Chapter Text
“Hisashi?” Inko asked, drawing Hisashi out of his thoughts.
He hummed in response, closing his book and setting it aside. He hadn’t really been reading it, though it was an interesting book. No, he had been watching his wife out of the corner of his eyes. She’d been…acting off all day. There was an anxious twist to her mouth, and she’d been looking over her shoulders at him when she thought he wasn’t looking.
He looked up, watching her shift nervously. Her hands kept drifting to her stomach too - did she have a stomach ache? He frowned slightly.
“So…um…” Inko said.
“Is there something wrong, love?” Hisashi asked, sliding over and patting the sofa next to him.
“No, no! Not at all,” Inko said, waving her hands placatingly, “I just um…” She put her hands behind her back, rocking on her heels. Hisashi resisted the urge to smile. He didn’t believe her in the slightest - she had been engaging in too many of her nervous tics for him to fall for her reassurances. But still. She was sweet. “I… just have a new boss!”
“…A new boss?” Hisashi asked, his frown deepening. Normally she told him about these things far in advance. It was odd to have such a large workplace change with no warning. “Have they been giving you trouble?” he asked, “You’ve seemed…rather out of it all day.”
“Oh really?” Inko asked, stilling.
Hisashi nodded. “Well, for one, you didn’t sit next to me when I offered, something you’re normally so quick to take advantage of,” he said with a soft chuckle. It didn’t seem to placate her. Might as well just tell her what was bothering him then. His smile faded and he continued, “You’ve been putting your hands on your stomach a lot, love. Do you have a stomach ache? Are you stressed?”
“Oh,” Inko said, blinking. She grabbed her work tote bag and sat down next to him, leaning into his side. Hisashi leaned over, kissing her on the forehead, checking her temperature surreptitiously. He hummed and Inko laughed softly, pushing him away gently.
“I’m okay, Hisashi, I promise,” she said, a smile growing on her face. She looks down, fiddling with her bag, “Don’t worry, the new boss is fine - I don’t know them very well though.”
Hisashi let her push him away, smiling slightly. Her words didn’t stop the steadily increasing trickle of concern. “Would you like me to look into them? Make sure they won't cause you any trouble?” he asked.
Inko’s grin grew. At least she wasn’t sick, but…he wondered what was making her smile if she was having difficulties at work. “Sure that would be fine,” Inko said.
“Good,” Hisashi said with a nod. He dug in his pockets for a pen and spare business card to write on, “What’s their name?”
“Oh, I don’t know that either,” Inko said.
Hisashi looked up from the business card, raising an eyebrow. Inko hid her smile behind her hand. “Secretive, aren’t they?” he asked.
“A bit,” she said, ”but I do have a picture of them!” She patted her work bag.
Hisashi sat back slowly, eyeing the bag warily. “Well, let’s see it, then.”
Inko’s grin somehow grew larger, and she pulled out a big yellow envelope, offering it to him.
Hisashi stared at the envelope, his brows furrowing. The trickle increased. He grabbed the envelope, beginning to open it. She didn’t know her new boss well, or have their name, but she had a large picture of them? Clearly this person had an ego problem - he hadn’t really fiddled with her work other than to research the backgrounds of her coworkers, but this person may need more interest…he took out the picture.
It was plain white.
He flipped it over.
It wasn’t a person. The image was in shades of black, white, and gray, and looked more like static than anything else.
Hisashi’s brows furrowed deeper. He frowned.
“Inko, what - ” he started
“They’re right there. See?” Inko said, pointing to a small, bean shape at the base of the picture.
“But Inko,” Hisashi said, bringing the image closer, “this looks like an ultras -”
His brain blanked out.
His jaw hung open.
His fingers tighten at the edges of the picture.
Not a picture
An ultrasound.
New boss.
B.
Ba-
His heart thudded in his chest like a drum.
Hisashi looked up at his wife. She was grinning as wide as possible, a hand on her stomach.
She wasn’t sick.
She. she was -
“Inko?” he asked, his voice tiny.
“Yes?” she said, her grin glowing.
“Y-You- I-”
He took a deep breath and pointed to her stomach.
“Baby?” he asked, his voice cracking.
He’d never been this inarticulate in his life.
Inko nodded vigorously.
“... baby,” he stammered, “There's... Baby? In there? You have. A baby. WE have a baby. We have a baby, right? It's ours? Yours and mine?”
“It wouldn't be anyone else’s!” Inko said, giggling.
Hisashi didn’t move. He was aware his jaw was still open, and he probably looked like a gawping idiot, but he physically couldn’t do anything about it. He didn’t have the brain power for it.
He. He didn’t think he could have children at this point. He had never planned, he had never thought, he had never even considered the possibility -
“So,” Inko asked, the anxiety from earlier sneaking back into her voice and oh it made so much sense now - “Any thoughts on the new management? Do…you like them?”
All for One thought of the danger a child would pose to his operations. They would be even easier target for his enemies than his brother, than his wife. They could potentially develop his quirk, and out his civilian identity. They could rebel against him, just like his brother.
Hisashi thought of the patter of little feet, greeting him home with Inko.
Hisashi blurted yes before he could think any further.