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dancingkirby · 2 years

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FANFIC: YUGIOH GX RAREPAIR WEEK DAY 4

PROMPT: Home

TITLE: Home Strife

SHIP: Tigershipping (Taniya x Misawa)

RATING: T WORD COUNT: 5902

SUMMARY: Misawa introduces Taniya and their two small children to his family. This does not go well. Later, the two of them discuss where things stand in their relationship, which goes better.

NOTES: This, like all of my submissions for this event, is a queued post since I will be on vacation during the actual Rarepair Week; I plan to post on Ao3 when I return home at the end of the month. Takes place about a year and a half post-canon. Some headcanons about Misawa’s family were inspired by discussions on the Schoolyard Crew Discord server, particularly from user Seal Child.

Rated for non-explicit sexual references, a bit of cursing, and references to past underage sex.

Misawa sat in the driver’s seat of the parked rental car, head bowed over the steering wheel, as he took his eighteenth deep breath in thirteen minutes in an attempt to brace himself to fulfill his duties. “Okay. I’m ready to get out of the car now.” At Taniya’s skeptical look, he added, “For real this time. See, I have my hand on the door handle now…and now I’m pulling the handle…and now the door is open.” He finally undid his seatbelt and got out of his seat, making a little triumphant pose. His wife applauded.

“So this is where you grew up,” she said after getting out of her own seat. The two of them looked at the nondescript suburban house across the street. As of yet, none of the inhabitants appeared to have noticed their arrival.

“Yes. Not very impressive, is it?” Their words were becoming little puffs of condensed vapor in the chilly December air; it was only a couple degrees above freezing. “Are you sure you don’t want to wear a sweater or something?”

Taniya turned to look at him sharply. “Are you embarrassed by the way I dress?”

“On the contrary. I love the way you dress,” he assured her. “It’s only that winters in Nagano can get pretty cold. Plus, my mom is…well…my mom.” He looked away as he said that last part; he and his mother had never been close even in the best of times.

She scoffed. “If your mom is offended by what I wear, then that’s her problem, not ours. As for the weather, I used to deal with forty-below as a kid. This is nothing. As long as the girls have coats, I’ll be fine.”

Right on cue, a loud shriek rose from the backseat. Taniya muttered, “Speaking of which, better check on them before they start a nuclear war.” She opened the door closest to them and exclaimed, “Anna! Don’t pinch your sister!”

“But she bit me!” Anna protested. Taniya glanced back at Misawa, and the two of them exchanged a Look: Those two never make anything easy, do they?

The Amazoness leaned back into the car. “Okay, honey, let me check. Nope, skin’s not broken; we should be good to go. Misawacchi, you help Anna out. I’ll go around the other side and get Sasha and the bag.”

Anna’s face was still a thundercloud as Misawa undid the straps on her car seat. (This process required most of his strength as well as a fair deal of dexterity; he supposed this was good in case of a car crash, but it was extremely annoying all other times.) She was sporting that little frown which Taniya had always insisted looked exactly like his when he was annoyed; he’d long since decided that he’d just take her word for it.

“Papa, I don’t like. Itchy.” She gestured at the dress she was wearing.

“Yes, I know you’re used to not wearing much at home. But don’t you want to look pretty for your grandma?” he offered.

“No.”

Loud laughter from Taniya. “That’s my girl! Okay, I think I’ve got everything, so let’s…Ow! Shit.” Apparently, she’d stood up too quickly and banged her head on the doorframe.

“You all right?” Misawa asked, shifting Anna to one arm. “Here, I’ll take Sasha.” Unlike Anna, their younger daughter appeared to have already forgotten about their fight, and was sucking on her hand while babbling to herself, wide blue eyes taking in their surroundings. Taniya was rubbing the top of her head and wincing, although she said, “It’s okay. I’ve had worse.” When the pain had ebbed enough, she began rifling through the bag.

“Okay…diapers…check. Changes of clothes…check. Towels…check. Anna’s doll and Sasha’s teething rings…check for both. Yep, everything’s in here. Let’s roll.”

