Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Bakugo’s heart just about dropped in succession when he saw her fall out of the sky.

“Fuck!”

He sprinted towards Uraraka, pushing past the mass of scrambling people to get there in time.

They really should’ve expected this. Class A brought chaos wherever they went and the amusement park was no exception. Bakugo didn’t know how he got roped into it, but he was pretty sure it had something to do with Shitty Hair and his annoying persistence. He vaguely remembered a loud show of dramatic ass tears about it being one of their chances to do something as a class.

Otherwise, why would he voluntarily subject himself to his classmates’ squealing and stupidly large balloons and cheesy, useless conversations about graduating? He could’ve been left alone in the peace and quiet of the dorms for once. The only saving grace of the trip were the roller coasters. Those were the shit.

Bakugo, Kirishima, and Uraraka had just gotten off the Phoenix, the one that lulled at the end just to shoot backwards at 200 kilometers an hour, when the attack began.

“Uraraka, you ok?” Kirishima asked the strangely pale girl as they walked down the rickety stairs back to solid ground.

“Uh huh.” She squeaked out with her arms holding in the contents of her stomach. “That was a brutal one.”

“It was fucking basic.” Bakugo said unimpressed.

“Ah. Maybe for you guys. I’m not so good at roller coasters.”

“Huah? Why’d you come with us?” Kirishima asked incredulously.

“I’m training myself!” She pumped her fist in the air with a determined look on her round face before hunching over again sheepishly. “I figured it’d good for me to work through things that make me queasy. Then I can stay in the air even longer.”

Throwing up was fucking disgusting, but Bakugo had to hand it to her. Thinking about training at a time like this was admirable. Though, he supposed it wasn’t that surprising coming from her. She was constantly pushing the envelope.

“Fine. We’re gonna go on it agai-” Bakugo began to suggest when a flash of blue light caught his eye. “What the fuck?”

Kirishima and Uraraka swiveled around to meet his line of vision. Crowds of people were scrambling in panic to avoid being hit by the mysterious, glowing apparatus held by a woman who, for some odd reason, had an empty baby carrier strapped to her chest.

She was young, much younger than one might think to be a mother. Her hair was pink and pulled back into a harsh ponytail, tight enough to stretch the skin of her face abnormally into a perpetual smile. The trio looked on in horror at the heaping pile of clothes at her feet that looked suspiciously like Bigshot’s hero costume.

But he was so large, how could he possibly be under there? 

Had he been disintegrated? Was it a shrink ray?

Whatever the weapon was, it was dangerous and needed a refill. The pink-haired woman stuck a thin, long needle into her cheek right in front of her ear. It was attached to a tube, the other end feeding her saliva into a vial situated in the middle of the blaster. Even with this down time, she seemed extremely at ease, watching undisturbed with glee as four other women in matching leotards ran into the throng of hysteric families to pinpoint their next victim of the blue light.

Bakugo could feel the adrenaline building in his body, already bouncing on the balls of his feet to enter the fight and letting the smallest of explosions escape his slick hands. “I’m going in!”

“Don’t be stupid! You wanna get suspended again? We need to wait for the pros to show up!” Kirishima gripped Bakugo’s shoulder firmly in warning.

“Who knows when that’ll be? She already took down Bigshot!” Bakugo pointed out. If the sidekick was already incapacitated and unaccounted for, that might’ve meant he didn’t have had enough time to call for back up. “We can’t just stand by, I’m going!"

“I’m not saying we do nothing, we can evacuate the civilians! There’s no need to draw attention to ourselves, you’re not thinking straight!”

“Let go of me, Shitty hair! I can do this!”

Kirishima was posed with a hardened arm in the air, about to whack Bakugo’s head to drag him out of there unconscious if he had to, when Uraraka interjected.

“No, don’t! I’ll float up and get eyes on the situation!”

“What?? Not you too!” Kirishima yelled.

“It’s the best way to get everyone out safely.” She whipped out her phone and started dialing someone. She held it up to her ear as she continued to explain her plan. “And if I see any pros or police coming, I can let you all know to get out of the fight.”

“You’ll get in trouble for sure.” Bakugo pointed out. There would be no way for her to hide her public quirk use.

“I know.” She grimaced at the thought of breaking the law, twisting her face with resolve as the phone line connected. “Deku! Do you have eyes on the villains? … Ok, are you all together? Alright, then I’m making a group call with Bakugo and Momo. Stay on the line. I’m going up and I want everyone to get my communications.”

Uraraka made eye contact with Bakugo and he made sure to dig out his phone, deciphering her signal immediately.

Another shriek and a bright blue light flared up to their left. Based on his calculations, Bakugo figured they had about 3 minutes before the next recharge.

Seeing that Uraraka had secured her phone onto the straps of her dress with a hair tie, he crouched down and clasped his hands in front of him to give her a launching pad. “GO!” She nodded and backed up before breaking into a sprint, jumping into his hands and letting him hoist her body up and give her more height.

“Oh, shit! Bakugo!” Kirishima shoved him out of the way as one of the leotard ladies attempted to tackle him while he was distracted making sure Uraraka made it up.

Once he recaught his footing, Bakugo pivoted and rushed in to assist Kirishima, who was busy in hand-to-hand combat with the woman. She seemed to be some kind of copy-cat, mirroring Kirishima’s moves and blocking every strike much too easily. If he were to use his hardening quirk, he would’ve crushed her bones easily, but he was careful to refrain from leaving proof of activating his quirk for unsanctioned use.

It was definitely frustrating not being allowed to just blast the bitch’s arms off, but a good old-fashioned ass kicking would have to do. Bakugo really doubted she’d be able to copy two people at once.

“Momo! The villain coming towards you has some sort of acid quirk!”

“Understood! Repositioning Mina now!”

Bakugo could make out his peer’s voices from his phone in his pocket as he ducked and timed his hits a split second after Kirshima’s so the villain wouldn’t be able to deflect them both.

“Bakugo! There’s a second villain approaching from your left, arriving in about 45 seconds!”

“I’ll kill that fucker too!” The presently engaged woman seemed to be tiring out from dealing with both him and Kirishima, but they wouldn’t be able to take her down in time to divert attention to a second attacker. Bakugo strained to remember what tools they had around them.

“Deku, tell everyone to hit the ground!”

A beat after a cacophony of muffled cries erupted from his phone, Bakugo saw another blue light spark in the corner of his eye, distracting his train of thought. Shit!

Think, damnit!

What could he use?? … Bottles! One of the booths had glass bottles for one of those stupid-ass tossing games!

“Momo, send Iida towards the Phoenix ride. They need back up.” Uraraka’s voice directed.

“Don’t fucking need help!” Bakugo roared and sent a kick directly towards the woman’s stomach, launching her back into the game stall. “Shitty hair! Keep her busy!” He jumped over the wooden counter and gripped one of the bottles by the neck.

He returned to the wrestling scene just as Iida intercepted the second villain from joining the fray, much to Bakugo’s disappointment. With that twinge of annoyance, he smashed the bottle into the back of the villain’s head, watching with satisfaction as she crumpled to the ground.

Marked with painful bruises, Kirishima pushed her off and panted out, “Grab some more bottles. Iida’s not gonna last long on his own.” Bakugo spared a quick glance to see the class president dodging a seemingly endless barrage of flying knives without the help of his inhumane speed.

