Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The snowfall had been heavy this winter, blanketing what seemed the entire world in heavy white. Mink had cut and saved up an almost endless amount of firewood- but what will inevitably turn out to be just enough. Night was coming earlier and earlier, as they were in the thick of winter now; everything was seemingly dead outside. Luckily, today had been one of the brighter days with lighter snowfall- Aoba had decided to head out and play a bit while he could. They simply didn’t get snow like this in Midorijima. Mink could worry all he wanted, but he couldn’t help but give in to the childish desires of his love.

Since today was a day off for both men, Mink ventured out with Aoba as well. After a few hours walking together, they split up as Mink went to gaze out over a cliff and watch the sky and sunset while Aoba went to play in the snow. Soon, night had begun to descend, and thus Aoba was on his way back with Ren in his arms, heading to where Mink would be. He would keep the snowfamily he built between the allmate and himself- he had tried in the past to broach the topic of a family with Mink, but was always met with 'we'll continue this later' or 'now isn't the right time'. It wasn’t something either necessarily needed, but Aoba could feel both wanted a family. They didn’t have many options either- Aoba didn’t want to pass his genes on just for fear of the unknown, but Mink had his tribe to be worried about. Did he want to revive it, keep it going? Was there even a possibility there were others out there, just as he was? Aoba assumed this was the largest obstacle- both men had issues regarding family and losing it, and Aoba understood why Mink kept delaying a discussion. It was hard enough for Aoba to get close to him, but a child?

“Ugh, what a heavy topic… too much thinking…” Aoba breathed out, not used to exerting himself mentally. Or physically. Really at all, honestly.

"What's too much thinking?" Mink's deep voice came from in front of Aoba- Aoba hadn't even realized Mink was in front of him, going to meet him halfway. Aoba bumped into him, startling himself to look up and then look away. He sighed, dropping his head back onto Mink, earning a small chuckle and an arm around his shoulders. "Minkf-" Aoba spoke, muffled, before stopping himself. A noise was getting louder and louder until it wasn't getting louder any more. Aoba picked his head up, confusion all over his face.

"Is... is that... crying?" Aoba asked, looking up at Mink, who even wore a small amount of confusion as well. Ren piped up, "That is in fact a human infant vocalizing. From what I can decipher, it sounds like it is distressed." Aoba looked down at his allmate, setting him down. "Well then, we have to go see what's going on!" Aoba and Ren were off before Mink could even begin to say anything in protest, ultimately following the odd person he had come to call his lover. They were walking briskly through the snow until finally Aoba stopped to pick up Ren. At this rate, his battery would run out, not to mention he wasn't used to snow. Mink stepped in front of Aoba, "I can lead the way, the child must be close by now." Aoba simply nodded, falling behind Mink's path.

The crying became louder and louder, and Mink picked up his pace and thus Aoba’s; then they finally came across what was making the commotion. Stopping dead in his steps before the child, Mink caused Aoba to bump into him for the second time that day. Walking forward a few small steps, Mink knelt down next to the child, looking at them. A pudgy face could barely be seen, the only visible part of the child. Aoba peeked out from behind the massive man, curiously watching as Mink carefully picked up the child- Aoba already had Ren in his arms. "His face is all blue, Mink! We have to get him home to warm him up!" Aoba told Mink, worried, as the child only cried louder.

Mink could only look back at Aoba for a few moments before he begrudgingly agreed to head home with the child. "I think they were left here, abandoned." Mink told Aoba, who was right up next to Mink, matching his pace. "Who could just abandon a child?! Especially out here in the snow?! I can't believe this! We have to take him in, Mink!" Aoba was clearly upset; he knew what orphanages were like. If he could keep even one child out of one, he would do it. The trip home was quick but felt like it took eons. Immediately, Aoba began to stoke a fire then ran upstairs to get fresh blankets- the one the baby was wrapped in was soaking wet from the snow.

"In the morning, we'll take them to the adoption cen-" Mink was cut off abruptly by Aoba coming down the stairs, "No we will not! Unless it's to make us the formal parents, we are not sending a child up there, okay? We both know what it's like to be without any family, we can't do that to someone else, Mink." Aoba was basically pleading with Mink, now sitting right next to him, with one hand on Mink's shoulder and another atop the child's head. Things were tense and silent for a few moments before Mink sighed. "We can discuss it tomorrow. I'm tired, I'll wrap them in some new blankets," Mink got up, unwrapping the child before a small gasp escaped him.

