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slit-the-rasceta · 2 years

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[Photocopy] It's a sonogram, actually

A/N: I’m so sorry for taking such a long time to update – a big life event came up. But I’m back with a new chapter! I hope you enjoy this one. Cross-posted on AO3!

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3

Word count: 1.5k

Warnings: None

The clinic’s waiting room was full of pregnant women, most were accompanied by their significant others. A few weren’t.

Miku was filling up some records so Tatsu was trying to make some small talk while waiting. Unfortunately, not everyone had Miku’s appreciation for his killer smile.

“Sorry, we forgot to check on something.” a young couple said after Tatsu introduced himself. They made a beeline for the exit.

He sighs, zoning in on Miku’s figure by the nurse’s station. He doesn’t know how much longer he can talk about the limited edition Torii steak knife set as an alternative to self-introductions.

“Aniki?”

He registers the name before he sees the face. Tatsu turns around and is greeted by two people. Masa and…?

“Oh this is Jiro,” Masa introduces, subtly nudging his friend to move closer. “I’m teaching him surveillance, y’know the ropes and all. What brings you here?”

“Ah,” he rummages through his pants pocket and covers his face with a small wallet-sized image. “Miku’s pregnant.”

The two men stand up in surprise, eyebrows reaching their hairline. Masa takes a closer look at the photo in Tatsu’s hand. An ultrasound!

“Apparently they call this a sonogram.” Tatsu shrugs. Masa’s confusion begins to multiply exponentially.

He looks at Tatsu, then at the sonogram, and back at Tatsu; the latter just nods.

Masa takes a few steps back and shouts, “You’re pregnant?”

Somewhere at the front desk, Miku feels a weird chill down her spine. Immediately, she looks around for a familiar set of shades and a white apron. I hope he isn’t scaring any of the clinic staff.

“Dr. Teramoto will be ready shortly.” the nurse smiled, gesturing for her to sit near the door. Miku nods and takes a few steps to be within her husband’s line of sight.

She beckons him with a flick of her hand, and Tatsu didn’t need to be told twice.

“Oh we’re next,” Tatsu huffs, patting the younger one’s shoulder and nodding at his friend. “Catch you later!”

From a distance, Masa and Jiro observed the couple, still surprised that The Immortal Tatsu was going to be a father.

“I can’t believe it,” Masa murmurs, eyeing the couple as they enter a room labeled ‘OB-GYN’. Aniki is going to have a kid?

“Did I really just meet The Immortal Tatsu?” Jiro asks, scratching his head. “And he’s married? Having a kid? I didn’t even think he would be out that soon!” he plops down on one of the chairs, in a state of awe and confusion. Sometimes the universe will let you meet one of Japan’s mafia legends, and then just suddenly reveal that said legend is now retired.

Masa sits on this fact – his friend had found out just now that Tatsu’s out of the fold, while he’s been visiting their house every weekend for cooking lessons. Even if Jiro was new, everyone and their extended family had heard about Tatsu leaving. That’s a piece of gossip that always circulates among the rookies! Shaking his head, Masa makes a mental note to eat with the newbies more often and school them on mafia history.

“It’s been more than a year since aniki left though.” he supplies, as though that was enough explanation. Looking back, he was just as surprised as Jiro when Tatsu first mentioned he was retiring but in time Masa came to terms with the situation.

Especially when Tatsu started talking about Miku.

“I'm back!” Tatsu exhales, stretching his arms as he walks through the back door.

It was almost midnight and Tatsu had just returned from cleaning up a particularly nasty ‘misunderstanding’ at the red-light district. Masa was, of course, on guard duty.

“How was it?”

That didn’t stop him from attempting to pry some info from his senior though. He’s been raring to get into a fight and finally experience what it’s like being ‘on the field.’

Tatsu just shrugs and replaces his bloodied jacket with a clean one. He’ll have to clear out his stuff, he reminds himself. By extension, he finally remembers that he finished ‘cleaning up’ extra early to tell Masa his decision. The kid will learn about it sooner or later – the least he could do is tell him the reason directly.

“By the way, I’m leaving.” he deadpans, eyes focused on his phone.

“Oh? To an out-of-town job?” Masa beams. This must be some big fish if he’s going to another city.

“No,” Tatsu answers, looking the younger boy straight in the eye. “I'm retiring.”

“Eh?” Masa bolts up. His shock grew immediately, causing him to form what seemed to be a unibrow. “Retiring! Wait, hold on—”

“Getting married.” Tatsu corrects. He fishes out a box from the dirtied jacket earlier as a way of explanation. He finished ‘cleaning up’ early to buy that ring, too.

