Title: Habit
Day & Prompt: Day 8 (4/20): Free Prompt (Parent AU for Shizuo Day!)
Rating: T
Warnings(*please indicate if it's sfw/nsfw): SFW (And -WEED- smoking)
Side Pairings(if applicable): N/A
Summary: Bad habits are hard to get rid of, especially when addiction ends up consuming you. Luckily there are also many solutions to help those get over their problem.

Gray fumes and ash, smoke and cinder, cigarettes were a bad habit Shizuo had picked up sometime after high school. He didn't do it intentionally, but with his job as a debt collector and constantly dealing with really annoying people, smoking became a way to calm himself.

He knew it was bad, he also knew that he didn't give a damn if it was since it was also effective.

However, he did still feel bad that he picked up such a money-consuming bad habit. Especially since he already had someone at home to calm him down, at least most of the time, the taste of bitter coffee and Izaya was much better than burnt tobacco. But the raven wasn't with him all the time, so while he's making the runs with Tom, his anger just causes him to lose control.

It's a lot better than when he was still in high school though, Izaya ironically being a big help in him getting better, but even if the smaller male says, "Shizu-chan's fine the way he is, monstrous strength and all," the blonde still wanted to get better at controlling it. And smoking helped him do that by calming his nerves.

Although, he's been meaning to find a way to stop, but just didn't have any initiative yet, until that is, after much discussion, they both finally decided to get kids. It was because he didn't want to affect the children's health negatively, but also because it was one of the agreements that Izaya placed down if they were going to adopt kids, which caused him to finally choose to drop the bad habit.

The blonde went completely cold-turkey, and the withdrawal symptoms made him even grumpier and easier to anger than usual, it was absolute hell, but at least now, when he came home, he was greeted with bright smiles and happy laughter and yells of, "Dad's finally back! Welcome home!" which made his day automatically better, so it was worth it in the end as he eventually got rid of his need to smoke.

However, one day, some years later, some poor sap, who didn't know how to fucking pay up, crossed the line with a passive aggressive threat to try to get the blonde to drop their debt.

With a sneer and a scoff, they had said something that nearly caused Shizuo to beat them to death. If Tom wasn't there to hold him back, he probably would have killed them.

"You know, Heiwajima-san… It'll be a horrible tragedy if anything were to happen to your sons, so maybe you should just, oh I don't know, drop my debt, if you know what's best."

He ended up smoking a pack and a half that day before he got off work, Tom insisting that he needed it just for today to calm down a bit. But upon taking the first swig, he could already feel the nicotine tingling through his body, addiction creeping back in.

Returning home that day, he felt guilt swell in his chest. Opening the door, as usual, Hibiya and Tsugaru were ecstatic to see him. Psyche and Delic, Shinra's sons who were here on a play, also came bounding over with just as much excitement.

However, when they got closer, they immediately stopped and covered their lower faces.

"Ew! What's that smell?" Psyche cried out, pinching his nose as stepped back.

"Smells like dust or ash…" Tsugaru commented, sniffing the air once more.

Shizuo sighed apologetically, "Sorry… I started again…"

"Started what?" Hibiya asked, waving his hand around as if to get rid of the stench.

"Eh, really, Shizu-chan? You were having such a great streak going too!" Izaya teased dramatically, walking from the kitchen over to the blonde, leaning up and quickly pecking him once on the lips. He smirked as he whispered nostalgically at the scent. "It's been a long time, so this smell really brings back memories, ne?"

The raven then turned around and began ushering the kids back into the living room, chuckling at their bunched up expression.

"Now don't do it again and go get cleaned up, ne, Shizu-chan? We're having dinner soon," he called back, subtly telling him to end his nicotine craving too.

"What's wrong with Uncle Shizuo?" Delic questioned, a hint of worry mixed with curiosity in his voice and bright magenta eyes.

"Ah, it's nothing, Shizu-chan seems to be picking back an old habit again."

"What is it?"

"Just smoking."

A gasp and a "My Dad says smoking is really bad and it can kill you!" were the last things Shizuo heard before he shut the bedroom door, stripping out of his work clothes and into some more comfortable ones. His hair still kinda smelled like ash but that can't be helped until later when he took a shower.

Later at night, Shizuo couldn't go to sleep, still saddened about today's events, staying up and staring at the dark ceiling. Izaya rolled his eyes beside him in bed as a languid smirk crossed his face.

"Shizu-chan worries too much, I'm sure you'll beat your record of 5 years with no problem."

