Chapter Text
Sakusa
Confusion is what met Sakusa when he parked at the overnight center. Blue and red flashing lights from multiple police vehicles reflected off the large windows on the downtown building. Childcare workers were checking identification before allowing wildly stressed-out parents to enter.
When Sakusa threw open the car door, the scents were overwhelming. Alphas in rut and Omegas in heat and stressed-out pheromones permeated the parking lot. Some single parents wouldn’t have another option but to come and get their kids themselves. That could have been Atsumu. Sakusa did his best to ignore the way his body flushed and heated at the smell of rut nearby, drawing his attention towards Alphas he didn't know. Patches did their best to cover up the smell of heat, but the Alphas hadn’t bothered with scent patches.
Sakusa shot off a message to Atsumu about needing him to give the center a call so they’d let Sakusa collect the babies instead of him. They were being strict at the doors about identification by the looks of things and Sakusa wouldn't be listed as a parent or guardian.
“Hey.”
Sakusa swung around to see Iwaizumi standing in the shadows of the parking lot. “Hey.”
“Guess Atsumu isn’t spending his rut alone.”
“No. He isn't.” Sakusa nodded towards the flashing lights. “Any word on what happened?”
Iwaizumi’s fist flexed at his hip. “They haven’t given out any details.”
Sakusa stretched up to his full height, cutting an intimidating silhouette in the dark. “Shall we then?”
“Yes.”
Iwaizumi stormed on ahead of him, fury knit in every single fibre of his being. His muscles bunched and fists curled. Behind him Sakusa followed like a lethal shadow. His face hard and seemingly indifferent until one caught the cold fury in his gaze. There was very little he wouldn’t do to get to Naooki and Tadaaki.
When they approached the doors, the childcare worker looked up and promptly took a step back at their expressions. She cleared her throat uncertainly. “Hello—”
“What happened?” Iwaizumi demanded.
“We understand you must be very concerned, but—”
Sakusa voice took on an edge. “Answer the question.”
Iwaizumi’s knuckles cracked.
Her eyes nervously shot between the two of them. “At this time all I'm allowed to disclose was an unidentified intruder got in through the airducts. The security cameras picked him up and our security team triggered the alarms, but no one,” she looked reluctant to say this, “got a look at his appearance. He wore a mask.”
Sakusa’s jaw tightened. “Any possible reason for this?”
She shook her head. “I want to reassure you that our security team reacted efficiently by putting us in lockdown and every single child is safe. However, the intruder escaped back out the airducts before we could get to him.” She adjusted her clothes. “Without a temporary way to seal off the airducts without causing a fire, we requested all parents come pick up their children for their safety. We are very sorry for the inconvenience.”
Sakusa understood she was just doing her job, but he wanted more answers. A better explanation for all this. He wanted to know who and why and when. Next to him, Iwaizumi’s pheromones were puncturing the air with stress and fury. “What happens next?”
“The Osaka Police Department will be launching a full-scale investigation. Until further notice our Overnight Center will be closed.”
Iwaizumi’s knuckles cracked, but he nodded. “Okay then. Now take me to my son.”
Their ids were verified at the doors, along with a quick call to Atsumu, and they were allowed into the building. Childcare workers were moving from room to room, getting everyone and the children organized. One worker stopped to check their IDs again before directing them.
“Mr. Sakusa,” she said, gesturing to a different room than the one Arata was in, “Tadaaki and Naooki are in our six months and under room. They’re both awake if you’ll come this way.”
He met eyes with Iwaizumi, a silent understanding they’d meet up afterwards. Then, he followed her into the room. It was small, painted blue with fish on the walls. Each newborn was in their own clear bassinets, but when his eyes finally fell on Naooki and Tadaaki, they were sharing a bassinet. Tadaaki holding on tight to his brother’s onesie and sucking on his thumb.
They were safe.
They were together.
Sakusa let out a breath.
Then, Naooki noticed him, giving an excited smile, and Tadaaki immediately reached up his hands wanting to be picked up by Sakusa.
A visceral reaction flooded Sakusa’s body. An immediate need to make sure the both of them were safe and unharmed in anyway. Even though he could see they were fine, he felt a compulsion to fold them into his arms so they were protected by his body.
Ah. I see.
Sakusa’s love was rarely soft, rarely gentle, but was absolute in protecting what was his.
He would be damned before he let anything happen to these two. Not because they were Atsumu’s kids, not because they were anyone’s kids, but because Sakusa had grown attached. He didn’t get baby fever or overwhelmingly soft at the sight of them like others did, but he loved them in the way he was able too. He was able to love them in a way that was his. And, he knew them, he knew Naooki liked to smile and play and he knew Tadaaki was curious and observant. He wanted to watch them grow and deal with the weight of the world they’d been thrown into.
Naooki’s face started to crumble at Sakusa’s delay, so he crossed the room. Neither of them could understand what had happened but they must feel the stress of the adults around them and so, they wanted him. They wanted someone familar. Sakusa swallowed hard, overwhelmed, but certain that this was the way in which he loved and it would be enough since it was all he could give. He curled an arm under each, hefting them up against his chest as the feeling crystalized.
