Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

There's a new addition to Class 3-A. Small, blonde tufts of spiky hair. A smatter of freckles dusting her pudgy cheeks and crimson eyes that shone eagerly.

No physical altercations had to be made to either the dorm room or the classroom, so Class A still felt the same. It wasn’t as if anyone was expelled, so she wasn’t a replacement like Shinsou. No extra seat had to be used, although Yaoyorozu had quickly conjured up a desk for the addition anyway, albeit gathering dust in the corner of the classroom. Similarly, no dorm room had to be renovated: for the girl opted to either nestle herself quietly in Izuku’s arms or squirm around weakly in Katsuki’s protesting embrace at night.

An unsuspecting Thursday with Present Mic teaching English had brought along twenty previously bored students in the top hero class with their stances alert and unwelcoming as they prepared for the worst. A substantial space rift had opened, stretching wide over the top of their heads. It appeared like a deep incision on the ceiling, the dark red membrane too thick to glimpse through, giving it a rough air of mystery. Its jagged edges dug deep and far across the top of the classroom, and an ominous waft of orange mist shrouded it. It looked nothing like the gates Class A had seen before.

Iida immediately makes quick action towards the staff room for assistance after a command from the only Pro Hero present. What would be of them if this gate was powerful enough to resist and silently slip past UA’s infamous high security? What would come out of it? After the Final War, no villain was nearly daft enough nor strong enough to dare to attack UA. Some parts of the school's vigorous security during the War was still maintained, so nothing would be able to penetrate it. Except this gate, for some reason.

Time seems excruciatingly slow as Iida spent minutes that felt like days to call for assistance. It drags out endlessly as the rift begims to inch closer and closer towards the edges of the walls. All twenty people station themselves in a circle around the centre of the room, eyeing the gate above them.

And suddenly, a crack, and the grand wail of a child before Izuku had insinctually activated One For All quickly enough to catch the child within his arms. The rift closes immediately, and only the stunned blinking of the whole classroom is evidence it had ever appeared.

“Wait, be careful!” Present Mic yells, stalking over to snatch the potentially dangerous individual from Izuku's arms. It could be an explosive, a decoy to distract them, or a small villain. Either possibility could not be ruled out.

"Gah." the probable bomb says as Present Mic attempts to tug her away from Izuku.

So none of the above - it's an unsuspecting toddler.

The child clings warily to Izuku's forearm as Present Mic approaches them, her eyes blown wide as she looks between Izuku’s panicked face, to the nineteen people surrounding her. Her gaze darts around the room restlessly, until she stops to stare at a certain blonde within the room. She huffs when he glares at her, and then weirdly settles in Izuku’s awkward and floundering hold, faced away from the direction she had just sighed at. Present Mic bends down slightly to study the child as she pillows her head against Izuku’s chest with subtle familiarity.

Izuku struggles to shake the child off, still fearful it contained explosives or endangered his class. She sticks to his arm like she had grown from his flesh, unable to be shaken off no matter how hard he tried to remove her. The kid had a really strong will to cling onto him.

“I can't determine whether she’s a threat or not.” Present Mic murmurs, squinting at the girl’s furrowed brows. It is discernibly similar to one of his student’s frowns. “So, Midoriya, if she won’t let go of you, come with me to the office. Not a single one of you is allowed to move until another teacher comes.”

Iida crashes the door open with a bang, with three or so teachers behind him. Well, that nullified Mic's last command. Aizawa, behind the class representative, is the first to storm into the room.

“… A child?”

The classroom enters an uproar as they discuss what has to be the most peculiar event of the year, even to students who probably had all of their lives at risk earlier, and had also seen dozens of strange villain attacks in the aftermath of the Final War. This probably rivalled Lemillion's peachy butt. A harmless (for now) child no older than four bundled up in Izuku's stiff arms, shyly tucked into a crevice between his arms and his chest as she listlessly zoned out at whatever class A's homeroom teacher was asking her.

“Did you see the way she glared at you?” Mina nudges Katsuki, a playful grin on her face as she dodges Katsuki's fist. “Even your presence scares children.”

“Huh? She sensed how powerful I was.” He grumbles in response.

“Ah seriously, doesn’t she look a bit like you?” Kaminari chimes, pointing at the hair that stuck out upon Izuku’s shoulder.

"A bit doesn't even cut it. She's like a carbon copy of him. Hey, Midoriya, is that what Bakugou looked like when he was a kid?"

Katsuki snarls, duly noting the uncanny resemblance their features shared. It wasn't everyday he saw such prominent blonde spikes. “Like hell she does. You motherfuckers just see blonde, spiky hair and associate it with me.”

“Now you mention it… she's too cute. What were we thinking, associating such a cute girl with a mongrel like him…”

Before Katsuki can even let the profanities roll off his tongue, Aizawa shoots them a glare and tells them to be quiet. The girl is now quivering slightly as she opened and closed her mouth, hesitating to speak.

“We'll take her somewhere quieter.” Aizawa says, "These brats are too loud for their own good. Back to your seats, all of you.”

The classroom shuffles back to its original appearance as Izuku follows Eraserhead out of the room along with the other teachers. All Might had been stationed outside during the whole ordeal, and once Aizawa and his student come out of the room, he perks up. His eyes trail from Izuku's dumbfounded face to the child in his arms. Only the back of her head is visible as she buries her face into Izuku's uniform.

"Is that Young Bakugou?" All Might says while walking alongside Izuku. "Was he hit by a quirk?"

"I don't know what this is…" Izuku sighs, his hands fidgeting with the hem of the child's denim skirt.

All Might coughs, tilting his frame to look at the child. "Well, whatever it is, I've alerted the Principal about it. He's on his way."

All Might quickly catches up to Aizawa ahead of them for a debrief, and Izuku peers down at the girl as he trails them. A child no older than four and fairly light. She was around the same size as Kota, although being a couple years younger. Wherever she came from, she must’ve been decently fed. Her cheeks puffed outwards as she looked up innocently at Izuku.

She has freckles dotted across the bridge of her nose and along her cheeks, and apart from the odd freckles here and there, she appeared almost identical to Izuku’s childhood friend. It was quite unnerving carrying her since she looked so similar to Katsuki when he was younger, minus the angry frown Katsuki always had. All Might confusing her with Katsuki was no surprise.

Dark red pupils just like his, though they had shimmering flecks of green sparkling within them. Her hair unmistakably imitates Katsuki’s, wild and choppy as they perk up in every direction. It was only a little longer than Katsuki’s, cut right above her shoulders. Nestled within the spikes are two hairclips pinning some of her hair down, one with an explosion charm, and one simple green. Izuku supposed it matched her eyes beautifully, highlighting the green accents in her sparkly eyes.

Aizawa pushes open the door to the teacher’s lounge and Izuku sits down awkwardly while supporting the child. She still refused to let go of him while he pivoted her on his lap as Aizawa and All Might looked at her. They mutter a few things between one another as Izuku stiffly looks out of the window unsure of what else he could do.

A lot of things had changed since the battle against All For One had come to an end once and for all. His embers were fading away day after day and he was uncertain of where he would stand in the future. Nothing had really changed amongst the lively Class A – they were as enthusiastic and excited as they always were, but something heavy still hung in the air amongst them. Izuku had lost Katsuki in the war and he would be reminded of it most nights, even if Edgeshot had brought him back to life. He almost lost so many of his friends too, and lost his quirk. So many things had been lost to the war and he was still trying to adapt to life.

A child on his lap reminded him of how unpredictable life was. It sort of grounded him too – he never truly knew what would happen in the future, and the post-war counselor had told him to keep his head out of the past. So perhaps he would need to stop thinking about everything that had happened as it cycled round to a normal year at UA.

The whole room goes still as the child incoherently begins to mumble something, babbling words that aren't in the Japanese dictionary while pointing at All Might. The teachers stop conversing, whenever Principal Nezu had entered the room Izuku did not know, and he pulls his mind out of the gutters to focus on what the child is saying.

Izuku jumps, "She's saying…"

"Amite, ah, almito,"

"All Might?"

"What is it?"

"No, she's saying All Might."

It wasn't much progress, but it was still progress. At least they knew she could speak. Even though it had been two years since his retirement, it was quite impressive if children could identify All Might in his weak form since he was known amongst children more in his buffed form.

"Wait, she's saying something else." Aizawa points out, leaning over the desk to watch the child closely.

"Pah, pa." she blurts, writhing in Izuku's lap as she clapped her hands in glee at the attention she was receiving. "That's All-Might-o."

Aizawa exhales deeply and turns to All Might and Nezu to whisper amongst themselves. Izuku can hear All Might protesting against something but he can't make out what it is, instead looking down at the child curiously. Coincidentally, she's looking right at him too, craning her neck to stare upwards at him. Her hair falls out of her eyes and Izuku peers at her upside down face for a while.

"Sensei…" He starts, "Does Kacchan have a sister I don't know about?"

"There are no records of it. Nor of him having any female cousins around this age. We'll take her to Recovery Girl to get a couple of tests done to identify her later."

"But," the principal chimes in, "She called you her 'papa', Midoriya. Does that mean anything to you?"

"M-me?" he squeaks, "I thought she was just making sounds!"

"See, I told you not to tell the boy because now he'll feel burdened!"

"Look at her again, Midoriya."

