The Aizawa/Yamada Family

~Fatherhood~

                                                       ~Aizawa's POV~

           That night I dreamed of the future that lied ahead. Until at about 3 am, I heard a scream from the room beside ours. Shinso's room. I sat up suddenly, alarmed. Hizashi was also sitting straight up, his face etched with worry. We made eye-contact and bolted for Shinso's room.

            When we barged into his room, Shinso was holding onto his teddy bear. Tears falling down his cheeks. I scrambled over to him and picked him up. I held him in a tight embrace. "What's wrong Shinso?," I asked him. "I had a nightmare," he paused for a moment. Hizashi and I remained silent, urging him to go on. "No one was going to adopt me and the lady at the orphanage said it was 'cause I'm a b-bad k-kid," he shakily said the last few words. It was as if someone had called him a bad kid before. Hizashi took him from my arms and looked into his eyes. "You're not a bad kid," Hizashi said. "No matter what anyone tells you," we said together embracing him in a big hug. 

           After a good twenty minutes, we finally got him to calm down. Together Hizashi and I tucked him in. Turned out the light, again. But, just as we were about to leave, in a small voice, almost a whisper. "Can you stay," Shinso asked. Hizashi looked at me. I shrugged. "How about you stay in our room with us?," I asked. "For tonight," Hizashi added. Shinso's eyes lit up and he grabbed his teddy bear and walked over to me. I picked him up gently. "Shall we?," I said. "We shall," Hizashi said going through the doorway first.

           Sitting Shinso in between us, I pulled the covers over us all. Clicked off the lights. As I looked over to Hizashi and Shinso, they were already passed out. As I was rolling over on my side, facing the wall, I felt a small hand holding onto my shirt. Turning back to them, careful not to wake Shinso, I laid back and fell straight to sleep. 

           Morning came sooner than I had hoped. That morning Hizashi and I were woken up to being shaken by a small 4 ft. child with a bedhead of purple hair. I rolled over and groaned. "5 more minutes Shinso," I muttered trying to stay in dreamland. "But dad," Shinso complained. I felt the mattress moving, Hizashi was sitting up. "Let him get a few more minutes Shinso," Hizashi paused then continued. "How about you go get ready and we can go to the restaurant and get some Pancakes!" Shinso's eyes lit up. "PANCAKES!," he exclaimed as he bounded out of the room to get ready. "Thanks 'Zashi," I muttered, still half awake. "Anytime, get some more sleep and I'll make sure he is ready," Hizashi said. "Okay," I said and feel asleep before I even heard our bedroom door shut.

          We were all up and ready in roughly an hour. We walked outside to the car and I made sure Shinso was strapped in. He couldn't contain his excitement, he kept bouncing up and down in his seat. Hizashi said he would drive us, so I got in the passenger seat. 

          The ride to the restaurant was only twenty minutes from our home. Must've felt like centuries to Shinso, he fidgeted in the back. After ten minutes into the drive, I decided to ask Shinso, "So, what pancakes do you want to get?" "Goji Berry Pancakes," he stated with a giant smile. "Oo, Goji Berry Pancakes are really good," I said. "Shinso's got some good taste," Hizashi said smiling, eyes focused on the road. For the rest of the ride we talked about all the berries that Shinso loved. It wasn't many, but it was enough for him to talk so fondly.

         At the restaurant, a lady with blue hair and kind eyes sat us at a booth towards the front. We all looked over our menus, even though we knew what we wanted. Soon, our waitress showed up at our table, with our drinks. We told her our orders. She said they'd be out soon. Then she left to tend to other tables. Shinso kept asking, "What's taking it so long?" I'd just simply reply, "They have to cook the food." The food finally made an appearance after a good fifteen minutes. I was extremely glad, I was starving. My stomach made a large grumbling sound suddenly. Hizashi and Shinso just plainly stared at me. After a moment of silence, they burst out laughing. Embarassed, I said, "S-shut up." "Sorry Aizawa," Hizashi said, wiping tears from his eyes, he had laughed so hard. "No your not," I mumbled through a pout. "It's okay dad, just eat and you wont have the rumblies," Shinso said. Suddenly, I felt quite childish to be pouting around Shinso. I sat up. "Yes let's eat," I said. "Agreed!," Hizashi stated. We plowed through our breakfast and in no time, paying the check and heading to the car. 

