Title: The Egg
Rating: PG
Pairing: Yamucha/Tenshinhan
Summary: Suddenly Tenshinhan, lifelong martial artist and champion of the Twenty Second Tenkaichi Budokai, was sitting in bed cradling a giant egg in his arms.
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball.
Warnings: Humor, Slash, AU (Takes place one year after the Cell Games)
Author's Notes: Although this started off as a crack idea, it turned out a lot more serious than I'd intended.
"Wow, it's really big," Yamucha observed, crouching down to get a better look.
He didn't pick it up right away; just left it resting on the ground nestled between the knee high blades of grass. He placed both of his hands on top of its smooth white surface - although with his exceptional vision, Tenshinhan could make out the little bumps and rough marks of imperfection - feeling it out as if to test the structure's integrity. He could tell just from Yamucha's touch that it was hard, sturdy and the fact that Yamucha's hands didn't even begin to cover it confirmed that it was one of the biggest eggs he had ever seen.
"This isn't what I was expecting," Yamucha said flippantly.
Tenshinhan nodded, although he already knew that Yamucha couldn't see him do so since he was standing a few steps behind him. He had never been one for words and he hadn't the slightest clue what to say about the thing sitting on the grass in front of them. In truth, Tenshinhan hadn't really given much thought to the wish when Yamucha had approached him with the idea.
No, that was a lie. His first thoughts in regards to the prospect had been that it was a reckless idea, that Yamucha had probably come up with it in a fit of jealousy and had allowed the thought to gnaw away at him until the only thing left to do was put the mad plan into action. After all, the two of them having a child just seemed like a ridiculous notion, didn't it?
Not to Yamucha though. Yamucha had thought it was brilliant, perfect, and completely rational. Tenshinhan didn't see things that way. He knew that he was no father and that any kid raised by him probably wouldn't be very well adjusted. On the other hand, the idea of having a baby made Yamucha happy and that was something he hadn't been in a long time, not since the whole thing with Bulma and Vegeta. Tenshinhan wanted to see Yamucha happy again, because in a complicated way he did like Yamucha.
He couldn't say that he loved Yamucha, because saying that he was in love with a man, even after all they had been through and done together, still seemed strange to him. Tenshinhan only knew that he enjoyed being with Yamucha, that he liked his company and felt at ease around him whether they were sparring or talking or simply sitting around in a comfortable silence. It was an enjoyment that he didn't get from a lot of people, and in a selfish way he was glad that Yamucha and Bulma had broken up in such a volatile manner. If she hadn't gone and slept with Vegeta, putting their long relationship to a very definite end, then Tenshinhan was certain he never would have been able to spend so much time with Yamucha and discovered the depths of his feelings.
"What do you thinks inside?" Yamucha asked, his voice bringing Tenshinhan back to the present. He watched as Yamucha gave a thoughtful hum, leaning back on his haunches as if to get a better look at the egg so he could study it further. "I hope it's human."
"But humans don't come from eggs," Pu'ar pointed out. He floated towards the ground, circling the egg and looking at it curiously. Pu'ar looked as if he wanted to touch the egg like Yamucha had, but held back as if telling himself it wasn't his place. "Maybe Shenlong misunderstood your wish?"
"There's not really much to misinterpret," Yamucha shrugged. "I very clearly remember saying the word 'baby,' not 'egg.'"
"How much would a magical dragon created by an alien being know about human biology?" Tenshinhan asked bluntly.
Yamucha turned and gave him a tired look. "You've got a point," he sighed, slumping his shoulders slightly before turning his attention back towards the egg. He tipped forward once more, resting his hand on top of the shell as though he were checking for some sign of life. "There could be a dragon inside."
"Or a little Piccolo," Tenshinhan muttered, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Whuh?" Yamucha asked, twisting around once again to give him a curious look.
"Piccolo Daimao," he clarified. "He spat out eggs. They kind of looked like this."
