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He’s clearly not suited to parenting.
2 minutes into his new life as the sole parent to a freshly adopted Ruka Shinoda, she’s already bawling.
Shinoda feels terrible.
Kido, well meaning as he is, just awkwardly pats his back and leaves the room, Karasawa in tow, leaving Ruka to cry even harder into his shoulder.
He’s not quite sure what to do.
Cutting down Neighbours? Easy peasy.
Comforting a crying princess? No clue.
So he keeps his mouth shut and leans back against the sofa, angling himself to allow for maximum shoulder area to crying princess ratio.
There’s a minute pause in the bawling, which Shinoda takes as a positive step forward.
It becomes noticeably softer and with less hiccoughing interspersed in between, so he lets her continue.
Then she pulls away, her eyes red and puffy, scooting as far away as the sofa will allow.
She doesn’t make it very far, partly due to how small the sofa is, and partly due to the fact that she’s burst into tears again, albeit more muted.
The semi-silence is awkward, and they spend it looking at anywhere but each other.
Shinoda spots a mildly interesting splotch of gray paint on the wall conveniently located behind Ruka and stares at it with all the focus he can muster, his concentration broken only by the louder sniffles.
He ends up distracted from the wall once more, as she lunges towards his shoulder again, hugging him ferociously.
Are all children like this?
He manages a clumsy, left handed hug just as she begins to pull back, which leaves them in a even more awkward situation.
There’s a very, very awkward pause.
“You suck at hugging.” she snipes, made all right by the fact she was now smiling shyly up at him.
Shinoda’s good at smiling, so he shoots one straight back, pulling a grin as wide as the situation will allow.
“Teach me.”
“Here.” she says, readjusting her posture so that she’s no longer headbutting his shoulder. “You’re supposed to sit like this and…”