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It was another normal day at the Bakugous.
The four year-old twins were in the living room, just waiting for bed time to come. There at the couch they sat, watching reruns of some cartoons. By the carpet laid Mr. Fluffball, their cat sleeping amidst the noises and blaring light from the television.
It was too late in the night to cuddle with their cat and play heroes despite the fact that they were wearing onesie versions of their parents' hero costumes. With their parents setting aside all work during daytime to take them out to the mall, they lacked energy to bother playing.
The chilly autumn air had the younger twin trembling. The blonde would have loved to call her red and white haired father to serve as her human heater, but said man was busy catching up writing incident reports in his and his husband's shared room upstairs. From the same room, the voice of their blonde father could be heard, talking to some important person for almost an hour already.
It was the elder twin that opted to wrap her tiny arms around her sister. The younger smiled as she looked at her pink-haired sistee before shifting her crimson eyes back to the television.
"Wah, Kia, your hair is really nice," the elder twin mumbled out of nowhere as her fingers carded through smooth, blonde locks. It was very much like their fathers; Katsuki's blonde trait and Shouto's straight locks.
"Yours is nice too, Kei." Crimson eyes met gray and red ones. The elder twin internally winced as her sister's fingers combed through her spiky, pink locks, especially when it stopped on a particular tangled knot.
"How is it nice?" A forlorn look settled on Kei's face as she stared at her own hair. "I don't look like Papa and Dad at all."
"That's not true," Kia shook her head. She shifted, now fully facing her sister, and placed her delicate hands on the other's shoulders.
"Kei got Dad's red eye and Papa's, uh…" The younger frowned, struggling to remember what the name of the ashy color was.
"Gray."
"Yes, gray," Kia nodded thoughtfully, trying to remember the name. She stared more at her sister's features. "Kei got Papa's gray eye too. You also have Dad's…" Kia made gestures on her head that depicted her sister and father sharing the same spiky hairstyle.
Kia's mouth parted for a while.
"Yes but…" Kei sighed. Those features of hers seemed like subtle copies from her parents. Her hair color alone was a glaring indication how far she looked from her parents.
How lucky her sister was.
Kia opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but she could muster no words to utter that would make her twin feel better. All she could do was engulf her into an embrace.
"Ahhhhh, finally." A relieved, prolonged sigh echoed together with heavy footsteps.
"That was such a long phone call." Softer footsteps accompanied, and they got louder as they got nearer.
"Phone call? Hah! Seems more of a meeting to me." Katsuki threw his hands in the air in frustration. Shouto, on the other hand, stretched his shoulders and arms that ached from leaning before the computer all night.
They emerged from the stairs, snapping the attention of their two little angels.
"Aren't ya kids getting tired watching the same thing?" Katsuki gestured at the television that showed the weekend marathon of the kids' favorite cartoon series that usually broadcasted on weekdays. There was no bite in his words, and he honestly knew the answer already.
"We don't," Kia answered as she watched her father saunter towards them. Automatically, the kids huddled to Katsuki's sweater clad form.
"Dad is so warm."
"Dad feels nice."
Katsuki smiled at the adorable bubs clinging and sitting on his lap. "Oh. Seems like you are not watching anymore. Now, where is the remote."
"Dad!"
"No!"
"Katsuki, stop teasing the kids." Shouto's placid yet reprimanding warning rang. It was laced with a hint of playfulness that Katsuki immediately detected.
"I'm just kidding," Katsuki replied as Shouto flopped down the couch. The latter threw his arms around his family, slumping on them and yawning.
"My precious batteries."
"Recharge." Kia placed her hands on Shouto's head and acted as if she was indeed transferring energy to her exhausted father. Kei followed, going as far as rubbing her father's shoulders.
The couple knew in mere seconds that something was wrong because usually, Kei initiated the recharging and that she wore a vibrant grin on her face as she did so.
At that moment, she merely wore a weak smile, even smaller than her sister's close mouthed smile.
"What's wrong, dearie?" Shouto worriedly asked as he straightened up cupped his elder daughter's face. He tenderly thumbed her cheek as he scanned her dim features. "Why is our strawberry princess sad?"
