A/N: Thanks for all the lovely reviews. You guys are awesome!
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I was given two more weeks off missions so that I could help Allen adjust to life at headquarters with a baby. Everything was basically the same as the previous month had been, only this time instead of having Cross hovering over my shoulder and questioning my every move, I had to deal with people fawning over Addie and questioning my relationship with the Moyashi.
It was annoying having to repeatedly explain to everyone that Allen's baby really was mine, and their unsolicited baby advice was even worse. While I knew that some of the finders actually had children of their own, it seemed to me like not a single one of them knew what they were talking about. I may not have known a thing about babies before Addie came along, but the Moyashi and I were her parents and we knew what was best for her.
Ironically, it wasn't my temper that shut the busybodies up; it was Allen's black side. One, apparently suicidal, female finder tried to correct his breastfeeding technique, but she caught him while he was hormonal, and he flipped out on her, almost sending her to the infirmary. It didn't completely stop everyone from trying to give us advice, but it certainly made them hesitate before doing so.
We also had to endure some teasing over the two of us dating, but all anyone cared about was that we used to hate each other. The fact that our relationship was homosexual was ignored. We weren't the only gay couple at the Order, and there were several openly gay finders who had joined the Order for the sole reason that it was a place where they would be accepted.
In fact, when we finally got Lavi to tell us how he had figured out that Allen was pregnant, we learned that the Order had intentionally opened its doors to homosexuals. Because male parasite-types are able to bear children, the majority of them are gay, so the Order decided to accept all homosexuals in order to make them feel welcome. Prior to Allen's pregnancy, all of the male parasite-types in the last twenty years were straight, and so the information fell out of public knowledge.
Allen didn't take that news particularly well. Despite his love for Addie, he was still rather pissed that no one had ever told him that he could get pregnant. It almost upset him more to learn that he wasn't told simply because people had incorrectly assumed that he was straight. He immediately dropped the issue though, when I pointed out to him that if we had known beforehand, the rest of us would have teased him incessantly about it.
There were no repeats of the oral sex from our final night in Nice during those two weeks, but the Moyashi did finally let me jerk him off, and that was almost better; he was loosening up. We made out on the couch in our room almost daily, once forgetting to lock the door and nearly giving Miranda a heart attack. None of it was what I wanted most from the boy, but I knew it was the most he was comfortable with giving me, so I didn't force the issue. Especially not now that he was saying "I love you" back to me.
Everything was going great, until General Teidoll showed up.
My former teacher was always overbearing when it came to family things, and if there was one thing that would send him completely over the edge, and make him even more of a pain in my ass, it would be finding out that I had a child. The memory of how he had acted at Marie's wedding was still painfully fresh in my memory, and I didn't want that to happen to me. Ever.
But there he was, walking into the cafeteria, while I was sitting with Addie. Unfortunately, Allen was off having some much needed alone time, and I was by myself. There wasn't even another exorcist around for me to use as a distraction so that I could escape. I held as still as possible, hoping he wouldn't see me, but it was futile. Teidoll headed straight towards me. "Good Morning, Yuu-kun!"
I clicked my tongue and pretended like I hadn't heard him, but instead of taking the hint, he continued to come closer. The old man's eyes lit up with excitement as he caught sight of the blankets in my arms. When he was close enough, he leaned over the sleeping baby and stroked her cheek. "And who is this beautiful little one?"
I bit back my gut reaction to push him away. He would find out who she was eventually, and I knew that his reaction would be much, much worse if he heard it from someone other than myself. "This is Addie. She's your granddaughter."
From the blank look on his face, he clearly didn't get it. I decided not to say anything more, curious as to what conclusion the old artist would reach, though I would come to regret that decision almost immediately. The frizzy haired man continued to look over Addie, gently tracing her features with his fingers as if she was a work of art. When he finally spoke, his voice was barely audible over the cafeteria noise. "Why didn't Marie or Miranda say anything to me about having a daughter?"
"Che." I was mildly offended; of everyone I knew, I thought Teidoll would be the one to understand that Addie was my daughter. "She's not theirs, she's mine."
The shocked look Teidoll gave me would have been priceless if it wasn't immediately followed by him bursting into tears and trapping me in a bear hug. "You met a girl?! I'm so happy for you!"