Gathering as many glass projectiles as they could, Bakugo hesitated at a nagging thought in the back of his mind.

How long has it been since Uraraka went into the air? The blaster had gone off once already and should be ready for another round any second now.

Holy shit. She’d been up there for over 6 minutes.

“Round-face!” He shoved the bottles into Kirishima’s hands and ran out from the covering to get a better eye on the floating girl.

“Momo, retreat! She’s leading you right in the line of the blaster!” Even from the ground, he could see that she was trembling like a leaf, only staying up by the power of her sheer will.

She wouldn’t have been able to ward off a passing bird, much less a direct attack.

“Uraraka!!” Deku’s voice broke out as the pink-haired woman with the glowing cannon aimed towards the sky, just now understanding how these children were fighting back so efficiently.

A scream pierced the air as Uraraka was engulfed in a blue blast, completely defenseless in the air.

“Fuck! Fuck fuck FUCK!” Bakugo’s leg muscles strained from the earlier kick, but he grit his teeth and continued to run towards the speck of yellow that was Uraraka’s dress hurtling towards the ground with no sign of slowing down.

At this point, he questioned whether he should’ve stopped her from going up in the first place. She wasn’t just breaking the law, she was literally putting her life in danger. Right after putting her stomach through the blender, too.

But they were heroes. That’s what they were supposed to do, right?

Bakugo let out an intensely hot pop from his palms to propel him forward, just far enough to catch Uraraka before tumbling to the ground. He rolled with his shoulder, making sure he wouldn’t crush her in the process, and landed on his back.

But there was something wrong. The alarm was palpable as Bakugo looked down at the crumpled clothes on his torso with no one in it.

No. There was definitely something there, but it was small and unbelievably light. Why was she so small??

Bracing himself for the unexpected, he lifted the garment only to see a confused, pudgy toddler with squishable cheeks and almost perfectly round eyes. 

She had light brown hair that ended abruptly in a bob covered by a bucket hat on top. Her pink t-shirt had a dragonfly stitched on the front and her khaki shorts had a home-sewn patch on one of the pockets. Jelly sandals encased her feet in a glittery mess, but none of that made Bakugo panic more than the look on her face.

There was a wobble in her lower lip and fat tears were starting to well up in the corner of her eyes. It was the tell-tale, breath-holding tension before a loud cry.

“No, no, don’t you dare!” He warned her, but it was no use.

“Mamaaaaa!!!” She wailed, dissolving into a tear-filled mess sitting on top of Bakugo’s stomach.

Shit. 

Uraraka was a kid.

Bakugo swiveled his head around to see if there were anybody who could help make her stop crying. But instead of finding help, he was met with the overwhelming feeling of being surrounded by adversaries. The lady with the glass in the back of her head was starting to stir and the knife-wielding woman was freakishly holding her own against the two 3rd year UA students.

That didn’t even account for the other two leotard villains and the pink-haired one. The one with a baby carrier on.

Oh shit. She was going to collect the kids!

Wincing at the sound of Uraraka’s howling in his ear, he scooped her up and got to his feet to run and hide her somewhere. He was not going to let anyone take her. Even if she was writhing in his arm and straining to escape his hold.

“Hold still!” He barked out at her.

“Mamaaaaa!” She dragged out frantically.

Shielding her head, he ran across the wide walkway and ducked behind a stand stashed with teddy bears, frantically looking around to make sure no one followed them.

He sat her down with a rough drop against a particularly large plushie, thinking it might calm her and make her shut up.

“Be quiet.” He hissed in a low voice.

“Where’s mama and daddy?” She blubbered and clutched onto the giant toy, making his eyebrows furrow at the lack of floating. Had her quirk not manifested yet?

“Listen, cheeks-”

“Ochako.” She interrupted through her stuttered breathing.

“What?”

“My-my name is not cheeks. I’m Ochako Uraraka.” Even through the snot running down her face, she made it astoundingly clear that she wouldn’t take any shit from him.

“I know tha- Ok, you know what? Fine .” He wasn’t gonna fucking argue with a 3 year old. “Your folks aren’t here right now. But you need to stay here for now. Got it?”

“What about you, mister? Are you going to go find my daddy? His name is Benjiro Uraraka and he has yellow hair like you. And he’s reeeaaaaaally big! Like this!” She stood on her toes to stretch her arm up above her head, completely oblivious to the danger around them.

“Kacchan! Is Uraraka ok??” His phone garbled out of his pocket.

Bakugo stared at the little girl, unscathed and no longer crying. She was staring back at him intensely, demanding without words that he go out to find her precious daddy.

“Kacchan! Kacchan, can you hear me??”

“She’s fucking fine .” The better question was whether he was ok. “Come to the game booth with the stuffed bears.” Bakugo hated admitting Deku having any sort of advantage over him, but brats loved the shitty twerp.

“Why?”

“Just do it, ya damn nerd!” After yelling into the phone, he turned back to the toddler. “You know what villains are?”

She gasped out with wide eyes. “The meanies!”

“Yeah, whatever.” There was no way in hell he’d call them that. “They’re out there and I need you to stay here while I go out and fight them.”

“No!” She jumped towards him and latched onto his neck. “Please stay with me! Please please please!!”

Bakugo groaned. “Kid-”

“Ochako!” She demanded he call her, not letting go 

“Ochako.” His mouth felt like it was full of molasses. “Your mom and dad aren’t here right now so it’s my job to keep you safe. I can’t do that unless you let go of me.”

“Are you a hero, mister?” She pulled back and asked.

“Yeah.” So are you.

“... Ok.” She unraveled her arms from around him and stepped back hesitantly.

“Ok? You letting me go?” Well, that was easier than he thought it’d be. Maybe she wasn’t so unreasonable.

She nodded though her lip started to shake again. “Heroes are supposed to fight the meanies! Do you need help fighting them, mister?”

His eyebrow perked up involuntarily. Even as a kid, she was gutsy.

“No fucking way. You stay here. Do you have your quirk?”

“Not yet.” She pouted.

Damn it. He was hoping she’d be able to at least float some of the smaller items to alert him of trouble. “You’ve got your wits, kid. You know to stick with your parents and understand how important heroes are. So I need you to do one more thing for me.”

She nodded with her cheeks puffed out in determination.

“You’re gonna stay right here.” He situated the large bear over her and arranged the arm so she’d be able to see out of the gap between the limb and the round body. “And only come out when you see a dopey looking guy with green hair. Think you can handle that?”

“Yep!”

“Tell me exactly what you’re gonna do.”

“Only come out if I see a man with green hair!” Her voice chirped out from behind the large toy.

Satisfied with her understanding, he quickly patted her head with a stiff arm of approval. “When you see him, give him this phone.” He put her phone on her lap, making sure the sound would be muted by the stuffed animal so that no villains would be alerted by it.

“Is he a hero too?” She clarified.

“Not as good as me!” Bakugo yelled out by instinct, making her wince at the loud noise.

“What’s your name, mister?”

“Bakugo. Now be quiet and wait.” The bear jostled as she nodded.

He rolled into the next stall over, trying not to bring attention to the plushie booth where kid-Uraraka was. Once he was satisfied with the distance he created, he ran back into the fight.

It was mostly over, much to his annoyance. The knife and copy-cat lackeys had been subdued by his classmates and the police were closing in on the acid lady and the fourth woman, judging by their megaphone enhanced commands to drop to the ground.

