My Father's Son - Chapter 27

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The house had never felt smaller than it did on that New Year's Eve, when their extended family all gathered together in the living room. Katsuki had dragged in piles of cushions and pillows and even a couple of futon from all over the house, setting up places for everyone to get comfortable, and slowly they had all trickled in to gather together. 

Inko was all over All Might again, and while Katsuki thought it was brilliant and a little hilarious, Izuku was apparently mortified watching his mother flirt with his childhood hero. Katsuki couldn't blame him for that, not really, but also it was pretty damn great seeing the pair together.

They'd put together plenty of food for everyone to munch on, with plates of salmon rolls wound in kelp and a platter of shrimp laid out in pretty circles, bowls of black beans in soy sauce and sliced lotus root, and of course, the traditional New Year's Eve soba noodles, ready to slurp at while they watched the countdown.

In the meantime, Hiroki had succeeded in convincing his Dads to bring their gaming console down again, only this time he had something new to show off: With the frozen weather the past few days they'd been unable to get outside as much as usual, and when Katsuki had lamented needing new family workout plans while the park was out, Hiroki had been excited to show off his new purchase.

"This one is my favourite!" he explained, as he pulled it up on the television. "See, we can use four controllers at a time! So we can have lots of turns! Grampa Toshi will play, right?"

"Of course, Little Prince. You're gonna have to teach me."

"It shows the dance moves down here and you gotta try to copy!" he explained, pointing at a set of diagrams that the kids could apparently understand, though the adults were lost entirely. "You can choose the first song if you like!"

"Thank you, that's very kind of you."

To Katsuki's surprise, the game was actually kind of fun. He stalled for as long as he could, watching the adults flounder and the boys grin and encourage them – they really had raised a couple of good kids – deciphering what a few of the most common pictures meant before he got dragged up onto the floor.

"Papa too!" Yuuto insisted, shoving a controller in his hands. "Come play! It's good exercise too!"

"You calling me fat?" Izuku teased, getting a little pout when he ruffled Yuuto's spikes.

"Papa said he wanted to get fitter," Yuuto grumbled. "I just wanna help!"

"I know you do, buddy. Thank you for helping, I appreciate it."

"Come try, I promise it's not hard!"

"Think we should make this more interesting?" Katsuki smirked, nudging Izuku in the shoulder lightly. "Loser has to do a forfeit?"

"Like what?" he asked warily. "We're not in high school, Kacchan, we don't need to be running naked laps of the baseball field in the snow."

"You did that shit in high school? I just got kidnapped and beat up assholes."

"Ouch."

"I was thinking push ups or some shit like that. Up the ante on the workout part."

"Oh. Okay, I guess so."

"You boys gotta do it too," Katsuki smirked, ruffling two heads of fluffy hair. "You ready to do some punishment exercise?"

"Nuh-uh! Gonna beat you!" Hiroki insisted. "You can do what I say!"

"Alright, winner picks a punishment for the other three, but we negotiate on the numbers."

"And Daddy has to do them with me or Yuuto on his back."

"Yeah, that seems fair."

"Okay! Let's go!"

Hiroki picked out a song they were all vaguely familiar with, and then the game was on. Izuku's usual awkwardness of people watching him was quickly forgotten in favour of competitive spirit, getting him more invested than Katsuki had ever expected. Maybe it really was a good option for cardio days in the cold.

"Yes!" Yuuto beamed, throwing his arms in the air when the scores popped up. "I even beat Hirokun!"

"Good work, bud," Katsuki smiled faintly, patting his shoulder as he buzzed with excitement. "Okay, rules are rules, you gotta pick something for us to do."

"Mmm... Burpees."

"You're an evil little thing," Izuku sighed. "You picked them because I hate them."

"Everyone hates them!" Yuuto said gleefully. "That's why it's fun!"

"Oh lord I've raised a masochist."