As Misawa headed across the street after checking for cars, he actually began to feel somewhat optimistic about this visit. He thought about how lucky he was, to be married to the strongest and most beautiful woman in the world, have two equally beautiful daughters who were the best children in the world (even when they were raising hell), and to be working his dream job and have earned the respect of all of his coworkers. And he wasn’t even out of his teens yet. Had someone told him four years ago–or even two years ago, when he was still trying to adjust to the revelation that he was a father–that this would give him the happiness he’d long sought, he would’ve thought that person was crazy. Nevertheless, it did make him happy. He could only hope that Mother would see things the same way.

When they reached the house, he realized that there was now a pair of eyes peeping out at them from between the curtains. He walked up to the door, took another deep breath, and rang the bell. He heard footsteps from inside the house, and after a few seconds the door was opened by his youngest sister. The instant she got a good look at his face, she froze in her tracks.

“Hi, Cho,” he said softly. He began to think that maybe it hadn’t been such a good idea to drop by unannounced after being absent for more than three years. Perhaps she didn’t remember him? “It’s me. Daichi.”

Cho continued to wordlessly stare at him for several seconds. Then, she did something both unexpected and disconcerting. She started screaming.

“A GHOST! A GHOST!”

What?

Naturally, all the noise made Anna and Sasha start to wail as well. Misawa had to try to simultaneously calm them and keep Cho from completely losing it. Taniya had tried to approach, but this had only led Cho to yell at her to “stay away from me!” After what couldn’t have been more than thirty seconds, yet felt like much longer, they heard a scolding voice coming from within the house.

“Cho, what is all this racket about?! I have finals to grade and…” Their mother had walked into the entry room in a huff, only to stop short herself when she saw Misawa.

“…Daichi?” she asked hesitantly, voice wavering in a way that he hadn’t heard since that one time he’d broken his arm while playing baseball when he was six.

He inclined his head. “Mother.” He became even more confused than he already was, if such a thing was possible, as he saw the formidable Misawa Naomi’s eyes fill with tears and her mouth wobble.

“It’s you! It’s really you!” she cried out hoarsely. He barely had time to set Anna on the ground and pass Sasha back to Taniya before his mother launched himself at her and clung on tightly, her body shaking with sobs.

This was extremely uncharacteristic behavior for her. When was the last time she’d hugged him at all? He wasn’t certain. She wasn’t the type to show much physical affection; in fact, no one in the family was. Had she really missed him that badly? All he could do was attempt to return Mother’s embrace as best he could. Eventually, she composed herself and stepped back again, scrubbing at her eyes.

“This is my wife, Taniya,” Misawa remembered to say; she appeared to have been touched by his reunion with Mother, and was dabbing at her own eyes with one of the towels from the diaper bag. “Taniya, this is my mother.”

“Great to meet you, Mrs. M!” Taniya exclaimed, flashing that dazzling smile of hers which still made Misawa weak in the knees every single time he saw it. “Misawacchi’s told me so much about you!” She diplomatically refrained from saying that quite a bit of what he’d told her had been unfavorable. He wasn’t sure if Mother suspected that anyway, or if she was simply reacting to a diminutive of their family name being dropped in such a casual way (in all honesty, he was so used to it that it scarcely registered as anything weird anymore), but she stiffened slightly.

“Welcome to our home, Taniya,” she said, outwardly graciously, although Misawa noted that there was no hug for her. “And are these my grandchildren?”

Taniya nodded. “The bigger one’s Anna, and the baby is Alexandra. Although we call her ‘Sasha’ most of the time. Easier to pronounce in Japanese.”

“Well, I never thought I’d be a grandmother before I was fifty,” Mother sighed. However, not even she could resist the allure of new progeny. “What precious little things! Anna looks just like you did at that age, Daichi…except for the darker complexion and hair, of course. And Sasha is such a little beauty, with those eyes.”

“Can you say hi to Grandma, Anna?” Misawa asked while picking her back up. Anna could not…or would not, more likely. Sasha, on the other hand, gave Mother a smile without being prompted. To be honest, people always tended to gravitate towards her rather than her solemn older sister even at this early stage, and Misawa and Taniya had already shared concerns with each other that this would become an issue as the girls grew up.

