Pairing: Dad!Giyuu Tomioka x Mom!Reader

Synopsis: Giyuu is living his best life as a married man and as a father and everyone finds out a year too late

Request by anon: hi may i req for giyu where he already has a wife and kid but only the ubuyashiki fam knows {im sure hes old enough to have a child whos at least a year old}? {oh and there are many scenarios of giyu in a secret relationship but i dont think this specific scenario has been written yet}. the pillars want to talk to giyu abt smth but he is not at his estate. so the next day they agree to follow him to wherever he goes and the see him going to his s/o's house and saw his child etc. oh okk for the giyu req maybe shinobu flashbacks to "this is why nobody likes you" and just questions everything she told him. and maybe a snippet of the kamaboko squad meeting his child if its not too much? thankss ajsjjsjs

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Giyuu was blessed, he knew that much. He honestly didn't think he would've lasted this long. He's watched people come and go, some far younger than him, some who's memory outweighed the actual time he spent with them.

He just didn't realize how blessed he was until you came into his life during one of his missions. And then it all just went downhill from there. By the time his daughter Mizuko came around, he was convinced he had died the very moment he met you and was lucky enough to have been welcomed into heaven. Never could he have imagined he'd last long enough to have a family of his own. But there he was now: lying down on his futon with you sleeping peacefully at his side, his daughter lying on your chest.

The first thing Mizuko sees as her eyes groggily open for the first time is her father and by the way she looked at him, it was like he was the best thing she'd ever seen. Giyuu saw blue - the same shade as his own, just more wondrous and innocent - and he felt like he had already won against the demons.

"(F/N)? (F/N), wake up," Giyuu whispered into the night, holding his daughter's stare, worried that he'd look away for a second and he'd find out he was just dreaming.

You stir in your sleep and the movement makes Mizuko shift her gaze from Giyuu to you. Out of motherly instinct, you turn to your daughter first, but you're not completely out of whatever dream world you just came from as you frown at her.

"Giyuu...?" you grumble, tilting your head in confusion. "Why do you look smaller...?"

Almost like she understood you, Mizuko stops sucking on her thumb, pulling the digit out of her mouth with a *pop*, before she gurgles out what sounded like a laugh. Your eyes snap wide open as you stare at your daughter properly.

"You're not Giyuu," you say plainly, to which Mizuko responds by going back to sucking on her thumb.

You turn to your husband properly when he lets out a small laugh. For the rest of the night, Giyuu watches fondly as you gush at your baby for looking like her father until you all fall back asleep, happy and content in one another's presence.

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"They don't know, do they, Giyuu?" Giyuu blinked at the question, caught off guard.

He had asked Oyakata-sama to let him take a few days off to care for you after you gave birth. And of course, the soft-spoken man agreed, even giving Giyuu more than enough time to spend with his new family. Giyuu just wasn't expecting Oyakata-sama to request if he could meet you and your child once you were strong enough to visit the estate. Giyuu was one of his children, after all, and as an extension, you were part of the family now.

So there you were. Oyakata-sama had just returned Mizuko back to your arms, and was turned to Giyuu now, unseeing eyes still seeming to stare into his soul. Giyuu glanced at you and Mizuko as the Ubayishiki children huddled around the two of you, taking turns trying to make the baby giggle. You catch Giyuu's eyes on you and lean over to Amane, whispering a few words to her before she gladly takes the baby into her arms and the children immediately flock to her. You sit beside Giyuu and take his hand in yours.

"I beg your pardon, Master," Giyuu said, his eyes seemed glued to Mizuko, who was staring at the people surrounding her with bright eyes and a blank face. "I... don't understand."

"Your wife has just given birth, and yet I have heard no congratulations from the other Pillars," Oyakata-sama said, as he listened to his own children laugh at Mizuko's attempt to reach and eat Amane's hair. "Nor have I heard any talk of you having a significant other before that day you asked to take time off to care for her. I can only assume they do not know. Have you not told them?"

Giyuu felt like he was being reprimanded by a parent, but the tranquil smile on his master's face was anything but disappointed or angry. It was understanding, and somehow that made Giyuu feel more ashamed on the inside. He felt you give his hand a reassuring squeeze and turned to meet your bright (e/c) eyes. It always amazed him how Mizuko was exactly you, from the shape of your face to the way you laughed - but her eyes were all him.

