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Without a doubt, Eijirou’s favourite part of being a pro hero is seeing the people he saved.
There’s so much more to being a pro hero than Eijirou could have possibly imagined as a kid, watching his favourite heroes on TV. In reality a lot of his day to day life is monotonous, filled with patrols and paperwork, and the big heroic acts that he used to admire and imagine are few and far between. The less said about time spent on paperwork the better, but even on patrol he ends up spending a good portion of time interacting with and signing autographs for fans rather than doing anything overtly heroic. It’s awkward, but he has far more admirers than he ever pictured back in his UA days. He supposes that comes with the territory of being a hero in the top 15, but even so he can never quite get over the faint embarrassment whenever someone stops him in the street to fawn over him, especially when the attention is… slightly less than innocent. He’s never hidden the fact that he’s been in a monogamous relationship since high school, but that does not seem to put off a small handful of fans and politely putting off their blatant flirting is frankly uncomfortable.
So yes, he loves saving people most of all, but perhaps having a 6 year old girl physically attached to his front was pushing things a little.
“I’m so sorry about this,” says the girl’s mother, Masaki Asami. “Chiasa’s never been good with stressful situations, I suppose she feels safe with you since you rescued her.”
“It’s ok, I don’t mind if it makes her feel better!” he replies, truthfully. The girl had been one of three school children taken hostage by a pair of villains whilst on a field trip to Tokyo tower. One of them had attempted to throw her off the tower to try and distract him and Kaminari enough to make a getaway. She’d not let go since he’d caught her, but frankly if a few hours clinginess was enough to comfort her he’d do it a thousand times over. He strokes the girls long black hair in a soothing gesture. She’s asleep, but that hasn’t done anything to relax the iron grip she has around his neck. The action makes her shift a little, but far from making her relax she pulls even closer. Her mother looks at her fondly.
“It’s a good thing she has my wife’s quirk rather than mine, the rest is probably good for her.” On seeing Eijirou’s quizzical expression, she clarifies, “I don’t need to sleep.”
“Seriously? That’s amazing!”
“It can be surprisingly boring when everyone else is asleep, but it does give me time to catch up on my shows!” Asami laughs. “It was very convenient when she was a baby though. She was so fussy and wanted to be held all the time, I could stay up with her and let my wife get some sleep.”
“Seems like that still is the case,” Eijirou says jokingly.
Asami tries to apologise again, but Eijirou waves her off. “You’re so good with her, Red Riot-san. Do you have kids of your own?”
“Ah no, I don’t. I mean, Katsuki- my husband that is, he’s a pro hero too so we’re both pretty busy. And well, you know… we’re both guys so…” Asami saves him from elaborating by nodding in understanding. Since she’s married to a woman she must know how difficult it is for a same sex couple to adopt in Japan, even a married one. In an age of quirks it isn’t impossible for him and Katsuki to have children that are genetically theirs (from the way she was talking, Eijirou suspects this is the route she and her wife went too) but the people with quirks to help them are so few and far between it’s not unknown for couples to wait more than a decade for their turn. She doesn’t look much older than mid-thirties, and Eijirou can’t help but wonder how young she was when she and her wife applied for a surrogate and how long she and her wife had to wait. He resists asking despite how badly he wants to. It’s too personal a question for someone he’s just met, even if her daughter is currently clinging to him.
Said daughter starts shifting with a faint high pitched moan. Eijirou instinctively moves his free arm to hold her tighter and prevent her falling as she pulls back and blinks blearily. Their eyes meet and Eijirou grins. “Morning sweetheart. We feeling ok?
Instantly her face flushes, the blush starting at her nose and spreading across her cheeks, and she flies back to her former position. She’s clearly trying to hide, but probably out of shyness rather than fear since he feels her nod against his shoulder in response to his question. It’s so adorable that he feels his heart swell with it.
Asami moves forward instantly and places her hand on her daughter’s back. Chiasa turns her head to look at her and away from Eijirou, and her mother lowers her head to have a whispered conversation
“I’m so sorry Red Riot-san, I don’t think she’s going to let go anytime soon. But maybe now she’s awake we can get more comfortable?” she gestures to a nearby bench to indicate her meaning.
“It’s okay! Seriously.” Eijirou replies, but accepts the offer to take a seat. Chiasa isn’t heavy by any means, but after standing and holding her for over an hour his arms are feeling pretty stiff. As Asami had indicated, the girl accepts the change in position when he sits down, sitting on his lap rather than being cradled in his arm. He takes the chance to stretch it out as soon as it’s free, trying and failing to escape Asami’s notice. She tries to apologise again and he waves her off.
