Archive of Our Own

“Good morning, Todoroki!” Ochako chirped, walking in the door of Plus Ultra. “Have you seen the article from over the weekend?”

Todoroki was puzzled. “What article?”

Ochako handed him a magazine with the page flipped open to a small column in the corner. 

“Oh.” Todoroki had been aware that Bakugou had been considering either quitting his old job or changing schools after going on leave one and a half years ago, but he didn’t know he had managed to find a new position. “Interesting. Hopefully this will let us use more of UA’s resources and possibly do some collaborations with the other faculty there.”

Ochako had a huge smile on her face. “I didn’t know he had grad students! I can’t wait to meet them!”

“He only has three or four since he went on leave last year and is pretty young. I’m sure you’ll get along great with Eri and Camie, but I actually haven’t met the other ones. He talks about them sometimes.“ 

The door swung open with excessive force, and Bakugou and Midoriya came in, holding hands. Bakugou was holding a larger coffee cup than normal, and it looked like he had dark circles under his eyes. They were almost as bad as the one time when they went to a bar during finals week their junior year and Bakugou’s eyeliner got smudged from drunk crying since Midoriya was leaving in a week to do a research project in London that summer. Todoroki recalled that he still had photos (and possibly a video of the normally angry blond sobbing and latching onto his boyfriend like a koala to a eucalyptus tree) saved somewhere in case he ever needed blackmail material. 

Bakugou’s eyeliner-free eyes glared at the article Todoroki was holding, as if he knew what he was thinking about. 

“Hmph. I fucking wanted to announce it on my own terms, but looks like those fuckers got to it first.” Bakugou raised his voice so that everyone in the open office could hear. “Listen up, you extras! UA poached me from Shiketsu, but I’ll still be here at least on Tuesdays and Thursdays starting next month. The new lab’s a train stop or a fifteen minute walk away. If it’s an emergency, let Pikachu or my fuckin’ lab manager know.”

“Whoooo! Congrats, man!” Kaminari could be heard yelling from the back corner. 

“I’m so proud of you, Kacchan!” Midoriya gave Bakugou a huge hug, and his face turned completely red while sputtering something about it being too public. 

Ochako giggled, watching Bakugou trying not to turn even redder as Midoriya gave him a chaste kiss on the lips. They’re so adorable!

________________________________________________________________________

If Todoroki thought Bakugou was busy before, he somehow got even busier as he started flying back and forth between coasts at least once a week (instead of biweekly or monthly like before) to move everything important in his lab over to UA. They needed to talk about a system update for one of their models they designed very soon, but it was nearly impossible scheduling anything with Bakugou at this point since his schedule changed so much.

“Kaminari, when is Bakugou free to meet?” 

“Uhhh….he’s coming back in a few days,” Kaminari said. “He told me he was going to bring his grad students over here to visit next Monday, since they’re moving over this week. He should have a couple hours free then. Anyway, he told me ‘if IcyHot bothers you about me, tell that bastard to email me himself.’” Kaminari made his voice lower and raspier to copy Bakugou’s.

Todoroki sighed. Well, it was time to try and have a civil and productive discussion with Bakugou over email. Good thing he would be back soon.

________________________________________________________________________

Kaminari and Todoroki spread the word that Bakugou was introducing his lab to everyone at Plus Ultra today. He was treating them all to lunch at a trendy spot, which was awesome.

“Reservation is under Katsuki Bakugou,” Midoriya was telling the host, who led their sizable group down to the private room in the back. He visibly perked up when he saw his husband and went over to take the empty seat besides him. Bakugou pulled the chair away from the table to make room.

“Thought you would have gotten lost, nerd.” Though his tone was harsh, Bakugou was smiling at Midoriya softly. Todoroki could feel everyone at Plus Ultra collectively losing their shit at the cuteness.

Todoroki stifled a snort. “He took a wrong turn down the road back there while looking at Google Maps. We figured it out eventually.” He turned to Eri, Camie, and the other students he didn’t know. “This your lab?”

“Fuck yeah.” Bakugou gestured over to them. “Introduce yourselves, kiddos.”

Camie was a third year grad student working on creating robots to interact with developmentally delayed children and the elderly, Eri was a second year working on the same project. Todoroki thought what they were trying to do was really neat.

A man who looked a lot like Midoriya but larger and with black hair was next. “I’m You Shindou. I’m a fourth year and I’m actually Bakugou’s very first grad student. I’m right now working on designing better algorithms for cameras to focus and identify things underground.” 