At any rate, Mother said, “I apologize. It was very rude of me to have you stay out in this cold weather for such a long time. Please, come in and make yourselves comfortable. Cho, you go call your father and Asami and tell them to come home immediately, and to pick up Ayame from calligraphy club. I’ll make some tea.”

Cho, who still looked quite uncertain about this series of events, scurried off. Taniya attempted to say, “Oh, don’t trouble yourself, we’re fine…”

“Nonsense,” Mother cut in briskly. “I think some tea is what we all need. Myself included.”

They all shuffled into the entrance hall, taking off their outdoor shoes. Misawa noted that the huge poster of the Periodic Table was still in its usual pride of place on the wall. When that was done, and they headed to the main living room, he was a little embarrassed to note that what appeared to be a sort of makeshift shrine had been set up in the corner. Dozens of photos of him had been crammed onto a side table–all of his school photos from first to ninth grade, the one of him and Grandpa on a fishing trip when he’d been about twelve, another picture of him as a toddler on a family trip to the Grand Canyon, and even a photo from winter break of his first year at Duel Academia, when it had snowed and he’d taken Ayame and Cho out sledding.

“Mother, you really didn’t need to do this,” he said sheepishly. “I was always going to come back sooner or later.”

Mother stared him down, ultimately saying, “Do you not understand, Daichi? For almost two and a half years, we thought you were dead.” Her voice sounded on the verge of breaking again, and she hastily turned away.

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While Mother was making the tea, Misawa sat quietly on the couch in his family’s Westernized living room, trying to process those last words she’d said to him. Was it really the case that no one had told his family that he was alive? Chronos-sensei, Judai, Sho, Zweinstein…not one of them had said a thing? Then again, it wasn’t exactly like he’d specifically requested that they say something. He supposed that he’d assumed that no one would notice that he was gone…just like in school.

He felt someone touch his hand, and looked over to see Taniya gazing at him sympathetically.

“You doing okay?” she asked.

“I…yes. It just caught me by surprise, that’s all,” he replied. His wife took his hand in hers, giving it a little squeeze.

“Well, I’m here if I need you,” she said stoutly. “And Anna will help keep you company, too.” She gestured at their oldest daughter, who was attempting to climb onto the couch to sit on his lap. He assisted by giving her a little boost.

Just then, Mother came in with the drinks: matcha for the adults, a bottle of royal milk tea for Cho, and a sippy cup for Anna, which Mother indicated contained orange juice. Shortly thereafter, Cho returned from her phone calls.

“Asami said she’s on her way and will get Ayame,” she reported. “And Dad wouldn’t answer the phone.”

Mother rolled her eyes. “Probably in a meeting. We’ll try again later. In the meantime, you have some explaining to do, Daichi.”

He tried his best. It wasn’t clear that his mother and sister understood too much of what he’d said, though eventually they seemed to comprehend that he’d chosen to stay in an alternate world with no easy way of making contact for a while.

“I see,” said Mother, picking up her cup and taking a sip. “And you mentioned that you wanted to stay behind with Taniya…how exactly did you two meet?” Thankfully, the two of them had anticipated that question, and had come up with an answer that was basically the truth, albeit omitting some major facts.

“We got acquainted briefly at school, and then happened to run into each other later when we got transported to the same dimension,” he said, attempting to keep it simple. Alas, Mother still wasn’t satisfied.

“And how old are your children?” she pressed.

Taniya, either not sensing all of the hidden meaning behind that question or (more likely, in Misawa’s opinion) simply trying to maintain a pleasant conversation , answered, “Anna will be three in March, and Sasha is seven and a half months. They’re really growing, aren’t they? Oi! Sasha, stop chewing on my arm. Teething ring, please, Misawacchi?”

He dutifully reached into their bag, took one out, and handed it over. Sasha began to gnaw on it at a furious pace, so he took out another one just in case. “We have to buy these about ten at a time because she goes through them so fast,” he explained. To be honest, the wooden ones that Taniya whittled in Dark World were a lot more durable, but for now they just had to make do with the plastic ones for sale in this dimension.