They spend a few minutes chatting, Asami about her own work as a medical researcher (despite her earlier claim about using the nights to watch shows, it seems she spend a lot of time working in the labs overnight) and her wife’s as a middle school teacher. She enquires about Eijirou’s own life, and is surprised to hear that his husband is ranked in the top five heroes, in fact she’s never even heard the name ‘Ground Zero’ (“I’m so sorry Red Riot-san,” she blushes, “I’m afraid the hero ranks have rather gone over my head since Chi-chan was born.” He doesn’t mention that he himself was number 12 in the most recent polls.)
Chiasa must not find their new seat on the bench as comfortable, since she slowly shifts as they talk until she’s sitting on his lap with her back against his chest. When she’d initially started moving he’d turned to smile at her, but she’d immediately hidden against his shoulder flushing furiously, so he’d figured she didn’t want any focus on her and left her to it when she moved a second time.
He’s in the process of running through the top ranked heroes to see who Asami does know (it’s difficult to stop himself from sniggering when it turns out she actually does know of the number 2 hero, Deku) when she pipes up. “What’s this?”
‘This’ turns out to be the tattoo on his left ring finger, the kanji for victory. His grip had subconsciously shifted to her middle to hold her securely against him giving her a perfect view of it. “Oh, I got that when I got married. My husband is called Katsuki, so it’s the first character in his name. He has one for me too.”
“That’s weird. Married people should have rings.” she says with the certainty only a six year old could muster. “Mum and Mama have rings.”
Asami chides her for being rude but Eijirou laughs and waves it off. “We have those too, but we both have quirks that would damage them if we had them on all the time.”
“Where is it now?”
“Locked up safe at my office. It’s super important so I don’t want to risk losing it.” He elongates the ‘u’ in super and dips her back as he says it, making her giggle.
“He’s only saying that because he’s an idiot who’s lost it twice before.” A very familiar voice sounds from behind him.
Chiasa squeaks and buries her face at the appearance of a new stranger, but Eijirou turns around and grins. “Hey, I found it both times didn’t I?” he laughs, “I only lost them because, unlike some people, my quirk activates everywhere and not just my hands. It cut right through all the chains I had it on.”
He takes the chance to take in the sight of his husband. Since they work in different agencies he doesn’t get to see him in hero gear nearly as much as he’d like. He’s removed his gauntlets but kept the gloves on, leaving his arms free enough for him to rest his hands on his hips. His shirt clings in all the right ways to show his muscles in their perfectly sculpted glory. The mask and the paint under it highlight the fire of his eyes. He’s always gorgeous, but when he’s in his element like this Eijirou feels like the luckiest guy in the world.
“Oh,” Asami squeaks, standing abruptly to bow. “You must be Red Riot-san’s husband. Um, Grand Zero-san?”
Katsuki’s eyebrows have all but vanished into his hairline but otherwise he's stock still, grin still frozen in place, Asami’s smile is perfectly amiable and oblivious to her error, and Eijirou can’t help it, he bursts into peals of laughter. Asami looks over at the sound, confusion written across her features. Chiasa actually looks up from her hiding spot and stares at her mother incredulously. “No Mum, it’s Ground Zero.”
Asami’s face instantly colours, turning scarlet from the nose outwards like her daughter. She bows three times in quick succession apologising profusely as she does. Katsuki grumbles out an “It’s fine, whatever.” and Eijirou has to fight down another laughing fit. To the untrained eye Katsuki would look completely nonchalant but Eijirou can see the pout in the crinkle of his nose and the jut of his chin. He’s sulking and it’s adorable.
Like a good spouse he decides to give his husband a way out. “Did you need me for something, babe?”
“Detective was looking for you. They want your statement before you go.” Katsuki jumps on the chance to move away from the subject, and his expression moving from pretending-to-be-neutral scowl to actually-neutral scowl. “They said the kid can go for today, though.”
“Oh, um…” Eijirou looks down into the wide eyes of his latest attachment. She stares right back, lip wobbling.
“Chi-chan, it’s time to go home now.” Asami reaches up to take her daughters hand but doesn’t try to pry her hand away. Even so Chiasa tightens her grip around Eijirou.
“I don’t want to, Mum!” she says, tears threatening to overspill from her eyes.
“You know Mama has been worried” Chiasa sniffles. “Don’t you want to see her?”
Reluctantly Chiasa nods, slowly releasing her hold on Eijirou only to instantly latch onto Asami, who accepts her easily. Eijirou keeps his hand on the girls back during the transition, even though he knows it’s not really necessary to keep her stable.
“Do you have something you’d like to say to Red Riot-san before we go, Chi-chan?”
For a moment the girl looks puzzled, but her face brightens with realisation and she chirps “Thank you for saving me!”
Asami nods approvingly and turns back to the two men. With the additional weight she was now carrying, she inclines her head in lieu of a proper bow. “Likewise, thank you so much for all you’ve done, my family and I…” for a moment her eyes look glassy, and she tightens her arms around her daughter. “We owe you everything.”