"I apologize. I never found the right time to tell them," Giyuu bowed his head low.

"No need for apologies. I merely thought that they'd love to know," Oyakata-sama shook his head before giving a small laugh. "Every blissful moment we enjoy should be shared, especially in these trying times. The welcoming of a child into the world is nothing short of one of the greatest of gifts we should all cherish. Is that not right, (F/N)?"

"I'd love to meet the others," you answered with a smile, and Giyuu felt a clawing feeling at his chest. "But I'd like to respect Giyuu's choice on the matter, Oyakata-sama."

Giyuu gripped onto your hand like a lifeline. He felt like if he said what he was really feeling out loud, the words would make you disappear and he'd wake up cold and alone back in his estate, no loving wife and no bundle of joy that gave him the drive to fight for a better tomorrow.

"With all due respect, Oyakata-sama," he said, his voice threatening to break. His hold on your hand was tight, but you made no mention of it, only squeezing back as hard as you could. His gaze was steady as he looked at his master. "I don't want them to be a part of my life as a Demon Slayer."

The silence that followed was sombre, only broken every now and then by Mizuko's gurgling.

"A bit too late for that when I married you, huh?" you laughed, and Giyuu sighed in relief, thankful that you broke the suffocating quiet. "But I get it."

You brought your intertwined hands close to your lips and kissed his knuckles. The sudden display of affection made Giyuu look away in embarrassment, deciding to watch his daughter again. Mizuko seemed to feel her father's gaze on her and let out a laugh, and Giyuu smiled at the sound, immediately put at ease..

"Thank you for thinking of us, Giyuu," you smiled at him, running your thumb over his knuckles. "Just know that we're always here for you, okay?"

"I understand, Giyuu," the male in question turned to his master. "I simply thought that you've been pushing the others away long enough."

Amane came forward to return an almost crying Mizuko to your arms. You hold her for a few seconds before deciding to pass her over to her father. The look on Giyuu's face made you think he needed to hold her more right now. Almost immediately, Mizuko quiets down and snuggles into Giyuu's chest, and by the look on his face, Mizuko's presence had the same effect on Giyuu.

"Especially," Giyuu turns back to his master when he hears him laugh. "When my adorable children are an excitable bunch. I don't doubt that you and I both know how quickly they end up being involved in everything, yes?"

Giyuu was rather confused, but he nodded nonetheless. Mizuko lets out a small laugh, as she curls a small hand over her father's haori. Giyuu would've said the laugh mocking if he didn't find his daughter so cute that he forgave her at the drop of a hat.

"Yes, sir."

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Giyuu had a few more months of peace, but for him, it had come and gone far too soon. To Oyakata-sama's credit, he didn't say which of his "adorable children" would find out first. Giyuu assumed he meant the other Pillars, but when he was called to attention as he was having a stroll in the village with his family by a voice that wasn't one of his stronger colleagues, he could almost feel his master smiling at him. He should've known already when the male had said "end up being involved in everything".

"Giyuu-san...?"

You turn around first, Giyuu stiff beside you, holding an excitable Mizuko pulling at his hair. You drink in the face of the three boys and note the scar on one boy's forehead that looked like the rays of the sun, the unnatural yellow hair color of another, and the boar head on the last one. Giyuu still refuses to turn around, so you take initiative.

"Oh! Giyuu, are these the boys you told me about?" You give them a smile. The three stare at you with shocked, embarrassed faces at being recognized by a pretty lady, one being accompanied by the Water Pillar, no less. "If memory serves me right... it's Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke, is that right?"

Zenitsu practically melts at your soft voice saying his name. Tanjiro bows respectfully, opening his mouth to greet you in return, only to be rudely interrupted.

"Wrong! It's Gonpachiro, Monitsu, and The Great Inosuke!" the one with the boar head says, posing victoriously.

Zenitsu turns around and immediately starts yelling for Inosuke to show more respect to such a beautiful lady and Tanjiro bows repeatedly in apology.

"It's okay," you say, coming forward to pat their heads in turn. They really were as cute as you imagined when Giyuu told you his stories, although he thought of them more as morons in the battlefield. "It's nice to meet you, Great Inosuke!"

Inosuke seemed to stop as you smile at him and pat his head. Something told you he didn't get that much motherly affection, and stored the information in the back of your head for future use.