He was posed to run after the villain with the blaster, who had now abandoned the weapon in order to run away with a toddler Bigshot, but Icy-Hot stopped her with a wall of ice, having been given permission by the police to do so.

Damn it. He should’ve been the one to take her down.

Bakugo whipped his head around to where he left Uraraka and saw fucking Deku carrying her out towards the police cars where they would, no doubt, praise him for his work.

How the hell did this keep happening?

He noticed the attack first. He was resourceful enough to knock out one of the villains without his quirk. And he was the one to catch Uraraka when she was hit. So how did that nerd keep stealing his thunder?

With fists clenched hard enough to pierce crescents into his palms, Bakugo marched over to the police to set them straight.

“I saved the day! Fuck all of you!” He went in blazing, furious enough to lose his temper in front of the professionals before catching himself. 

“We have witnesses saying they saw you use your high-risk quirk in the midst of your rogue vigilantism.” One of the officers stopped him, hand in Bakugo’s face and tempting him to blast it off in a stub.

“When I stopped her from landing on the ground like a human pancake??” Bakugo pointed to Uraraka who was being hauled off by a social worker.

“We recognize the necessity behind your decision. However, it will remain a mark on your record until you submit a form explaining the circumstances. You have 14 days.” Bakugo snatched the papers from the officer’s hand and marginally kept himself from incinerating it on the spot, biting his tongue from demanding an extra one just for him to shove it up their ass and their idiotic protocols.

If he didn’t have a good enough reason for using his explosive quirk in public unsupervised, he wouldn’t be able to get hired by any respectable agencies for his blemished record.

It was fucking bullshit.

Everyone knew how good he was at his job and as a rule-abiding citizen, so why did he keep having to prove it?

Shrugging off all of his peers, Bakugo went back to the dorms alone in seething silence, slamming the door almost off its hinges and smacking the papers down on his desk hard enough to make his palms sting.

He sat there for close to an hour, trying to draft out what he could write without pissing off the authorities. But all he could come up with was the fact that they were too incompetent to stop the baby-fying of atleast four people, including the resident sidekick.

The squealing outside didn’t help him concentrate either.

“Would you all shut the fuck up??” He opened the door and screamed, but then realized everyone was fawning over a toddler Uraraka in the arms of All-Might.

She cowered at the sight of everyone crowding around her, eyes watering at all the strangers trying to grab for her and her irresistibly round cheeks.

“According to the doctors’ estimations, Uraraka-shoujo will remain a child for about 2 weeks. Her parents will be arriving the day after tomorrow, but she will need someone to watch over her until then.”

“I can do it, All-Might. I have a lot of siblings so Ochako might feel more comfortable with me.” The froggy girl tried to take her from the retired hero’s arms, but Uraraka yelped and shook her head. She seemed about to break out into another fit of tears when she saw Bakugo towards the back.

“No!” She yelled with a pout. “I wanna be with Bakugo!”

“WHAT?!”

“Ochako, I don’t think that’s a good idea…”

“Who would want to stay with Bakugo??”

But toddler Uraraka paid no mind to the room falling into panic, excitedly wiggling out of All-Might’s arms and running over to Bakugo to latch onto his leg.

And though he typically wanted nothing to do with kids, they were obnoxious and unbelievably messy, there was also a sense of pride swelling inside him. “Losers! Of course she likes me best!” He grinned at them maniacally.

“Bakugo... taking care of a kid is hard work.” Mina reminded him.

“Hey, kid. You’re not gonna give me trouble, are you?” He nudged the toddler with a slight glare.

Uraraka looked up from his calf and shook her head with her cheeks puffed out.

“There! Now go away and shaddup!” He snapped at everyone before hauling a giggling Uraraka into his room.

Right before he slammed the door shut, a little high-pitched “Yeah!” came out accompanied with a tiny fist pump.

“Well. This is gonna be interesting.” Kirishima murmured his thought out loud.

Bakugo shared the same thought as he bundled Uraraka in an extra blanket from under his bed and propped her head up on a pillow on the floor. He knew what the others would say, that he should take the floor and let her sleep on the mattress, but he needed his rest and kids were supposed to be resilient, weren’t they?

Besides, she didn’t seem to care.

“Yay! Sleepover!” She squirmed in the blanket burrito like a caterpillar.

“Whatever. Close your eyes and go to sleep.”

“Kay!”

Bakugo turned the lights off and stepped around the toddler with her eyes squeezed shut to climb into bed. It was true that he may not have completely thought this through. He was so caught up in winning, even if it was the affection of a picky child, that he blindly grabbed his victory and was now stuck with this responsibility. But for all the crazy things his floating classmate said and did sometimes, she typically fell into the ‘I tolerate you’ category of people around him so he wasn’t too worried about the next couple of days.

Really, he was mostly pissed at the appeal form he had to fill out. What was he supposed to say? That he was sorry? Hell no! Heroes made hard choices all the time and that included putting oneself in danger. Would they have rather he watched Uraraka fall to the ground? Wouldn’t that suggest there being something wrong with his morals? Why did he have to kee-

Was she poking his face?

“Bakugo?” Uraraka whispered in the dark.

“What do you want?” He growled, not moving from under his covers.

“I’m scared.”

“There’s nothing to be scared of. Go back to sleep.”

“Can I sleep with you?”

“No.”

“Pleeeeaaaaaaase? Please please please plea-”

“Will you stop poking me??”

“Then I can sleep with you?”

Fucking hell. Even as a 3 year old, she knew how to negotiate and twist his words.

“Fine.”

“Thank you!” She perked up and proceeded to grunt as she pulled herself up onto the bed with the extra blanket around her like a cape. Not wanting her to fall off the bed in the middle of the night, he couldn’t imagine she would be a still sleeper, Bakugo lifted her over his body to sandwich her between him and the wall.

Without his consent, she curled into his side like a pillbug, nestling her face into his chest and jamming her knees into his ribs. Despite how stiff he had become, she hummed contently and soon, her breathing slowed to indicate she had fallen asleep.

Bakugo let out an annoyed sigh, but didn’t bother arguing. It was late, much later than when he normally fell asleep, and it had been an abnormally stressful day.

And it wasn’t like it was gonna kill him to endure her presence for a couple of days.

Chapter Text

Bakugo was not a fan of waking up with a child in his bed.

The first sound he made that day was “Ooomph!” when kid Uraraka directly stepped on his stomach to try and climb out of the bed right before 6am. It wasn’t unusual for him to get up that early, but he definitely never experienced a kick to the gut first thing in the morning.

She gasped and laid on his chest to check his face for pain. “Oopsie! Sorry, Bakugo!” She half whispered, half yelled.

He opened his eyes to see Uraraka propped up on her elbows, holding his face in her tiny hands. They were strangely sticky, and the second sound that came out of his mouth was “Bleechhhh!” when he realized they were slick with her drool. “That's fucking disgusting.” He sat up and wiped the slobber from his face, making Uraraka roll off of him and land flat on her back on the mattress.

Completely unaffected by his irritation, she chimed out a sweet “Good morning!”

He glared at the little embodiment of sunshine giggling at the foot of his bed, wondering if he really could last another 24 hours with the toddler.

Well, he was Katsuki Bakugo! Of course he could do it.

“Listen up, kid.” 

“Ochako!”

“We still on this?” He groaned, exasperated.

