Chiro laid there as he thought.
He hummed, trying to figure something out. It might've been silly to put a lot of thought into it like he did, but he wanted it to be perfect. Nova walked by and saw Chiro on the floor. She sat down next to him. Her tail lightly swayed from side to side. She put her hands on her lap.
"Is something bothering you, Chiro?" She asked.
Chiro slightly jumped before he looked at her. Hearing Nova took him out of his thoughts. After a moment, he shrugged.
"I wouldn't say 'bothering me' per se, but I've been trying to think of a nickname for Kami." Chiro answered.
She raised an eyebrow. "How come? She has Kami and, as you call her, your 'sweet little Apricot'."
"Yeah, but I wanna give her something a little more… special." He said. "Like how you sometimes call Marino 'Ocean', y'know?"
"Ah, yeah I get it. It's been years since I called him that." Nova chuckled. "You don't have to do that for her, but if you do, hopefully you can come up with something."
Chiro gave her a smile before he went back into his thoughts.
Chiro walked by Kaminari, but she stopped to hug him.
She hugged him tightly. Her tail wagged immensely and she smiled widely. He hugged her back. He just smiled at how happy she was. Kami was always a daddy's girl, in this case it was with him and Antauri. He thought it was sweet. Now would be a good time to give her a nickname.
Yet, nothing came out.
It was like that for a moment. He thought he had something to call her that wasn't the usual nicknames, but he didn't have anything. Chiro tried to think of something while they hugged. Before he could, she pulled away and kissed his cheek.
"I love you, Papa Chiro!" Kaminari smiled wider.
Chiro set her down. "Love you too, my sweet little Apricot."
Her tail wagged faster as she ran off. He sweetly smiled at her while she left. Chiro sighed and slumped. Damn it, he couldn't think of anything. Maybe next time he could get it.
After all, it couldn't take too long, right?
It took way longer than Chiro thought it would.
He scratched his temple with the end of the pen he held in his hand. His eyes ran all over the page, looking through everything he thought of.
Nari, Coco, Beachy, Starfish, Dandelion…
Some of them sounded much better in his head. Nari was just another way of calling her out by name, Coco because of her love for chocolate, Beachy and Starfish from her love of swimming, and Dandelion because of how happy she was about seeing one for the first time. Gibson might say something about how fitting that was or something relating to flower language, he didn't know.
Even if they would fit Kaminari, none of them felt right when he read them. Maybe it was meant to come naturally, but he felt a huge need to think of one. He didn't know why.
Chiro then felt Sprx climbing onto him. He stopped when he was able to put his head on his shoulders. Sprx held onto him as he looked at Chiro's notebook over his shoulder. He hummed in interest and looked at him.
"Thinkin' of something for Kaminari?" He asked.
Chiro only nodded.
"Figured. I know Marino has Ocean, Jasper has Jazzkie, Diamond has Icicle, so Kami's gonna need somethin' too. Y'know ya could let it happen naturally."
He gave Sprx that look. "…Already thought of that. Not happening."
Sprx shrugged after a moment. "Eh, suit yourself, Chiro."
"Are you here just to make fun of me, or is there something else?" He raised an eyebrow.
Sprx kissed his cheek and nuzzled his neck.
"Just wanted to know if you're free tonight, Kid, because I wanna take ya out." Sprx gave him flirty eyes.
Chiro snorted. Okay, he had to admit that was kinda cute the way he asked him like that. Not that he would say it was cute, he knew Sprx wanted to seem cool and flirtatious.
"Yeah, I'd love that."
He could continue thinking of a cute nickname for Kami later.
Antauri picked Kaminari up in his arms.
She might've been much bigger than him, but Antauri was able to pick her up with ease. She held onto him with a fast wagging tail. They chuckled.
"You know you're getting too old for this, Kaminari. If you want to be carried physically after this, you'll need to ask Chiro, and even then you're getting too old and big for it." Antauri told her.
She pouted and whined as her tail fell. "But I wanna be carried more!"
Bits of electricity shot out of her body. It was like a ball of electricity shooting outwards. It didn't affect Antauri in the slightest, in fact he simply sighed. He was just tired of this. Chiro came by and snickered.
"Stop doing that, Plasma Lamp. Anymore and you might do something to your dad's body." Chiro joked.
Kaminari pulled her arms away. "Sorry, Papa Antauri! I-" She looked at Chiro with a raised eyebrow. "Wait, a what now?"
"Y'know, a round thing that looks like it has electricity going through it but-" Chiro gasped. "I gave you a nickname unique to you!"
He cheered while Antauri and Kaminari stared. Chiro ran over and took Kami from Antauri and twirled her around. Antauri looked at his cup and decided to get more tea because it was too early for him. Kami didn't question what he was so happy about and just hugged Chiro. He held onto her tightly.
Maybe it was dumb to the others, but he ended up with a nickname that was unique to her and it felt right. He just wanted that dad touch to it and he got it.
Chiro held her up high and looked at his adorable Plasma Lamp.
