(a/n) since this is a free prompt, i figured i'd shed some light on the prompt i followed. how about the single parent au no one asked for? 

shigeru walked down the street, one hand clutching his daughter's and the other holding a leash. his daughter, miki, had insisted upon going down to the dog park. they had their own dog, ren, but miki still liked seeing all the different breeds playing together. miki seemed even more excited than ren did, which was quite the feat. ren loved the dog park. there was always one shiba inu who she loved to play with, and shigeru still had yet to meet the owner. 

when they reached the gate, ren and miki were pulling on both of shigeru's arms. "alright, alright," he laughed. "let's get over to a bench so i can unleash ren and then you can both wander around all you want." miki clapped happily and followed her father over to the bench. shigeru sat down and miki waited patiently for hm to unleash ren.

shigeru felt someone sit down at the other end of the bench, but he didn't think much of it. it was a public bench after all. at least, he didn't think much of it until miki spoke up. "oh my goodness!" she exclaimed, her slight lisp distorting her words. "your shirt is really ugly!" she giggled her toddler giggle.

shigeru was horrified. he pulled her over and whispered in her ear, "miki, we don't insult other people's clothing. please apologize." he then continued to struggle with ren's leash. somehow he had gotten it tangled and knotted, how, shigeru didn't know. he was still working out the last of the knots while ren's tail wagged like crazy.

"gee, i'm sorry mister," miki said, genuinely sounding apologetic. 

"s'okay," the man replied. "no big deal."

shigeru had just finished undoing ren's leash. "alright miki, you and ren can go off. just stay in the park, alright?" he said sternly. miki nodded eagerly and ren barked as if he understood. he watched as they trotted off together, smiling fondly.

"cute kid. cute dog too."

"i'm so sorry that miki pointed out how your shirt.." shigeru looked to his left at the man. "shit, nevermind, i agree. that is horrendous." he muttered. his eyes widened and he clamped a hand over his mouth. "i'm so, so sorry i didn't mean to say that-"

"like father, like daughter." the man grunted. "i hate this shirt anyways." he pulled at the fabric and scowled down at it like it had personally offended him. "so, ren is yours, huh?"

shigeru looked at the man oddly. "what do you mean?" he asked curiously.

"my dog ramen seems to have taken a liking to him," he said, pointing to ren and the shiba inu who shigeru assumed was ramen.

shigeru laughed. "you named your dog ramen?"

the man glared sideways at shigeru. "it was my younger sister's idea."

"oh gosh, i haven't even introduced myself," shigeru remembered. "i'm yahaba shigeru."

"kyoutani kentarou," the man supplied in return. "now, tell me, what makes this shirt so horrendous?"

"i really am sorry about that," shigeru said genuinely. 

kentarou shrugged. "like i said, i hate this shirt. but why do you hate it?"

₪

for weeks after, shigeru would take miki and ren to the park at the same time, hoping to meet kentarou again, which he did. they sat and talked and laughed. shigeru thought that maybe a friendship was forming. he hoped kentarou felt the same way.

one morning, kentarou finally asked the question that shigeru had been preparing himself for ever since he had met kentarou. "why doesn't your wife come with you to the park?"

"oh, i'm not married," shigeru answered.

"if it isn't too much to ask, is her mother around? like a girlfriend, or something?" kentarou asked carefully.

"uh-uhm, no. her mother was a friend of mine. she couldn't handle having a child, but didn't want to give her up, so i took her in. she, uh, died in a hit and run a few months after miki was born." shigeru gazed upon miki sadly. "it's horrible she'll never get to meet her mom."

kentarou sucked in a nervous breath. "i- i'm sorry i asked."

"no, no," shigeru shook his head. "you have every right to know. it's just hard, raising a child on your own. i'm afraid once she goes to kindergarten, all her friends will have two parents and she'll start to wonder what happened to her other parent."

kentarou blinked. "i, uhm, you didn't have to tell me that. if you didn't want to. like, you weren't obligated to. i mean, i'm glad you did but-"

yahaba smiled. "we're friends, right? friends talk about stuff like this."

kentarou scratched the back of his neck, his face flushed. "ah- yeah. friends do stuff like that."