The two depart, Chiasa waving the whole time over her mother’s shoulder shouting ‘Bye bye!’. Eijirou returns the wave until they turn around the street corner.
As soon as the figures disappear out of sight he finds himself being spun around and kissed. The contact is a little bit brutal and probably would have resulted in a split lip if they hadn’t had years of practice between them, but he sinks easily into it. He feels Katsuki sigh into him in return, and fingers from two hands making their way into his hair. The kiss itself is like a firework, a bright dizzying flash that’s as beautiful as it is short lived, but Katsuki rests his forehead against Eijirou’s after rather than pulling back entirely.
“Hey you,” Eijirou says, “What was that for?”
As close as they are, he can’t miss the way Katsuki rolls his eyes. “I don’t know Eijirou, maybe because you jumped off the fucking Tokyo tower?”
“Oh yeah, I guess I kinda did,” He laughs, and Katsuki scoffs. Even with years of experience translating Katsuki to the common tongue he can’t quite tell if the kiss was an ‘I’m so fucking proud of you’ or an ‘I was worried you asshole’ which probably means it was a combination of the two. He tugs one of the hands out of his hair, lacing his husband’s fingers with his and placing a kiss on his wrist. He’d learned years ago that was about as close to his hand as he could go without getting a mouthful of nitro glycerin.
“It was only the main deck. That’s like, half the distance to fall than from the top deck,” he tries to reassure his husband. “And I didn’t even reach the ground, I caught us part way down. Sero had to pull us up after.”
“That’s still a 150 meter drop, idiot. And you literally snatched a kid out of the air. I saw it.” Katsuki uses the grip he still has on his Eijirou’s head to pull him in and kiss the corner of his mouth. “It,” another kiss, on his cheek this time, “was” another higher on his cheekbone, “fucking,” another in front of his ear, “amazing.”
Eijirou shivers a little, partially to suppress a giggle because damn his husband is cute, but also because that move was smooth and damn his husband… “Aww babe, you been standing in the crowd watching me work?” he says, teasing and turning his head to bump either foreheads together in lieu of pulling Katsuki in for a proper kiss like he really wants to.
“Eiji, we’re in the middle of fucking Tokyo. Every time something goes down there’s a hundred idiots whipping out their phones to record it.” That he says loudly enough that if anyone were in the vicinity they would be able to hear it, but he drops his voice for the next part, “Wish I had been though, I would have been right at the front screaming your name.”
And yeah, this time Eijirou can’t resist. He tightens his grip around Katsuki’s waist and pulls him in for a long extended kiss. Katsuki deepens it almost immediately, their tongues tangling slowly and leisurely for a couple of minutes until Eijirou has to pull away before he gives into the temptation to escalate things further. They’re still in public, he reminds himself, fully recognisable in their hero gear, and the last thing they need is another set of pictures of them making out in the tabloids tomorrow.
He takes a couple of deep breaths to calm himself down before he opens his eyes, and when he does it’s to the sight of Katsuki grinning with one eyebrow raised. Unfair, because the smug bastard knows exactly what he does to Eijirou and that look is doing absolutely nothing to help him compose himself. Thankfully (but also sadly) Katsuki does release him after one last peck on his lips, removing any further opportunity to act on temptation, potential nearby reporters be damned.
“Detectives,” he says, which is… random. Until suddenly Eijirou remembers why Katsuki had said he was there to find him in the first place. He sighs, because the last thing he wants right now is to spend the next couple of hours debriefing the attending police when he could be spending them with his husband, but he nods, because heroic duty and all. Katsuki chuckles at that and says “C’mon, let’s get it over with,” before he grabs his hand and leans in again, not quite whispering but for Eijirou’s ears only. “Then I can take you home and show you exactly how impressive you were today.”
Eijirou follows a lot less reluctantly after that. With that kind of motivation, how could he not?
~*~*~
Three days after the Tokyo tower incident, Eijirou still can’t get it out of his mind.
Granted, part of that is that he’s taking advantage of a slow overnight shift in the office to write up his agency’s report on it, but the report is just the blandest facts laid out for some civil servant to read and judge how effective he and his team mates are at their jobs. The hours he can’t get off his mind can be summed up as ‘Red Riot then stayed with the victim and her mother until they were released by the police.’, but that time is staying with him far more than the mobile phone videos of his dramatic fall that are still trending on twitter.
The feeling of a small human clinging to him for reassurance, relying on him, what would that feel like if he didn’t have to return her to her mother after? If instead of a friendly but strange dark haired woman, he’d passed the girl into Katsuki’s arms?
It’s strange, he knows. It’s not as though none of his rescuees had ever been children before. But there is something about Chiasa that reminds him of his husband. The way she’d so defiantly declared her opinions on his lack of ring maybe, or the way she’d rolled her eyes when she’d corrected her mother’s mistaken use of ‘Grand Zero’.
