Incomplete [Chapter 15]

[Previous]

Katsuki frowned when his phone rang, picking it up to look at the screen. If it was a call about an urgent job, he’d undoubtedly have heard about it on the TV he had running as background noise. Izuku was long-since home, sound asleep upstairs, so it wasn’t a call about him either. Instead, he was stunned to see an old family photo light up the screen, a hilarious shot of him and his mother yelling at each other with the ugliest expressions in the world on their faces, while his father tried his best to calm them both. He stared at it for a second, then hit the green button, lifting it to his ear.

Before he could even say hello his mother’s voice was ringing out through the speaker, making him cringe and pull it away from his ear in an attempt to quiet it a little. He turned the volume down quickly, bringing it back in just in time to hear a bunch of disjointed words that made no sense.

“Is someone hurt?” he asked, the moment the paused to breathe.

“What? Why the hell would someone be hurt?” she demanded. “Did you do something, brat?”

“You’re calling me in the middle of the afternoon and yelling words I can barely hear, hag, what do you want from me?”

“I said I need you to bring me my granddaughter. Don’t you listen to me, brat? Right now!”

“Why the fuck would I do that?”

“Don’t you listen to a word I say?! Can you do it or not?!”

“I’d have to call and find out, now I repeat, why the fuck would I do that? She’s never even met you.”

“Because I have something for her. She’ll be fine. You’ll be with her, and she’ll love it. Now can you get her here or not, and how quickly?!”

“Haah? The drive alone would take almost two hours, and I’d still have to pick her up from school first. If the Home even agrees to it!”

“Great, see you in two hours!”

She hung up before he could protest, and he let out a long, low groan, that only grew longer when he heard footsteps up above him.

“What’s wrong, Kacchan? I heard yelling, is everything okay?”

“The old hag just phoned me, demanding that I bring Koharu to her now. They’ve never even met.”

“What did she say?”

“Just that I needed to get her there as quickly as I can, and that she’ll love it, I don’t fuckin’ know.”

“Do you think she has more cute dresses or something? Koharu loved the last stuff.”

“Maybe,” he conceded. “She did say she had something for her, I think.”

“Do you want me to call and sweet-talk the Home for you? Maybe I can pick Yoshiki up and take him to get dinner or something, too.”

“Yeah,” he sighed. “That would be great. I’d better go change, if I show up in sweatpants she’ll literally throw a suit at me or some shit and make me go change.”

Izuku laughed brightly, leaning in to kiss him on the cheek.

“You do look good in a suit,” he teased. “Go get ready, I’ll call them.”

“Thank you.”

He hurried upstairs to the bedroom, hunting down a decent pair of jeans and a shirt with buttons on it, grumbling to himself the entire time he changed. His days off were meant to be relaxing, he wasn’t supposed to spend them in his nice clothes. Admittedly he’d gotten a lot more days off lately than he used to, but it was the principle damn it!

“You can pick her up at two-thirty!” Izuku called, as Katsuki buttoned his shirt. “I’m gonna pick Yoshiki up after school too! I’ll use the train though, don’t worry! We just need to have them back by bedtime!”

“Perfect,” Katsuki answered, thumping back down the stairs and planting a quick kiss on Izuku’s cheek. “Thanks.”

“My pleasure,” Izuku grinned. “Give me a call when you get a chance?”

“Will do.”

“Drive safe!”

“Love you.”

“Love you too, Kacchan!”

He grabbed the keys and headed out, connecting his phone to his bluetooth system and pulling up directions to the preschool. If he was lucky, they’d avoid the evening rush of traffic – they should be able to make it to his hometown before five, before everyone started leaving their offices.

And she’d better have a damn good reason for dragging him all the way out there.

In twenty minutes he was outside the gates of the preschool, standing amongst a group of chatting mothers who he was pretty sure were gossiping about his presence. The awkwardness was broken the moment the kids filed out of their classroom, though, when Koharu spotted his grumpy face in the crowd and absolutely lit up, immediately forgetting about the nice, neat line in favour of sprinting at him.

