Pic belongs to neimana on tumblr. Do check her art out!
So on tumblr, there's this touken 125-anniversary event and this fic is to celebrate it :)
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Au where Tokyo goes back to normal and the new parents bought a house to live in.
I finally wrote a one-shot about new parents Kaneki and Touka with their kid. Been dragging it for so long. This was quite hard to write as I didn't know how babies are like so I had to do lots of research on it. Please comment/vote if you liked it. Now onto the story!
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Today is May 20th, when Kou—Kaneki's and Touka's baby boy turns five months old. It was a usual day in the Kaneki household, where the first thing Kaneki would do after waking up, is to head over to his son's crib that was just beside their bed. Making sure not to make any noises that would awake Kou, he stared down at his baby boy who wore a blue rabbit onesie—one that Touka insisted that they buy for him—with a huge grin on his face.
It's been a year since he got together with Touka, and 5 months since she gave birth to a healthy half-ghoul boy. When Kou first came into this world, Touka was pissed that even though she was the one who carried him for so many months, he resembled his father more than he resembled her. It took a long time for Kaneki to persuade her that Kou had her cute button nose and slim lips. He laughed softly at the memory.
He still believes that he doesn't deserve this happiness but having his wife tell him otherwise every day is starting to sink into him. His heart warmed at the thought of finally having a family of his own and spending the rest of his life with them, knowing that they'll choose him.
Kaneki let out a chuckle when his son smiled in his sleep and he couldn't help but move to poke his boy's button nose—the one that he inherited from Touka. Kou scrunched up his nose and slowly opened his grey eyes. He stared up at his father, hands raising to reach him and let out a cute giggle.
He grinned as he watched his son try to grab the rabbits hanging from the mobile on the crib. From the books he had read, 5 months old babies usually have more strength to grab stuff and he watched on to see if Kou could do that. To his surprise or horror, he didn't know which, his son did manage to grab one of the rabbits but he yanked it so hard that it broke off from the string.
This is how the crib mobile looks like!
Though he was sure he didn't mind nor Touka would, the thing that scared the shit out of him was Kou bringing the rabbit to his open mouth and attempted to eat it. Kaneki's face paled and he quickly snatched the rabbit from his son. "You can't eat that, Kou!"
He didn't know whether it was because of him slightly raising his voice or taking the rabbit away from him, Kou started wailing.
"Ahh!! He's crying! Oh no. What should I do?" Kaneki turned to his wife, who was still deep in sleep before turning back to his son. His hands reached into the crib and took his son into his arms, slowly rocking him. "Don't cry! I'm sorry but you can't eat Usagi-San, okay? Mama will get angry!"
Not understanding what his father had just said, Kou continued crying and Kaneki was at a loss at what to do. All of a sudden, he stopped crying and instead stared up at his father with those big grey eyes of his, as if intrigued by something on his father's face. Then he reached out to grab a few of his white strands and pulled. He winced in pain. "Ow ow, Kou don't pull on my hair!"
But the little boy only giggled and continued doing so. He sighed and let his son do whatever he wanted. Oh well, at least he stopped crying. Holding him in one hand, Kaneki attempted to poke his son's nose again, only to fail when Kou took his finger and put it into his mouth. His heart warmed as Kou sucked on his fingers like he would a pacifier. He was just too cute for his own good.
Behind him came a chuckle and the male turned to see his wife already sitting up, with her translucent black lingerie dress leaving nothing to imagination. Kaneki pouted. "Touka-chan! If you were awake, you could have helped me!"
She laughed and got up on her feet to walk towards him to kiss her husband on the cheek. "Sorry, it was too funny. Good morning to you."
"Morning." He smiled as he returned the kiss, on her lips. "So what are our plans for today?"
A simple action of pushing the boy's hair back made him giggle happily and Touka smiled. "Taking care of our little boy, of course. Come on, I'll take him from you. Go wash up."
Kaneki nodded, passing Kou to his wife and heading to the bathroom to do his normal morning routine. Meanwhile, the mother and son stared at each other until she decided to show him a smile, to which he giggled at. It soon turned into crying and she was worried that something is wrong but realized that he was hungry, from the way he was leaning onto her chest.
"One minute, okay Kou? Let mama go to the bed first." Touka cooed while she arranged some pillows against the headboard and rested on them comfortably before pulling up her dress to breastfeed him. When she first gave birth, she was surprised that Kou was able to take milk from her because she expected him to take blood or something. But Kimi explained that all children, human or ghouls, still need the mother's milk.
Kaneki exited the bathroom 10 minutes later, wearing a new set of t-shirt and pants and smiled when he saw his wife cradling their child in her arms. It reminded him of his mother of the times when she wasn't beating him. Settling down beside her, he pressed a kiss to her temple and wrapped an arm around her. The parents watched as their child slowly stopped and Touka held the boy up. "Do you want to burp him?"