The next day, he was in a sour mood all over again, determined already to stop. The clients of that day weren't helping much with that though, much to his annoyance and anger.

Going home again after long hours of yelling and running and lifting up impossibly heavy objects, feeling bags under his eyes, he was greeted by his kids and Shinra's running up to him again and tugging at his pant legs, causing a grin to slowly appear on his face.

"Hey, what have you guys been up to today?" The blonde asked softly, rubbing all their heads, making their previously neat, or at least acceptable, hair stick up at odd end and weird angles.

Only laughing excitedly, they began grabbing at his large hand, holding it within their much tinier ones and pulling forward with all their might.

"Come here! Come here! We have a surprise for you! Close your eyes!"

Arching an eyebrow, he heard them whine more at his open eyes, before he slowly lifted one hand to cover them as he felt them pushing and pulling him towards the living room. He heard the crinkling of bags, or several bags, and his confusion only heightened as he felt all the children leave his side to seemingly pick up the objects.

"You can open them now!"

Dropping his hand, he wasn't sure what he was expecting, but a mountain of candy was not it.

"Surprise!" They all shouted, cheering happily, opening one or two bags out of the many that existed and taking some pieces out, unwrapping them and eating away.

Mouth hanging open at the humongous amount, he leaned down and picked up a bag from the floor, closely examining it to realize that they were lollipops, the same goes to all 40 something of the ones still lying on the ground.

"Wha… What's all this?!"

Izaya, who had been sitting behind the pile, slowly took two out of an open bag, unwrapping them as he walked towards the older blonde. He stuck one in between his slightly parted lips, and Shizuo realized with widened eyes that they were really sweet and really good. He stuck the other one into his own lips, crimson eyes cringing at the overly sweet taste for a second before a lazy grin graced their face.

"A sweet solution to Shizu-chan's bad habit."

From there on out, he carried at least of dozen in his pockets at all times, since whenever he got angry, he ends up crushing the whole thing in his mouth, but it was definitely working, he wasn't smoking anymore. Though he wasn't sure if this was necessarily healthier, or a better influence on kids. Actually he thinks it makes him looks suspicious with all the candy he carries around, he also thinks Izaya laughs whenever he sees a plethora of wrappers in the trash can.

The two little ravens and blondes ended up eating a lot too, but eventually were told to stop lest they wanted cavities.

"Eh, how come dad won't get cavities?"

"Because your dad has very strong teeth, Hibi-chan. So if you want strong teeth, you better drink a lot of milk like him, ne?"

In the end, their household goes through a lot of milk and lollipops, and it couldn't have been any happier.

Bonus:

Coming over to pick up his two very lovely sons, Shinra knocked loudly on the wooden door, curious as to what all the laughter on the other side was about.

The wooden frame clicked open to show Shizuo with about 5 lollipops stuck in his mouth as he grunted out a greeting, unable to speak properly with his mouth full.

Looking at the sight of one of the strongest men of Ikebukuo sucking on candy, Shinra couldn't help but laugh, slapping his knee in the process.

"Oh god, Shizuo, what are you, haha, doing? You look like you're doing drugs!" He chuckled out breathlessly, wiping a few tears from the corner of his eyes as he looked back up.

The brunet immediately saw a vein start to pop at the blonde's temple, and he instantly shrunk back as he heard loud cracking and crunching sounds reverberate through the air. Shizuo just crushed all 5 lollipops in his mouth into little pieces before growling out angrily his retort.

"Says the weird creepy pervert who actually named his kids after drugs! Psyche and Delic: Psychedelic, really, you crack doctor?! And I'm the one that looks like I do drugs!?"

"Eek! S-Sorry it was a joke!"

"You named your kids that as a JOKE?!"

"N-No! I mean m-my other comment!" Shinra stuttered out nervously, breathing a heavy sigh of relief as his sons finally walked to the door, peering through the older blonde's long legs blocking the way.

"Dad!" Psyche and Delic called out simultaneously upon seeing the bespectacled male, squeezing past and running towards Shinra and hugging him tightly.

"A-Ah! There you two are! Great, l-let's go home now!" He spluttered out even though Shizuo looked miraculously calm now since there were children around him. Shinra never thought he'll be saved by 6 year olds, but apparently he just was.

'Ah, I guess he didn't appreciate my pun…'

And that's the end! I hope you enjoyed it! Btw there was not actual usage of weed in this final chapter haha... Don't do drugs, kids. Suck on lollipops instead of cigarettes. Also DO NOT name your kids after drugs like Shinra. Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated btw! I'm kind of new at this whole writing thing OTL