Hurt

And they lived happily ever after - or something like that

Shin-chan went over his notes one last time before beginning to pack his bag. Even if they only offered about ten percent of what he had to learn, it was important to keep them in order. Sometimes people asked for them, knowing he never slept in lectures. Even his study group members who took this as seriously as him weren't always able to stay awake or be present for every lecture.

One of them, Ayako, who sat next to him, had already finished packing and asked: „So what will we do until Hen-Su's lecture?“

„How about something to eat?“ Yuichi offered, who stood right beside her.

„If you pay.“ Tsubaki interjected from the row behind them. „I already ate what I took with me today.“ She stretched before yawning. „Maybe I should just go home. Hen-Su's lectures are so hard to understand, I'll drift off anyway. Who let's a foreigner speak at five in the afternoon?“

„Be happy that he tries to speak Japanese. When we had that professor who only spoke English, I didn't get anything. Molecular genetics is hard to learn by itself, it's worse in another language.“ Yuichi answered her.

„Where was he from again? Russia?“

„Taiwan.“ Shin-chan recalled. „His English was abysmal.“

„Right you are. So what do we do?“ Ayako repeated her initial question.

„First, we'll leave this room.“ Tsubaki decided and was the first to leave.

The others followed her. Right when they stepped out of the building, Shin-chan's phone rang. As only Kazu called him at this time, he took the call with a smile.

„Daddy? Can you hear me?“

„Of course, princess. I can understand you perfectly.“ His smile deepened, not dampened by her squealing that followed. „Are you on your way home?“

„No, I am in the rickshaw.“ Which Kazu still drove around, transporting their daughter wherever she wanted to go.

„Where to?“ Maybe she had decided to see the zoo or aquarium or something. His husband spoiled her too much in his opinion but she obviously liked to be spoiled. And it wasn't like he was able to withstand her pouting. Kazu said she got that from him.

„To you!“ She exclaimed happily.

„To me? But I still have work to do.“ He took a look at his watch. He had thirty minutes until his next lecture started. „How long until you get here?“

„Uhm ... I don't know.“ Of course she wouldn't, she was only four years old after all.

„Can you ask your mother?“ Which she did. Loudly. He held the phone away from his ear for a moment. He saw his friends grin while watching him. She continued in normal volume, so he listened again. They seemed to be five minutes away. „Okay. Please tell him to come to the statue of the dolphin.“ He preemptively held the phone away which seemed to have been a great idea. „See you soon, princess.“ He ended the call.

„So you won't join us for the next lecture?“ Tsubaki asked grinning.

„Of course I will, I never skip lectures. I'll just meet them in between. Please excuse me.“ He took a step away from them but the women latched onto his arm. „What is it?“

„Can we come too?“ She grinned and had some kind of maniac glint in her eyes. „I never met your wife or daughter. Please?“

„Why would you want to meet them?“ Most likely that was a stupid question but he honestly didn't know why she would want to do that. He saw Ayako sigh and Yuichi grin.

„We are curious who would marry you, man.“ The latter answered in a tone he recognized as cocky, whoever came up with that adjective.

„Don't be so rude. Midorima is a great catch for every women.“ Ayako scolded him.

„In a few years, true. He'll make good money. But she has been with him for how long now? Five years? How old were you when you became a couple?“

„Sixteen.“ Which normally meant people were long parted again, he knew that much. They must be curious what kind of person decided on his life partner at sixteen.

„Is she like you? All straight forward, everything planned out?“ Tsubaki let go of his arm, obviously not leaving his side though. He began to walk in the right direction with the other following him. „Or wait – is she an Omega? I mean, who decides to get pregnant at sixteen?“

He had a sudden urge to just slam the truth in their face. Kazu had warned him off, but they were to meet him anyway, so why not? If they decided to not associate with him anymore, at least he had their stunned faces to be amused about. So he said: „I got pregnant. I am Kikyo's mother. My husband just decided that I wasn't great mother material, so we changed parenting roles.“

Tsubaki stopped, so he turned around after two more steps. Yuichi had walked right into her while Ayako watched them with the same interest he had in the spectacle.

„Now, wait a minute ...“ The other man helped Tsubaki up after nearly running her over. „You gave birth to a child at sixteen? Were you drunk? High?“

„Do I look like someone who would do that?“ He felt his eyebrow twitching. What did people come up with sometimes?

