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𝟗 || 𝐀 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐏 𝐓𝐎 𝐒.𝐒. 𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐒! ||

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Shinichiro cherishes the weekend like it's his last meal before being sent to be in an electric chair. He wasn't required to go to school (even though he already barely attends in the first place), he could have more fun with his best friends, and had a lot more time to work on bikes in his new upcoming bike shop.

    The shop wasn't much, in fact, it was just a simple rented out garage that he and his friends help maintain.

    He still remembers the day when he was first given the garage; Shinichiro was absolutely ecstatic and his friends teased him endlessly for being so excited over a disgusting garage that had more than its fair share of oil stains. However, with a little bit of assistance from anyone who was willing to lend a helping hand, they were able to turn the garage into a place where Shinichiro could happily work on motorbikes while providing a safe space for his friends and fellow gang members alike.

    Even though Shinichiro forfeited his leadership over to Takeomi at the beginning of his third year in highschool, he still cares for the black dragons like they were his family. That's essentially what they were to him in the long run. Shinichiro and his former gang members have shed blood for each other, supported each other, fought for each other, and were always there when times seemed their hardest.

    Is that not what being a family is all about? Being there when no one else can? Having unconditional support from the people around you?

    Just as Shinichiro is slipping his shoes on, ready to head to his bike shop, the sound of someone knocking on the door catches him off guard.

    The dojo isn't normally open on the weekends...maybe it was one of Manjiro's little friends? Well, it's too bad that Shinichiro has to be the one who breaks the bad news to the unsuspecting kid from behind the door.

    Manjiro has the flu—It's been pretty mild so far, but the flu is still the flu. He and Emma have been advised to stay away from the blonde boy until his fever has gone down.

    Shinichiro sighs in exasperation as the knocking continues. Guess the unknown kid isn't going away anytime soon...

    "I'm coming—just hold on!" He shouts while finishing off the knot on his shoes. Quickly stumbling up straight, he makes his way to the door and swings it open, ready to dismiss the poor kid with bad news and make his way to his bike shop.

    ...except there wasn't a kid behind the door.

    Shinichiro immediately feels his heart beating out of its rib cage at the familiar, very familiar, beautiful lady behind the door. The very same lady who continues to haunt even his dirtiest dreams.

    Katsumi Hanagaki.

    Against his better judgment (sanity, oh, and morality), Shinichiro quickly scans the lady in front of him, his face gradually feeling warmer the more he takes in the angel's appearance.

    Her clothes left very little to the imagination.

    She was wearing a black low cut lacy croptop that accentuated her...er...chest nicely. The top was paired with a skin tight black skirt that emphasizes her small waist and hips. Katsumi's legs were adorned with fishnet tights and her height was increased with the help of simple black high heels.

    Oh god. Is Shinichiro still dreaming?

    The black-haired teen quickly rids the dirty thoughts out of his mind in order to process the situation in front of him.

    She wasn't alone.

    In her arms was a sleeping boy with black curly hair wearing an oversized shirt that could easily be mistaken for pajamas.

    Takemichi?

    Why—why were they both here? At the dojo? At precisely seven thirty in the morning?

    Before Shinichiro could voice his thoughts, the goddess starts to speak.

    "Hey Sano-San, I'm really sorry to bother you on the weekend," Katsumi apologizes sheepishly, her arms tightening around her child's body for a brief moment. "—but I really need someone to watch over Takemichi while I'm at work. I didn't expect to be called in this morning and—and Ms.Baji is busy and I didn't want to leave my son home all alone because of all the recent gang sightings on our block and—" Katsumi continues to ramble on and on, nervousness being very evident in her silky tone.

    Shinichiro can listen to her talk for hours...

    "—So if it's not too much to ask, can you watch Takemichi for me while I'm at work? I promise, he won't cause you any trouble—he's a very good kid!" She exclaims desperately, blue eyes shining with unshed tears.

    Oh god, she even looks attractive when she's on the verge of crying what the fuck—

    NOPE—BAD SHINICHIRO, BAD.

    Shinichiro interrupts the young lady with a wave of his hand and a soft smile. He's always been a sucker for helping gorgeous women with their problems (even if they still constantly reject him). "Of course I'll watch him! He's been nothing but a ray of sunshine whenever he's here at the dojo," Shinichiro compliments, watching with satisfaction as Katsumi's eyes light up at the praise directed towards her child.

