Little Moon

“Kei, sweetie, wake up,” Tetsu said quietly from beside his boyfriend.
“Nnooo…” Kei moaned, trying to burrow back under the blankets. “Too cold.”
“Well, duh,” Tetsu leaned over and kissed his forehead. “It snowed a little earlier.”
One eye popped open. “Snow?”
“Uh huh. It’s not much. Maybe an inch or two, but it’s enough to play in. We can take Eru to the park…”
He had Kei’s full attention. “Is she awake yet?”
“I think so…”
“DADDY!! DADDY IT SNOWED!!”

One small, blonde, messy haired little girl burst into the room and scrambled onto the bed without a care for her daddy’s ankles, knees, and legs, as she clambered up to hug him and smooch his face all over.

“Safe bet that she’s awake, Moonshine,” Tetsu laughed as Kei wrapped his arms around his daughter, laughing and tickling her.
“Daddy, Papa said Little Moon can play in the park!” she exclaimed a few minutes later.
“Ah, but Little Moon needs to wash up, get dressed and eat breakfast, first,” Kei reminded her gently.
“But Daddy!”
“No ma’am. We’ll go to the park after you’ve done what you know you have to do, okay?”
“Yes, Daddy,” she sounded sad, but she smiled and kissed him again before bouncing her way off the bed.
“I’ll go help her,” Tetsu said, also kissing Kei before rising from the bed. “We should probably try to move a bit more quickly. It’s supposed to warm up later today, so the snow won’t last.”
“What time is it now?”
“7:15.”
Kei groaned. “I’m cursed. I’m in love with a morning person, and my daughter’s a morning person. I’m surrounded!”
“Quite dramatic,” Tetsu quipped.
“Accurate, though.”
Tetsu burst out laughing. “I love you, Moonshine.”
“I love you, too. Go help Eru. I’ll be up in a few.”

~*~

“It’s really not much, is it?” Kei said as he sat down on a bench near the playground. Eru was off playing with her friends.
“Not yet,” Koshi replied. “We’re supposed to get more soon, though. Maybe enough to build a snowman, or have a decent snowball fight.”
“Maybe even enough to snow us all in for a few days,”Tetsu said, leaning against Kei’s back. “I could use a vacation, anyway.”
“Well, winter break isn’t too far off. Maybe you could put in some time for that?” Daichi suggested.
“Maybe we’ll have a white Christmas,” Kei added, sounding more excited about that.
“I thought you hated the cold,” Tetsu mumbled.
“I do. But… I love snow.”
“You’re weird.”
“Yeah, but you love me.”
“They’re being cute and adorable again, Dai,” Koshi said sarcastically, grinning at them.
“They’ll grow out of it,” Daichi deadpanned.
“You underestimate…” Tetsu said with a hint of challenge. But he was interrupted by Eru, who ran up holding what appeared to be a mangled attempt at a snowball.
“Daddy, look! Eru made a snowball!”
“Well done!” Kei praised her, and took it when she handed it to him. He was about to say something else, but she was off again.

Kei held the melting tiny mass of snow, pieces of mulch from the playground, and even a few pebbles. He was smiling down at it quite fondly, and his three friends wondered what was going through his mind.

“I have an idea,” Kei said eventually.
“What’s that?” Koshi asked.
“I have a story I want to tell the kids. We just need to find a place where there’s a bit more snow,” he told them, and then shook his hands of the water, mulch and pebbles left behind from Eru’s snowball. “More snow, and less… everything else.”
“Might be some over by the trees,” Daichi suggested. “When do you want to do it?”
“Lunchtime is fine.”
“Now, I’m curious,” Tetsu said, resting his chin on Kei’s shoulder. “What’s the story?”
“You’ll find out at lunchtime.”
“Tease.”
“Impatient.”
“There they go, again.”
“We might be here a while.”