“…Eh?!”

This is getting too outrageous to be real. Leaving the mafia? Because of — marriage?

“Picked out a date and all.” On his phone, Tatsu shows an event date on Gooqle calendar.

Visibly, Masa is sweating buckets. This is going to cause a power vacuum if the word gets out. Everyone will start wondering about retirement and if someone like Tatsu can just leave, why can’t anyone else? The streets! Who will strike fear in the hearts of their enemies? What about–

“Does the boss know?” Masa finally manages, but he’s still in a state of shock, standing still.

“Sure,” Tatsu shrugs. “He's invited to the reception also.”

A long pause. Tatsu might as well have grown a third head. Masa loses strength in his knees and deflates beside the groom-to-be. Was it really so surprising that he would retire and get married?

Tatsu sighs. Well, he might as well tell the kid now.

“I met her a few months ago – the one I mentioned to you? She helped me get patched up.”

Which incident was this? Oh.

That one.

“We went to the doctor. Well, more like she hauled my ass for two districts and put the doctor in business. Not that you haven’t heard the story before.” he chuckles, mostly to himself. “She had short hair then. She grew it out a bit now. This is her, remember?” and there she was. Clear as day – the only photo in Tatsu’s cellphone gallery.

The one who pulled Immortal Tatsu out of their gray underworld.

—

He’s heard the story before. Actually, he’s heard it so much that he’s memorized every bit of the so-called meet-cute. And now, Masa can’t help but see the same thing. Tatsu’s at the doctor’s and showing a cute photo of his special someone. Well, a new addition to his list of special ‘someone’s’.

“Oi, Masa, are you listening?” He's pulled out of his reverie by Jiro, who is now less surprised and more confused. The poor guy wants to know how it was possible for Immortal Tatsu to not only leave the mafia successfully but also get married at the same time. Didn’t that mean he met his wife while he was still in the mafia? Was she one of them? How did the bosses even handle the news?

“I was asking if you could–”

“Yeah, sure, sure.” Masa sighs. He's resigned to his fate of giving the newbie a crash course. “But only after we’ve swept the entire alley. We’ll need to report when we get back.”

Jiro hesitates – he wants to talk to Immortal Tatsu a bit more before they leave the clinic. But, well, the second-hand account wouldn’t be bad if Masa’s doing the story-telling.

The latter just spares a glance at one of the seats before they finally leave.

Later that night, both Miku and Tatsu couldn’t sleep.

“You showed them the sonogram, didn’t you?”

“Mhm,” Tatsu nods in agreement. “They were floored by how cute she was.”

Miku sighs. The only thing visible on that sonogram was a dot. And after the new one they got earlier, the doctor said it’ll take at least twelve more weeks before they learn the sex of the baby.

Then again, Tatsu was completely engrossed in seeing this new life appear on some screen.

“I see.” Miku rolls on her side and rests her chin on her hand, elbow propping her up. She gives a soft smile. “And the reason why they gave us a 12-volume set of pregnancy books is?”

God, Tatsu can just look at her smile for the entire night.

“Hm, Tatty?” She coaxes, but he can’t focus on anything else other than Miku’s face.

Literally.

“Tell the kids I appreciate the gesture and I’d love to read volume 5 tomorrow but right now,” Miku picks up the book in question. “I can’t get some sleep because the only place we can stack these books is in between us.”

And indeed, there it was. An immaculate row of books in between their two bodies with a gap where volume 5 should have been. Tatsu instinctively chokes down a laugh while he mirrors Miku’s position.

He slips his hand through the small space and subtly asks for hers.

To be honest, he forgot the reason behind those books. He wasn’t even sure they were from Masa. And he sure as hell couldn’t remember now that they’re both wide awake and holding hands.

But at least Miku’s hand was warm and she was smiling. He'll remember to check the receipt and call up the delivery service if need be — tomorrow.

For now, he's content at holding hands and just gazing at his wife through the measly barrier that is volume 1. The imagery causes him to stifle another giggle and this time, Miku doesn’t pout or mention the books. She laughs along with him and they melt in their intimacy.

Soon, they fall asleep. One dreams of a clearer sonogram. The other dreams of a gift arriving nine months later.

—

A/N: I added an OC but for now, he's really just a background character since I needed to have someone be Masa's soundboard. Thank you so much for reading! Stay safe!

#gokushufudou #gokushufudō #gokushufudo: the way of the house husband #gokushufudo #the way of the househusband #immortal tatsu #oono kousuke #miku #cross-posted on ao3

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