"Would Papa prefer prone hold?" Hiroki offered

"Burpees are fine," he said quickly, watching both boys giggle up a storm. "How many?"

"Five," Katsuki answered, when the boys deferred to him. "I'll do mine with Yuuto on my back, you gotta hold on tight."

"Okay!"

He jumped up on Katsuki's back, clinging tight with his arms and legs, and Katsuki kept in perfect sync with Izuku as they moved. He was always so damn considerate, Izuku both loved and hated it at the same time. Both loved and hated him at the same time. Maybe he was just being jealous again, the guy was practically flawless after all.

"One more," Katsuki reminded him, as he made a pathetic attempt at a jump off the carpet. "Come on, like you mean it, nerd."

"I know, I know."

When they finished, Katsuki bent down for Yuuto to slide off, smiling when he immediately high-fived both Hiroki and Izuku.

"You guys did good!"

"Thanks, Yuuto," Izuku smiled softly. "I think it's someone else's turn this time."

"Does Grampa Toshi want another turn?" Hiroki offered, holding out his controller. "You were so good!"

"Thank you," he chuckled. "Sure, I'd love another turn."

"Nana should try too," Yuuto suggested shyly. "It's fun, I promise."

"I suppose I can give it a try," she smiled. "Mitsuki, Masaru, come join us. I don't think I can keep up with the boys."

"Yeah, old people round," Katsuki smirked, dangling a controller in his mother's face. "Come on hag, you always claimed you were a good dancer, why not show us how it's done?"

"Damn right I can dance. Better than you can, brat."

The four of them got up on the floor and Hiroki showed them how to choose a song. The boys cheered them on happily, but Katsuki just wondered if he should get out a camera to film the chaos.

"What are these guys gonna do as a forfeit?" Katsuki snorted. "Sit down on the floor and get back up once?"

"Kacchan!"

"Oh come on, that was funny."

"How about we each take a turn punching the number one hero in the face?" Mitsuki suggested, frowning slightly as she waved her arms around, trying to figure out the right motion.

"Nah, might break your hand."

To potentially everyone's surprise, when the numbers popped up it was Masaru at the top of the list, in his quiet little corner with his easy-going smile.

"Look at you go," Mitsuki smirked, kissing his cheek. "Not bad, hun."

"You gotta choose a punishment, Grandpa!" Hiroki declared gleefully. "Just no sit ups okay? Grampa Toshi isn't allowed."

"Thank you for looking out for me, Little Prince."

Masaru turned to Katsuki for help, and he shrugged slightly as he contemplated.

"Squats? Prone hold? Push ups? Can use knees or walls to make it easier if we need to."

"Sure, let's try push ups. Against the wall, right?"

"Yeah," Katsuki nodded, stepping over to a clear space of wall to demonstrate one. "Five like this is plenty. Except Toshi-sensei, you can do them legit."

All Might laughed, but didn't object, and Mitsuki and Inko both watched in awe when he lowered himself to the ground, pounding out five push ups like it was nothing. Katsuki wouldn't have dared push him to ten, not without some discussions and warnings first, but five? He knew his old teacher could do five any time he wanted, that was no question.

"Wow, so strong," Mitsuki smiled, shooting a sidelong glance at Inko's starry-eyed expression. "Isn't he impressive, Inko? That's a former hero for you, I suppose."

"Y-Yes, very impressive!" She agreed, nodding quickly. "Amazing, Toshinori!"

"She sounds like you, now," Katsuki whispered in Izuku's ear, snickering when he blushed. "Is that where you learned to flirt?"

"Kacchan!" he hissed. "I do not flirt, especially not with you!"

"Sure, nerd. I believe you."

"Eri!"

Hiroki's excitement broke their little spat and Inko's awkward flirting alike, sending every eye in the room quickly to the stairwell where Eri clung to Aizawa's arm.

"Eri, do you wanna play?" he asked immediately, showing her the controller. "It's like dancing!"

