Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When Taichi plops on the couch in the break room, he checks phone to see multiple messages sent to him from people he hasn’t talked to in years. The ones he hasn’t blocked from trying to interact with him when he was trying to leave 5 years ago. When he checks the messages, they’re all about the same thing, an invitation for Shirabu Kenjirou and Semi Eita’s wedding.

Taichi doesn’t know how to feel really, he’s getting an invitation... for his ex’s wedding. Kenjirou was the whole reason he left and now he’s all of a sudden wants to get in contact. This whole thing is confusing to him.

He was so in his head that he didn’t notice someone coming into the break room and them plopping on the couch breaks his concentration. “Emi-san, you're on break too?” 

“Yeah, but that’s not important, what was making you think so hard you didn’t notice me?” Emi had her head in her hand, resting on her knee. Emi has always been a nosy curious person, but they’d always been there for Taichi when he moved. They took care of him when he was pregnant with his daughter and sometimes helped him take care of her. Since she’s always been there for him, he felt that he could trust her and she might have some good advice. It also helped that she was older and had more experience. 

“So...you know my ex?” With a nod he continued, “Well, I got an invitation from old friends to his wedding.” There was a moment of silence when Emi burst out;

“WHAT!! REALLY?!?!” 

“Yeah! It’s weird isn’t it?” 

Emi grabs onto the blonde’s shoulder and asks seriously, “Are you going?”

“I don’t know,” he says with a shrug, “I am thinking about it though, the person Kenjirou’s marrying is a pretty cynical guy and last time I checked, they didn’t like each other much.” Emi giggles a little then clears her throat.

“Well, it’s good to think about it but, it’s not just your choice, it’s Mio’s too.” Taichi hums in understanding and leans back, relaxing into the couch. He can think about this later, it’s supposed to be his break time.

~~~~

As Taichi comes home, he quietly takes off his coat and shoes before checking the first door to the right. He leans into the room to see Mio in her bed. She shifts before she opens her eyes and looks at him, slowly sitting up in her bed.

“Papa?” She mumbles, tilting her head.

“Sorry, did I wake you up?”

“No, I can’t sleep without seeing you.”

The blonde leans against the side of the door with a hum. “Would it help if I read you a story?” He gets an eager nod in response and he goes to Mio’s bookshelf to the book they left off of. He settles on the bed and continues the book while thinking how’d he bring up the wedding.

~~~~

Taichi checks the messages while he and Mio are getting ready for the morning. He looks at the information on the wedding, but an extra message from Yamagata catches his attention.

‘I think that it’s important for you to know that Kenjirou wants you to be his best man’ reading this gave him a bitter happiness. Happiness for Kenjirou finding someone to love and wanting to reconnect, but a slight bitterness that he couldn’t get him to love him like that. He huffs but then looks at Mio tilting her head at him and decides that he’ll just ask and get this out of the way.

“Mio, do you want to know something about your other father?’ She nods and Taichi takes a deep breath as he leans on the bathroom counter. “He’s getting married and I got an invitation; so, wanna go?” The blond girl nods and jumps eagerly, her hands flapping happily. Taichi smiles fondly and goes to text Yamagata, ‘I’ll go, and I’m bringing a plus one’.

“Well, when do you want to go shopping for outfits?”

Chapter Text

It’s been a week since Taichi talked to Mio about her father’s wedding and are now shopping for clothes for it. When he read the text, he saw he had to get clothes that followed a color scheme of purple and dark blue or black. Mio asked for dresses earlier so that helped narrow down their options for the wedding.

While they were browsing through the dresses, Taichi’s mind started to wander. He wondered if Kenjiro ever told Eita what happened to them; he hoped so or Kenjiro would end up ruining another relationship. Though Kenjirou does seem serious about it if he wants to get married. But then how would Kenjiro react to Mio, he found out he was pregnant after he moved out and was tired of all their fights.
He kept thinking and thinking until he felt a tugging on his shirt, turning to see Mio show a dress she liked, eyes bright and bouncing on her heels.

“That’s a great dress, you’ve got good taste,” Taichi praised.

Mio’s chest puffed out in pride, then asked with her head tilted, “Can I try it out Papa?” He nodded and they walked to the dressing rooms.
Mio quickly changed and when she turned around, she was absolutely radiant.

“Yeah, I think we should get this, but I feel like it’s missing something.” He got Mio to quickly change back to her clothes and started to browse the accessories to complete her look. He came across a flower bow with just the right colors and placed it on her head. “How’s it feel? Is it too tight?”

“It’s good, it's not too tight.”

Taichi nodded and grabbed everything to be bought. While he was paying for her clothes, he heard Mio mutter, ‘Now it’s Papa’s turn’.
“Oh, you want to go shopping with me for a tux?” She nodded and lifted her hand out for her bag to hold.