"Hm? Is something wrong, Mink?" Aoba stood up, grabbing a new blanket to wrap the child in. And then he saw- the child was naked since the blanket was off, and Aoba sighed. "This was probably the reason for being abandoned." Mink said matter-of-factly, holding the child as Aoba wrapped them in a fresh blanket. "I don't think an intersex child would get adopted, Mink. We have to take them in." What they saw had been ambiguous genitalia- it looked like an obvious mixture of external male and female genitalia, even for a baby of only a few weeks.

"Tiryia." Mink said quietly. "Hm?" Aoba looked up at him, now holding the child, sitting down to cuddle them a bit. "That should be their name." Aoba's head shot up- a smile on his face, "Does that mean we're taking them in?!"

Mink sat next to Aoba, sitting back and pinching the bridge of his nose. "I don't want to send them to the adoption center, but I also don't know how we're going to take care of a child." Aoba shifted his head a bit, thinking. "We can figure it out. We always have." Aoba gave a smile which Mink returned with a small, tired one of his own. There was some silence as they both looked at Tiryia, before Aoba looked up again. "Hey... isn't Tiryia a girl's name? Don't most English names end in A if it's feminine?" Aoba asked, curious to the choice of name. "It's a tribal name, not English, and has no gender attached to it. Since I was young, I decided I'd name my child that. Besides, your name ends in an A, anyways." Aoba gave a small laugh, nodding his head. "I guess you're right. I like the name, too." Aoba gave a warm smile, and sat in the comfortable silence for a few more moments before speaking up again. "We need to go out early in the morning to get some stuff for them, maybe see a doctor? Go see how to become formal guardians?" Aoba looked at his very tired lover, who simply gave a nod of his head.

"Here," Aoba handed the baby to Mink. "You two should go upstairs. I'll clean up down here. Go get some sleep," Aoba kissed Mink's forehead- it made Aoba feel a bit bigger and Mink secretly enjoyed it. Mink could only oblige, heading upstairs. By the time Aoba had finished the cleaning and laundry downstairs- even if it wasn't much- both Mink and Tiryia were asleep once he crawled into bed. He curled up under the covers, Tiryia in between the men, sleeping soundly. "I love you, Mink... and you too, Tiryia." He smiled, closing his eyes,

"I guess we'll just see what happens..."

Chapter Text

Pale sunlight had barely begun to filter through the curtains in the bedroom just as Aoba and Mink were woken up. Of course, no one could realistically expect a young infant to sleep peacefully through the night, and Tiryia was no exception. Both men groaned, blinking their eyes open. Mink woke up easier than Aoba, but to stay awake he really needed coffee. But, that didn’t quite matter, as there was a crying child next to him.

“They smell! Augh!” Aoba pinched his nose, quickly picking up a crying Tiryia, and taking them into the bathroom. He knew what it - the smell - was, and just wanted it gone. He unwrapped the blanket with a less than graceful attempt, throwing the cloth into the sink to be rinsed out. He used a small cloth to wash them off before making a makeshift diaper out of a washcloth, then wrapped them in a nice, big fluffy towel. All in all, Aoba liked babies and had taken care of them before, but when he wanted something gone and done, it was gone and done.

Just as he picked Tiryia up and turned around, he was a bit startled by Mink standing in the doorframe, smirking. “You did that quite efficiently.” Was all he said before handing Aoba a sweater and some pants- both men slept in little, even in the winter. Being shirtless and just in underwear wasn’t good unless you were sleeping under a thick blanket next to a thick man, and was especially bad if you were holding a baby. Mink had already gotten dressed, but he typically wore his flannels and sometimes a light top to bed anyways. Aoba nodded in thanks, a bit red from embarrassment. Then, the happy gurgling and blurbling of Tiryia ended, and incessant crying began once more.

“I think they’re hungry, Mink!” Aoba frantically said, looking around as if a bottle would magically appear. “Don’t babies drink milk from the breast?” Mink said lazily, as if not concerned at all, heading out of the room and down the stairs.

“Not from MY breast!” Aoba shouted back, upsetting the baby even more. He gently set Tiryia on the bed before getting clothed in record time, then picked the child back up just as gently. He quickly followed after Mink, which led all three into the kitchen. Mink opened the fridge, taking out some fresh oranges. “I suppose they can drink this..." Mink begun, juicing the oranges- Aoba had insisted to fill up the kitchen with things that might finally prove useful. Aoba watched in awe- he normally did this, and normally cooked the meals. He tried to make coffee while holding Tiryia, but that didn't work out too well, and Mink set out on making it instead.