She added, “Yes, this is a new experience to us. Anna has the ears, but she never grew fangs. It means that breastfeeding is never boring; I can tell you that much!” Although Misawa laughed a little along with her, Mother evidently did not share his appreciation for Taniya’s sometimes earthy sense of humor.

“Fangs…?” she asked faintly.

“Oh yeah, I have two forms: human and tiger. Did we forget to mention that? You know what…here, take Sasha, Misawa. I can show you right now.”

“That might not be the best idea right now,” he murmured.

Cho pouted. “Aww. I wanted to see that!” This was the first time she’d spoken directly to one of them since her ghost freakout.

“Later, perhaps, Cho,” Mother admonished. Then, partly to herself, “She can turn into a tiger. How is that a thing?”

Misawa cleared his throat, going into full-on scientist mode. “We’re not entirely certain. Our working hypothesis is that the first time she managed the transformation, it made permanent changes to her DNA. I knew a guy at school who had something similar happen.”

“Ooh, does that mean you’re a hanyou? Like Inuyasha?” Cho asked, looking more eager still.

“Cho! How many times have I told you that you’re not allowed to read that manga until you’re in high school?! It’s not appropriate for children!” Mother snapped. Taniya, meanwhile, looked lost.

“Inu-what?” she asked. Misawa attempted, as best he could, to whisper a summary of the story’s plot, with which he wasn’t terribly familiar with himself, into Taniya’s ear in about ten seconds.

“Oh! Okay. Then I guess I am kind of a hanyou,” she said.

“Neat,” Cho breathed. Well, at least someone in this house liked Taniya, although Cho still wasn’t making eye contact with him.

They continued their conversation for a while. Just as Misawa had predicted, Sasha chewed through her ring in a matter of minutes and started on the spare. Anna got bored of sitting still, and began pacing the living room with her doll in one hand and the empty sippy cup in the other. Every so often, she made an attempt to wriggle out of her dress, and one of them would have to go stop her. They were careful to leave her to her own devices otherwise, since they’d long since learned that she was much less likely to have a meltdown if allowed to move around a bit. Cho, meanwhile, wanted to learn every detail about life in the other dimension. She was thrilled when Taniya remarked that she had the spirit of an Amazoness.

“Mom? I wanna go be an Amazoness with her,” she stated.

Mother rubbed her temples. “Finish school, and then we’ll talk.”

Misawa and Mother also had a conversation about his research; he told her about all the progress he’d made with interdimensional travel. She appeared pleased with his achievements, but she was holding something back and he knew it. However, he momentarily forgot about this when a large, long-haired cat entered the room and made a little chirp of surprise. The next thing he knew, the animal ran to him at top speed and leaped onto the couch, landing heavily in his lap.

“Captain Fluffball?” he said in amazement. “I didn’t know you were still alive.” The cat clung onto him for dear life and purred so hard that his entire body vibrated. He felt prickling at the corners of his eyes. Was this going to be what made him cry, and not any reunions with human family members? Captain Fluffball had been with the family since he was a few months old and Misawa was four, and had always been more his pet than anyone else’s. During his school years, this cat had seemed like his only friend in the entire world at times.

“Yes, he’s almost fifteen now,” Mother commented. “His kidneys aren’t doing great anymore, but I guess he was waiting for you when we’d all given up hope.” Always amiable, Captain Fluffball was gracious enough to give Taniya’s hand a quick sniff, which was remarkable since house cats didn’t usually like her. Anna came back to the couch, leaning in curiously to take a better look at the cat and pat his head. Misawa cautioned her to be gentle, since Fluffball was very old. Luckily, Anna was.

After a while, they heard Asami’s car park in front of the house. Two people got out of it and began sprinting towards the front door. Misawa, feeling a little reluctant, carefully set Captain Fluffball to one side so he could greet his other two sisters. He noted that, while Ayame hugged him right away, his older sister hung back. He chanced a look at her face, and…yes, she was angry at him. Very much so. Yikes.

