My Father's Son - Chapter 43

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When Katsuki finished setting up his room, he made the trek back downstairs to see how the rest of the madhouse was faring. He regretted it the moment he reached the next floor, watching Hiroki slide along the hallway in his socks, an oily sheen covering the brand-new wooden floors.

“Ryouji,” he sighed, “what is this?”

“Huh?” a head popped out into the hall, a grin quickly spreading across it. “Oh! It’s so we can slide the boxes quicker to both rooms!”

“You couldn’t carry them?”

“Mmm... This was more fun.”

“Do you have a plan on how to clean it up?”

“Huh? Oh! It’s not oil, I swear!” Ryouji insisted, eyes wide. “It’s like soap! I can just dry it with towels!”

“Have you done this before?”

“Yeah! I made Dad slip over when we were sparring, it was super funny.”

“Okay,” Katsuki sighed. “Make sure you clean up before bed, okay? Don’t want anyone slipping and hurting themselves in the middle of the night.”

“Can Ryouji stay over? Pretty please?” Hiroki pleaded, lower lip jutting out pitifully. “I promise we’ll unpack before we play!”

Katsuki glanced at his phone, grimacing when he saw the time – on any other day, he’d have sent the boys to bed an hour ago.

“If Tamaki says it’s okay,” Katsuki nodded finally. “But you need to sleep because you still have kindy in the morning, got it?”

“Got it!” Hiroki agreed, eyes scrunching up so tight they almost disappeared into his smile. ”Ryou, you can share my bed, I have a big one now!”

“Kay! I’ll go ask Dad!”

Ryouji darted off down the stairs, and Katsuki smiled faintly when Hiroki wrapped his arms around his leg.

“Just make sure everything you need for tomorrow is ready, okay? You don’t need to unpack every single thing tonight, you need to sleep. Just make sure your stuff for kindy is ready, and at least some of your clothes.”

“Got it!” Hiroki repeated. “Thanks Daddy!”

He ducked back into his room to get sorted, and Katsuki turned his attention to the other end of the hall, to the quiet rustling unaffected by Hiroki and Ryouji’s nonsense. He knocked lightly on the open door, smiling when Yuuto looked up, and raising one hand in a little wave.

“You look like you’ve been working hard.”

“Almost done!” Yuuto told him proudly. “Wanna come look?”

“Damn right I do.”

Sure enough, Yuuto’s little collection of boxes was reduced to a pile of cardboard, even his collection of figures set out neatly on the bookshelf he’d picked out for them. Only the bottom-most section had any actual books on it, and Katsuki felt oddly guilty about it, looking at the lack of reading material he’d provided.

“It looks awesome,” he praised, when Yuuto looked up at him expectantly. “I think we need to buy you some more books, though. I was just thinking that bottom shelf is a bit empty.”

“It’s okay, I like these books.”

“I know you do, and I know you don’t like asking for things, too, but books are important. Reading is important.”

“Okay,” Yuuto agreed, nodding firmly. “More books.”

Katsuki followed Yuuto around the rest of the new room, looking at every toy he’d set out in its place, and every piece of clothing hung carefully on the low rails in the closet or folded neatly into drawers.

“You’re so impressive,” Katsuki said softly, ruffling blond spikes. “Hiro has barely finished one box, and you’re already done.”

“Hiro has more stuff,” Yuuto pointed out.

“You don’t have to pretend he wasn’t messing around,” Katsuki grinned. “You’re a good brother, but we all knew he’d be screwing around with Ryouji all night.”

“They did some work!” Yuuto assured him. “They just got distracted sometimes. By toys and things.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t surprise me. You’re much more diligent than they are. Your walls in here look a little plain, we might have to find you some posters or something.”

“Whiteboard!” Yuuto beamed, pulling it from a corner where he’d safely tucked it away. “I couldn’t put it up.”

“I can do that for you. You know where you want it?”

“Between the bookshelf and the door!”

“Alright, let me go get some stuff and we’ll do it now. Then you’ve gotta take a bath and get ready for bed, okay?”

“Okay!”

He ruffled Yuuto’s hair once more and stepped out, heading further into the depths of the house to hunt down a box of bits and pieces that he knew contained hooks and nails. In the living room, his parents were taking a break with Inko, sipping at mugs of hot tea as they laughed together. Inko looked almost guilty, like she’d been caught out, but Katsuki just flashed her his best attempt at a smile.