“Kacchan!” she yelled, diving into his arms. “What are you doing here?!”

“I have somewhere special to take you, if you want to. We might be home late.”

“I want to!”

“Alright, just let me say hi to your teacher first. You want to introduce me?”

“Okay!”

She slid back to the ground, grabbing him by the hand instead, and to his relief, the teacher only looked amused when she dragged him over – not at all annoyed by the disruption.

“This is Kacchan, my new Dad!” she announced, turning every head their way – kid and adult alike. “He came to pick me up! Isn’t that cool?!”

“Super cool,” the teacher agreed, grinning. “I’m Miss Oyazaki, we’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Bakugou Katsuki, it’s nice to finally meet you. I just wanted to say hi before we run off, make sure you knew who I was and all.”

“It would be hard not to, with that reaction,” Oyazaki teased, glancing down at Koharu’s bright smile. “I appreciate the care, thank you. Have a good afternoon, I’ll see you in the morning, Koharu.”

“Bye-bye!”

He picked her up again, slinging her over a shoulder amidst a burst of giggles, and carted her out to the car, getting her belted into her seat in the back. Her pigtails were a mess, barely holding on, and he couldn’t help but laugh when she shoved the hair back out of her face.

“It was windy,” she explained, as he climbed into his own seat. “They got tangled.”

“Maybe we can try the braid again, next Monday. We’ll see if that holds up better.”

“Yeah! The braid is pretty, but it’s hard to do it myself.”

“I’m not surprised. I’ll help you, and once we’ve got it figured out, we’ll find a way you can do it yourself too.”

“Okay! So where are we going, Kacchan?”

“Well, we don’t have to go, you can say no if you want and we can just go hang out at home with Deku and Yoshiki. But if you want to, my mom wants us to come visit. She says she has something special for you if we can get there this afternoon. I think it’s something to do with work.”

“With the pretty clothes?”

“I assume so, but I don’t know, she didn’t really tell me anything. She seemed... Excited, though. So she must think you’ll like it.”

“I wanna go!”

“It’s a bit of a long drive, though. Like... A couple of hours.”

“I don’t mind! Is that why you don’t see her much?”

“Yeah, when we’re all working it’s a bit tough. We usually drive down once a month to visit, Deku’s mom lives there too. We just have to find someone who can cover our patrols for a weekend so we can get there.”

“It’s been more than a month since we met.”

“I know,” Katsuki smiled faintly. “It was more important to spend time with you guys. They understand. My dad still drives, so we figured when you and Yoshiki had settled in, they could come visit us instead.”

“Yokkun gets nervous.”

“Yeah, I know. You’re my big brave girl though, right? We’re gonna go meet them early.”

“Yeah! Your mommy looks like you, I remember. But your daddy has the same smile. I remember from the video. And Izuku said they’re really nice!”

“My dad is one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet in your life,” Katsuki agreed, smiling faintly. “I like spending time with him a lot. But my mom is uh...”

“Like you,” Koharu grinned, making Katsuki chuckle. “Sometimes you put your grumpy face on or you talk loud but you’re still nice!”

“Yeah,” Katsuki nodded, glancing at her in the rear view mirror. “So you don’t need to be upset if she yells at me or if we argue, we do that a lot. I’ll try to be on my best behaviour so you feel safe.”

“I always feel safe with you!”

“Yeah? I’m really glad. Are you hungry, by the way? I didn’t think to bring snacks, we can stop somewhere.”

“A little, but I can wait!”

“How about we get out of the city then we go to a drive-through? We can grab a burger and some fizzy drinks, just this once, and eat on our way.”

“Okay!”

─────

Katsuki expected to see his mother rush out the doors the moment they pulled up outside her office, but instead the place was oddly quiet, only a few empty cars and a van covered in logos waiting in the parking lot. He paused a moment to help Koharu clean leftover burger off her hands and face as they slid out of the car, then she reached for her littlest monkey, always close at hand, even at preschool.

