AN: No matter what I did I came out unsatisfied with the original plan, so I ended up scraping everything and re-writing an Airi/Dio focused chapter on their thoughts, relationship, and interactions instead just to keep things going and to set up potential pregnant sex scenes later. I might take the time to work on a few side stories on his other world visits before getting back to the main story.
Chapter 21
"Good job Bell! Now then, let's review… what do you say when a stranger walks up to you and says nasty things?"
"Um… um… do you know who I am? And then I tell them who my daddy is!"
"That's right!"
"YOU! What in Hera's name are you teaching my son!?" "You're not turning my nephew into an arrogant young master!"
Meteria and Alfia chased me away from the adorable Bell Cranel.
It's hard to become a 'big brother' character to the main protagonist when their parents (and Aunt) are around to keep watch on him.
Well, I could have always just took Bell into an isolated, time dilated space to spend quality time with my 'little bro' but that would definitely veer into creepy kidnapper territory.
If only Bell's parents (and Aunt) were more amiable towards the thought of me spending more time with him. Perhaps they thought I would spoil him too much? Admittedly, the world-ending tier Artificial Spirit I created for him (based on my research across various universes) for all the birthdays I missed may have been a tad too excessive...
I ran up the castle walls and into one of the guest rooms, one that had been redecorated recently to fit Airi's tastes. She never was the type to enjoy overly luxurious rooms.
"Dio, what did you do this time?" Airi asked with a patient smile as she looked up from the sketch she was working on. She had taken up quite a few creative hobbies like drawing and needlework ever since we had learned of her pregnancy.
"Nothing much really. I just got away from Meteria and Alfia when they saw me teaching Bell some life hacks."
Airi chuckled as she set her pencil aside, turning around to meet my eyes, "Ahaha! You're still competing with Zeus on who can influence him the most?"
I shrugged and grinned, then answered in an exaggerated resigned fashion, "It can't be helped. My old man has a head start of several years on me. Even if I'm going to lose I want to at least leave my mark on him as a big brother."
"Admitting a loss? Are you sure you're a Cultivator?"
"Of course I am. Retreating from a lost battle in order to grow stronger, then use my poisons and other underhanded methods-" I faked a cough and corrected my slip, "-I mean, wits and tactics to make my rematch easier is part of being a Cultivator as well. Well, the smart ones at least."
"I never said you're one of the moronic impulsive ones, now did I?"
"Unfortunately, those do make up the majority, as such, I am obliged to keep things specific."
"That does help prevent confusion. Back on topic, really, what did you do this time? Before you were playing around with Bell-kun?"
"Well, it started off with the usual. Learning, training, cooking, creating new things, and improving on my creations. I've arranged a date with Gabriel at Orario to show her a couple of things, helped Cathia out with some public sector slash royal works, spoke with Zeus on a recent expedition of mine, had outdoor sex with Artemis, and then met up with Bell a little after that. Admittedly, I got slightly carried away with the local building projects today so… uh, better late than never?"
Instead of getting angry for being late to our regularly scheduled quality time, Airi merely smiled with amusement, "Jeez, you have to manage your time more carefully. Your work ethic is admirable as always, but this level of busyness is going to make you careless one day."
I moved to her side and knelt before her, "I know. Getting caught up in my work is always the most vulnerable point in time for cultivators like myself. That said, you have to be careful too. You have gotten better at manipulating your internal energy and magic but doing so right now is…"
"Sorry. I should be calling on you to keep watch on me when I try to fit some training in then…"
"I'm not saying you need to do that. So long as you don't push yourself too hard and try something risky then I'm not going to worry… well, not too much. I can't help myself from worrying but I can trust you to be responsible and safe."
As I said those words, I had reached out with my hand and placed it upon her stomach. As the end of her second trimester was nearing, my doubts about my suitability as a first-time father came rushing to the forefront of my mind.
"Our child is right here… it may be a bit selfish of me, but I hope our child takes after you more than me."
I would rather have an unremarkable or more 'average' child than a 'blessed' one that had my personality. The multiverse would be better off without an evil genocidal young man or woman on the loose.
Airi frowned and brushed her hand through my hair, "You're not a bad man."
"But I'm not the best version of me either. And you deserve the best I have to offer."
While I enjoyed what was done for and to Airi over the time that we knew each other, I can't deny my growing conscience's worries that I had wronged her by being the person that I was.
I couldn't fathom loving the person who I had been in the past if I had been reborn into Airi's body and had a super OP SI chasing after and seducing me like that.
Sure, in pretty much all relevant measures, I was certainly a wonderful boyfriend turned husband that kept her content and fulfilled… but I was, and still am, a manipulative bastard that acted the part of a hero and did not deny the romantic advances of other women like any other unfaithful bastard.
"Dio, you don't need to be 'best' husband, man, person, or anything." She smiled knowingly and said, "Call me a girl that wanted to let out her 'inner rebel', or someone that just wanted the accomplishment and validation by succeeding in changing you for the better, or had liked the kind of love you had been given me… but I yearned for you all the same. I can safely say that I have no regrets."
"Airi…"
"I love all of you. You captivated my heart, body, and all the futures I could ever dream of. No matter the sins or mistakes you make, you can count on me to be by your side to knock sense into you and hug you until your pain goes away!"
… I really felt like an idiot right now. The past five months spent thinking about the kind of father I was going to be, the kind of doubts that arose with regards to my capabilities as a father when looking at my actions objectively… all of that was erased the moment the woman I loved said what she thought with conviction.