He does. Izuku really doesn't want to believe that the child he's holding is his. Because it also means something else. She has blonde hair, red eyes, and one thing he knew for certain is that he himself wasn't a Bakugou. Just as he sighs at the smattering of freckles across her cheeks and the green in her eyes, the girl opens her mouth.

"Papa." she says, shattering Izuku's wish for his third year to be normal. Oh great heavens.

He sighs again, watching as Principal Nezu left the room. "I haven't had a child, I swear, she isn't mine."

"Midoriya. Have you encountered a dangerous quirk that could have caused this? Two days ago, you and Bakugou were dispatched to help civillians. Could this be related? We think this child is a fusion of you and Bakugou. The principal went to get him, so he should get here any second now."

Izuku tries really hard to ignore a part of Aizawa's words, distracting himself by looking into the girl's beady eyes, still looking at him. Why the hell did he have a child with Katsuki?

"No… we made sure to take extra caution. There were no villains causing disruptions that day. We were just helping out with reconstruction and getting people to safety after a villain attack."

"Are you completely certain you have no recollection of a quirk hitting either of you?"

"I'm certain," Izuku nods, "Kacchan and I would never be so reckless as to create, create this-"

"Then that rules out that possibility." All Might mutters, "Eraser, there are no quirks on the database that match… child creation?"

"No."

"Then the gate she came out of," Izuku starts, looking between the child and his teachers, "Maybe that transported her from somewhere?"

"That would be plausible. But she might be an illusion – for now we can't be too sure of anything."

"We'll see how Bakugou reacts to the child. Then go from there."

"Sensei," Izuku mutters, "Could it be time travel?"

Aizawa's eyes widen, and he hurriedly taps something onto his laptop. He pauses on something, and then looks back up at Izuku. A space rift out of nowhere that transported unknown individuals to separate timelines – it sounded impossible, but in a world of eccentricity and quirks, nothing was really impossible. Naturally, time and space rifts were a famous fantasy concept, but in a world where anything was really possible, it couldn't be ruled out. It provided a good reason too.

A child, no records of her, belonging to two seventeen year old students. Him and Katsuki… time travel would explain it.

There had to be some sort of curse in the air today, for the second he thinks that, Katsuki knocks at the door then nudges it open with his elbow. The principal beckons for All Might to follow him, and he quickly scurries past Katsuki. He stands at the doorway, scrutinising the tiny thing on Izuku's lap. She looks towards the interruption, and surprisingly, she scowls. Was she his child or not? Surely no child would scowl at their father?

"Dada." she grumbles out.

Well, there was the answer. The air in the room immediately turns to concrete. Katsuki freezes, his expression turning grotesquely dark and going completely still. You could probably see his life force exit from the top of his head. He twitches, once, twice, before raising his left arm to point back at the child.

"Huh? What the actual hell is this crap?" he exclaims, using everything within himself to not lunge at the girl. "What did you just call me, huh? Who's brat is this?"

"Kacchan! Stay calm!"

Izuku grew worried seeing him thrash about at the door. He'd recovered significantly in his second year, and all of his motor functions had returned to or was close to their original state with the time and effort Katsuki had put in. He was still advised to keep out of intense activity and manage his emotions. Anything that significantly raised his heartbeat was advised against – and probably included hearing some child calling him 'dada'.

"Come sit down first, Bakugou. Close the door."

In response to Katsuki's outburst, the girl clicks her tongue and huffs, dramatically turning away from him. It mimicked her earlier motions when she'd first appeared. It was almost comedic how similar their conducts were, one teenaged boy lashing out in swears, and one young girl turned away to sulk, exuding an angry air about her. Aizawa had long since stopped bothering to tell Katsuki to watch his language, so he sits back and waits for Katsuki to be done. The girl purses her lips into a thin line, her chubby fingers clawing at Izuku's sleeve as Katsuki grouches at her. It takes a while for Katsuki to change his anger into disapproval at her nonchalance, and then re-direct his anger at Izuku who shields the girl.

"Fuckin' hell. Seriously." Katsuki mutters with a sigh once he's calmed down a little. "You must've called only me here for a reason. Don't tell me this shitty brat is actually…"

Izuku is the first to reply. He lightly pats at the girl's head, circling his thumb upon the crown of her untameable spikes. His neck is flushed red as he fidgets with her hair, avoiding eye contact with Katsuki at all costs as his blush spreads to his cheeks.

"Um, well," he starts, beads of sweat gathering upon his chin, "There's only three people she's reacted to…" He looks up with courage, only to lower his head once again when he meets Katsuki's sharp stare. "Except All Might, but everyone recognises All Might."

"It's you and I, isn't it." Katsuki deadpans.

"Y-yeah…"

"Are you her mom then?"

"Kacchan!"

Aizawa coughs and the two turn their heads towards him. "Bakugou. What we've concluded so far is that there might have been some sort of quirk which enabled her to time travel. Now I'm not saying that she's from our reality, and knowing the two of you, she's likely not. Just like how you're not the parents she knows. She might very well be an illusion, or some sort of quirk accident, but for now, she seems to be very real. "

Hearing the words 'parents' spoken towards them has Izuku floundering nervously as he holds what is now his 'daughter', time travel or not. Beside him, Katsuki refuses to look at the child.

"But," Aizawa continues, "As seen, she does think of the two of you as her parents. So while we work out what her purpose is and how we can send her back to wherever she came from, or figure out what she's here for, or if she's even real, you'll need to co-operate to take care of her. She's only been responsive to you two so far, and letting go of Midoriya seems like a huge challenge for her."

She innocently blinks at Izuku, still turned away from her other 'father'.

"Fuck! Can't Izuku just do it? I don't like kids!"

"I'm not her only parent! That's unfair to me!"

"Yeah, but she fucking hates me. Look at her. What a snob, clinging to you like a baby while she rolls her eyes at me.”

"She is a baby!"

Katsuki scoffs, but before he can get up to stalk out of the door, Aizawa stops him. He clearly had great authority over his students, glaring at Katsuki with his one eye. Covering his other eye only made him more intimidating.

"Sort out a schedule, both of you. Work out when she's in who's hands. Midoriya, try and see if she'll get off you. Bakugou, sit down until we've figured more out about her. This is a team effort. Get over your pride and take care of this kid."

Izuku nods swiftly, and makes an effort to peel the child off his arms. He clasps one firm hand around her waist while the other pulls her gently away from his torso. Katsuki sits behind Izuku with a snort as he watches Izuku's futile attempts to detach the child. No matter what he did, she refused to remove her clammy fingers from Izuku's arm, crying loudly as he did so.

"Get offfff…" Izuku groans, poking the whinging child as he shook his body in a last ditch attempt to throw the child onto Katuski's lap. "Please?"

The girl pouts, but then she actually ends up on Katsuki's upper thigh not long after, curling her arms around his torso and fisting his blazer. Izuku resists the urge to laugh seeing the twinned spiky heads in front of him, endeavouring to avoid looking at Katsuki's ticked off expression before he would really burst out laughing.

"Kach- you're- identical-" he says between peals of laughter, clutching his stomach. The child has her head against the dip between Katsuki's stomach and hip, not knowing her effect on Izuku once naively lying on the angry Katsuki. She sniffs quietly on his lap, oblivious to the world as she drools onto Katsuki, leaving a damp mark on his white shirt. Katsuki throws back his head in defeat after trying to pull her away, her wool cardigan stretched distinctly below where his right hand now rested on her back. He frowns in distaste at the wet patch on his shirt, but resolves to ignore it as anything he would do would also add fuel to Izuku’s laughter.

“What’s the kid’s name?” Katsuki says with a sigh, gently pulling the child’s nibbling teeth off the hem of his shirt.

“Chiaki.”

The reply comes from right below him. She says it with a slight lisp, one of her teeth missing from the front. Her voice is slightly hoarse from disuse, but it rings out loudly in the quiet room. She slumps back down onto Katsuki’s stomach and continues to pull at his blazer after forgetting anything that had just happened in the last ten seconds.

“Chiaki…” Izuku echoes inquisitively.

“My name is Bakugou Chiaki!”

“The fuck?” Katsuki snarls, caught off guard. He raises a hand to poke Chiaki’s plump cheek. “Don’t you dare say that again.”

Izuku can see the veins pop on Katsuki's forehead. It was one thing to see a child that looked almost identical to him, but it was another to hear his own surname come out of her mouth. Damn, it really had to be his child. Chiaki raises her mouth to bite Katsuki’s finger and the two tussle about while Aizawa discusses something with Izuku.

“Well… could she still be one of Kacchan’s family members?” Izuku asks, “I really don’t think we would ever, you know- Sensei I think you have the wrong idea about Kacchan and I.”

Aizawa stands up and closes his laptop, tucking it under his arm. “Possibly. Keep talking to her and try to get some words out of her. She’s too young to provide anything useful, but do it anyway. I’ve got to go teach a class, but you two must stay and figure her out. You’re permitted to skip the school day if needed. Although, try to keep her within safety. You two are both incapable of handling crises right now. Actually, I’ll come find you two later to run some checks with Recovery Girl. Stay put for now. Don’t make me regret trusting you two.”

Before he leaves, he turns to Katsuki on the couch.

“No funny business.”

Once the door closes, the silence grows incredibly loud in the room. Only the occasional sniff can be heard from Chiaki.

“I think she’s cold.”

“Get her off me.”

The silence is even more stifling when they speak at the same time.