“Can you fix my hair?” she mumbled, when he’d locked the car behind them. “Just a little is okay.”

“Sure, turn around for me.”

He untied the pearly white ribbons, using his fingers to comb it back into place, even though he couldn’t get all the tangles out on the spot. He double-checked it was out of her face, then fastened her bows again, pulling out his phone for her to use as a mirror.

“Better?” he asked, when he saw her smile at the screen.

“Much better, thank you!”

“Any time.”

He took her by the hand to cross the parking lot, surprised to see his dad waiting for them at the doors, a big smile already on his face. He raised one hand in a wave, and Katsuki waved back, a little ashamed to not have noticed his arrival.

“It’s good to see you, Katsuki,” he said, when they got within earshot. “And Koharu, it’s so nice to finally meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Mister Bakugou.”

He crouched down to her height, smiling, and Koharu smiled back despite squeezing Katsuki’s hand a little tighter.

“We’re family now, you don’t have to be polite,” Masaru assured her. “You call Katsuki and Izuku by their first names, right? You can use mine too, if you like. It’s Masaru.”

“Masaru?”

“Exactly. And you know what’s cool? It’s written the same way as the ‘Katsu’ in Katsuki’s name.”

“You share your name?”

“We do, I think it’s nice.”

“Me too,” Koharu beamed. “That’s why I wanted to be Bakugou too.”

“I’m glad you like it, now you and I get to share a name as well.”

“Yeah!”

“Shall we go inside?”

She looked up at Katsuki, and he squeezed her hand lightly, nodding.

“You want me to carry you for a bit?” he offered. “You can just focus on looking around.”

“Yes please.”

“Come on then, up you hop.”

He picked her up easily, getting her settled on his hip, and Masaru smiled at them both fondly as they sorted themselves out.

“So we got called in to help with this photo shoot at the last minute,” he explained, as they headed inside. “They had a bunch of people call in sick, had to get new models in for some of it so the clothes needed adjusting on the fly, all sorts of problems. They have an amazing photographer who I love to work with, so of course we said yes.”

“You have such a cool job,” Koharu whispered, as she looked around at the racks of clothing scattered everywhere in the foyer.

“Thank you! I enjoy it a lot. They asked us if there was anything they could do to say ‘thank you’ for dropping everything to come help, and Mitsuki had a rather amazing idea.”

He pushed open the doors to the studio, where they could hear voices fussing, and Katsuki’s eyes widened when he saw a set covered in fresh flowers.

“They were saying yes before she’d even finished explaining,” he grinned, when he saw Koharu’s shining eyes. “The models have just gone to pack up, and then it’s all ours.”

“This is amazing,” Katsuki said softly, looking down at Koharu’s awe and excitement. “Thank you, Dad.”

“What do you think, Koharu? Want to come take some pretty photos?”

“Can I really?”

“Absolutely. We have a bunch of super pretty dresses, you can choose one to wear, and we even have hair and make-up people here still if you want? And if Katsuki’s okay with it, of course.”

She looked up at him, and Katsuki pulled a face, but conceded a nod.

“A little bit of make-up is okay,” he agreed. “If you want.”

“Will you come too?”

“Of course I will, I won’t leave your side for even a second.”

“And you’ll help with my hair?”

“If I need to,” he nodded. “I bet they’re way better than I am, though.”

“My hair is hard,” she explained, glancing over at Masaru. “But Kacchan helps me lots.”

“You have beautiful hair,” Masaru assured her, almost painfully sincere. “I’ve always thought blonde hair was the prettiest.”

“Is that why you married Kacchan’s mommy?”

“I married her because I love her,” Masaru grinned. “But I think she’s beautiful, I always have, and I think Katsuki is super handsome too.”

“He is,” Koharu nodded. “And he has your nice smile.”

“I’m glad you think so.”

Katsuki followed him into a little side-room that must have been their wardrobe room earlier in the day, though it seemed like people had cleared out a lot of the gear already. There were a few bags and some folded clothes sitting on some benches, belongings the models would come back to retrieve soon, but in the far corner was a little dressing table and a rack of fluffy, frilly dresses.

