Chapter Text
When Makoto decided to become a teacher, he didn’t realize that he would have the additional benefit of having more time at home than most. Teaching gave him the opportunity to mentor young people and impart knowledge, but it also gave him holidays at home with his baby son, who was somehow getting cuter every day.
Sometime after Minoru started sitting up on his own, a student teacher was hired to help out at the high school. Makoto realized he was no longer officially the rookie, and that he was long overdue for a leave of absence.
He took the opportunity to take the school year off to stay home with his son.
Gou was skeptical. She knew how much her husband loved teaching, and she was certain he wouldn’t last the term at home.
“You don’t have to do this. My mother likes watching him during the day. And you know the boys are always fighting over who gets him on Fridays.”
“I know,” he blew a raspberry onto his son’s tummy, delighting in Minoru’s squeals. “I just miss him.”
Her smile grew soft. There were no more arguments on the matter.
~
During Makoto’s first year of college, Gou had taken up the hobby of sending him pictures of the stray cat that lived in his neighborhood. The kitten had been an important mediator in their early courtship days, providing a welcome distraction when the conversation grew awkwardly quiet or too emotionally intense.
The photos had started out simple, just pictures of the cat eating, or playing. Soon they evolved into Gou dressing the cat up in various costumes. Makoto thought it was silly, but it also eased some of his homesickness and cheered him up when he was missing home (he missed her too, but Gou was a clever girl and had shown him that a camera was an excellent way to ease that feeling).
He was reminded of those early days when he was shopping with the baby and he spotted a particularly cute chef outfit. The white coat came with a tiny chef hat, and Makoto couldn’t resist. Gou received a photo that afternoon of her baby sitting on their kitchen counter, a toothless grin on his face and a wooden spoon in his pudgy hand.
Where did you get that?
I bought it this morning. I thought it would look cute.
It does! He looks adorable! I love that hat on my sweet boy.
He didn’t mean for it to continue. But then there was a pirate costume with an eyepatch (the baby pulled at it, and Makoto had to be quick with the camera) then the puppy costume, which was so cute Makoto not only sent a photo to Gou but also called Haruka.
“Haru, you need to come over.”
“Why?”
“You need to see something.”
“Is everything ok?”
“Yes! I’m playing with Minoru. He’s dressed up in a puppy suit.”
There was a pause. Then,
“I’ll be right over.”
When Haruka arrived Makoto was lying on his stomach on the floor, while the baby chewed his father’s glasses happily. The child really was dressed in a puppy suit, complete with long, drooping ears and a tail.
“Who is Papa’s cute puppy? Who is it?” The baby squealed a laugh when Makoto tickled his chubby feet. “I’m going to eat these puppy toes!”
Haru’s eye twitched. Makoto looked up, just the slightest bit guilty. The baby laughed at his uncle, tried to crawl to Haruka, and fell over, rolling onto his back. The costume’s ears slumped forward over the child’s face.
“Well? Isn’t he cute?” Makoto stood up and picked up his son. “I just want to eat him up!” He kissed the baby’s chubby cheek.
Haruka blinked. Then, in one swift motion, he pulled out his cell phone and snapped picture after picture. “Cute,” he said, eyes sparkling. “So cute.”
The baby soon wanted to hold Uncle Haruka’s cell phone, which was Haru’s cue to take the baby from his father so Makoto could prepare lunch.
“You should dress him up as a dolphin next time,” Haru suggested as he tugged at the puppy ears.
~
It was only a matter of time before Rin called, miffed he wasn’t let in on the costume party.
“Haru was lording those pictures over me. I can’t believe you called him to see.”
“Sorry,” Makoto laughed. “It was so cute I panicked.”
“Well I’m coming over tomorrow. And I’m bringing a costume.”
“Eh?!”
~
Makoto should have guessed that Rin would bring a shark costume. And he had to admit, his son seemed to like it as well. He was fascinated with the fin, and kept trying to grab at it, like a puppy chasing its tail.
“Ahhh, Minoru, you look so cute,” Makoto cuddled his son in his lap, soft baby fingers grasping at his father’s hair. Minoru laughed, delighted when Makoto lifted him high in the air. “Do you like your costume?”
“Read it and weep, Haru,” Rin took a picture with his camera. “He’s going to die when he sees these.”
~
It wasn’t long before word of Minoru’s costumed adventures reached the rest of their circle of friends. With the new audience came new requests. Nagisa wanted to see the baby dressed in an orca costume. Rei requested something regal, like a prince. Haruka showed up one day with the promised dolphin outfit and Rin in tow.
“No way am I missing any more of these,” Rin grumbled. “Though I guarantee you the shark will be cuter than this lame dolphin costume.”
Gou was the only one who had no requests. “He’s our son,” she told Makoto when he asked if she had any costumes in mind. “He’ll look adorable in anything you put him in because he looks just like his papa.”
Makoto preened a bit at that, and though he said nothing he pulled his wife close to reward her for her praise.
~
Epilogue
~
“Mom.”
“Yes?”
“Why do you have an album of me in costumes?” Minoru held up the blue and yellow album, a picture of a baby in a shark costume on the cover. “They’re all from when I was a baby.”
Gou sighed. “Go and ask your father.”