Golden [BokuAka]

Chapter 2

The mornings when Akaashi is able to leave the house with both his boys are some of his favorites. Shouyou's daycare is between the apartment and the train station so the three of them walk there together. Akaashi holds Kei's hand on the way and he has to carry Shouyou because the hyperactive toddler can never just walk calmly. He's usually pretty still when being carried. He chatters the whole way there, about his dreams and how Daichi is the best because he's always bringing them sweets. Today is no different. He wraps his little arms around Akaashi's neck and flashes his bright smile at everyone they pass.

Akaashi can see a lot of his wife, Runa, in both of the boys. She'd been just a bit taller than Akaashi with long white-blonde hair and a smile that could light up the darkest room. Shouyou's personality was a lot like hers. She'd always been loud and easily excitable, determined to try her best in everything. Runa had been an exchange student from Denmark, she was two years older than Akaashi but they'd both ended up working together at the campus bookstore and something about her personality had drawn him in. They'd never planned for what they had to be long term, they started it knowing that Runa would be going home at the end of the year. But then they'd found out she was pregnant. They didn't really have a wedding. The ceremony was short and attended only by their immediate families.

Even with the unorthodox start of their relationship Akaashi felt that he and Runa had a good thing. They understood each other and supported each other. Runa had always dreamed of being a mother and she'd loved Kei fiercely. She would have loved Shouyou just as much.

Akaashi wished that she'd be around to watch the boys grow. He'd always been so nervous about being a parent and to do it alone made it even harder. He barely remembers the first year of Shouyou's life. Kei had night terrors that woke him up at all hours of the night screaming, by the time Shouyou had come home from the hospital he'd had colic and never really slept to begin with. Akaashi had gone through life on autopilot. He probably wouldn't have made it if it hadn't been for Suga.

The silver-haired man had started teaching elementary school and he showed up in the middle of the night at the start of his winter break from teaching. He'd manhandled Akaashi into bed with a pair of noise-canceling headphones and a white noise soundtrack. He spent his entire break staying up at night with both the children so that Akaashi could get some real sleep and by the end of it Shouyou had started to sleep better at night.

Daichi had helped in a big way too. He'd recommended a child psychologist that he and Suga had known in school. Kiyoko Tanaka was a godsend and a miracle worker. Though she hadn't yet been able to help Kei start speaking again she'd managed to help him with his night terrors, separation anxiety, and even taught him and Akaashi sign language so that they could communicate, Kei still tended to only use it at home but it was still a step in the right direction. She'd been more help than any of the therapists they'd seen before.

The weather is a bit nicer than it has been so their walk to the daycare doesn't take that long. Kei can't stand being in the room full of screaming toddlers so like usual he chooses to take Akaashi's briefcase and plop himself down onto the bench out front to wait while Akaashi goes inside. It's not that large of a daycare, with just around five kids in each of the age groups. Akaashi likes that since Shouyou has a tendency to need a lot of supervision. His current teacher Asahi Azumane is a tall man with long hair usually pulled back in a bun. Akaashi had been a little unsure about the rough looking man at first but it hadn't taken long for Shouyou to warm up to him at all and the more Akaashi saw of him the more he realized that the man was really just a big softie.

"Oh! It's Shouyou-kun!" Azumane says as he stands back up from where he'd been playing with one of the children. Shouyou clings just a little tighter to Akaashi and hides his face against his father's neck.