Tenshinhan shuddered at the memory of watching Piccolo Daimao cough up a large slime covered egg and spit it to the ground. The egg had hatched instantaneously into a scaly green monster with the body of a Sumo wrestler and a head like a spiked frog. He sincerely hoped that whatever was inside of this egg didn't look like that.
Yamucha nodded slowly, turning back towards the egg and looking at it carefully. He seemed to consider something for a while, before deciding to shrug off his jacket and wrap it around the egg. "Well, whatever's inside of it, it's our kid now," he declared. Yamucha stood, cradling the egg to his chest the way one would a baby and Tenshinhan couldn't help but think of how absurd this all seemed.
"Maybe we should crack it open and see what's inside," Chaozu suggested. His words were sincere and helpful, but it caused the three of them to stiffen in horror at the suggestion.
"I don't think that would be such a good idea," Pu'ar said, laughing nervously at the puzzled expression on Chaozu's pale face.
"Yeah, eggs need to hatch on their own," Yamucha added. Tenshinhan's sharp eyes caught the way his grip tightened on the egg, hugging it closer to his chest as if to protect it from anyone who might attempt to snatch it away. "How long did Piccolo Daimao's eggs take to hatch?" he asked, turning his attention towards Tenshinhan.
He shrugged. "Right away, I think."
Yamucha frowned thoughtfully as he looked down at the egg in his arms. Shenlong had disappeared a few minutes ago, the Dragon Balls had already been scattered towards odd ends of the world, but Tenshinhan suddenly regretted their decision to simply dismiss the dragon after the first wish. They should have used the second to clarify what it was that they were dealing with.
"This is kinda like a school project I had once," Yamucha mused. "My science teacher gave us all eggs to take care of and raise as babies." He paused, a bitter look spreading across his features. "I failed since Bulma's mom accidentally peeled mine and used it in a soup."
Tenshinhan cocked a curious eyebrow at Yamucha's words. He often felt that Yamucha was one of the more normal ones out of their odd group of acquaintances, but there were times that he said some very odd things.
The thought of their group suddenly reminded Tenshinhan of their surroundings and their peculiar situation. The sky turning pitch black in the middle of the day wasn't exactly something that would go unnoticed by those who were aware of the Dragon Balls and the fact that Yamucha had taken Bulma's Dragon Radar without permission ("She can make a new one in an afternoon," Yamucha had sneered, "And after all the crap she's put me through, this is just a minor offense.") would certainly cause some alarm.
"We shouldn't stay here," he said, glancing towards the sky. He didn't sense any large ki approaching them, but he didn't want to take any chances. "Let's go somewhere and sort all this out."
"Let's go to my place," Yamucha suggested, digging in his pocket for his capsule case. "I've already got some stuff set up that we can use to keep this thing warm."
Tenshinhan nodded. He and Chaozu didn't exactly have any permanent lodging set up let alone any baby related supplies. Needless to say going to Yamucha's apartment was their best and only option at the moment.
"Throw the number six," Yamucha instructed as he handed his small case to Pu'ar.
"I'll drive," Tenshinhan offered, glancing at the egg still nestled in Yamucha's arms. "You look like you've got your hands full as it is."
"This is gonna look really strange," Yamucha said, a wry smile play along his features as he lowered the egg carefully into the empty bassinet that he had set up in his bedroom.
Tenshinhan shook his head, unable to hold back the soft laugh welling up in his throat at Yamucha's colossal understatement. If anyone had walked in on the two of them at that moment, they would have thought for certain that they were about to play a tasteless prank on some unsuspecting parent.
Strange. That's what Yamucha had said, but he was wrong. Their lives were strange. Fighting and dying and being resurrected was strange. Battling aliens and androids for the fate of the planet was strange. This was something else entirely. This wasn't strange, it was crazy. It was crazy to go to a magical, wish granting dragon and ask for a child. It was crazy to take a giant egg home and treat it like a baby. Yet that was exactly what Yamucha was doing and...
