Work Text:
"Umm—" Emu came into Hiiro's home office. The surgeon turned to look at him.
"Is everything alright Emu?" Hiiro was actually currently writing up on a case study. He had all of his books and papers neatly on his desk; on the computer screen was the patient's chart but identifying information was blacked out. This was a rare case that Hiiro was writing up about so that university students could read it and make scientific reports on it. It was something he liked to do to help future doctors.
Emu stared at him from the doorway, his bottom lip was briefly quivering. Right now it was Saturday, so Emu didn't have school. Parado had to go to CR so it was just Emu and Hiiro at home.
"Emu?" He knew that look on his face. It was the look Emu had when he was afraid to ask for something or if he had accidentally done something he wasn't supposed to.
"Can—" it seemed he was afraid to ask what he was trying to ask. He was shifting awkward before his gaze drifted away from his father. "Can we go to the playground?" It finally came out of his mouth. Emu lifted his head up, staring at him again.
Hiiro stared back blankly. He had been alive in this life for 5 months now but not once did he ask Hiiro if he could go to the playground on his own. His gaze went back to his work before he let out a soft sigh and turned back to Emu as he stood up out of his chair. "Why not?" Afterall, a case study could wait a few hours.
Emu's face suddenly lit up. He looked excited now as he smiled. "Really?!"
"Really!" Hiiro smiled back and then went to go put his shoes on. "Come on. Is it alright if we walk since it's only a few blocks away?"
"Yeah!" Emu was happily putting on his light up shoes. His light up shoes flashed red and blue; just like Para-DX.
As they walked to the playground, Hiiro was holding his hand. "Emu, why were you afraid to ask me about going to the playground?"
He stopped when Emu did. "Because he never did anything with me... I think he'd yell at me to leave him alone when I'd ask... especially when he was busy..." Emu's voice became soft; it was barely a whisper. It was wavering. "I thought..."
Hiiro briefly sighed and crouched in front of him. He was now holding both of his hands as he looked him in the eyes. "Emu. That was then. This is now. You can always ask me anything. The worst thing that will happen is I'll say no."
The 8 year old nodded. "I believe you."
"Now come on," he stood back up and they continued walking to the playground.
. . . . .
Hiiro was sitting on the playground bench, watching Emu. He smiled as he watched him play—in fact, he was now playing around with other kids. They were all having fun. Then Emu came running over to Hiiro again, practically bouncing. "Papa! Lets go to the swings!" He was now pulling on his hand, making Hiiro stand up and follow to where he wanted to take him. It made him smile; it made him happy to see how happy Emu was—to see him actually being able to be a kid. As he observed, he noticed one other kid was on the other swingset with their father pushing them. Emu's gaze briefly went over there before he sat on the swing.
"Did you want me to push you on the swing?"
Emu briefly turned to look at him with a hopeful look on his face. "You don't have to!"
"How about I do?"
"That'd make me happy!"
"Alright."
As Hiiro was now pushing Emu on the swing, he thought about how Emu should've been able to enjoy all of this in his previous life—how he should've been allowed to be a child and have fun. But because of Kiyonaga, Kuroto, and Masamune; Emu couldn't enjoy anything. He had to grow up far too quickly and endure heartache nearly his entire life. He thought about how he should've been able to make friends and have birthday parties; how he should've been able to enjoy being young. Even if all Hiiro cared about was studying and becoming a doctor, it didn't come without play every so often. There'd be times where his mom or dad would push him on the swing after convincing him to stop studying—and he did enjoy it, though he'd never admit that.
But Emu...
"Oh! Can we order pizza tonight?"
Hiiro pushed him again. "Sure. Same place as usual?"
"Yeah!"
Emu should've been able to have all of that. He should've been able to have even a small taste of it—but he never had it. He never experienced familial love and care; the tenderness of a mother to their child; the father-son bonding. All Emu could think of was how meaningless life was, about how he wanted to just reset his own life at the very cost of it. He was far too young to understand the weight that carried. It pissed Hiiro off to know how shitty Kiyonaga was. It made him angry, it made him livid. No matter how many times he thought about it, it only made him more angry. In fact, he'd think about it daily.