~*~

“When I was little, the first snow of the season was always the best,” Kei told the kids as they sat watching him. Eru was settled quietly in his lap. “It didn’t matter how much was on the ground, it was always the prettiest out of the whole season.”
“But you don’t like the cold, Uncle Kei,” Kenji piped up, and Kei smiled at him.
“No, I don’t. If I had my way, It would be warm like spring, but also have snow to admire and play in.” And he threw a handful of snow in the air, watching it sparkle in the sunlight. “Anyway, I was five years old, and I wanted to make a snowman just like the one I had seen in a movie. But there wasn’t much snow on the ground.”
“Like now?” one of the twins asked, patting the ground.
“Yep, like right now,” he replied. “My big brother saw me looking so sad that I couldn’t make the snowman I wanted, so he told me the story of snow bunnies.”
Eru clapped her hands excitedly. “Snow bunnies!”

Kei kissed the top of her head, and then looked up and winked at Tetsu, who was almost as enthralled as the kids. Kei snorted and chuckled. Then, he looked at Daichi and Koshi, who were looking very proud and parental. He rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to his pint-sized audience.

“Aki-nii told me that snow bunnies are small creatures who are rarely seen. You might catch a glimpse of them, usually after the first snow of the season. Even so, they are very skittish, and can blend into their surroundings, so seeing one is incredibly lucky, indeed.” Bending a bit, he reached down and started gathering up snow, picking out little bits and pieces swept up with the snow. “They are small, not much bigger than a bocce ball, and as white as newly fallen snow. They have eyes as red as holly berries, and long green ears, like leaves.”

He whispered something in Eru’s ear, and she happily scrambled out of his lap and went to grab Tetsu’s hand. She, in turn, whispered something in his ear, and he smiled and pushed to stand up. Hand in tiny hand, she practically dragged him over to where he’d pointed; a small hedge of holly. Meanwhile, Kei put down one oblong snowball, and gathered up more snow for another one, and continued to tell his tale.
“Aki-nii told me about how one morning, when he was small, and after the first snow had fallen, our dad took him out to find snow bunnies. They crept around the holly bushes at home, and carefully looked under them. He told me they didn’t find any bunnies that day, and that he was very sad. So, when he went out the next morning, without our dad, he looked for them again. And he found them! One after another, looking out from under the holly, or huddling together in twos.”
“But… where were you, Uncle Kei?” Kenji asked, looking a little confused. “Didn’t you find them, too?”
“I wasn’t born yet, Kenji.”
“Oh. So… did you ever find snow bunnies?”
“I haven’t been lucky enough to find them. Not yet,” he said with a fond smile.

By this time, Tetsu and Eru came back. She was holding a few branches with long green leaves, like ears, and Tetsu handed him a handkerchief with berries wrapped in it. Their fingers lingered with the hand-off, and then Tetsu took Eru and sat back down for the rest of the story.

“I may not have seen a real snow bunny, yet, but my big brother showed me what they looked like by making one for me.”
“What do they look like?” the other twin asked, scooting forward.

Kei held up a finger to his mouth, shushing her with a wink and a grin. He then pointed to the little group of four snowballs in front of him. They weren’t all uniform in size; some were a little bigger than others. Still, he took the handkerchief of berries and opened it. Each snowball soon bore two little red eyes. Carefully, he took the branches, and bestowed ears to each bunny. When he was finished, he looked up at the kids.

“Each year after, we’d go looking for snow bunnies after the first snowfall. And when we couldn’t find any, we’d make them! Snow bunnies are curious creatures, and maybe if they saw our snow bunnies, they’d visit us!”

Picking up one bunny, he handed it gently to Kenji. “Take very good care of this bunny, okay?”
“What if it melts?”
“Ah, then your bunny has gone away to find his friends. The next time it snows, you can make another one. But! Be sure to leave him outside, okay?”
“Why, Uncle Kei?” the twins asked in unison.
“Well, if he’s outside, he can go find his friends, and maybe bring them back for a visit.”
“WE WANT ONE, TOO!” the twins exclaimed, reaching out for a bunny. But Kei gently stopped them from snatching a bunny off the ground.
“You must be very careful!” he warned them. “Snow bunnies are fragile.”
Two pairs of little hands were quickly pulled back. Kei smiled, picked up one of the smaller bunnies, and gave it to one of the twins. He repeated the process for the other twin. “Remember… They are fragile. Be careful with them.”
“Yes, Uncle Kei.”

