Page 49 of Bad Daddy

Haru beamed at him and came over to press a kiss to Danny’s cheek, and they settled on the couch to unwind together. This didn't quite settle Danny’s turbulent emotions, but it did warm him down to his toes.

“How’s your day been?” Haru asked, curling an arm around him. Danny immediately recalled Dorit asking for the name of the comic for her pitch. He’d panicked and replaced Captain Haruto Nakamura with Captain Saito, because he hadn’t felt like proclaiming to the world that the comic pulled from real-world experiences.

“Fine,” he choked out, before he cleared his throat. “What about you? How was your day? You had that networking event today, right?”

Haru snorted. “If you can call it that. It was less networking with other companies and lawyers, and more physicians trying to tell us not to slowly or quickly kill ourselves with stress.”

“Um?”

A chuckle this time. “Maybe a little less dramatic than that,” Haru said. “Mostly we had to sit through lectures about smoking, alcoholism, the need for healthy recreation—all that sort of stuff.”

“Oh.” Danny said. “Sounds… interesting?”

“That’s one way to put it,” Haru said, pressing another kiss to Danny’s shoulder. “Mostly boring. The only highlight was that there was a self-defense portion. I guess to teach us practical skills?”

“Oh yeah?” Danny asked. “How’d that go?”

Haru grinned. “Kuwabara was the instructor. So it was kind of fun.”

Danny blinked at him. “Kuwabara… your sparring partner?”

“Yep,” Haru said.

“Wow,” Danny said. “Small world.”

“No kidding.” Haru tugged just a little, and that was all the invitation Danny needed to properly slide into his lap. “I’ll tell you a secret,” he murmured into Danny’s ear.

Danny couldn’t suppress his shiver. “Yeah?”

“There’s this guy from another firm—we kind of hate each other’s guts, okay? He’s a jerk and a dirty lawyer, and loves thinking he’s better than everyone else. And he was posturing, trying to show off—I think maybe because it was obvious Kuwabara and I knew each other—and he tried to fake Kuwabara out with a punch.” Haru snickered. “Kuwabara laid him out flat on the mat for it. Cited his reflexes and turned it into part of the lesson. Clint was so red in the face he was practically purple.”

“That’s–” Danny sucked in air and tried to be normal. “That’s pretty funny.”

Haru frowned at him. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Danny said automatically. “Just tired.”

“You hung out with Lily and Manuel, right?” Haru rubbed Danny’s back. “I imagine you’re tired.”

Haru never pushed. He didn't ask nosy questions. He offered his hand to Danny over and over again, and Danny just wanted to stop being afraid to take it.

He was getting better at it though. Taking baby steps was still moving forward.

“Also,” Danny started, taking a deep breath, bracing himself. “Also I have something to show you.”

“Okay,” Haru said, and Danny clambered off of him to go retrieve his backpack.

He was back a moment later, clutching his sketchbook. He might as well, he figured. He wanted Haru to read it first. Whatever happened with the publishing thing, he wanted Haru to read it.

To understand.

“I, um, I made this,” he said, flipping to the first page. “For… for you.”

“Oh,” Haru said as he took the sketchbook, eyes scanning the drawings before he looked back up at Danny. “Can I read it now?”

“If you want to,” Danny said, doing his best not to squirm.

Haru smiled at him and turned his attention back to the sketchbook. Danny scooted in next to him and followed along as Haru read, watching Haru’s expressions and reactions to what happened on the page.

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