“I-I’ll take her.” Izuku says, swooping Chiaki into his arms with ease. Her head butts against Katsuki’s chin as Izuku takes her off him. Chiaki giggles when Katsuki scowls, rubbing his chin as he stares at her.

“You take her for the day.” Katsuki mutters, “She’s such a brat.”

“You’re just sore because I’m her favourite.”

“Like hell I am!”

“I’d feel jealous if you were her favourite.”

“That sounds gross.”

They try to ignore the huge elephant in the room as Izuku cradles Chiaki, prodding her with questions she ignores, pinching Izuku’s bicep instead as he drones on and on. After a while of no responses, he stops to think about the situation at hand.

For two teenagers, knowing they had a child in the future was a heavy burden. It meant weird things, like sex and love and things heroes in training didn’t have enough time to dwell upon. Izuku hadn't even had his first kiss! Unfortunately, Katsuki and Izuku were in an even stranger predicament because they knew the identity of their respective partners. Themselves. It was incredibly awkward knowing that was a part of their futures in a different reality.

Izuku swore not to think too hard about it, focusing on the peculiar appearance of the child instead. But the child! With Katsuki of all people! No matter how hard he tried to tune it out of his mind, it kept following him. He actually created something with Katsuki! That had to be a criminal act. How did Chiaki come into existence? How did Izuku even fathom starting a family? With Katsuki? How did he even get to that stage? With Katsuki? Why did they name her Chiaki? Why did he end up producing a child with Katsuki? Why would Katsuki produce a child with him? Was it indecent to think of Chiaki as a product?

“Oi.” Katsuki interrupts, “Quit that nerdfest in your head and let me question her.”

Izuku jumps and looks down at Chiaki, who is beaming at him. There are tiny creases under her eyes, which are adorned with thick blonde lashes. Behind them, her eyes are the same green as Izuku’s, sparkling with mirth. A light smatter of freckles dot her cheeks, rosy with colour as she smiled at Izuku. Izuku feels the corners of his own lips rise as he stares at her.

“She’s adorable.”

“She looks too much like you to be cute.” Katsuki scoffs.

“Mean. Do you think she’s harmless? I didn’t think Sensei would leave us alone with her. I mean, she looks harmless but what if she really is dangerous?”

“All she does is drool everywhere. I can’t see why that would be a threat.”

It was at times like this that Izuku sort of wished he still had Danger Sense, it would've been helpful in this scenario. Who knew if Chiaki would blow up the next second? Izuku shuffles to sit away from Katsuki, angling Chiaki so she would face him. She clamps her tiny fingers around Izuku’s thumb as she stares up unblinkingly at Katsuki’s foreboding glare.

“She has the fucking nerves to squint at me, look. She’s a real piece of work, I’ll give you that.”

“You’ve barely touched her. It’s probably all in your head.”

“Just look at her snobby face. It screams ‘I disrespect the man who raised me’. Not a trace of love can be detected within those eyes.”

Izuku rolls his eyes, “You held her for not even five minutes, where did you ever raise her?”

“Technically, I did. She took my fucking surname so it means I probably did all the work. Don’t look down on me now, Deku.”

“You’ve probably never held a child in your life. Apart from just now.”

“Yeah? I’ll let you know that children love and admire the Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight.”

“Take her then.” Izuku holds out Chiaki, “Since she loves and admires you so much.”

Katsuki actually reaches out to peel the dangling Chiaki from Izuku’s grasp, supporting her small frame with his right hand as he scoots her onto his lap. She giggles as he picks her up again to swing her about in Izuku’s face.

“See. Love and admiration.”

Once she’s settled back down again and stops trying to climb up Katsuki’s uniform and butt her head into his healed chest, he begins the interrogation of a three year old. A little absurd, Izuku admits, but it was sort of necessary in this situation. Katsuki probes at her hair, staring into Chiaki’s eyes.

“Hey. Little thing. How did you get here?”

Izuku frowns, “I already asked her that!”

“You asked her whether or not she got hit by a quirk and got unexpectedly transported here, or whether her fathers had enough of her and shipped her off to some seventeen year olds with countless years of battle experience but zero years of experience with children. You also asked her if she's an explosive, or what her motive is here.You're fucking hopeless."

“You just admitted to having no experience looking after children.”

“Focus, that’s beside the fucking point.” He turns to Chiaki again, nudging her chin. “Where are you from?”

“I was on the swing.”

“She talked!”

“Yeah, nerd, she talked. Kid, did something happen on the swing?”

“She has a name, you know.”

“Whoever named her has no taste.”

“Boom! Bam bam bam.”

“That’s helpful.”

“It’s likely she was hit by a quirk then.”

“But she came through a fucking portal. That’s one hell of a quirk.”

“That’s true.”

“Big explosions. Like dada.”

“She’s talking about you!” Izuku chirps, his shoulders shaking as he laughs.

“Fuck off, twerp. Oi, don’t call me that. I’m not your dad. It’s Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight to you.”

“Dada.”

Katsuki groans and lets go of Chiaki’s hair. “I give up. Are all kids this fucking stupid? She has the cognitive abilities of a baby.”

“Kacchan, she is a baby. You need to stop swearing around her, it’ll contaminate the air.”

“Where did you get the audacity to be so fucking snarky?”

“Don’t swear in front of the child! Chiaki, what was the big orange thing? The one you fell out of?”

Izuku raises his arms to draw out a thin oval in the air with sharp tips. The gate Chiaki had originated from. She immediately shakes her head, burrowing between Katsuki’s arm and torso.

“Scary, papa.”

Izuku ignores the flush of his face at the moniker she had just given him. He’d really hoped it wasn’t his child, but she just had to confirm everyone’s suspicions.

So she had been scared of the portal. That ruled out Katsuki’s absurd telling of their future selves sending back a toddler to them. Izuku studies the way her body shrivels up significantly at the mention of the gate, hiding within Katsuki’s hold in an attempt to shy away from the topic at hand.

“Nevermind. She’s too frightened to give any information. Let’s not stress her with questions.”

“You’re the one who jumped to ask her traumatic questions. If we’re done here, you take her.”

Katsuki abruptly stands up, Chiaki wrapped around his arm like a koala. He holds out his arm to gently shake her into Izuku’s grip, who takes her into his arms willingly, patting her back lightly as she mumbled incoherently.

“Take her where? Kacchan, where are you going? Sensei told us to stay here.”

“To eat?” he grumbles in response. “I’m fucking starving.”

“Same.” Chiaki pipes with a yawn, resting her head on Izuku’s shoulder.

“Kacchan! Stop swearing, she understands it now! And, it’s not even lunch time yet.”

“Then don’t blame me if she understands it. Obviously her father taught it to her. And, we were granted the opportunity to do whatever we want. So yes, Izuku, that includes going to the cafeteria.”

Izuku doesn’t bother to tell Katsuki he technically is the father, instead being ushered out of the room by Katsuki and a grouchy-hungry Chiaki. They quickly survey the corridors, and after confirming the coast is clear, Izuku walks out with Chiaki hanging over his shoulder, his hand over her waist.

Did they look like a pair of lovebirds with Chiaki? Izuku really couldn’t shake it off his mind. He was currently holding a child belonging to himself and the man walking ahead of them. And if it wasn’t obvious enough from the copious amounts of genes Chiaki shared, her mannerisms practically yelled ‘I have been birthed from Bakugou Katsuki’. Anyone who saw them now would be able to tell, he was sure of it.

It was especially hard to stomach since he’d never particularly considered romance as part of his future. And especially not with…

Ah! Forget it, surely it didn’t mean anything to Katsuki, so he shouldn’t let it weigh on his shoulders either.

Chiaki’s teeth graze the fabric above his shoulder blade as they saunter towards the cafeteria together, and Izuku can already feel a patch of drool forming on his shoulder. Someone had to do something about her biting and drooling habit. The corridors are all empty — students are in class and since Katsuki and Izuku were granted exceptional leave, they were free to do whatever they pleased as long as it was on site.

The first thing Katsuki does is gobble down an entire tray of curry and rice, before leaving Izuku to ask for another spoonful of rice from Lunch Rush. Izuku hesitantly raises a carrot stick to Chiaki’s mouth. She’s on his lap, since her head barely peeks above the table, and plus refused to let go of him, and Izuku feels a little self-conscious feeding a child that looked almost identical to Katsuki, even though there were no other witnesses. Except the man it felt as if he was feeding.

Who didn’t really care anyway, his head down while he focused on chewing rice grains. Chiaki watches Katsuki eat for a while, then bites down onto the carrot, her face turning sour as she crunches on it and mimics Katsuki’s passion to eat.

“Bleh.”

Izuku sighs at his failed attempt to feed Chiaki, putting the half-bitten carrot stick to one side and poking around his tray with his chopsticks. Most of it looked too hard to digest for a child.

“What else can I feed a kid, Kacchan?”

Katsuki looks up, swallowing his food. “How would I know? Ask Lunch Rush.”

“That’s embarrassing!”

“What’s embarrassing?”

“Having a kid is so embarrassing!” Izuku admits, butting his forehead onto Chiaki’s spiky head in defeat, flattening her hair. Across from him, Katsuki picks up his empty tray and stands up. He scoffs at Izuku’s crestfallen appearance, and leaves Izuku alone to wallow in despair.