“O. Cha. Ko.”

“... Ochako.” She beamed with satisfaction as he pointed at her. “We need to go over some rules here if we’re gonna be stuck together all day.”

“We can play the whole day together??” Her eyes practically doubled in size as they sparkled with excitement.

“No!”

“Awwww.” Her whole body deflated with disappointment.

“I’m gonna be doing important work stuff. Hero stuff! So you can’t be bothering me when I’m busy!”

“So what do I do?”

“I don’t know! Color or some shit??” Why did he have to be responsible for her own entertainment?

“I can play with your toy?” She suggested.

“What? I don’t have toys.”

“Yes, you do! Right there!” She said resolutely and pointed to the figurine on his shelf across the room. It was a limited edition All-Might figurine, still in the box in pristine condition with the former #1’s autograph on the front. He was prepared to stay up and purchase it online when it launched, but All-Might himself gifted it to him the day before.

“No way! You can’t play with that!” Bakugo exclaimed, utterly flabbergasted.

“Why not?”

“It’s a priceless collectible! An exact likeness of the best hero of all time! You don’t play with it!!”

“Oh... Where’s yours?”

“Huh?”

“You’re a hero. Where’s your toy?”

Bakugo sat there, slack jawed. This little girl took him at his word and believed with all her heart that he was the hero he claimed to be. And not just any hero, but one good enough that she thought he’d have his own figurine, one that could stand tall next to All-Might.

She may have not known the weight of her words, but Bakugo couldn’t help but feel an inkling of gratitude towards her.

“I, uh,” He swallowed. “I don’t have one yet.”

“When you get one, can I play with it? It’s no fun to have a toy you can’t play with.” She crossed her arms, already annoyed at the thought of a forbidden toy.

Pushing down the strange fondness rearranging his insides to make room, he conceded. “Yeah, yeah. You can play with it. But for today, you’ll just have to draw or something.”

“Ok! Can you help me make a butterfly? I like it when the wings have red and orange and a little bit of white on the outside. Did you ever see one like that before, Bakugo? One time, I saw a blue one when I was…”

He let her trail on as he walked over to the dorm bathroom to brush his teeth. He dug around for an extra toothbrush in one of the drawers and stuck it in her mouth to make her finally stop talking about unicorns, or whatever she was on.

“You hafta sing the brushing song!” She insisted, squeezing on a much too large blob of toothpaste on the bristles.

“The what ?”

Ochako started a tune that sounded like the row your boat song, something he hadn’t heard since pre-school when the teachers tried to get him to participate in the class recital. His mom still had the video of him standing on stage with the other kids, glaring out at the audience with a bowtie on.

“Brush brush brush your teeth, brush the germs away~ in a circle all around to help stop tooth decay!” He stared at her blankly, wondering how his life had come to this. “You gotta sing it three times!” She held up three fingers, as if the clarification would help the idea settle in his brain.

“I’m not doing that shit.” 

“But I don’t want the sugar bugs to eat my teeth!” Her face warped with genuine concern.

With a groan, he spit out the foamy cleaning agent and plunked his toothbrush back in its holder. “I’ll brush your teeth. Open up.” Bakugo crouched in front of her and held her head with one hand to keep her steady. After scrubbing every one of her tiny baby teeth, making her head jostle with every movement, he begrudgingly lifted her up to the sink to rinse her mouth.

He immediately regretted it when she started to splash her face in a shoddy attempt at washing her face, sputtering and flinging water everywhere.

“Damn, cheeks! Don’t waterboard yourself!”

“Towel! Towel!” She yelled and flailed around with her eyes squeezed shut, almost smacking him in the face.

Kirishima swooped in with a laugh, patting the toddler’s face with a towel before Bakugo resorted to doing something ridiculous like shaking the toddler dry.

“Lovely mornin’, you two!”

“Piss off!”

The red-haired man, who had yet to spike his hair for the day, brushed off his friend's empty words and finished drying Uraraka’s hands.

“Thank you.” Ochako said quietly as she shrank in the presence of the kind stranger and held tight to Bakugo’s neck.

“No problem, mini Uraraka! What’re you up to today?”

“Bakugo’s gonna help me draw butterflies.” She perked up a bit at the prospect.

“Like hell I am!”

“You promised!”

“I did no such thing!”

“You said I could draw!”

“And when in that conversation did I ever say I would help you??”

Kirishima crossed his arms and watched on with amusement as the pair walked out of the bathroom. He wondered if Bakugo even realized that he didn’t need to be carrying the little girl anymore. The 3 year old was chilling on his hip like it was right where she belonged.

And maybe it was. She followed him around like a little duck all day, holding onto the back of his shirt to trail behind him between classes and asking to sit on his lap during lessons. They resorted to moving Jirou to Uraraka’s normal seat for the day and letting the toddler sit next to the explosive hero who just about died from embarrassment on the spot.

He finally got a free hour to himself when she went down for a nap, but she came back clingier than ever afterwards. She even cried when they told her she wasn’t allowed in the training area.

“It’s too dangerous for you, Uraraka-shojo.”

“I promise I’ll be careful!” Her little sobs kept most of her classmates from carrying on with their planned exercises. They couldn’t help but want to take away all of her pain. Bakugo seemed a little less resistant to leaving her behind, even though it was his leg she was holding onto.

“Do not worry! I will take care of you!” All-Might puffed up his chest and gave her a killer smile, but it did nothing to stop her tears. In fact, she wailed louder when he started to cough up blood at the overexertion.

“Ochako.” Bakugo said sternly, a warning. “You gotta stop crying now.”

“But I wanna go with yooooouuuuuuu.” She held up her arms, a clear sign she wanted to be held, but he didn’t give in.

“I told you this morning that I would need to do important hero stuff and you can’t bother me during it.”

“Kacchan, don’t be so harsh on her.”

“No! She’s not dumb or fragile. She needs to understand.” Bakugo knelt down so they were eye to eye. “You can’t go in there with me. Not yet. Not until you get stronger and faster so you can protect yourself.”

“I am strong! And fast! Really!” 

“Not as much as me.” Bakugo grinned, giddy at the thought of making her tiny head explode at the demonstration of his awesome quirk. “So you’re gonna wait outside and watch me through the window. Got it?”

“Hmphhh.” She let out a little whine like air escaping a balloon. It wasn’t quite the acknowledgement he was going for, but he’d take it. He patted her head and carefully shook free of her grasp, making sure not to accidentally kick her in the process. Glaring at the stupid extras standing around with their mouths open like empty-headed idiots, he entered the training zone.

“Did he just call her Ochako?”

“And she listened to him??”

“Who would’ve thought he’d be so good with kids?”

Ignoring all of them, Bakugo got started on his latest simulation. It was a cityscape, one of his supposed weak spots. He had a tendency of inflicting more damage than the teachers deemed necessary, which kept him from moving on to the next platform.

He consistently had the best time out of the entire school in completing missions and he had one of the highest rates of rendering the pseudo-villains incapacitated. And it wasn’t like he neglected the civilians either, they were also accounted for in the rubble. So what if he wasn’t subtle about his strength? Wasn’t it a good thing to send out the message that he shouldn’t be someone to be messed with?

Bakugo swallowed down the urge to charge in head-first and stuck to the shadows between buildings to approach the target. He intentionally set off small pops of nitroglycerin filled grenades in open areas to distract them and launch a surprise attack.