... and as he stood there watching Yamucha gently drape a blanket around the egg's smooth white shell, his fingers gently tracing each bump and imperfection on its surface like the round cheeks on a child's face, Tenshinhan couldn't find it in himself to call his friend crazy. That would be a step too far, a word too harsh. After all, what had Yamucha done except bore his soul to him? Yamucha had shown more courage than Tenshinhan had in him when he'd had asked him to help fulfill this dream. Tenshinhan could barely bring himself to think about how he truly felt for Yamucha, but the other warrior had said more than words ever could when he'd grabbed his hand and asked him to raise a baby with him.
Yet life had gone and thrown Yamucha another curve ball, giving him an egg instead of the baby he'd dreamed off. And what next? What happened if this egg hatched and a monster came out instead of a human child? What happened if the egg never hatched or took an eternity to do so? It was all too much to think about.
"What should we name it?" Yamucha asked, bringing Tenshinhan back to the present. "The baby I mean. I've been thinking of some names, but... I dunno. Do you have any ideas?"
Tenshinhan blinked at the question. He was a bit embarrassed to admit that he had barely thought about such things assuming that Yamucha would. After all, this was Yamucha's idea, not his. Shouldn't that automatically mean that the former bandit would be the one to take care of the minor details like naming the baby, changing it, feeding it?
"I don t know," he said honestly. "I haven't really been thinking about that."
Yamucha frowned. "Haven't been thinking?" he echoed. He clucked his tongue, placing his hands on his hip and shook his head. Tenshinhan suddenly felt like a child about to be scolded. "Come on Tenshinhan, this is your kid too."
A slight heat tinged his cheeks at Yamucha's words. "Yeah, but... well I don't know anything about raising kids."
"Neither do I," he shrugged. "But how hard can it be? Goku did it after all."
A laugh escaped him, but it was a strangled, half hearted sound. Even after being dead for a good year, it was still difficult to talk to about their friend so casually. This was the first time in a long time that death was going to be permanent for any of them and the idea of Son of all people being gone forever left a giant gap in all of their lives.
"I think we need another blanket," Yamucha mused, as he stared down at the egg. "I really want to make sure it stays warm. Maybe a heat lamp?"
Tenshinhan frowned in distaste at the idea. "I feel like we'd end up cooking the egg like that," he muttered. "Maybe just a few more blankets."
Yamucha nodded. "Yeah, you're probably right. I guess I'll grab another blanket." He began to walk away, and then stopped and turned back to stare at him. "Um, do you want to stay over? I know it's not that late, but... well, I dunno. I've got some leftovers you guys can eat."
Tenshinhan felt himself stiffen at the question. He knew what Yamucha was asking, what he was really asking, and it made him feel hesitant, more aware of the other man's feelings. Tenshinhan had once joked that Yamucha felt things deeper than he did, but Yamucha had thrown back that he simply had more feelings than Tenshinhan. At that moment, he couldn't help wonder if he had been right.
"I guess we can stay," he said after awhile. "We probably weren't going to get much training in tonight anyway."
Yamucha smiled, pleased. He went to move again, but this time, Tenshinhan stopped him.
"What are we going to tell the others?" he asked. Yamucha gave him a blank look, so he added, "about the baby? If... well, what should we say?"
"We don't have to say anything," he shrugged indifferently. "What we do together is our business, not theirs."
There was bitterness in Yamucha's words, a sour note that would show itself every now and again ever since the break up. Tenshinhan knew that Yamucha was still hurting over the whole incident with Bulma and was having a hard time shuffling out his feelings on all ends. It twisted his gut to see Yamucha this way and he sincerely hoped that there would be a day when Yamucha could be civil with Bulma again. After all, Tenshinhan didn't need many people in his life, he was content with just being with Chaozu and Yamucha, but Yamucha needed people, needed friends and company.
Tenshinhan didn't say anything else on the subject, didn't offer him any words of comfort (he was a terrible friend in that way), he just nodded his head slowly and decided to switch back to the original topic. "I suppose I'll go tell Chaozu we'll be staying the night."
