Chapter Text
The kid was tiny. Objectively, Nobu Shinsou knew newborn babies were absolutely tiny, but he was pretty damn sure this particular one was smaller than all of the other ones lined up in neat little rows in the maternity ward.
Nobu Shinsou was also pretty damn sure newborns were typically ugly, which he couldn’t really blame anyone for. He’d probably also be ugly if he had just made his abrupt exit into the world outside. But, if you asked him, this particular newborn was slightly less ugly than all of the other slumbering, freshly fed babies in the ward. Slightly. Maybe it was because this particular one came with a head of purple hair, which he was told by a nurse would likely fall out quickly and grow in fresh. So far, he hadn’t been very fussy. Nobu knew this, because he had been standing on the other side of the window for the better part of two hours, just staring at the kid sleeping away without a care in the world. He was pretty sure the kid should have woken up crying for food by now. Maybe he should get a nurse or something. There might be something wrong with him. It was very early for something to be wrong, but that didn’t necessarily mean there wasn’t something wrong. After all, Hitoshi Shinsou had only met the world a grand five hours ago. He wasn’t even a day old yet.
“Well,” he said, like he had been thinking hard about this, “that paternity test might have been pointless.”
“It doesn’t matter either way,” Yuuta said as he leaned on the glass and crossed his arms to look over at the sleeping kid with that brilliant head of purple hair. Just like his old man. Could you even call it that? He was twenty-two. “You already put your name on the birth certificate like an idiot.”
“I’d probably kill him,” Nobu said, a little distantly, because he would. Hell, he had only found out three weeks ago that he was even on his way. She sure had taken her damn time. He still hadn’t even actually processed what was going on.
“Yeah. You’d definitely kill him,” Yuuta agreed, like the unsympathetic asshole he was. “Just let your manager handle the whole child support payments and shit, and let’s go. You’re late for patrol.”
“In my defense, my son was born today,” Nobu grumbled as he scratched at the line of the mask fit to his face. “I think I can be late.”
“She barely knows you, doesn’t want you here, and unless you want to sit around and argue visitation with a woman who just shoved a bruiser out of her entire body, you should probably get going,” Yuuta shot back, and Nobu thought about shooting his sidekick a glare, but thought better of it. Coming from him, a dirty look was practically a threat of bodily harm, no matter how close he was to someone. He’d never been a fan of bodily harm.
“Maybe I should argue visitation,” Nobu muttered, like it was just occurring to him, but, again, in his defense, he’d had three weeks to even think about this and figure out what was going on. And he only knew at all because he, objectively, should be the one to pay the hospital bills, regardless of whether or not he had been in on this. Now that the paternity test was positive, he might as well. It wasn’t like he couldn’t afford it.
“With your schedule? You’d just give the kid a complex from having to drop,” Yuuta said dismissively. “Think about it in a few days, but you gotta do what’s good the kid.”
“You just want to keep me on schedule.”
“Well, you got child support now. Someone has to make sure you can pay the bills,” Yuuta said and pushed himself off the glass. “Get a move on, Fracture.”
Reluctantly, Nobu pulled himself back from the glass. He felt oddly like he was being robbed of something. No word for eight months, then a sudden child from a woman he barely knew, and yes, it was partially his fault, but he had been sure he used protection. He’d missed the whole damn pregnancy, never even thought about kids before, never wanted one, but now, the kid was here, and she hadn’t even cared when he asked if he could maybe have some input on the name.
“I haven’t picked one. Do what you want.”
He didn’t feel easy, looking back at that glass wall as his booted steps led him further and further away. The paternity test was positive. The kid was his. But…
Well. Yuuta was right. He’d probably give the kid a complex no matter what he did.
Even so, his eyes caught on that nameplate just before he lost sight of it.
Hitoshi Shinsou.
It was as good a name as any.