He led the fight into an open area so he wouldn’t have to keep pulling his punches. But he got too excited in the end and knocked the pretend-villain off of his feet along with a couple of buildings.

Buildings he knew were empty because he already scanned the floors, but it didn’t matter. Bakugo got into a shouting match over his subpar grade, one of the few he’d ever gotten, and yanked his gauntlets off before marching out of the training arena.

On his way out, he looked up to see Ochako’s face pushed up against the glass from the observation deck above. It was her first time witnessing his quirk, much less the destruction it could inflict. Even from that far away, he could see her trembling.

Shit. He probably scared her.

Something akin to disappointment lodged itself uncomfortably in his chest. Kid Uraraka was one of the first people to ever admire him not for his quirk or strength, but for perceived goodness. It was refreshing, not having to prove himself for once. But now, he probably scarred her for life.

Whatever. It wasn’t like it was gonna last. She was gonna return to her annoyingly chipper self in a couple of weeks anyway.

He could hear the patter of her feet coming down the stairs to meet him. When she saw him, she completely stopped in her tracks, frozen with her mouth open.

Bakugo sighed. “If you don’t wanna be around me anymore-”

“That was amazing!!”

What?

“Bakugo, you’re so cool!” The toddler launched herself at him, almost making him stumble back and fall from the surprise. Digesting what she had just said, he recomposed himself quickly.

“Of course I am!”

“You can explode away the meanies!”

“That’s what I’ve been saying!” 

“It was like BOOM!” She imitated the explosion with her hands. And even though she got spit everywhere, Bakugo didn’t care. He lifted her from the floor and let her chatter on about how incredible it was to watch him take down those buildings.

And though the teachers were glad to not have to deal with another yelling bout from Bakugo about how he deserved a perfect mark for his work, his classmates were more than done with hearing about how great Bakugo was.

“Ya hear that, you extras?? I’m the best!” Bakugo held up the toddler like a mouthpiece of truth over the living room, where most of Class A were trying to enjoy their dinner.

“Yeah, yeah. We all heard you. Now quit it and eat your food.” Kirishima said boredly while poking Bakugo with his fork. Luckily, he hardened his face before Bakugo could jab one straight into his skull.

“You’re all just jealous!” Bakugo cut up the food on the 3-year old’s plate. He learned his lesson that morning when she almost puked on him trying to cough up a whole grape.

“Why do you like Bakugo so much, honey?” Mina asked curiously.

Most everyone paused mid-bite and leaned in for the answer. The little girl wasn’t phased by the attention, she was too engrossed in her rolled omelet. Before stuffing her face with one, she said matter-of-factly, “He looks like daddy!”

That wasn’t the answer they were all expecting.

“Uhhh. How?” Kaminari asked, confused.

“They both have yellow hair and big arms!” She giggled out. “But Bakugo makes more funny faces. Like this!” Uraraka distorted her face into a scarily accurate scowl. Her little tufts of eyebrows knitted together and her lips twisted to the side in an exaggerated frown.

Bakugo was hit with a startling realization that if he and Uraraka were to have a kid, they might look like that.

Luckily, he didn’t have to dwell on that nauseating thought for long because she reverted back to her toothy smile and happily returned to her rice bowl. “Mmmm. Yummy!” She expressed her delight with her whole body, squirming in her seat.

“Good with kids, cooks well, and cleans obsessively. You sure we can’t call you Mama Bakugo?” Kirishima quipped before expertly deflecting another deadly fork attack.

“Kids always liked Kacchan and he’s good at pretty much everything. None of that is new.” Deku added, drawing a smiley face on Uraraka’s hamburger patty with ketchup.

Pretty much everything Deku said rubbed Bakugo the wrong way, but watching him be the reason why Uraraka smiled made the anger flare up more than usual. “I don’t need you to defend me, fucking nerd!”

“Ah! Sorry, Kacchan!” He accidentally squirted a big blob of the red sauce over Ochako’s food. He quickly scooped up the excess with a spoon, but Bakugo couldn’t help but growl as Ochako’s lips turned into a genuine frown.

He wasn’t sure if he was more mad at himself or Deku at that point, which made him more frustrated. And it didn’t go away for the rest of the night.

“Ochako. What’re you still frowning for?” He grunted at the sulking kid at his side as they neared the bathroom to get ready for bed.

“Why can’t I call you Kacchan?” Her small voice asked.

“What’re you talking about?”

“Everybody calls you Bakugo except for the green-haired man. Why can’t I call you by a special name?”

“That’s what you’ve been pouting about all night?” Her lip jutted out even more at that comment, nodding slightly. “What a ridiculous reason to be upset.” He muttered.

“It’s not fair!”

“It’s not like I like the twerp! There’s nothing special about it!”

“I wanna call you Kacchan too!”

“Urggghh. Fine! You can call me Katsuki.”

It wasn’t like she’d get the chance to use it all that much. She was going home with her parents the next day.

“Yay!” Bakugo almost got whiplash from how quickly she cheered up. The toddler finally uncrossed her arms and took the toothbrush from his outreached hand. “Can you sing the-”

“I’m not singing the brushing song.”

“Aww.”

Much to Bakugo’s relief, she didn’t press the issue further and brushed one her own. He still had to do a final sweepover, he wasn’t gonna trust her to actually clean her teeth properly, but at least he didn’t have to sing the blasted song.

“Time to floss.” He tapped her chin to make her open her mouth.

“Floss, floss, floss your teeth, floss them everyda-”

“Would you cut it out??”

“I’m teaching you the song!”

“That doesn’t make any sense! How am I supposed to floss your teeth if you keep biting me??”

They finally settled on recording both songs on his phone so they could play it. He originally planned on only doing the flossing one, there were only so many times he could hear the same fucking melody over and over again, but she wouldn’t stop going on about how he would need them both for the next morning.

He couldn’t really argue against that. He would need it then.

And then never again.

It was weird. They practically spent the whole day together and soon she’d be gone. Her parents were scheduled to arrive right before noon and then he wouldn’t see her until she came back un-babified.

“Can you get tape and put my drawings up over there? And then I can make another one tomorrow to put-”

“Sleep.” Bakugo laid down next to the little girl and covered her face with his hand, effectively shutting her up.

“Ok.” Her muffled voice tickled his palm. Once he removed it, she waited for him to settle under the blanket so she could curl into his side once more, like she had been sleeping that way all her life.

“Good night, Katsuki.”

“Night.”

“You’re supposed to say good night!”

“Ochako. Please . Go to sleep.”

“Ok… Good night.”

He sighed.

“Good night, Ochako.”

Chapter Text

Ochako was so preoccupied sharing her newest creation with Bakugo that she didn’t even notice her parents’ arrival.

“Do you like it? It’s me and you! I made your hair spiky, see? See it?”

“ Yes . I see it.” Bakugo exhaled deeply through his nose and tried to concentrate on the set of problems on his desk. While Ochako knew not to disturb the class when the teacher was talking, lest she be taken out of the room, she had yet to be taught that independent time was also off limits. While his peers had the luxury of finishing their work without a humming toddler next to them, Bakugo was frustratingly behind for first the first time in his academic career because of the pint-sized distraction.

“But you didn’t even look at it…” Even without turning his head, Bakugo could tell from her tone of voice that she must be pouring on the puppy dog eyes. She wasn’t trying to be purposefully manipulative, she just had the genetic disposition for turning anyone to putty with her roundness.

