"Hey, princess, whatch'a doin?" Hizashi knocked pointedly on their bathroom door. His wife had gotten home earlier than him, and he was longing to shower the product out of his hair. He'd taken off his work clothes and tossed on a black and gold satin-lined robe, but his hair was stuck in his trademark cockatiel spike until it met with warm water and a lot of shampoo.
She didn't reply and he groaned loudly in exasperation.
"You've been in there ages! C'mon, I know yer not shy and I wanna shower. I kinda have to <i>go</i>, too..."
He jumped backwards as the door suddenly burst open and a wide-eyed Elly leaped through, throwing her arms around him with a choking gasp. "Oh, Hizashi!"
"Oof! Hey!" He grasped her firmly around the middle to stabilize her as she was shaking all over. "Wha -?" He peered around her into the room and saw a long, plastic stick on the counter beside a pink and blue colored box. He grabbed at the doorframe in surprise when he squinted and saw the stick had a digital readout at the end.
"Oh my god!" She burst out laughing when he made a sound like the air being let out of a full set of tires. "Are you okay?"
He shook his head to clear it, a goofy grin settling on his flushed face. "Is that what I think it is?!" He pointed with a shaky hand.
"Yes." Her tail lashed at her legs as she stared adoringly up into his shining, green-gold eyes.
"D - does it, does it say..?!"
"Yes!"
"<i>Holy shit babe</i>!" He spun her around, squealing so loudly that the mirror in the bathroom cracked at one end. "Err, oops. Fuck it. I don't care, this is super awesome!"
"Some of us are trying to sleep, damn it!" Aizawa's voice barked from the other side of the wall separating the apartments. "Cut it out, Yamada!"
"Shota! Shota - <i>I'm gonna be a daddy</i>!" Hizashi screamed, tears of joy running down his cheeks.
There was a beat of silence following this announcement, and then the tired man replied back in a softer, though still gruff, tone. "Congratulations. Now let me sleep."
Hizashi lowered his voice into a deliberately comical whisper. "<i>Hooray</i>," he cheered with a hearty fist pump.
-
All that had been so many, many months ago.
Elly groaned as she struggled to get off the couch. Her huge belly was a constant source of aggravation and contributed to back pain and a myriad of other issues. Her doctors all told her everything was going fine, so she didn't worry, but damned if she would make light of larger people in the future. She wasn't sure if she ever had, but now that she knew what a little extra weight could do she understood a lot of the aggravation about it. She panted hard, giving it one more try, and got shakily to her feet before realizing she wasn't going to make it.
"Zashi! I've gotta get to the bathroom," she bleated in panic.
"Coming!" Hizashi darted out of the hallway and zeroed in on his suffering wife, pausing only for a moment before squatting to bend with his knees to pick her up. He'd begun a rather elaborate physical training regimen to strengthen his core and arm muscles after she started to show, and it came in handy now as he carried her much faster than she could walk. He quickly and carefully brought her over to the toilet and helped support her before she sat with a sigh.
"Thanks." She wrinkled her nose at him. "Thank god I caved and started wearing these pregnancy muumuus. They make it so much easier to wee... especially when our kitten decides to kick the heck out of my bladder!"
He patted her belly, giving it a reproachful look. "Hey, you take it easy on your momma, little listener. She's had a rough time with ya, an' it's probably gonna get rougher soon."
Elly laughed softly. "Yeah, it's close."
"I know. It's so <i>exciting</i>!" He rolled his eyes at her before he went back to brushing his mustache in the mirror with a tiny comb.
She finished up and cleaned as best she could before hiking her underwear on again. "Up with the granny panties."
Hizashi gave her a sly, sidelong look. "Those're hot, who're you kiddin' babe?"
"Ugh, no way." She hauled herself to her feet and he stood aside so she could wash her hands. "I don't feel sexy-hot, I feel hot-hot."
"Oh?" He maneuvered around behind her and began nuzzling at her neck. "Not sexy at all?"
"Sexy and horny aren't the same thing!" She dried her hands and shivered, closing her eyes to better feel the gentle brush of his lips and mustache. "These hormones are driving me crazy! But I still feel like a bloated whale."
"Awww. Poor baby." He kissed her. "You want a back rub before I hafta get to work?"
"That would be so nice."
They settled on the couch and Hizashi immediately went to work on her sore shoulders and upper back. He spent as much time as he could with her before his phone let him know he had to be at the radio station soon.
"Awright, now let's see." He stood and plucked a pair of headphones off a rack nearby, setting them to the largest width and frowning as he measured. "There... that should do it!" He carefully placed them over her massive stomach.
She smiled fondly at him, her ears flicking in a relaxed way. "Please don't play anything too hardcore. The little one has your energy, after all, and I don't need them dancing around in there any more - owww -- than they already are!"
