Y'know, even though I have a whole other series of Pokémon fan fiction to work on, I still persist with these shorter Blue Exorcist stories. This series is like a drug and I am hooked… This time, I decided to write about worrisome daddy Yukio, because I like to torment him now while he still hasn't snapped in the manga canon. I'm sure someone's out of character…*sigh* Also, because of my weird brain, artificial insemination is a thing in this story, so if that ruins this story for you, kindly leave before you lose your shit.

Disclaimer: Blu Rose doesn't own the Blue Exorcist series. She only owns this short one shot.

Summary: His wife may have been the one to give birth, but Yukio wasn't the father. Not that he was even sure he wanted to be one. (Future-based fic! YukioXShiemi!)

X-X-X

"I'm jealous of you." Yukio looked up from the floor of the hospital lobby and at his older brother. Rin sat on the chair next to him with his arms folded across his chest. "It must be nice having a kid like this. Nicer than how we had Kazuki, anyway." Of course it was. Not that the doctors on call at the True Cross Order weren't competent, but when there were exorcists standing by, ready to kill a newborn if he was born with Satan's flames, it must've been hard to enjoy the birth of your first—and last—child.

But that incident was why they were here. Kazuki was an accident—unexpected, as Rin and his wife Satori liked to say instead—and probably a ticking time bomb of blue flames and demonic transformation. The last thing the exorcists of the True Cross wanted was another like what they experienced with Yukio. Why else did they make it mandatory for Satan's half-human spawn to ensure that it wouldn't happen again by nipping the root of the problem in the bud?

Not that Yukio minded. Around the time that his nephew was born, he never even thought he'd get married, let alone have a family of his own. Such things always wound up being engulfed in blue flames in his thoughts. He wasn't like Rin, who didn't let his heritage stop him from proposing to the woman he fell in love with and being happy about having a child with her.

"Hey!" Rin snapped as he elbowed Yukio in the ribs, breaking him out of his thoughts. "Are you paying attention to me?"

"What is it?"

"I asked if you're sure you don't wanna be in there with her."

Yukio looked away from his brother and stared down the hall. "I…I'm not needed. She'll be fine without me. The doctors here are excellent and Shiemi is a very strong woman, you know."

"Strength's got nothing to do with this! Ain't this supposed to be a moment a husband and wife share? The birth of their first child? I thought you'd be more excited!"

"Ah…I guess I'm too nervous to be excited," Yukio said with a sheepish smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. Nervous? That may have been a proper way to describe his feelings at the moment. But the brunette half-demon felt it was justified.

After all, it wasn't really his child. Not that he really felt like a father.

X-X-X

Shiemi seemed to have picked up a 'thing' for children—especially babies. It started out with watching parents with little kids and soon led to her exploring an alternative way becoming parents. Of course, Yukio would talk her out of it: he'd tell her how uncomfortable he would feel adopting children and bringing them into their home considering their jobs and Yukio's demon heritage. He didn't want to explain to a child of any age how their foster parent was related to Satan. That was when his wife came up with another suggestion.

"Artificial insemination?" Yukio spoke slowly out of shock. Did she even know what that actually entailed?

Shiemi smiled with blushing red cheeks. "Yes! You see, we pick a choice sperm out of a selection of donations that match the traits we want and then they insert it—"

"I know what it is, thank you." Back in high school, Shiemi would be blushing from embarrassment if she was asked to explain that. But now, her blushing came from such joy at the thought of having a child that she didn't seem to care how unsettling her words might seem to her husband.

"Oh. Well, like I said, we'd just have to find a donor that came closest to your looks. And if we don't, well…we could just choose anything!"

Yukio stared at the little instructional pamphlet she had given him with a blank expression. He didn't even know such a place existed in True Cross Town. "…You really want a child, don't you?"

"Of course! I want us to have a family of our own! D…don't you?" Shiemi asked, looking as if she was on the verge of pouting.

At that moment, Yukio felt the urge to say, "Yes, of course! I'd like to as well," no matter how badly it made his stomach feel as he gave the blonde woman a fake smile. "But…raising kids isn't easy. Childbirth alone can have complications."

