Love is not Extinct

Chapter 02: The Hatchling

Tsukishima stepped into his apartment, shutting the door behind him. "I'm home," he called out as he pulled off his coat, hanging it up with his bag as he slipped out of his shoes. The warm air inside was refreshing after being outside in the cold winter night. He could smell the remnants of dinner still lingering in the air and could hear soft sounds coming from the television in the living room.

Walking down the hall, he made his way towards the sounds. His apartment wasn't large or fancy, but it was clean and well kept. It was big enough for his needs with two bedrooms, a shared bathroom, and a living space that doubled as a dinning area.

When he walked into the living room, he found two people sitting at the kotatsu watching a volleyball match. The first was Yamaguchi, who sat hunched over, resting his head on his arms, his rouge strand of hair sticking up stubbornly, as usual.

Yamaguchi turned and looked up at him with a smile. "Welcome home."

"Welcome home, otousan." Tsukishima looked over at the other person in the room. His brown eyes meeting an identical pair that peaked out under the boy's mess of wavy brown hair. "We made you dinner."

The boy pointed to the plate in the middle of the table waiting for him. He could tell it had been warmed up; Yamaguchi had probably made sure to heat it up right before he got home.

"Thank you Haru-kun." Tsukishima walked over and placed a gentle hand on his son's head before taking a seat so that he could eat. "Did you and Yamaguchi have fun?"

"Mmhum," Haruhisa hummed and nodded, resting his chin in his hand and turning his eyes back towards the television. "I helped him make dinner and Yamaguchi-sensei let me watch a movie while we ate."

"Did you finish your homework?"

Yamaguchi looked up as he straightened. "Hey, you do know I am a teacher, right?" But Tsukishima ignored him, instead he looked back at his son, waiting for his answer.

"Yes." Haruhisa replied. He shyly looked up at his father with hesitation. "Well most of it...I haven't done my reading yet."

Tsukishima raised a brow. "Should you be watching T.V. if your homework isn't done?"

"No..." the boy looked down and pouted.

"So, what should you do then?" Haruhisa looked up at his father meekly before standing up.

"I'll go get my book." The boy quickly left the room to grab his backpack.

"Tsukki." Yamaguchi spoke softly to get his friends attention. "You should take it easy on him."

Tsukishima looked back at his friend slightly annoyed. "I wasn't harsh, that's the rule. He knows it, and so do you for that matter. Weren't you just pointing out the fact that you are a teacher?"

The teacher smiled at his friend while Haruhisa came running back in the room with his backpack. "Tsukki." Yamaguchi's voice was barely a whisper. "He didn't do his reading because he begged me to let him wait till you got home. Suga gave him a new book in class today that is a higher reading level and I think he was really excited to show you and wanted you to be the one to help him."

Yamaguchi reached over, turning off the television as Haruhisa came back over, sitting down and pulling out his new book. He seemed a bit nervous but also excited as he started to read to himself, softly whispering the words to help himself sound out the ones he wasn't sure of.