imagine dad!kuroo comforting his child after they have a nightmare
kuroo would such a caring and supportive dad omg this is the best thing i’ve written in a while :’ <3 pls tell me what you think of dad!kuroo >:)
“oh?” kuroo turns at the sound of the door creaking open. as expected, his five-year-old daughter tilts back and forth with her stuffed brown bear in one hand.
she looks up at him with doe eyes, hoping he’d start the conversation and asks what’s wrong so she can spill it out all to him. kuroo lets out a small laugh and walks over to her. “did you get lonely being in your room all by yourself?”
he extends his arm and she slowly slips her hand into her dad’s.
“no...” she begins. they walk towards the bed, where kuroo lifts her up and places her on the bed. he flips off the light switch and the room goes dark. shadows of tree branches made by moonlight seeps through the curtain.
a gush of wind enters through the window, sending chills down his daughter’s back. she clutches her bear close and pats the mattress for her dad to sit down.
“did’ja miss me too much?” kuroo teases as he runs a hand through his hair and plopping down next to her.
“no...” she scootches close to him and hands him her bear. “teddy got scared because nightmare.”
“hmm” kuroo rubs the bear’s face with his thumb and puts on a thoughtful look. “but...how does that relate to me?”
“he wants to sleep on your bed because you’ll protect us.”
kuroo slowly nods and cups half of his daughter’s face. “are you sure you washed your face after dinner? what’s this piece of rice doing here,” he laughs. she looks at her feet, a little embarrassed. it’s just like the time a kid made fun of her for having sauce around her mouth at kindergarten.
“didn’t know it was there,” she quietly says as she reaches out to grab her bear back for comfort.
“aw it happens to the best of us,” kuroo says while patting a nearby pillow to distract her from the topic. “c’mere, your favorite pillow.”
she crawls toward the pillow and lays her head down, looking up at her dad in hopes that he understands how ‘teddy’ feels.
“back to what teddy was saying,” he starts while sliding across the mattress before laying on his stomach. “what am i supposed to protect you guys from again? i need to be prepared, ya’know?”
“bad guys,” she whispers, as if they can hear her and attack at any moment. she inches close to him and curls against his chest. “teddy had a nightmare and bad guys jumped in my window and had weapons with them.” she looks at him with damp and overly bright eyes.
kuroo’s eyes soften. “no one’s gonna hurt you...and teddy,” he confidently says and slings his arm around her tightly. “why don’t you and teddy sleep next to me so even if the bag guys come, they’ll get me first?”
her eyes widen. “b-but i don’t want them to get you-”
“don’t underestimate your dad,” he chuckles and grabs her clammy hand. “i’ll fight them off before they even step a foot into our room!”
she blinks and nods, deciding that that’s good enough. “daddy? what’s underesmate?”
“hmm...it’s like thinking someone is less capable than they actually are. it wouldn’t be really nice if i thought teddy couldn’t do anything useful, would it?”
“so....” kuroo sits back up and stretches his mouth into a yawn. “you ready to go to sleep?” she looks around his room and watches the red clock blink 10:45
“mhm! i even brushed my teeth!” she proudly shows him her clean, bright teeth that she even flossed with the flossing tool he bought her. kuroo’s eyes crinkle.
“alright, alright~ i’ve gotta admit you’re a lot better at brushing your teeth than me when i was your age.” he fluffs up the pillows and lifts up the bed covers.
“w-wait! ... i forgot ellie,” she quietly says while pointing to the door. kuroo’s mouth forms a small ‘o.’
he nods toward the door. “go get her and all of your other stuffies”
she runs off and pads across the apartment. it doesn’t take her long to come back with an armful of stuffed animals ranging from elephants to pandas, and of course, teddy.
“oh wow,” kuroo laughs. “you brought the whole crew.”
“want them to be safe too!” she sets the big pile on his bed and he starts organizing them in a row. “if i left one, they’d feel sad.”
“we wouldn’t want that,” kuroo quietly replies. he lifts her onto the mattress and motions toward the bed side against the wall. “i’m gonna sleep on the outer side–wouldn’t want you falling off in the middle of the night.”
she stops organizing her stuffies and frowns. “daddy, you’re underesmating me. i’m not gonna fall off of the bed!”
kuroo shakes his head in amusement and sets her stuffed dolphin aside. “just tryna protect you from bad guys, which includes gravity sometimes.”
the night concludes with kuroo giving her a goodnight forehead kiss and him waking up three times because teddy got a nightmare twice. the other time was because he mistakened her stuffed turtle for his pillow and to her horror, tim couldn’t breathe.