"Don't scream at her, please," you blink as Giyuu is suddenly beside you. It was rare to see him frowning, but here he was, looking disapprovingly at the three who immediately quieted down, only not for the reason he wanted them to. Despite how serious he looked, Mizuko had successfully grabbed hold of the end of his hair and had begun sucking on it.

"Giyuu-san, who...?" Tanjiro started. "Is that...?"

Giyuu looked very uncomfortable as the three boys stared at him, before Mizuko gurgled as she pulled out Giyuu's hair from her mouth to look at the three boys with her bright blue eyes. The three immediately shift their gaze from Giyuu to the little girl in his arms, reaching out her tiny arms to them, and they come forward to coo at her. Giyuu takes an involuntary step back, but is kept in place when you hold on to his haori. You smile at him sweetly as he pouts at you.

"She's so cute~!" Zenitsu holds out a finger and Mizuko immediately clings to it, and Zenitsu looked like he'd just ascended to cloud nine.

"She reminds me of when Nezuko was a baby," Tanjiro says softly, his eyes fond.

"Who is that," Inosuke says, confused at the small gurgling person in Giyuu's arms, reaching out one free hand to him. "And why does she look like half and half haori guy and the angel lady, just smaller?"

"She's our daughter, Mizuko," Giyuu answers plainly, but you don't miss the small smile on his face reserved only for when he's talking about his family. "And the angel lady is my wife, (F/N)."

Tanjiro and Zenitsu nod, barely aware of what Giyuu said, before they both stopped cooing in unison, looking at one another for confirmation that they heard right. Inosuke still looked lost.

"WIFE AND DAUGHTER?!" Tanjiro and Zenitsu exploded.

"Yep! I'm (F/N) Tomioka, and this is," you smile, taking Mizuko from Giyuu as she lets go of Zenitsu's finger and reaches out for you. You nuzzle her soft cheek as you look at the boys fondly, despite their shocked faces turning from Giyuu, to you, and back again to your passive husband. They were already growing on you and it's only been a few minutes. "Mizuko Tomioka, our daughter."

Tanjiro and Zenitsu have wide-eyed smiles frozen on their faces. Inosuke seems to come to a conclusion while his friends are still paralyzed with shock, knocking a fist into his open palm.

"Oh I get it," he starts, and your husband's aura seems to darken ever so slightly. "You breeded her."

In the next second, Tanjiro had knocked Inosuke unconscious by headbutting him and Giyuu had produced a rope from nowhere, stringing him up in a nearby tree. Zenitsu had taken out his nichirin blade still sheathed in its scabbard and begun hitting Inosuke's body repeatedly like a piñata. You look at your husband disapprovingly, despite the blush on both of your cheeks and your face burning redder than his. He just shrugged.

"I'll let him down later," he promised, and you decided to let go of the problem for now.

You turn to Tanjiro, as Zenitsu was still hitting Inosuke in the background. You motion to the baby in your arms. "Would you like to hold her?"

You see Giyuu flinch in the corner of your eyes, and you turn to him with a questioning look. His eyes screamed uncertainty that shifted from Mizuko, to Tanjiro and then to you. You realize that besides the Ubayishiki family, this was the first time someone else would be carrying Mizuko. You smile at him reassuringly. He stares at you hopelessly for a second before giving up, instead deciding to hover protectively behind you, glaring at the boy where you couldn't see him.

A warning from a father that if his daughter even cried out in apparent pain, he'd cut them where they stood and no one would find their heads.

"Tanjiro," you say sweetly, trying to dampen out the dark aura your husband was giving. "You have a sister, right? Then you know how to hold a baby, yes?"

Tanjiro nodded hurriedly, not trusting himself to not lose his voice midconversation because of the sheer intimidation of having the Water Pillar stare holes into his head. You move forward, blocking out Giyuu from his view and slowly pass Mizuko, who readily grips onto Tanjiro's haori with outstretched hands. Tanjiro cradles her, scared of holding her wrong, but inevitably relaxing as she stares up at him with a toothless smile.

You go back to stand by Giyuu's side, who was watching Tanjiro like a hawk.

"Why'd you give her away?" he whispered softly to you as you took his hand, which was readily wrapped around the hilt of his nichirin blade, into your own, intertwining your hands together. "Oyakata-sama was one thing, but they're just kids. What if they..."

