Bungou Stray Dogs ~ One-shots

[Oda xR] Love always finds its way

(Here is Mischianime's request -from AO3, hope you like it! I took advantage of being inspired to write it as quickly as possible, the previous request will arrive soon, I have started it but it is still far from being finished, unfortunately... I will do my best, I promise!

Do not hesitate to tell me if I made some mistakes! Since I am currently hospitalized, it is a bit difficult for me to remember how to spell some words in English...)

"Don't run too fast, kids!" you exclaimed in a loud intonation, forming a cone with your hands so that your voice could be heard by your interlocutors despite the distance. "You're going to fall...!"

For all answer, you received a cacophony of distant "yeeeees", making you sigh slightly. The five little ones you were looking after, alongside your father (who was also the owner of the restaurant you worked for) but also alongside your red-haired, blue-eyed fiancé, happily continued to heckle around the playground to their heart's content, your warnings seeming to have no effect whatsoever.

But, despite everything, you could not help but find them adorable as hell; they were going to be the death of you, that was more than certain.

"Do you still expect them to be reasonable?" asked the young man beside you, flashing a gentle smile as he stroked your hand with his thumb. "You should know them by now."

Oda was not wrong, you had to admit... But, after all these years spent with these rascals, you had a right to expect a minimum of reasonableness, did you not...?

"If only..." you mumbled, before letting out a soul-splitting sigh. "If only they could keep from smashing each other's faces in like last time... Kosuke had taken a long time to heal."

With a now distracted eye, lightly asleep against Oda's shoulder, you watched the children heckle more and more, vaguely wondering how they could never tire like that, despite the increasingly cloudy sky. Was it because they were young, perhaps?

The laughter grew louder and louder, as the little silhouettes chased each other at ever-increasing speed - at least until fate caught up with them in the most obvious of ways.

One of them had just fallen, obviously damaging her palms on the clay. It did not take long for cries to rise up from an injured Sakura, who was immediately surrounded by her brothers, worried looks on their faces.

You were about to go and check on her, to make sure her injuries were not too serious, when a movement to your left caught your attention. Oda had just stood up, indicating that you should remain seated while he went to check on the little girl.

With one hand over your mouth, you watched your fiancé return with Sakura in his arms, whom he sat on his lap while stroking her hair, soothing her gently with a rare efficiency.

Oda had always been good at taking care of children, you had always thought.

The girl's brothers had started playing again, while she stretched out her arms in your direction, with more or less dry tears running down her cheeks reddened by crying.

With a gentle smile, you accepted the little girl's arrival on your lap, and she snuggled into your arms, her tears now a distant memory, apart from a few sniffles here and there, which you mopped up with a dry handkerchief.

"It's over, it's over..." you comforted her by gently stroking her hair, once you had put the handkerchief away in your pocket. "You know what you'll have to do next time, don't you?"

The little girl avoided your gaze, feeling guilty for not having listened to your initial instructions, even though she normally followed adult instructions to the letter. Fortunately, she had not skinned herself to the point of bleeding this time, but it had been close.

Doing your best to calm the little girl down, your attention had momentarily shifted from her to your fiancé, who had suddenly tensed up, on the lookout. When Oda behaved in this way, something was definitely wrong. His mobster instincts were hard-wired, after all...

Instinctively hugging Sakura a little tighter, you raised your nose, preparing to come face to face with a potentially dangerous individual... But no, nothing like that.

In place of the menacing-looking man (or woman) was an elderly lady, her face covered in wrinkles and adorned with a gigantic, friendly smile. She must be around eighty, you estimated, breathing a sigh of inner relief.

"What a wonderful little family this is!" exclaimed the old lady in a playful, adoring voice. "You're lucky to have such beautiful parents, my dear!"

There was silence for a moment, giving you time to understand what the older woman was saying. Then, the meaning finally dawned on you, as the red gradually rose to your cheeks. You, this little girl's mother? With Oda as her father, if you understood correctly... ?

It was not that you had never thought of starting a family with your fiancé, and that you had never imagined the children he had taken in as your own, but...

Sakura did not look like either of you, did she? Besides, you were a bit too young to be her mother, last time you checked... !

You were about to correct the old woman when a small voice cut you off, that of the little girl who had taken up residence on your lap a few moments earlier.

"Thank you ma'am!" chirped Sakura as she hugged you tighter, a big smile lighting up her cheeks, which were still slightly tear-stained.

Far from denying this false assumption, the little girl seemed quite proud of what the newcomer was insinuating.

You glanced at Oda to gauge his reaction. You were surprised to see him smiling slightly, obviously happy with the idea too... ?

"Thank you," he said, putting his arm around your shoulders to pull you against him, not forgetting to lightly ruffle the hair of the little girl on your lap, snuggled up against you.

You did not know what to say to deny that this statement was false... But, deep down, you had to admit that you did not find the idea all that dreadful - on the contrary... You had always dreamed of having children, and Oda was without doubt the ideal father. But there was a yawning gap between imagining it and actually being it.

The old lady greeted you warmly and continued on her way, waving at you, to which you responded in unison with Sakura, Oda simply smiling softly as you cuddled up to him.

It was moments like these that made you think how much life was worth living, even if you could not help feeling slightly embarrassed. How could it have come at a better time, when you had been lucky enough to meet not only Oda, most certainly the most perfect boyfriend Earth had ever borne, but also these five adorable children, admittedly a bit rowdy, but... What kids were not, after all?

And to know that these same children, whom you adored more than anything else in the world, had no problem with you being like a mother to them... Filled you with boundless, infinite joy.

Total.

With a smile that grew with every passing second, you took Sakura and Oda close to you, hugging them tighter and tighter as you held back the tears that threatened to fall.

"Thank you," you whispered into their ears, while the little girl laughed lightly in response and the young man smiled softly. "I don't know what my life would have been like without you by my side."

You were completely sincere. And you needed to say it out loud, too.

So that those you loved more than anything in the world would know how indispensable they were to you.

Then, just as you were about to give your all to the man of your life and your "daughter", an avalanche of little arms suddenly fell on you, belonging of course....

To Sakura's "brothers", who had felt neglected and left out, and so had jumped at the first opportunity to make you understand it.

Love always finds a way to be heard, after all...

Does it not?