Would Katsuki’s daughter turn out like that? Eijirou hopes so, Katsuki’s lack of shits to give when it came to how most other people thought of him could be frustrating but was still one of his most endearing qualities. If nothing else, it would serve their child far more than Eijirou’s tendency to overthink everyone else’s opinion of him.
What else would be good for their child to inherit? Definitely Katsuki’s nose at the very least, with the tiny smattering of freckles that only really show if his face is really flushed or he spends a lot of time in the sun. And his chin, with his perfectly symmetrical jawline. Of course he can’t forget his cheekbones, and the adorable dimple the gets on one side of his face when he actually smiles for real. If he’s remembering science classes right, then more than likely their child would have his natural black hair, which is a shame because Katsuki’s ash blond is very striking. Maybe he wouldn’t mind if their theoretical child had his eyes, or the colour at least, but then again he and Katsuki have such similar eye colours that the kid would look like a miniature dark haired Katsuki regardless. That would be fine by Eijirou though, Katsuki had been ridiculously adorable as a child (Mitsuki had shown him the baby picture not long after they started dating officially) and was breathtakingly beautiful as an adult. So yeah, Eijirou was more than fine with his kid being almost all his husband.
Once he has the image in his head he may as well be trying to slam the lid down on Pandora’s box, but actually in hindsight it’s nothing new. Things like passing the local elementary school on his commute and wondering if that one or the one closest to home is better. Mina pointing out the fluffiest Chiba Inu she’s ever seen whilst on patrol and his first thought being a baby Katsuki. Sero complaining that Kaminari’s desk is over spilling to the entire office again and thinking yeah, they’ll have to teach their kids to put their toys away once their done with them because when he’s tired he’s exactly the right type of clumsy to trip over all of them. All of them thoughts that had seemed so random at the time, but now they made a whole lot more sense.
In truth he’s always thought, distantly, that it might be nice to have kids someday, but that had always been secondary to their careers. Something to consider after a few years of working as established heroes. But then… what did ‘established’ really mean? Katsuki had started up his own agency right after graduation and had been climbing the ranks since. Eijirou had chosen to do the sidekick thing first, but even so the agency he, Mina, Kami and Sero had started together had been going a good four years. They’d even taken on a third year UA student as an intern last month, and UA were notoriously picky about who they let their students work with.
So maybe they were at a point where kids were a real possibility, but then… did Katsuki even want that? It’s not something they’ve ever discussed before, though they’d been together for almost a decade and married for half of it they honestly hadn’t discussed their future beyond spending it with each other.
Realistically Eijirou knows he could just ask his husband, the worst Katsuki would do is say no. But then… what would Eijirou do if he actually did say no? It’s not like he would ever leave Katsuki over it, he loves him too much for that, besides which he hadn’t been longing for kids so much as kids-with-Katsuki so the point would be moot.
Honestly he wasn’t used to the idea of wanting something that Katsuki didn’t, usually he would mould his desires to fit right alongside Katsuki’s. From an outsider perspective maybe it seemed one sided but it worked for them. Katsuki wanted specific things from life, like being the number one hero, or running his own big Tokyo agency, or (miraculously) to have Eijirou as his husband. Eijirou had things he wanted too but they didn’t have any specific form, just being a hero and with Katsuki somehow was enough for him, so it was easier for him to fit his life around Katsuki’s rather than the other way around.
Eijirou is contemplating this, forehead resting on the paperwork that hadn’t progressed any in at least an hour, when he’s interrupted by the intercom.
“Kirishima-kun,” says the muffled voice of their building’s receptionist, “there’s a Masaki-san asking for you. Would you like me to send her up?”
“Y-yeah, please do,” he responds quickly. Maybe he should be more security conscious, but he only knows two Masakis, and one is a little too young to be wandering around this late at night. It’s a little disconcerting that Asami would choose now, but then it would make sense for a woman who doesn’t sleep to come late at night.
Eijirou is in the middle of re-stacking his papers when he hears his visitor approach. He doesn’t look up immediately, occupied with trying to make his desk look more organised than it is whilst also hiding the Tokyo Tower materials in case they bring up any more unpleasant memories, and when he does look up the figure is not who he’s expecting.
When he sees a total stranger instead the tall, slender figure of Asami, he almost considers that a villain has tried to pose as her to get in and that he should have been more careful with security after all. But the woman in front of him doesn’t give off any hostile air at all. She’s the opposite of Asami’s traditional Japanese beauty, much shorter and broader, with short muddy coloured hair, wide hips and a wide grin to match. It’s a grin that looks somehow familiar.
“Yo, Red Riot.” She gives a little half-salute in lieu of a wave. “Sorry to barge in so late, but it’s good to meet you at long last. You’re all Chi-chan has been talking about for days.”
