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Katsuki sips his morning coffee casually as he takes in the first few drops of sunshine. Peaceful, quiet, serene-
A loud sorry cry breaks his calm morning. He pretends that he does not hear it for a few seconds until another wave of loud wailing echoes against his eardrums.
“Fine, fine. I’m coming!”, he sets his cup of brewed coffee on the table before him and walks towards the source of the noise.
A small lump on the side of the futon nearest to the wall and another body bunched up underneath warm blankets can be found in the family’s bedroom. Katsuki skips the big log and then kneels beside the tiny human wailing nonstop since it was awoken from its peaceful slumber. He takes the baby in his arms and slowly sways them side by side, trying to placate its morning woes. Upon feeling the strong arms, the baby’s cries softened into whimpers. Soft padded feet inside a white jumper curls against his father’s torso.
“What’s got your diapers in a twist?”, the father asks the bald kid in his arms as he, again, skips the big log of body on the way. He sniffs the baby’s butt and upon sensing that nothing seems to be out of place, he walks back to the kitchen to prepare the kid’s bottle of breakfast.
The warm sunlight is now entering the kitchen through the blinds. While waiting for the water to boil, he opens the sliding door towards their small backyard. The air was sort of cold and thin while the skies were sunny and bright. The grassy lawn smells like fresh petrichor. Might be around six in the morning, going seven. Katsuki doesn’t know, he does not pay attention to the time in the morning especially during his days off with his small family.
“Take in all the healthy Vitamin D, baldy.”, he speaks to the kid in his arms as if he was meant to do some magic while absorbing the gifts of the sunlight to his small body. The small one simply sets its red and grey eyes against his father’s ruby ones while sucking on his small thumb. “Stop doing that.”, Katsuki pulls the hand away from the baby’s toothless mouth which earns him an annoyed growl. “I said no.”, he firmly holds on to the baby’s small hands and walks back to the kitchen knowing that the water was probably done.
Katsuki expertly prepares the milk with just one hand and when the bottle is all capped, he checks the milk’s temperature on his wrist before giving his son his breakfast.
Arms wrap around Katsuki causing him to jolt and the baby drops the bottle. “The f-“
“Morning to you too.”, Shouto kisses Katsuki’s nape and their baby’s nose before picking up the baby bottle on the ground. “Language Katsuki.”, he chastises.
“The kid’s six months.”, he walks back to his seat, perching the baby on his lap.
“We’re supposed to treat him as a friend.”, he takes a glass and fills it with cold water, “No cursing and no exaggerated baby talk, remember?”
“Tch, this is how I talk to the extras.”, he takes his cup of coffee and discovers that it is now lukewarm, disgusting.
“Ah, so you do consider them as friends.”, Shouto sits beside him and perches his chin on his palm. “Does Kirishima and co know about this?”, he helps the baby tilt the bottle a little.
Katsuki rolls his eyes like the drama queen that he is, “That’s not what I mean.”
Shouto scoffs because he knows that underneath all the rough exterior is a loving husband and father and overall supportive friend. He’s just stupid when it comes to phrasing things.
“Oi, why are you smiling like that.”
“Nothing?”
“You’re thinking about something stupid when your eyes go soft like that.”, Shouto directs his attention up to his husband and stares. Katsuki feels like crawling back into his figurative shell because that same exact stare makes him feel like he’s peeling off layers of his long standing brute strength and bad mouthing.
“My husband knows me so well.”, Shouto reaches to pinch Katsuki’s cheek but not before he gets a hand full of bald baby shielding his partner’s face. He laughs at the attempt and opts to softly pinch his baby’s nose instead.
“Bald baby, bald baby, why are you a bald baby.”, Shouto singsongs while he dips the boy in his arms back and forth into the tub full of suds.
“The fuck are you singing?”, asks Katsuki who was behind him, busy massaging his hair with their minty shampoo. Shouto is perched comfortably against his husband’s chest while the young boy was busy floundering all over his arms.