"Hahaha… gods, that's so you…" That was such an Airi-like response, one that was filled with equal parts love and truth, the only thing left for me to do was to reciprocate in kind, "I love you. You are mine and I am yours. No matter what happens, remember that for my sake and I will always come back to you."
My words were not just another declaration of love. It served a dual purpose as a pledge and an act to further tie our fates together.
I still had many worries, predominantly, worries about Airi's safety. There may come a time that we end up separated by malevolent forces and other terrible things as a result of a mistake I make in the future.
But by declaring that promise along with using my power over the greater laws related to Karma, I had all but enforced my will across the multiverse so that I am always 'fated' to make my way back to Airi so long as the memory of me is engraved upon her existence, past, present, and future.
It was the equivalent of a contract or a curse binding myself to her, I couldn't think of anyone else that would be dumb enough to take things as far as I just did, but I was truly in love with her, and people in love do lots of stupid things.
"Always... Hmm, did you just do something funny there?"
As expected, she did manage to sense that I did something. With how her Cultivation had progressed over these few months it was only natural for her to be more aware of my 'tricks'.
"I did. But it's one of those things that should be left unsaid, like the 'unspoken plan guarantee' trope. You'll find out that it's for the best one day."
"Haa, fine, I'll believe you for now."
"Thanks. Hmm? What do you have there on your bed? That's a lot of socks."
"Hehe… I learned quite a bit about knitting from my mother. I thought about our child getting bigger so I ended up making the socks bigger and bigger too… I may have overdone it a little ~"
"I know your belly is a bit bigger than expected but I don't think it's supposed to be Colossal Titan-sized!"
"I was just thinking about it getting bigger quickly and wanted it to grow up without restraint…"
"There's a possibility that it will grow bigger than the biggest old monster I know so I can't say I like this!"
"Just kidding "
"Oh whew…!"
"I made some for you too."
"Those are way too big! But I'll happily accept any gift made from the woman I love! Well, unless it's the gift of death, but uh, nevermind that."
"Ahaha, I don't think anyone that loves you wants to give you eternal rest."
"You will be surprised at the number of yanderes I came across during my universe scouting adventures."
"You should write a book about that. I might end up laughing too hard if you were to tell me about them yourself."
"Anyway, about the socks, do you mind if I enchant them?"
"I figured you would do that anyway. Well, to be honest, I think it's fine if you just made your own from scratch considering your skills."
"Airi…"
"I'm just being realistic. Compared to what you can do the things I make is kinda… just normal. I won't mind whatever you do with them, Dio. Even if you put them inside the closet and let them collect dust, or-"
"-Stop imagining the most depressing image from the get-go!" I blame the mood swings, "I'll enchant them into becoming super socks that will make kings and gods alike seething in jealousy!" Turning them into planet-destroying artifacts is wholly within my capabilities, "My wife's lovingly crafted gifts will be the envy of all."
"T-that's a bit too much don't you think?! I don't need a war started over my socks!"
"Eh? People have started wars for less… like a random jade beauty down the road."
"Really Dio? Hey, are you hearing this…?" Airi wrapped her fingers around the hand I had over her stomach, "Your father is crazy enough to compare your mother's socks to a jade beauty. Isn't he the nicest?"
"Heh… this daddy here is in a benevolent mood, after all…!"
Airi let out an exasperated sigh at my inevitable 'daddy' joke then started to regale to me about the rest of her day. Nearing the end of her story, I reached out with my 'divine senses' and checked over her body once again. As usual, I didn't get anything out of the ordinary, other than the fact that my child wasn't going to have a hyper-specialized physique of affinity to anything.
… Then again, doesn't the baby seem a bit too balanced?
I had been relying on my 'divine senses' all this time since it was the most comprehensive and reliable of all my sensing methods… but I can't deny that it didn't have its own weaknesses as a result of my still lacking skill level.
"Airi, could you give me a few seconds?"
"Hmm, sure. What are you up to?"
"There's a chance that my 'divine senses' missed something so I'm just going to check you out with my [See-Through Glasses]."
"X-ray glasses? Seriously? Of course, you have them…"
I popped the glasses on… then took them off, shaking my head while casting several of my illusion dispelling spells, then put them on again.
"Huh, my suspicions were spot on… I knew their Yang and Yin energies were too balanced! Airi, we're going to have twins!"
"E-eh!? Twins!? I thought you only sensed one child!"
"I did! It's just that they're so in sync to the point that even their heartbeats beat at the same pace and time! Oh wow, I'm going to have to re-draft my early year's lesson plans if they're going to turn up as magically super connected twins."
Airi and I started discussing children's names again now that we not only knew that we were going to have twins, but that we were going to have one boy and one girl.
"No, we're not going with any similar-sounding matching names."
"How about something with the Japanese word for 'god' in it?"
"Do you want them to become main characters or something?!"
Ah, Airi had a point there…
"Good point. Nevermind that."
"How about something simple? Sora for our boy and Hotaru for our girl."
"Sky and Light huh…? I like it. But how about we make it cooler by using a different language?"
"Dio, no!"
"Dio, yes! Come on, wouldn't Aether and Lumine be cooler?"
"That's a reference, isn't it?! I don't know what it is but I'm not letting you name our children after some fictional character."
"Hey, there's a story for anything these days. There's no way our names aren't the names of fictional characters themselves."
"Just because you're right doesn't mean I have to accept it."
"If I pout cutely at you for several hours will I succeed in convincing you?"
"You aren't a cute girl like me so it won't work."
"Are you sure about that?"
"This doesn't mean you should genderbend yourself temporarily either. I don't need you thinking about how good you would look like a girl and then adding a female clone of yourself to our family."
Wow, Airi had me all figured out. As expected of my wife...