A few minutes later, all 3 were sat at the table with something to drink. Mink had his coffee, Aoba had his water, and Tiryia was being given a very diluted amount of orange juice. "Okay, this is probably the best time to bring this up- we have nothing to raise a child, and we should probably also go out today and get what we need. I'll have Ren make up a list of things we need and where we can get it in town, and some stuff about babies..." he was trailing off, trying to get Tiryia to drink at the right angle while not spilling their juice everywhere. It was going well so far.

"I can build a crib." Mink succinctly said, and Aoba gave a warm smile. Tiryia finally burped and finished off the juice, and Ren set to his task, updating the list that was being compiled on Aoba's coil. "Well, looks like everything we need can be found in the town right next to here, so I don't think we'll need to go to the next one over..." Mink nodded along, finishing his coffee.

"Aoba... let me hold them." Aoba looked up from his coil, trying to read Mink's expression- something he had gotten surprisingly good at while living with him. His gaze held warmth, and Aoba wasn't going to hog the baby. As much as he wanted to monopolize Tiryia, he knew that was wrong. Somewhat. Kinda. I mean, would it really be so bad if he never let them out of his arms...? Giggling to himself at the thought, he stood up and, with all the gentleness both men could possibly muster, Mink held Tiryia. "Remember to support the head and body..." Aoba added gently, helping Mink to rearrange the way he was holding Tiryia- their head laid on his shoulder, sucking on their thumb. Mink's warmth was easily spreading to the other two people now stitched into the quilt that was his life.

And then, a new warmth was added to the mix- in the form of baby spit-up, right onto his shoulder. It was tense and silent for a moment, before Mink began to laugh. It was his deep and hearty laugh, that was rarely heard- even by Aoba!- and Aoba soon joined in the raucous. Aoba wet a washcloth and cleaned up both his baby and his tiny baby, throwing the cloth into the laundry room as he picked out a clean shirt for Mink to get changed into.

Soon, everybody was walking together- Ren trotting next to an Aoba carrying the now exhausted Tiryia, and Mink only a step ahead, leading the path both men knew so well.

For some reason, drones had not been fully utilized for delivery in the future. Aoba knew about having to use human labor all too well- he worked in this town, even if part-time, and enjoyed what he did. He got to see a lot of people and talk to them. But right now, carrying a baby and walking all the way into town for supplies, he realized how much he wanted air delivery. Even for a relatively short distance, he did not enjoy it while carrying something small and soft and easily breakable... and also felt like a 20 pound bag of water.

Thankfully, the baby store was near their entrance to the town- a cute light pastel paintjob doner on the shopfront. Ren said it would have almost all that they needed, and the grocery and general store down the block would have the rest. "I can split the list and send what we need down the block to the store to be ready to be picked up in half an hour. Should I do this?" Aoba gave an affirmative hum and nod in agreement to his allmate, happy he at least existed. And so finally, they walked into the store- Mink looking only a tiny bit out of place. 

There were so many options, Aoba didn’t even know where to begin. But, before either man could split off, Aoba looked up at Mink and grasped his upper arm. “Mink… what color stuff do we get?” Aoba was as serious as he could be, but Mink simply looked confused. “Color? I don’t think babies quite care much about what they wear. Any color will do.” Mink was matter-of-fact as always, but Aoba looked a bit annoyed. “Yeah, but I mean, what gender stuff do we get? I mean, they could be a girl, they could be a boy, they could be both, they could be neither! And I don’t know!”

And that was when it hit Aoba: one, Mink didn’t think of things as gendered or specifically for one sex, two, he was shopping for a baby and Tiryia likely did not care what they wore as long as it felt nice. Mink’s nearly bewildered look, or as nearly bewildered as he can get, told Aoba the first part; instinct clued him into the second. His face softened, and he smiled up at Mink. “I think I know what to get for them now. Thanks, Mink, I love you.” He gave a small kiss on Mink’s cheek, to which he huffed in the way Aoba had come to love, before he headed down the aisle with the strollers and carriers. Assembling and big things was for Mink; that didn't need to be said.

“Okay Tiryia, here’s what we’re gonna do,” Aoba began as he walked down the aisle with all the clothes. One side was shockingly pink, and the other bright blue. It was almost an eyesore. “I’m gonna pick up something for you to wear, and I’ll let you feel it, and if you like it and smile we’ll get it, and if you don’t like it we won’t get it.” Obviously, Aoba didn’t expect Tiryia to be making fully conscious and sophisticated decisions. He wasn’t expecting Tiryia to reply with “I simply can’t wear this, forest green and terry cloth just are not in this season” as Tiryia was not a fashion expert. They were also an infant. Granted, it would make this a lot easier otherwise, but he was truly excited to be able to do this.