She managed to control it for a while as everyone shifted around to make room for the newcomers. Anna had decided that Ayame was lap-worthy, which both Misawa and Taniya assured the ten-year-old was the highest of honors. They told the story of the alternate dimensions once again, and then did a bit more polite chatting. But the more Taniya talked, the more glacial Mother acted towards her. She was well-known in Dark World for her socializing and storytelling skills, and they moved in the highest social circles thanks to that. However, Misawa began to suspect that the exact qualities which made her so popular there–her infectious laugh, sweeping hand gestures, and tendency to share off-color anecdotes–were working against her in this case. Finally, Mother said something to Ayame and Cho about going to show Anna their toys. Then, in English, she added, “Daichi. We have to talk.”

Whatever it was, he knew it wasn’t going to be good, but decided he should get it over with. He shot an apologetic glance at Taniya and followed Mother into the kitchen. She did not mince words, showing the bluntness of her American heritage and continuing to speak in English.

“That woman is bad news, Daichi. You need to leave her as soon as possible.”

He was momentarily dumbstruck. Of course, it had been obvious that she didn’t approve of Taniya, he had not been prepared for such an extreme statement.

“You would have me abandon my wife and children?” he asked coldly when he recovered his voice.

Mother shook her head emphatically. “I’d never ask that of you, so far as the children are concerned! What do you take me for? I am certain that the courts would grant custody of them to you once they hear the full story.”

“What full story?” He raised an eyebrow. “I love her, she loves me, and we both love our daughters. That’s the only story there is. I thought you would have had more sympathy for our unique set of circumstances, given that you were born in America and dropped everything to move to Japan after you married Father.”

“No. Don’t you dare try that, Misawa Daichi. You know exactly what I mean. Did you think I couldn’t figure out the math for myself? It may not be my specialty as it is yours, but I can still do simple mental calculations. Anna was conceived when you were fifteen. I had always wondered why you were so out of sorts that summer, and now I know.”

He didn’t have a ready retort for that, as much as he hated to admit it. That incident had hurt him, although not in the way that Mother seemed to think. Eventually, he muttered, “That was a misunderstanding. Nothing like it has happened since.

“For one thing,” he continued, his voice steadier now. “You don’t know what she’s been through in her life. For another, you don’t know her. You’ve never seen her fearlessly lead troops into battle on horseback. You’ve never accompanied her on hunting trips, whether she’s in tiger form or a human using her bow and arrows. She’s equally good at both. And you haven’t heard her voice when she sings lullabies to the girls at night. She’d die for them, if need be, or kill for them. Or both. Why can’t you learn to look beyond first impressions as I did; see things from my perspective?”

“And why can’t you ever see anything from anyone’s perspective other than your own, Daichi?” Asami asked. She walked into the kitchen before Mother could say anything further. Her face tight with rage, and all attempts at restraint were gone. She shouted, “Our family was torn apart by this. We mourned for you. You stayed in your room all that summer, then didn’t come home for winter break, and finally stopped contacting us altogether; of course we were going to assume the worst! Cho was only six then, and thought the world of you; she suffered from night terrors for months after. Mother and Father separated for several months. Grandpa was absolutely heartbroken. Did you know that he had a massive stroke last year? And guess who had to help Obaachan take care of him? Me! And now you just come back like nothing happened, and tell us that no, you weren’t actually dead, you were just having fun in some other reality with the woman who took advantage of you? And you expected all of us to just welcome you back with open arms after all you put us through? What? The fuck? IS YOUR PROBLEM?!”

She burst into angry tears and ran into Mother’s arms. Misawa knew that what he should be doing was apologizing and then keeping quiet, but he was through being quiet. His sister’s rant had brought longstanding resentments to re-emerge from the depths of his psyche.

“Maybe, just maybe, my problem is that I didn’t think anyone would notice that I was missing!” he returned, trying and failing to keep from raising his voice as well. “Neither Mother nor Father ever cared about anything I said or did except when it was some sort of academic achievement, and even then it wasn’t usually that big of a deal because you’d already done it, Asami! And when my elementary school did psychological testing and diagnosed me with multiple issues, Mother, you didn’t want me to get any treatment because you thought I was ‘too smart’ for anything to be the matter. Small wonder, then, that I chose to stay with someone who sees me for who I am!”