"Oi, did something happen?" A frown surfaced on Katsuki's face as he peered to look at Kei. "Did your favorite character get beaten up by bad guys?"
"No. Bunny-Eared Mask is too great to be beaten."
"Then what's with the long face?"
Kei shook her head. This was something trivial compared to their parents' worries. Besides, she was still young, and she heard from Uncle Kirishima that only adults could dye their hair.
Maybe Kei just needed to wait a few years then she can finally—
"Kei is sad because she thinks she does not look like you." Kia answered and silence filled the room.
"Baby," Shouto softly uttered, voice cracking at the end. He scooted and leaned closer to his daughter and looked straight in her heterochromatic eyes. "That is not true."
Katsuki adjusted Kei on his lap. He caressed those spiky, pink strands as he added. "Milky here looks like me, but you also look like us too, from the eyes, nose, lips, hands… every feature you have came from us."
"But my hair… it does not… it does not look like any of you." The child looked at her parents. "Papa has red and white hair and Dad has blonde hair." Her eyes fell on her silent, brooding sister and pouted. "Kia… Kia looks like both Papa and Dad, while I look weird."
"No, you don't look weird." Shouto shook his head. "You are special, dear." His long, dainty fingers slid through his child's locks, meeting Katsuki's hand halfway before they ended at the tips. A smile curled up his lips as he said, "your hair is from me, in case you don't realize."
Kei and Kia looked at each other, brows furrowed in a similar fashion. They stared back at their red and white haired parent and if it were any other situation, Shouto would have pinched their cheeks or gathered them into a bone crushing hug.
"You kids still don't go to school so you have no idea yet about mixing colors," Katsuki replied to the confused kids. They got even more puzzled seeing their parents communicate by eyes and head gestures. Shouto just nodded his head and off he went upstairs.
"Where is Papa going?" Kia asked, hand sliding on Kei's own and squeezing it. Kei did the same, as if reassuring her sister.
"Your Papa just got something that will help you understand," Katsuki explained, and in no time, a running Shouto was back with his phone.
"Papa?"
"What are you doing?"
"Patience, babies." Shouto hunched at the side, typing something in his phone that his peeking kids could not see. He later leaned closer and showed a video with a thumbnail of pink, red and white flowers with a title saying "Incomplete Dominance."
"Geez, Icyhot." Katsuki facepalmed and pulled the phone away from his husband's grasp. "Idiot, that's too advanced for the kids to understand."
"Dad said a bad word."
"Yeah, and you are calling Papa in a weird name again."
"Bad Dad."
The kids mumbled, with Kei frowning at her father and Kia staring at Katsuki with a seemingly disinterested yet reprimanding frown that had the two elders nearly laughing.
"Sorry," Katsuki scratched his head. Controlling his mouth around these kids even with such simple 'curses' was indeed difficult.
"So mean," a protesting Shouto said, having the audacity to look offended as he brought the topic back. "I watched these kind of stuff on TV when I was their age."
Katsuki's forehead creased as he stared at the honest expression in Shouto's face. "Okay, but let's just go with paints today."
"Oh. Right." Todoroki lit up at the suggestion and started typing in his phone again. He handed the phone to his daughters when a short video played.
"What are those, Papa? They are of the same color as your hair." Kei asked as she pointed at the pails—the big pail containing a thick white substance and a small one with a red liquid—in the video.
"Those are paints," Shouto replied. He gestured to their painted walls. "Those give color to certain things and structures such as houses."
"Oh, are those the ones used to color drawings?" Kia inquired and Katsuki chuckled.
"That is a different kind of paint as the ones used in houses, but yes, they both give color."
"Here it starts," Shouto pointed at the screen and the kids watched intently as some of the red paint was poured in the white paint. The hand in the video held a stick, dipped it in the pail, and started stirring.
The kids' eyes, especially the distressed one, widened in awe as they witnessed how the white and red pigments mixed into a very familiar color:
Pink, like the bunch of hair on top of Kei's head.
"Papa!" Kei beamed to her father, any hint of gloom nonexistent in her radiant face. Her fists clung to Shouto's sweater as she excitedly bounced on Katsuki's lap. "That's… that's!"