He walked out of Yamucha's bedroom and into the living room. Chaozu was sitting on Yamucha's sofa swinging his short legs off the edge as he flipped through channels on the television. They weren't around such modern comforts very often since they spent most of their time training in the mountains, but Chaozu had always been able to easily slip back into what some would consider a "normal" life.
Pu'ar floated into the living room just as he entered, handing Chaozu a cup of tea before flying back over to the kitchen. "Tenshinhan-san, would you like some tea?"
"That'll be fine." He sat down slowly on the couch beside Chaozu. The cup of tea was now cradled in Chaozu's small white hands and the remote control hung in midair, floating there as the channel continued to change, seemingly on its own. "Yamucha asked us to stay the night," Tenshinhan said once Chaozu had stopped changing stations and settled on what looked like a monster movie.
"Does that mean the egg will hatch tonight?" he asked, looking up at Tenshinhan curiously.
"I don't know," he said honestly. "I don't think so. It might be a while. It's hard to tell."
"I wish we knew what kind of egg we were dealing with," Pu'ar lamented just as he came floating into the living room with Tenshinhan's tea. The small cat's features were pulled into a worried look that managed to make him look strangely doll like. "Yamucha-sama's been waiting for this day for so long."
"Where will the egg live after it's hatched?" Chaozu asked. Babies were such a foreign thing to Chaozu and Tenshinhan could tell that this whole situation fascinated him.
"With Yamucha," Tenshinhan said automatically and just as quickly found himself feeling awful.
Whatever's inside of it, it's our kid now. Yamucha's words echoed in his head, vibrating in his heart and twisting his stomach. It was their child, theirs to raise together. Yet they didn't even live together, didn't even make plans together. It was all so complicated.
Tenshinhan watched as Chaozu's face became crestfallen, disappointed by his friend's response. "But isn't the baby ours too, Ten-san?" he asked. "Why does Yamucha get to keep it?"
"Hey, hey, I'm not keeping anything," Yamucha said, making his presence known as he walked into the living room. Tenshinhan was mildly surprised to see that he was carrying the egg in his arms again, only now it was wrapped up in a yellow blanket, part of its shell peeking out from between the folds of fabric like a face. "We're gonna work something out so you guys can see the baby all the time."
Baby. So Yamucha had managed to convince himself that it was a baby waiting to be born underneath that shell. That was fine. Tenshinhan wouldn't crush his dreams. He'd just quietly hope that Yamucha was right and that the world didn't deal him another bad hand.
"I thought you were going to put the egg to bed," Tenshinhan said, nodding towards the bundle in Yamucha's arms.
He shrugged, leaning his hip against the arm of the couch. "Yeah, I changed my mind. It's stupid, but I don't really want to put it down."
"What do you think it'll be Yamucha-sama?" Pu'ar asked, flying over to Yamucha before landing on his shoulder. "A boy or a girl?"
"How would I know?" he laughed, bouncing the egg as if it were actually a baby. "It's an egg, I can't see through its shell."
"What would you want it to be?" Chaozu asked, the television completely forgotten in the face of the far more interesting object in Yamucha's arms.
"A boy, I guess," Yamucha said honestly. "I always wanted a son. A girl would be nice too, though. A sweet girl. There's not enough of those left in the world."
Nighttime in the city was something that Tenshinhan didn't get to experience often. It was strange and beautiful in its own way, watching the busy outside world come to a gradual halt as the streets and buildings lit up like little stars that had drifted closer to earth. It wasn't quite the same as spending the night under a blanket of stars, but there was a different charm to it all.
Yet tonight Yamucha wasn't at all focused on the stars or the lights or the sounds of cars passing by down below. His attention was solely centered on the egg.
"I really hope it'll stay warm enough," Yamucha sighed, wrapping a third blanket around the egg. At this point, it no longer looked like an egg at all, just a pile of clothes that had been thrown into an empty crib. "It's gotten a lot warmer since this afternoon."