"It's my other show, babe. You'll be fine." He kissed her on the cheek.
"Oh, yeah, Saturday." Elly laughed sheepishly. "Forgot. Love you!"
"Love you two, too!" Hizashi made outrageous kissing noises and left on her warm laughter.
-
She was fine for a couple of minutes, sitting as comfortably as she could and scrolling through random content on her phone. Then, nature called rather urgently and she was forced to fight her way to the bathroom by herself. She managed to get all the way to the door before it happened - a burst of liquid rushing out of her so fast she was startled. Elly stared stupidly down at her feet, striped tail waving rapidly in agitation.
<i>Wait, that's not...</i>
"Oh, shit." She waddled back to the couch and grabbed her cellphone. "Please be home, please be home," she pleaded as she tapped the quick dial. Luckily, she heard someone swearing next door when the phone woke her neighbor and breathed a sigh of relief.
"What do you want, Cheshire?" Aizawa was abrupt as always.
"I need help getting to the hospital." She grabbed the bag they had packed a few weeks ago that was sitting by the door.
He swore in surprise. "It's time?"
"Yeah, and Zashi just left for the station. I'd call him, but I don't want him rushing here too fast. You know what he gets like."
She opened the front door to find him standing there already. "What do you want me to do?" He took the heavy bag from her and lent his arm when she gasped in pain.
"I - <i>oww</i>, damn it! Nezu said we could use one of the school's cars when we needed it. You can drive, right? Can you drive us both to the hospital?"
"Yes." He sighed as they began the long walk to the garage on campus. "How far along are you?"
"My water just broke. I've been having pains for quite awhile, though." She winced as a particularly strong one hit. "Thought the kitten was just kicking really hard, but now - phew."
Aizawa nodded and concentrated on getting her safely buckled into one of the more nondescript campus cars. He was the perfect choice, calm and quiet as they made their way to the studio Hizashi was working at.
Once there, he left Elly in the car and walked briskly inside to get his friend.
Hizashi was settling his headphones on firmly, reaching out to toggle a switch to broadcast again when he noticed a disturbance outside the booth. He'd already snapped himself on the air, so he started announcing the previous song as he glanced out.
"That was <i>Greatness</i> by American Gentlemen to start the show, and tonight we'll be..." He blinked, confused, when he saw Aizawa but his mouth kept running on automatic. The scruffy man waved at him from behind the soundproof glass. He pointed at his mic, still talking, and shook his head.
Aizawa glanced around for paper and a pen.
Still chatting away, the Voice Hero looked up a minute later to see a paper shoved up against the booth.
<i>Baby's coming.</i>
He stammered to a halt, his green eyes popping out behind his trademark sunglasses. "Oh. Oh my god. I'm sorry, listeners - my wife -- I need to go ..!"
The staff watched, partly in amusement and part exasperation as the normally gregarious man fumbled into silence, his words running together in his excitement. Hizashi jumped up and ran out to his friend.
"Is she -?"
"Waiting in a school car outside. C'mon, they're already handling your absence here, I told them before you."
"<i>You what</i>!"
Aizawa dragged his friend outside amidst grinning staff members who wished him well as they passed. "You're a mess," he chided him as the blond man smacked headlong into the door trying to rush outside. He bleated helplessly and fumbled for the handle, but his friend yanked it open instead.
"Can't help it - where's the damn ... shit!" This time Hizashi nearly fell on some loose gravel as he lunged at the car.
"Here. It's a good thing Ches asked me to drive. No, idiot - the back seat. Sit with her," he shoved Hizashi towards his sweating wife.
"Uh huh. Ches!" He leaped in and immediately started whining when he saw her ears folded back in pain. "You okay? I'm here now, an' I'm not going anywhere until our little listener is here!"
-
"Ohmigod ohmigod <i>oh my god</i>," Hizashi babbled as Aizawa drove them carefully down the main street leading to the hospital. It was still some time away and that fact was causing him to freak out. "You doin' okay, honey? Hang in there, I know it hurts. M'right here with ya, oh! Squeeze my hand, maybe? Nah, I'm'a leave the gloves on,, might be a- <i>yow!</i> -- but of a buffer..."
"<i>Will you shut up</i>," Aizawa ground out between clenched teeth. "For fuck's sake, Yamada!"
The sound of a siren caused them all to jump. Aizawa pulled over and Elly growled impatiently under her breath.
"I'm done with the pain already, Zashi," she told him tersely.
"I know. Just breathe, princess. Remember?" He launched into their practiced lamaze techniques. Now he did not intend to be comical, but of course he over-exaggerated, huffing and puffing and almost making himself pass out. Elly dutifully followed suit but with better control, and concentrated on her breathing to ride the waves of pain.