They hadn’t been studying anything of particular interest in class, but Izuku still felt as if he was missing out. He couldn’t even eat in peace! Chiaki would prefer to eat blazer sleeves and linen shirts or munch on his tie than eat a simple carrot stick. This child had made his life impossibly harder within just an hour of existence. Why would a future Izuku even want this burden?

Izuku swivels Chiaki’s body to face him, and stares pitifully into her red eyes. Her round eyes twinkle as she puffs out her cheeks.

“But you’re so cute," he mumbles, "Of course I would want you.”

Bakugou Chiaki has curious eyes as she marvels at Izuku’s despondency. She raises a stubby hand to poke Izuku’s scarred cheek, touching and stroking the jagged edges of his scar. Izuku bites his lip in frustration at her innocent obliviousness.

“What the hell are you saying to her?” Katsuki butts in, sliding a tray onto the table with a squeak. Chiaki startles slightly, turning sideways to watch as Katsuki pushed the tray towards her. Her lashes flutter as she bats her eyes at Katsuki.

“Apple.”

“Yeah, yeah, stop whining already and eat the damn food.”

On the tray is a selection of sliced fruits, bite sized crackers and cubes of cheese. Katsuki must’ve asked Lunch Rush for it. Oh, that angel. Izuku couldn’t thank him enough for contributing the minimum to what was a ‘team effort’.

Chiaki closes her eyes and expectantly opens her mouth, obnoxiously creating an ‘aaaah’ sound along with it. In the empty cafeteria, it’s all they could hear. Lunch Rush even turns round across the hall to glimpse at the strange trio. It’s a little awkward as Chiaki continues to expect someone to feed her.

“Kacchan, she’s waiting.”

“I know, so feed her,” he replies, boredly watching Chiaki as he propped up on one elbow.

“What? She’s waiting for you.”

“I don’t even have chopsticks. You do it.”

Katsuki had put his tray away, as he had eaten his meal within the minutes Chiaki had been attempting to start a protest against the carrot. Izuku sighs in acquiescence. He picks up a thin slice of apple to drop into Chiaki’s mouth, which closes and thankfully the ‘aaaah’ stops simultaneously.

“Another.”

“Gosh, she’s so demanding.” Izuku mutters.

"So, she time travelled?"

"Ah, we don't really know that yet, I came up with it on a whim and Sensei said it was reasonable. I can't really think of why else she would be here. Look at this too– "

Izuku plucks out a hairclip from Chiaki's hair. It's the explosion one. It's a simple design, but anyone could tell it correlated to Katstuki.

"There is definitely no design like this out there."

"You're saying, she's wearing Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight's merchandise."

"If you put it that way, then…"

"Ask her what year she's from."

"That's so cliche, Kacchan."

"I'll do it then," Katsuki clears his throat, and Chiaki, chewing an apple, looks up at him. "What year is it?"

She looks dumbly at him, and then shrugs.

"I wouldn't know what year it was if I was three either." Izuku chuckles.

"Shut up," Katsuki huffs, "It was worth the try."

Izuku manages to feed her all the slices on the tray plus two wheat crackers before she’s satisfied, crumbs messily scattered around her mouth. Izuku has to beg Katsuki to hold her for a while so he could eat his own lunch, growing cold on the side.

It turns out that Chiaki was a hugely picky eater and disliked a lot of foods. Apples were the only thing that had appealed to her on the whole tray of foods, but Izuku supposes she could live off apples for a day or two until they could find a way to get her back to wherever she came from, or whenever the quirk’s time limit expired.

He’d thought about it and even if there were a quirk so powerful enough to send people over time and space, which amazingly there was, it would have to have some sort of downside. An expiry, or worse, side effects for the traveller. He could only hope it was the former and nothing drastic would happen to the child. Glancing at her happily full expression as she clawed at Katsuki’s blazer, he felt that she had already impacted his life with how brightly she shone. Like her father, Izuku thinks. He wouldn’t want anything to happen to such a young child either.

“Are we-”

“Don’t talk with food in your mouth, shitnerd.”

Izuku hurriedly swallows, “Do we go to Recovery Girl? Or wait for Sensei in the lounge? ‘Cause if she’s dangerous, maybe we should quickly take her to Recovery Girl.”

"Then do that." Katsuki replies, "I don't care."

"But we were told to stay in the room!"

"And where are we now?"

"...In the cafeteria."

"Won't hurt to go elsewhere then."

Izuku watches Chiaki thrash about as Katsuki tries to hold her still and sighs. "Okay, I'm almost done."

They quickly make their way to Recovery Girl's medical office. She was getting closer to retirement and after the war, UA had hired an assistant for Recovery Girl since Recovery Girl had overexerted herself healing hundreds of injured civilians. The assistant, Restaurator, opens the door for the two when they knock.

A light medicinal scent breezes over them, comfortingly familiar to UA students. Restaurator directs Izuku and Katsuki over to the curtains closest to the computer and draws them closed for privacy.

"Eraserhead has notified us in advance about her. Bakugou Chiaki, is it?"

Izuku sits on the hospital bed he had been on too many times to count, since Chiaki would not get off of him. Katsuki, standing to the side, twitches in his peripheral vision. Seems he had not gotten used to having a daughter yet. Restaurator is busying away at a computer when a haggard Recovery Girl appears with a couple of devices.

"Mmhm," Chiaki nods, and Katsuki jerks again when she confirms it.

"Okay, I'll just take her fingerprints." Restaurator says, holding out some complicated device for Chiaki to press her stubby fingers onto.

She takes multiple DNA tests for Chiaki, along with a quick health checkup and a confirmation of how she appeared and what she's done today to add to a document. All of which were carried out on Izuku's lap. Chiaki was definitely not heavy – Izuku had lifted All Might before, but his limbs were growing numb from holding onto a child for almost half of the day. Of course he wasn't used to having something weighing on and slobbering over his arms all day.

It takes a while for the data to transfer into the computer, the completion bar edging bit by bit towards the end. There were even students bustling about behind the drawn curtain, since lunchtime had begun a while ago. It stays stuck on 98% for an excruciatingly long time, but eventually the pop-up chimes, and Restaurator makes quick work of doing whatever she needs with the test results.

"Do you want to know the test results or should I just tell your teacher?" The assistant swivels around on the office chair after typing up the last of her notes and filing away the last of the data Izuku couldn't decipher.

"You can tell us." Katsuki mumbles, "I've been standing here so long my legs are numb. It better have been worth it."

"Chiaki's data has no matches apart from her two parents. Now I assume you already know who her parents are? Very strong DNA matches, so she definitely belongs to the two of you. She's also a very strong and healthy young girl, no complications whatsoever, apart from a bit of dizziness. Has she been moving around a lot or something? Please try to keep her still."

Izuku and Katsuki share a look, not saying anything. Why would they know how to hold a child properly anyway? She would just cling onto them however she liked and that was enough.

"There are no abnormalities to tell us why she appeared. But, I think it's worth noting that she is around four years old, so her quirk might manifest anytime soon. Perhaps it has already manifested, but there are no external or internal signs of it."

"So she's a real person?" Katsuki questions, "She actually time travelled?"

"All of her habits and genetics are like that of a real human being, yes.

"And there are no side effects on her body?"

"She is completely healthy. Her dizziness is caused by excessive movement."

Katsuki exhales and moves over to the door. "We can go then?"

"One second." Restaurator says, and Izuku sits back down onto the bed. "Do you two know how to look after her properly?

That was a problem for another day. After a quick briefing on childcare that Katsuki had barely bothered to listen to and Izuku was too distracted by the medical results to pay attention to, they can finally leave the office. They had spent so long in the medical office that lunchtime had started and ended. Chiaki nibbles on a medicine-infused stick of sugar Restauarator had quickly conjured up with her quirk, after Recovery Girl had fished a guide out from somewhere and supposedly 'gifted' it to them.

Katsuki reluctantly carries the 'Parenting Guide 101' with the cover hidden from sight since Izuku had to carry a whole child and couldn’t take the book. At this rate, his arms were going to fall off from carrying children rather than overusing his quirk like he'd previously feared.

"I think she's tired," Izuku says, hoisting Chiaki further up in his arms so she can put her arms around his neck. "Check the guide. When do toddlers need to sleep, and for how long."

Chiaki giggles as Katsuki grumbles, opening the guide inconspicuously as he saunters down the hallway towards the stairs. He almost trips on a stair while scanning the book too close to his face. By the time the three walk outside, Katsuki still can't find the child's recommended sleep time.

And by the time they reach the Heights Alliance, he's still skimming through the text. Curse the author for writing a guide without a page of contents to direct parents to the pages they need, and hell, there weren't even any page numbers.

Since Chiaki was an unrecorded individual, Katsuki and Izuku were both liable to keep her on the premises of the site. Izuku still hadn't thought of whether he'd have to stay in the UA dorms for a while, or could keep heading home after school like he always would. After the war, his mother had requested for him to stay at home with her again, in her sight. It had been a great shock to her once she saw how damaged her son had become, even losing his quirk in the process. Naturally, it was only maternal instincts, so Izuku had gladly moved out of Heights Alliance and back into their snug apartment.

Katsuki, on the other hand, was one of the several students who stayed at the dorms for convenience. What dorm life was now like with ten less students, Izuku did not know. Sometimes he would hang out on the weekend with his friends in the dorm, or on weekdays after school, but not once since his second year had he stayed overnight. They'd also completely boxed up all of his belongings once he moved out, so it was likely that his previous room was now completely empty.