She looked up at Aizawa nervously, and he nodded, leading her forward a little with their connected arms.

"Have a try, I'm sure Hiro will help you out."

"Yeah!"

She still clung to him, looking up with pleading eyes, and Hiroki was the first to catch on.

"Uncle Zawa can play too!" he assured her with a grin. "It's four people, see? Do you wanna watch us first?"

She nodded once, and Hiroki led them into the little living room area, offering them drinks and snacks before he pointed at the screen.

"See? It shows the moves, and we try to copy! Uncle Zawa, do you wanna help show her?"

"Sure," he agreed, making Katsuki raise an eyebrow at him. "I'll show you, Eri. I'm sure you'll be better than me, I can't dance at all."

Izuku sat down on the next cushion over, smiling warmly at Eri, and Yuuto handed his controller to Katsuki before joining him.

"If you want any help, I can help, Eri," he assured her. "Just let me know, kay? You can write it down if you like."

Eri nodded again, the tiniest of little smiles tugging at her lips, and Izuku couldn't help but give Yuuto a little hug for his sweetness.

With Hiroki, Katsuki, All Might and Aizawa up, the competition was rough. Not for first, of course – Hiroki had that by a mile – but the competition to actually find some sense of rhythm and keep up with the diagrams was a sight to be seen for sure.

"Alright Hiroki," Katsuki sighed, smiling at him all the same. "Torture us, do your worst."

"Losers have to do a physical forfeit," All Might explained, when Aizawa looked slightly less than his usual passive look, bordering on confusion. "We've done burpees and push ups so far."

"Oh."

"When was the last time you worked out, Sensei?" Katsuki smirked. "Back when I was at school?"

"I work out plenty."

"Uh-huh."

"My first years are a bunch of lazy shitheads. Have to goad them into actually using their gym time."

"Did you offer them no homework again?"

"Yeah. Your class was easy, you had enough competition within yourselves that I could just leave you to it. These days I have to tell them if they can bench more than me they don't have to do homework for the rest of the term."

"Have any of them managed it yet?"

"Not even close."

"Pull ups!" Hiroki declared triumphantly, pointing up at the rafters of the roof above. "Daddy does them there sometimes!"

"Yeah, okay," Katsuki sighed. "How many?"

"Um..." Hiroki folded his arms, face screwing up in concentration. "Ten, but Daddy has to do them with me on his back because he's number one."

"Seems fair," Aizawa smirked. "There's gotta be some kind of drawback to being number one, right?"

"You mean other than the insane work hours and frankly ridiculous amounts of stress?"

"Yes."

"Then yeah, sure."

He lifted Hiroki onto his back, jumping up to grab one of the wooden beams, and Hiroki giggled as he was dragged up for the ride. Aizawa followed them up, and All Might shortly after, until three generations of hero were side by side, dragging themselves up until their chins reached the beam.

"All Might can still do it," Yuuto marvelled quietly, blushing when he got a bright smile from the man himself. "S-Sorry, I just-"

"It's quite alright, Yuuto!" All Might assured him, finishing his last one shortly behind Aizawa and dropping back to the ground carefully. "I'm retired and old, I know. I try my best to stay active, though!"

"I can't even do one," Izuku mumbled. "I need to work harder."

"There's no shame in that, Young Midoriya! Everyone starts somewhere!"

"Y-Yeah. I'll um, keep trying my best."

Katsuki set Hiroki on the floor gently and immediately he was at the couch, holding out a neon orange controller.

"Do you want to try with me, Eri?"

She nodded this time, and Hiroki's smile only widened.

"Me and you and Yuuto and Uncle Zawa?" he suggested. "You can stand between us in case you get stuck and need help!"

Another little nod, and then she was following Hiroki toward the tv, wide eyes watching her from all across the room.

"I bet you'll be great at it!" he beamed, entirely sincere with his praise. "We can play together lots!"

