title: irresponsibility
prompt: "I'm pregnant."
"Shinichi."
I ignore him for a moment, intent on finishing the last few sentences of the chapter I'm reading. And predictably, seconds later, there's a puff of smoke and then empty air where my book used to be. "What is it?" Kaito leans over top of my armchair. Even looking at it upside down I can tell his poker face is strained. I lift a hand up to rest on his cheek and frown. "What's wrong?"
Kaito slips around the chair and sits on the arm, tucks his (cold) feet under my (previously warm) legs, and hugs his knees. Now I'm really worried.
"Aoko's pregnant," he says abruptly. Oh.
"I'm… I'm not sure what the problem is."
"She wants me to be the kid's godfather." Ah. So that's it. "I really don't want to say no to her, but…"
"But there's also the knowledge that if something ever went wrong, you'd be responsible for a tiny and rather fragile human life. And you're inclined to think you're irresponsible and you think it's a bad idea."
"…Maybe?"
"Kaito, you know she wouldn't ask you if she didn't think you were capable."
"But Shinichi, I don't want something to go wrong. It can't. And whe—if—something ever happened to Aoko, I'd be too busy having a mental breakdown to take care of a kid. You know that." All too well. Kaito's voice turns more serious and a bit pleading. "Can you do it? Please? It amounts to the same thing, the kid'd be living with us either way and I—"
I cut him off, "Of course I will, if Ms. Aoko agree to it."
The tension is gone immediately and there's overwhelming relief in his eyes as he says confidently, "Oh she will, eventually. I'll have you know that I can be very persuasive when I put my mind to it."
Don't I know it.
note: these will mostly be stories that are not long enough to be stories, but are too long to be drabbles bc i have a ridiculously hard time limiting myself to 100w and see no reason to most of the time. bc sometimes i get prompts on tumblr. very occasionally. yes i would like more. come into my askbox and send me some.