Chapter Text
Inko was worried that little Katsuki would be too much for Izuku—three months was a large age gap at this stage, so he’d have achieved more developmental milestones and was about to start sitting up and crawling if he hadn’t already while Izuku couldn’t even roll over yet and what if he was like Mitsuki? She loved Mitsuki but the woman must have been a terrible child and not very patient and—
Mitsuki was here.
Inko waved back at her friend and pushed Izuku’s stroller toward the other pair. From their strollers the two boys couldn’t really interact, but they’d brought a blanket and some toys, and soon Izuku was lying on his back, staring up at her and waving his hand for his All Might plushie.
And then Katsuki rolled on top of Izuku’s legs.
Inko held her breath, waiting for the crying, but it never happened. Izuku just tried to turn his head and stare at Katsuki in wonder, completely entranced.
And Katsuki was staring back.
When Inko lifted Katsuki up so Izuku could free his legs, though, the tears immediately started.
She didn’t understand.
She put Katsuki down next to Izuku, bending to pick him up and reassure him, but she stopped when she noticed that the tears had stopped already and Izuku was looking at Katsuki again.
Mitsuki laughed next to her. “Looks like the two are friends already!”
Inko nodded, bemused, and gave Izuku his All Might plushie to try and hold as Katsuki shook his matching All Might rattle.
Mitsuki passed her a can of juice, and Inko sat back with a sigh. It was nice to finally leave the house for a reason that wasn’t errands or work.
And Mitsuki was always a helpful distraction from…
Well.
From him.
Their hour in the park passed all too quickly, though, and soon it was time for Inko to get Izuku to his sitter’s before she went to work. The second she tried to take Izuku away from Katsuki, though, both boys immediately started crying, each trying to cling to the other as best as their little hands would allow.
And he just kept crying and crying! He’d never done this before. Normally Izuku was fairly easy to calm down! He cried at everything, sure, but one soft lullaby or a few seconds of hugs and he’d be good as new.
But this wasn’t stopping. All the way to the train station and then on the train itself and Inko just felt terrible. Izuku was causing so much noise and—she froze. He felt warm.
Too warm.
She quickly felt his forehead, but he was burning up.
Her heart began to race.
What…
What was going on?!
Inko grabbed the stroller, strapping Izuku back in and racing off the train at the next stop, switching to the other line so that she could reach the hospital.
Something was very wrong.
He’d been fine when they had been at the park!
Was it an allergic reaction? But those didn’t involve fevers and they could go badly so quickly, how could she not have noticed sooner, of course Izuku wouldn’t cry like that for no reason!
When they reached the hospital, Inko was even more confused. She could hear Mitsuki yelling in the emergency room, arguing with the receptionist that they needed to see Katsuki immediately.
Inko rounded the corner, her eyes immediately finding her friend and the little boy. But as she walked up, the boy looked fine. In fact, Izuku looked fine now, too.
Something was wrong. Allergic reactions didn’t work that way. They didn’t just… go away. And no illness should become that sudden and then disappear within half an hour.
And Mitsuki said the same thing had happened to Katsuki?
But they were both fine now.
Inko was so confused. They stayed to see the doctors anyway, but the boys refused to be parted so the doctor had seen them together and then pronounced them both fine.
But then after Izuku’s inevitable tears at leaving Katsuki and a few minutes on the train, the fever had returned.
This time, Inko wasn’t surprised to see Mitsuki at the hospital again.
She still didn’t know what was happening, but it was obvious that whatever it was, both the boys were experiencing it.
Inko sighed as little Izuku’s arms stretched out towards Katsuki.
At least Izuku was fine now.
But then the doctors were performing all kinds of tests and Masaru arrived in a rush and the boys were being taken to a specialist in another wing of the hospital and Inko was terrified.
She’d never even been to this wing of the hospital; you had to have special training to access it, and she hadn’t worked here long enough and now her son was a patient? It was too much.
Inko was fairly certain her skirt was wrinkled beyond repair from how much she’d been wringing it as each new test came back negative.
She was so glad it wasn’t any of the options they were crossing off but if it wasn’t one of those then what was it? Why did their boys keep getting sick? What was triggering the illness?
And then they finally received the news.
Soulmates.
Their boys weren’t even a year old, and they were soulmates.
She… she didn’t know what to think.
How could this be real?
But the doctor was a specialist in dealing with soulmate bonds and the effects of quirk manifestations. And he was confident that the boys were soulmates.
Soulmates!
She couldn’t process this.
But the boys clearly became sick when separated and were perfectly healthy and didn’t have any illnesses. All the tests said so.
Which just left….
“You should come stay with us tonight, Midoriya-san. I can drive everyone home.”
Inko nodded, clutching Izuku close.
Her boy had a soulmate.
Before she knew it, the strollers were folded into Masaru’s trunk and Inko was sitting with Mitsuki in the backseat, each of them holding one of the boys so that they could still see each other.
Katsuki reached out to Inko and Izuku, but when Mitsuki held him tighter the boy flailed, crying out in frustration and dropping his All Might rattle as dramatically as a 6-months old baby was able.
Mitsuki laughed.
Inko hugged Izuku, thankful that he was content with facing toward Katsuki and watching the other boy, as if he needed reassurance that Katsuki was still there.