    "However," Shinichiro starts again, grabbing the beautiful lady's attention. "—Um...you don't have a problem with me bringing him over to my bike shop, do you? Manjiro's sick with the flu and we've been told to stay away from him till his fever goes down, so I was planning to hangout over at my shop for the day," Shinichiro explains, scratching the back of his neck nervously.

    The young lady gives him a skeptical look before sighing in defeat and carefully handing the sleeping boy over to Shinichiro. "Nah, it's fine. Um...what's the shop called? That way I know where to pick him up," Katsumi asks with a head tilt.

    "Oh—right—it's called S.S Motor!"

    "Got it," Katsumi then pats Takemichi on the head before taking a step back from shinichiro and her son in his arms.

    "I'll be there to pick him up at eight thirty, is that ok?"

    "Yep! Have a good day at work Ka—I mean Hanagaki-San!" Shinichiro corrects himself, missing the way the young lady's mouth quirks up in a smile.

    "Thank you Sano-San."

    And with that, she quickly walks away from the dojo in the direction of the bus stop at the corner of the street.

    Sighing dreamily, Shinichiro looks down at the sleeping boy in his arms.

    "Guess it's just gonna be you and me, huh?" He asks, not earning a response from the curly haired boy.

    He laughs shakily and heads back inside to grab his backpack and spare tools.

    Hopefully Shinichiro will still be able to get some work done with Takemichi with him...

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It's been a good hour and a half since Shinichiro and Takemichi arrived at his bikeshop and the curly haired boy was still asleep on his blue sofa. Surprisingly, Shinichiro was able to get a lot of work done in just that short amount of time.

    At first, he worried that he'd barely be able to get anything accomplished with his new task of looking after a kid, but—true to Katsumi's word—he hasn't caused him any trouble. It truly is astonishing how Manjiro was able to befriend a kid that was practically the complete opposite of him. Shinichiro supposes the term 'opposites attract' applies to this anomaly.

    In the middle of cleaning up his station, he hears the bell that rings every time someone enters the shop. Shinichiro already has a feeling as to who has stepped in the shop. Turning his head, Shinichiro greets the three gang members with a wave of his hand.

    "Heya! Think you guys can help me mop up this oil?" He asks with a sheepish grin. One of the three gang members rolls their eyes at the black haired teen before walking to the back of the shop, presumably to grab a mop.

    Shinichiro smiles. "Thanks Wakasa!"

    "We just got here and you're already putting us to work? The fucks up with that?" The tallest of the three groans loudly, sliding his black dragon jacket off his shoulders and placing it on a nearby clothing rack.

    "You can always leave Benkei," Shinichiro comments offhandedly, but he knows Benkei was just complaining to get on his nerves. Not like it really works, but he can still try.

    "Nah—I'm good. Besides, there's nothing to do!" Benkei complains tiredly, slinging an arm around his companion's shoulder who's also wearing a black dragon's uniform.

    The teen grimaces at the arm slung around him and harshly shakes it off. "Damn dude, you smell like shit..." Takeomi says while pinching his nose.

    Benkei just laughs and spreads his arms open, causing an intimidating shadow to loom over Takeomi.

    "Nah man, we smell like shit!" Benkei reaches out to grab Takeomi, but the long haired man scrambles back and away from Benkei's strong, muscular arms with a yelp. The muscular man then proceeds to chase Takeomi around the shop, knocking over chairs, bumping into pieces of furniture, and—worst of all—making Takemichi wake up from his nap.

    Shinichiro resists the urge to drape a hand down his face at the ruckus being caused in his shop.

    "Can you guys shut the f...shut up! The kid's tryna sleep!" Shinichiro yells above the two roughhousing teens. As if timed, Wakasa walks back into the main area with an arched brow and a mop in his hand.

    It suddenly goes quiet.

    "Kid?" Wakasa questions, scanning the shop till his eyes land on the kid curled up on the blue couch with a blanket draped over his small frame. Takemichi was slowly rising up from his nap; big blue eyes flutter open and a tired yawn slips from his lips.