Tenshinhan hummed thoughtfully as he adjusted the pillows on the futon. A part of him hoped that he could go to sleep and wake up the next morning with everything back to normal, that this whole day had just been a very odd dream. Yet a bigger part of him knew that that was a stupid, selfish thought. This was Yamucha's wish and so far it was already making him quite happy. Tenshinhan was beginning to wonder why he had even gone along with Yamucha to make this wish, if he had even been needed at all. He didn't seem to be very useful and Yamucha seemed more than content to do everything himself.
"We should probably get some rest," Tenshinhan suggested, folding back the blankets and slipping underneath. "We don't know when that egg's going to hatch and, well, I guess there won't be much peace and quiet after that happens."
"I guess you're right," Yamucha laughed. He was just about to walk away from the bassinet when a thought seemed to pop into his head. "Hey, you've never touched the egg, have you?"
Tenshinhan stiffened, blinking in surprise at the question. He hadn't even realized that he hadn't touched it, but he supposed it was because the idea just seemed so strange. What's more, Yamucha had clung to the egg all day, holding it in his arms every possible second, reluctant to let it out of his sight. "Um, yeah, I guess I haven't."
"Well, here, hold it just once before we go to bed," Yamucha said, grabbing the egg gingerly and bringing it towards Tenshinhan. He stiffened as Yamucha knelt down beside him, holding the egg in his arms and peeling back the layers of blanket before revealing a smooth white shell. "Say goodnight to Junior," he joked.
"Junior?" Tenshinhan repeated.
Yamucha shrugged. "Just a nickname I gave him." He frowned when he noticed that Tenshinhan still hadn't made a move to receive the egg. "Come on, Ten, take the egg."
Tenshinhan felt his cheeks go pink both at Yamucha's use of his nickname and situation. The absurdity of it all was mounting with every single second, yet Tenshinhan could tell by the look on Yamucha's face that his feelings would be hurt if he didn't take the egg. Swallowing his pride, he opened his arms and allowed his friend to lay the large white oval in his arms. Suddenly Tenshinhan, lifelong martial artist and champion of the Twenty Second Tenkaichi Budokai, was sitting in bed with another man cradling a giant egg in his arms. Life couldn't get much weirder.
"Feel the shell," Yamucha said, lowering his voice to a whisper as if the egg were a child, sleeping peacefully in Tenshinhan's embrace. "It's so warm. I wonder if that means it'll hatch soon."
He brushed his large fingers against the shell and found that Yamucha was correct, the egg was quite warm. In fact, he could feel a faint ki radiating from within it, growing stronger every second. He wondered if Yamucha felt it as well.
Tenshinhan continued to stare at the shell and suddenly its surface didn't look so painfully white. It looked vaguely orange as if the heat from within was rising, stretching out to greet them. He pressed his palm flat against the egg's surface and felt... something. It was hard to describe - a flutter, a push, a wave - but it was there and it was captivating.
It was only when Yamucha's hand fell on his shoulder that Tenshinhan realized that they had been sitting in silence for a while. Not that he minded. He didn't mind quiet, especially not with Yamucha around. Yet he guessed that he should have felt embarrassed since he had just been staring at an egg as if in some sort of trance. He looked up at Yamucha and saw that his expression was soft, openly gazing at him with so many emotions.
"I really want to thank you," Yamucha whispered to him. "Thank you for today, for... for agreeing to do this with me. I feel like anyone else would have laughed in my face. You didn't. I appreciate that."
Tenshinhan nodded, staring back at Yamucha as his heart began to thump loudly in his chest. "You're welcome."
"I know you're not one for feelings and stuff, but..." Yamucha stopped, considering his words carefully as his hand moved from Tenshinhan's shoulder to the back of his head. His touch made the little hairs on the base of his neck stand up and his whole body flush. He was leaning in, they both were and before he knew it, the gap between them had been closed and they were kissing.