Naooki curled in tight against him. Tadaaki clung to his hoodie.
He headed for the door as if his world hadn't just tilted. “I got you.”
Once outside, Sakusa was still reeling over the fact that not only was he emotionally attached to one Miya, not even two Miyas, but three of them. Each of them had, in their own way, crashed into his life and forced their way in against his better judgement.
“You two are exactly like your father,” he told them. “You’re both going to be menaces when you’re older and now you’ve made that my problem.”
Twins.
It had to be twins.
Sakusa felt like he was discovering his partner was pregnant with twins for the first time.
Expensive. It was going to be expensive. Twice as messy. Twice as loud. Of course, he understood he’d already been living this way for awhile, but now they were a permanent fixture in his life. The twin gene couldn’t have skipped a generation, no, that would be too easy, fucking Atsumu had to be overly fertile and make twins.
Somehow though, one without the other felt incomplete.
Similar to how Atsumu without Osamu felt wrong as well.
Sakusa hitched the diaper bag further up his shoulder when he saw Iwaizumi sitting on a bench outside the building. The blue and red police lights curving into his face as he spoke quietly with Arata, who was happily babbling ‘dada’ over and over again.
Sakusa sat down next to him, and for a minute they were quiet except for Arata.
An Alpha in rut passed by them with his wife and his baby. Sakusa’s eyes lingered on the Alpha’s ass for a few seconds as he walked away before Sakusa realized what he was doing. He tore his gaze to Iwaizumi, annoyed with himself for being affected though he knew it wasn’t his fault and was a biological impulse.
An impulse Iwaizumi wouldn’t share. He’d mated to Oikawa last year and so would no longer have a strong reaction to Omega’s in heat, so his attention was fully on his son, but despite the warm hoodie he wore, Iwaizumi’s hands were trembling.
Sakusa cleared his throat. “Iwaizumi, you’re shaking.”
Iwaizumi cursed softly. “Arata’s going to sense it.”
Arata was babbling away, but he did have a wicked strong hold on Iwaizumi’s clothes.
“Sorry Ara,” Iwaizumi whispered. “I’m scaring you.” He took a breath and ran a hand over his face, trying to calm down. His scent became less noticeable and Arata grabbed the stings of his hoodie, munching on them.
“You okay to drive home?” Sakusa asked.
“Yeah, I just need a second,” Iwaizumi said, voice gruff. “It’s just after everything we went through last year with him, I…I have some separation anxiety. Gets to me sometimes. It’s been hard. On Tooru and me.” Iwaizumi fished some sliced bananas out of his bag for Arata to munch on instead of the strings. A single front tooth peeked out from behind his lip. “I’ve been paranoid the whole time Arata’s been here.”
“I see.”
“I haven’t been able to pay attention to Tooru’s heat in the way I should.” Iwaizumi placed a single slice of banana in Arata’s hand. “It’s been shitty. We thought we’d finally be able to let Arata go overnight to a center, but, well, this is never fucking happening again. I'm not putting him in an overnight center ever again. We’ll get someone we know to watch you next time.” Iwaizumi’s smile at Arata was small. “Right, kid?”
Arata was delighted by the attention and got louder. Mouth full of banana.
Sakusa knew this was most likely an isolated incident, but he didn’t particularly enjoy the thought of leaving the twins overnight with strangers again either. “This whole situation is shit. We don’t know who broke in or why. I want answers.”
“There’s only one answer,” Iwaizumi said darkly. “Hiroto Iwaizumi.”
“Your father?”
“Yes.”
“I thought he was in jail.”
“He is.”
“They’d notify you if he wasn’t there.”
Iwaizumi’s eyes narrowed. “He’d find a way to get to Arata. I’m sure of it.”
Sakusa studied Iwaizumi for a second. The paranoia more evident now.
“For your sake, Iwa, I hope this had nothing to do with him.” Sakusa only knew bits and pieces of what had happened last year, but he knew it had been hell for Iwaizumi and Oikawa. It left a chill in the air and he pulled the twins closer to him. Tadaaki reached for Naooki, curling his fist into his brother’s clothes again. “If anyone ever came after Tadaaki and Naooki, I’d kill them in a heartbeat.”
Iwaizumi tilted his head. “You care about them.”
“I…” Sakusa was still getting used to the idea. “Yes, I suppose I do.”
Things were quieting down now, parents leaving, childcare workers closing up the building, police taping off the site of entry.
“I should get back to Tooru,” Iwaizumi said. “He’s going to be worried.”
“Yeah, Atsumu too.” Sakusa looked at the twins, content at the moment, but that was never going to last. Naooki bent himself into a pretzel, somehow managing to get his toes in his mouth, and Sakusa realized they were going to eventually need food and Atsumu wasn’t going to particularly helpful in his state. Sakusa was going to need to step up. “How do you handle Oikawa’s heat and Arata at the same time?”
Iwaizumi gave him a knowing smile. “Have a minute to write things down?”
“Yes.”
And so, Sakusa wrote a list, certain if he went in prepared, he could handle it.