Other engineers at the table hummed in appreciation. A lot of Bakugou and his lab’s research was related to what they did at Plus Ultra, after all.

“Hanta Sero. I’m Bakugou’s Lab Manager,” said a man with slicked back hair and a big smile. Todoroki thought he heard Kaminari choking on his drink in the background. 

The last member of the Bakugou Lab was visibly much younger than everyone else. He was a relatively short, black-haired teenager who Todoroki saw gazing admiringly at Midoriya earlier. He had a grumpy expression on his face.

“The name’s Kouta. Uh…I’m a freshman at UA, and I’ll be doing a research project with Eri and Professor Bakugou starting in a few weeks when I get out of school for the summer.”

Eri smiled, joy radiating off her face. “He’s going to do great! Kouta here actually skipped three grades in elementary school, so he’s only fifteen. Let’s keep the conversation here PG-13 today, alright?”

“Hey! I can handle it! What would you guys be talking about over lunch that would be R-rated, anyway?” Kouta snapped.

“It’s not fucking possible for me to be PG-13 any time of the day,” Bakugou said at the same time, while Camie was laughing loudly at the whole exchange. 

Looks like Kouta wasn’t the quiet kid he looked like but actually had all of Bakugou’s sass. No wonder the kid was working in his lab.

________________________________________________________________________

After the staff at Plus Ultra met and the Bakugou Lab was formally set up, those in the lab were frequently seen either talking with or doing experiments at the Plus Ultra office. 

Ochako loved it. Eri was really sweet, Camie was funny, and Shindou was cool and chill. All of them were great to talk to. Kaminari had taken a shine to Sero, too, and whether that interest was romantic or platonic, Ochako couldn’t tell, but they became fast friends.

The only one who almost never came over was Kouta. It was probably because he only just finished his freshman year and felt more comfortable working at UA. Ochako would ask Eri, but she said she thought Kouta was just shy. That was a pity. Ochako liked him a lot.

________________________________________________________________________

Katsuki got out of a meeting with Aizawa and Mirio that ran over. Shit. He had to look over Shindou’s paper draft before the end of this week. Another shitty thing he had to do. 

Sometimes he wondered why he bothered returning to academia. Before deciding to take the job at UA, he was planning on helping his students find places in other labs and then resigning to work at Plus Ultra. The Shiketsu administration had made it abundantly clear that they didn’t want him to waste any more time on his startup than necessary.

A couple months ago, Toshinori, his and Izuku’s PhD advisor, told him about the opening at UA and suggested he apply. Izuku encouraged him, too. He went though the multi-day interview process, not expecting anything to come of it. UA was notoriously hard to get hired at, after all, and it was frowned upon to hire a graduate school alum as a professor. But they gave him an offer, with a raise from before, threw in tenure, and gave him unlimited time to work at Plus Ultra.

He was conflicted. Working together with his husband was fucking great, and if he took the offer, he would have to cut back on the time he spent at Plus Ultra. He talked to Izuku about it, and his husband of six years (anniversary was last week) told him that he should take it.

“Sometimes, when you’re working on problems at work, I can tell you’re holding yourself back on spending all your time on those challenging, unsolved problems. I know you’d love to spend years on those to figure out everything there is to know,” Izuku had told him. “You also really enjoy mentoring students, and I know you’ve missed it since we haven’t had the chance to have many interns at Plus Ultra yet. I think you should go for it, Kacchan. Worst comes to worst, you can always quit.”

The old hag had been ecstatic that he was finally quitting his old job, telling him that his previous schedule of flying back and forth between coasts twice a month was going to give him early wrinkles.  

Katsuki checked the time. Fuck. He was late to talk with Kouta about the next steps for his project. He liked the kid. Kouta was a quick learner and a sassy little shit. Speeding up his pace, he headed for Kouta’s temporary home for the summer, a cubicle next to Eri’s. The brat wasn’t in. 

He checked, and Eri was there. 

“Yo,” He greeted Eri. She turned around. “Is the brat around? We were supposed to meet.”

She looked around, noting Kouta’s empty seat. “I’m not sure where he is…he was definitely here ten minutes ago. Bathroom, maybe?”

“Hmph. He should be back soon then.” Katsuki sat down in the kid’s empty office chair. “Would you text him for me? I don’t have his fuckin’ number.” 

