SOTUS one shots

A Thousand Paper Cranes Never Hurt

Forever and a Dae AU
Pre-req fic: Forever and a Dae. But you can read this as a stand-alone.

Dae centric
--

The earliest memory Dae has was when he was five years old and his dads took him to a place with lots of kids with different age groups.

    He remembers his dad on his wheelchair talking to an old lady as his papa bounces a little girl up and down in his arms. Dae had stared at his dad with his big eyes, remembering feeling jealous as the little girl giggles in Kongpob’s hold.

    Dad then called for him, asking him to introduce himself to the little girl. Dae had hid behind Arthit’s chair wondering why he has to tell his name to a baby he doesn’t know.

    “C’mon, pumpkin,” his papa smiled at him, crouching down on his level.

    The baby girl had her eyes on him and Dae felt himself smiling. She was a cute little baby. He guessed Dae can share his papa with her.

    “Hello, baby,” Dae had waved his little arms, giggling when the little girl tried to grab his hand. “My name is Dae.”

    “Her name is Chin,” his dad had told him. “She’s going to be your little sister from now on.”

    “Can you be a big brother to her, Dae-Dae?” dad asked him.

    He doesn’t know what was happening, but Dae’s happy to have a sibling. Playing alone with his toys was no fun anyway. So, he nods his tiny head, smiling when Chin got a hold of his finger. Her hand felt warm and chubby and soft.

    “Will you be a good big brother to her, pumkin?” pa had asked.

    Grandpa Ker always tell him to be kind to people, and his dad always tell him to be good to others, so Dae nods again, unaware of the things happening around him.

    After that, Chin goes home with them. Dae remembers sitting behind his dads with little Chin on her baby seat. He held his chin high; he’s five now so he doesn’t have to sit on the special seat.

--

When he was six, uncle Knott told him about the paper cranes.

    Dae swung his little legs as he sat on a chair as they wait for his dad to finish talking to the doctor. Dad Arthit has monthly checkups at the hospital, and most of the times, Dae accompanies his dad to keep him company together with any of his uncles and aunties available. This time it was uncle Knott.

    “Paper cranes?” he asked.

    “Yes, Dae,” uncle Knott smiled. “The Japanese had a legend that says when you complete folding a thousand paper cranes, the gods will grant your wish.”

    Dae blinked at his uncle, not really knowing what Japanese are, or what a legend is. A thousand sounds a lot to him; his pa always scolds him when he eats more than five chocolates, and to Dae, five is already a lot. A thousand must be so so so much. He thought about asking his sister to help him, but Chin is only three and is little. Maybe when she gets older.

    “You can wish for your dad to get better,” uncle Knott had told him. “You want that right, Dae?”

    “Yes!” he nodded. He wanted his dad to stop visiting the hospital with the weird looking people wearing white and masks on their faces. Dae always noticed a specific expression on his papa’s face that he doesn’t like whenever Arthit’s name gets called by the doctors.

    “How do you build paper cranes, uncle?”

    “I’ll show you when we get home, okay?”