“Hi! You must be Koharu!” a woman with a familiar face greeted them, and Katsuki wracked his brain trying to place her. “I’m Hirono, it’s nice to meet you!”

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you too.”

“Hirono is an expert at hair and make-up,” Masaru explained. “She’ll take the best care of you.”

“My hair is hard,” Koharu said again, apologetic. “Kacchan helps me but I wasn’t at his home today.”

“No hair is hard, you just need to know how to work with different types! Can I help you?”

“Okay.”

Katsuki set her down in the chair, just in time to hear an indignant squawk from the next room, footsteps thumping toward them.

“How could you not tell me?!” she demanded, shoving the door open. “Masaru! You didn’t tell me she was here!”

“You were busy,” he said sheepishly, taking a step back. “We’ve just been having a look around the studio, you haven’t missed anything, I promise.”

“Hi, sweetie! I’m Mitsuki, it’s so nice to meet you in person this time!”

“I’m Koharu. Um, thank you. For calling Kacchan today.”

“Aww, it’s no problem, hun! I couldn’t pass it up after last time we talked! Have you had a look at the dresses yet?”

“Not yet, Miss Hirono said she’d help me with my hair.”

“Yeah? She’s amazing, she’ll come up with some super pretty hairstyles for you. Did you brush your hair today?”

“Um, I did, but it was w-windy at school so it got m-messy again, but-”

“Oh, no, sweetie! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that!” she interjected, before Katsuki’s glare could become verbal. “You look like you have gorgeous curls normally, you should try not to brush them!”

“Curls?” Katsuki asked stupidly. “Wait, what?”

“You didn’t even know? You oblivious brat, come on! Look at these waves, and these little stray bits around the edges. Why are boys so useless?”

“Oi, rude.”

“Get your phone out and take notes, brat. I’m not kidding.”

With a little huff, Katsuki got his phone out just to appease her, watching as his mother and Hirono began digging out products from containers that looked like they’d begun their life as toolboxes.

“Note number one, no brushes. They ruin the curls and make them frizz. If it gets tangled, spray it with water and use your fingers to sort it out. Leave-in conditioner is a god-send too. You know what, I’m gonna order a bunch of my favourites tonight and have them sent to you.”

“You don’t need to do that, I can-”

“Note two,” she cut him off, ignoring the protest. “Only wash it once, maybe twice a week. Hear that, sweetie? Don’t use shampoo, okay? When you have a shower at night, just rinse it and use conditioner, and try to leave your conditioner in for a few minutes. Make big squishy motions and squeeze it all in, then use your comb to untangle it while it’s wet. Katsuki can help you with that, when he has you, but I bet you can do it yourself too.”

“If you have trouble, you can call me, or maybe Yoshiki can help,” Katsuki added. “We’ll work it out.”

“And when you dry it, don’t use a towel,” Hirono added. “Let it air dry as much as you can, and use a t-shirt to gently pat it.”

“I’ll send over some silk pillowcases too, that’ll help a lot.”

“Do you know how to braid, Koharu?”

“Kacchan does,” she offered, watching in the mirror as Hirono sprayed her hair with something that looked like Katsuki would clean windows with it. “I can’t do my own.”

“If you braid it before bed, it’ll be easier to work with in the morning. It just takes practice, I bet you can learn it super fast.”

“We’ll work on it,” Katsuki nodded. “We can practice together.”

Koharu seemed perfectly at home with the gentle hands on her hair, never flinching away from a rough tug or pull, and Katsuki began to relax a little as he watched. With the aid of the spray bottle and some hand motions Katsuki suspected he was going to have to learn, Koharu’s blonde fluff began to form cute little curls, neater than he thought he’d ever seen it.

“Wow,” she gushed, when she turned her head to see it better. “You’re magical, Miss Hirono.”

“Not at all,” Hirono laughed. “You have such pretty hair, it just takes a little practice!”