Unable to shove him off me without risking hurting the baby, I could do nothing but sit there as he babbled on like that for the next ten minutes. It was the expected nonsense: a mixture of amazement over me having a baby and offense that he wasn't invited to my wedding. I didn't want to correct him, but I knew I had to, so when the old artist finally paused for breath, I interrupted. "Let me stop you there. The only girl in this story is Addie. And I'm not married or engaged, so you can drop that too."
The words worked like magic, making Teidoll break the hug and back away from me. He looked more confused than I had ever seen him before. Why did I promise the Moyashi that I wouldn't swear around the baby?
The old artist adjusted his glasses as he tried to make sense of what was happening. "So then, she's adopted?"
"Che. Like I'd willingly take responsibility for a baby that wasn't related to me." The sarcasm was a gut reaction, but Teidoll had always brought out that side of me.
Knowing that the game of twenty questions he would start would be even more painful than my attempt at an explanation, I sighed heavily and spoke before Teidoll could chide me for my attitude, like his expression said he was about to do. "Before you freak out, you should know that I'm gay. Addie's mother is male."
When he said nothing and just stared blankly at me, I continued to explain. "I don't know if you already know this or not, but male parasite-type accommodators are capable of bearing children. The-"
"You slept with a fellow exorcist?!" I felt like cursing again. Of course that would be the detail that Teidoll fixated on. His next words just made that feeling worse. "Which one?"
The glint in his eye told me that there was no escape from answering the question. It wasn't that I didn't want to say it out loud, it was that I didn't want to say it to Teidoll; he was going to be obnoxious about it. "Allen Walker."
The old man was silent for a moment, and when he finally spoke, his tone was disappointed, like he believed that I had done something unspeakably horrible. "Oh, Yuu... Please tell me you didn't rape that poor boy."
Why does everyone think that?! Unable to hold it in any longer, I let out a stream of curse words.
"Yuu! Language!" The chiding was almost expected; ever since I had made that idiotic promise, Allen always seemed to show up just in time to catch me breaking it. "You promised not to swear around the baby!"
He paused as he approached in order to smile at Teidoll, but I spoke over their greetings. "Che. It was either that or risk dropping her so that I could hit the old man. I figured this was safer."
Allen sighed heavily. "Yuuu... We've been over this. Be nice."
I glared at Teidoll, who just seemed confused by our interaction. "Che. He asked if I raped you. It was necessary."
The Moyashi froze in the middle of kissing Addie's forehead. I kind of felt like I was setting a bomb off on Teidoll: Allen hated that question even more than I did. But to my surprise, the boy actually managed to contain his temper, though it looked like he was having a hard time. "You really should let that go, Yuu. But then again, I'm no better than you are. It pisses me off that everyone thinks I would have just let it happen. If you really had raped me, you wouldn't have left that room alive."
I snorted. If he was trying to scare me, it wasn't necessary. "You once nearly ripped me to shreds when I had permission to touch you. I'd hate to see what you'd do to anyone who touched you without your permission."
The Moyashi laughed at my comment, but it died in his throat when Teidoll placed a hand on the teen's shoulder. Allen forced a smile at the look on the old man's face. I would have let him stew a little longer, but the Moyashi chose to explain. "I don't know what exactly Yuu has told you, General, but it's all true. I am Adeline's mother, and Yuu is her father. And as you've probably figured out by now, he and I are dating."
Teidoll spent the next two hours making us tell him the whole story, from start to finish. He asked a million questions, needing clarification on everything. And when it was done, he burst into tears again.
Eventually he calmed down and left, but that didn't make me feel better. One look at Allen, and it was clear he felt the same way I did. He slumped against my shoulder with a heavy sigh. "He's going to try to spoil our baby, isn't he?"
.x.x.
After six and a half weeks of my life being turned completely upside down by my sudden and unexpected fatherhood, I was ready for a mission. I loved my new family deeply, but I was ready for things to go back to normal. I needed my life to not revolve around a screaming, helpless infant for a few days. I wanted to be able to sleep through the night. This mission was going to be my chance to pretend that my life hadn't changed.
What I hadn't realized yet was that I had changed. Instead of being a vacation from the chaos my life had become, from the moment it started I just wanted the mission to be over so that I could go home to my family.
I had always strived to get better and stronger, yet I had given little thought to my own life before, taking unnecessary injuries because my body could heal any wound. But now... Well, now I needed every remaining scrap of my life force for being there for my daughter as she grew up.
