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Getting a text from Emi was nothing out of the ordinary. She regularly sent him cat videos and jokes in the hopes of making him laugh. She was successful once every full moon, but Shouta would never admit that.
Contrary to popular belief, Shouta did not hate her and actually considered her his best friend, besides Hizashi. Ever since they were pups, they had been the best of friends given that their parents also grew up together. They bathed together as babies, developed their quirks together (Shouta happy that he could cancel her laughing quirk), and even were each other's first kiss in a game of spin the bottle in their last year in middle school. It was also the same night that Shouta confessed that he was only attracted to other boys and Emi confessed that she was only attracted to other girls. That was a rare time where she was able to make him laugh without her quirk.
Yes, she used to shamelessly flirt with him before he started dating Hizashi, but it was all light hearted and he was never actually made uncomfortable by her attention. She stopped the minute she was introduced to Nemuri during a get together in high school. The minute Emi laid eyes on the other female alpha, Shouta had a gut feeling that he would no longer be the sole receiver of Emi’s flirting, which was honestly a relief to Hizashi. Even though they went to separate high schools, Emi would show up at any place where there was a chance she would see Nemuri, she was so infatuated.
Texts from Emi were normal, but calls were not. Shouta picks up the phone.
“Hello?” he groggily says into the phone, but quickly pulls the phone away from his face when he’s screamed at.
“Shouta! Code red! Code red! I’m at the cafe down the street, please come,” Emi begs into the phone.
“Okay, okay, I’ll be there in less than ten.”
“Thank you,” she sniffles then hangs up the call.
That got him up and shoving shoes on his feet immediately. Even though it seems a little childish to him now, they used “code red” for anything serious and it was never a joke between them.
Given that Eri and Hitoshi were out baby supplies shopping with Hizashi, he doesn’t have to worry about Eri being home by herself. He sends a quick text to his husband before rushing out the door. The cafe was a simple ten minute walk, but Shouta made it in seven, and he’s glad that he hurried at the sight of mascara running down his friend’s face. She’s lucky he was only four months pregnant otherwise he would not have been able to get there so quickly.
“Hey, Emi-”
“Promise me that you won’t kill me, please,” she sniffles out.
“God, what did you do this time?”
She pulls a stick out of her purse and places it on the table.
Well, shit.
A positive pregnancy test sat in front of him. It was definitely less common for a female alpha to fall pregnant, but not unheard of in the least. It was just shocking that Emi was pregnant. Throughout high school, the two of them had bonded by their hesitation to carry pups. And now they were both pregnant at the same time. How ironic.
“Emi, you peed on that. Why the hell would you put it on the table where people eat.”
“Are you kidding me? Come on, Shouta, I don’t know what they hell I’m supposed to do right now!” Emi yells, tugging on her hair.
“What do you want to do?”
“I have absolutely no idea. Do you think I would have code red you if I had any inkling of an idea of what I wanted to do?”
Shouta shrugs. “Wanna make a pros and cons list?”
Emi looks at him like he’s grown two heads, but lets out a laugh after a minute. Leave it to Shouta to be the logical one.
“Yeah, alright. Let’s do it.” She pulls a pen out of her bag before passing it to Shouta who was holding a napkin.
She takes a deep breath before speaking. “Okay, pro: a mini me and Nemuri running around, and we get to pass on our incredible genes.”
“Sounds like a con to me,” he mumbles, but knows that Emi will get a kick out of his blunt humor, she always does. Shouta writes it down in the pro column anyways.
“Very funny. Pro: we get to start a family. Con: my body will be destroyed, and I’ll have to put my hero work on pause.”
“It’s not forever, though. Believe me, I didn’t think I would be able to handle taking a break from hero work, but now I get more time with my kids and Hizashi.”
“That does make me feel a little bit better, I guess.” She thinks before her face lights up. Shouta knows this could not be good when she breaks into a laughter so hard that she has to hold her sides. She looks like a maniac, laughing with smeared mascara all down her face.
“Emi, spit it out. I can’t write it down if I can’t understand you.”
“Shouta!” She gasps to take in a breath. “Our pups would be the same age, just like us growing up!”
“Okay, I’m actually putting that down in the con section,” Shouta deadpans.
“You wouldn’t dare!” She exclaims, and she’s right that he wouldn’t. If he were to be honest, that sounded kinda nice. With his quiet and cold personality growing up, he had a hard time making friends, so he was very lucky to have Emi. If his pup ended up anything like him, who knows if he would struggle to make friends, too. It would be a relief knowing that his pup would have a friend like Emi by his side.
“Could you imagine it, Eraser? Oh my gosh, think of all the playdates and what if some day they go on real dates!”
“That sounds like an actual nightmare,” Shouta says, but he’s smiling.
“Oh stop, I know that you’d love it.” She pauses to think again. “Put another pro down that I already have babysitters.”
Shouta quirks an eyebrow at her. “Who?”
“Obviously Hitoshi and his little blond friend!”