“Have you come across my hooks and shit? Yuuto wants his whiteboard put back up.”

“Oh! Yes! They were in the kitchen, let me-”

“I got it,” he assured her. “You need any help with anything? I’m sorted for the night, and it looks like the boys are too. Did you help them out?”

“I made their beds,” Masaru nodded. “Anything else was just them. Yuuto especially was adamant that he didn’t need help.”

“He didn’t,” Katsuki snorted. “He’s done before the rest of us.”

“Completely done?”

“Yeah. Room looks really empty though, I feel bad.”

“You shouldn’t feel bad, Hiroki’s will seem empty too when he’s done. They’re big rooms, and they’re coming in from sharing one, there’s going to be plenty of space for them to grow into.”

“I guess so. Need to take him book shopping, at the very least. He must have read all of his like a dozen times by now.”

“Let us handle that,” Mitsuki insisted. “You have bigger things to deal with than shopping, I’ll find both the boys lots of good stories to read!”

“Yeah?”

“You can count on me for one little thing, Katsuki.”

“I know,” he nodded, swallowing hard to bite back his snark. “Thanks. You’ve all been a lot of help lately. I, um, appreciate it. I hope you know that.”

“Is everything okay?” Masaru asked gently. “You haven’t seemed much like yourself lately.”

“Just a lot going on, I’ll be fine. I’m gonna go find those hooks.”

“You know you can call me if there’s anything I can help with, right?”

“I know,” Katsuki nodded, surprisingly genuine. “I’m okay. Inko and the nerd are great with the boys, it takes a lot of stress off my back, knowing I can come home and find them all fed and clean with their homework done and all.”

Inko smiled, and it warmed Katsuki in a strange way, something she and Izuku and Hiroki all had in common.

“You should have an early night,” Masaru suggested. “You seem tired.”

“Yeah, maybe I will.”

With an awkward little wave, he moved away again, hunting down a collection of miscellaneous supplies in a box in the kitchen. Most of their helpers had taken off a few hours prior, when the shared areas were all taken care of, so Katsuki found himself alone in the kitchen with Tamaki, watching him put away freshly washed dishes from dinner.

“I know I didn’t have to,” Tamaki answered, before Katsuki could even say the words. “But I wanted to help out, and I know what you’re like with mess.”

“Thanks,” he conceded, shoving his hands in his pockets and leaning back against the counter. “You guys are... Shit, you know what I mean, I don’t wanna say it.”

“It’s fine,” Tamaki smiled faintly, looking away just as quickly as he’d looked up. “I know.”

There had always been something comfortable about the friendship they shared, even if they’d only really met because of Mirio. Somehow Katsuki’s loud, brash, pedantic personality had meshed well with Tamaki’s quiet nervousness – Tamaki rarely did anything that annoyed Katsuki, which frankly left him with no reason to yell. On the outside they were very different, but inside, Katsuki suspected they were very much the same.

“Ryouji asked to stay over, he said he’d cleared it with you.”

“He did,” Katsuki nodded. “Told him it was fine as long as you don’t care. The nerd is gonna drive ours to kindy in the morning, I’m sure he won’t mind dropping Ryouji off on the way through.”

“He’ll walk if there’s any trouble, he knows the way.”

“I’m sure there won’t be. I suspect this is gonna be happening a lot more often, now.”

Tamaki cracked a smile, and Katsuki raised an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to find the words.

“Mirio will love dropping in unannounced all the time,” he smirked, watching Katsuki cringe. “He’ll come by with dinner at least once a week.”

“Remind me to keep all the doors and windows locked.”

“Really though, it’s nice having you in the area. The house is beautiful, I hope you’re happy here.”

“We will be,” Katsuki nodded, looking out at the wide, open spaces of their main floor. “Just as soon as I get this whiteboard hung for my kid, he’s still waiting for me.”

Chuckling, Tamaki nodded, and Katsuki quickly grabbed the supplies he’d come for in the first place. As he headed for the stairs, though, he found himself hesitating in the doorway, looking back at Tamaki as he hung his tea towel up to dry.

“Yuuto is a huge fan of yours, he likes that you’re not loud like a lot of us are.”

“I’m glad someone approves.”

