Work Text:
“What the fuck is this?” Katsuki squinted at the paper in front of him, which was weighed down with heavy ink and neatly-written, loopy cursive. Ochako stood in front of him with her hands on her hips, waiting expectantly for him to actually read it.
“It’s from your daughter’s teacher,” she explained. Her voice was even, patient, but her saw the slightly darker-than-usual blush on her cheeks and the way her lips twitched, like they were fighting a smile. He scanned over the note, picking out the important parts, like “attitude problem” and “extremely inappropriate language for her age -- or anybody’s age”. He rolled his eyes.
“Okay, so he’s weak and in the wrong career, who the fuck cares?”
This time, Ochako couldn’t hold it together. She laughed, a real, genuine belly-laugh. “Kat! Kiki is terrorizing her first-grade teacher!”
“Judging by your reaction, it’s not a big deal,” Bakugou smirked as well, unable to keep a straight face when his wife was losing it. She was too damn cute when she got like this.
“No, no,” Ochako sucked in a deep breath, bringing her laughter to a shuddering stop. She smoothed out her features. “No, this is serious.”
Both of them stared at each other for a moment, then another guffaw burst from Ochako’s lips and then the two of them could hardly hold themselves up through the giggles.
“She’s so damn ridiculous,” Katsuki growled. “She gets her stubborn attitude from you.”
“Are you kidding me?!” Ochako shrieked. “Where do you think ‘extremely inappropriate language’ comes from?”
“Beats the fuck out of me.”
Ochako smacked a hand to her mouth but he saw the smile in her eyes. “Okay, okay, we have to meet with Mr. Ito. Kiki can’t keep acting like this, or she’s gonna get expelled.”
“Let anyone fuckin’ expel my kid,” Bakugou murmured. “They’ll regret it.”
“You are not allowed to threaten first grade teachers!” She scolded. “And you know, Mr. Ito is right, Kat. We have to control her behavior now or we’ll be in big trouble when she’s a teenager,” she insisted. “Can you even begin to try and imagine having boy talks with her?”
Katsuki did imagine. Akiara going through the phases he went through as a young hero-in-training… the thought made him shudder. She was a perfect combination of him and Ochako, split down the middle almost exactly like a damn Todoroki, and that meant both the good and bad qualities. She was brave -- goddamn fearless, actually -- curious and kind, but she was also bullheaded and had a fire in her that never went out.
She was also a fucking sponge -- soaked up every word that came out of Katsuki’s mouth and repeated it in the worst scenarios.
“Okay, good fucking point. This shit should come with a manual,” he ran his hands through his hair. He glared at the letter again, like it was the reason for his headache. “Says here he wants to set up a meeting for this week.”
“I already set one up,” Ochako said, because of course she did. She was always on top of shit, whether it was being a pro-hero, a mother, and everything in-between. “Tomorrow afternoon worked out because it’s a day off for both of us. We’ll go observe Kiki at school and then meet with Mr. Ito afterwards.”
“Great, in the meantime, I’m gonna go talk to that little tyrant,” Katsuki said, and Ochako just rolled her eyes. They both knew the talking to would involve Akiara weaseling her way out of whatever scolding Katsuki could have given her, and would end with him sneaking down to the kitchen to grab her one of her favorite cookies that she wasn’t supposed to get before dinner.
Over the years, he had done a lot of coping with the fact that he was weak regarding certain things, and his number one weaknesses were the two girls in his life.
Ochako placed a quick kiss on his cheek and then danced into the kitchen, humming one of the songs from Akiara’s former kiddie shows.
Former, because she was “absolutely too old” for them now even if Katsuki had walked into the living room when she was supposed to be in bed just to find her sitting right in front of the television, watching in the low light.
When he got to her room, Akiara was frolicking around in a sort of dance, a feathered boa around her neck and a plastic microphone to her lips. She gasped when she saw Katsuki.
“Dad, you’re interrupting my concert!”
“I bought a ticket,” Katsuki assured her, which seemed to work, because she simply grinned and continued flailing around the room like a tornado. She had inherited her mother’s rhythm for sure. When her set was over, he clapped raucously and Akiara beamed before taking a bow.
“Wasn’t that a damn good show, dad?” She cried, and oh yeah, he remembered why he was there.
“Akiara, that language is unacceptable,” he said. God, he sounded like his fucking father when he talked like that, or Aizawa. It was hard enough to hold his tongue around his daughter, but actively discouraging his favorite form of language hurt a little bit.
“You say it!”