Tenshinhan heard Yamucha take in a deep breath as his own eyes slipped close, forcing himself to deepen the kiss. His tongue darted out on its own accord, brushing against Yamucha's lips until they parted, allowing him entry. Yamucha's tongue brushed against his and goose flesh exploded across his skin. His tongue retreated just as Yamucha began to suck on his lower lip, his other hand landing on Tenshinhan's arm and gripping his bicep carefully. His heart went lub lub between them, the sound churning in his ears as the egg still resting in his arms seemed to flare with wild energy.
Yamucha must have felt it, because he pulled back suddenly and looked down at the thing cradled to Tenshinhan's chest. "You okay, Junior?" Yamucha asked, rubbing his hands over it soothingly.
"I think he needs to go to bed," Tenshinhan suggested, handing the egg back to Yamucha.
He smiled knowingly down at him, patting the egg gently in his arms. "Yeah, it's been a long day."
Waking up the next morning to the sound of Yamucha crying out in terror was not at all how Tenshinhan expected to start his day. His three eyes went from blurry to sharp in a heartbeat as his warrior instincts quickly kicked into life. He was up and on his feet in an instant, staring at Yamucha who was standing over the bassinet and looking down in horror.
"Yamucha? What happened?"
"The egg!" Yamucha breathed. "The egg, it's... it's cracked."
He moved quickly to Yamucha's side and saw what had caused such fear to well up in the other man's heart. The egg was in fact cracked, but it was a hair line crack, a sliver of imperfection along its smooth surface. Tenshinhan wanted to shrug his shoulders and say that it was nothing, but he understood why Yamucha was so upset, why even now he couldn't bring himself to relax: he didn't know what was happening. Neither of them knew what a cracked egg could mean. Was the egg hatching? Had the egg rotted in the middle of the night? Had something somehow managed to damage the shell?
The egg's ki was still strong, he could feel its warm energy pulsing steadily from within the cracked shell, but that was it. Did that mean the life inside was safe? Would it be alright for long?
"What do we do?" Yamucha asked, his voice surprisingly uncertain and small. "I don't know what to do."
"Let's find something to mend the shell," Tenshinhan suggested, taking charge as he would in a fight. It probably wasn't a great plan, but it was a plan none the less. Reaching into the crib, he gently grabbed the egg and handed it over to Yamucha. "Here, hold this and make sure to keep it warm. I'll go get something to try to fix it with."
Tenshinhan left the room before Yamucha could even manage a response. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, but he knew that he had to find some way to fix things.
He saw Chaozu stirring from the corner of his vision, his pale features peeking out from the edge of the couch as he rubbed the sleep from his tired eyes. "Ten-san? What's happening?" Chaozu asked, quickly becoming more alert at the sight of Tenshinhan's tense features.
"The egg cracked," he said simply.
Pu'ar, who had been resting peacefully in his own little bed off in the corner, instantly popped awake at Tenshinhan's announcement. "What?" he asked, fear making his voice quiver.
Tenshinhan barely had time to think of something to say when he heard Yamucha call to him again. "Ten! Come here! Quick!"
He spun around on his heels, heading back into the room to see Yamucha crouching on the futon, cradling the egg in his arms. The small hair line crack had spread until a spider web like pattern decorated its surface. What's more, the small ki that he had felt from within the egg had spiked, it was pulsating franticly to the point that the egg itself was actually moving.
Tenshinhan felt his eyes widen and his heartbeat quicken as everything clicked into place. "Put it down," he said, gently guiding Yamucha's hands towards the soft mattress of the futon. "Let it happen. Let it come out on its own."
"What's happening?" Chaozu asked as he entered the bedroom. Pu'ar came floating in close behind him and suddenly the room felt quite crowded.
"Chaozu, go grab some towels," Tenshinhan ordered. They didn't need any more towels since Yamucha had already wrapped the egg with enough blankets to fill out a closet, but Tenshinhan just didn't want Chaozu to see this. He had a feeling that it would be a bit shocking for him. "And some hot water."
"Okay," his friend nodded, setting off to do his assigned task without question.
"Like we need anything else to cover it," Yamucha grumbled as he peeled off the blankets like skin off of an orange.