"Yes," Eri whispered. "Lots."

─────

When the clock finally struck midnight, and everyone celebrated with their toasts of wine and sparkling grape juice, Katsuki cut off all the mouths that began to open.

"We've all been drinking, you should stay over," he said quickly. "I don't want any of you stumbling home drunk in the dark."

"That's good of you, Katsuki," Aizawa nodded. "But I haven't had much, I'll be-"

"Sensei," Katsuki said sternly, eyeing the near-empty bottle that only the two of them had touched. "Stay over. You can have my room."

"We'll stay," he conceded. "But we don't need your room, I'm not that old yet."

"Alright. Hag, Old Man, you two can have my bed then."

"Rude brat!" Mitsuki huffed.

"I thought offering you my bed was the polite thing to do."

"You called me old!"

"You can't have it both ways, hag. You want the bed or not?"

"Yes," she conceded, still frowning. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Hiroki smiled when he caught a glimpse of Inko and All Might giggling together, faces flushed from both embarrassment and the alcohol, and even at six years old he didn't bother offering his bed to All Might.

"Uncle Zawa, you should use my bed," he said firmly. "It's only a little one not like Daddy's, but it's nicer than the floor or the couch!"

"That's very kind of you, Hiro. Really, though, you don't have to."

"I want to!"

"And Eri can have my bed," Yuuto nodded. "You can use our room together!"

"Why don't you boys sleep with me?" Izuku suggested, eyeing All Might and his mother the same way Hiroki had. "Then most of us will be comfortable, at least."

"Yeah! Cuddles with Papa!" Hiroki grinned, throwing himself into Izuku's arms.

"But first you need a bath," Izuku laughed, ruffling his curls. "Remember you boys promised you would do it after the game? And then you promised you'd do it after the countdown?"

"Okay, bath time," Hiroki conceded with a giggle. "Eri, do you want a bath too? I'll get the bubble bath out for you!"

She looked up at Aizawa in question, but when he nodded faintly, she did too.

"Would you like a duck?" Yuuto offered, with an almost painful sincerity that made Izuku stifle his giggles.

"A duck?" Hiroki asked, eyebrows knitting together. "You have ducks?"

"Yeah! Bath ducks! They squeak and squirt water?"

"That's so cool! And you have them in the bath?"

"Yeah!"

"Kacchan," Izuku began sternly, narrowing his eyes at the man. "You never bought your kid a rubber duck?"

"He has bath toys."

"Uh-huh! I have the letters and the numbers and the colourful markers that write on the walls!"

"So he has educational bath toys," Izuku continued. "But he doesn't have a duck."

"What's so important about a damn duck?"

"I'm sorry sweetie," Izuku sighed, pulling Hiroki into a hug. "I'll buy you a duck first thing in the morning."

"Okay!"

"You can share mine until then!" Yuuto grinned. "We could all play together in the bath?"

Izuku almost stopped them, almost told them it wasn't appropriate, but the little smile that tugged at Eri's lips stopped him. Aizawa nodded, nudging her on ahead a little, and she took Hiroki's hand when he offered it.

"I'm gonna go get ducks," Yuuto declared. "You do the bubbles, okay?"

"Yeah!"

The three kids disappeared quickly, and Izuku found himself staring after them, biting at his lower lip as he contemplated.

"How old is she?" he asked finally, watching Aizawa sigh faintly. "Sorry, I just- I wasn't sure if-"

"It's fine," Aizawa assured him. "Technically she must be about sixteen now."

"What?"

"Her quirk is... Well, it's complicated. I suspect she used it on herself at some point, probably by accident – she doesn't have much control over it just yet. Physically she's a lot younger than she should be, that much is pretty clear. The doctors said so and everything."

"She looks just like the last time I saw her," Katsuki mumbled. "It's like she was waiting for us, for me and Mirio to come back."