“Yes, and mom yells at me for it,” he assured her. It wasn’t a complete lie. Ochako did try to control his language on occasion, but he knew her. She liked it. She had just as bad of a mouth, she was just better at controlling it. “Your teacher doesn’t like it. He says you’ve got a bad attitude. Wanna explain that?”
Akiara pouted. When she made that face, she looked so damn much like Ochako. Her blonde hair was ashy and stood up in several directions, just like his, but those pink cheeks and brown eyes were all her mother. He found it borderline impossible not to give her everything she wanted, but that was “bad parenting” according to Kirishima (who had no damn room to talk; his daughters were spoiled rotten).
“Hamada told me my quirk was for villains and so I told him he was an asshole -- like you call the guys on TV sometimes!”
“Akiara,” Katsuki groaned. “Hamada sounds like an asshole, but you have to keep words like that a secret, okay? If you tell everyone all of your words, then how will any of them be special?”
Akiara’s eyes widened at that, slightly horrified. “You’re right.”
“I am,” Katsuki agreed. “You know, people used to tell me my quirk was for villains too. It’s destructive and loud and scary, but guess what?”
“You’re a hero,” Akiara whispered reverently.
“Damn right,” he replied. Ah, fuck. He was being a bad example again. “I mean that’s right. You’ll be a hero too, Kiki. The best. You’ll show all of them.”
“The top ten?” She cried.
“You’ll be number one, kid,” he said. “But only if you fix your attitude -- take it from someone who knows. You can’t be the best if you have a bad outlook on life.”
Akiara blinked up at him, and he wondered if his words were lost on her seven-year-old brain, but then she gave him a bright smile showcasing the gap where she had just lost a tooth. “You’re the smartest dad ever!”
Katsuki sniffled. He had allergies, damn it. Maybe he was a little emotional too.
-x-
Katsuki squirmed in his too-small seat and squinted at the fluorescent lights above him. Next to him, Ochako tapped her fingers together, a nervous habit that she hadn’t outgrown in fifteen years, one that he still found endearing, and calming. The classroom was quiet now, a drastic difference from when they first walked in to screaming children all in the midst of practicing some kind of performance. He saw Akiara immediately -- she was hard to miss, standing on top of a box and stabbing someone with a plastic sword while screaming in her most dramatic fashion: “DIE!”
He couldn’t help but smile. That was his girl.
Now, all the kids had been shepherded outside for recess and Katsuki and Ochako were left to wait for Mr. Ito, who would surely have plenty to say. He scowled automatically and Ochako frowned at him.
“You haven’t even heard what he has to say yet,” she whispered, reading his expressions like she had a mind-reading quirk.
“He’s just gonna say bullshit,” Bakugou hissed back. He had told Ochako last night what Akiara had told him, and her initial reaction had been the same as his.
“What an asshole ,” she had mused. “Her quirk is wonderful for heroism. Haven’t they ever heard of Ground Zero? That kid had it coming.”
Of course, now that they were in the presence of education, she kept herself prim and proper and was ready to say whatever it took to get Mr. Ito off of Akiara’s back.
“Sorry for making you wait, Mr. and Mrs. Bakugou,” that meek voice was perfect for first graders, but damn did Katsuki find it grating. He tried not to be annoyed on principle alone, but it was hard enough for him to actually be here. He would’ve preferred to send a strongly-worded letter telling Mr. Ito to go fuck himself, but that wouldn’t have been “very appropriate” of him.
“It’s okay!” Ochako answered warmly. “We’re just happy you found time to meet so quickly. We’re, of course, very concerned about Akiara’s behavior.”
In another life, Ochako could’ve been a damn good actress.
“Yes,” Mr. Ito clicked his tongue. “I’m very concerned too. She’s fairly aggressive with the other students, in particular, the boys…”
Katsuki grinned and Ochako aimed a not-so-subtle kick as his shin. He dropped the smile from his face.
“Terrible,” Katsuki said, making sure his voice was dripping with sympathy. He still remembered Momo’s etiquette lessons from all those years ago. “Truly.”
Ochako took a deep breath through her nose and Katsuki knew she was trying not to laugh. She cleared her throat awkwardly and kicked Katsuki again, this time with more oomph .
“Mr. Ito,” Ochako began, “Akiara was out of line, I agree, but I do want you to know that she was defending herself against a particularly unkind comment. One of her classmates was being harsh about her quirk.”