They went shopping for his tuxedo and by the end of it, she was exhausted, being carried by Taichi while she slept. When he got home, he tucked her into bed and got ready for work. Since this is one of the only days he shares with Emi, he decided to fill her in on what he did.

While he got ready, he checked his phone to see notifications from Hayato. Since he texted him that he’ll go to the wedding, Hayato’s been texting him throughout the week. It’s just been whatever crazy thing happened to him at practice then what happened to Taichi that day, and a few other conversations that may happen if they weren’t too busy. Taichi texts him while he leaves for work.

~~~~

On both of their breaks is when he can finally talk to her. She comes in a little later when Taichi is eating. She looks exhausted and she plops down next to him, leaning into his side for a couple of seconds. They stay in silence for a while before Emi sits up with a deep breath and turns to him with a small smile.

“Hey…”

“Hey, yourself. You doing okay?” He gets a hum and slight nod as an answer. He wraps an arm around them and starts to tell them about his day and just help them relax during the break.

Chapter Text

Multiple weeks have passed since Taichi and Mio went shopping and are now on their way to the wedding. Emi was dropping them off at the venue and also trying to help Taichi relax. His mind kept playing out different situations on the reunion. Emi kept trying to talk to him to distract him, but it barely worked. She eventually gave up after a while.

Taichi wouldn’t say he was nervous. Sure he’d constantly wonder how Kenjirou would react to him and Mio showing up –how everyone would react to them– but that would make him nervous, would it? He had cut off all of his friends and barely even interacted with his family because of how close they were to Kenjirou. He’s only talked with his sister to help with money, but he’s never told her his location nor what happened between them, she just knew he was struggling. Taichi focuses his gaze outside and dreads going to the wedding more as they get closer.

Then, he feels a small hand tapping his shoulder and he turns around to Mio in the back seat, eyes filled with worry.

“Papa, are you worried? Otou-san isn’t a bad guy, right?”

“No, it’s just… I don’t know how he’ll react. He doesn’t even know about you, and I don’t know how he feels with children.” Taichi looks up in front and sees the venue in the distance and sinks in his seat with a huff. He looks at his lap before sitting back up, smoothing his suit over with another huff, and whispers, “Not backing out of this though.”

They stay in silence the rest of the drive to the receptionist building. They get to the front of the building and the two get out of the car, Taichi smoothing Mio’s dress down. Taichi looks up to say bye to Emi but pauses when he sees her staring at him intently from the driver seat.

“You know your friends want you here, right? Afterall, they wouldn’t have had people send you an invitation and say that he’d want you to be his best man.” They shift away from him in their seat and put the car into reverse. “You guys stay safe and I won't be able to pick you up afterwards so make sure to find a place, maybe with one of them. Anyways, I’m off.” She gives a smirk and a salute as Mio waves with a “Bye Oba-chan”.

“...Bye, Emi-san.”

“How many times do I have to tell you to not be so formal?”

“Bye Emi, and thank you,” he says with a huff and a nod.

With that, the car drives off as they start walking to the door of the building. They get to the door and Taichi pauses before opening them and looking around the room.

There’s not many people in the lobby except the receptionist and two other people, one with a black bowl cut and taller build, the other with a brown undercut and shorter but equally muscular body, fussing over a table covered in wrapping papers, boxes, and gift bags. The two people turn at the sound of someone coming in and their faces brighten in recognition. They both rush out of their seats and stop just before they run into the two blondes.

“You’re actually here,” Hayato exclaims while shaking Taichi back and forth. “I mean, I expected you to come since you were talking to me and asking for information on the wedding, but it’s surreal to actually see you here.” He finally hugs him hard, practically squeezing the air out of Taichi.

While Hayato and Taichi were talking, Tsutomu was staring back at Mio standing back and blurted out, ”Who’s the kid?” They stop talking to look at her and Taichi tries to keep his typical demeanor.

“This is my daughter, Mio. She wanted to meet you guys.” He turns around as she nods her head in agreement with a soft smile. Both Hayato and Tsutomu bend toward her with matching stars in their eyes. Mio shakes the hands offered to her gently, both of the men in awe of her small size. Hayato stands up after waving to go toward Taichi while Tsutomu talks to Mio.

“While it’s nice to see you again, you should probably look for Kenjirou.” He talks over his shoulder to lead the way, “I can show you to him if you want and then we can catch up.” Taichi nods then turns to Mio to see her enjoying her conversation with Tsutomu and hesitates. Tsutomu then stands up and holds his hand out to her. They both face Taichi and they make their way to Kenjirou’s room. There was idle chatting on the walk, but the closer they got to the room, the more Taichi’s previous thoughts became more prevalent. He was only left to take a deep breath as they stepped up to Kenjirou’s door.