As much as he wanted to go home normally, nothing about the situation was normal right now. He doesn't think he can trust Katsuki to not throw Chiaki across a room, since they were both so intent at having glaring and wrestling contests (although Katsuki did deliberately put in zero effort to reciprocate her scuffling). Speaking of, he was still nose deep into the guide as Izuku stood dumbly with Chiaki attempting to climb over his head.

But now he had time to mull over his choices. If his Sensei told him to stay put in UA in the dorm, he would willingly do so. If he had to share a room with Katsuki, well, it was hard to say. He doesn't recall sharing a room with Katsuki since they were five years old, and now they're seventeen. The difference is literally three to four times Chiaki's age.

He peels her clammy fingers off the crown of his head and adjusts her so he can scrutinise her. "Kacchan, are you done? She looks really tired. Maybe we should just put her to sleep."

"Mm, it's here," Katsuki flips to a previous page in the book, pointing his thick index finger at the subheading, 'How Much Sleep My Child Should Be Getting.'

Izuku tries to control his elated expression as he reads. Ten to twelve hours at night, not including afternoon naps. It had been around two and a bit hours since Chiaki had popped out of the portal and been busy during the afternoon, so since she had been awake then, he could pop her into a bed for an improvised nap. It was only nearing 2pm anyway. That meant he could finally walk freely again. The problem lied with where she would sleep…

Izuku finishes reading the advised sleep schedule for a 3-5 year old, which includes sleeping at nine, and waking up at eight in the morning. But since Izuku woke up at six, and Bakugou rose even earlier at five, they could adjust it, so she would be put to bed at 7pm instead. Perfection – it meant less time holding and responding to the griping child.

"No. Absolutely not." Katsuki says when Izuku turns to him.

"I haven't even said anything yet!"

"I know what you're going to say. I'm not letting a kid into my room, especially not that brat."

"Just for now! Come on, Kacchan, it says afternoon nap. And look, she's practically dozing away right now." Izuku pleads, choosing to ignore the wide-eyed, unblinking Chiaki who is currently not dozing off.

"I don't wanna sleep, Papa."

And he tries to ignore that too, until Katsuki nudges the betrayed Izuku with a sneer.

"It says, Deku, afternoon nap is advised. If Chiaki doesn't want it, then who can blame her? After all, it's probably her first time seeing the Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight so fresh and youthful."

"Mmhm, my daddy's the coolest," she chirps from Izuku's depressingly hunched shoulders.

Izuku watches as Katsuki tries to hide his reddening ears, "See?"

"Huh, no complaints about her calling you that anymore."

"Shut it, nerd."

"Then what do we do? If you don't suggest anything good, I'm going to force her to go to bed. Your bed. I'd let her sleep in mine, but alas, I don't have a dorm room here."

"Screw you for moving out." Katsuki scowls half-heartedly, "Just put something on the TV for her."

Izuku lights up immediately at the opportunity to free his arms, rushing over to the couch to try to put Chiaki down. He'd only been successful twice, when she had voluntarily sat down next to him in the Cafeteria, seconds before he had to reluctantly place her on his lap again, and the second time, where she had been temporarily lured off him with candy to perform body scans in the medical office.

She’s practically dangling off the fabric of his sleeve, clinging on with all her might, but her meagre grip causes her to tumble onto the couch, rolling onto her stomach with a yelp. Overreacting, of course, she only dropped five centimetres downwards. She lies still with a defeated look as Izuku pokes her chubby cheek.

“Ahh, finally, I can stretch my arms,” he chirps, scooting onto the velvety plush of the cushions beside Chiaki. He lifts his arms to stretch and watches as Katsuki fumbles around in the corner for the remote. Looking at Chiaki beside him, and then at the back of Katsuki’s head, they really were too similar.

“Papa.” Chiaki blurts out as Izuku is admiring the similarity behind Chiaki and his childhood best friend. “I wanna see your superpower.”

Izuku freezes, “What’s my superpower?”

“You have it, right?” she blabbers, now tugging at his trouser leg, and Izuku is a little taken aback at how well she could speak for such a young child. “Your power.”

“I think she’s on about One For All.” Katsuki supplies, cursing when the on button on the remote he’d fished out doesn’t work from across the room.

“One For All? I didn’t think she’d know about that.”

“Daddy tells me all day about it. I wanna see!”

Katsuki huffs, “Why not my quirk? One For All doesn’t come close to Explosion.”

“Yeah but, the other me probably doesn’t have it.”

Chiaki notices Izuku’s slightly deflated smile, and she wiggles up the couch to try and get short arms around his waist.

“It’s okay,” Chiaki warmly says, “Papa’s too badass for a quirk.”

“…” He wonders where she learnt that from.

“Papa, please please please please please,” Chiaki rambles, clawing at Izuku’s thigh lightly as he looked down at her puppy-like eyes, blown wide and especially bright as she pleads.

“Eh?” Izuku says, “Right now?”

Chiaki nods eagerly in response. "Wanna see now."

"Kacchan, what do we do?"

"Show her it then," he grumbles, still messing with the remote. "Just activate it and do a few moves."

"Fight!" Chiaki exclaims.

"No, kid, this is my living accommodation. I'm not blowing it up."

"I wanna see your quirk too."

"...Don't tell me I also lose my quirk in the future?" Katsuki jumps. leaning forward to stare at Chiaki menacingly.

"I just wanna see you both fight."

"Then, should we go to Ground Beta?"

“A class might be using it.”

“Then, we can go to another ground. But what if we set off emergency protocols by trespassing unauthorised onto the site…”

“They won’t go off.” Katsuki says.

“How do you know?”

“Just do.”

It takes a while for Chiaki to persuade Katsuki, and she even threw a small tantrum when he insisted on staying in the dorm because he'd just got the remote to work. Izuku allowed it to happen, as long as Katsuki would take the child. It takes even more convincing to get Katsuki to hold Chiaki as she petitioned to see her parents fight. She seemed especially eager to see Izuku's One For All. Perhaps she had heard some great stories about it.

Chiaki offered a quiet reminder that he would indeed lose his embers in the future. For now, he was still holding onto the last flames of it, just for another minute or second. It was a truth he deigned not to face, preferring to pretend as if he could still use his quirk as normal. Because no matter what he did or thought, he couldn't actually look forward to when he would lose it.

One For All had changed his life in so many ways, he wouldn't have met so many of his wonderful friends, stood with so many of his allies, and fought to protect the world. And now that he'd done his part in that, he had to let go of his quirk. He supposes its fate, but then again, no one else had to lose their livelihood. They could all become pro-heroes like they'd dreamed, while he had to stand on the sidelines and watch them live out the life he'd also dreamed. It was unfair.

He trails behind the Bakugou pair at a distance, ruminating over the war. Looking at Katsuki now, ahead of him and quietly nodding at Chiaki's unintelligible monologues, it now felt as if he was falling behind. They'd both lost so much to everything that had happened, and would spend the rest of their lives silently living with it. But hell, Katsuki had lost his life. He couldn't be complaining about losing his quirk.

He touches the raised edges of his scar on his cheek lightly, glancing at the similar incision on Katsuki's side profile as he pensively stared ahead, now completely ignoring what Chiaki was saying. Things had shifted, after the war. Izuku felt as if Katsuki's face was now shrouded in an air of maturity, the sharp contours of his face enhanced as he inched closer to eighteen years of age. Izuku feels his face grow hot as he thinks about it. Turning eighteen, it felt dream-like.

He was also no longer just Deku. Sure, sometimes Katsuki would bark out a 'Deku!', but it was also an Izuku as he whipped his head around to talk to him in class, or a light Izuku as he fought alongside him in hero studies. He'd really changed, he thinks; but some things had not.

Now arriving at Ground Beta, although it was midday, it really threw him back into the past. It was where he'd admitted Katsuki was his image of victory, and that hadn't changed. It reminded him of their friendly rivalry, and that hadn't changed either. The war had drastically fucked his life up – but there were nuances that Katsuki offered a hand in that would never change.

"Kacchan," Izuku chuckles, "This reminds me of our first year. You know, when you dragged me out here at night."

"Mm," Katsuki nods, not offering more on the matter. Chiaki starts to pester him, asking him why, how and what happened in their first year. He ignores her and pinches her cheek, then turns to Izuku behind him.

"Quit thinking whatever you're thinking," Katsuki mutters, "I can see the negative energy radiating off you."

"I wasn't thinking about our fight here! That fight actually helped me a lot, you know, I developed a stronger understanding of my quirk through it and also released a few of my pent-up emotions. I'm glad you brought me here that day, because I found out about the burden you carried and I'm glad you told me about that. Well, you didn't tell me, but you sort of did and I fought you properly for the first time that day, and it was really fun. Not fun. Insightful. I wouldn't have fun beating you up.”

"Wanna release more of those emotions then?" Katsuki suggests, watching Izuku with an unreadable expression. "Fight me for real. You become a real asshole when you fight, you know."

Izuku rises up to the challenge, "Oh yeah? Just because I lost the other quirks doesn't mean my proficiency with One For All has changed. Chiaki, who do you bet's gonna win?"

Chiaki points at Izuku with a big smile on her face and Katsuki shows no surprise.

"Don't go easy on me, nerd."

"Wasn't going to."