“Do you, uh... God I don’t think I’ve ever had to ask anyone this before. Do you have any cool merch he’d like? I don’t keep up with the stuff people put out, I don’t even know what half of my own merch looks like, but if there’s anything you think he’d like, I wanna get it for him. Can’t only give him my own stuff, you know?”

“I’ll get him some,” Tamaki nodded. “I’ll bring it by next time we visit.”

“You don’t have to-”

“I know I don’t have to,” Tamaki said, smiling a little this time. “But I will.”

“Thank you.”

“My pleasure.”

─────

When Katsuki trudged down the stairs to finally take his shower, he was surprised to hear rustling in the nearby bedrooms. He peeked in at Hiroki first, smiling when he found the boys both dead to the world, curled up together in the middle of the bed – they could have easily fitted in Hiroki’s old bed with room to spare, the way they clung, but it seemed to give Hiroki a little more confidence to invite him, a little less embarrassment to say it in front of his family.

Finding them peaceful, he turned instead to Yuuto’s room, gently pushing the door open a crack to avoid disturbing him too much. When he saw the squishy little ball clutched between tiny hands, he stepped all the way in, waving when Yuuto rolled over in a hurry to investigate the noise.  

“Can’t sleep?” he asked in a whisper. “It’s late, you’re normally sound asleep by now.”

“Mm, I’m okay.”

“You wanna talk about it?”

Yuuto shook his head adamantly, and Katsuki sat down on the edge of the mattress, reaching out to stroke his messy hair.  

“Alright. Is your bed comfy? I know it’s new, sometimes it’s a bit weird.”

“Super comfy,” Yuuto assured him. “I like my new blankie too, it’s squishy.”

“Yeah, I love the squishy ones. Especially when you flick them up and they kinda sink on top of you, you know?”

“Uh-huh. And I can make my arms go fwoosh.”

He lifted his arms out of the blankets, letting them fall on top of his new duvet, and Katsuki laughed when they made little indents, arms sinking into the fluff.

“Yeah, it seems like a really good blankie,” Katsuki agreed. “You’ll have to tell Nana she picked a good one.”

“In the morning?”

“Yeah, it’s sleep time now.”

“I’ll try.”

“Anything I can get you? Need a drink or something?”

“Nuh-uh, m’okay.”

“Alright, I’m gonna go take my shower, and I’ll check on you again after, okay?”

“Okay. Goodnight.”

“Night bud, sweet dreams.”

He took his time getting clean, scrubbing away the gross feeling that was always left behind after a good house-cleaning and a lot of lifting and carrying, giving his hair a good scrub then dousing it in conditioner, even brushing his teeth rather than stand at the sink getting cold after he’d finished washing. Then, dry and bundled in his warm pyjamas, he padded back down the hall to Yuuto’s doorway.

“Still awake, huh?” he smiled softly. “Want me to stay for a bit?”

Yuuto didn’t answer, but Katsuki knew him well enough to read between the lines. He gave his hair one last squeeze with his towel, then slid in underneath Yuuto’s new blanket, grinning as it floated down on top of them.  

“You’re right, it’s comfy,” he whispered, rolling onto his side and pulling Yuuto into a hug. “I’m gonna sleep here with you, okay? First nights in a new room are weird, we just need to get used to it over time.”

“Weird,” Yuuto agreed, nodding against Katsuki’s chest. “New noises.”

“Yeah, a lot of new noises. New cars going past outside, new pipes gurgling, new floors creaking, new things for the wind to hit. All super normal noises, just new to us.”

“Yeah,” Yuuto hummed, snuggling in comfortably and closing his eyes. “Gotta get used to it.”

“I’ll be here while you do.”

─────

With the start of a new month, the weather seemed to have finally gotten the message to cut it out with the snowy bullshit. Katsuki woke to orange light sneaking through Yuuto’s windows, yawning as he stretched a little, and cracking a smile when Yuuto held on to him a little tighter.

“Morning,” he whispered, planting a cheesy kiss on Yuuto’s hair. “You sleep okay?”

“Good sleep,” Yuuto confirmed, rubbing his cheek on Katsuki’s shirt happily. “Thanks for staying.”

“Any time, little man. Just say the words and I’ll come running, you know that.”

“Uh-huh. You gotta go to work?”

