Chapter Text
haruka watches nervously with his bunny plush from around the corner as the large man stands at the counter, his hands working away at off-white dough. he whistles a tune to himself, his blue eyes raising from his work to face him.
he smiles warmly. "hello, haruka."
haruka flinches a bit. he was still adjusting to living with mr. mukuhara—after all, he'd only been here for a month.
mr. mukuhara had been a court lawyer fighting mrs. sakurai in a case regarding her neglection of her son. she had ultimately lost, and it was unknown if she would ever be deemed suitable to raise him, or if she wanted him back at all, so mukuhara had stepped in and offered to take him in as a foster parent for however long it would take before haruka could (or would ever) be reunited with his mother.
but, not understanding hardly any of these wordy explanations he heard the judge at the podium in court say, haruka just knew him as the nice man who let him sleep in his own special room, as opposed to his mother...
who had him sleep in a room in the basement.
yeah, the scary judge man wasn't very happy to hear that.
haruka looks up timidly at mr. mukuhara. "i-i'm sorry for starin'," he stammers. the man chuckles. "don't be."
haruka creeps closer, since mr. mukuhara didn't seem angry. he kicks his little legs when he climbs up onto the chair at the counter, watching mr. mukuhara knead the dough. he looks up at him, wordlessly asking a question.
"i'm making cookies," mr. mukuhara explains. "for you."
haruka looks away. "i've never had cookies."
"then you'll try some today, right?"
haruka nods. he pulls his bunny plush into his lap from the ground by it's ears.
"do you wanna try the dough?" mr. mukuhara asks.
"can you eat tha dough..?"
"mhm." mr. mukuhara rips off a piece, handing it to him. haruka eats it, delighting in how sweet it was. he smiles and kicks his legs, squeezing his bunny plush excitedly.
mr mukuhara watches. "does it have a name?"
"wha?"
"your bunny."
haruka looks down at the fuzzy yellow bunny in his lap. "bunbun," he mumbles. "she says hi." he waves her paw.
mr. mukuhara chuckles. "hello, bunbun," he says as he rolls the dough flat.
mr. mukuhara turns to the drawers in the counter, digging through one and pulling out a bunny shaped cookie cutter. he hands it to haruka. "press it into the dough."
"b-but won't that ruin it?" haruka worries. kazui shakes his head.
"it makes the cookies bunny shaped. do it like this," mr. mukuhara pushes it into the dough in neat lines, making a row of them. "now you try."
haruka does his best, and his aren't as neat as mr. mukuhara's, but mr. mukuhara doesn't seem to mind.
"good job. now you put them on the cookie sheet," mr. mukuhara hands him the pan, and haruka puts the cut-outs onto it. "and i put it in the oven. never work with the oven by yourself, okay?" haruka nods.
mr. mukuhara leans on the counter. "let's watch a movie with bunbun while they bake."
haruka smiles. "okay!" he replies, hopping off the chair and excitedly running to the living room. mr. mukuhara sits on the couch, and haruka sits by him.
"what do you wanna watch, kiddo?"
"i dunno movies.."
mr. mukuhara hums before putting on a disney movie. he gently pulls haruka to lay on his shoulder. "relax, kiddo."
haruka gets comfortable against mr. mukuhara's side, sucking his thumb while he watched the film.
he could get used to this.