“Kacchan, look,” she insisted, grinning when he bent down beside her. “I didn’t know it could do this.”

“Me neither,” he admitted. “But we’ll learn it together, yeah? No one will ever believe that anyone said your hair was hard once we’re done with it.”

“Yeah!”

“Alright brat, move your butt, let me through.”

He hesitated, but when Koharu giggled, he took a step back, making sure she could still see him at all times if she got nervous.

“You said you like bows, right? I have all these big ones here, what do you think?”

“They’re so pretty!” Koharu gushed, admiring the box of shiny and bow-y clips. “Kacchan and Izuku got me lots too, you guys are so good at picking bows!”

“I was thinking maybe we take this bit of hair at the front, and we use one of these to clip it back out of your face, so we can still see your curls but they won’t get in your way. What do you think?”

“Yes please!”

“Do you think we should choose a bow first and then find a dress to match? Or should we look at the dresses first?”

“Hmm... Dresses first!”

“Good choice. C’mere, we’ll pick one out then Hirono can finish off your hair. Do you want to try some make-up too? I think it’s fun, but you’re already so cute, you don’t need it.”

Koharu giggled, so bright and carefree, and Katsuki could only watch and smile – she was always happy, but there was something different about that giggle.

“She’s such a sweet girl,” Masaru smiled knowingly. “It’s hard to believe everything she’s been through, isn’t it?”

“It really is,” Katsuki nodded. “She’s come so far in such a short time.”

“How about Yoshiki? Is he settling in too?”

“He’s really nervous. I think I’ve finally managed to convince him that we aren’t going to just take him back if he does something wrong, but he’s always scared we’ll be mad at him, or the staff at the Home will. Deku is really good with him, he seems to understand the kid way better than I do, but we’re working on it. I’m working on it.”

“You’ll get there, I’ve never known you to fail at anything you cared about. You’re going to be an amazing father to these kids.”

“Well, I learned from the best,” he mumbled, cheeks burning.

“That means a lot to me.”

Katsuki shoved him lightly, getting a laugh in return, but then Koharu was at his feet, tugging at his shirt.

“Come help me choose?” she requested, pointing at the rack of dresses.

“Sure,” he agreed, a little surprised. “I’m not sure how useful I’ll be, but I can definitely look with you.”

She led him over to the rack, and he ignored the smug look Mitsuki shot at him – he’d had years of arguing with her about clothes, he really didn’t need to start arguing about his daughter’s choices too.

“This one is pretty simple, but very cute,” Mitsuki began, picking up a pink dress covered in filmy, frilly layers. “I love the skirt, it’s very fun.”

“I like the colour,” Koharu fawned. “It’s so pink.”

“It reminds me of marshmallows,” Katsuki mumbled, getting a glare from his mother. “What? I like marshmallows.”

“This one is very pink too,” Masaru offered, reaching over to pick out another one. “This is one of my favourites.”

“Wow, it’s so shiny!”

The dress in question had a metallic looking top that only covered one shoulder, the skirt bursting out into transparent layers – a lot less ruffled than the first, but equally big and puffy.

“And this one isn’t pink, unfortunately, but I do think it’s gorgeous.”

Mitsuki picked up a baby blue one, a lot less poofy than the first few, gathered in cute patterns across the bodice and waist. The strap over one shoulder was covered in matching fabric flowers, and Koharu reached out tentatively to touch them.

“Wow, it’s so pretty.”

Katsuki found himself staring at the last dress on the rack, much plainer and simpler than the others, and as Masaru picked it up he smiled at Katsuki knowingly.

“I think this one is amazing too, I know it’s not very big and detailed like some of them, but I think it’s very elegant and beautiful.”

“I like the lace top,” Mitsuki nodded. “And that colour is perfect. Not so bright that it gets loud, but not so pale that it washes you out, either.”

“It has a bow,” Katsuki pointed out, a little embarrassed. “On the back.”

Masaru turned it around, and Koharu beamed at the little bow on the back of the belt. Katsuki had fully expected her to go for the first one, with all the ruffles and fluffy stuff, but Koharu pointed at the last one right away.