"I know that. But I'm willing to take those risks and face the challenges."

"…Why? Is it because of the store? Because we don't have to have children to pass it down…"

Shiemi stared at her husband in confusion. "It's not that I think I have to. I want to." She seemed content as she began to stare at her hands folded in her lap. "When I see Rin and Satori-san and Kazuki-chan looking happy together, I can't help but want us to have that sort of happiness." The blonde took hold of her husband's hand and smiled brightly. "Wouldn't it be nice to have a little boy or girl call you 'Daddy'? A-and…I kind of…want to experience pregnancy for myself," she admitted sheepishly.

"…If you want to have a child this way so badly, who am I to say no?" His wife's eyes lit up and she began to hug him and tell him all the preparations they would need to make before Yukio pointed out that they still had to find a donor. If having a family would make Shiemi happy, why should he deny it just because of his…incapability to provide that for her himself? In the end, he figured his wife's happiness was what ultimately mattered here, no matter how much he dreaded the idea of parenthood.

X-X-X

"You'll do fine, I'm sure. You've already got the sternness of a parent down, so all you need to work on is the kindness." When he didn't get a reaction from that, Rin reached over and pinched Yukio's cheek, snapping him out of his thoughts once more. "Hey! Stop wearing that expression. It makes you look like a soulless salary man." The older half-demon smirked. "If I was your kid and I thought that depressing mug belonged to my father, I'd bawl my eyes out!"

"I'm sure Kazuki saw worse when he first laid eyes on you."

"Shut up! He loved me from the moment he saw me!" Rin opened his mouth to say more, but he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. "There you are! I was starting to wonder if there was a line to the bathroom or something!"

Yukio looked in the same direction to see his sister-in-law and nephew approach them. "Well, Kazuki kept asking me to go see where the babies are sold, Rin." The way Satori spoke made Rin smile sheepishly. When Yukio stared at her in confusion, the woman explained, "Rin told him that hospitals are like grocery stores and that you can buy babies there. Now he wants to buy a baby brother."

"I bought all the money I have to help Mom and Dad. We have to buy a baby now while there's still lots of boys!" 6-year old Kazuki exclaimed with a smile.

"Kazuki, sweetie, you need to understand that babies—"

"Okumura-san! Yukio Okumura-san!" A nurse called out as he entered the lobby.

Rin lightly shoved Yukio and the brunette got up to meet the nurse with the rest of his family. "Um, is something the matter?"

"What? Oh, the birth went fine. Your wife and children are just fine."

The adults gave sighs of relief while Kazuki just looked confused. After a few seconds, the adults exclaimed, "Children?!"

"Yes! A healthy baby boy and girl! Congratulations!"

"Y-Yukio! Did you know she was having more than one child?! Er…Yukio?" Rin stared at his little brother, who stood there with his mouth open and the light of his glasses hiding his blank stare. He pinched the younger twin's cheek and snapped him out of his shock.

Twins? When did that happen?! Was this a fluke done by that sperm bank? Or did Shiemi…? No, she couldn't have! Keeping something like this hidden wasn't like her! Or so Yukio thought. Still, twins… Having to raise one child was hard enough. "C-can I see my wife now?" Yukio asked, his expression still somewhat shocked.

X-X-X

Yukio quietly entered his wife's hospital room alone. Shiemi was resting in bed, holding both of her babies in her arms with a warm and loving expression on her face. It seemed to be a shame to walk in on them at a moment like this. But just as he was contemplating leaving, she spotted him, and that warm, loving look was then directed towards him.

"How are you feeling?" He asked. "It…wasn't too hard on you, was it?" Shiemi shook her head. "That's good. I'll…leave you to get some rest."

"Don't you want to meet them?" The blonde woman spoke softly. "Come see them." Against his current feelings, Yukio approached the bedside and stood stock still next to her. "This little one is Nagisa," she said, looking at the sleeping baby with tufts of pale blonde hair, "And this one is Atsuhiko," she said, looking at the baby with tufts of light brown hair who was staring at Yukio with golden brown eyes. "Aren't they just adorable?"