“You know, the whole pink and blue thing is strange. I don’t think it would be so bad if there were other options- as much as I love blue,” he said as he held up a blue and white striped onesie to Tiryia to touch while all his clothing had some amount of blue on it, “it’d be a lot better if we had blue as an option but other colors too. Then again, I’ve always been wearing blue.” Tiryia gurgled, putting the onesie into their mouth. Aoba threw it into the small basket he had. “Kids used to make fun of me for my long hair and call me girly even though I wore blue. I don’t want something like that to happen to you.” He held up a soft yellow shirt with a cute circus print on it, seeing what Tiryia would think.

Aoba took a minute to consider what he said as Tiryia dropped the shirt into the basket, copying Aoba, and smiling up at him. He returned their smile tenfold. “Well, guess that’s a winner. How about this one?” And so the shopping continued until they had a diverse wardrobe collected- two nice pair of shoes included.

Aoba caught up with Mink, a box with a carrier under one arm, and a basket full of bottles and toys under the other. Both men looked at some of the strollers and other fun things offered, but ultimately decided they didn't need it- or at least not right now. "I'll head to the general store and get what Ren picked out, you can handle this, right?" Aoba asked, seeing as most of the big stuff would be coming from here. It's not that Aoba was a wimp or anything, he delivered boxes and packages for his job! But he didn't do it while holding an infant. Mink nodded, taking the basket from Aoba's hand; Aoba followed Ren down to the store at the end of the street.

It was mainly formula, food, and diapers, among some other small things- enough to last until they can make a serious plan. And with that, as soon as Aoba arrived back up the street, Mink was walking out, perfectly carrying all that he had. The walk home was similar to the one into town- an exhausted baby, and otherwise mostly silent. 

Getting home was the fun part- they left fairly early in the morning, and so they had all day to set up what they needed for Tiryia. Mink made quick work to gathering the wood he would need to assemble the crib, and Aoba laid Tiryia down on a pile of blankets on the couch. Starting a fire, Mink set up in the living room as well, making idle chat with his lover while both were set to their tasks. Once Aoba finished sorting through the stuff they had bought, and storing it, he came back into the living room to watch Mink work.

And then that became a bit boring, as Tiryia was sleeping- Aoba did feed them lunch, burped them (finding out what a burp cloth was was a great thing!), and set them back down after such an exhaustive meal. There were only so many jokes Aoba could make about the nipple on one of the bottles before even he became tired of them. Mink likely was from the beginning. "Hey, let me do something to help."

Wordlessly, Mink handed sandpaper and the whittled rods of wood to Aoba. Aoba understood what to do- Mink worked quickly and efficiently, likely because he didn't talk much. "Thank you, wouldn't want them to get splinters..." Aoba started a conversation, content if it went nowhere. "Wouldn't want you to, either. You'd cry longer than they would. Louder, too." Mink teased a little; Aoba stuck his tongue out, only to get a quick kiss on the lips from Mink, and a devilish smile. Aoba blushed, muttering a "geez...".

Just as the sun was starting to set, the crib had been assembled- sure, it would need finetuning, but for tonight it was safe and did the job it needed to. The now-family celebrated by eating a nice meal prepared by Aoba- fried rice and salmon with an accidental spill of some formula- and a lot of cooing over Tiryia by Aoba. Once that was finished, Mink held them in the living room as Aoba tested out some toys on them. Aoba's coil and Mink's newspaper laid forgotten on the table. And finally- Tiryia became too tired to even attempt to hold their head up or their eyes open, and it was agreed among everybody it was time for bed.

As Aoba laid down the sleeping baby in the crib, he took a picture and sent it to his close friends and Tae. “Hey, Ren, you don’t mind sleeping in the crib next to Tiryia, do you?” Ren wagged his head no, reaffirming he didn’t in his deep voice. Aoba picked him up and placed him next to Tiryia- as soon as he did, they clutched on. Ren peacefully went into standby mode. Thus, all tired and worn out, Aoba and Mink headed to their bed to get some rest.

And, just as they had gotten into bed, a thought came to Aoba’s head.

“Oi, Mink,” Aoba said, catching the attention of the taller man. He got a simple “Hm?” in return. “How come you immediately gave Tiryia a name? You always give people nicknames before even learning their names.” Aoba was looking curiously at Mink, pointing to Tiryia when he mentioned their name, as if Mink could have forgotten who they were.

“Wait… wait a minute! Mink, does that mean from the beginning-” Aoba’s excitement couldn’t peak as he was abruptly cut off, “Don’t say another word.”

It did, in fact, mean Mink had loved them from the beginning.