There was also a growing pit in my stomach. Every akuma I saw on that mission reminded me that Addie had a parasitic Innocence. That awful battlefield was my daughter's future. I wanted better for her, but this was something I couldn't change. And I hated that. The only thing I could do was take out the akuma in my path, and make sure that I returned home alive.
My overdramatic thoughts were made even worse by a lack of sleep. As obnoxious as he was with his constant need to snuggle against me, I could no longer sleep without my Moyashi beside me.
We finished our already short mission three days ahead of schedule. I didn't think anything of it. I was so focused on finishing as quickly as possible that I barely even noticed that Lenalee was there the whole time. At least, not until we were on the train home and she got in my face. "You've been awfully quiet, Kanda. What's wrong?"
"Che. Nothing's wrong."
I scowled and backed away from her, but she wasn't giving up. "Oh, please! You haven't said more than three words in a row this entire mission. That has to be some kind of record for you!"
It was almost amusing watching her freak out, but she knew me too well, and that was making her rant uncomfortable. "You've been laser focused towards the mission and incredibly distracted with everything else. And on top of that, you never once complained about the lack of soba. You even ate an apple at breakfast this morning!"
I blinked at her, not understanding why that was important. "So?"
She gave me a look that asked if my brain had stopped working. "You hate sweet things, and I've never once seen you eat breakfast in the twelve years that I've known you."
The breakfast thing was true, I hadn't started eating breakfast until I began living with Allen; but I wasn't going to tell her that. "Che. First of all, apples are a fruit, and fruit is good for you. And second, what's your point?"
"Something has been on your mind lately and I want you to tell me what it is."
I raised an eyebrow at the Chinese woman. And she thinks I'm the idiot?
When I didn't respond, Lenalee continued her rant. "Come on, Kanda! It's no secret that you like longer missions. Yet you hurried through this one and finished it in half the expected time. What's so important that you have to rush back home-? Oh!"
Her confused look faded as she finally put it together, but it came back almost as quickly as it disappeared. "Wait. You mean that you've been taking care of the baby because you want to? I thought you were acting on my brother's orders."
"Che. How many times am I going to have to explain this to you people? Addie is my daughter."
Lenalee floundered for a moment, but when she finally found words, her question was unexpected. "...Then why aren't you and Allen married?"
I sighed and turned to stare out the window. "I'm not allowed to propose again until he's no longer nursing Addie. He doesn't want there to be any pregnancy hormones clouding his judgment when he makes that decision."
The words shut her up completely, allowing me to finally return to my own thoughts. She didn't say another word for the rest of the trip to headquarters, and when we arrived, she disappeared immediately, leaving me to turn in our mission report by myself.
Komui was uncharacteristically wide awake when I arrived at his office. "Welcome home, Kanda-kun! You're back early! Did something happen?"
I rolled my eyes and dropped the mission report on his desk. "Che. Lenalee's taking the Innocence to Hevlaska. I'm going to go find the Moyashi."
I turned to leave the room, but stopped as Komui grabbed my shoulder. When I looked back at him, he was wearing that same confused expression that his sister had given me on the train. "Kanda-"
Not wanting to get asked the same things all over again, I quickly interrupted him. "Komui, I've been away from my family for four days. You of all people should understand what I'm going through."
He pulled his hand off my shoulder immediately. "Of course. Go."
I stalked quickly upstairs, hoping that Allen would be in our room so that I wouldn't have to waste time looking for him. The door was unlocked, which usually meant he was there, but it could also mean that the Moyashi, in his hormonal and sleep-deprived state, had simply forgotten to lock it.
When I turned around after closing the door, the sight that greeted me was gorgeous. Allen stood in the nursery doorway, his unruly white hair in its usual state of disorder, holding Addie in his arms. He looked completely exhausted, but that changed when he saw me. His silver eyes lit up as he smiled. "Yuu! You're home early!"
"Yes, I am, Moyashi. I missed you and Addie. I couldn't stay away any longer." I laughed as I crossed the lounge to reach him. Still shy, he didn't move to meet me, but he melted into the kiss I gave him.
It felt so good to have him in my arms again; those four days felt like forever, and I didn't want to let go. But a sharp tug on my hair made me break our kiss. I knew exactly who the culprit was, but I had missed her too and couldn't be too mad at her.
I looked down and gave Addie a mock glare. To my surprise, she smiled brightly back at me. It was the first time I had seen her smile, and it was beautiful.
"See? I told you she likes you better than me." The Moyashi's words were full of laughter as he handed Addie over to me. "She gave you her first smile."