“Yeah, I do. You can snooze a little longer though, if you want. You put your alarm clock on?”

“Mm-hm.”

“Okay, you stay snuggled up until it goes off, then. Nana will come get you if you take too long.”

“Have a good day,” Yuuto mumbled, conceding his grip on Katsuki in favour of rubbing his eyes. “Save lots of people.”

“I will.”

He slid out as carefully as possible, making sure to not let too much cold air into the bed, and decided to head downstairs for food rather than go get changed right away. His pyjamas were nice and warm, much more comfortable than the hero costume he was about to wear for eight hours straight, so it seemed only sensible to keep them on for as long as possible.

“Morning Kacchan,” Izuku beamed, the moment Katsuki stepped into the kitchen. “How did you sleep?”

“Good,” he yawned again, rubbing a hand through his hair. “I stayed with Yuuto, he seemed nervous.”

“Oh! I’m sorry! You should have told me!”

“Hah? Why? Think I can’t sleep with my damn son for a night?”

“Of course you can, I’m sure he was super happy that you did! But you have to go to work soon!”

“No big deal, I slept fine,” Katsuki shrugged. “You’re up early.”

Izuku hummed quietly, reaching for a steaming jug to pour Katsuki a mug of coffee.

“Wasn’t sure if you were gonna drag me out for a run,” he explained finally, handing it over carefully. “Figured I’d just get up anyway, so you wouldn’t have to come yell at me.”

“Shit, never even thought about it.”

“It’s fine! I’m not worried!”

“Tomorrow, alright? Get your ass up early again, I’ll find us a good route before the morning.”

“Okay! Sounds good!”

Izuku beamed at him, and Katsuki had to close his eyes lest he be blinded by the brightness of it. He took a long sip of hot coffee, sinking into a chair at the kitchen table, and waited a moment for Izuku to join him.

“What about you?” he asked awkwardly. “Sleep okay?”

“Yeah! It’s super quiet, my room is so far from the road!”

“Was your old room loud?”

“No,” Izuku shrugged. “But it’s still nice! Especially compared to our old apartment, our neighbours were always making a bunch of noise. They tried to blame Yuuto for being noisy a lot of the time, just because occasionally he’d get carried away with a game or something. I worry that’s why he’s so quiet.”

“I think that’s just him,” Katsuki shrugged. “He doesn’t seem traumatised or some shit, he’s just shy.”

“I hope he manages to make some friends at school, I’m gonna be so worried about him without Hiro sitting beside him all day.”

“He’ll do great, there’ll be more kids there with no friends than with friends from kindergarten. They’ll all be buddies within a week.”

“I hope so.”

“I wanna take him hiking this weekend,” Katsuki added. “While we’re on the subject of him, y’know?”

“I’m sure he’d love that! He always talks about climbing Fuji one day, but I’m not exactly the best person to teach him. We did the nice scenic walks up hills sometimes but never any mountain stuff.”

“I’ll teach him. And you, if you want. I like hiking.”

“Thank you, that sounds fun! I’ll keep working on getting fit, first. Maybe I’ll take Hiro out to lunch while you guys are hiking, we can have a little coffee date.”

“He’d like that, he likes feeling grown up.”

“Perfect,” Izuku grinned. “You want some breakfast? I’m gonna make scrambled eggs and toast, I don’t mind making some for you.”

“Ahh... Yeah, sure. Um, thanks.”

“No problem!”

Katsuki watched as Izuku began cracking eggs into a bowl, humming to himself happily as he whisked them up, sipping at his coffee as he stared. The nerd was always so cheerful, Katsuki wasn’t sure how he did it – they must have just been wired differently, Katsuki couldn’t imagine anything that would make him so happy about scrambled eggs.

“I’m gonna pack my bag,” he said finally, as he drained the last of his coffee. “I’ll be back soon.”

“Don’t forget your lunch!”

“My lunch?”

“Yeah, silly, your lunch!” Izuku laughed. “It’s in the fridge, like always!”

“Oh. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome! You seem surprised, did you forget?”

“I... Guess so. I didn’t know you’d done it.”

“Of course I did, I promised, didn’t I?”

“Yeah,” Katsuki nodded, pushing his chair back to stand up. “It’s good.”

“I’m glad!”