Katsuki and Izuku find somewhere relatively safe to place Chiaki, debating for ages whether she could see from that distance, or if it was too close for her safety. In the end, they sat her about twenty metres away from them. She complained about the bad view, but alas, it wasn't worth her life, even though she insisted it was. They dump their blazers onto the floor beside her too.

Izuku flexes his scarred arms one more time as Katsuki warms up in a corner. Chiaki is only a little dot in his vision, sitting cross-legged on the asphalt as she looks at her parents keenly. He feels the embers coursing through his veins, slowly but surely still there. He exhales shakily, confident in his abilities.

Of course, he lost a lot of his power when his six quirks were transferred out of his body, but his combat power was likely still around the same level as Katsuki's. After all, Katsuki wasn't the only one who'd developed his skill significantly during the war. He had to be careful using his quirk, since the more he used it, the more the embers would dissipate. But right now, he really couldn't care less. He had to prove a point to himself – that he still had One For All and that was fine. Focus on the present, he thinks.

Izuku locks eyes with Katsuki a couple metres away, and before he knows it, he's charging at him with a low percentage of One For All. It wasn't as effective as using Blackwhip to accelerate himself towards Katsuki, he reminisces, but he could still work with it. Mid-air, it wasn't as great without Float either. It was so unfair. Why did he have to lose his quirk?

He grapples Katsuki, dodging blows while repeatedly pummeling his opponent at a low percentage. Any higher and his quirk would be at further risk. He looks at Katsuki, whose quirk was well intact and although he was still recovering a little from everything that had happened, he was still capable. It soured his thoughts – why did he have to hold back just to keep his quirk a little longer?

He lands a hit on Katsuki's face, exerting a little more power than he would've liked, but then continues anyway, whipping through the air at incredible speeds towards each other away from each other. Fighting Katsuki required 100% of his concentration – Katsuki knew him too well, knew how he read situations, and how he fought. Katsuki comes at him from the right, the left and then from behind, too predictable.

"Shit," Katsuki yells, when Izuku strikes him again. "You're really not holding back."

I actually am, Izuku thinks, but decides to spare Katsuki's pride. It was the maximum he could output at a safe level and he wasn't exactly too keen on injuring Katsuki anyway.

Although Katsuki was definitely much more able, he wasn’t advised to do too much activity as it would take a toll on his health. His left arm was almost fully functional with physical therapy, and his heart was definitely functional. But Izuku wasn’t planning on exhausting Katsuki and pushing him back into the hospital, and using low effort was still enough to put up a fight.

They continue the brawl for about three more minutes, tossing back and forth as they hit and dodged one another, trading punches and strikes. It finishes when Izuku curls his hand in a closed fist and accidentally uses 70% on Katsuki's battered face.

"Oh, my God, I'm sorry, I used too much-"

He's greeted in the face by one of Katsuki's explosions, "So you were fucking holding back."

"I can't use One For All too much anyway." Izuku sniffs, holding his sore face. Katsuki gives Izuku a knowing look as he advances towards Chiaki. If he is mad about Izuku holding back, he does not say.

In the distance, she is squealing eagerly and clapping her hands. Izuku wants to laugh at how sweet she looks compared to their beaten faces. He looks down miserably at his ruined school uniform. It was a little charred at the edges too.

"Do you think those robots have alerted Sensei yet? Maybe we should've asked for permission first."

"Nah, we'll use this dipshit as the excuse." Katsuki replies, throwing his blazer over his shoulder and dodging Chiaki's grabby hands. "It was completely against our will."

"Sure," Izuku laughs, "Like we weren't willingly battling each other ten seconds ago."

"It's called 'entertainment'. I'm sure Sensei has heard about it."

"When do children ever ask to see their parents fight?" Izuku scoffs.

"It's 'cause she's a sucker for drama, then."

The fight had definitely relieved Izuku's stress. He felt a little lighter, although his quirk was still weighing down on his mind. Chiaki expectantly raises her chubby arms at him, and his thoughts wash out with the adorable face of hers. Perhaps Katsuki had known a fight would improve his emotions a little. Was he really just itching for a fight all along? Or was fighting Katsuki a contributing factor? Or perhaps, Chiaki's little gleeful eyes of satisfaction of the battle cleared his mind a little. Whatever it was, he was grateful.

Izuku dusts off the thin layer of soot on his face and hands, then reaches out to pick Chiaki up. She’s looking at him with complete awe, her eyes glossy in admiration. It felt good to know that she had fun watching Izuku and Katsuki beat each other up.

"By the way,” Katsuki pipes up before he can pick her up, "Children in Chiaki's age group can walk. She's been making us do donkey work this entire time by carrying her."

Izuku looks down at Chiaki's guilty expression on the floor. "Oh."

"Little piece of shit, aren't you." Katsuki says, picking Chiaki up off the floor and brushes the rocks off her ass. She steadies onto her legs and waddles around a little. Oh. So she could walk.

"Pizza shi."

"Kacchan! Look what you're making her say!" Izuku cries in horror.

"She's like three and has already said more cuss words than you have in your entire lifetime."

Izuku stares at Katsuki, "Is that meant to be an impressive feat? Awful parenting."

"The guide said the more vocabulary she knows, the better."

Izuku mourns the freedom his arms could've had a couple of hours back as he marvels at Chiaki twirling around on the ground, as if testing her legs for the first time. She hurries to Izuku's leg and clutches it, jumping up and down.

"Papa, your power is so cool." she mumbles, "Why did it leave?"

"Oi." Katsuki interrupts, "You don't ask people that."

"It's okay," Izuku says, squatting down to eye level with Chiaki.

"He saved the world." Katsuki blurts, then immediately regrets it and follows up with a series of insults. "Come on, let's leave before all our teachers charge in here thinking we're abusing Chiaki."

“Saved the world…” Chiaki repeats, looking up at Izuku with a smile.

She puts her little hand in Izuku's. It's warm and alive, just like how Izuku feels. Everything's fine, he thinks, I still have my quirk.

—

The three had run into Aizawa on their way back to the dorms, and were met with a scolding. They followed him into his office where he asked what on earth they were up to on Ground Beta during school hours. He was met with a very speechless and very oblivious Chiaki, since everything had been piled up upon her. Katsuki and Izuku got away with a warning, even after they'd been confined to house arrest the last time they tried it.

He gave them a quick run down on what was expected of her, including any concerns, what they had to do regarding her, and sleeping arrangements. It was just as Izuku suspected – Chiaki had to stay in Katsuki's room because she insisted on staying with her parents, but they were also tasked with seeing if Chiaki would react to any of the female students. For Izuku however, he was allowed to go home as usual. Hah.

"We'll observe further if Chiaki is still here by tomorrow," Aizawa says, "As for you, Bakugou, just watch the girl and oblige to whatever she asks, if it's within sensibility. I believe I can trust you.."

"Does she have to stay in my room?" Katsuki huffs, "That's gonna disrupt my sleep."

"It's just for a day. How hard can it be? You can see if anyone else will take her but I highly doubt it."

Katsuki sighs in acquiescence. Izuku glances at Chiaki, whose grubby fingers are playing with the hem of her skirt.

"Toilet." She says.

Eventually, that is what gets Katsuki and Izuku out of the room, pushing Chiaki into a random stall they have on the dorm's ground floor. They stand outside in awkward silence. It had just turned 4 o'clock on the clock, so they had about 10 to 15 minutes to do whatever before classmates swarmed into the building and harassed them.

They could just quickly explain how she was expected to disappear back to wherever she came from in a day or so. But it wasn't that simple – no one had any idea whatsoever where she'd come from, how she'd come and when she was going to go back.

The matter that it was the child of two third-year students, who happened to both be boys with zero romantic experience, and she happened to drop right into their classroom, was complex enough. Coincidences didn't happen like that, it was sure to mean something.

It was a little exhausting to think about. There were too many possibilities and none of them would likely come clear until Chiaki told them, or something else happened. Time and space travel had never been seen, even in a world where people could breathe fire and lizards could talk. The only thing closest to what Chiaki had come through was Kurogiri's gate, but even that had been travelling over space. Messing with time had to be unspeakable, defying all laws of nature. And surely, nothing good comes out of that.

Chiaki raps her little fist against the door and the handle rattles. Izuku moves to quickly open the door, where Chiaki is standing blinking up at Izuku.

"Did she even wash her fucking hands?" Katsuki squints.

"Probably not," Izuku chuckles, turning to Chiaki. "I'll raise you up so you can wash your hands, okay?"

He nudges Chiaki back into the stall and hoists her up below her shoulders. The bathrooms are obviously sized for teenagers and not toddlers, and Izuku finds it amusing how the sink is almost double her height. She rubs the scented soap into her palms as Izuku marvels at her

"She's really smart for her age, isn't she?" he calls to Katsuki, who is standing outside the door.

"Likely took after me then." Katsuki jokes.

"Kacchan. But she is really smart, I mean, she knows how to wash her hands, and walk and she can also talk really well. She even reminds me a little bit of Eri."

"Is washing your hands meant to be impressive?" Katsuki asks, objectively ignoring half of what Izuku said.

"You know what I mean." Izuku replies.

The tap closes and Chiaki shakes the excess water all over Izuku's uniform. He grimaces, before lightly kicking the door open so he can leave. Katsuki is still leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, staring at Izuku and Chiaki as they emerge from the bathroom.

"Do you think we need to put her to bed now? Or-"

"Don't wanna sleep." Chiaki lightly interrupts.

