Chapter Text
Izuku woke up to the gentle pressure on his cheek that wasn’t facing the soft pillow, finding himself wrapped up in a lazy embrace from behind. Out of instinct, one of his hands went to his face to cover up his morning ugliness, which was removed by his husband to drown him in a more tenacious smooch attack. Izuku knew he was giggling, though he couldn’t hear what kind of a noise he was making, when a pair of hands that he was too familiar with grabbed him by his waist to increase the savagery of his strike by adding a special combo to their endgame. They could draw a map of one another’s body with their eyes closed, so naturally, his husband knew every ticklish part of his body like the back of his hand. And fuck him if he didn’t know how to use it in his favor.
Izuku finally had to give in and give up on the remnants of sleep by opening his eyes to a new day. He loved hating that smug face of his partner whenever he was forced to start his day instead of forgetting his responsibilities in the warmth and comfort of their shared bed, and he hated the fact that he loved being woken that way. If anyone ever asked him whether or not he would ever be able to see that kind of an expression on Shoto’s face a few years ago, he would laugh at their faces until he was bent over and practically cried. The man that he fell in love with just couldn’t be funny on his own will, though it didn’t mean that he didn’t occasionally crack Izuku up with his behavior, like the time he totally convinced himself that he was cursed with some sort of a hand crusher spell. Throughout the years that they spent together, and after all the awful things that they saw in the field after graduating from UA, they had no choice but to adapt themselves into the lifestyle of a hero. For Izuku, it meant that he had to accept casualties, and it automatically drove him to a way humbler path as a friendly neighborhood hero; while Shoto developed a way more easy-going attitude to deal with the stress and the hardships of his everyday life as a hero and a partner. Izuku was proud of his husband and loved seeing him trying to enjoy life a lot more than he did in his self-hating phase, which was a solid progress no matter how you looked at it (or how annoying it could get sometimes).
Izuku struggled to turn to his other side in Shoto’s embrace to face him, so he pushed his face down to his pillow, showing that he had enough of being on the defensive side. He prompted his body with his elbows and dragged his body closer to Shoto until their faces were close enough so that he could get his morning kiss properly this time. One gentle hand moved to Shoto’s face as he let his head fall on his bicep, to transmit the words that formed in his mind to Shoto’s with his quirk.
Good morning hot stuff.
“Good morning babe. You seemed to enjoy your sleep too much. I couldn’t pass on the opportunity to torment you.” His eyesight was still a little hazy with the grogginess, but he was pretty sure that’s what his lips read as he spoke, which earned him an eyeroll and an I’m done with this before Izuku rolled out of bed. Shoto’s sense of humour might have been expanded, but apparently the need to be straightforward and blunt about his intentions was still there. Izuku couldn’t hate him for this though, as long as he put those traits into good use while they were sharing some private time as well. He would never officially admit this to any soul, but he not-so-secretly enjoyed the playfulness of his husband even after four years into their marriage, and nine years of building a healthy relationship. It would mean an endless amount of teasing and the death of his sassy attitude that he pulled out whenever Shoto came in for a good-natured chuffing if he ever had to admit it to his face though.
Izuku let his feet take him to the ensuite bathroom and turned the faucet on by muscle memory. He took a quick glance at his reflection in the mirror before leaning into the sink. His shoulder-length hair was a bit more ruffled up than usual, and his face was a bit redder than the normal tint that he had on his cheeks and ears. His eyes caught the purplish bruise amongst his freckles on his collarbone when he stood upright again, when did he even get this? Rolling his eyes for the second time, he got on with his usual morning routine.
After a quick shower and drying his hair, he put on the outfit that he readied from last night and exited the bedroom, his nose instantly catching the delicious smell of fried eggs and coffee coming from downstairs. As inviting as it was, he headed towards the opposite direction. He stopped in front of an ajar door that was painted pink and had cute ornaments and paintings, unfortunately glued, on it. His head went in first, to take a little peak at the sleeping angel inside. Then he let his body slowly slide inside, cautiously creeping towards the bed, putting in an extra amount of effort in order to avoid stepping on anything. He didn’t know which ones would make a noise and which ones wouldn’t, so it was for the better to avoid anything and everything if it meant that he wouldn’t startle his little baby awake as the first thing in the morning. He gently sat on the edge of the bed and ran his fingers in his daughter’s soft hair to reveal her resting face. She looked so peaceful when asleep, though she was always the kind of kid that other parents wished they had. If anyone asked him what he thought the most challenging part about raising an adopted daughter as Eri would be, he would probably say cutting the story time short before bedtime was the hardest thing he ever had to go through with her little angel. Of course, it had more to do with the fact that his hearing impairment and muteness forced him to use talking books instead of the normal ones, and he never knew when one part was over and he needed to flip the page, so they ended up listening to the same part few more times than necessary, which meant that he just sat there awkwardly as Eri took her time to keep his daddy with her for as long as he could.
Izuku was rubbing her back when she started moving, and then slowly opening her eyes with a confused smile on her face. He kissed her head three times, with a hand on the side of her face, letting his words slide into her mind.
Up and at ‘em, bug, dad is making breakfast.