Ten minutes later, Kouta still wasn’t back. 

Eri frowned. This was uncharacteristic of Kouta. “There aren’t any seminars today or anything. He’s also been here long enough to not get lost. Bakugou, any idea where he could be?”

Katsuki got out of the seat. “I’ll go check the hallway with the bathroom. Would you mind lookin’ around the other hallway?”

“Yeah, will do.” Eri got up and started to head the opposite direction.

________________________________________________________________________

Katsuki looked all over the hallway and checked in the bathroom. No sign of Kouta. Just then, his phone dinged.

3:27 PM Eri 

Found him in the garden. Come over to your office ASAP. He needs help.

Eri never used complete sentences in her texts unless it was serious. Katsuki went back to his office as fast as he could. He hoped Kouta was OK.

When he got back, Kouta was sobbing, trying to stop but clearly failing, and Eri was trying to calm him down by getting him to take deep breaths. Katsuki stood next to the door for a moment, trying to figure out what best to do. He was awful at these sorts of situations, he only knew what worked with Deku, and who the fuck knew whether it would help Kouta or not. 

Screw it. He walked to Kouta’s chair, pulled up a chair next to him, and put a hand on Kouta’s shoulder, turning the brat to face him. The kid leaned in, crying on Katsuki’s free shoulder. He put an arm around Kouta’s shoulders.

They stayed like that for what felt like a half an hour. The sobs eventually calmed down, and Kouta gently pushed away. Katsuki let him go, keeping his hand on the boy’s shoulder, and looked him in the eye.

“Are you OK?” 

Kouta shook his head. 

“Do you want to talk about it?”

The boy nodded his time. 

“It…it’s my parents….they were in an accident…in March….a-and…”

Kouta visibly was choking on his words, unable to continue. He was clearly in no state to do anything. Katsuki stood up, and Kouta stood up with him.

“How ‘bout you go wash up, and I can take you home?”

Kouta shook his head. “N-not…home…too empty…”

Eri had left the room at some point during the conversation and was back with a glass of water. She left it on the table, and mouthed I have to go to Katsuki. 

“Thanks, Eri,” He used her first name for once. “I’ll take it from here. If we’re both out tomorrow, let the others know, will ya?”

“Not a problem. Let me know if he needs anything from me.” Eri opened the door. “Thanks for helping out.”

With Eri now gone, Katsuki turned his attention back to Kouta. 

“How ‘bout you stay over at my place? I’ve got a guest room you can crash in.”

Kouta nodded. This was progress. 

Katsuki opened up his phone and called up Izuku, who had taken their only car to work today. His husband picked up on the fourth ring.

“Kacchan? Is something up?”

“You done for the day yet? Would you swing by the lab? Kouta’ll be staying with us tonight, and he’s not in any fuckin’ shape to take the train or walk.”

“Of course. I was just about to finish up. I’ll be there in fifteen.”

________________________________________________________________________

Kouta was silent most of the car ride back, and he didn’t speak as Katsuki and Izuku cleaned up their living room of random paints lying around the coffee table, half-finished canvases scattered next to the wall, and piles of old All Might comic books. Izuku made tea and got all of them takeout from the dim sum place next door, which Kouta accepted. 

“I’m sorry.” Kouta finally broke his silence. “For acting out like that.”

Katsuki frowned. “What for? Kid, you’ve been through a shit time, the fact that you’ve been doing everything by yourself so far means you’re really fucking strong.”

“My…my parents. They passed away. My only living relative is a musician in a band in Australia who goes on tour a lot, and my caseworker said emancipation wasn’t a good option.”

Kouta sipped the tea. Katsuki waited, gave him time to collect his thoughts. He took Izuku’s hand into his own under the table. His husband looked at him, and the green gaze told him that Izuku trusted him to talk to Kouta.

“I thought it would OK. I was living at dorms at school, my parents already paid off tuition and everything for the semester, and school was distracting enough to make it less…less bad. I took on more work than I needed to so I didn’t have to think about it. But because it’s summer, I moved back into our old place, and it’s just—I can’t.” Kouta paused. “Yesterday, my caseworker told me they might have to move me into foster care, since I’m still fifteen.” He started to tear up again. “I don’t know what to do.”

Hot damn. The kid had it rough. At fifteen, Katsuki was a hot mess. He wouldn’t have handled this half as well as Kouta. 