"It's entirely possible," Aizawa acknowledged. "Whether consciously or not, it's very possible that she was trying to go back to the time when she was in your arms."

"Fuck," Katsuki hissed, turning away as he scrubbed at his eyes stubbornly. "I can't believe I let her go."

"Don't," All Might said firmly, sterner than Izuku had ever heard him. "You did the right thing, Katsuki, you know that. Don't start drowning yourself in these thoughts again."

"But-"

"No buts. Book an appointment next week, I want to see proof."

"Yeah," Katsuki conceded, deflating a little. "It's been a while, maybe I should."

"I want to see proof too," Aizawa added. "Take a selfie with her or something."

"That's ridiculous."

"Do it anyway."

Izuku felt weirdly left out, but he didn't dare to ask, not with the way Katsuki's shoulders slumped, his sleeve still held to his face.

"Stay with me and the boys tonight," he found himself insisting, when people began to clean up dishes and go their separate ways. "It might be a little tight, but we'll make it work. I mean, we have before."

"I can just use the futon."

"But you don't need to. Um, do you wanna grab your blanket? You seem a little..."

"Yeah," he admitted. "I do. I am."

"Okay. Um. You go get that, then, and I'll check on the boys."

Within minutes the house went from the excitement of the countdown to the quiet of everyone trailing off to bed. Sure enough, Inko and All Might headed downstairs with their little shared smiles, aided by Mitsuki and Masaru's encouragement. Eri finished her bath and bundled up in warm pyjamas she borrowed from Hiroki, then she and Aizawa disappeared too, tucking themselves into Hiroki and Yuuto's twin beds with a teddy bear Yuuto had insisted she take with her. Finally Mitsuki and Masaru themselves headed off upstairs, leaving Katsuki and Izuku alone in the quiet house with their damp-haired boys.

"Alright, get dry first otherwise you're gonna drench us all," Katsuki insisted, throwing towels over their heads and smiling slightly when they giggled. "We're all gonna get nice and cozy tonight, so you better not wriggle or snore."

"Promise!" Yuuto grinned, rubbing at his hair. "No snoring!"

"Good boy. Hiro?"

"I don't snore!" Hiroki pouted. "But I do wriggle."

"Then you're gonna wriggle your little butt all the way to being thrown out of bed."

"Meanie!"

"Do we get to share your special blankie?" Yuuto asked, eyes shining at it wound around Katsuki's shoulders like a cloak. "It's comfy."

"Yeah, you do. Just remember, no heads."

"No heads!" he agreed. "And move if it's too heavy."

"Exactly. Good boy."

He threw it across the bed in the next room, and despite a few little blushes when their eyes met, Izuku and Katsuki crawled in underneath with their boys in between. Immediately their snuggly boys were dragging them closer, trying to cuddle everyone all at once, but with the tight fit of the mattress Katsuki decided it was probably for the best.

"You two are the best boys," Izuku praised, kissing them both on the forehead. "I'm so proud of how good you are. Good sons, good friends, good heroes."

"I'm gonna beat Daddy," Hiroki grinned, planting a clumsy kiss on Izuku's cheek in return. "Gonna be the best hero."

"I know you are. Both of you will, you'll beat Da- Kacchan by miles."

"Rude," Katsuki snorted. "Go to sleep, all of you."

"Where's Daddy's kiss?" Hiroki pouted. "Daddy doesn't get goodnight kisses?"

Katsuki knew he was stirring, knew he was pushing his little agenda, but Izuku was far too sweet and innocent to catch on.

"Of course he does," Izuku assured him, leaning across the boys to kiss Katsuki's temple lightly. "Goodnight, Kacchan."

"Goodnight all of you, now shut your damn mouths so I can sleep."

Hiroki mimed zipping his lips, smiling all the same, and Yuuto giggled as he snuggled in between all his favourite people.

"Goodnight Papa. Goodnight Hirokun. Goodnight Dad."

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