"Or, we can put something on the TV for her. I've got homework."

"I've also got homework."

"TV it is then?"

The three settle down onto the couches for the second time today, and this time round Katsuki can actually get the remote to work immediately. He's about to put on some thriller movie he was watching, before he hears Chiaki sniff and awkwardly goes back to the menu to look for other shows, preferably suitable for children.

Izuku has pulled out one of his analysis notebooks from the bag he'd left on the couch beforehand, and is already scribbling away in it. On top of analysing his quirk usage in class last week, he'd have to add on what he'd gathered from his fight with Katsuki earlier on. Homework would have to wait, since he hadn't had time to finish the analysis from the weekend – he'd been watching the previously mentioned thriller movie with Katsuki.

One thing that had changed over the last year or so was definitely his relationship with Katsuki. Weirdly enough, perhaps it was the fact Izuku was going to quirkless once again, he'd softened significantly. It wasn't discernable to most. Katsuki was still grumpy, still annoyed and still hot-blooded. But to Izuku, every little subtlety was recognised and realised. It was likely because around Izuku, he didn't bother to keep up his 'angry' pretenses, and treated his childhood friend a little differently from the others. Weirdly enough, Katsuki was different from Kacchan.

It'd been like such for a while. Since Izuku had left UA and was ultimately saved by his whole class, and since Katsuki's unexpected and profound apology. But everyday it got a little worse than the one before. Especially after he'd seen Katsuki crying over his embers.

Katsuki treating Izuku as a friend was beyond amazing, but by God it was unbearable. He'd spent so long thinking he was in Katsuki's shadow, just to be pulled out and treated as an equal? Of course Izuku deserves such, but it was still all too unfamiliar for him.

By textbook definition, a rival was 'a person that tries to vanquish or surpass another person'. Rivals did not invite each other to watch films, hang out and gush over All Might forums, and do homework together. That was certain. Because he didn't even do that every weekend with his closest friends. So perhaps yeah, he and Kacchan really were what you would call 'friends'.

When he assesses what he's scribbled onto what is supposed to be the analysis, it has a bunch of 'Kacchan's on it, so he immediately scribbles them out. In the background, there is some cat cartoon playing that Izuku has never seen before in his life, but Chiaki is entranced by it, so he supposes that's all that mattered.

"Louder." she nudges Katsuki, who is hunched over the coffee table with their Modern Literature homework.

"It's so damn loud already," he barks, not raising his head, "These noises are makin’ me fucking crazy."

"Louder." Chiaki repeats.

Izuku chuckles as Katsuki sighs and puts his pen down to pick the remote up, turning it up a few notches. He's right, the cats are incredibly annoying. Not a single word of Japanese, just a bunch of nya. Suddenly, the doors swing upon and their studies are interrupted once again, this time with the Japanese language.

It's the whole of Class A, thronging into the common room and almost running towards Katsuki and Izuku, who are seriously just trying to study after half an afternoon of chaos. Four hours of hell and they couldn't even relax.

"Sensei told us not to disturb them!" Izuku can hear Iida yelling somewhere behind them. He closes his notebook and shoves it under his maths homework, before turning back to greet his friends with a smile.

"What happened?" Kaminari shouts, "Did she blow up on you two?"

Izuku looks down at his uniform, and then Katsuki's. They hadn't bothered to change after their Ground Beta fight, so he supposes it did look like something happened. Down in his blazer, Chiaki is trying to squirm and hide behind Izuku, looking up at all the students with subtle traces of fear. Seems she wasn't like her father in this aspect, not fond of the attention she was receiving. He opens his mouth, only to be beaten by Katsuki to it.

"Kid's scared of people." he says, still doing his homework. "Don't swarm her with questions. Just ask Izuku about anything. 'm busy."

"Hey! I'm also busy! Also, can one of you tell me what we did in class today?"

No matter how rowdy and curious Class A is, they wouldn't badger the clearly scared Chiaki, who has now diverted her attention to the TV to distract herself. Instead, they crowd around Izuku and Katsuki to pester them instead.

In the end, no homework is completed and about 30 different questions have been answered. Ochako offers her notes to Katsuki and Izuku to catch up on what they'd missed. Aizawa had told the two that it was expected that they went to class tomorrow no matter what happened, so at least no other classes would be missed.

As it draws near 7pm, some people start to diffuse into their own rooms, and some choose to return home. Some have already gone home after gathering the information they wanted to hear. Essentially, Chiaki was Katsuki's daughter – the two had a shared understanding out of awkwardness not to mention who her other parent was, brushing it off everytime someone would ask. They all just assumed it was some random chick that Katsuki would find in the future. In a way, it was easier to understand than to go into detail about whatever was now lying between Izuku and Kacchan (not Chiaki, who had fallen asleep in the process). Since she was averse to other people, they hadn't bothered to see if Chiaki could stay with anyone else for the night, meaning she had to stay in Katsuki's room.

Izuku reluctantly puts away his notebook and homework, since he'd got nothing done, but he still needed to go home. It was already late and his mother prefers for him to come home earlier on school days. He lightly shifts on the couch, ready to get up. At one point, the TV had been turned off.

"You going?" Katsuki asks as Izuku zips up his bag.

"Yeah. My mom's gonna be worried."

"Okay. Bye."

"Mhmm, see you tomorrow! Take good care of Chiaki."

"Papa?" Chiaki blinks blearily as Izuku walks away. He pauses and turns around. "Where are you going?"

"Did I wake you? Um, home." Izuku supplies. "I'll see you tomorrow, if I will."

"Oh."

Izuku quickly jogs back to ruffle Chiaki's hair, then stands back up again. "I'm off, then! Don't cause trouble for your dad."

"You're leaving?" Chiaki whispers, shaking, "Don't leave me again, please, don't leave, don't leave, don't leave I don't wanna be alone again…"

She bursts into tears and Izuku shares a horrified look with Katsuki, Izuku frowns at him, and then crouches back down to wipe Chiaki's puffy cheeks with his sleeves. She continues to mumble at him, sobbing loudly. Luckily, most of their class who were still here were busy in the kitchen, and no one had to witness her sobbing her eyes out as if Izuku had just striked her.

"What happened?" Izuku mouths, looking up at Katsuki. He shrugs in response with an equally concerned face.

"I guess her attachment is really bad." Katsuki mutters. "It said in the guide: children don't typically like to be separated from their parents for a long time."

"I was gone for like, two seconds!"

"Yeah, but you said you were leaving. Maybe she's got some trauma going on from being separated from her original parents."

Izuku goes quiet. Chiaki had been really sensitive about the gate she'd come from. However, she hadn't shown any unhappiness from being in an alternate timeline the entire day.

"If you're wondering why she hasn't shown it all day," Katsuki cuts, "Think of who she's been with the entire day."

Izuku pauses, "Oh. She thinks we're her parents too."

"I don't think it matters which set of us it is. As long as we look like her parents, she's reassured."

Izuku hums in response and continues to pat Chiaki's hair. She's finished blubbering and has now tried to attach herself to Izuku, sniffing sadly as she cuddled up to his body. Katsuki has also put down his pen to watch Chiaki.

"Then what do I do?" Izuku asks, "I don't think I can go home."

"Auntie's gonna piss herself."

"I'm gonna call her then. I'm sure she'll allow it for a day."

"What are you even gonna tell her?"

Izuku muses over it. He couldn't tell her he was stuck in school because his child miraculously appeared in his classroom and wouldn't let him go. Well he could, but it would be a never-ending phone call if he did so. Sure, he'd been through a handful of stuff, but something like this wasn't easily explained.

Chiaki also continues to cling onto Izuku, her snot forming a stain on his trouser leg. He couldn't even move to get his phone out of his bag.

"Kacchan," to which Katsuki hums, "Can you reach into my bag and call her? I'm in a bit of a pickle."

"What do I say?"

"Just say, um, there's been a serious villain outbreak and they're targeting UA students, wait no, don't tell her that, she'll start to worry. Um, tell her we're locked in the building. No, don't tell her that either."

Katsuki fumbles around in Izuku's bag as he mumbles about what excuse would convince his mother to let him stay in the dorms for just a day. He pulls out the phone and Izuku leans over to watch as Katsuki navigates his phone.

"What do I say?" Katsuki repeats, his finger hovering over the call button. Just as Izuku is about to reply, the phone starts ringing. Katsuki's thumb had accidentally slipped, and Inko picks up within seconds.

"Izuku!" she chirps, "Are you coming home today? If you need to stay in school today, that's fine. I was already informed about everything. Just take a picture of my granddaughter, okay?"

Izuku goes red, his worries being replaced, "Okay, thank you mom. I'll be sure to take a picture."

Katsuki holds the phone to Izuku's ear as he continues to chat with his mother. He asks for permission to stay in the dorms for today which she gladly allows, and at one point he even has to put the phone to Chiaki's mouth so she can blubber something incoherent at Inko. Even Katsuki himself says hi on the phone. After a while, Inko hangs up, and Katsuki sinks back onto the sofa.

"Thank god she was already informed." Izuku sighs.

"I can't believe we ruled that possibility out. Of course they would've told our parents."

"Do you think they know that… you know, both her parents?"

Katsuki huffs, "My old hag is gonna tease me for life about that."

