here now, and if you’ll let me I want to take care of you, Satoru, you and your pups. I want to be with you. I understand if you can’t do that yet or you don’t want that, I know you’ve been through hell, but I will be here no matter what you decide, but I’m back. For you. I came back for you.”
Satoru’s been trying to hold his tears back, but at that, they fall as he blinks them shut. “Really?”
Suguru smiles and wipes the tears away with his thumbs. “Really. I came back here specifically for you.”
“But… how did you know I would still be here? How did you know I hadn’t moved away or…” Satoru trails off.
Suguru shrugs. “I didn’t, but it was worth the risk and somehow I found you in the first week of me being back. I wanted to be with you our whole lives, Satoru and it wasn’t our time yet, but I think now can be.”
Satoru smiles so hard he has to bury his face in his hands. “This feels too good to be true.”
Suguru smiles and lays back against the pillows before pulling Satoru against him. “Tell me about it.”
“Can I tell you mine now?” Satoru asks, whispering in his ear.
Suguru nods, bringing a hand up to run through Satoru’s hair. “I love you, Suguru. I have since we were kids. But, when you left I didn’t know that you meant you were coming back for me that way. I thought you would be coming back as my friend.” He lifts his head so he can look Suguru in the eyes. “I need you to know that I would’ve waited for you, had I known.”
Suguru nods and kisses his forehead. “I know, baby.” A zing of pleasure runs up Satoru’s spine at the new nickname. “That’s my bad. I should’ve told you.”
They’re silent for a minute as Satoru decides what to say next. “I’m kind of f*cked up… now.” Suguru runs a hand through his hair again. “I have nightmares, and panic attacks. I can’t handle loud noises or adults yelling. I jump really easily and I have a therapist that I see every Tuesday.”
Suguru’s anger flares again, but he hides it from Satoru.
“I need to go slow, but I want to be with you. I’ve never felt safer with anyone than I do you. You’re my alpha, Suguru.”
“You’re my omega, Satoru. You always have been.” Suguru sits up again to look Satoru straight in the eyes before tentatively leaning forward to press a feather light kiss on Satoru’s lips. The omega pulls back just long enough to see Suguru’s hungry gaze and pulls him back in for a deeper kiss.
Suguru keeps it short, not wanting to overwhelm the omega. When he pulls back Satoru immediately wraps himself around Suguru, kissing his cheek. “Can we go to bed?”
Suguru nods, sensing that Satoru’s at his emotional capacity for the day and guides him to the bathroom to brush their teeth before cuddling up in bed with him. Suguru tries to pump out calming pheromones, hoping he might be able to help prevent any nightmares tonight.
Unfortunately, it was unnecessary. Around 2 AM Suguru is awoken by Satoru whining and crying. Immediately Suguru is awake and he sees Satoru sweaty and flustered with his eyes closed.
“N-no. Stop!” Satoru rolls away from Suguru, still completely asleep. “Don’t touch her!” He suddenly screams.
Suguru wraps his arms around the omega again, running a hand up and down Satoru’s back and rocking him against his chest. “Shhhh, Satoru. Wake up, sweetheart.” Somehow, his calm voice works and after a moment the omega opens his eyes wearily.
“S’guru?” He rasps, shivering. “Did I hurt you?”
Suguru shakes his head, hushing him. “No, baby, not at all.” Satoru nods, trying to snuggle closer again.
“I’m sorry.” He whimpers, and Suguru hears him sniffle and wipe his nose.
Suguru runs a hand through his sweaty hair. “Baby, don’t apologize. I’m here to help you.”
Satoru nods, pressing his face into his neck. “I won’t always be so f*cked up.”
“You’re not f*cked up, sweetheart. You went through horrible things and you came out on the other side for you and your babies. In the span of the last nine hours you’ve shown me how strong you are and how amazing of a mother you are.”
Satoru pulls his face back to look at him, clearly exhausted, and Suguru whispers, “When we were kids I used to imagine having pups with you.” Satoru looks shocked and happy. “And baby, everything you did today shows me I was exactly right.”
Satoru squeezes his eyes shut again, letting more tears fall. “I just want to be the best mom I can be for them.”
“You are. I promise, you are.”
Satoru goes quiet again and Suguru thinks he may have fallen back asleep when he speaks again. “I really f*cking love you.”
Suguru chuckles, wrapping him up tighter in his arms. “I really f*cking love you too, baby. I have forever. I’m sorry I didn’t do better in telling you that.”
Satoru shakes his head sleepily. “You’re here now, that’s what matters.”
After that he does fall asleep, and Suguru soon follows.
