Chapter Text
Shizuka’s rattling cry echoed through their doorframe. Avdol jolted awake instinctively, before groaning and screwing up his eyes. He turned up onto his elbow, looking over his husband at the clock. It had barely been two hours since her last fit. Polnareff was still sleeping soundly, on his stomach with his arms splayed out.
“Jean,” he said, shaking his shoulder. It would be easier to go deal with the baby himself instead of trying to rouse such a heavy sleeper, but he didn’t want Polnareff slacking off on parenting duty. “Jean Pierre,” he said in a forceful whisper.
Polnareff started awake as well, giving a low “hmm?” from his position face-down on the pillow. The break in Shizuka’s cries subsided, and she picked up again with more vigor.
“Oh, yeah,” he said blearily as he rolled himself off the mattress. “Of course.”
Iggy grumbled and shifted up closer to Avdol’s legs as the bed jostled. Polnareff’s gait was heavy as he stepped out of the room, trying to comb his hair back with his hands. His hair was fine enough it fell completely straight over his eyes when he didn’t have any gel on it, and clipped it out of the way with a small barrette that didn’t fit his broad figure.
The house was small anyways, but they kept Shizuka’s room close to theirs to tend to her. She was so fussy, more than anything Avdol had anticipated based on the new parenting books scattered around the house. It had taken her a long time to get used to them and the house after being thrust between whole countries since Mr. Joestar found her in Morioh. It was hard to believe at first, when they received a glossy picture of empty baby blankets and a letter detailing a new baby they had almost literally stumbled upon. It worked out, though, since Mr. Joestar knew the pair was trying to work their way through the impossible adoption system and offered her up, especially since parents with stands would be able to handle her the best. They had been able to officialize the papers quickly considering they didn’t have an actual baby to show.
She was always invisible, Mr. Joestar had assured them, but it hurt a little to feel rejected by their new daughter. She had slowly gotten comfortable with them, sending Polnareff almost flying onto his back as she appeared one day while playing. She spent about half the time visible now, and hadn’t made anything around her disappear in weeks.
Polnareff’s tired voice drifted through Shizuka’s open door. Her cries had died down quickly, and he was probably holding her to his chest and bouncing her. He had always used copious amounts of pet names, and liked to lay absolute nonsense words onto Shizuka. Avdol worried that her first words would be “mon nounours.” He had used pet names when they first met and fell deep into a crush, not knowing Avdol also spoke French until he couldn’t hold back his laughter when he called him “mon poussin” on account of his stand.
Now, he was quietly begging for Shizuka to go back to sleep, lacing in sugared terms telling her she was his angel. He seemed to decide she was settled enough, based on the hunched-over silhouette that re-entered their room. He dipped into the bed, pulling the covers sharply to his side as usual.
“Chou chou?” Avdol murmured as he settled back down. They both started up into low chuckles at the pet names. As hard as it was to wake Polnareff up, he became even more affectionate than usual when he was tired. Sometimes he would latch on to Avdol as he woke for morning prayer, eyes still closed, not wanting him to leave the warm bed. This time, he grabbed ahold of his husband’s rounded chest to scootch his head onto. Iggy let out another low noise as Polnareff pushed into him, and Polnareff gave an indignant grumble back. They quickly fell back asleep, having learned the routine of slipping in sleep whenever possible with their temperamental daughter.
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It had almost become a competition between the two to see what language Shizuka would say her first word in. They hardly spoke English anymore, having settled on mostly French due to their location in Bordeaux and Polnareff’s very limited knowledge of Arabic. Avdol lay a lot of Arabic on his daughter, however, freely letting her know she was his katkoota and arnouba without letting Polnareff know how fond he was of pet names when they first met as well.
Shizuka was playing between Avdol’s legs now, flashy toys cast aside to grope along the folds of Avdol’s clothes. She was normally visibly happy when not fussing, staying visible unless she got hungry or some other cascading emotion that took over babies. She thrust her hands upwards with purpose, and Avdol picked her up so she could grab at his collar this time. He worried the inside of his lip a little as her plump legs kicked out feebly.
“Shouldn’t she be walking by now?” he wondered aloud. Polnareff straightened his back from the work he was hunched over, rolling his pen between his fingers. “They say most babies are walking by about a year.”
“Well, she’s small for her age,” said Polnareff. “She always has been. Maybe she had a rough start in Morioh and she’s a late bloomer.”
Polnareff was trying to be more rational about Shizuka lately. Normally, he was the first to worry over her whenever she let out as much as a cough. That was only added onto by the fact that they could barely get her to the doctor when the stress of a trip would leave them rolling a seemingly empty stroller up to the front desk. Avdol noticed the pen in Polnareff’s hand twiddling between his fingers.
Avdol set Shizuka down between his knees again. She gripped both of her hands around his large palm as he tried to pull away. Her fingers didn’t even meet in the middle of his hand. He moved his hands back around her chest to lift her up, slowly letting her stand on unsteady feet as he moved his hands to hold hers.
“Stand for me, nuur il-’en,” he muttered. As if on cue, Shizuka didn’t drop her weight into his arms, but put a shaky leg forward. Polnareff was down by Avdol’s side in an instant. She decided to walk towards him, as resolutely as she could with her pudgy legs struggling for ground. Polnareff was just out of Avdol’s range from his sitting position to not send Shizuka toppling to the ground. Silver Chariot appeared–just their torso–above her, to grab onto her hands. She burbled as she looked up into the familiar expressionless face, which followed her with eyes in dark sockets. Either of them could have moved, but both felt rooted onto the spot from the moment. Instead, Silver Chariot escorted her the rest of the way, disintegrating when Polnareff hoisted her up into his equally shaky arms. Avdol moved first, clambering over to hold their daughter as well. She laughed between them at the attention.
Avdol looked up as he noticed Polnareff’s shoulders heave. His face was red and blotchy, giving away the tears that were soon to fall down his cheeks. His mouth, however, was stretched into a wide grin. Avdol let go of Shizuka to brush his thumbs along his husband’s cheekbones, trying to dispel the wetness there.
“We’re good parents,” choked out Polnareff finally. He hauled his gaze up to Avdol’s, who was still cradling his face. Polnareff’s face reddened irregularly when he cried, and his lips got swollen, and now he was sniffling loudly as the tears kept rolling down his face, but he looked as stunning as when they married. He was crying then, too, when he thought about it. Avdol pressed his forehead against Polnareff’s heated one, as they both looked down at the baby gurgling with happiness between their chests.