Bakugo was determined to be the exception.

“Ochako, I need to finish my work.” Though, maybe he wasn’t completely immune. “Give me two minutes and then I’ll be able to look.”

“How long is two minutes?” 

“Just wait.”

Bakugo finally powered through a couple of the problems without any poking or talking, but was interrupted once again by another question. "Is it two minutes yet?"

Sparing a quick look to his right, he saw a panicked Ochako squirming in her seat, bursting with impatience. He sighed, scratching in the answer to only the seventh question in a set of 20. “Count to 60.”

“Ok! One, two, three, four, five,” She started to whisper to herself, which was not quite the silence Bakugo was hoping for, but would have to do. “Six, seven, nine, ten… Katsuki? Can I use your fingers?”

Curiosity got the best of him and Bakugo looked down to his right to see Ochako with all of her fingers splayed out in front of her. Her eyebrows were knit in concentration with her eyes almost cross-eyed in trying to not lose track of her progress. As much as it irritated him to be constantly interrupted, he was also slightly impressed by her problem-solving skills. She didn’t have enough fingers to continue counting, so she reached out for more tools. It just happened to involve him.

“Alright, kid. Tell me about your drawing really fast.” He put down his pencil in amusement and leaned his head on his knuckles to give her some undivided attention. If she got out what she wanted to say, he’d maybe have a few minutes of peace and quiet while she started a new piece of art.

She took as big of a breath as she could in order to get as many words out in one go. “This is me and this is you and this is the fire coming out of your hands to make the meanies go away and-”

He let her ramble on, grateful for her explanations. If left to his own devices, he would’ve thought her drawing was a bunch of blobs melting in a fiery explosion, judging from the yellow and orange scribbles. And he couldn’t imagine that would’ve garnered a positive reaction from her.

Bakugo lifted his head from his supporting arm and sat up when he saw Aizawa silently emerge from his sleeping bag to answer the knock on the classroom door. The groggy teacher scratched the back of his head while his other hand opened the door to reveal who could only be Uraraka’s parents. 

The woman had mid-length straight brown hair that slightly curled inward at the ends. Soft lines around her eyes indicated she was no stranger to smiling and her slender fingers were clasped at her chest at the overwhelming sight of her daughter in 3-year old form. The blonde man also had tears welling up in his eyes, a stark contrast to his sturdy build. He had a broad chest and thick arms, just like Ochako said the other day, with hands worn from manual labor. They wore modest clothing and had matching faces of astonishment.

Ochako continued to point out every miniscule detail, down to the splotches of spilled juice in the corner, not realizing her awestruck parents were standing only a few feet away.

“The sun has clouds around it because we’re outside and-”

“Ochako-”

“No, no, I’m not done!” She tugged on his sleeve and demanded his attention to finish sharing her masterpiece.

“Look who’s here.” He pointed to the brightly smiling couple holding fast to each other.

She spun around and immediately broke out in a grin as wide as her face. “Mama! Daddy!!” Ochako squealed and scrambled out of her chair to sprint into a hug. Her mom scooped her up easily, despite it being a good 10 plus years since she had held her daughter in such a way, and nuzzled her face into Ochako’s hair.

“Oh, hello, my love! I’m so happy to see you!” The tears were steadily streaming down the older woman’s face now as she laughed at the child cuddling into her chest.

“Me too, mama! I missed you!” She giggled. “Hi, daddy!”

Mr. Uraraka didn’t seem to know what to do with his hands, constantly switching between stroking his daughter’s back and squeezing his wife’s shoulder as he succumbed to the wet sheen over his eyes.

“Kaminari, what’s wrong with you?” Sero asked his trembling classmate, leaning dangerously far back in his chair since he was done with his work.

“It’s just so… so beautiful !” Kaminari burst into tears at the scene, not noticing that he was ruining parts of his paper.

“It is quite touching.” Momo dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief.

And though Bakugo would never say it outloud, even he was getting a bit choked up watching them. It was clear to anyone with a working pair of eyes that the Uraraka family was incredibly close and that they treasured one another.

It wasn’t that Bakugo didn’t think his parents loved him. For all the ways his mom ragged on him and his dad helplessly attempted to mediate their interactions, he knew they would always be proud of him. There was no doubt that they cared about him and they cared for him growing up... But he wondered what it’d be like to have someone outwardly show affection to him like that.

At this point, he probably would’ve assumed they’d have an ulterior motive. There was no unit of measurement high enough to keep track of how many times compliments were followed with a 'but'

But you need to be more humble.

But why are you such a brat.

But high risk quirks must be supervised.

“Let’s go out to eat today!” Ochako’s father suggested with a beaming smile, unable to tear his eyes off of his family.

“Really??” The little girl gasped out.

“Of course! What would you like, lovebug?”

“Hmmm… hamburgers!”

“Alright! Hamburgers it is!”

“Hooray!! Can Katsuki come?”

Wait, what?

“Sure! Would that be alright, Aizawa-sensei?”

Why were they saying yes so easily?

“Bakugo.” The half-asleep teacher nodded his head at him, though his eyes were focused longingly on the haphazardly smushed bedding behind his teaching podium. “Go. You’re excused for the day.”

Like his body had registered before his brain, Bakugo stood up from his seat numbly and walked towards the happy family, completely abandoning his half-finished classwork. He couldn’t help it, their invitation was so welcoming.

He trailed behind the trio all the way to the nearby burger joint, feeling incredibly out of place as they unabashedly doted on one another.

“You’re so cute, Ochako!”

“The cutest daughter in the whole world!”

“Yay!” She giggled, caught up in the excitement of their reunion. “Katsuki, we hug too?”

“Hell no!” He blurted out before he could catch himself. Realizing that maybe that wasn’t the most appropriate response in front of Ochako’s parents, he cleared his throat. “I mean, no... Thank you.” He added the last bit as an afterthought, like it would cover up his slip up.

After that, Bakugo shoved his hands in his pockets and only spoke to tell the cashier his order. He meant to pay for his own food, he didn’t need anyone taking care of him, but Mr. Uraraka convinced the employee to just combine their orders.

Bakugo felt a pang of guilt when he realized his order made up half of the price on the receipt. It didn’t escape his attention that the Urarakas intentionally chose the cheapest options on the menu. He thought about swiping his card prematurely or insisting that he pay the man back, but he didn’t want to insult him.

So he settled on an awkward half bow in thanks instead.

It was a shame his mom wasn’t there to see how good of a person he was. Damn.

He was an asshole almost all of the time, but it was usually in the name of making sure people acknowledged him as the best, not in order to maliciously take advantage of people. And who could possibly do anything bad to this family? They barely knew him, if at all, and they invited him out without a second thought just because their daughter had some weird attachment to him.

Still hadn’t figured that one out.

“Daddy! Did you know that Katsuki can make things go boom?” Ochako asked as they took a seat at one of the booths to wait for their food. After a whole day with the toddler, it was almost comforting to have her lean into his side. Or, it might’ve been if her parents weren’t directly across from them.

“Yes, I did.” Her dad answered with a soft smile towards the two of them. Bakugo must’ve let his confusion slip because her mom clarified.

“We remember you from the first Sports Festival you kids were in.”

Ah. Great. So they did know him. As the guy who beat up their daughter badly enough to make her pass out bloody and bruised. And they still allowed him to join their family lunch?