“Chi-chan?” Eijirou says, confused for a moment before it clicks, “Ah so you must be…”
“Her Mama, yep! Masaki Chizu, at your service.” She smiles again, and instantly Eijirou can see it matches the broad grin Chiasa had worn as she waved goodbye to him. With as much as he’s been thinking about it, he wonders how he could have missed it before.
“How is she? And Masa... um, Asami-san? They both getting on ok?”
“They’re both great. Chi-chan’s had a couple of nightmares, but the doctor said that’s pretty normal considering what happened.”
Eijirou barely conceals his wince when she mentions the nightmares. He hopes they’ll die down, even to this day Katsuki still had nightmares about his first encounter with a villain back in middle school. Chiasa is a lot younger than he was, but Eijirou isn’t sure if that makes it more likely they’ll continue for her or less. “I’m sure she’ll be fine, she has both of you looking out for her.”
“She will, my girl’s tougher than she looks.”
“Yeah, I got that impression.” Eijirou agrees as Chizu grabs the chair from Sero’s desk and makes herself comfortable.
“So don’t get me wrong, it’s great to meet you and all, but it’s midterm season and I’ve already had to stay late at the school to grade about fifty exams papers.” she says once she’s comfortable, and it’s only then that Eijirou notices the dark circles under her broad smile. He wonders if that’s due to exam season as well, or if maybe Chiasa’s nightmares are keeping her from sleeping too. “Do you mind if I cut right to the chase?”
“Of course,” he replies, “Though if it’s about the investigation, I’m probably not the best person for that. I think I may have a business card for the detective in charge still?”
He starts shuffling papers and objects around in search of the aforementioned card, but Chizu waves him off. “Nah, it’s nothing like that.” she says, “Did Asami tell you anything about my quirk?”
Eijirou blinks, that was a little out of nowhere, but he thinks back on their conversation. “I don’t think so?” he says after considering for a short while. “She said you were a middle school teacher but not much else.” Chizu nods like she figured as much.
“It’s called Ovuliparity - long story short? About once a month I lay an egg, those eggs only have my genetic material in them and get fertilised after, like a fish does. My eggs aren’t squishy like a fish’s though, more like a bird’s or a reptile’s.”
“Oh that’s…” he trails off, because even as quirks go that is pretty unique, but he’s not really sure what it has to do with whatever it is she wants to talk about.
Chizu must misinterpret, however. For the first time since she entered the office her smile dims a little. “Weird? Yeah I get that a lot.”
“I was gonna say ‘different’ actually. It’s pretty cool though, I know a lot of people with animal related quirks but this it’s the first time I’ve heard of someone with characteristics from more than one.”
It’s Chizu’s turn to be surprised. “Thanks, that’s actually really nice to hear. I know it’s not as impressive as something a pro-hero might have, but I try to help people with it anyway.” And just like that, her smile is lighting up her whole face again. “See, I actually donate my eggs to a fertility clinic. They have the tech there to take out my DNA and put someone else’s in. Or rather, two someones’. That way, couples who couldn’t carry a child themselves can still have a shot at parenthood. Like a woman with an abnormality in her womb. Or a pair of guys. They have the tech to fertilise my eggs with gametes from same sex couples too, it’s how me and Asami came to have Chi-chan. She’s both of ours genetically speaking too.”
“I thought so.” And now that he thinks about it, that answers a question he’d been too afraid to ask Asami last time. “Makes sense why you’re both so young now!”
Chizu nods, catching his meaning immediately. “Yeah, usually you’d have to wait a long time for your turn to get a chance to use these guys. Like a lot of clinics, their waitlist is actual years long, but there’s a way around that. I don’t have to donate to the clinic, I could donate to a couple.” Eijirou doesn’t have time to take in the implication before she leans forward, resting her elbow on his desk. “So Red Riot, you and your husband ever thought about having a kid?”
All at once Eijirou forgets how to breathe.
Finally he chokes out, “Are you serious?”
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not paying your way or anything. My only condition is that you take my genetics out of it, since I donate about twelve times a year it’s a condition I have for every donation I make so there’s not an army of mini half-mes running around. You’d still have to pay a clinic to fertilise the thing, then it’s a good idea to have them look after it for the first couple of months since that’s when the most can go wrong, a specialist doctor to watch the baby’s progress in the egg, then there’s buying or renting an incubator… all sorts of stuff. The cost builds up.”
“No I mean… you don’t know me at all. Why me?”
Chizu obviously finds his shock hilarious, if the sudden uncontrollable laughter is anything to go by. Maybe it’s the look he gets, Jirou always did say his dumbstruck look was second only to Kaminari’s. “Are you kidding me? You literally saved half of my entire world! Why wouldn’t I want to help you!” she says once the laughter dies down, wiping mirthful tears away from her eyes. “Plus Asami said you and your husband are both good people. I know Ground Zero gets bad press for his temper, but I’d trust my wife’s judgement over some tabloid trying to sell copies any day.”