“Could I try this one on?”

“Absolutely.”

Mitsuki helped her get changed behind a little curtain, and Masaru stepped in closer to Katsuki again, smiling at him knowingly.

“You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself, you know. You have good taste, even if you doubt yourself.”

“I hate clothes.”

“Okay,” Masaru humoured him. “That colour is called Candy Pink, so I guess we went for the marshmallows after all.”

When Koharu returned, she had the biggest smile in the world on her face, looking down at the shiny skirt and lace bodice in awe. Mitsuki tied the bow at her back, and Katsuki managed to stick a smile on his face when she looked up at him, blonde curls bobbing as she moved.

“You look like a princess.”

“Really?”

“Really. It’s perfect.”

“I love it.”

“Do you want to try on the others?”

“No thank you, this one is my favourite.”

“Decisive, I like it,” Mitsuki grinned, showing her back to the chair. “Have a seat, I’ll pick out a bunch of bows for you to take a look at.”

Katsuki dug out his phone as they waited, sending Izuku a quick text to update him on what was going on, and while Koharu was distracted by bows, he snapped a photo to send along with it.

“Look at our girl,” he typed out. “She’s having such a blast.”

“She looks gorgeous!!!” Izuku replied quickly. “That hair!”

“Long story, tell you later. You hanging out with Yoshiki?”

He got a photo back this time, his husband and his son framed together with boxes of popcorn in hand. Yoshiki’s smile was a little shy still, but Izuku’s was bright and beaming, and they made a frankly adorable pair.

“At the movies!” the message read. “Gotta turn my phone off in a sec, have fun!!”

“You guys too.”

As an afterthought, Katsuki turned his screen around, showing Masaru the cute photo. His face softened, practically melting, and Katsuki just smiled knowingly.

“They’re a cute pair,” he said, getting an emphatic nod in return. “He would’ve been really excited to see Izuku there to pick him up.”

“I’m excited to meet him, he seems very sweet.”

“Yeah. Soon, I hope. He’s just a little... skittish. He wrote about you though, for a school assignment. Family tree stuff, that was why we did the video call.”

“I can’t believe I’m a grandfather. I mean, I know they’re not technically yours yet, but-”

“But they are,” Katsuki grinned. “I know, I say it too. They’re my kids, as far as I’m concerned.”

“I’m so proud of you.”

“Thank you. I hope you guys fall in love with them the way we did.”

“Oh Katsuki, we already have.”

─────

The sky was dark by the time Katsuki pulled into the driveway, helping Koharu out of her seat. Izuku opened the door to greet them, beaming when Koharu ran to him for a hug, and Katsuki watched as they grinned at each other happily.

“You look amazing,” Izuku gushed. “You’re so grown up! When did that happen?!”

“I’m not!” Koharu giggled, looking down at her pretty pink dress and the little bundle of flowers in her hands. “Masaru told me to keep these, isn’t it all so pretty?”

“It’s beautiful, and it looks so good on you! You picked out a good one!”

“Kacchan said I could leave it here and keep it for something special.”

“Yeah, I think that’s a great idea. Maybe we’ll have a party to go to. Or you can just wear it for fun, it doesn’t have to be special!”

“I got to take photos with thousands of flowers! There was a big pile of them, and I got to lie in it! There was even a swing!”

“It sounds like a pretty big event,” Izuku laughed. “Do you have the photos yet?”

“I have some on my phone,” Katsuki told him, grabbing Koharu’s school bag and locking the car behind them. “They’re gonna send over the professional ones later, but I snapped a couple for you to see. Also, expect a big package tomorrow, Mom insists she’s going to send a bunch of stuff for urgent delivery.”

“What kind of stuff?”

“Girly stuff. Apparently the reason people have so much trouble with her hair is because no one ever realised it’s curly. So I got a whole lecture on how to take care of it properly, and she’s sending over like a thousand shampoos and conditioners and sprays and shit.”

