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Emu was crying. Hiiro just let out a soft sigh. "Emu, it's not that serious. Why are you crying over this?" He was currently sweeping up pieces of a broken glass cup. Emu had tried to get himself a cup of apple juice, but it had slipped and fallen onto the floor. The moment it happened, Emu had immediately started crying.
At first, Hiiro thought maybe he had hurt himself on the glass, so he checked Emu over. Then he went to get the broom and dustpan, relieved Emu wasn't hurt. However, Emu only continued crying. "I'm sorry—" he sounded so choked up, so genuinely upset.
Over breaking a cup? The surgeon's eyes briefly widened at the realization. Had Kiyonaga yelled at Emu for breaking things before? "Don't apologize about it." The glass was now swept up, but Hiiro instead was now knelt down in front of his son. "Things happen, Emu. I have accidentally broken glass and ceramic cups before, too." He was gently holding onto his arms before deciding to grab and hold both of his hands. "This isn’t something you should ever feel ashamed or sorry about. It's just a cup. I have plenty more."
"But I still broke it—" he continued crying, the tears streaming down his cheeks. "—I didn't mean to."
"I know you didn't, and that's alright. It's alright, Emu." Hiiro couldn't take it anymore. He pulled Emu into a tight hug, rubbing his back gently. "It's alright."
Emu clinged to him, seemingly crying harder, but happy to be hugging his papa. "...I'm sorry."
"You don't need to apologize for that, Emu." He pulled away to put a hand on Emu's cheek and wipe his tears gently with his thumb. "Look at me, Emu." Hiiro knew he needed to be gentle, but Emu was glancing away. He did look back over to Hiiro, his bottom lip was quivering. Now both hands were on Emu's cheeks. "It's alright to cry and it is alright to be upset when things happen, but this was just a cup. I'm not mad at all. I'm not going to yell at you or punish you for it, either."
"You're not?" The child asked that so quickly that Hiiro's heart broke. Why would Emu even ask such a ridiculous question? It wasn't right. It did, however, only confirm that Kiyonaga had likely yelled or belittled him for breaking something.
"Of course I'm not." Hiiro stood back up. "As I said, it is just a cup. I have plenty more. I was more worried if you were hurt, Emu, from the way you began crying."
A headshake. Emu's tears were lessening, but he was still upset. "I... I just... I thought you were gonna be mad." He finally admitted with a stuttered voice. "I didn't want—I didn't want to upset you!"
"I would never get mad at you over that. Now, if you did it on purpose or out of anger, perhaps I would be upset. But you did it on accident. It merely slipped from you, and that happens sometimes." Hiiro just smiled at him softly.
Emu was looking at him again before hugging him on his own this time. "I'm sorry—" before there was a chance for Hiiro to say anything, Emu spoke again, "—for thinking you were gonna be mad."
"It's alright. I understand why you may have thought such a thing."
Without further warning, Parado had suddenly teleported in. "Emu!" At first, he looked worried, but then he looked relieved. "Are you okay? I thought I sensed you were scared."
Emu pulled away from Hiiro to look up at Parado, then pulling him into a hug. "I'm okay! I'm okay now!" He smiled. Parado seemed to sigh in relief and hugged him back.
Hiiro just stared at Parado before his gaze went back to Emu. He sighed. "He broke a glass cup on accident and thought I was going to be mad at him."
"Ahhh." It seems Parado knew something, so Hiiro decided he would ask later. "Emu, its okay if you break something on accident. You of all people should remember that. Do you not remember the time I dropped your coffee mug in CR and actually asked adult you to forgive me?"
Emu briefly pulled back while still hugging, just so he glanced up. "Yeah! I told you not to worry!"
"See?" Parado rubbed his head, ruffling his hair. "Same thing."
"At any rate, do you want me to pour you a glass of apple juice?" Hiiro asked.
Emu nodded. "Can you please?" He bowed his head, still briefly sniffling.
"I would love to." The surgeon quickly went to get another glass to pour the apple juice for Emu. "Are you hungry, too?" Meanwhile, Parado pulled a chair out at the table and had Emu sit down on it.
He nodded again. "I am."
"I'll also make dinner, then." Hiiro smiled softly.
. . . . .
Later that night, once Emu was put to bed, Hiiro decided to finally ask Parado as Parado shut the door to Emu's room. "It was because of Kiyonaga, wasn't it?" He asked.
Parado just closed his eyes as he sighed and leaned his head against the door. "Yeah. Emu was about 9 or 10 and had broke a cup while trying to clean it. Kiyonaga got so mad that he made him clean it up and told him he wasn't allowed to use anything with glass for a while. After that, he tried to be careful." He opened his eyes again to glance at Hiiro. "Emu understands you're not him, but his brain having been reverted with very few memories—he can't help the thoughts that it still could happen."
"I understand." Hiiro stated with a soft look on his face. "I told him it was just a cup, that I had plenty."
"Figured." Parado smiled at him. "Believe it or not, Brave, you do a very good job at talking to him and calming him down."
The surgeon looked nearly at a loss for words. It seemed he wasn't ready to hear that. While it's true he knew he needed to think his words through, it also helped that he had spoken with several people and consulted several books about caring for a child with issues like his. "The coroner would likely call it:" he did air quotes, "'Papa's Intuition' or something of the sorts, even though I am merely only able to from consulting all sorts of books and people in regards on how to take care of him."
Parado couldn't help his sudden laugh. "Yeah, Lazer would say that. At any rate," he went to step away, but put a hand on Hiiro's shoulder, "you're a good father for him. Even if you've only been his father for 3 months now, you have helped him a lot so far."
"Parado..." a sigh.
The bugster just grinned before he teleported away again. Hiiro knew it was because he had been doing things—doing Emu Hojo's job in CR.
A mutter to himself, "I keep saying no thank you to more tears and yet you all keep doing it." He wiped his eyes with his sleeve before heading to his own bedroom.