Chapter Fifty: The World Says Hello

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

We're Having A Baby Arc: 10/10

Song Playing: Rich Girl- fritz and the tantrums

Theme 29: Arrival

He hadn't thought anything would be more disturbing looking about his kid than the ultrasound pictures. For all the cooing his wife had been doing, he honestly couldn't even recognize the mass on the picture as human. The thing that the doctor claimed was his baby could be a dog or a chicken or an alien for the lack of detail and limbs. It had both disgusted and fascinated him.

However the actual process of giving birth to the thing that had been living in his wife the last nine months was almost more than he could handle. Sure he had read about what was going to happen and they had watched a few videos together to better prepare themselves. Foolishly he had though himself ready for the event of his first born arriving into the world. Very quickly he had learned how completely unprepared he truly was. There was this- this thing actually coming out of his wife: in places he personally thought no living being had a right to be coming out of but that was nature for you. Health classes had informed him this would happen but actually seeing it happen to someone he had promised to love for better or worse was a whole other can of worms of emotions.

Then they had held up the kid, a boy he could plainly see.

His kid, in all his blessed little newborn soul, was unpleasant to look at. There was... stuff attached to him. Slimy uncomfortable looking stuff. He was also kind of curled in on himself and what little hair he had was all matted and sticky looking. Plus there was the umbilical cord that was still attached making it look like his kid was growing off a vine like a piece of fruit. The head was also awkwardly shaped from the rough landing into the outside world. Not to mention his skin was all peely.

Overall his first impression was that his kid was freaking him out.

Not the best most proud to be a daddy thing to think but there you go.

He was more acceptable looking once they got him all cleaned up. Carefully bundled in a blue blanket they had placed him in the arms of the woman who had given him life. Hovering over the both of them, he took in the sight of his son now that he wasn't all covered with after birth and other things that made him die a little death to think of. Over all he looked basically the same. His head was still weird looking and he looked like he was peeling but-

-but he was just so tiny. He just couldn't get over it.

Never before had he ever felt so big and awkward. His thumb was bigger than one of his kid's fists. He'd thrown footballs that looked bigger than him. Plus he was so quiet. Were babies supposed to be so quite after all that? He made little noises but they were so low he could barely hear them, despite the fact he was so close he could feel his wife's body heat through the thin hospital gown.

Stands of hair clung to her sweaty face as she peered down at the bundle in her arms with a sense of awe. "Isn't he beautiful?"

He wasn't sure he'd go that far. But she had gone through what looked like a very painful process to get the kid out so her outlook on the boy was entitled to be a little skewed. He on the other hand wasn't biased with having had the kid inside him the last nine months. So far his kid was a tiny ball of wrinkle red mess that was trying to snuggle deeper into the arms of his mother. He wouldn't go so far as to say that he was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen but he was theirs.

And that was what warmed his heart to the point of bursting with pride.