Eijirou nods absently, because he does agree with that in theory, but in reality his mind is elsewhere. It’s almost too good to be true, the timing just too perfect. Surely things couldn’t fall into place this well?
He tries not to dwell on his earlier thoughts of he could say no.
When it becomes clear that Eijirou isn’t offering up any kind of verbal response, Chizu continues. “You don’t have to make a choice right away. I’ve got a pamphlet for the clinic I donate to. They’re a specialist in homogametal fertilisation, it’s the one that helped us with Chiasa so I can vouch that they do good work. And here’s my number too.” She grabs a pen from his desk and scrawls it across the top of the pamphlet, above the logo and delicate italic typeface pronouncing Shinsato Fertility. “Talk it over with your man, do some research, and give me a call. This isn’t a one time only offer either, if you’re answer is ‘yes but not yet’ then I can work with that too.”
*~*~*
Chizu hadn’t left Eijirou with any kind of deadline. Which is helpful, because going on three weeks later he still isn’t any closer to giving her an answer.
He wishes he could say it’s because he is legitimately busy. It wouldn’t entirely be a lie. Between the four of them he, Sero, Mina and Kami try to keep their agency running in some form or another as close to 24/7 as possible. They take turns patrolling in pairs on evenings and weekends to deter some of the more lower level crime, have one person covering the office in the daytime, and make sure each of them gets at least one day off every week, which in total equates to a lot of hours to cover. Even more so since their agency has no sidekicks and only one recently added intern who can’t work alone in any case.
Usually they’d try to cover any time there wasn’t someone actively on duty by having one of them at home on speed dial at all times, but Eijirou doesn’t want to have any risk of being disturbed whilst he’s seriously thinking about Chizu’s offer. He picks up as many on call shifts as his partners will let him take and spends them in the office. He tries to spend at least half his time doing actual work for the agency, but devotes the rest of his time researching the clinic Chizu had recommended. He learns they are apparently very good at what they do and had spent decades pioneering new techniques in fertility treatments using quirk science, though the more technical stuff goes right over his head.
No, the real reason he’s no closer to giving Chizu a decision is because he’s too much of a coward to follow her advice and talk to his husband.
In truth he already knew the moment Chizu had made the offer what his answer would be. He wants to say yes so badly it’s actually painful. The problem is that the more he thinks on it the more convinced he is that Katsuki doesn’t feel the same way.
Exhibit A: Katsuki doesn’t like kids. It’s not that he hates them, and he’ll at least tolerate them well enough and avoid screaming them into submission like he would have in the early days of UA. Actively enjoying the time he spends with them though? Nope.
Exhibit B: Katsuki has never mentioned having kids with him before. And sure, he hasn’t brought it up with Katsuki either, but unlike Eijirou, Katsuki was never one to hold back from the things he wanted.
Exhibit C: Katsuki is a career man, he’s devoted almost everything he has to his goal of being the number one hero and whilst he’s so so close, he never quite managed to beat Lemillion out of the top spot before Deku pushed him down to number three in the latest count. With that in mind, wouldn’t starting a family be too big a distraction?
Still, maybe despite these things Katsuki would say yes if he asked, but that begged another question. Did he want Katsuki to say yes just because it was what he wanted? What would happen if he did agree on that basis? Kids were a lot of work. They already had stressful careers and could go days without being in each other’s company more than half an hour. Would there relationship survive throwing another stressor in the mix? Was it worth the risk?
Eijirou tries to keep himself from dwelling on it outside of his self-imposed office exile, tries to tuck all thoughts and fears and images of a dark haired Katsuki into a little box in the corner of his mind until he’s alone and it’s safe to take them out again. But he can never truly put it out of his mind entirely. Sometimes he thinks he does, but that’s always when the traitorous thoughts slip through and the most innocuous things will start him off thinking about it again.
It happens again in the kitchen one day. Eijirou isn’t precisely a disaster at cooking but Katsuki is by far the superior chef between them, so early into their cohabitation they naturally fell into a routine of Katsuki preparing the meals with Eijirou cleaning up after. It helps that there’s something endlessly engaging about the way Katsuki cooks. The way he blithely chops cabbage into uniform width strips and measures out seasonings just so just draws Eijirou in, and he can never resist watching or even touching. Usually just a hand on the small of his back, a kiss to the back of his neck if Katsuki isn’t so occupied that he gently shrugs that off. And every so often, he’s rewarded by Katsuki leaning back to it and the casual touching escalating into something else entirely.