But now Emu had this second chance.
Emu eventually jumped out of the swing, briefly falling onto the mulch. "Hey! Geez, Emu. Don't jump out that fast." Hiiro sighed as he was checking his son, who just had an awkward grin on his face. This definitely reminded him of the clumsy Emu, of Emu Hojo. It made him suddenly laugh when Emu was fine, because he made the same face he always did—that embarrassed smile.
"I'm okay." He stood up with Hiiro's help. "Sorry that I jumped out too fast!"
"Its alright. Just be more mindful next time, alright?"
"I promise!" That big happy smile of his.
"Okay. Good. Shall we head back?"
"Yeah!"
. . . . .
Later that night, Parado came back to Hiiro still working on the case study. "Emu asleep?"
"Yeah."
Then the bugster smiled. "I showed Poppy and Lazer the picture you sent of Emu playing on the playground. They said he looked really happy—I could feel his happiness, even."
"He definitely did look happy." Hiiro turned to look at Parado. "I just put him to bed maybe an hour ago." His smile turned into a brief frown.
Parado noticed the expression change. "Something happen?"
A headshake. "No, not really. It was just that Emu was afraid to ask me to take him to the playground earlier. At the very least, he managed to build up the courage to ask, but it angers me because of his first father being the whole reason as to why he's scared to ask for things that should be first on a child's mind."
The bugster glanced away, holding a hand to his chest; a sigh was let out. "Yeah. At least he's learning to ask."
"I agree." Hiiro turned back to his work. "I will never let him feel that despair and hopelessness ever again."
"You and me both, Brave. At any rate, I'm going to go play games for a bit."
"Alright. Oh, Parado—Emu did trip when he jumped off of the swingset. I checked him over, he didn't get hurt other than lightly scuffing his jeans. But... it surely brought back some memories." The surgeon closed his eyes, bringing a hand to his head as he leaned forward with a brief smile on his face. "He surely is the pediatrician in a different form."
Parado chuckled, grinning. "Yeah, he is." The bugster was a bit relieved.
"Also, there's also pizza in the fridge. Same place as usual."
"Neat. Thanks." Parado took off promptly as Hiiro was now focusing on his work again.
He did take out his phone and was looking at the picture he took of Emu on the playground. There was a happy smile on his adoptive son's face—it was different from the one Emu would have before his reset. It made Hiiro scroll through his gallery; he had only one picture of Emu Hojo and it was one that they all took together on Emu's phone and sent it to the group chat. Emu did look happy in that photo, but Hiiro could now notice the sad look he still had in his eyes. "You kept all of that hidden away and none of us stopped to even consider getting to really know you." He muttered to himself, realizing he was about to cry again when his vision began to blur. When a tear fell, he quickly wiped his eyes with his sleeve. What would've even happened if they did get to know Emu Hojo better? Would he have been happier? Would Mighty Novel X never had taken him away, forcing him to reset? Would he still had thought so little of himself? Would he had put himself in more danger, still?
There's no many questions that they'll never have answers to.
But there is one question that they do have the answer to: what would happen if they became his real family? Happiness. Emu would be happy. At the very least, Emu Kagami wouldn't follow the same path as Emu Hojo. While yes, his original personality now only exists through Parado; his new personality was just like the side of Emu Hojo that he tried so hard to portray so no one would see his true self. Now Emu Kagami can live the life he only ever could dream of.
Hiiro put his phone away and returned focus to this case study. It was at that very moment that he made a promise to himself that he'd do whatever it takes to make sure his son was happy and wouldn't suffer.
After that day, whenever Emu asked if they could go to the playground, Hiiro always said yes if he could. There were a few times he couldn't due to being called into work, but Hiiro would call whoever was available to take him to the playground. Even if Emu's living a second life from the reset, they will treat it as if he only has one life; because life surely is too precious to waste.