Shouta sighs. “Good point.”
“Con: I would probably embarrass the hell out of the pup, and they’d hate me.”
Shouta gives her a disappointed look. “I’m not putting that down.” Emi has dealt with a load of insecurities growing up and has hid it behind her humor, but there was no way that he was going to let it influence her decision about a pup.
“What, why not? I thought this was supposed to be my list,” she challenges.
“I’m not putting it down because it’s not true.”
“Awww, Eraser!” Emi lets out. She always called Shouta when she was in crises, knowing that he would never lie to her, so that means a lot to her.
“I’m not taking it back, but don’t ever bring it up again.”
“Joke’s on you, I’m never letting you live that down.”
The omega just sighs. He knows that she’s being serious right now. “Can we please get back to the list?”
“That’s all I can think of at the moment. Please analyze my results, oh Wise One.”
“Emi.”
“Right, sorry.”
“Three to one, in favor of pros,” Shouta states, passing her the napkin. He finally sits back and takes a sip of the tea that Emi had ordered for him before he got there.
“I don’t know.”
“I can’t make the decision for you, but I can tell you that you’ve been smiling ever since we started the list.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
“You know, you don’t have to make a decision right now.”
“I know, I just don’t want to tell Nemuri before I come up with a decision,” she sighs and slumps down in her seat.
“Understandable.”
They finish their drinks while maintaining conversation about anything but the pregnancy, which was really nice. With raising two kids and having one on the way, Shouta wasn’t able to spend much time actually relaxing that wasn’t sleeping. As much as she was a pain in his ass, he loved spending time with her.
“Shouta, I really don’t want to be alone right now, and Nemuri’s on patrol.”
“I can stay for a while longer. Hizashi’s got the kids today.” Shouta checks his phone for any texts, but he knows Hizashi is capable. He hates the joke people make about alpha fathers being incapable of taking care of their children for a day. The joke was just a way for alphas to try to get out of their responsibilities, and it irritated him and Hizashi to no end. When they got married, Hizashi swore to him that he would never play the helpless alpha card when it came to their future family.
“Actually… How about we do something fun? I’m overly emotional right now and could use a distraction.” She bats her eyelashes at him.
Shouta could relate with how he felt when he first found out he was pregnant, but he knows Emi well and knows what she’s trying to do.
“Are you trying to guilt me into going shopping with you?”
“I am trying to guilt you into going shopping with me.”
Shouta gets flashbacks to years of Emi making him try on outfit after outfit and carrying bags around for her. His gut tells him to go home and go back to sleep, but he can’t leave his friend in her time of need. Even if she is kinda taking advantage of the situation.
“Fine,” he grits out between his clenched teeth.
“Yay!”
---
After walking around downtown, in which Shouta thought Emi was leading him around aimlessly, they end up standing in front of the biggest baby store Shouta has ever seen in his entire life.
“You literally just said that you wanted to be distracted from the pregnancy, and now we’re standing in front of a baby supply store. How is that supposed to distract you?”
Emi gives him a shit eating grin, dragging him into the store. The store looks like a pastel unicorn had thrown up everywhere. There were lines of baby clothes, toys, and furniture everywhere. Hizashi and Eri were definitely more into the decorating aspect of the baby than Shouta was, but from entering the store, Shouta can feel himself getting a little bit excited to pick out some things for his pup. Deep down. Like way deep down.
“I was just thinking about how I want to be the best goddamn godmother in the world, which means I have to start spoiling him now.”
Shouta just looks at her and tries to repress his smirk. “Oh yeah? Who declared you godmother?”
Emi crosses her arms over her chest and leans back on her heels. “I did. Just now.” She definitely thinks that she won the little game they had going at the moment.
Shouta sighs. “Alright, Hizashi and I were going to ask you and Nemuri sooner or later anyway.”
That causes Emi to freeze. “Shouta, are you serious? Because that is in no way funny if you’re not. I would know, I’m the queen of funny.”
Shouta just keeps walking through the store and starts inspecting little stuffed animals and onesies while ignoring the question just to tease her a little bit.
“Shouta, this better not be a logical ruse or anything!” She exclaims, following him around the store.
He turns and looks her in the eye. “Do I kid very often?”
A split second passes before Shouta is enveloped in Emi’s bear hug. “Okay! You and Hizashi can be the godparents to my baby!” She says through her happy tears.
Shouta looks at her with an incredulous look. “Did you seriously just decide on the spot that you’re going through with the pregnancy?”
Emi releases him from the hug and lets out a laugh. “I think I kinda knew since the moment I found out, but yeah I kinda did.” Emi never ceased to leave Shouta in a state of disbelief.
“Okay enough emotions, I’m buying you a ton of baby stuff!”
---
Shouta returns home that afternoon with bags upon bags of baby supplies. He finds his family sitting in the old guest room that has been declared the nursery. Eri sorts through clothes and toys while Hizashi and Hitoshi analyze color swatches.
Shouta plops the bags in front of them. “Knock yourselves out.”