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Winter had come early that season; a snowstorm had brewed overnight to the delight of schoolchildren across the nation. Of course, Tsuyu wouldn’t have minded much, despite her frog quirk making her fall asleep when the temperature dropped to a certain level, she usually had a large collection of sweaters to choose from, and if by any chance she ever found herself without any, she was sure her husband wouldn’t mind spending some time cuddling in front of the fireplace.
Note that she said ‘Usually’.
Right now she was covered in a blanket, still in her pajamas, looking all through her closet trying to find any of her sweaters, all while trying not to fall asleep. She would normally stay in bed and ask Fumi to search for one but he’d disappeared from their bedroom as well. So she’d woken up cold and alone in their big bed and was now looking for something to fight the cold so she could start the search for her husband, and make breakfast too.
‘Man, there’s not even any Christmas sweaters. Did he take all of them?’ she thought. It was only logical to think Fumi took them after all, seeing as though he’s the only other thing missing from their room. ‘He must’ve stayed up all night, I didn’t even feel him leave the bed’ she concluded, fighting back the sleep.
She finally settled on an old and dusty leather jacket that had belonged to the currently missing birdman, being also the only item he had spared from his mysterious stealing of all of her stuff. ‘He never wears this anyway’ she put it on, it was musty and not very soft but it offered more protection against the cold than the blanket from their bed. Yawning, she stood up, now feeling more awake, and walked out into their living room.
“Fumi?” she called out not too loudly, no response.
‘He must be in the baby’s room’ she thought, curious as to what her husband was doing there with all their clothes. She made her way through their apartment, a bit small, but they were looking into getting a larger place, somewhere with enough space for a growing family. The polished wooden flooring felt cold on her bare feet, she walked hurriedly towards the last door down the hall, and a cute frog themed nametag that hung from it read ‘海翔’ or ‘Kaito’. They spent a lot of time coming up with that name, ‘Ocean’ and ‘Flight’, a perfect mix of him and her, he’d suggested other names too, some which she also considered, but maybe it was the cheesy part of her that wanted her child to represent them both in a way.
She’d been daydreaming with her hand on the handle to the door, she needed to wake up, the cold was getting to her. Shaking her head with a small yawn she opened the door to a very bizarre sight.
On the floor, right next to the (now empty) baby’s cradle, laid all of the missing clothes in a vaguely circular formation, they were piled on top of each other to form a strange, almost cocoon like shape around the one who presumably put them there. Fumi was sleeping in the middle, probably tired from his midnight shenanigans, sleeping quietly in his arms was their child, sharing the same avian traits as his father, a small light orange beak being the only feature sticking out from in between his arms.
She didn’t exactly know how to respond; in UA they taught you a lot of stuff but finding your significant other lying on the ground with your newborn wasn’t one of them. She decided that waking the baby wasn’t a good idea, not this early in the morning at least, so she made her way slowly towards Fumi’s side of the strange makeshift bed and kneeled beside him, he looked quite comfy and she really wouldn’t mind joining him, but her need for answers was stronger, so she shook him lightly, just enough for him to open his eyes without disturbing the sleeping baby in his arms.
He awakened pretty easily; he’d always been a light sleeper after all, his bright crimson eyes looked dazzled for a second before slowly focusing on her.
“Tsu? What are you doing up so early, my love?” he asked her in a hushed tone, realizing that the child in his arms was still sound asleep. “I woke up and you weren’t there” she said and then added “why did you take all our clothes and put them in a… uh, what is this thing anyway?”
He shuffled a bit, carefully setting down the sleeping infant next to him before sitting up and looking at her, he looked… sheepish, in a way he hadn’t since they were still students, he refused to look at her in the eye, suddenly taking a big interest in the ugly Christmas sweater that formed his… thing. He finally spoke up “I… had a bad dream, so I woke up in the middle of the night, feeling this…” he paused, trying to find the right word for what he was feeling “compulsion, this urge to collect things and make… this, um… this” the words seemingly died in his throat, he looked ready to let the floor eat him alive, was it really that embarrassing for him to say it?
“So, you made a nest?”
He looked at her, expecting some kind of judgment on her face. Even though they’ve been married this whole time, there were still things they hadn’t discussed, oddities that came from the bird part of him that she’d been trying to get him to accept. He’d confessed secrets that he swore to take to the grave with him and she did the same yet something as small as some foreign, not entirely human instinct made him afraid that perhaps it was too weird or maybe it was years of bottling up his feelings to prevent his quirk from controlling him.
Either way, she shattered all of his fears by stepping into the nest herself. Slowly picking up their child and putting him in between his and her own body, he was blushing furiously now, but a small smile made it’s way to his beak. Taking the hint, he laid down next to his wife in the makeshift nest, their child still sound asleep between their bodies.
‘‘It’s pretty warm in here’’ she confessed to him in a hushed tone, he nuzzled his beak against her mouth and she kissed him in return, a routine that once also felt strange and new but now it was just another part of him that made her fall in more love every time. Looking down, she admired the young bird-frog and as she curled further into the nest.
“I’m sorry I took your sweaters, I don’t know what came over me” He said that, but he didn’t sound too sorry, something told her he wanted to stay here as much as she did, whether it was the ‘compulsion’ he described earlier or him causing his sudden change in attitude mattered very little to her.
“I don’t mind, but next time you should tell me first so we can build it together,” she said bluntly, and it seemed to make him choke a little “Y-you want to do this again? ” he replied while his blush returned with a vengeance.
“Yes, but next time let’s build it on the bed. It’s perfect for days like this y’know” she said with honesty and he began to smile.
She smiled back before closing her eyes and falling asleep.