Katsuki had a weird feeling in his stomach as he pulled the fridge open, picking up a beaten-up plastic container that had seen better days. A few drops onto hard concrete as he took off in a hurry had left chips around the edges, but it still closed securely, still seemed to hold his food together safely. It used to just carry a couple of rice balls or a sandwich, anyway, but now it came to him with such care, full of colour and freshness and  something else he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

He wasn’t sure why a lunch box, of all things, made his stomach flutter.

“I’m gonna cook tonight,” he said finally, as he tucked the box under his arm. “I’ll be home pretty early.”

“Oh? Big plans?”

“Thought I’d invite the extras over for a barbecue, since it’s warming up. Round Face is always on at me to let her visit you and the boys, and you haven’t met her husband yet.”

“No, I haven’t. He didn’t come to the reunion before? Was he working or something?”

“He’s retired.”

Katsuki could see him doing the mental math even as he leaned over a pot of eggs, and he cringed a little as he waited for the question to come out.

“What kind of retired?” he asked finally. “Was he... Hurt?”

“Yeah,” Katsuki sighed. “He uh, lost it. His quirk.”

“Oh no, that’s awful.”

“It was all kinds of fucked up,” Katsuki admitted. “His um, his whole family were heroes and stuff, I guess. His brother was pretty big, then he got injured and had to retire, so Glasses – uh, Iida – took his same hero name like some kind of legacy thing. Maybe the name is cursed or some shit, ‘cos he lost it before we even graduated.”

“Poor guy, I can’t even imagine how hard that must be. Are you close to him?”

“No, not really. He offered me food on occasion, if he was eating fries next to me or some shit, but other than that we just argued. He was big on manners and shit that I didn’t give a damn about.”

“Now, I mean. I know you weren’t close to many of them in high school.”

“I, uh... I haven’t seen him,” Katsuki admitted. “I’ve... Sort of avoided him. A lot of them.”

“The people who got hurt?” Izuku clarified, glancing back over his shoulder. “You didn’t want to hang out with them after?”

“Not like you’re thinking, dipshit,” Katsuki huffed, cheeks flooding red. “Not because they’re quirkless, just because... You know. It was... My fault.”

“What?”

“I’m not saying it again, asshole.”

“No, I’m serious, what?” Izuku demanded, taking his pot off the heat and setting it aside in favour of folding his arms. “Have you been blaming yourself since high school?”

“If I’d won the first time then it never-”

“No,” Izuku cut him off sternly, his sunny mood gone in an instant. “It is not your fault, Kacchan! I know you wish you’d done more, or done it earlier, but it is not your fault. You were a child.”

“I was a hero.”

“You were a student.”

“A student who nearly got all my mentors killed, let alone my classmates.”

“You do not get to blame yourself for things villains did!” Izuku insisted, grabbing Katsuki by the shoulders in a moment of boldness and shaking him roughly. “Kacchan is amazing, stop beating yourself up for stuff that happened a decade ago!”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Kacchan, please,” Izuku blinked up at him, eyes filled with tears. “I don’t want to see you like this! You’re so strong and talented and amazing, I hate to see you so down about yourself!”

“Don’t cry over me you bastard,” Katsuki grunted, pulling him into a hug before he could even think twice about it. “You’re such an idiot, always crying over shit.”

“I can’t help it when you’re like this!”

“Shut up, nerd.”

Despite his best intentions, Katsuki stayed there for a minute with Izuku pulled to his chest, squashed under thick arms that Izuku himself had told him were “made for hugging”. It took a second for Izuku to relax enough to hug him back, arms creeping around his waist, but once they got there it was actually surprisingly comfortable.

“You’re so short,” Katsuki snorted, when they split apart again and Izuku mopped his face with his sleeve. “Like a damn child.”

“I’m a perfectly normal and adequate height!” Izuku pouted, cheeks puffing out like a stubborn hamster. “I’m just not a hero, Kacchan!”

“Whatever, idiot. Make me food, I’ll be right back.”

“I’m gonna load the eggs with a cup of sugar for every quirkless person you blame yourself for.”

“We don’t have that much sugar in the house, nerd.”

“Kacchan!”

Cracking a tiny smirk, Katsuki walked off with his lunch box, ready to retrieve his bag and pack everything up for his day of patrols.

He’d just have to get used to that weird feeling in his stomach, it didn’t seem to be going away any time soon.

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