    Benkei and Takeomi are also gawking at the child with mixed expressions.

    Shinichiro heaves out a sigh and stands up from his spot kneeling on the floor to wash his hands off in the sink. Once his hands are clean and rid of motor oil, he walks up to Takemichi with a smile and a wave.

    "Morning Michi!" Shinichiro greets, taking his spot next to the tired boy on the sofa. Takemichi doesn't say anything at first. He takes his time rubbing his eyes awake and stretching out his arms, reaching for the sky and twisting his small body from side to side with small groans.

    The other three teens watch with amusement as Takemichi finishes up his little routine before eyeing the other people in the room.

    The peaceful atmosphere was then shattered by the tears that started streaming down the small boy's face.

    "W-WHERE AM I?!" He cries out, clinging onto Shinichiro like a leech. "WHO-WHO ARE THOSE SCARY PEOPLE?! WHERE'S MAMA?! I WANNA GO HOME!!!" He hollers while stuffing his face in Shinichirou's chest, staining his shirt with tears and snot.

    Benkei gasps, beyond offended by being called scary by a seven year old, Takeomi sighs in exasperation with a hand on his forehead, and Wakasa—

    Shinichiro turns his head to see Wakasa approaching the crying child with a blank expression and a hand in his pocket. His eyes bore down at Takemichi's trembling form before reaching out to nudge the boy's shoulder.

    Takemichi reacts almost immediately to Wakasa's hand and shies away with more tears rolling down his cheeks, incoherent words spilling from his mouth.

    They just had to ruin everything, huh?

    Before Shinichiro could tell Wakasa to back the fuck off, the white haired teen reaches into his pocket and pulls out a lollipop. Everyone watches in fascination as Wakasa crouches down to Takemichi's eye level and...

    And he smiles. Sure, Wakasa has smiled plenty of times before, but they were usually mischievous, full of ill intent and wicked tendencies. However, now, he was smiling softly at the curly haired boy like an older brother.

    Wakasa holds the lollipop for Takemichi to take. Sadly, the crying boy doesn't move from his spot pressed up against Shinichiro.

    "...That a beetles t-shirt?" Wakasa asks, gesturing to Takemichi's oversized band t-shirt. Takemichi, with his face scrunching up in confusion, nods.

    "What's your favorite song, kid?" Wakasa quizzes, settling down on the garage floor. He pulls his leg up to rest his arm on his knee and looks up at Takemichi, awaiting the kid's answer. "Gotta make sure you're wearing the shirt because you're a fan and not just some fakey," Wakasa explains with a playful smirk.

    Takemichi stares at Wakasa for a few moments before wiping his tears and snot away with his arm (this kid is in dire need of tissues...).

    "...O-Oh Darling..." Takemichi mumbles while sniffling. Shinichiro watches with wide eyes as Takemichi finally reaches for the lollipop in Wakasa's hand. With a smirk of triumph, Wakasa hands the candy over to the smaller boy.

    "That's a good one. Mines Come Together, heard of it?" Takemichi nods his head at Wakasa's question, causing the teen to lean back with a smug look on his face.

    Since when was this bastard good with handling children?

    Shinichiro likes to think that he's a master of taking care of kids (he has two younger siblings after all), but when he's tasked with looking after such a tender hearted kid like Takemichi, he's not quite sure what to do with himself.

    Wakasa on the other hand...

    Shinichiro shakes the thought away as he brings his focus back on Takemichi who's no longer clinging to his shirt. Shinichiro rests a hand on Takemichi's shoulder, drawing his attention away from Wakasa.

    "You're mama will be back later to pick you up. We can um..." Shinichiro turns to Wakasa and Benkei with a scrunched up face.

    "Do—Do we have any board or card games in the back?"

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"W-What the hell?!" Takeomi exclaims as he keeps drawing card after card, after card, and—you guessed it—after card. "SHIN?! I THOUGHT WE AGREED TO TEAM UP ON BENKEI YOU TRAITOR!" Takeomi shouts frustratedly while staring at the many Uno cards in his hands.

    Shinichiro snickers from his spot next to Takemichi and pulls out a green reverse card. "There are no teams when it comes to Uno," Shinichiro says menacingly while placing the card on the deck. Takeomi groans in exasperation as he reaches for another card in the deck to everyone's amusement.