Aizawa pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing dismally as the officer cautiously approached the car.
"Everything okay, sir?" It was a male lizard anthro; an officer no one knew. He shone a flashlight into their driver's bloodshot eyes and immediately grew more suspicious.
"Was there something you needed?" Aizawa was blunt as always. "I don't think we were breaking any laws."
"My name's officer Brady." He blinked his huge eyes with an audible sound. "Your vehicle contains a lot of suspicious activity, sir. Your passengers seem to be in distress. Can I -"
"Yes! Distress! My wife's <i>in labor</i>!" Hizashi blurted out suddenly, pleading with the policeman. "We gotta go go <i>go</i>, yo!"
The cop blinked, then saw his outfit. He wasn't an officer that worked very often with Heroes, and though he clearly didn't know Aizawa, he recognized Present Mic in full Hero Costume - and the sweating, panting woman's hand he was holding. "Oh my god! Present Mic and Cheshire!"
"Yeah," Aizawa said drily. "He's normally loud and obnoxious, so now that she's in labor he kicked things up a notch."
Brady shook his head, stammering and confused at the cat woman's situation. In retrospect he seemed a bit young, possibly fresh out of training. He was quick to make up for his error, however. "I'm sorry, of course. Wait!" He placed a hand on Aizawa's arm as he turned the key. "Let me escort you; you'll get there faster!"
Three heroes pulling up to the hospital with a police escort, bubs flashing, made for an interesting night. Orderlies rushed to the front only to find Eraserhead and Present Mic helping a heavily pregnant Cheshire out of the car.
"Did the cop have to use the siren?" She grumbled as there was a scramble to grab a wheelchair.
"That was your husband," Aizawa told her with a wry smile. "As soon as you passed out he started whining."
Hizashi blushed. "I was <i>nervous</i>!"
-
Elly was rushed to a room in the maternity ward. She was extremely lucky - though it didn't seem so at the time -- and the baby was ready only a few hours in. Hizashi bolted from the waiting room where he'd been having a cup of coffee with Aizawa when he was told it was time. His friend watched him run off with a wry grin.
"Don't forget the props," he reminded him.
His first concern was his wife, but she nodded to him and waved vaguely at the bag they had brought. "Give them the stuff," she wheezed.
Hizashi called out to everyone in the room in a voice loud enough to get their attention. "We got party favors here, people!" He reached into the bag and took out a box. "Everybody gets one," he said firmly.
The others in the room eyed him oddly. When the box opened they frowned but once he unfolded several sets of plush, noise-cancelling headphones understanding showed in their eyes.
"Good idea," a nurse complimented him. "The baby could have your quirk, after all."
"Yeah, and could be even louder." He rolled his eyes and carefully placed a special set on Elly's furry ears. "Not gonna take that chance. Speaking of chance, you got the lighting set up? Our little listener could possibly come out invisible, too..."
The doctor gave him a thumbs-up and pointed at the harmless infrared beams angled where he was seated on a stool. "Towels, pillows, and lighting. Relax, Mr. Yamada, we'll take good care of your wife and child, no matter what."
He grinned nervously and went to sit beside Elly. "Does it hurt, babe?"
She shook her head and one of the nurses spoke up, proudly claiming that they had a pain-cancelling quirk user on the floor today. "She was seen when it started to cause her distress, and it should last through the delivery."
Elly sighed. "M'just tired, Zashi, so <i>tired</i>. This is hard -" She paused to strain and the doctor encouraged her to push. "Damn it..!"
"You can do it." He kissed her sweaty cheek, dabbing at her forehead with a cool cloth. "I'm so proud of you."
Everything went as expected, as soon there was a final push. The doctor ducked tightly under the blankets, supporting the tiny new person as it made its way into the world.
Hizashi winced in expectation, but there was only a thin, healthy cry. The baby definitely didn't have his Voice. He sighed in relief, tears falling down his cheeks that he didn't even feel. He grasped his wife's hand in excitement. "Oh my god. So cute."
"There you go, right back to mom," the doctor said, gently lifting the baby into her arms. "We'll sex the baby in a few minutes. Kittens are a little harder to tell right away."
The small, furry bundle had slicked down, yellow striped fur. As Elly caught her breath, struggling not to frighten it with loud sobs, it opened its eyes and mewed, pawing at her cheek.
"Those <i>eyes</i>," she husked. "Oh, Zashi."
The little one had green-gold eyes with concentric circles around the pupils. "Wow," he said, awed. "Hey, baby. You look a lot like me, huh?"
"So beautiful." She sniffled.
He wiggled a finger and it was caught in a flailing, thrusting paw. "Hi there, kiddo. I'm your dad."
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