It was early morning and even though it was supposed to be a good day, her plans had been tossed out the window the moment Hayato called her telling her he was standing in front of her door with a small, blond child in his arms. He and his wife had to go to the hospital and needed her to watch their four-year-old daughter Ayuri. Normally, Mariko would be more than willing to watch the child; she adored and loved spending time with the little firecracker. Today, however, was supposed to be her date with Keigo, and now whatever he'd planned had gone to waste thanks to the arrival of an unanticipated third wheel.
"You guys couldn't get a babysitter?" she asked. it was five in the morning and she was standing in her pj's having been woken up by him calling her cell a few minutes before appearing at her door. So what if it was an emergency? She was cranky.
"No! NO one's available on Sunday at 5 a.m.!" Hayato exclaimed irritated- he was worse than she was when he was tired.
"Apparently I was though," she deadpanned, her voice low with sleep.
"Please Mari, it's an emergency," he begged.
Mariko sighed, "Fine, but you owe me."
"Thank you," he breathed. He kneeled in front of the little girl who like Mariko, was still half-asleep and clad in her pajamas. "Princess, we're at Aunt Mari's house. You're gonna stay with her for the rest of the day and be good while Mommy and I check on Grandpa, alright?" he asked.
Though she wasn't really paying attention to her father's words, Ayuri nodded. Her eyes fluttered closed again with sleep despite the fact that she was still standing.
Mariko sighed and picked her up, propping her against her hip. "I've got her. You take care of your family business," she told him.
Hayato pecked her cheek and placed a kiss on Ayuri's forehead before dashing back to the elevator.
"I'm tired Mari," the blonde complained softly.
"Me too kiddo. Let's get some more shut-eye alright?" she asked.
She nodded sleepily, allowing her head to loll onto the brunette's shoulder.
Mariko placed her in the guest room her boyfriend had long since abandoned in favor of taking up half her bed. She tucked Ayuri in and placed a kiss on her forehead, before slipping out of the room.
"What was that about?" Keigo mumbled sleepily. He'd half woken up when he heard Mariko's phone ring, but paid it no mind when she assured him everything was fine. It was still early, and they didn't have to be up for another couple of hours.
"Nothing just go back to sleep," she said, climbing back into bed.
Ayuri woke Mariko up exactly one hour later at half-past six. "Mariiii," she whispered.
The brunette's eyes slowly opened to meet a familiar pair of sky-blue irises. They were wide with curiosity and excitement for the new day.
"Hm?" she asked.
"Wake uuuupp," the child groaned, shaking her repeatedly.
"I'm up, I'm up," she said sitting up in bed.
"Is it seven-thirty already?" Keigo asked, voice scratchy with sleep.
"Not yet, you've still got an hour. Go back to sleep," she told him, placing a soft kiss on his lips.
The male hummed in response and wrapped the covers around him tighter.
"I'm hungry, the four-year-old announced.
Mariko sighed and nodded, picking her up and walking out of the room so their conversation wouldn't disturb her sleeping boyfriend. "What do you feel like eating?" she asked, walking into the kitchen.
"Pancakes!" Ayuri exclaimed excitedly.
She giggled, "You really like pancakes don't you?" The little girl asked for them every single time she went to her house, even if it was lunch or dinner time.
The blonde nodded eagerly as she was sat on the kitchen counter.
Mariko began taking out all the ingredients they would need to make pancakes from scratch and turned on the stove to start heating the pan. "Wanna help me make them?" she asked her, holding a measuring cup in her hand.
Her eyes widened. "Yes! I wanna help!"
She smiled and nodded towards the sink. "First step?"
"Wash my hands!" Ayuri answered.
Mariko nodded and swept the child into her arms again. The blonde giggled as they spun towards the sink and washed their hands.
"You're getting heavy," she commented as she sat Ayuri on the counter once more.
She nodded eagerly. "Yeah! Momma says I'm getting bigger every day!"
"She's right. We're gonna put the flour first okay?" she asked, getting out the bag of white powder and moving it closer to the little girl. "Careful now," she said as Ayuri reached in with the measuring cup. Thankfully, she was able to pour it into the bowl without spilling too much. "Good job!" I'll do the eggs," she said, cracking them into the bowl. She didn't want to risk her doing it since she would most likely get shell into it.
Keigo woke up to the sound of voices coming from the kitchen. It was unusual for them to have guests so early in the morning. Keigo pulled on a shirt and sleepily walked into the kitchen only to be stunned at seeing his girlfriend giggling in the kitchen with a small child. For a moment he didn't do anything, he didn't speak, didn't move, and didn't even breathe. He just stood there, watching as she interacted with a child that strangely like the two of them. The little girl's hair was just a shade or two darker than his own and her eyes were virtually the same color as Mariko's. "Is this supposed to be our kid?" he asked himself. If it was he was definitely dreaming. He and Mariko hadn't had sex yet so for them to have a kid would be impossible outside of a dream. If it wasn't a dream though, who's child was this? He briefly wondered if it was Mari's, but he immediately tossed that idea from his head, she definitely would've mentioned something like this before they started dating. "Mari?" he asked.
The brunette smiled at him as though nothing was out of the ordinary. "Good morning," she greeted as he approached them.
"Uhh.... Morning. Who's this?" he asked, pointing at the child.
Ayuri looked up at him, her eyes wide with wonder at the male.
"This little princess is Ayuri. She's Hayato's kid, he dropped her off earlier since he had to go pay a special visit to her grandfather," his girlfriend explained. Mariko turned to the little girl, "You should introduce yourself," she encouraged gently.
"My name's Ayuri," she stated proudly. "Who're you?"
Keigo breamed at the child and bowed dramatically. "I've never met a real princess before! He exclaimed, "My name is Hawks. At your service M'Lady."
The blonde giggled at his antics and held the bowl of pancake mi out to him. "We're making pancakes wanna help?!" she asked.
"It would be my honor," he said taking the bowl and continuing the mixing process.
"What are we doing today?" the brunette asked, leaning against the counter.
He raised an eyebrow and narrowed his eyes at her. "Did you seriously forget that we're going on a date today?" he asked offendedly.
She rolled her eyes. "Of course not, but now we've got a third wheel," she said turning to the little girl who had grabbed Mariko's games and was playing games on it.
The blonde smirked at her, "Don't worry it's all child safe. We'll just bring the kid," he said nonchalantly.
She looked at him hopefully, "Seriously?" she asked. She'd been looking forward to their date a lot more than she'd let on and was quite worried their plans would be canceled because of the impromptu babysitting.
Keigo chuckled a bit and placed a kiss on her temple, handing her the now mixed pancake batter. "Seriously."
Mariko smiled and crossed to the other side of the kitchen, starting to pour the batter into the pan.
Hawks turned to Ayuri. "How'd you like to go on a date with me and Mari?" he asked her.
She tilted her head, "What's a date?"
"A date is when two people who like each other spend the whole day together and have fun."
"But we're.... one.... two... three. We're three," she told him.
He melted at the effort she'd put into counting. "That just means we'll have even more fun!" he exclaimed throwing his hands up.
"Ayuri laughed delightedly, "Yay! Fun!"
"Yay!" he cheered with her.