“Kid, you’ve done great so far. We—” he gestured to Izuku—“can help you handle all the adulting shit. Hell, stay here as long as you need to. We’ll figure everything out. Together, OK?”

Kouta nodded, reaching for the Kleenex box for another tissue.

“You’re not going to work tomorrow. That’s a fuckin’ command, and I’ll be here to make sure you don’t. Take as much time off as you need.”

“Th-thank you, Professor.”

“Bakugou is fine. Or Katsuki. Whatever.”

________________________________________________________________________

After Kouta had gone to bed, Izuku finally had a private moment with Katsuki. He was floored with how well his husband helped Kouta—it really showed how much he had grown. He still had that brash attitude and dirty mouth as always, but Katsuki was now the person he always was meant to be, and Izuku was lucky to have seen him mature so much. 

He hummed, and leaned in to kiss Katsuki, who kissed him back, smiling.

“I’ll stay home with you too, tomorrow. I’ve already told Momo and Shouto.”

“You sure, nerd?” Katsuki pulled him in for another kiss.

“Yeah.” 

________________________________________________________________________

“All of us are banned from working today,” Izuku announced the next morning. “Kouta, for each time you catch me or Kacchan checking our emails, we owe you five dollars.”

Kouta’s expression turned into a devilish smirk. He seemed a lot more awake this morning, after a good night’s rest. “Will do.”

They spent the rest of the day debating which All Might movie adaptation was the best and generally doing nothing productive.  

Kouta still missed his parents every day, but somehow all the burdens he was carrying seemed lighter.  He hadn’t felt so free in months. 

________________________________________________________________________

After a week of staying in his advisor’s home, Kouta didn’t want to leave. He didn’t want to go back to his parents’ shiny and empty high-rise condo, not when the old townhouse that Bakugou and Midoriya lived in was so comfortable. They moved all the paints and the canvases to the basement to make room for him, but he liked seeing the clutter, evidence that people lived there. Last Saturday, he spent the entire afternoon sitting in the oddly-sunlit basement that was covered floor to wall in art supplies, watching the professor paint. And later that evening, the couple introduced him to Kirishima, an energetic redhead who had worked on or directed some of Kouta’s favorite childhood animated movies.

He had a meeting with his caseworker in two days, which dampened his mood. He didn’t know what to do about the whole custody situation. 

________________________________________________________________________

Izuku really took a liking to Kouta after getting to know him better this past week. He could be as sarcastic and biting as his husband, but he had a good heart. Kouta was a tough kid who had gone through much more than many adults Izuku’s age had gone through.

When Kouta checked his calendar and discovered that he had to meet with his caseworker soon, Izuku visibly saw him deflate. The poor kid was going to have to go through the system, and Izuku didn’t want that for him. 

He and Katsuki were lying in bed, his husband reading a book. He looked up from the book when he heard Izuku muttering.

“You’re mumbling again.” Katsuki said. “Is it about the brat?”

“Kacchan, I don’t want him to go through the system. Kouta’s already had to deal with enough while juggling school.” Izuku paused. Maybe…. “Would it be possible for us to adopt him?” 

“You little shit, you beat me to it. I was going to suggest it tomorrow.”

The two of them had talked about it but hadn’t really considered having kids before because Katsuki’s job situation wasn’t stable yet. But now that he was at UA, it was suddenly on the table. Izuku was glad that Katsuki was on the same page as him when it came to Kouta.

________________________________________________________________________

It was morning, and all of them would be heading out soon. Katsuki was making breakfast, leaving Izuku with Kouta in the living room.

Izuku was nervous. “Kouta, we’re thinking about adopting you. We’ve loved having you here, and we would love to have to you around permanently. I know it’s sudden, so we wanted to know if you were OK with it.”

As a frequent crier, Izuku could tell that Kouta was starting to tear up. Did he say something wrong? 

“O-of course I would be onboard with it. Th-thank you guys…I don’t know what to say…” 

Kouta tried to hide the fact that the tears were coming harder and faster now, but Izuku walked over and pulled him into a hug. The teenager needed to let it all out. 

Kouta’s tears died down after a minute, but Izuku kept him in his hold. When he looked up, he saw Katsuki standing in the entranceway, watching them interact. Katsuki cleared his throat.

“Food’s ready, you two nerds. Can’t let it get too cold.”

Kouta laughed, and his laugh made Izuku smile as well. Everything would turn out fine. 