The egg continued to crack, the soft lines deepening until pieces of them started to chip away. The shell was radiating heat to the point where Tenshinhan could feel it from where he stood. It began to wobble slightly, rolling back and forth. Yamucha reached out his hands slightly as if to catch the egg before it could fall off of the bed, but he didn't touch it. His hands hovered inches away, acting as a barrier of sorts.
Tenshinhan kneeled down on the opposite side of the bed, watching intently as the lower half of the shell finally popped off revealing tiny, pink, human legs. The relief humming in his heart was overshadowed by the wonder still churning inside of him as the top half of the egg continued to shake, the shell pulsing until two hands finally managed to shove off the other half, revealing the baby's head and causing the rest of the shell to simply crumble away.
"Wow," he breathed. His mind was working overtime to process the sight before him. It was hard to comprehend that just seconds ago there had been an egg sitting between them where this baby now lay.
Chaozu had re-entered the room then and stood standing in the doorway, staring in awe at the new life lying on the bed. Yamucha turned towards him and quickly grabbed the towel and bowl of water out of his small hands. Setting the bowl down on the mattress, he dipped the end of the towel into the water before using it to wipe at the baby's mouth and nose. The baby instantly began to cry, breathing life into itself and flailing its limbs about wildly as Yamucha continued to clean off every inch of skin.
"It's okay," Yamucha soothed as he wrapped the baby up in one of the clean blankets and scooping the child up into his arms. "It's okay. You're here with us now, son."
Son. They had a son. Tenshinhan felt his stomach do back flips as he stared at the infant still wailing in Yamucha's arms. He was smaller than the egg that had housed him, but looked plump and full enough that Tenshinhan didn't feel at all as if he were underdeveloped in anyway. His little head was perfectly round with soft wisps of black hair decorating his scalp. His nose was flat, button like, and Tenshinhan could tell from the slit in the middle of his forehead that he had developed a third eye.
"He has three eyes," Yamucha observed. He blinked, looking up at him questioningly. "You never told me that that was genetic."
"I, uh," he stammered, not at all sure what to say on the matter. He didn't have any memories of his parents or his life before Tsuru Sennin, but for as long as Tenshinhan could remember he'd always had three eyes and keen sight. Yet Tenshinhan hadn't expected that it would matter. How was he supposed to know that this trait would develop in their baby?
"I guess this kinda makes it obvious that he's our kid, huh?" Yamucha joked. He smiled, grabbing the baby's tiny little hand between his thumb and fore finger and giving the little fingers a quick kiss.
Tenshinhan smiled, carefully shifting closer to the other man. Yamucha was already settling into the role of father quite easily and in that moment Tenshinhan felt quite proud of him. He reached out and tugged on the edge of the blanket gently so that he could carefully inspect every inch of the child. The baby looked healthy, ten fingers and ten toes and nothing but smooth pink skin.
"He doesn't have a belly button," Chaozu pointed out, standing on the tips of his toes to get a good look at the baby.
Yamucha gave a thoughtful frown as he followed Chaozu's line of sight. "You're right," he confirmed, rubbing the smooth stomach with the tips of his rough fingers. "So he's got three eyes, two dads, and no belly button. Pretty normal considering our group."
They chuckled softly at Yamucha's joke. Tenshinhan supposed that the baby would fit right in with their friends, if Yamucha decided he wanted to introduce them of course. If they ever saw the others again that is. The only time they ever saw each other was when the world was in crisis and that didn't seem likely to happen anytime soon.
"What will you call him, Yamucha-sama?" Pu'ar asked, resting heavily on Yamucha's shoulder in order to get a better look at the new baby.
"I dunno," Yamucha muttered thoughtfully as he continued to stare down at the baby. The child had stopped crying and had opened his almond shaped eyes, gazing at his surrounding curiously. Yamucha shifted his gaze towards Tenshinhan. "What do you think of Pidan?"
"Pidan?" Tenshinhan hummed thoughtfully as he turned the name over in his head. "Pidan. I like it."
Pidan - Chinese egg dish