„Did you actually plan that?“ The other looked lost.

„No, we conceived her on accident because we did not know I could get pregnant. But we had her because we wanted to. And for the records, I was seventeen when I gave birth.“ Kazu had also warned him off not to go into too much detail. But this was important, right? He wanted them to accept this after all. Even though a picture of Tsubaki's face right now would be great.

Ayako seemed to think the same, because she took one with her mobile phone.

„What the- are you crazy?“ The other woman asked her.

„Your face was hilarious, I had to save this. I'll send it to Midorima now.“ His own phone beeped with a confirmation. He took a sudden liking to Ayako. „This will be priceless pressure material for the future.“

„You are such a cold-hearted bitch sometimes.“ Somehow – while very rude – Tsubaki managed not to sound too offending. „Did you know?“

„Not at all.“ She smiled mysteriously. „But I did see the scar when we had that training in sports medicine.“

„Yeah, right, I saw that too.“ Yuichi recalled. „That is from birth?“

„Yes.“ Shin-chan affirmed. „She was taken out two months early because my stomach did not give due to my taught musculature.“

„Oh, damn. Is she alright or did she have problems?“ Tsubaki asked, seemingly having forgotten about her shock and the picture.

„Her immune system wasn't good, she had a lot of infections. She also has a bit of asthma.“

„That isn't so bad.“ Yuichi scratched his head. „Wait, so you don't have a wife? You have a husband that tops a guy like you? I'm imagining a muscled gorilla where everyone trembles whenever your girl says 'mommy'.“

„Kazu is pretty normal and an easy-going, likable guy. He is a social character, brings up Kikyo and earns our money. I never met a person that doesn't like him.“ Shin-chan summed up. Whenever he did that, he was reminded what a failure he was compared to his husband. Well, in a few years he would earn their money, that was a bit of contribution. „Do you still want to meet them?“

„Hell yeah!“ Tsubaki decided, making a jump to stand beside him. „Lead the way to your sweetheart.“

„Alpha male pregnancies are unbelievably rare, right?“ Yuichi sped up to walk beside them. „I want to know all about it!“

„I'll tell you another time.“ Shin-chan said. He noticed Ayako followed him as well, so it seemed to be alright. If they came with him, that meant they accepted this, right? Somehow it seemed too easy. He still remembered their math teacher who had openly tried to humiliate them. „Look for a bike with a rickshaw next to the dolphin's statue.“

„A rickshaw?“ Tsubaki asked confusedly.

„Yeah, my husband drove me around when I was pregnant and somehow he never stopped. Now he drives our daughter.“ Even though by now that simple cart had become an actual rickshaw. It was a gift from their father to Kazu's maturity. They still hadn't decided if it was meant as a joke or not. But it was equipped with security belts, so most likely it was actually meant in earnest.

„You know, do you mind sharing? A guy good in bed, caring for kids, earning money and treating you like a princess sounds like a fairy-tale prince.“

„He's mine.“ His voice held a slight dark tremble, something dangerous. He didn't know he could sound like that.

„Yeah, sure, sorry. That was a joke. He's yours, I got that.“ Tsubaki held up her hands. „You can be quite territorial.“

“Would you ask me for my only can of red bean soup?” She shook her head with vigor, knowing his fondness for the rare drink. “Then why would you ask for my husband?”

“I see.” She looked around, already focussing on another topic. “There is a rickshaw! Oh, is that her? It must be, those green eyes are beautiful.”

He looked where Tsubaki pointed at and saw his daughter already running in his direction. He knelt down to embrace her, nearly toppling over from the vigor she jumped with. He stood with her in his arms, saying: “Did you miss me this much? What did you do today?”

“We made gifts for mother's day! Is there a father's day? I want to make a gift for you too.” Of course she didn't stop there, rambling on so that he had to interrupt her after a bit to introduce her to everyone present.

Just like with Kazu, she dazzled everyone with her open smile in a second. Tsubaki and even Yuichi began to ask her question while Ayako silently turned to the man standing next to her. They shook hands, quietly exchanging their names before the others noticed Kazu.

“Hello!” He greeted simply, broad smile in place.

“Woah, okay … neither wife nor gorilla. I'm Yuichi.” They shook hands as well while Kazu cooked an eyebrow. “Well, Midorima never said his wife was actually a husband until today. So while we discussed what a guy you could be, my guess was a muscled athlete.”