“I don’t know but don’t you think it’s odd?”, Shouto tries to look back at his husband but Katsuki holds him in place, “My baby pictures showed that I had a head full of hair when I was born so I don’t think he got that from me.”, the kid was not really bald per se but his hair is still a pretty thin combination of Katsuki’s blond and his white hair, “Can’t remember you being hairless in your baby pictures too.”
“How did you even know that?”, Katsuki pulls his hand back from his partner’s hair, “Where did you even get those photos?!”
“I asked your mom for some copies because I wanna see what our baby would look like.”, the younger looks at the baby in his arms proudly, “I’m pretty sure I visualized him well.”
“What, like some human 3D printer?”, Katsuki takes the blue dolphin ladle and washes away the shampoo from Shouto’s head, “You’re weird.”
“No, I think our baby’s weird.”
“How dare you say that to your son?!”
“Ours, Katsuki.”, the older’s face cringes at the sappy tone Shouto picked up. “You know there’s only one answer to this.”, he fully turns to face his husband with a serious façade on.
Their eyes meet and when the thought immediately clicked in Katsuki’s mind he just thought of banking it out of the house and changing his name forever. “Shouto, are you saying that he got his head from someone else?”
The man confidently nods while the baby in his arms flaps around, splashing water all over the bathroom floor.
"That would mean that you-", Katsuki cuts himself off, he couldn’t believe he’s really saying this, “Cheated on me.”
Shouto blinks once, twice, and then fumes “How dare you accuse me-“, then Shouto goes on a rant about how he suffered months for the baby only to be accused of coveting another.
Sometimes Katsuki wonders why he married this man before him as if he won the best lottery in the world, other times he wonders why he married Shouto who thinks with only a braincell when not oiled well. “You’re fucking stupid.”, Katsuki simply says, snatching the baby away from his protozoan husband and washes the baby’s slightly blond bald head as well. Those sharp eyes and red pupil could only be Katsuki’s, he is one hundred per cent sure of that himself.
Their epiphany comes about a few hours later when they called Shouto’s household.
“I’m pretty sure Fuyumi was bald as a baby.”
“Mom!”
Rei giggles through the videocall. Katsuki is busy cooking their lunch while Shouto is sitting on a chair on the dining table behind him.
“I told you your idea was stupid.”, the older hisses while stirring the curry sauce.
“Yeah, she has pretty thin hair even now if you haven’t noticed.”, Fuyumi peeks behind the video and waves a hand, “Koucchan! How are you? Are your daddies treating you well? Do you want to stay with Auntie Fuyumi?”, the young boy replies with an eager gibberish, he was busy shaking around his soft rattle while joining the videocall.
“Oh? Is that so? Should I pick you up later?”, Fuyumi excitedly offers.
“No.”, Shouto flatly rejects the offer, earning him a soft laugh from his mother and a disgruntled chide from his sister.
“You were the one calling Mom looking for a trace of any bald child.”, Fuyumi visibly jeers, folding his arms.
“My concerns are valid, my son’s hair isn’t growing as it should be.”, he softly smooths the baby’s thin blond hair, “This must be your fault.”
This sets off Fuyumi’s temper and she immediately rants about how Shouto must not have eaten enough vegetables while carrying the child. “Now, now that’s not how you make babies with healthy hair.”, Rei interjects while the baby babbles more incoherent noises upon seeing his aunt angrily going off.
A warm hand sets on Shouto’s shoulder, “I’m about to serve lunch, can we continue this conversation later? At least we now have a trace of who did it.”
“Are you also accusing me? I can’t believe this!”, Fuyumi exits the screen in disbelief while her mother could only laugh at her children.
“Eat well Katsuki, Shouto, Kouichi. Call me soon.”, Rei gives her grandson a wrinkly eye-smile.