What Kei didn’t notice, while he was giving out the snow bunnies he’d made, was little Eru whispering in Tetsu’s ear, and him whispering right back. He didn’t see them looking like they were planning something. All he saw was Eru’s joy when he gave her her own snow bunny, and Tetsu’s soft smile.

~*~

“Time to wake up, sleepyhead,” Tetsu said softly in Kei’s ear.
“Nnooo…” one eye squinted at him. “Too early.”
Tetsu ran his fingers through Kei’s hair, leaned down and kissed him.
“Come on. Eru’s already dressed and ready for breakfast.”
This earned him both eyes open, but still squinting. “What are you two planning?”
“It’s not that we’re planning anything. We’ve already set out plans in motion. All we need is your cooperation.”
“And it can’t wait until… What time is it anyway?”
“7am.”
“A whole fifteen minutes earlier than yesterday?”
“We couldn’t wait. Come on,” and he swept the blankets off his boyfriend. “Time to get up, lazybones.”
“Retaliation will be swift and inevitable.”
“Yeah? I can’t wait.”
“Of course not.”
“Breakfast in thirty minutes. We’ll see you there.”
“Or what?”
“Well, considering there was more snow last night, I could just throw you out on the balcony.”
“More snow?” Both Kei’s eyes were focused on him. “How much?”
“Ankle deep. Koshi says they’re calling for more, too.”
“I guess I’ll get up.”
“We’ll be waiting for you.”

Tetsu stood up from the bed and left the room, calling for Eru as he went. Kei listened as they went downstairs, squabbling about what to make for breakfast. He laughed softly, stretching and levering himself up to sit, feeling happier than he could ever remember being.

Swinging his legs off the side of the bed, he slowly stood up and stretched again. But now, he was curious. Tetsu said the snow was ankle deep, so that meant he’d already gone out in it. Walking to the sliding glass doors, he pulled aside the heavy curtains and looked out. And when his eyes acclimated to the brightness, he gasped, his hand flying up to his mouth.

Sitting on the railing, either in pairs or singles, was an entire clutch of snow bunnies. He looked down at the balcony’s floor, but no noticeable tracks were there. A little sound from behind alerted him that he wasn’t alone anymore. Turning, he saw Tetsu standing in the doorway with Eru in his arms and perched on his hip.

“Daddy found snow bunnies!” Eru said happily, squirming down and running to him. “They came to visit you!”
“They did, didn’t they?” he said quietly as he picked her up and kissed her head. He looked back at his boyfriend, his heart overflowing with love.
Tetsu shrugged. “Maybe they heard your story yesterday,” he said with his signature smirk as he ambled over to join them. “We had to help them up here, but they were determined for you to find them.”
“We?”
Tetsu reached past him and knocked loudly on the glass. Two familiar faces popped up from below the balcony. Both Daichi and Koshi were wearing huge smiles and waving from the ladders they were on. Then, he leaned over and whispered in his ear, “Eru and I made them.”
“They’re perfect,” Kei murmured, holding his daughter closer. “Thank you.”
“You know what?” Tetsu asked, waving back at their friends, who gave them a thumbs up and then climbed back down their ladders.
“What?”
“If you ask me, I think the snow bunnies were sent here.”
Kei was quiet for a moment, and then felt his eyes prickle with tears. “Sent by whom?” he asked, his voice cracking a little with emotion.
“Aki-nii,” Tetsu replied softly, wiping away the first of several happy tears.
“I think so, too,” Kei said.

Tetsu ran his fingers through Kei’s hair again. For just the smallest moment, he saw the happy little boy Kei had been, adoring his big brother and the tale of the snow bunnies.

This became a tradition for their little family for years to come.

//end