“Shin-chan and I were athletes, we played basketball at a national level in middle- and high-school. I still have enough muscles to drive him around in that.” He pointed at the rickshaw behind which had already gathered some onlookers.

“You don't really look like it.” Tsubaki pointed out before actually noticing what she had said. “Oh, sorry, I didn't mean anything bad by that. I was just surprised. I am Tsubaki.”

“Kazu Midorima.” He nodded. “And I don't take offense from something that small. I see what a perfect physique looks like every night, so I know I am quite average.”

“I know, it's a very rude question but … I like Midorima as a friend, but how do you stand his personality as a partner? I can't get my head around that.” Yuichi asked. “I just- I've been wondering ever since I knew he is married. Now even more than before, because really, sometimes women are just weird but you aren't a women, so … can you explain?”

Ayako sighed and rolled her eyes.

“Why are you with a woman who only has one arm?” Kazu asked back, taking the other serious instead of blowing up.

“Huh?” Yuichi blinked. “My girlfriend has both arms.”

“It was an example. Your girlfriend isn't perfect, maybe she is naggy or chaotic or has an awful sense of style, I don't know. But you love her anyway, at least I hope you do. Everyone has flaws and strengths, all more or less obvious. If you can stand them or not is quite individual. I am happy that a lot of people can't stand Shin-chan's flaws because otherwise I'd have even more contenders. Those I have are already enough.” He looked away to Tsubaki who was staring at his husband in turn. “Are you one of them?”

“What?” She looked up. “Oh, no, don't worry, I'll- I mean, well, I … that would be hopeless anyway, Midorima has never shown interest in anyone. He can walk past Omegas in heat without even blinking.”

“He had to train that because Omegas kept pouncing on him.” Oh, what horrible time to remember. “Remember that one girl who released all her pheromones after you rejected her?”

“That was awful.” Had he understood correctly that Tsubaki had thought about dating him once? “I don't understand why girls try again and again when they were already rejected.”

“Being persistent can be successful.” Kazu replied with a smirk.

“What is “persistent”?” Kikyo asked who everyone seemed to have forgotten about.

“Something that happens again and again, mostly someone trying for a different outcome by doing the same thing over and over.” Shin-chan explained.

“That sounds dumb.” She judged.

“When you have no better idea, it is better than not doing anything. Sometimes it helps to try again, even if you fail a second or third time.” Kazu said, exchanging places with Tsubaki. “I talked to your daddy again and again until he gave me an answer. If I had not been so persistent, we would not be married today.”

“Karen-nee tells me to shut up when I ask why again and again. People get annoyed when you are persistent.” She replied with new-found wisdom.

“Yes, I get annoyed when you ask for sweets incessantly. So you have that persistence from your mother, I finally made the connection.” Shin-chan said which made his husband stick out his tongue. “Don't do that, it makes me want to kiss you.”

“Aren't you a master in setting undesirable consequences?” Kazu mocked him. “Now say goodbye if you want to get to your lecture on time.”

“No!” Kikyo hugged her father tighter.

“Kikyo, I told you not make a fuss and you promised you can do that. If you can't we will not be able to visit your daddy in the future.” Kazu admonished her. She looked back tearily, just like Shin-chan who did not want to part from her. “Really, both of you, you'll see each other in two hours, you'll survive.”

That's what Kazu thought. Shin-chan direly wanted to tell them something and he would have to wait another two hours to do that. Should he really part from them? He could just skip the lecture, Hen-Su really never said anything relevant anyway, the others could take notes for once. It must be fate that they decided today was the perfect day for their first visit to university.

The university Kazu gave up on to raise their daughter.

And son. In five months at least.

Shin-chan sighed deeply, said goodbye to Kikyo and pecked Kazu's cheek which he had never dared to do before since that dilemma back in basketball training. Kazu looked surprised, then happy and somehow suspicious when they said goodbye. Shin-chan would tell them tonight. He simply had to get through that boring lecture beforehand and learn to skip things in the future.

It turned out that he did not listen anyway because Tsubaki, Yuichi and even Ayako discussed that they wanted husbands and wives exactly like Kazu the whole lecture. Damn, he would have to look after him. Good thing he was pregnant again, hopefully that would keep Kazu occupied. The older they got, the more rivals Shin-chan would have.

But Oha-Asa monthly still said that Scorpio was most compatible with Cancer, so they should be fine.