         In the car, Hizashi made the turn to go back to the house. Suddenly, Shinso said, "Hey Dad?" "Yes," Hizashi and I answered in unison. We looked at each other, realizing we hadn't given specific names to call us. We couldn't both be 'dad'. Shinso seemed to realize too. "Oh, I mean Dad Aizawa," he said. "Oh, alright," Hizashi and I said. "What is it?," I asked. "Can we go to the park?," he asked. "What do you think 'Zashi?," I asked Hizashi. "Sure, why not," he responded. Soon we arrived at the park, we all got out of the car. "Hey Shinso, what will you call me?," Hizashi asked Shinso. After a moment of thought he said, "Papa." Hizashi smiled. "Perfect," he said. 

            While Shinso played in the playground with the other children, Hizashi and I sat by the pond. We sat and watched the ducks with their ducklings. After a moment, Hizashi spoke up. "Aizawa, are you getting deja vu too?," he asked. "Yep," I responded. "Only days ago we sat here talking about how I wanted a duckling," he said, recalling the past fondly. I didn't respond, also recalling the past. He continued, "Now, we have our own little duckling, he is ours," Hizashi said. "Ours," I repeated, a smile tugging at the corners of my lips, threatening to break into a grin. "Ours," he stated, already breaking into a grin of his own. Then a silence fell over us. But not the terribly awkward kind, a nice silence. One where you just know the other is there and nothing needs to be said. The nice silence lasted for a good half hour, then it was interrupted by Shinso running up to us. "Dad! Papa!," he exclaimed. "The ice cream truck," he paused to catch his breath before continuing, he had been running. "It's by the playground!," he said. "Is that so," I said acting coy. "What does that have to do with anything?," Hizashi said slyly, silently agreeing to act coy with me. Shinso, being impatient, jumped up and down. "Can we pleaseeeee get ice cream?," he said exasperated. "Hm," I looked at Hizashi. "Hm," Hizashi agreed. "Alright, just this once," I said as I stood up with Hizashi. "Lead the way, young Shinso," Hizashi said. Grinning, Shinso grabbed one of each of our hands and sprinted for the ice cream truck. Oh man, for a little eight year old he sure is fast. Hizashi and I could hardly keep up. When we made it there, Hizashi and I were out of breath. Now we actually had a reason to buy ice cream. I purchased our ice creams. Pistachio for Hizashi, Blueberry for Shinso, and Caramel for me. We had to eat quickly, due to the temperature being at least one hundred degrees. If we ate slow then we'd have a pool of ice cream in our laps. It was all gone in a matter of minutes. Soon, Shinso began to look sleepy. We'd decided we'd better head back home.

        When we got home, around 4 o'clock, I tucked Shinso in bed for a nap. Then I started making dinner. Hizashi had passed out on the couch. I got some hamburger meat from the fridge and some vegetables. I put them all into a pan, then added some spices and let them simmer for half an hour. By the time dinner was ready, it was 5 o'clock. I woke Shinso and Hizashi and told them to come eat. We soon all sat around the dinner table eating the food. Hizashi praised my cooking. Then I got embarrassed because it wasn't that hard to make. Shinso told me that my cooking is way better than anything he ate at the orphanage. I thanked him and just like that dinner was over. I washed the dishes and then we all retired to the living room to play games on the T.V.

         I dominated the two at Super Mario Bros. I had a winning streak of 10 to 0 to 0. Maybe I could've gone easier on them but they also could've tried harder. However, Shinso got all the wins for our squad in Fortnite. We played a good 30 rounds before we decided to retire to bed. 

        We tucked Shinso in together, nice and tight. Each gave him a kiss on his forehead. But we didn't leave just yet. Tonight, Shinso wanted us to read him a book. So I went over to his bookshelf, filled with the books he had picked out, from the bookstore. "Can we read 'Ky's Adventures'?," Shinso asked. "Sure," I said. I found the first book of the series, took it off the self and opened to the first page. I walked over and sat at the end of his bed. Then I started to read, "My name is Kylian Anderlin. But everyone here calls me Ky. The government is always sending me on these missions. They call them 'adventures'. I have to complete the objective of each adventure. If I don't complete the adventure, I don't know what happens. I always complete my adventure. I've just received my next adventure through the anonogram communication system they gave to me. I just call it a ACS. I have to protect the King of Egypt for a week from the evil villain, Yang. The End." "What? That's not the end!," Shinso stated. "It is for tonight," Hizashi said. "Don't worry, tomorrow night we can read chapter two," I said. "Sleep well Shinso," Hizashi and I said before we clicked off the light and left for our room.

         Laying down in our room, I hear Hizashi sigh. "Wow, that was quite the day," he said. "Yeah," I said sleepily. "Another great one tomorrow," he said. "Mhm," I reply half-awake. "Good night mi amour," Hizashi said. "Night Night 'Zashi," I say before I fall into a deep sleep. Dreaming of my lovely family and dreaming especially of how fatherhood was NOTHING like how I'd thought it'd be like. But still wonderful in all ways.