Why had he ever thought that this was a good idea? He was standing there, one hand propping himself against the doorframe and the other clenched so hard that his fingernails were digging into his palm. Mother was furious at him while simultaneously trying to comfort Asami; deep down, a voice whispered to him that none of this had been his sister’s fault, and he shouldn’t have taken his grievances out on her. Nothing about this situation could possibly get any worse, he assumed…and then he heard a sound behind him and turned to see that Taniya had been standing there for an unknown length of time. A tearful Sasha was in one of her arms, and the other was firmly planted on her hip. She had the unique ability of making herself seem even taller than her actual 188 centimeters, and certainly appeared that way now. Even Misawa, who knew every one of those centimeters intimately, felt intimidated by her in a way that he hadn’t been in years. The entire argument had been in English, so at least she wouldn’t know exactly what they’d been arguing about…but she was far from stupid, and would have figured out the general idea.

“Taniya…” he tried. She made a motion for him to be quiet.

“I can tell when I’m not wanted somewhere,” she said, voice cold yet almost eerily calm. “And all the noise isn’t good for the kids. I’m going to walk them back to the hotel.” She had not, as of yet, managed to obtain a driver’s license.

“Taniya, no, that’s almost three miles, and it’s cold out and going to get dark any minute. I’ll drive you.”

She gave a mirthless laugh. “Are you saying I can’t take care of myself, Daichi?” Ouch. She only used his given name when he was in deep trouble.

“Of course not,” he said, attempting to follow her example and keep a level voice. “It’s the children I was thinking about. Please let me drive you back for their sake, at least.” He supposed that it did help his case that he was being completely honest; she could smell bullshit from a mile away.

“All right, then,” she conceded, obviously eager to both avoid further fighting and get out of here. They went back to the living room went through the laborious process of gathering up the girls and their stuff. This turned out to involve getting Anna redressed in the clothes that she’d finally shed in the commotion, making sure coats and hats were on and stayed on, and improvising a last-minute diaper change in an empty dresser drawer. Misawa did pause long enough to hug both his younger sisters and apologize to them before he left, as well as give Captain Fluffball a goodbye pat. No matter how poorly this had gone, he had to remember that they were all blameless.

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The drive back to the hotel was completely quiet; both Anna and Sasha had gotten so tired out that they fell asleep when the trip was lengthened due to rush hour traffic. As soon as they got back to their room, Misawa volunteered to go get something for dinner. His wife had no objections. By the time he got back, balancing several bags from the nearest convenience store, the girls were both awake and hungry. Anna in particular had a healthy appetite, but neither of her parents could do much more than pick at their food. Then, it was time to get the children bathed and ready for bed, both parents attempting to keep things reasonably cheerful. Finally, Anna was asleep in her cot and Sasha zonked out in a travel crib, and they could put off this conversation no longer. Taniya took it upon herself to start the talking.

“If you’re worried about my feelings being hurt, then don’t be,” she said abruptly as she sat in front of a mirror, undoing her hair in preparation for bed. “I couldn’t care less whether people approve of me or not, and I could tell that you were trying to defend me. I still think I should know what they were so angry about, though.” She reached for the hairbrush, but Misawa put a gentle hand over hers.

“Allow me,” he offered, and when she nodded, stood behind her and started carefully working through her tresses. Her hair went almost down to her knees when it was out of its ponytail, and he’d quickly learned that she always appreciated assistance with the arduous task of caring for it. While doing this, he relayed his entire altercation with Mother and Asami, as best as he could recall. Taniya didn’t like it when he skipped over things, whether it was him “forgetting” to sweep the corners of a room or omitting details from a verbal report such as this.

When he was done, she let out a sigh; whether it was from contemplation, or simply because she was enjoying having her hair worked on, he didn’t know for sure. “They do have some points. You shouldn’t have left your family hanging like that. It wasn’t your fault that you got sucked into the alternate dimension, but you should’ve figured out a way to send word to them as soon as you could.”