She nodded slowly, as she struggled to sit up on the bed, and Izuku left after another stroke on her cheek to check up on his husband and give her daughter the time to get up by herself. His free-time reading changed from fiction to parenting books over the years, and he was trying to follow a few of the teachings that he picked up from his favorite author. It took everything in his willpower to stop himself from going back in there and picking up his little girl, and babying her all he wanted; but alas, it was for her own good. In just a few years, she was going to learn how to live alone in UA, and he sure didn’t want her to feel traumatized when she needed to take care of her chores on her own. So even though there was still a lot of time and Shoto constantly reminded him that he shouldn’t overthink stuff like that, it was for the greater good; at least that’s what he kept on telling himself and Shoto whenever they had the urge to say fuck it and just went with it. Plus, his husband probably needed him more than his daughter at the moment.
Shoto must have heard him running downstairs, since he turned towards him as soon as he walked into the kitchen. He was still in his pajamas, one of them had to sacrifice a refreshing shower the first thing in the morning if neither of them wanted to smell like fried eggs for the entire day, and it was Shoto’s turn that day. He quickly told him that Eri was coming downstairs in a minute in sign language and opened the fridge to take out Eri’s orange juice. Even though it seemed like there were too many rules in this household, they figured that it was for the best for the sanity of everyone in the end. Before they came up with a good game plan, anything could literally become a reason for a misunderstanding, since it was hard for both of them to be open about their emotions when it came to their relationship, and both preferred having too many rules any other day. Once they got used to the system, they were quick to adapt the necessary changes into their lives, without the help of the counsellor that helped them establish a healthier way of life. Izuku still sent her flowers on important days.
The breakfast went smooth, and Izuku was the last to finish since he always had to have his eyes up to follow the conversation on the table. Shoto took Eri to the bathroom as soon as she was done with breakfast to make her brush her teeth and to do her hair, while Izuku handled the dishes. As the minutes went on, he was feeling more and more anxious, as he thought Shoto was. They were just too proud and stupid to let it out, especially with Eri around. They never played with their food in front of her even if they didn’t want to eat because it was a small sacrifice to avoid her from picking on her food later on; but he couldn’t help feeling like he was going to throw up now that he forced himself to eat even though his stomach was churning. He reminded himself to take deep breaths when Eri walked in and started telling him something about the classroom pet in sign language excitedly. He didn’t know how he managed to focus on her story about Mrs. Whiskers and her little babies while he was getting worried sick about anything that could go wrong when they went to pick up their new baby, but he did. When she was finished, she ran upstairs again to get her backpack and activity kit to go to kindergarten, and Izuku found Shoto readying her coat and pink boots at the entrance. He was now showered and dressed, looking as sharp and hot as he always did, with a little bit of “I am a responsible dad and my outfit says so” added into his pick of style for the day. When he looked up at him, Izuku worriedly moved his hands to tell him what was on his mind again.
We said we’d talk to her again to see if she’s still okay with it. Let’s talk to her one last time before we leave.
“Of course, we still have ten minutes or so before we need to get in the car anyways.” Shoto took Izuku’s hand in his as he talked, seeing the worry that was clouding his face. “Hey, look at me.” With his hand on his chin, he continued talking in a soothing tone, which Izuku figured would only match the soothing expression on his face. “Everything’s going to be perfect. She knows the kid, the kid knows us, and the people at the orphanage know we can take care of him.”
But it’s a baby. We never took care of a baby.
He was glad that Shoto always understood what he was trying to say even when his sign language was out of place, just like then.
“Yes, but it would only be like we were repeating ourselves if we took in a toddler again.” Izuku couldn’t help but smile at the shit-eating grin on Shoto’s face that still seemed too out of place after all those years, there was no remedy better than his husband’s smile whenever his brain started malfunctioning during his near-panic attack experiences. He nodded softly before burying his face into the crook of the other’s neck, until he felt two arms wrapping himself around his butt which were a little bit too low and too short for them to belong to Shoto. One of his hands quickly went back to pat Eri’s head, who probably didn’t hear anything that they were talking about but just didn’t want to miss out on the group hug either. She was soon pulled into a hug in her fathers’ arms before Shoto announced a quick family meeting before they headed out.
They put her down so that Izuku could also use his hands to join in the conversation when he thought was necessary, and they all sat on the floor to be more comfortable.
Shoto started off the conversation with a simple question, his eyes reading her confused face. “Sunshine, do you know where daddy and I are supposed to go after we take you to your school?”
“Yeah, I do! You won’t go to work, you will go get me a baby brother!” Izuku smiled at her excited response, at least she still felt okay with having a sibling.
“Right, and you know it is different than the other times we have seen him, and spent time with him. It means that once we take him home this time, he will stay with us forever. No matter what happens.”
He will become a part of our family, and it means he will never stop being your brother, as you will always be his sister.
Izuku added in, in a slower movement than before, since Eri was still struggling a bit whenever he was trying to communicate with her in a rushed way. Luckily, she nodded at every point he made, showing that she understood him. He made a mental note to himself to thank her for being so open with her gestures all the time to give Izuku all the information that she could about herself, and she deserved to be praised in the right time.
“I will love him so much, daddy, you won’t even believe! I already love him, but I love you and you dad more now. Will he love me like he loves you if I love him more?”
Of course he will, bug. He used his powers to transfer his thoughts to her now, she had the right to feel how much he meant it.
“So when one of us comes to pick you up from school and you come home, there will be a baby brother waiting for you to give all your love to him. Just remember, our love for you will never become less.”
It will only grow each and every day.