Every time she asks that question, his eyes would sparkle and light up. "Yes please!" He took Kou, held him over his shoulder and gently patted his back. A burp sound came, accompanied with an excited giggle from being held at a high height and he grinned at his wife. "I did it!"
"Good job." She can't help but smile at the fact that he would always look so happy when he managed to do something for her or their child. The male placed him back into the crib. "You can go wash up now. I'll take care of him."
It was such a heartwarming sight, her husband staring so fondly at their child whilst gently rocking the crib. She knew that he'd be a great father the moment she got pregnant with his kid and she was right. He is a great father.
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As Touka entered the living room in a white dress, she watched from the dining table how her husband busied himself with making coffee and entertaining Kou—who sat in a baby carrier on his chest—at the same time by humming a song. The kid let out continuous gurgling laughs at his father's antics, who was making funny faces or sticking his tongue out to entertain him. He then brought the two cups of coffee to the table before settling at a seat opposite her.
Detaching the baby carrier and getting Kou out, he placed him in a baby's chair and the two proceeded to sip their coffees quietly. As usual, Touka is the first one to finish and turned to her son. "Want to play your piano?"
As if understanding what her question was, he grinned and she got up to bring his toy piano to the table. Kou slammed his hands on the keys randomly, making jumbled sounds altogether and she gently takes his hand, placing it on a key. "This is Do." She says, holding his finger down to create a sound, "and this is Re, Mi, Fa, La, So and Te."
The more he practiced, the smoother his playing turned out and turned into a beautiful melody at the end. Kaneki stared straight at his wife, knowing that even though she told him she didn't know how to be a mother, he just knew she would be a great one, judging from how well she used to take care of Hinami. He placed his hand on hers, prompting her to look at him. "You're doing a great job as a mother."
That statement alone brought tears to her eyes and she struggled to wipe them away as they keep on falling. It seemed being with him for only a year was enough to turn her into a softie, just like him. Deep down, she wondered if this was how her mother felt about being a parent. Nervous and unsettled but the feeling dissipates just by hearing a few words from their other half.
"Thank you."
Kou started to get bored and restless from just playing the piano and constantly looked over to the living room, where they had a colorful baby floor mat accompanied with lots of his toys. His parents noticed that he seemed to want to go there and brought him there. Kaneki gently set him down on the mat and they were pleasantly surprised. He was struggling to sit up right just the day before, and today he's sitting on his bum. And that was a great achievement for him.
This is how the floor mat looks like!
Kaneki patted his boy's head and smiled. "That's amazing, Kou! Daddy's proud of you for being able to sit properly!"
Seeing his father and mother smiling down at him, he giggled and grabbed both of their hands—or actually their fingers, since his own hand was the size of their fingers. "..Dada..Moma!"
Their eyes' widened and they stared at each other, questioning if it was something they heard wrong or did their son just call their names?
"Moma! Dada!" He shouted again, more clearly this time.
Kaneki looked like he was about to cry—from his teary eyes—because those were his first words and he was saddened by the fact that his little boy is growing so fast. Touka let out a defeated sigh at her husband and placed her hand on his shoulder, reassuring him as she knew what he was thinking about. "He still has a long way to becoming an adult."
"That's true but it's just..when I think about him getting married and moving out, I just get so sad. I want him to stay with us forever."
"Jeez. It's too early to think about that. If you're so attached to him now, you'll never be able to let him go when he becomes independent."
He grabbed her hand and squeezed it. "Mm. I'll think about it in the future."
Kou got on his knees and crawled towards Touka. "Mama!"
She sighed. Despite nagging to her husband, she was also just like him and will definitely miss Kou the day he decides to move out of their house. Holding his tiny body gently, she settled him in her lap and played with his tiny hands by waving them up and down. He seemed to enjoy it as he laughed and let her do it. Kaneki pouted at being left out, she noticed that and moved to sit in between his legs with Kou in her lap. He grinned and wrapped his arms around his family.
His precious wife and child. He'd kill for them, should anyone threatens to hurt them. He won't let them have their way. Not after he finally find love and had a family of his own.
Soon, Kou started nodding off and since Touka was holding him, she carried him back to the crib as well. But when she tried to pull his hand who was grasping her shirt so tightly away, his face turned into one that looked like he was about to cry. So Kaneki suggested to bring him to their bed instead. They climbed into bed and carefully laid the sleeping boy's head onto a pillow in the middle before both parents laid down on both sides of him.
Touka has her hand on his belly, slowly patting it while he slept and seeing that gesture, Kaneki placed his hand on top of hers and gazed at her. "..why are you looking at me like that?"
"I just want to thank you. For everything. For marrying me, giving birth to our child and staying as a family."
"You don't have to thank me for that. I did it because I want to and I love you."
His eyes softened and he leaned over to press his lips to hers. "I love you too, Touka."
The two of them fell asleep to the calm sound of their little boy breathing with a smile on both of their faces.
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If Kaneki Ken were to describe his life since becoming a ghoul, it would be by this quote.
After the storm comes a rainbow.
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Do give it a vote or comment if you enjoyed~~