"so anyways," yahab said abruptly, wishing to change the subject and clear the awkwardness in the air. "what is it with your sister and ramen? why does she love it so much that she named her dog after it?"

kentarou chuckled. "she actually hates ramen."

"you can't be serious," shigeru insisted in shock.

"i'm afraid i am," kentarou nodded in fake graveness. 

"tell me more."

₪

it was an early sunday morning and shigeru had just sat down with his coffee and a book. he hadn't expected miki to be awake this early, so he was startled when she popped out from behind the arm of the couch. he was even more startled at the question she asked. "daddy, are you and kyoutani-kun going to get married?"

shigeru almost spit out his coffee. "uh, why- why would you ask that?" he coughed.

"you guys give each other the love eyes!" she giggled. "so that means you're in love, right? and when you're in love you get married." she nodded, as if to say yes, this all makes sense.

"i- what? love eyes?" shigeru stuttered nervously. he had to admit, he did like the time he spent with kentarou. what he wouldn't admit - even to himself - was that the meetings with kentarou made him feel like some love-sick teenager. he had thought about maybe asking kentarou out for coffee or a movie more than once, but decided against it. after all, kentarou could very well be straight. but, said a voice in his head. your daughter says he has love eyes for you. what if she's right? he cleared his throat. "no, miki, i don't think we're going to get married."

"why not?" miki pouted. "you like kyoutani-kun, don't you?"

shigeru paused. "well, yes, but-"

"then you should get married!" miki interrupted. "he likes you too!"

"i- how do you know that?" he asked curiously.

"i asked him," she declared proudly.

shigeru gasped. he wasn't about to scold his four-year-old for being curious. instead, he asked, "what did you say?"

"i said, 'kyoutani-kun, do you have a crush on my daddy?' and he got all nervous and started stuttering and got all red in the face like you do when you talk about him. he said, 'what if i did?' and i said 'he'd be happy because he has a crush on you too' and he smiled which means he loves you!" miki explained excitedly.

"he.. he said that?" yahaba whispered. he tried to hide his small smile behind his coffee cup. "wait, you told him i have a crush on him?"

"yes."

"why'd you do that?" he exclaimed, embarrassed.

"because you do," miki said, as if this reason was obvious. "i was just letting him know."

"i- oh god," shigeru sighed, putting his coffee down and hiding his blushing face behind a book. "you're in so much trouble," he muttered. miki only giggled.

₪

shigeru finally decided to grow a pair. if what miki said was true, he might as well act on it. the next tuesday, before they both had to leave, shigeru finally braved the words he had always wished to say. "uhm, before you go.. i was just wondering if- uh- you wanted to maybe go see a movie or something..?" he stuttered out, looking anywhere but kentarou.

kentarou flushed red. "i don't think any kids movies are playing right now. what would miki want to see?"

"i.. i meant without miki," shigeru muttered, embarrassed.

"oh. oh," kentarou said, blush growing on his cheeks. "like a date?"

"y-yeah, like a date." shigeru finally looked at the red-face kentarou. he was smiling.

he nodded. "yeah. i'd like that."

"is tomorrow night okay?" shigeru asked, trying to keep his childish excitement out of his voice.

"yeah. yeah, tomorrow night is good. should.. should we meet here?"

shigeru chuckled. "probably not. if you want to meet at my place i'll text you the address."

"i-i don't have your number," kentarou said timidly.

shigeru pulled out a slip of paper and a pen and wrote down his number. "you do now," he said smoothly, handing the slip of paper to kentarou. "i'll see you tomorrow." kentarou could only watch him walk away, a look of pure astonishment on his face.

once shigeru was safely out of sight, kentarou pumped his fist to himself. "yes."