EraserMic Oneshots

Don't carry your baggage alone (pt. 4)

It was late and most of the kids had already been picked up from the daycare. Shouta had been stuck at work, not able to leave due to the fact that his co-worker had been late for their shift. He couldn't just leave the shop unattended which resulted in him arriving at the daycare just as it was about to close. He looked around for Eri, ready to apologise for being so late but the words died on his tongue as he spotted her. She was sitting at a small table, having a tea party with Hizashi and they were wearing matching princess tiaras.

Neither of them had spotted him yet. Shouta smiled to himself as he watched them interact and he felt his heart melt at the sight. Even though Eri didn't know Hizashi was her father, she acted so natural around him, like they had known each other for a long time. It was probably Hizashi's merit. He was so wonderful with kids, always making sure they knew they could trust him but also giving them respect back.

The whole scene made Shouta regretting not telling Hizashi about Eri earlier even more than before. He knew Hizashi understood his reasons and didn't hold any grudges against him, but it was always a "what if" Shouta couldn't really get out of his head. What if he had told Hizashi all those years ago, what would their life look like now?

~*~

"You birthday was a few weeks ago, right? I can't seem to remember, how old are you now?" Hizashi pretended to think about it before holding up two fingers. "This many?"

"No," Eri laughed. She grabbed Hizashi's hand and put up one more of his finger so he had three finger up. "This many!"

Hizashi looked down at his hand and gasped. "Wow! That many? You are so big!"

"She's so big she wont even let me help her brush her teeth anymore," Shouta said. He was leaning against the doorway to the playroom, arms crossed over his chest. Both Hizashi and Eri had been too busy to notice he was there before he talked.

"Daddy!" Eri exclaimed, running up to him. Shouta picked up the little girl and she gave him a big hug.

"Hi, I'm sorry I was so late. How was your day?" Shouta asked adjusting his grip on the toddler.

"Is okay, daddy! Me and Hiza-si had a tea party," The little girl explained.

Shouta laughed and put her down again. " Well, that's good. But I'm sure both you and Hizashi wants to get home, so go grab you things okay?" Eri nodded, making her way over to where her backpack and shoes were. Shouta turned towards Hizashi, who had already put away the remaining toys and made his way over to Shouta.

"I'm so, so sorry I was late," Shouta apologised again. "My co-worker didn't show up and I couldn't just leave and I tried-"

"It's okay, really," Hizashi reassured him but Shouta shook his head.

"No, no, you shouldn't have to stay here and work overtime because of me."

"Hey, it happened, okay? It's not your fault, and I don't really mind anyway," Hizashi knew Shouta had always struggled a little with anxiety in the past when it came to not being good enough, and he could only imagine it had gotten worse when he became a parent and had to be responsible for another human life.

"Thanks," Shouta said. "I promise it wont happen again."

"But if it does, just text me okay? I know I said..." Hizashi trailed off, making sure Eri was out of earshot. "I know I said I needed to wrap my head around everything but if it's okay with you I would like to be a part of Eri's life, you know, beside working at her daycare. I want to be there for her. And you."

Being caught off guard, Shouta took a second to respond. To be honest, he had expected Hizashi to want to be a part of Eri's life, at least at some point. What he hadn't expected was for Hizashi to be so direct about it, although that was one of the things he had always admired about him.

"Yeah, uhm," Shouta pursed his lips. "You can come over for dinner sometime if you want and we could talk about it, you know properly. I'd really love for you to be involved more," Shouta looked over at Eri who was trying to put on her last shoe. "Although right now I think Eri is really eager to get home. And I'm sure you probably want to get home too."

"Yeah, yeah. Totally. I'll text you, or you could text me. I don't know whatever works best for you I guess." Hizashi chuckled, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly.

A few second later, Eri came running back to them, pulling at Shouta's sleeve. "Daddy, daddy! Can we go now? I'm hungwy."

"Of course. I'll make your favourite dinner when we get home okay? As a 'sorry for being so late'." Shouta picked up the his daughter, who exclaimed happily. "Say goodbye to Hizashi, now."

"Goobye, Hiza-si. See you tomowwow"

"Goodbye," Hizashi waved at the little girl. His eyes followed Shouta as he carried Eri out, disappearing around the corner. It was weird, Hizashi thought, just how different Shouta seemed now than four years ago.

The most obvious was probably his appearance. Shouta  had become more masculine thanks to the testosterone, his shoulder were broader and his facial features sharper. Most prominently though, was the increase in facial hair. Hizashi remembered how excited Shouta had been when he had first started to grow hair. Back then it had only been a few darker hairs on his upper lip and chin, but now he had almost a full beard, although it was not particularly long nor well kept.

Shouta generally seemed more ... well, worn down. Hizashi had known him for a long time and Shouta had never been the outgoing energized type. He'd always been more closed off, rational, but not quite like this. Hizashi didn't really know how to describe it other than it seemed like life had been so hard on Shouta he had stopped fighting back and just went with it.

Or maybe something that sounded a little less depressing.

Hizashi sighed. He could see that Shouta loved his daughter, their daughter, so incredibly much. However, Shouta had been though a lot already, had so much baggage stacked on his shoulders weighing him down. Hizashi desperately wanted to help him carry some of it, to lighten his burden even the slightest bit. Shouta didn't deserve to carry all that baggage alone, especially since Hizashi was the reason for some of it.

just gonna end the chapter here without any more explanation *evil laughter*.

also, know it's been so long since last time i postet so sorry about that. Hopefully you haven't all forgotten about this story. like, i keep forgetting that i only write small pieces of the next chapter or even a future chapter and that i have only posted three chapters. in my mind this story is so much further along and i need to just write it all down.

anyway, if you likes this chapter leave a vote or a comment if you feel like it. i love hearing you guys' opinions on this story so if you have any ideas, fire away!

– Aleks