#finding his cute teen son fangirling over another boy 🤭

[twnj]

#shikajinweekend24 Day 3 Prompt - "It's just a stupid drawing".

I'm not much of a writer, but I ventured into the land of poetry for this particular prompt. I originally wanted to write a whole scene but it changed into this. It was partly inspired by @unioncolours To Go Down with the Sun fic, where Sai mentions he has seen drawings of Shikadai and he used to draw Ino a lot too...

I must give HUGE thanks credit to @clumsydragon28 for taking my jumple of misspelt words and actually making it look like a poem 🤭 See below the cut.

🎨🖌🐥🦌😉

'Charged'

Pulled towards a particular piece.

A milase.

A magnetism.

Familiar to Sai,

but from a distance

like an undefined memory.

At his son's desk, a jumble

of creation

and colours.

Carefree even.

A sight unfamiliar through his own youth’s eyes.

Which should have made

pinpointing the source

of this sensation

difficult.

But…

Piercing hunter green

and sleek black

stood out

from all others

with an incongruous zing;

a vibration that hummed

quietly

through teen mess a'strewn.

Captured,

Sai collected

the tossled leaves of art

and touched the tips of his fingers

to each piece

and paused.

As he did,

the distant stir,

that fuzzy memory

crept further forward in mind’s eye

but still not far enough

to name,

but close enough

to recognise

intensity.

Not like other drawings,

like birds or beasts or tools,

brought to life by careful fusion

of necessity and care.

This was a different

Love.

Sai paused again

with hand hovering,

hesitant to assess this sentiment further.

How strange.

Such a word he used

but now,

it had been thought,

that distant feeling landed

soft

and exact

and true.

It bloomed in his chest

as the sketch was eyed,

scrutinised,

revised.

Not his own love,

but a reflection of Inojin's

poured into ink

and affectionately formed.

Each line and stroke

sounding like a lovesick sigh,

shimmering

through upturned smirk

and laughing eyes.

Drawn with tentative tenderness.

A secret hope.

Fragility, terrifying in its scope –

Suddenly

the spell is broken,

the stairs a'creak with mumbling footsteps,

the door ajar,

sheet still in hand…

but Sai stands his ground

silent

and still

and stealed.

When flat coal eyes

meet shinning aqua,

the question hangs

between son and father.

The sketches,

though limp

and floppy with drenched meaning,

are transformed into

deadly weapons

in Sai's unwitting, ashen hand.

Like explosive tags,

a time realease bomb:

fuinjutsu

laid down in the complex lines of Shikadai’s

eyes.

Nose.

Mouth.

Loaded.

Burdened with Love.

Air charged

between the two bodies

stood:

explanation.

The explosive result

Sai hopes for;

controlled, of course.

Closed-eye smile

not in use as would be custom form

to create comfort

for the conversation.

Not this time

(but no malice either),

just honest connection.

Understanding.

Understanding…

'These pictures tingle to the touch',

stated flat

and plain,

and knowing.

Pale eyes flick down to

laiden hands.

Perspiring palms

momentarily replaced

by tight-nailed fists.

A countenance of confusion that lasts

a tick.

The bomb is primed.

kai

'It's just a stupid drawing'.

----

*Fuinjustu - sealing and drawing jutsus

**Kai - 'release' in Japanese