Archive of Our Own ^beta

Nanami hears him coming before he sees him; the soft pitter-patter on the carpeted floors give away his location, the sound of tiny feet running grows louder as they near the living room. It didn't matter, apparently, how often he had reminded his son to not run throughout the house, he feared often that he would hurt himself; his boy was nothing less than resilient. 

And chaotic. 

Nanami braces himself for the incoming impact: he slips a bookmark into the section he had been reading and sets the book to the side, patting the cover with a contemplative hum—he'd be sure to finish that later. The second his hand parts with the book it swiftly comes up to catch his son before he falls, he isn't a second late and manages to maneuver the little body in his arms into a more comfortable position. He is met with poorly stifled giggles.Yuji—his now five-year old son (they had celebrated his birthday just last month at the park with a small cheesecake and an unfortunate amount of water balloons) slings a chubby arm around his fathers neck and holds a wrinkled page up to his nose. His son is like a cannonball, always moving and always finishing off with an explosive landing—at least this time, Nanami had avoided getting a tiny kick to the face. 

“Daddy look!” Yuji exclaims—he's a barely contained ball of energy in Nanami’s arms, vibrating with unparalleled excitement, “I made this for you! Mr.Gojo said I was super extra helpful today so he gave me a really really long time to make you a drawing. Do you like it? Nobi said it looked like a zebra but i think she's just jelly-”

When Nanami can actually pull his head back to look at said drawing, rather than get a paper cut at the edge of his nose, he's speechless. The paper in Yugi's hand is a mess—which his son seems to be quite sad about, mumbling something along the lines of losing his folder during lunch (he’d circle back to that later) —its wrinkly and missing a piece on the top left, it has tiny fingerprints all over in orange, and he's quite sure that the stain on the right is the remnants of a poorly timed sneeze. A lesser version of himself would have instantly thrown it out and covered both his own and his sons hands in disinfectant while going on a tangent about sanitation. 

This version of himself feels a swell of pride in his chest as he takes in the crudely drawn figures that his son has created. The thought of him even having a son is surreal; to have one that loves him so much feels like heaven itself. 

“Dad?”

Nanami looks to the side and meets wide honey eyes, Yuji has the tip of his thumb in his mouth—a habit that Nanami had worked so hard to rid of, and while partially successful, when his son stressed; the habit came back with full force. He made a small tut of disapproval and gently pulled Yuji’s finger from his mouth, turning the pudgy hand in his own to set a soft kiss on his knuckles—smiling into the soft skin when his son giggled and placed his own, albeit exaggerated and sticky, kiss to his cheek. 

“It's a masterpiece Yuji” Nanami states seriously, as if it were a matter of life and death, “we have to buy a safe right this instance—people are going to want to steal this work of art”

Yuji giggles even louder at his father, slapping his hands onto his fathers face and squeezing, “you're so funny dad! It has to go on the fridge with the other ones!” To further drive his point, he turned Nanami's face towards their fridge, which was covered with various pages of different drawings Yuji had previously made, and pointed excitedly, “you said all the best pieces go there daddy.”

Nanami didn't mention that every single drawing Yuji ever made went up on the fridge—there was no such thing as the “best” drawing, instead he nodded along with his toddler, “of course, you know best Yuji—you're the artist afterall, who am i to tell you how your work should be displayed.”

Yuji nodded sagely, though he had only understood half of what his father had said, his hands dropped from Nanami's face and instead grabbed the edge of the drawing, “What part is your favorite?”

Nanami hummed, “That is quite the question but i think” he paused for a second, the edges of his lips quirking up when Yuji leaned in with wonder in his eyes, waiting to hear what Nanami would say, “You drew our house perfectly, look at that, you even drew my dying plants.” With long fingers he pointed at different details in the drawing, his poor plants (which he swore he watered regularly, they just really didn't like him), Yugi's favorite toys, Nanami's book bookshelves and records, the kitchen and the godawful painting that Gojo had gifted them last christmas. Yuji had captured their home perfectly, the small and big things that made their moments together even more special. 

“My favorite part is me and you daddy! Nobi let me borrow her sparkly pens today so that I could draw your tie and your glasses. She says she got them in New York papa, when can we go? Oh! —and look! Look, i even made my shoes sparkly-”

Nanami allowed his son to ramble on about his favorite parts, he was sure that his son would go on to name every single thing he had drawn, and he was sure that there would be a long back story as to why and how he drew the things he did. He let himself lean back into his recliner chair, resting his chin in Yuji’s blond hair and listening intently. The softest smile graced his lips. 

This is what he was meant to do with his life. 

Nanami wore the same smile as he cleared out his office, going through old documents and photographs he had hoarded for years; stumbling upon stacks upon stacks of Yuji's drawings inside a box he had previously thought had been accidentally thrown out. Dozens of drawings that depicted dogs, cats, dragons, tigers and questionable looking characters covered his desk-he leaned back in his chair, relaxed, while he continued to dig through the box and pull out forgotten memories. 

He must have been too deep in thought, as he didn't hear his son come into his office with a box of his own--different objects thrown inside with a yellow paper reading 'free' taped to the front. Nanami didn't notice his presence until he felt the weight of a chin settle on his shoulder and an arm wrap around the head rest of his chair, he heard a soft laugh to his left. 

"I thought these were gone ages ago dad" Yuji pointed to one of the smaller pages in the box with an amused huff, "I remember that one! You actually helped with that one, to spell my name at least"

Nanami nodded with a slow hum, gently placing the one had been previously holding on the desk and reaching for the one his son had pointed out, "you weren't the best speller back then"

That earned him a snort, "right well, I was three dad, I wasn't exactly an expert" Yuji's eyes crinkled at the edges as he looked over the drawings his father had gone through.

"Which ones are you keeping?" he asked with a smile, already knowing the answer.

Nanami shook his head and pushed his sons face away, relishing in the laughter that made its way down the hallway.

He'd do what he had always done,

"Im keeping the best ones."