Silence hangs in the air between them after Izuku had made it inevitably awful by bringing that up. He wonders how Katsuki felt about it. Was it really weird? He didn't think it was too bad – Chiaki was so adorable with Katsuki's genes, and even though his genes hadn't even bothered to try, knowing his daughter looked like that in one timeline was amazing. He rubs her pink cheek as she boredly fidgets with her fingers. Izuku was still crouched on the floor with his bag on and open, so he clambers back onto the sofa.

She looks too ecstatic, almost as if she hadn't been crying at Izuku leaving a couple minutes ago. But now it meant he would have to stay in the same room as Chiaki, and that only meant one thing. Because Katsuki had to be there too. He'd had plenty of experiences in a room with Katsuki but never his dorm, and never overnight.

"She's got to sleep soon." Katsuki pipes up, staring at the ceiling.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Are you going to put her to sleep then?"

"Yeah." Katsuki replies, "Chiaki, come on."

She throws herself into Katsuki's open arms and lets herself be picked up by him. He bends down to collect his homework into one of his hands, the other supporting Chiaki's frame.

"Is Papa coming?"

"You heard that, nerd. Come on."

"I need to do my homework. It's due tomorrow." Izuku says, rummaging about in his bag.

"Are you slow or just dumb?" Katsuki barks, "You can do the homework in my room. If we leave without you, she's gonna cry all over me."

Izuku zips his bag closed and throws it over his shoulder. "Okay, okay, coming."

He trudges behind Katsuki and smiles at Chiaki, who is peeking over Katsuki's shoulder. She beams back once she sees that Izuku is following her. Once they reach the elevators, Katsuki nods his head towards the lift button.

"My hands are full. Fourth floor."

Chiaki squeals at having seen a bed when they finally get to Katsuki's room. As Izuku takes his shoes off, Katsuki puts Chiaki down onto the floor and takes off his blazer, hanging it up in his closet.

The room is surprisingly plain. There are a few dumbbells and even hiking gear in one corner of the room, and in the other there is a whole bookshelf lined neatly with different genres of books. On Katsuki's desk, there is practically nothing. Beside the given PC, there is just a small fan, two books, and untangled wired earphones. Then one book, when Katsuki hurriedly picks it up to shove it back into a corner on the bookshelf. There isn't one poster on the wall, and not even a calendar. It looked similarly plain to Katsuki's own room in his house.

"No fucking peeping. Just get your ass down here and do your homework."

"What's Kacchan hiding?" Izuku teases.

"None of your business what I have in my room." Katsuki snaps, busying about arranging his room a little more. "I just didn't tidy over the weekend 'cause I was busy."

Izuku laughs and sets his bag down to pull his homework out and finally finish his analyses too. He slaps the books and sheets down onto Katsuki's empty desk. He looks at Chiaki, who is dumbly following Katsuki with her eyes, turning her head as he stalks towards her.

"I wanna sleep," she says.

"I don't like outdoor clothes on my bed." Katsuki mutters, his voice strained.

"Um, do you not have anything else she can wear?" Izuku asks.

"Why the fuck would I own a three-year old's clothes?"

"Not like that!" Izuku hurriedly says, "Like a shirt that didn't fit, or something."

"Would that fit her?"

"Check if you have something first."

After a while fumbling around his closet, he pulls out a simple white t-shirt. "This is all I can find."

"...That looks a little big."

"Yeah, well, what did you expect? That I'd have some magical dress in here?"

"Maybe." Izuku chuckles, scrawling onto his notebook and recording the details of his fight with Katsuki earlier. It felt like it was days ago, with how eventful his day had been.

Katsuki shimmies Chiaki out of her shoes, then folds her clothes to place onto the cabinet beside the desk Izuku is working at. When Izuku looks back at Chiaki, she is in Katsuki's huge shirt. It looks a bit like a Halloween costume of some headed ghost. He bites back a smile, looking fondly at Chiaki as she buries herself into Katsuki's sheets. On the other side of the room, Katsuki is gathering his own clothes.

"Do you need clothes too?" he says, "I probably have something you can wear. But you're sleeping on the floor. I'll get out the blankets later."

"Um, yeah that would be great." Izuku squeaks, feeling like a bit of a burden.

"Alright, I'm going to shower then. No fucking peeping around, or I'll murder you."

Katsuki disappears into the bathroom and the door closes with a slam. It's not long until Izuku can hear the sound of the water running. Katsuki had placed down some folded clothes onto the end of his bed for Izuku to wear, and Izuku looks at the clothes, then at Chiaki, who is staring wide-eyed at Izuku.

She smiles when he locks eyes with her, "Can you tell me a story? I can't sleep. It's too bright."

"But I'm busy." Izuku whines, "So so busy."

"But I can't sleep."

“Okay,” Izuku sets down his pen, “I’ll tell you about Momotaro then.”

He reaches into her hair to separate the clips from her hair, and puts them into his pocket before patting down her hair. It takes not even two minutes of Izuku whispering some butchered version of the story to lull Chiaki to sleep. He immediately returns to his homework, after so many interruptions.

Not before long, Katsuki walks out towelling his hair in a shirt and basketball shorts. It's a bit cold for such attire, but Izuku ignores it.

“Your turn.” Katsuki says at a low volume, noticing Chiaki was quietly snoring in his bed.

“I need to finish my homework.” Izuku groans. Why were there so many interruptions?

“Shower.” Katsuki hisses, “So I can sleep earlier. Move, I’ll do your homework. I’ve done it anyway.”

Izuku sighs, “Fine. Don’t make it look like your writing though.”

“Wasn’t gonna.”

Izuku collects the clothes off the bed, and scurries off into the bathroom. There’s a bunch of fancy soaps lined on the sink and shower rack. Katsuki's routine was truly meticulous.

He’s so glad to take off his dusty, beaten clothes and stand under the warmth of the shower, the whole day washing off him. He lets the grime wash off him, and lathers on some random soap that says ‘Mousse De Douche’ which Izuku cannot understand, relying on the Japanese translation above it. He experimentally squeezes a couple of different ones onto his hand, and is surprised when they all smell exactly like Katsuki.

When he steps out, Katsuki is arranging his books quietly on his bookshelf. His homework is neatly piled up on the side of the desk, and his notebook is on top of it. Izuku’s mildly surprised at how well Katsuki’s clothes fit him. Izuku always felt as if he was a little lanky compared to the latter, and Katsuki had a couple more centimetres of height than he did. The shirt hangs nicely onto him, and he only needed to tighten the drawstring of his pajama bottoms a little bit. They dragged a bit on the ground, but that was only expected.

On the bed, Chiaki is breathing a little more loudly than she was before Izuku had stepped into the shower. Katsuki has already placed a thick duvet onto the floor beside the bed, with a few blankets of different colours piled up on it.

"That's my winter duvet." Katsuki points out, his voice below a whisper. "It'll have to do."

"It's more than enough, thank you!" Izuku whisper-chirps. Chiaki stirs slightly in her sleep, and Katsuki shoots him a glare.

"I'm going to sleep now."

"Now?" Izuku looks at the digital clock behind Katsuki's bed: 8pm. "Oh, I meant, where are you sleeping? With Chiaki?"

Katsuki shoots him another glare, "Where else?"

Izuku nods quickly, not questioning him. Katsuki flips the light off immediately, then navigates through the room with the moonlight gently shining past his curtains. Izuku watches as it casts a faint glow on Katsuki's smooth skin. He stands dumbly beside the bathroom door, wondering if Katsuki would allow him to stay up and flip through his notebooks, or if that would distract the adamant-on-sleeping-way-too-early Bakugou pair.

"You," Katsuki says once he's by his bed, "Sleep."

Izuku doesn't complain and trudges over to the pile of blankets on the floor. He settles into it, the familiar scent of Katsuki diffusing into the air around him. Beside him, Katsuki slowly nudges Chiaki further down his mattress, and scoots into the bed himself. He tries not to laugh at the idea of Katsuki lying beside a three year old.

Izuku stares up at the dark ceiling, tucking his chin into the layer of blankets. Perhaps Chiaki would be gone by tomorrow morning into whatever portal she came from, or perhaps it was some hallucination or illusion. Whatever it was, although it had been less than half a day, the girl had brightened Izuku’s life, even if it was just a little bit.

And whatever it was… he was currently lying down within half a metre's range of Katsuki. If you looked past how he was subjected to the floor, it really made no sense. Him. In Katsuki's dorm. Lying down and listening to him sleep. Their relationship had surely progressed – Katsuki would've thrown a fuss about sharing a room with Izuku a year or so ago.

A year ago, life had been so hectic, so unwelcoming. He'd been a 16-year old tossed into the centre of the throes of a war, fought skin and tooth, and failed to save so many lives. About this time last year, he was probably fighting something at 8pm. Now? He was lying on the floor of Katsuki Bakugou's dorm room, with their daughter. Perhaps he would never have a regular year in his life at all.

"Goodnight." Izuku whispers into the night. He doesn't get a reply, just the steady breathing of Katsuki and sleep-mumbling of Chiaki.

Somewhere during his sleep, five in the morning or whatever time Katsuki was weird enough to get up at, an alarm blares at an unnervringly loud tone for Izuku's ears and he clasps his hand over his ears with a groan. The sheets rustle and Katsuki must've turned it off, because the beeping ceases.

"Oh my God," Katsuki says like the world is ending in front of him.

"What?" Izuku huffs, wanting to catch more sleep.

"She's still here."