“Well, he can help you with work!” Ochako suggested excitedly, not knowing anything about their high school times. “He can explode the buildings so you can build more things, daddy!”

Her dad laughed loudly at the idea. “I’m sure he has other plans, lovebug.”

“But then when I get my quirk, we can all work together!”

Bakugo’s mouth opened involuntarily at her idea. For all the ways she completely idolized her dad and dreamed of eventually working with him… She wanted him there as well. Her future plans, her ambitions, hinged upon him being there.

It made no sense.

If it were anyone else, they’d be able to see, clear as day, that the toddler was completely infatuated with Bakugo. In fact, she seemed pretty much incapable of talking about any topic but the explosive, blonde man. Everything came back around to him.

“Katsuki, do you want a bite of my hamburger?”

“Mama, can we go to the park after this? I wanna show Katsuki how high I can go on the swings!”

“Can I hold your hand? Please?”

Though he rejected her request, Ochako was happy enough to hold onto the belt loop on his pants as they left the restaurant and walked back towards the dorms. They were initially going to go to the park as she wanted, but after a couple of blocks, Bakugo noticed the little girl wasn’t skipping like usual. Instead, she was stumbling behind, rubbing at her eyes as she tried to keep up with his long legs in her tired state.

“Is it your nap time?”

“I don’t wanna sleep.” She whined softly, getting increasingly groggy against her wishes from the good meal.

“That’s not what it looks like to me, cheeks.” She didn’t even insist on Bakugo using her name, which indicated to him that he needed to pick her up before she straight up face planted on the sidewalk.

Comfortably settling into the crook of his neck, the toddler stroked at the hairs on the back of his head slowly, gently. She mumbled out an almost gibberish "Dun wanna shleeeeep." before her eyelids drooped shut. Once she was knocked out, her arms swayed loosely down his back with her chin resting on his shoulder.

“Could I?” Her mom asked with both arms stretched out tentatively, as if Bakugo wouldn’t let her hold her own daughter as she slept.

Bakugo felt like kicking himself. He should’ve just let them take her in the first place. What was he doing, picking her up like she was his own?

“Yeah. It’ll probably make your trip back home easier, huh?” He transferred the sleeping child carefully to not wake her.

“Actually…” Ochako’s dad stopped walking and pulled out a white envelope from his pocket. It had Bakugo’s name written in the middle with in black ink. “We were wondering if she could stay at the U.A. dorms. With you.”

What??

“Uhhh. Why?” Who in their right mind would entrust him with their child?

“Seeing Ochako like this again… it was a gift. But we are not in a position to care for a young child at the moment. Taking two weeks off of work is an impossibility and there are no affordable daycares in our area.”

Bakugo had never felt more uncomfortable in his life, watching the older man bowing his head in shame at not being able to provide for his young daughter. He didn't know how to voice how lucky Ochako was to have them. “We know we are asking a lot of you, but would you be willing to look after Ochako until she returns to her rightful age? We can compensate you-”

“No.”

“Oh.” Both of her parents’ faces fell at his response. “Yes, of course. We’re sorr-”

“I mean, you don’t have to pay me.” Relief flooded their bodies in understanding, along with a new resolve in the older man’s eyes.

“Please, it’s the least we can do.” Mr. Uraraka tried to get Bakugo to accept the envelope, resorting to trying to close his fingers around the paper.

“Really, it’s fine.”

“Take it. Please .”

Bakugo knew more than most how important one’s pride was. And as much as he didn’t want to take anything more from her family, he was already stealing their time together, he wasn’t going to allow the man to continue begging.

He willingly accepted the envelope of cash with two hands and finally saw a smile on the older couple’s faces. Seriously, where was his mom when he finally had solid proof of having a heart?

Although the amount was modest, the stack of bills no more than just a few layers, it weighed heavy in Bakugo’s pocket. It wasn’t just the responsibility of looking after a child for the next couple of weeks, it was the implication that he had somehow earned the trust of this entire family. Maybe it wasn't that surprising, coming from this particular family. Just looking at the Urarakas, it was obvious they were kind and loving and trusting.

But he was Katsuki Bakugo. Brilliant, strong, and, in seemingly every other person’s eyes, dangerous .

Definitely not anyone’s first pick as a babysitter.

But he had somehow convinced them otherwise. Or, more likely, their daughter had. And though he didn't completely understand it, he wasn't going to go and prove them wrong. If anything, he wanted to uphold their expectations.

Once they entered the U.A. campus, Ochako’s dad brought attention to a dark blue, rolling suitcase set off to the side.

“There’s a few changes of Ochacko’s clothes in here with some of her old stuffed animals and favorite books.”

“We’ve already washed the cloth items so they’re ready to go wherever you need ‘em.” Mrs. Uraraka added in a whisper, still swaying to let Ochako continue sleeping.

Damn (he remembered to keep that part to himself). “You kept all this stuff?” Bakugo asked with surprise.

“They’re a reminder of our little girl.” Mr. Uraraka looked over fondly at the sleeping child on her mom’s chest, snoring with her mouth wide open. “Being a hero and all, she doesn’t need us so much anymore. It’s nice to look back at how it started.”

“The school could probably pull some strings to let her into a daycare for a bit.” Bakugo suggested, but the older man shook his head with a smile.

“No. We want her to stay with you. She’s happy here.”

Unwilling to venture further into what that could mean, Bakugo wordlessly took the suitcase by the handle and guided them to his room where Mrs. Uraraka tucked Ochako into bed, even though everyone in that room knew the 3-year old would wake up with the blanket nowhere near its original state.

Bakugo set the suitcase by the door and stepped out, feeling like he couldn’t breathe within those four walls. He couldn’t stand to continue watching them stroke Ochako’s face and fawn over their child without feeling like he was intruding, even though it was his room.

He was just about to go back to class when they emerged from the doorway.

“Would it be alright for us to wait here until she wakes up?”

“She’s your kid. You can do what you want.”

“That’s very kind of you.” Bakugo could tell exactly where Ochako got her eyes from when her mom’s curled in that same crescent shape as she smiled. Once again, that pervasive, completely unwarrented thought of their hypothetical kid popped into his head. Would they get her brown ones, or his red? What about their hair? Their quirk?

“Our train home departs at 6:13pm. You can join us for dinner before we go, if you’d like.”

He did. But he didn’t. There was no way he was going to let them pay for him again. Or smother him with all of their… everything. Their words and smiles and warmth.

“You don’t have to decide now.” See? The whole family was so understanding, it made him feel sick. Like a fluttery feeling in his stomach. “But in case we don’t see you before we leave, we also wanted to give you this.”

In Mr. Uraraka’s hands were a tiny pair of black gloves with extra padding on the tips of each finger. Bakugo used to have something similar back when his parents were tired of dealing with scorch marks on the walls and pieces of shattered toys.

“Ochako’s quirk manifested around this time. If it ever does come up, please use these. She’s going to have a hard time remembering to not use all of her fingers and dealing with the side effects.”

With a nod, he pocketed the gloves where that white envelope was.

“Thanks, son.” Bakugo stiffened at the large hand on his shoulder. The fuck? Son?

Mr. Uraraka patted him a couple more times as he added, “You know, Ochako always had an eye for good people. It might as well be a second quirk.”