________________________________________________________________________

The paperwork sucked, but after all was said and done, Kouta was going to be part of their family now. The rest of the summer flew by. Todoroki and Momo came over to help Katsuki and Izuku move Kouta’s belongings over to their house. Sero, Eri, Shindou, and Camie threw a party at the lab for him. Kouta finished his project and did a talk at Plus Ultra, where everyone came to cheer him on. 

The hearing took place in August. Everything went smoothly (Eri and Izuku were in the back, both crying tears of happiness), and Kouta Izumi was now Kouta Bakugou-Midoriya. Katsuki didn’t care if Kouta wanted to keep his last name; he was more than old enough, and it was his call. Bakugou-Midoriya was also a real mouthful. But Kouta insisted.

“It’ll help me feel like I’m really part of the family and not like the past few months have been some kind of fever dream,” The kid told them. “Plus, I’ll keep Izumi as a middle name. To remember them by.”

Kouta wasn’t ready to visit his parents’ graves yet, but they promised him they would come with him whenever he needed it. The brat also wanted to sell his parents’ condo; it was in a trendy location and was new, but it held too many memories. Katsuki and Izuku understood, and the place on the market now. 

Inko and Mitsuki had been delighted to hear about their new grandson, and they were all having dinner together at Katsuki’s childhood home. Tomorrow, they would celebrate with everyone at Plus Ultra and the lab (and Kirishima, who was Mina’s plus one). Todoroki was treating all of them to some Michelin-starred place for dinner, courtesy of his corporate credit card for Endeavor, Inc. that he “borrowed” from his father. 

“I can’t believe you got a kid and didn’t tell us until the week before the hearing, you brat!” The old hag said, while Masaru was trying to restrain her. “You can’t keep my grandson away from me! I’ve got so many embarrassing stories about you to tell him!”

Inko was crying tears of joy, while Izuku and Kouta were both trying to comfort her. Katsuki hoped Kouta wasn’t too overwhelmed with everything, but the kid seemed to take it all in stride.

“That was awesome,” Kouta told them after they headed back onto the train home. “My grandparents lived in Japan and my parents were so busy that we never had time to go visit before they passed away.”

Izuku gave him a watery smile before turning away and hiding his face in Katsuki’s neck to conceal the fact he was starting to cry again. 

________________________________________________________________________

“Look, I’m Kouta’s best uncle, and nobody here can challenge that,” Kirishima declared at dinner after having one too many shots of sake. “I worked on his favorite movie. None of you here can beat that.”

That was the catalyst for a huge argument to erupt over the table on who was Kouta’s best aunt or uncle. The two final contenders that emerged were Eri and Kirishima.

“Kouta, who do you like better?” Eri asked. “By the way, I’m in charge of your project and we have to work together every day, so it’d better be me.”

“Don’t listen to her, I’m the cool uncle who’ll slip you booze whenever you want it!”

Bakugou glared at Kirishima for that remark.

Hesitating, Kouta’s eyes flicked between the two of them. He hoped they were both drunk enough not to remember what was going on tonight. 

Bakugou’s hand was on his shoulder. “Kouta, they’re being idiots. Don’t answer them.”

Todoroki swirled his wine around in his glass. “It’s clear I’m the best uncle here. I brought the credit card, after all.” He looked over at Kouta. “Do you want a Lamborghini or a Bentley for Christmas? I can hook you up. I also have loads of embarrassing stories and photos from college of these two idiots if you’re interested.”

“Stop giving Kouta ideas,” Izuku hissed at Todoroki. “He can’t even drive yet.”

Kouta smiled and laughed. His new dads’ dumbass friends were a riot. He made a note to text Todoroki later for those embarrassing photos.

From the other end of the table, Ochako reached into her bag got out a professional-looking camera. “Guys, let’s take a picture tonight. We’re all so cute and it would be a waste not to!”

It took fifteen minutes to get everyone in formation to take a decent photo, and by the time they finally did, Bakugou looked like he was going to explode. It was getting late, and everyone at the restaurant started heading back home to start the weekend. On the way out, Kouta couldn’t stop grinning. 

When they got home, Bakugou and Midoriya added a new picture to their living room wall. They needed to buy a frame tomorrow, but 

Mom, Dad, I want you to know that I’m getting better. I know I didn’t deal with it to well, and I still miss you two every day. But I’ve been lucky enough to find people who care during the last few months. They make me really happy. Someday, you’ll meet them, and I hope you’ll love them too.