Soulmates.
Somehow, these two boys were soulmates.
But they were so little.
Their brat had a soulmate.
He wasn’t even one yet! How the hell was he supposed to have some destined fate with little Izuku when they both couldn’t say a single word?!
This whole thing was a shitstorm, but that fever had been no joke. Fuck, when Katsuki had been burning up and she hadn’t even known why….
Masaru’s arms wrapped around her. “It’ll be ok. We’ll figure it out.”
“Of course.” Mitsuki huffed. She knew that. It would be odd to have their kid sleeping in the guest bedroom, but they didn’t want to risk separating them into different rooms, so they’d moved the crib in here and gotten little Izuku situated in that and Katsuki on the crib’s spare mattress on the floor. It wasn’t ideal, but it would work for one night. The boys clearly didn’t care—they’d both fallen asleep the second they were put in some nightclothes and set down on the mattresses.
They’d wanted one adult to stay with them since everything with the boys was so uncertain, and Inko had insisted she do it since they were being kind enough to let her stay with them. As if they’d take her kid and send her back to her house.
Though…Mitsuki frowned. They just had the one guest room, which was really the room they planned on moving Katsuki into when he was too old for his crib. “This place is a bit small for five, huh?”
Inko’s head jerked up to stare at them. “I know the boys can’t be apart, but I couldn’t impose—”
“Please.” Mitsuki shook her head. “You’re exhausted, girlie. I realized the second I saw you today. We’ll figure something out, but it’s obvious you’re having trouble on your own, and if the brats can’t be apart it makes sense that we all live together. Right Masaru?”
She could feel her husband sigh behind her.
“Oi!” She turned to glare at him. “What’s that sigh for?”
“We should figure out the details in the morning when we’re more awake, that’s all. I’m sure Midoriya-san is exhausted, and we could all use the sleep.”
Mitsuki huffed. “Oh fine, whatever. You know I’m right, though!” She glared at the man, then pushed him to the side so she could leave the room. “I’ll get you some clothes to sleep in, Inko! Don’t worry about it!”
The situation was as good as solved, in Mitsuki’s mind. Inko and little Izuku moving in with them would fix the boys’ problem with distance, and it would help Inko so that she wasn’t taking care of the kid all on her own anymore.
It was a win-win.
And well… Mitsuki’d always wanted a bigger house.
Masaru was always the first to rise in the Bakugou household, which meant he was always the one who handled any of Katsuki’s early morning needs, while Mitsuki handled anything before midnight.
Today, though, for the first time in six months Masaru had spent the night without being woken up by Katsuki’s cries.
Cautiously, he knocked on the door to the guest bedroom.
“Come in!”
It didn’t sound like he’d woken Midoriya-san up, at least… Masaru pushed open the door.
Katsuki and Izuku were both lying down on a blanket in the middle of the room, and Katsuki had what Masaru assumed was Izuku’s All Might plushie in his mouth, while little Izuku was trying to shake Katsuki’s rattle.
Inko smiled at him. “They woke up about an hour ago and wanted to be together. I didn’t think it would be a problem.”
“Not at all; this is fine.” Masaru stared at their little red-eyed demon. “I’m amazed he’s being this quiet, though.”
“He started to be loud at one point, but it made Izuku cry so he stopped.”
Masaru sighed in relief. “Well, that’s certainly a blessing.” He grinned at Midoriya-san. “I’d invite the two of you to live with us for that alone.”
Midoriya-san laughed softly, but Masaru could hear the anxiety behind it. “I couldn’t impose… and if Hisashi—”
“We’ll make sure there’s a spare bedroom, of course, and get a house with plenty of room for the boys.”
“But moving is always a hassle! I couldn’t ask for you to do that! Even just inviting us to live with you would be such a burden, going to a new house would be so much!”
“The boys have to be together, right?” Masaru smiled at her. “It would be even more of a hassle if we traded weeks with them or something like that.” And if Midoriya-san was struggling with just Izuku, Masaru didn’t want to dump their little ball of terror on her as well.
The woman looked down at the boys again, wringing her skirt in her lap. “I suppose you’re right…”
“I’ve wanted a garden anyways, and Mitsuki has always been planning on moving to a bigger place once we had more stable jobs.”
Midoriya-san nodded slowly, still watching the boys as they played. When she looked back up, her eyes were more resolved. “I can work nights. If I do that, I’ll be at the house all day and you wouldn’t need to hire a sitter for Katsuki or anything.”
Masaru shook his head. “You’d still need to sleep, Midoriya-san.” When he could tell the woman was about to protest again, he sighed. “It would be helpful if we only had to take the boys to a sitter for the morning, though.”
Midoriya-san frowned, but nodded. “Alright. And Inko-san is fine.” She shrugged, “We’ll be living together, after all. It would be odd if you kept referring to me so formally, and we have known each other for a while now.” She bit her lip, then nodded to herself. “But if I’m living with you and you’re getting a new house and everything, then I’m paying rent.”
Masaru sighed. Mitsuki wasn’t going to like that. “You can call me Masaru-san, then. And if you can convince Mitsuki of that, I will accept it.”
Inko-san smiled.
“It’s a deal.”