At that moment, Eijirou has Katsuki pinned at the kitchen counter, swapping closed mouth kisses as he languidly runs his hands up and down Katsuki’s sides, when his treacherous brain conjures a small, high pitched voice chiding them for flirting and being gross. At the exact same time, Katsuki tries to slip his hand up the back of his shirt, and the combination of the imaginary voice and the unexpected touch shocks him so much that he jerks, somehow managing to upturn a board full of carefully chopped carrots all over the floor.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Shit! I’m sorry. I’ll clean it up.” Eijirou tries to pull away to do just that but Katsuki doesn’t let him go far, snatching his wrist in a lightly crackling palm the moment Eijirou’s hands leave his waist. It’s not enough to hurt even without his hardening, but the fact that he let his quirk slip in the first place is sign enough of how actually-pissed-off Katsuki is.
“I don’t give a fuck about the vegetables Eiji.” A slight twitch of the eyebrows betrays that isn’t entirely true. “What. Is Wrong. With you.” Katsuki accentuates each sentence with a sharp prod to Eijirou’s chest with his free hand, still keeping hold of Eijirou’s wrist with the other in a grip so tight he may as well be the one with the Unbreakable form.
And shit, Eijirou can’t do this. Three weeks of pining were not enough for him to actually make a plan of attack and he’s grossly underprepared for the ambush. “Nothing’s wrong.” He mumbles, not feeling particularly convincing as he does.
At least Katsuki clearly isn’t buying it, judging from the way he’s scowling. His real scowl, not his resting one. “Oh yeah? Then why have you been avoiding me?”
“I’m not avoiding you.”
“Oh my bad.” Katsuki scoffs as though it’s all beneath him anyway, but his eyes have taken on an oddly glassy quality and the sight of it makes Eijirou’s heart claw its way up his throat. “You’ve only been acting weird for weeks, staying at work for ‘overtime’ when I know for a fact your office has nothing going on, then the first time I touch you in almost a month and you can’t get away from me fast enough. Wonder how I possibly could of mistaken that.”
And really, shit. Katsuki isn’t wrong, Eijirou has done all those things and he can’t deny the evidence when it’s laid out like that, but he’s reached entirely the wrong conclusion and Eijirou can’t even tell him that because he’s just not ready and…
“For fuck’s sake Katsuki, I said I’m not avoiding you so would you just drop it already!”
As soon as the words are out of his mouth the room feels about ten degrees colder. Katsuki’s face has turned terrifyingly blank, and for a few seconds that feel like an eternity they stare at each other in silence before Katsuki abruptly lets go of Eijirou’s arm as though he’d taken ‘drop it’ as a literal command.
He turns sharply on his heel, intent on leaving the room entirely, but Eijirou instinctively reaches out to grab hold of his shoulders before he can go far. Miraculously Katsuki, unstoppable force that he is, allows himself to be stilled by the touch. “Shit. Shit I’m sorry Katsuki. I didn’t mean to say that I just…”
“So, ‘nothing’s wrong’, huh?”
“That wasn’t a lie,” Katsuki’s eyes snap up to his brimming with disbelief, his previous anger still simmering under the surface. More than anything Eijirou wants their fight to stop before it really turns into something irreparable, so he tries to clarify. “But maybe… there is kinda something on my mind.”
“So why can’t you tell me about it? I’m you’re fucking husband, aren’t I?” Katsuki shouts, but there’s no anger in it this time, just pure desperation. Eijirou doesn’t respond right away, too busy trying to figure out an answer to the first question, and he almost misses when Katsuki says, much quieter, “Did I do something?”
“What? No!”
“Then why can’t you talk to me about it, huh? Isn’t that the whole reason we have these things in the first place?” Katsuki grips at the fabric of his own t-shirt where Eijirou knows his ring is hanging on its chain underneath. The gesture also lets him see the dark lines of the ‘sharp’ kanji traced onto his husband’s ring finger, one half of the promise they’d made to each other years ago. Eijirou’s chest feels like it’s cracking at the broken tone in his husband’s voice. As though an opponent had shattered through his armour but ten times worse and from within where he’s helpless to defend against it.
Because he knows he’s the one who did that to him.
And worse, even with the evidence of the damage he’s done right in front of his eyes he’s still struggling to put the words together and put an end to the misery he’s caused the most important person in his world.
Eijirou can’t remember ever feeling so low.
“It’s just, it’s a long story but I have to ask you something and I… don’t know if I want to hear your answer.”
Katsuki’s natural response probably would have been to yell some more, maybe something like “how the fuck am I supposed to know if you don’t tell me”, but Eijirou can practically see the way he holds back from that in the lines on his face and the angle of his brows. Instead he takes a deep breath, silently jerking his head in invitation for Eijirou to follow him out of the kitchen. He probably steps on some of the carrots still scattered across the floor on the way out (at the very least, Eijirou can feel a few under his own socked feet) but he pays them no mind. He leads Eijirou through to the living room, sits him down on the sofa, takes his own seat at the opposite side and says, “Start at the beginning.”