    "What's wrong, Take-Chan?" Takemichi asks with a tilt of his head. "Don't have a green card?" The small kid's innocent tone doesn't help the fire boiling up inside the black dragon leader.

    Who knew Takemichi could be such a demon?!

    "Y-You little brat!" Takemichi laughs at Takeomi's insult, the sound light and echoey as it bounced off the walls of the garage.

    Finally, after what seems like forever, Takeomi draws a green card.

    "HAH! TAKE THAT WAKASA!"

    The white haired teen stares at Takeomi with a raised brow before...

    Takeomi stops laughing.

    "Why—stop looking at me like that."

    Wakasa tilts his head with a smirk as his fingers take hold of a card in his hands. "Like what?"

    "...you better not have a fucking reverse card," Takeomi threatens, making Benkei cover Takemichi's ears.

    "AYE! WATCH YOU'RE FUCKING LANGUAGE IN FRONT OF THE KID!!!"

    Shinichiro sweat drops at the declaration. "I'm pretty sure Takemichi's heard a lot worse..." he mentions offhandedly, remembering the string of curses that would fall out of Katsumi's sweet, delectable lips.

    "Um...Shin, you good? You're drooling," Wakasa mentions with a chuckle, causing Shinchiro's face to heat up. He immediately goes to wipe his mouth and—wow, yeah, that was drool.

    Takemichi sighs, his blue eyes turning to stare at Shinichiro with underlying curiosity.

    (Since when did Benkei take his hands off his ears?)

    "...Were you thinking about my mom?"

WOAH WHA—

Shinichiro chokes on his own saliva as the teens gathered around the coffee table burst out in laughter.

    "EH? IS THAT TRUE SHIN? YOU HITTIN' ON MOMS NOW?!"

    No, Benkei, he was not!

    "Tryna be a stepdad or something?"

    Wakasa needs to shut the fuck up before shin stuffs a uno card down his throat!

    "Wow...that's just sad!"

    NOT TAKEOMI—WHY WAS HE RECEIVING JUDGMENT FROM HIS OWN CHILDHOOD FRIEND?!

    After a few moments, Shinichiro finally composes himself and, like a very calm person, turns to Takemichi with a soft smile.

    "Now where did you get that idea, Michi?" He asks, his hand reaching up to mess with Takemichi's curly hair. Takemichi scrunches up his eyebrows and swats his hand away—crossing his arms in front of his chest seconds after.

    "Mikey told me you drool when you think about my mom! Creep." An invisible arrow pierces his heart.

    C-Creep?!

    Shinichiro decides not to comment on the nickname given to his little brother (ever since Emma joined the family, he's been wanting to be referred to as Mikey as a way to not let Emma feel like an outcast.), and instead curses the blonde for telling Takemichi such...such bullshit!

    "Eh?! Wait—you really are hitting on Michi's mom?!" Takeomi asks, astonishment written all over his face as he leans in closer to gauge Shinichiro's reaction.

    "Why do you seem so surprised, Takeomi?" Wakasa questions while leaning back in his chair. "Remember that time Shinichiro asked out that mannequin in the mall cause he thought it was a real person—"

    Shinichiro's face blossoms into a deep red. "H-Hey, I don't really think we should—"

    "Or—" Benkei interrupts with a sly smirk, "when he started flirting with that lesbian chick when her girlfriend was RIGHT THERE!—"

    "Ok, ok, we get it—"

    "What's a lesbian?" Takemichi asks with an innocent head tilt.

    Benkei, apparently being the voice of reason, places a hand on the boy's shoulder and shakes his head.

    "You'll find out when you're older." Takemichi pouts childishly at that. Takeomi reaches over and knocks Benkei's hand off Takemichi's shoulder with a groan.

    "Don't listen to Benkei... a lesbian is a girl who likes girls the way boys like girls," Takeomi explains with an exhausted huff.

    "Ohhhh..." Takemichi sings lightly, a thoughtful look plastered on his face.

    Phew, thank god the topic of lesbians steered the conversati-

    "Anyways, back to Shinichiro and his sudden interest in milfs—"

    FOR FUCKS SAKE!

    Shinichiro finally puts