"They're not going to drop her, Giyuu. Let other people hold her, it'll be good for Mizuko," you laugh. "And I think you're forgetting we're not that far off from their age."

But when he doesn't turn away from Tanjiro and the frown doesn't ease up, you take his face into your hands and force him to look at you. You knew his anxiety wasn't because kids were carrying her. At least, not entirely.

"They're Demon Slayers like you, love. Sure, not as powerful, but I doubt they'd handle our daughter less carefully than their swords."

"No..." he whispered breathlessly. "It's not that. I just..."

His eyes - Mizuko's eyes - looked scared, and it was a look you didn't want to ever see on their faces. You'd only seen that look on Mizuko's face thus far when you'd pull her thumb off while it was still in her mouth - but in terms of seeing that look on Giyuu's face, then it would be the fear of suddenly losing something he had. You know already, after all, you're practically in the same position as him.

"Before you know it, she's going to grow up, and she'll be running away to start her own life before we can make peace at the idea of letting go." you say softly. Giyuu's eyes are unable to tear away from yours, and it felt like the rest of the world had fallen away. "But not right now. I told you right? We're here for you. Always."

His eyes widen at your words and he glances at Tanjiro, now joined by Zenitsu and Inosuke (how the latter got free, he didn't know), and his little girl happily gurgling in the former's arms. He gives a shaky sigh before Tanjiro's voice jars him from his thoughts.

"Inosuke was right, though," the boy says, and he smiles up at the both of you. Mizuko's head almost turns to the side and when her eyes land on her parents, she's immediately an excited mess of drool and laughter. "She looks like Giyuu-san and (F/N)-san. Her smell is like there's, too, it's sweet and soothing."

Almost lost in a trance, Giyuu walks up to the boys and Mizuko clings to him the moment he's within arm's reach. Tanjiro wordlessly passes her over and Giyuu cradles the girl in his arms, relishing in the feeling of her warmth and the weight of her small body.

"Oh? She's trying to say something," Zenitsu says.

At his words, you rush to Giyuu's side in an instant. You had been trying to teach her to talk for a few months now, but she hadn't gone past babbling. She's roughly pulling at Giyuu's haori, but your husband looked dazed as he stared down at Mizuko.

"Da..." Mizuko forces the syllable past her lips, and all of your breaths hitch. You were leaning on Giyuu and you could have sworn you felt him stop breathing altogether. "Da...da..!"

She kept repeating it, pulling on Giyuu's haori, eyes glittering and mouth turned up into a smile. Zenitsu was openly wailing and Tanjiro was trying to calm him down, but there was no denying the tears at the corners of his eyes.

""Dada"? What the hell does that mean?" Inosuke asked, looking at everyone like they'd gone completely mad.

"Oh, it means..." but you pause, because Giyuu is gone from your side.

He's crouching down on the ground, Mizuko still happily babbling away in his arms. You worriedly kneel down and ask him if he's okay. But you just laugh and kiss his temple when you realize he's trying to hide the tears in his eyes and the wide smile on his face from the rest of the world.

You smile back up at Inosuke, "She's calling for her father."

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After the chances of meeting Tanjiro and his friends in a village practically untouched by demons and thus had no need for Demon Slayers (he was living there after all), Giyuu had accepted his faith that you and your daughter would be meeting more of his companions.

His only concern would be who first.

"Huh? Again?" Sanemi was trying hard to keep his emotions in check for the sake of the elderly woman in front of him. Thankfully enough, the back of his mind was still conscious enough to know that the woman wasn't to blame for the problem. No, it wasn't her. "He's gone already?"

"Tomioka-san has left already, yes." the elderly woman answered with a small bow of apology that Sanemi brushed aside. "He always leaves quite early. Before the sun rises, in fact."

"Does the guy even sleep anymore?" Sanemi muttered darkly, his eye twitching in annoyance. Being tasked by Oyakata-sama to deliver something to one of his fellow Pillars was one thing, but why did it have to be the Water Pillar? "And why leave before sunrise? Demons come out at night, so you'd think he'd be going back home at sunrise. Don't tell me the fuckers ignoring his Pillar duties?"

"Tomioka-san doesn't really sleep here anymore. He usually