"Magic!" Kia cheerfully squealed and the kids giggled to themselves.
"It's science," the two adults wanted to say, but the delighted giggles and priceless smiles on their children's faces as they replayed the video had the couple just gazing at each other with small, relieved smiles.
"Papa, Dad," Kei called, gleefully pointing at the phone as she raved over and over again, "this is my hair color! F-From mixing Papa's hair!"
"Mmm," Shouto hummed and caressed his daughter's locks. "Now, do you understand?"
The child happily nodded. Though, her nose crinkled as she took in the sight of her father. "But… why doesn't Papa's hair mix when I play with it?"
"Your hair color is the product of Shouto's hair color genes mixing, not the hair itself." Katsuki answered and it only earned him confused frowns. He further grasped for words to say. "Genes are, uh, the reasons why you two inherit traits from us. The reason why Kia has Dad's hair color and eyes, and why Kei has Papa and Dad's eyes and Papa's hair."
The two adults could finally breathe upon seeing the seemingly permanent blinding smile on their eldest daughter's face. Their own cheeks hurt from smiling upon seeing their youngest hug her twin. "I told you. Kei's hair is nice."
"Pretty hair for our beautiful daughter," Shouto held Kei's face and also did the same with Kia's whilst fondly looking at them. "Our beautiful daughters."
"Now, now. I don't wanna break the fun but it's getting late, kids. Time for bed." The moment Katsuki announced as he pointed at the wall clock, groans of protests were heard. Katsuki was not having any of that. "No. Don't give me those useless whines. Ain't working."
"Perhaps they don't like to hear your bed time story, Katsuki." Shouto dramatically sighed. He went on, turning a blind eye at the sudden shift in their children's demeanor. "These kids prefer watching than hearing their precious Dad's voice."
Kia let out a cute little yawn whilst Kei responded and bit on the bait. "No, I want to!"
Shouto turned to the side, trying to supress his victorious laugh whilst Katsuki smiled in amusement, especially when an eager Kei started dragging her sleepy sister to the stairs.
"Faster, Kia. Hurry."
"Tuck yourselves in bed and we will follow." Katsuki reminded, and finally, he and his husband were alone.
"Kei..." Shouto exhaled heavily. He slumped on the couch as he finally allowed his worries to surface. "She is too young to have such thoughts."
"Can't be helped when it was apparent how unique her hair color is compared to the rest of us. She is a brilliant child afterall." Katsuki replied. His soothing hand landed on Shouto's back, the latter burying his face to his palms. "Now, you are the one sulking."
"Sorry. I just," Shouto rubbed his face in frustration before turning to his husband. "Did we not give enough compliments? Did we not make her feel secured enough to herself? Did we fail in showing how much we love her? Did I lack—"
"Hush. You are overthinking again." Katsuki squeezed his rambling husband's shoulder, snapping him out of it.
"Ka-Katsuki, I'm sor—"
Katsuki's response had Shouto clamping his mouth shut. "To answer your questions, honestly though, I can't give a definite reply. The answer can never come from us, you know. Only by observing the kids can we see if two socially inept fucks like us are doing well."
"Parenting is not a joke." Shouto allowed his body to tip sideways until he dropped on Katsuki's lap, arms hanging in the air. "I hope she really understood our point. I don't know if I could live with the knowledge that she feels bad about how she looks."
"She surely realized. She is a smart child." Katsuki caressed Shouto's shoulder. He poked his husband's puffed out cheek "Oi. Stop with the kicked puppy face, Halfie. Doesn't suit you."
Worry was still apparent on Shouto's face though it melted away with Katsuki intertwining their hands and kissing each of his knuckle.
"Oi, Shouto."
"Mmm."
Indeed, Katsuki really knew the right words to say in the right time. "There is no perfect parent, you know. Stop trying to be one. Just… be the most loving one. Let's show them how much we treasure them and how special they are in our eyes."
Shouto squeezed the hand in his hold. "Let's do that."
"Dad! Papa! Where are you?" The frantic voice of their eldest could be heard from upstairs. That reminded them of their promise and they stood up, hands still laced with each other.
"Coming, dear."