Hello! It's MikadoTheAirConditioner. This is going to be a series of drabbles set in a universe where Shizuo and Izaya are married and they adopt a four year old Mikado. Originally, I was going to make this a sequel to my earlier Shizaya fanfiction, Family, but I decided to make Mikado a little older. If you haven't read Family or if you just need a refresher, Mikado was two years old in that.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this fanfiction.

Chapter One

Mikado didn't like it here. He didn't like this strange place with lots of sad looking kids who filled the quiet nights with their loud sobs. Once a week strange adults would come and take a kid with them. Mikado didn't want to go with them. He wanted to leave with his mommy. The nice lady that gave him a lollipop on his first day at this strange place told him that his mommy went to a better place and that confused him. Why would his mommy go to a better place without him? He must have been bad. Sometimes when he was bad his mommy would put him in the closet and she wouldn't let him come out for a long time. Other times when he was really bad she hit him but he knew she didn't mean it because she would always cry and hold him after it happened. So he decided that if he was good his mommy would come back.

The older boys were mean. They took his food and at night they would steal his blankets so he would spend the whole night curled up into a ball. They would call him names too, names that hurt and made him cry. Names like freak, crybaby and loser. He didn't want to be here but he didn't want to go with a stranger. He wanted his mommy. Sure, sometimes she would forget to feed him and sometimes she would hit him when he was bad but she was still his mommy and he loved her. When he first came to this place he kept asking for her. The adults just looked at him with a weird look on their faces. They looked sad and that confused him. Why were they sad? He just wanted his mommy. When he asked the other kids they told him that she was dead. He didn't understand. What does 'dead' mean? he thought. One day, he just stopped asking.

Mikado had been drawing in the dirt outside on the day that Izaya and Shizuo came. He was drawing a picture of a puppy and a kitty when a shadow fell over his picture. He looked up and his mouth dropped open in shock as he saw a giant man with glasses looking at him. He was the tallest man that Mikado had ever seen! Behind him there was a shorter man with a furry coat looking at him too.

"Hello," the one with the furry coat said. "What's your name?"

"Mikado Ryuugamine," he said.

"Aww, how cute," the one with the furry coat said. "It sounds like a little air conditioner name."

The tall one punched him in the arm. "Idiot, you don't call kids air conditioners," he said. Mikado giggled. The tall one looked down at him. "I'm Shizuo and this moron is my husband Izaya." Mikado stood up and dusted off his knees. He stuck out his hand and shook Shizuo's and Izaya's hands like his mommy taught him too. "It's very nice to meet you Shizuo-san and Izaya-san." Izaya gave a little laugh and kneeled down to look Mikado in his eyes. "Mikado how would you like to come live with Shizu-can and me?" he asked. Mikado's brow furrowed in confusion. Shizuo-san and Izaya-san seemed nice, but still he couldn't. "I'm sorry, but I can't. I like you two but I'm waiting for my mommy to come back. I was bad so she had to go away but if i'm good then she'll come back."

Izaya looked at him with the weird look that all the adults gave him when he talked about his mommy. "Mikado, do you know what the word 'dead means?" he asked. Mikado shook his head. Dead sounded like a sad word. Izaya sighed and put his hand on Mikado's shoulder.

"Sometimes people need to leave and they don't come back," he said. "It's not anybody's fault, it just happens. Your mommy had to leave and she's not going to come back but it wasn't because of you." Mikado looked at him with tears in his eyes. "B-but," he stammered out, "I-i was g-good. I thought that if I was good then she would take me home." Large tears rolled down his face. He looked up at them. "I don't like it here. I want to go home."

Shizuo kneeled down next to him and he wiped the tears from his face. "Look, Mikado, I know it hurts and I know that you miss her and you want her back. But just remember that she loved you and she would want the best for you. We also want the best for you. It's your decision. Izaya and I can't replace your mom but you can just try living with us for a while if you want to. If you don't like it than just tell us. We're going to try our best to give you a home."

Mikado looked at him and Izaya. They smiled at him and even though there were tears rolling down his face, he smiled back. They liked him and they wanted to help him. Maybe his mommy wasn't coming back but that didn't mean he had to stay here. He looked at them and nodded. "I don't want to be alone anymore."