“Please remind Fuyumi to send me her new tuna fillet recipe.”, Katsuki tells his mother-in-law, Shouto waves his baby’s hand goodbye before leaving the call.
Living in quarantine would have been really boring had they not have a new person around.
They were now in their living room, running a marathon of a series that Shouto picked up upon Izuku’s recommendation.
“Can’t believe that loser watches these kind of stuff.”, Katsuki slouches on the sofa behind them. They have a baby-friendly setup in the room, futons were laid out all over the floor, there were stuffed toys around as well as dirtied bibs and Kouichi’s diaper container. When they had their little boy, Katsuki knew that nothing could ever prepare him for the challenge of being a great father. What the nursing books said felt different in practice. Good thing Shouto enrolled them in a Parent Training Seminar for soon-to-be parents before they had Kouichi. They must be one of the luckiest ones out there though. The bald boy was a pretty calm baby and would only cry when it was time to eat or sleep. Something Shouto would definitely do. Sometimes it was a distress call like that one time when he fell sick. Despite that, the nerves of the first few months as real world parents was still whack. None of them ever wanted nor expected to be parental figures considering what they had gone through as kids but when they discovered that they were expecting, they knew they just had to keep him. The day Katsuki finally held the bloody baby boy in his hands was also the day when he swore that the things that caused them pain will never hurt this child ever again.
“This one’s good though.”, Shouto pats his son’s butt, putting him on his scheduled afternoon sleep. On their television is a series where groups have to do activities together to get out of the escape room settings they were thrown in. “They can be really funny without even trying.”
Katsuki hums at the commentary, he slowly pulls his body down and levels his face with the adorable baldy boy before him. He wished before for the kid to get most of Shouto’s features but it seems like some of his still got to sneak in. He was just the right mixture of Shouto and Katsuki. His finger reaches out for the closed fist and sneaks it in as the baby grips onto it unknowingly, his breathing still peaceful, “Hey Shouto.”
The younger grunts in recognition, attention still on the puzzle the group was trying to solve. “You think you would still marry me even through it all?”
Shouto quickly snaps his head downwards, Katsuki heeds him no mind, still busy playing with his son’s tiny hand around his pointer finger. Rare was the time when his husband would ask him questions like this. It was one thing that they had to learn no matter how hard it was. Communicating with each other was their first step in becoming parents.
The one before him was such a domestic scene. If two years ago somebody asked Shouto if he ever imagined that he will get to watch this same scene before him, he would probably just ignore it and call the person stupid for even suggesting that he would even want to become a father.
But things happen and one or two happenstances made them trip along the way. He knows himself that this was not in the plan. Kouichi was never a part of the picture but he knew the moment he laid his eyes on the ultrasound—he knew that that baby is going to be his no matter what. And he is going to fight everybody else who will try to inflict his baby the same hurt he experienced before. Even if that same person was himself or Katsuki.
“You’re the only one who could kiss me with the very same mouth that called me a stupid cheater.”
Again, just like the drama queen that he is, Katsuki rolls his eyes albeit with a teasing smile on his lips, “For the last time, your logic never made sense. Have you ever thought of growing another braincell or two? I heard it helps with thinking.”
“I hate you.”, Shouto finally lays down next to their baby, a hand over the young boy.
“I love you.”, Katsuki scoots closer while Shouto closes his eyes in waiting. When a second or two passes of no lips connecting with his, he opens them and sees his husband annoyingly kissing their baby boy’s bald head.
Exasperatedly, Shouto pulls at the sleeve of Katsuki’s black tank top and connects their lips. Before, it was just them thinking of building a world for themselves. Now, they have a pretty bald kid to build it for.
A cry disconnects them as the baby underneath awakens from the commotion around him.
“I hate you too.”, and Katsuki meant to say it with all his damn heart because he knows that Shouto knows him better than anyone else.
After all, with a bald kid in his arms, he could only save a promise for one family to spend the rest of his life with.