The Best Present Ever [Single Parent AU]

|Chapter 6|

After telling his son to wait for him and be a good boy while he would talk to the teacher, Oikawa took large steps in the direction of Shōyō's classroom. It was the day of the parent-teacher conference and the man was really stressed out, once again. They couldn't have had chosen a worse day to hold the conference: he hadn't been able to finish his work so he wouldn't be late and was going to have to finish it at home. Plus, it was raining.

When he was younger, the brunet loved rainy days because they were peaceful. But know he disliked them, because rainy days were also messy days. That day, he had an umbrella with him, but it didn't protect his whole body obviously. Therefore, the bottom of his pants were all wet from the splashing he made when walking. And his hair had gotten damp, which he hated.

"Excuse me," The man said, entering the classroom, where the teacher was waiting for him. He wasn't late, the woman had been there earlier.

"Good evening, Oikawa-san." She grinned widely, showing off her white teeth. They reminded him of the toothpaste commercials.

"Good evening." He could never remember the woman's name and she didn't seem to mind.

"How are you?" Oikawa took a seat in front of her and rested his hands in his lap.

"I'm fine, thank you. How are you?" He asked, knowing that she wanted to make him as comfortable as possible, although it wasn't really working because he could feel the bottom of his pants wetting his socks and his hair getting frizzy. It definitely wasn't a good day.

"I'm fine as well, thank you." The woman kept smiling, as if everything was fine. But they both knew it wasn't, there were always small problems interfering with their lives; that's just how adult life goes. "Then let's talk about Shōyō-kun."

As the minutes passed by, the woman kept talking about how his son was at school. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary, besides that one time, his behavior wasn't that bad. Oikawa tried to pay as much attention as he could, but it wasn't easy when the woman's voice was soothing and he could feel the exhaustion creeping up. So there were times when his mind would drift away and he'd start to think about what he was going to make for dinner and if his son wasn't playing in the rain.

There was a high possibility that the toddler was running in the rain while playing with his friends. They were kids, they didn't know what they were doing. And that was the reason Oikawa wanted to finish this conference as quickly as possible, so he could leave with his son and make sure he didn't get sick.

"Overall, his behavior isn't anything to worry about. Besides that incident with the other kid, everything's okay." The man smiled and nodded. "However, I must tell you that Shōyō-kun is having trouble at keeping up with his classmates when it comes to school work. His grades are getting worse and I don't really know how to help him, because I've done all I could. At his age it's normal to have an attention deficit or just not being interested in what we are talking about in class, but he should still do his homework. He may have some problems and might need a psychologist, for all we know. It's normal, don't worry, but we should hurry and try to understand what is going on with him and why he's having such bad grades. He's falling behind."

Oikawa wasn't expecting that. It was true that lately the kid never asked for his help with homework, but he had thought that he was able to do it alone, not that he had given up.

"I'll talk to him first and then I'll decide what to do," He informed. "Thank you for telling me."

After saying goodbye, he jogged towards the entrance of the school. He realized it was still raining and cursed himself for leaving the umbrella in the car. Then he ran to the school's playground, where he found Shōyō playing alone while we waited for his father.

As he ran towards his son, Oikawa yelled, "Shō-chan, come here!"

The kid did as he was told, looking at his father with innocent eyes. The brunet took of his coat and gave it to his son. He knew the toddler was going to let the coat get wet, but his health was more important than a simple piece of cloth.

"Let's run to the car."

After they had entered the car, which was now getting quite wet thanks to them, Oikawa told his son to take off his jacket so it wouldn't dry on his body. Then the man took off his button-up shirt, thanking himself for having put on a simple white shirt underneath.

"We have to talk," He said, turning around so he could face his son. "First of all, you're old enough to know that you can't play in the rain."

"But it's fun!" Shōyō threw his hands in the air.

"I don't care." Oikawa hushed him. "You'll probably catch a cold. If it's raining, you have to protect yourself and make sure you don't get wet, understand me?"

"Yes, daddy."

"Good."

Neither of them said anything after that. All that could be heard was cars passing by, splashing water, people running from the rain and the rain hitting the car ceiling. It was actually relaxing and Oikawa wished he could stay inside the car forever.

During that moment of silence, the man kept thinking about how he could approach his son about his grades. It was the first time it happened and he didn't know how to talk about it for he didn't want his son to feel like he was stupid.

Meanwhile, the kid just looked outside the window, giggling when he saw some people slipping in the puddles.

"Shō-chan, can you tell me why your grades have been getting worse?" Oikawa inquired in a careful and quiet voice.

The kid glanced at his father and tilted his head to the side, shrugging. "I think I don't like school."

"Why not?" That was serious because if he didn't like it in elementary school, he would only have more troubles later on.

"Because it's boring." He rolled his eyes, moving his hands around as he spoke. "The teacher says things I don't understand and we always have to work. She even tells us to do work at home! The only thing I like at school is when I play baseball. And when I play with my friends in the playground."

"But you need school, slugger. I can help you with the homework, if you want, and we can even make it fun! You need to learn what the teacher is, well, teaching so that one day you can make money," The dad explained.

"But I don't want to have money."

"Everyone needs money."

"The teacher says that money is not everything, so I don't need money."

He was happy that his son was picking up something that the teacher said, but he still wasn't happy with the fact that the ginger didn't make an effort and wasn't planning on doing so.

Suddenly, an idea came to his mind. "You know, if you don't study and try hard, you will fail and then you'll have to repeat the year. Do you want that?"

Furrowing his eyebrows, he shook his head and said, "No."

"And you won't be in the same class as your friends anymore, did you know that?"

"No, I didn't." The kid looked scared, so it meant his little idea was working.

"Then how about we start trying to get good grades, huh?" Oikawa smiled, amused and pleased with what was happening. "During class, you will do everything the teacher says and at home, I will help you. How about that?"

"Okay." Shōyō nodded, not really happy with his defeat.

"Don't make that face." The brunet grabbed his son's cheeks and caressed them. "I'm sure you're going to start liking school."

He then turned around, putting on his seat belt and asking his son to do the same. As he drove, he thought about how he would manage to do his work and help his son doing his homework at the same time.

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i like learning, but ive been hating school so much lately

carol