Mr. Ito looked between the two of them, seeming uncomfortable. “Well, sometimes Akiara is...her behavior can be concerning, especially regarding her quirk. She seems to realize how powerful it is, and I’m afraid it can lead to problems in the future.”
Katsuki’s eye twitched. “What the fuck do you mean?”
Mr. Ito looked to Ochako with a panicked glint in his eye, but Ochako was glaring right back. “Problems?”
He tried clumsily to retract his words. “It’s just...when a volatile quirk like this is handled incorrectly...and with the wrong mindset…I fear that Akiara will become something of a bully and then later in the future...We just have to look out for these things, in a society such as this.”
Katsuki opened his mouth to say something -- probably just a string of blind profanity, but Ochako beat him to it.
“Mr. Ito,” her voice was scary calm, unwavering and dripping with acid. “So, if I understand correctly, you’re trying to tell me the same thing this true bully told my daughter -- which is what caused her to react in the first place. You’re trying to tell me that if handled incorrectly, my daughter could use her quirk for villainy.”
“That’s not what I was implying, I -- ”
“It’s interesting that you would make that connection, considering I’m sure you know who my husband is. Katsuki Bakugou, otherwise known as Ground Zero, famous from an incident in his childhood where he fully rejected the League of Villains.”
“Told them to go fuck themselves,” Katsuki added helpfully, a smug smile tugging at his lips.
“He did,” Ochako nodded. “He has a volatile quirk, and here he is -- the number two hero in the country, so what makes you think that Akiara could be any different?”
“Mrs. Bakugou, I did not mean any offense. I am simply worried for Akiara’s development,” he insisted.
“If you were concerned simply about her development, you wouldn’t have approached this in a ‘hero versus villain’ scenario,” Ochako continued. “Look, I’m not unreasonable, I get that it’s inappropriate for a seven-year-old to be dropping f-bombs, but she’s not going to start blowing up her classmates. She’s...perceptive, not evil. She was being picked on, and she reacted. Her father and I taught her to stand up for herself.”
Mr. Ito sighed. “Of course, I spoke incorrectly. Akiara is a very bright girl, I just wanted to make sure there was nothing going on at home that could be causing her to act out. I see now that it’s just...perceptiveness.”
Katsuki blinked at him. “What the f -- ”
“Mr. Ito,” Ochako interrupted him quickly, “I appreciate your concern for Akiari. Katsuki and I will ensure we get this attitude problem under control, as well as the language. Thank you for your time.”
Mr. Ito, looking slightly bemused, nodded slowly and moved to show them the door. “You know, she’s a great kid,” he said, like it was an after-thought.
“Damn right she is,” Katsuki growled.
“Thank you again!” Ochako sang, cheerfulness dialed up to one hundred. Mr. Ito smiled, a nervous bead of sweat sliding down his forehead, and then shut the door behind them far too enthusiastically.
“Bastard,” Ochako said, once they were out of earshot.
“Fucking right?” Katsuki agreed. “I knew this school was bullshit. We should just homeschool her -- get her ready for UA in our own way.”
“No, no, she needs to socialize with kids her age. The Kirishima twins will just further corrupt her.”
Katsuki snorted. “Fair, but fuck this place.”
Ochako reached for his hand, running her fingers soothingly over his palm before intertwining them. “We’ll look into other schools in the morning. Shouto and Momo send their boys to a nice place not to far from here...we could have play dates!”
Katsuki had to act like that idea disgusted him, even though he fucking liked hanging out with Shouto and Momo...most of the time. Their kids were funny.
“You’re doing a great job, you know, with Akiara,” Ochako murmured.
“Yeah?” Katsuki frowned. “You think? Fuck, angel face, I don’t -- I don’t want her to be like I was. I was such an asshole to Deku and to everyone. What if she ends up like me?”
“I hope she ends up like you,” Ochako said seriously. “You’re intelligent, and you’re loving and you’re passionate and you’re the best person I’ve ever met. You’re not defined by your past, Katsuki. You know that.”
“I just..I fuckin’ want to do better with her. I hoped she’d take after you.” His words came out as a mutter, dejected. This parenting shit was hard.
“Katsuki, you’re talking about the girl who cries when she steps on ants. She’s an angel.”
“Like you,” Katsuki nudged her shoulder.
Ochako smiled. “She told me this morning that she wouldn’t reveal any more of her secret words,” she said. “And that you were the biggest fan at her concert.”
Katsuki snorted. “She’s a real fucking character.”
“She loves you,” Ochako smiled. “You’re her hero.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Katsuki kissed the top of her head. “She’s mine too.”