“They made it do this!” Koharu added, pulling one of her curls gently and watching it ping back like a spring. “See?”

“It’s gorgeous, I’m so glad you finally got to see how pretty you are. Me and Kacchan have always known, you know.”

She giggled, and Katsuki smiled down at her fondly, pinching Izuku’s cheek as he squeezed past them into the house.

“Do you wanna get some stuff to take back with you tonight?” he asked, as he set her bag down in the doorway. “I’m gonna throw your uniform in to wash before we head back, but I assume you don’t want to wear your dress back there.”

“I’ll get changed,” she agreed. “Do you have my ribbons from school?”

“I stuck them in your bag, your monkey is there too.”

“Thank you!”

“Are you gonna keep your curls tonight or do you want to braid it for bed?”

“Braids please! Miss Hirono said it’ll be curly again tomorrow anyway if I don’t brush it!”

“Alright, you go grab your stuff while I do the laundry, and don’t forget to wash your face, they said not to wear that stuff to bed. I’ll do your braids when you get back.”

“Okay!”

“Is Yoshiki around?” he asked, when Koharu disappeared upstairs. “You didn’t take him back before I could say hi, did you?”

“Of course not! You really think I’d do that?”

“Maybe, if you wanted to hog him.”

“I would never,” Izuku laughed. “He’s upstairs, he wanted to do his homework while it was quiet. I have his uniform too, why don’t you give me Koharu’s and I’ll go throw them in while you say hi?”

“Sure, thanks.”

He handed over the pile of neatly-folded clothes, and Izuku grinned at him as he started toward the stairs.

“And then I wanna see those photos!”

“Can do.”

He poked his head through the doorway at the top, cracking a smile when he saw Yoshiki sound asleep in his chair, homework books still open in his lap. He sneaked back downstairs, getting a surprised look when he met Izuku in the hallway, and he smiled faintly as he leaned on the door frame.

“Favour?”

“Sure, what do you need?”

“Can you sweet-talk them again? Yoshiki is sound asleep, I hate to wake him just to take him back there to sleep. I can drop them off in the morning like I did on Monday.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Izuku grinned, kissing him on the cheek. “You’re such a good dad.”

“Likewise.”

Izuku pulled out his phone, leaving the laundry machine to work its magic, and Katsuki padded back upstairs to the bedroom. He set the books aside on Yoshiki’s dresser, then gently scooped him up, moving him over to the bed.

He stirred a little, as Katsuki set him down, but settled again quickly, nestling into the blankets Katsuki pulled over him.

“See you in the morning, buddy,” he whispered. “Sweet dreams.”

He headed to Koharu’s room next, watching her carefully hang up her new dress, her face cleaned of the make-up she’d been wearing for the shoot. She grinned when she saw him there, and Katsuki nodded toward her sparkly Uravity shirt, smiling back.

“Change of plans,” he explained. “You can put your pyjamas on. Yoshiki is sound asleep, so I’ve got Deku on the phone sweet-talking your caregivers. If all goes to plan, you can stay over and I’ll drop you off at preschool again in the morning.”

“I can stay all night?”

“That’s the plan.”

“One day I’ll get to stay every night, right?”

“Absolutely. One day you’ll get to be here forever, and I’ll never have to take you back there ever again. Very soon, I hope.”

“I’m excited,” she told him, taking her spare pyjamas from the bottom drawer. “I want to stay here.”

“I want you to stay too, I hope you know that. Yoshiki too. We’re doing everything we can to make it happen, but they have to be super sure that we’re a good family first, that you guys will be safe and happy with us. I know we already know the answer, but we’ve gotta let them see it too. Now, have you brushed your teeth?”

“Uh-huh! When I washed my face!”

“Alright, want me to do your hair?”

“Yes please!”

He sat down on the edge of the bed, and Koharu joined him, crossing her legs and sitting herself on the mattress in wait. Katsuki ran his fingers through it gently first, making sure there were no big knots or tangles, and he hummed faintly as he contemplated.

“You sleep on your back mostly, right?”