So he does. It’s probably not a particularly coherent retelling, emotions running too high to put his feelings any real logical order. But at the very least he finally manages to put into words the thoughts he’d had when holding and protecting Chiasa after her rescue, how it had made him recognise deep down he wanted his own family with Katsuki. How the very evening he’d come to that realisation, Chizu had shown up and offered him exactly that. How the timing felt too perfect and that only served to somehow make him even more scared because it was like the universe was setting him up for a bigger fall when Katsuki turned him down.
Putting the whole story together as he speaks, it dawns on Eijirou just how unmanly he’d been acting these last few weeks. Chizu’s offer came from a place of kindness, a chance to bring them closer with a new kind of happiness in their lives, and already he’s ruined it by letting it drive a wedge between them instead.
Katsuki doesn’t say a word until his story is complete, just listens with a penetrating focus burning in his eyes. When it’s clear Eijirou has nothing more to add, he sighs. “Shit. I knew I shouldn’t have left you alone for so long. You get some really dumb thoughts when you get in your own head.” Eijirou opens his mouth to protest that, because seriously, hey, but Katsuki holds up a hand to stop him and continues, “Did it ever occur to you that I might want a family with you too?”
Eijirou squirms in his seat. It’s wrong to say that it had never occurred to him, but it just felt like too much to hope for. “I don’t want to get in the way of your dream. Not when you’ve worked so hard to be the number one hero. And you don’t even like kids so…”
“That’s what I mean, dumb thoughts. Nothings gonna stop me being the number one hero, there’s nothing saying I can't be a dad too.” Eijirou feels his lips twitch a little at that. It’s just so Katsuki, to say he’ll take on two of the toughest jobs in the world at the same time like they’re nothing. “And maybe kids in general ain’t my thing. But this isn’t just gonna be any kid, they’ll be ours.”
Instantly Eijirou’s mind zeroes in on ‘kids aren’t my thing’ and the tiny bubble of happiness he’d felt bursts. “Don’t say it just to humour me,” he mumbles, slightly darker than intended.
“I’m not,” Katsuki practically vaults himself off the sofa, stalking over to the drawer that Eijirou is pretty sure he keeps all their important documents in. Passports, insurance documents and the like. He pulls out an envelope and drops it on Eijirou’s lap. “Look at that. I never got round to telling you this but, I actually already put us on the waitlist for this place. It’s the best place in the country so of course it had to be here, but that means the wait is even longer. I figured maybe it’d be our turn by the time we wanted it but. Guess we beat it.” Katsuki drops himself back onto the sofa again, closer than he had been previously. Still not in contact with Eijirou but actually within arm’s reach. “Been putting some cash aside for the fees too.”
Eijirou pulls the first sheet of paper, and stares dumbly at the letterhead depicting the familiar logo of the Shinsato Clinic. He’s spent so long looking at their website and their leaflet that he couldn’t mistake it for anything else. When he skims the text it is an acknowledgement that the two of them have been added to the clinic’s waitlist with a promise to be in touch ‘in due course’, and sure enough when he looks at the date it’s for a few years previous, just a couple of months after their wedding. Included in the envelope is a much older version of the clinic leaflet that Chizu had given him, largely the same but with a few less achievements listed. “How come you never said anything?”
“Why didn’t you?”
Despite himself, Eijirou laughs. “I honestly don’t know. Dumb thoughts?”
“The dumbest.” Katsuki grins. He looks genuinely happy and it’s such a relief that Eijirou can’t do anything other than tackle him back onto the sofa just to hold him as close as possible. Katsuki catches his face in his hand and angles it towards his so he can put their lips together, but Eijirou is laughing too much for the deeper kiss Katsuki is going for. Instead he peppers Katsuki’s face with tiny, ecstatic pecks in between giggles.
“So, are we going to do this?” he asks, because Katsuki had more or less said yes to kids but not so much yes right now, but he feels for the first time in days that he might actually be happy to hear the answer.
Katsuki pushes him away just far enough that he can see his incredulously arched eyebrow. “Is that a serious question?”
“Maybe I just want to hear you say it.”
“Call that woman, tell her we’re in.” Katsuki grins again, wide and infectious, and suddenly Eijirou feels like he can take on the entire world. “Let’s fucking do this.”
Katsuki tries to kiss him again, but still pinned under Eijirou as he is he can’t get the right reach. Eijirou could lean down to make it easier for him, but he has something to say. “You know, if we’re going to do the kid thing, you’re going to have to tone down on the language eventually right?”
“Fuck that. My kids are gonna speak their minds.”
“I think you’ll regret that in about say, 10 to 15 years’ time.”
“Never.” The answer is instant, and Eijirou gets the feeling he’s not just talking about passing on his foul language to his child. If he had any lingering doubts that they were in this together, that single word would have blasted them all away.
When Katsuki kisses him this time Eijirou meets him halfway. They’ve still got a lot to talk about and plan, but Eijirou figures that can wait another few minutes.
After all, soon enough moments alone like this will be much harder to come by. They have to take advantage of them whilst they still can.