Flower's Thorn

Parents

  "What are you guys doing here?" I questioned as my parents walked past me to take their shoes as I shut the door.

  "We thought we'd visit." My dad smiled before placing his hands on his hips while looking around. "This place looks pretty nice." I saw a pink and blue head peek around the corner to see what was going on.

  "Toge, did you get a dog?" Mom questioned while bending over to pick up a tug-of-war raccoon.

  "I did, actually."

  "Oh, how darling! Where are they?" I hesitated and tried to guess what their reaction would be to the massive animal.

  "....Yaju!" I called out before hearing the big oaf fly off the bed and come pounding down the hallway. As soon as he saw the two strangers, he started barking, and my mother screamed. It wasn't like he was going to hurt them, he looked excited instead of aggressive, but he was huge and covered in scars....not exactly friendly-looking.

  "Woah! Slow down!" Aomine grabbed Yaju by his harness before he barreled right into my screaming parents. The dog's front paws came off the ground while his tail was whipping behind him in a circle. Everything seemed to come to a momentary halt when my parents saw the half-naked boy holding back Yaju. "Yaju, sit!" The dog plopped down as his tongue lolled out.

  "T-Toge, that's your dog?"

  "He's actually a sweetheart, don't worry."

  "And....?" Eyes went from the dog to Aomine.

  "I'm so sorry, this must seem like such a shock." Momoi stepped out to come to the rescue. "Hi, I'm Momoi, Satsuki. This is Aomine, Daiki. We're friends of Toge from school." She politely smiled. "We also went to middle school with Kise, Ryouta." My face went flat when they visibly relaxed after she mentioned Ryo.

  'Of course, just his name would get them to calm down.' I thought.

  "I apologize for our appearance, we just recently came back from playing at the park."

  "Well, now that the introductions are out of the way-" I clapped my hands together while walking past my parents until Dad grabbed the collar of my shirt.

  "Hold it right there. Aren't you going to introduce us to your....friends?" He hesitated while looking at Aomine. I could understand why given the high schooler was large both in height and muscle and looked scary while holding Yaju.

  "Friends, this is parents. Now-"

  "Just 'parents'?"

  "....My parents."

  "Okay, honey, how about a tour now?" Mom was clinging to Dad while still eyeing Yaju and Aomine with uncertainty.

~

  Setting the teacups down in front of my parents as they sat on the couch, I just knew Momoi and Aomine were watching from the backyard where they had taken Yaju.

  "So....how are your studies?"

  "Fine."

  "Did you join Too's basketball team?"

  "No."

  "Then what club are you in?"

  "None."

  "No extracurriculars?"

  "No."

  "Are you working, then?"

  "In a way."

  "Oh?"

  "I do occasional maintenance work for the landlord."