“Uh-huh, how come?”

“If I do two, like your pigtails, it might be more comfortable to lie on your back. If I just do one, it might not be comfortable to lie on.”

“Two sounds good!”

“Alright, let’s give this a shot.”

He’d watched a thousand videos on the subject as they experimented, had figured out the basics pretty quickly, but the damn French kind still tripped up his fingers. They felt too thick, not deft enough, but after their evening together he was more determined than ever to get it right. And while he knew the first one he did was a little messy in places where he’d gathered too much hair in from the side at once, he was pretty proud of how it turned out. Koharu turned her head when he’d secured it with an elastic, and he made his way carefully through the second one, weaving all her soft curls into the neat little ropes.

“How does that feel?” he asked, when he’d tied it off. “Not pulling too tight?”

“Perfect!” she grinned, leaning back to look up at him. “Thanks, Kacchan.”

“My pleasure. I’ll get better after a little practice, then I can do it a bit quicker, and we can try to figure out how you can do it yourself when I’m not here.”

“Will you do it every night when I get to stay forever?”

“If you want me to, absolutely.”

“And in the mornings too?”

“Of course.”

“You’re a really good dad.”

“Thank you,” he answered, a little choked up. “I’m really glad you think so.”

“But you’d be an even better dad if you let us have cake for dinner.”

“I guess I’m a shitty dad, then.”

“That’s not what I said!”

Katsuki laughed, reaching for her flailing hands to give them a quick squeeze, then sliding out from under where she leaned against him.

“Bedtime for you, Missy. It’s already way past your normal bedtime.”

“I know, I just had so much fun.”

“Me too. I’m really glad you enjoyed it. And you know, if there’s ever anything you want to try out, you can tell me, okay? Things like clothes and make-up and even modelling, like you did for the photos today. Whatever you’re interested in, we can look it up and find classes or something, so you can do more.”

“Clothes classes?”

“Of course you picked the one that didn’t fit,” Katsuki laughed, amused by her cheeky grin. “You know what I mean, right?”

“I know,” she nodded. “Thank you, Kacchan. It was the best night ever.”

“Yeah, I thought so too.”

He tucked her into bed, and just as he was heading for the light switch, Izuku joined them with a smile of his own. He tucked a tiny monkey in beside her and planted a kiss on her forehead, whispering a quick ‘goodnight’ before she could doze off without him.

“They said yes, then?” Katsuki asked with a smirk.

“As long as we don’t make a habit out of it,” he laughed. “I’ll see you in the morning, Koharu. Sweet dreams, we’re here if you need anything.”

“Goodnight!”

Katsuki flicked off the light, and Izuku grabbed his hand as they stepped back into the hallway, squeezing him tightly as they checked in on Yoshiki and headed back downstairs.

“I was thinking about inviting our parents to visit,” Katsuki said quietly. “Next weekend. I could get Shitty-Hair and Dunce-Face to cover our patrols, they’re always up for it as long as we warn them in advance. We can buy the nice train tickets so they don’t have to drive up, and then they can come stay a couple of days.”

“That sounds nice, they haven’t been here since they first saw the place. Do you think the kids will be alright with it?”

“I was expecting Koharu to struggle today, but she was... Happy. I hate to say it, but my parents were amazing with her. And if my mother can make her feel comfortable, there’s no way yours can’t. I know Yoshiki is a little shy still, but I think he’d settle quickly. And we can just let them know in advance that the kids’ rooms are off-limits, so if they get awkward or shy, they can go back to their safe spot, right?”

“You’ve thought about this a lot.”

“Koharu napped a bit on the drive home, I had a lot of thinking time.”

“How about we mention it to the kids this weekend and see how they react, and if it seems good, we ask them after that? Do we still have a futon in the closet?”

“Yeah, I thought we could sleep on it down here. If we move the footstools it should fit nicely by the couch.”

“Your parents can take our room,” he agreed. “And Mom can have the spare room.”

“Cool. You wanna see these photos?”

“Absolutely!”