He supposed so, but Yukio still felt unnerved in their presence. Something about the way Nagisa looked as she slept and the way Atsuhiko stared at him… Being responsible for not one child's life was difficult, but two? It felt as if they could be damaged so easily and judge him for the crime. He wasn't their father—it went beyond mere genetics, even. He doubted he deserved them anymore than he deserved their mother.

"Don't you want to hold one of them? Here, take Atsuhiko. You don't want to disturb Nagisa," Shiemi spoke. "It's just like we practiced."

"They…aren't dolls, Shiemi. I-I could wind up hurting him, or dropping him…!"

"I know you won't. Go on…"

They stared at each other for what felt like minutes before Yukio gave in and reluctantly took the child into his arms. Atsuhiko fussed a bit in his arms before calming down, though he continued staring intensely at the half-demon. "I don't think he likes me. He probably knows I'm not his father."

"Don't say such things!" Shiemi raised her voice, making her husband jump. "You're his father who's going to worry over him and raise him and love him! Please, just…stop coming up with stupid excuses and just let yourself have this!"

"I…I'm sorry… I'm sorry you're both going to have to put up with me…and all the troubles that I'll bring into your life. But I'll try to make sure you'll live normal, happy lives." Atsuhiko didn't smile or laugh, but he nestled against Yukio's body and became more relaxed in his arms than before. "After all, I'm your father…" Yukio mumbled with a small smile as his son made a curious coo.

X-X-X

Shiemi was a mother because she wanted to be. She wasn't entirely sure why that desire suddenly became something like a dream: maybe her joking mother was right and her biological clock just insisted that now was the time to have children, or the fact that several people she knew were beginning to start their own families, or maybe it was the silly thought that having a child to raise would help to remind her husband Yukio that his heritage's stigma didn't have to stop them from raising a family. Whatever the reason, she knew she wanted to experience that with Yukio.

"Now's not the time for playing. It's time to take your nap. Ah, stop that!" Shiemi watched with a smile from the doorway as Yukio struggled to put Nagisa in her crib for her afternoon nap. Since she returned from the hospital, her husband seemed insistent that he take up most of the work to give her time to recover—and that included tending to their newborn son and daughter. It was amazing to think that the man who was terrified by the thought of being a parent was now totally willing to hold his daughter and rock her to sleep—or try to. He was distracted by Nagi grabbing his glasses and playing around with them. "Nagisa, give those—" Before Yukio could finish his sentence, his glasses went flying through the air and hit the wall next to the doorway.

Shiemi bent down and picked up the glasses while Yukio continued to rock the baby in his arms despite the lack of glasses. After a minute of soft humming, Nagisa seemed to calm down enough to be placed in the crib next to Atsuhiko's. "You did a better job this time," Shiemi spoke up, drawing her husband's attention to her. "It only took you ten minutes to get them both to calm down."

"You should be resting."

"So should you! It makes me feel bad to think that you're wearing yourself thin because of me!" The blonde woman complained as she approached the brunette. She put his glasses back on for him—though not without the effort of standing on her toes and Yukio bending down a bit—and gave him a kiss. "The kids wouldn't want that either."

"Are you sure? It seems like they get a laugh every time they throw my glasses away or throw something at me."

"That's just their way of playing! It means they like you enough to want to stay up and play with you!"

"I'm glad they like me, but I'm not sure if I like how they show affection…"

Shiemi grabbed ahold of Yukio's hand and began to pull him out of the babies' room. "You're just exhausted. I'll make you something to eat so you'll feel just fine! And don't tell me not to, or I'll just force feed you!" Yukio closed his mouth before he could say anything. Shiemi stopped walking once outside and suddenly started to hug her husband tightly. "You'll be the best father, you know."

Yukio gulped and, rather than voice his doubts, returned the hug. "You'll be a better mother."

They stood in each other's embrace for a few seconds of tender silence before the blonde woman asked, "How would you feel about having another child someday? Maybe triplets?"

"…That's a joke, right?"

"Well…"

"No. I mean, no triplets. Let's…just consider it after the twins are older…"