The Best Present Ever [Single Parent AU]

|Chapter 2|

Since he had been a little kid, Oikawa had been in love with two things: volleyball and astronomy. There was no way the man would be able to earn money with volleyball (unless he was a coach, but that was something he wanted to do when he retired), so he decided to go with astronomy.

The brunet really loved astronomy and astrophysics, being in love with anything that involved the outer space. It was just something he loved to learn about. For that reason, he studied it and now had a degree in astrophysics, working for a university as a researcher. It was a tough job, because everyone was really strict, but it was easy to make friends there and, hopefully, in a few years, Oikawa would be able to become a university teacher.

The only downside of his work was that, most of the time, he had to stay there and finish his work, before he could leave for the day. Usually he was able to finish everything by four o'clock, but there were times when he couldn't, which meant he was going to be late when picking up his son.

Shōyō's classes were over by three o'clock and even on days with club activities he would finish school by four o'clock. Every single day, without an exception, the ginger would wait for at least an hour for his dad to pick him up. There were some other kids, who would wait for their relatives to pick them up so he was never alone, but the kid found it really boring to wait for his dad.

That day was no exception. Oikawa ran out of the building with his briefcase in hand and coat thrown over his arm, saying goodbye to everyone he knew along the way. When he arrived at his car, the man threw everything inside and started the engine, trying to be as quick as possible. He thanked God for having a car, otherwise he would have to use the train and it would be even worse.

Twenty minutes later, he stopped the car in front of the elementary school his son attended. Shōyō said goodbye to his friends and ran towards the car, with an angry look on his face. He got in and climbed on top of the booster car seat.

"Do you need help?" Asked the father, pursing his lips as he saw a band aid on the kid's hand.

"No," The kid answered, with his eyebrows still furrowed.

Just when Oikawa was ready to ask why the kid had a band aid on, a slim woman with glasses ran in the direction of his car, and the man recognized her as his son's teacher.

He lowered the window and smiled politely, "Good afternoon."

"Good afternoon, Oikawa-san." She returned the smile. "I'd like to talk to you about Shōyō-kun."

The brunet glanced at his son, who was looking down at his fingers, and raised an eyebrow. That had never happened before.

"You see, today, Shōyō-kun got into a fight." Oikawa widened his eyes, completely taken back by surprise. "We don't really know why they were fighting, because neither of them is willing to say it. They just insist that the other started it." Her thin lips were in a straight line as she talked, showing just how serious the matter was. "I'm not saying it's Shōyō-kun's fault or the other kid's, but I want you to understand that they both were wrong so I'd like you to have a talk with your son. We don't tolerate this kind of behavior and we are afraid they might repeat it, so please talk to him."

Seeing the teacher's eyes full of honest concern, the male bit his lip and nodded. "I will. Thank you for telling me."

"It's our duty." The woman forced a polite smile, taking one step back and waving at the father and son. "Have a safe trip."

Oikawa started to drive toward their apartment. The whole trip home was silent, not even the radio was turned on. The father was just too disappointed to speak, so he decided to do it once they got home. If he started to talk, he would just end up yelling and, in that moment, he needed to concentrate on driving.

How could Shōyō do that kind of thing knowing full well how much his father struggled to take care of him by himself? The brunet knew he was just a kid, but even so he felt betrayed.

Shōyō himself didn't feel any better. He knew his dad was mad, because he didn't ask him about his day. The man was always really talkative and nice when he picked up his son from school, but today he didn't say a single word. It was scaring the little kid, who didn't dare to look up, so instead he played with the band aid on his palm, taking it off and then putting it back on.

When they arrived home, Oikawa turned off the engine and reached for his coat and briefcase. Then, he got out of the car and opened the door of the backseat, helping his son to get out as well. He held his son's hand until they reached their apartment, where he let go of the kid's hand and opened the door with his keys, letting Shōyō get in first.

The toddler placed his bag near the sofa in the living room and ran to his bedroom, closing the door behind him. He was, in fact, scared of what was coming so he decided to hide in his bedroom. The ginger just laid down on his bed, waiting for his dad to enter the room and start yelling at him.

In the living room, all that could be heard was a loud and long sigh. Oikawa placed his things on the sofa and sat there, staring at the black screen of the TV. Where had he went wrong?

After a few moments of thinking about how to approach the matter, the man finally felt comfortable enough to talk with his son. Right when he entered the bedroom, the kid pressed his back against the headboard and looked at his father with wide, glossy eyes.

"Here's the thing, Shōyō," The man started, taking a seat on the bed a few inches away from the ginger. He locked his fingers together and stared at his feet. "I know you probably didn't mean any harm when you fought with the other kid but you can't do that. I think your mother and I always taught you, that you should never use violence."

"But daddy..." His lower lip was trembling, and they both knew he was going to cry soon.

Oikawa kept a straight face, though. "Let me finish." The toddler tried to hold in the tears as his father looked him in thee yes. "You have to understand that you shouldn't fight with anyone. I don't care what the other kid did to you, I only care about how you dealt with it, and it wasn't the right way."

"Daddy, he said-"

"I don't care!" The brunet raised his voice momentarily and Shōyō widened his eyes, letting out a sob and feeling a lonely tear roll down his cheek. "I spend my whole day running around to take care of you, so you should at least keep quiet when I talk to you! I try my hardest to satisfy you and I even try to bring some of my work home, so I can pick you up as soon as possible! I work my ass off to earn money so you can have everything you want and how do you repay me?! Fighting at school! I better not hear that you fought at school anymore, are we clear?!"

The child's lower lip quivered and his face was red. A few wet patches could be seen on the mattress thanks to the tears he had shed and he fought the urge to let out another sob. The ginger was a total mess. Only then Oikawa realized he was talking to a kid, a little human who still didn't think about his actions.

"I'm sorry," He mumbled, taking a good look at his son. With all those screams the father didn't realize his son had his knees scraped and a little bruise on his arm. "Let's take care of those injuries, okay?"

Still fearing his father's reaction, Shōyō just nodded and followed his dad into the bathroom, not saying a word. He feared what was going to happen if he pronounced just another word and decided to not make a sound. However, he still thought that explaining why he did what he had done was the best option-

"Daddy." Oikawa hummed and the kid continued. "It was not my fault, he-"

"Seriously, I don't want to hear it. Whatever you say won't be an excuse for your behavior," The brunet grabbed the first aid kit and proceeded to take care of his son's injuries.

And so, the little child with wild curls and fierce brown eyes didn't have the chance to tell his father about how the other kid had ripped his drawing of him and his father holding hands in the park, where he loved to play with Oikawa.