“You’re right. I still don’t want anything to do with my parents right now…but I shouldn’t have hurt my grandparents and sisters like that.” Setting the brush down momentarily, he took a deep breath. “What do you think I could possibly do to make it up to them? I was already planning on writing an apology letter to Asami, and I’ll have to call my grandparents when it’s convenient in California time. Maybe I should take Ayame and Cho out for ice cream one afternoon? And there’s Christmas and New Year coming up…should I get gifts? And if so, to whom and how many? I don’t even know if I’ll be allowed in the house again, or how Father will react.”

“You’re overthinking things again, Misawacchi,” Taniya pointed out. “Start brushing again; it’ll give you something else to focus on.”

“Sorry,” he whispered. He picked up where he had left off, finding that it was easier to hold the sections of hair in his hand while he worked on them so they didn’t get caught on something. “You still didn’t say what you thought, though.”

Taniya exhaled slowly through her nose as she pondered this. “I think…don’t worry about doing a bunch of big, extravagant things. Just be there for them. Show interest in their lives, and try to keep in touch when we’re in Dark World. No one was really there for me, when I was growing up, and it seems like you had similar issues. You don’t want your sisters–or your daughters, for that matter–to suffer like we did, right?”

“I don’t.” As gifted as he was at understanding the most complex of equations and formulas, he often struggled with figuring out how people’s thoughts (including his own) worked. Taniya had always had a knack for explaining this in a way that he could understand. He worked for a few more minutes in silence before announcing, “All right, I’m done with the brushing. What would you like for me to do now?”

“Just put in a braid so it doesn’t get all tangled while I’m sleeping, okay? Thanks.”

He did so. The sight of how the light gleamed in her hair, the feel of it in his hands, was admittedly doing things to him…things that he really shouldn’t be thinking about since their kids were in the same room as them.

“And they got some things right about me, too,” she remarked. “It’s not fair for me to put all the blame on you when I’ve had my fair share of fuckups. I should never have gone after someone so young. I wanted a husband, someone to father my children, and I sincerely thought I could find someone emotionally mature enough to handle that at a high school. And then I rejected you for acting like the kid you were. Sometimes I just want to go back in time three and a half years and slap myself.”

“Do you regret it, then? Our relationship?” Misawa had to know. He had completed the braid, which was nearly as thick as his wrist, and tied a large scrunchie at the top and a smaller elastic tie around the end to keep it from coming undone.

“I’d never regret the way it is now,” Taniya replied thoughtfully. “I love you, of course, and we make some really great kids. Still, I regret how I went about it. I was in such a rush; felt like my back was against a wall. Now I think, if the spirits were always going to give us Anna, then they would’ve eventually done so even if it was later on. What about you?”

He considered. If he were being completely honest, he couldn’t actually recall too much of what had happened from the aftermath of their first encounter to his big breakthrough at the end of his second (and final, as it turned out) year. However, it wasn’t exactly like he wanted to recall it in detail; from the memories he did have, he surmised that that year or so had basically been one giant nervous breakdown. How much of that might have been inevitable, would have happened even if the two of them had never met, he was uncertain.

She’d given him a choice once, during their first days together in Dark World. If being a parent was more than he’d signed up for, she told him, he could set off on his own and there would be no hard feelings on her part, but she couldn’t guarantee that they’d ever meet again. His other option would be to stay, and she made it clear that she’d expect him to be in it for the long haul if he chose that. Taniya had given him a month to make his decision, and while he’d admittedly briefly considered leaving, in the end he’d chosen to stay. And he’d never regretted it.

“I think…similarly,” he finally said. “If we had a do-over, knowing what we do now, would we have done things differently? Probably. But somehow, things turned out right for us in the end anyway.”

Taniya stood up and stretched, giving him another brilliant smile. “That’s a great way of thinking about it. Well, should we go to bed now?”

She meant for sleeping, he told himself sternly. Out loud, he answered, “Sounds like a plan.”

They drifted off in a spooning position, unsure whether or not they’d be woken up by one of the kids in the middle of the night, yet secure in the moment.

#GXRarePairsWeek #day 4 #fanfic #tigershipping #misawa daichi #bastion misawa #taniya #tania #queue post

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