“I-I…” Bakugo stammered out embarrassingly before clamming up, not knowing what to say. 

Ochako’s mom seemed to recognize the conflict in him, giving him a watery smile as she cupped his face, the same way he saw her do to Ochako earlier, and made sure he was looking her in the eye. To deliver the killing blow with full impact, he supposed.

“Thank you for taking care of our Ochako. She is so lucky to have you. We all are.”

He was right.

Complete knockout with no chance of survival.

Chapter Text

It happened a few days later, on a Saturday, when she awoke from her nap.

Bakugo was sitting on the floor, back against the bed with a book in hand, when Ochako began to stir behind him. But instead of the typical whine of a child being pulled unwillingly from their slumber, he heard a pained groan and then a gag, accompanied by an unmistakable stench.

“Oh, shit!” He whipped around to see the previously floating blanket fall down from the ceiling as Ochako continued to empty the contents of her stomach onto the sheets.

“Katsuki…” She sobbed between her coughing. “I don’t feel good.”

“Wait, don’t touch anything!” He tried to warn her, but the moment her fingers landed on the pillow, it lifted a few inches from the mattress and knocked her back with another wave of nausea, though thankfully without the chunks.

Knowing it was no use to try and teach her amidst the panic, evident by her alarmed tears, he hurriedly grabbed the quirk resistant gloves from the top drawer of his dresser and fitted them onto her tiny, frantically grasping hands. It took a few tries since she wasn’t fully cooperating and he was busy wrinkling his nose at the acrid smell starting to permeate the room.

“My head hurts…”

“I know, Ochako. Just give me a second.” He held her by the wrist, careful not to touch the pads of her fingers for fear of activating the newfound quirk.

He finally wrestled them on, but saw it did nothing to soothe the crying child. Grimacing the entire time at the thought of getting bile on his shirt, he picked Ochako up from the bed and stood up with his arms enveloping her body, patting rhythmically on her back.

Snuggling into his embrace, her wails soon turned into shaky breathing and her tears became short sniffles.

“Feeling better?” He murmured.

“Uh huh.” She said weakly, making no move to lift her head from Bakugo’s shoulder.

“Ugh. It smells like shit in here.” He tried to set her down, but her whole body tensed and clamped.

“I wanna stay here.” She mumbled into his shirt, no doubt getting her saliva on it.

He sighed, though he found he wasn’t as irritated as he thought he’d be. “We really need to clean the bedding. It’s fucking disgusting.”

“... I’m sorry.”

Bakugo felt as though the 3-year old had just plunged her arm into his chest and squeezed his heart with those two, barely discernible words. She said them so small, so shamefully, he wanted to punch himself for making her feel as though it was necessary to apologize.

“It’s not your fault. It was your quirk.” He reassured Ochako, holding her steady with his left hand while gathering the sheets with the other. If she wanted to stay held, he was gonna make it happen. It’s not like he wasn’t strong enough anyway.

“My quirk is getting sick?” She turned her face towards him, bottom lip wobbling in disappointment.

“No, you can lift things by touching them. You, uh, cancel out their gravity so they float.” Or, at least that’s what he thought happened. He knew the basics of his peers’ quirks, but that was pretty much the extent of it.

“What does gravity mean?”

“Uhhh.” How was one supposed to explain the concept of fucking gravity, of all things, to a 3 year old? “It keeps stuff from flying away.”

The explanation seemed to be enough for Ochako, because she remained silent as he loaded the washing machine with the soiled sheets and their smelly clothes, leaving him shirtless and her with a white undershirt on. Then they trudged along to the bathroom to wash her face and mouth.

When he finally peeled off her fingers from behind his neck and set her down on the counter, she immediately burst into tears.

“What the hell?”

“I’m sorrrrrrrryyyyy!”

“Kid, I’m not mad about the sheets. It’s fine.”

“B-but I can’t h-h-h-help now!!” Her breathing got caught on the ‘h’ in her hyperventilating.

“What are you talking about?”

“I can’t he-help you o-or daddy anymooooore! I-I can’t build an-anything or-or-or fight meanies becau-cause then my tummy will hurt everytiiiiiimmmmme!” She continued to cry into her hands, blubbering on about how this wasn’t the quirk she was hoping for.

How on earth did she keep thinking of others, even at a time like this?

Trying not to smile in the face of her misery, Bakugo lowered Ochako’s hands from her face and squished the little girl’s cheeks to make her look up at him.

“Quit crying and listen up.”

Though they remained wet, she peered up curiously with her big round eyes, hiccuping through her inhales and almost making him forget what he was about to say.

“You are gonna be strong as hell and seriously kick ass with your quirk so stop worrying about it. Got it?”

“But I don’t wanna throw up again...” 

“Well, you won’t throw up every time. And you’re gonna do fucking amazing things with your quirk. I promise.”

“No! I’m not gonna use my quirk ever again!” Unconvinced, she crossed her arms in a huff and declared her stance, swearing off of using her quirk.

What could he do? He wasn’t charismatic enough to persuade a toddler. If there was any kid he could get to agree with him, it’d be this one, and she wasn’t buying it. He supposed it wasn’t unexpected, she always was a stubborn one.

But he also couldn’t leave her like this. It’d be a shame to let her continue thinking her quirk was useless or less than what she’d imagined, even if she was supposed to return to normal in a week. She generated her own meteor shower and directed a whole class full of heroes on a rogue mission with it for fuck’s sake!

Bakugo absent-mindedly scrubbed her face clean, to the misfortune of the toddler who got a mouthful of soap, and supervised her teeth brushing, all the while trying to brainstorm an idea for how to show her just how badass she’d become.

He finally came up with a decent idea while she got redressed in a clean pair of star-studded footie pajamas. It didn’t make any sense, they were still about 5 hours away from going to bed, but there was no arguing with her. 

It wasn’t like anyone was around to judge their choice anyway, they all went out again. He and Ochako were pretty much the only ones who stayed back at the dorms. Bakugo used her nap schedule as an excuse, but it was mostly so he didn’t fall victim to whatever nonsense Class A was sure to bring to the public space.

“I’m done!” Her little voice called out from the other side of the door, signaling it was safe for him to enter the room. Bakugo zipped up the back of the fuzzy thing and then held her hand to lead her to the couch in the common area.

“Alright, Ochako. I’m gonna show you a video of a hero with the same quirk as you.” She perked up with immediate interest, though she tried not to show it, somewhat sneakily peering at the pink and black clad woman on Bakugo’s laptop screen. “Her name is Uravity.”

Bakugo scanned the toddler’s face for any sign of recognition, but didn’t find any.

“She can make things float too?” Ochako asked curiously.

“Yep.”

“... And she’s a hero?”

He swallowed the lump in his throat. “One of the best.”

Ochako’s lips flattened into a straight line, contemplating the possibility. Before she could voice her suspicions, he hit the spacebar to let the video start.

It was a news clip from a few months ago. Everyone returned from their internships for the night and proceeded to gawk at the sight of one of their own lifting a bus-full of school children over the wreckage of an ill-timed fight. They learned a few hours later that Uraraka blacked out the moment the wheels touched back down on the asphalt, but really, none of that surprised Bakugo.

She always was stupidly gutsy like that.

The pair watched as Uravity strained every muscle in her body to guide the yellow bus carefully, slowly, over the chasm splitting the road in two. They watched from multiple perspective shots, a mismatch of clips from an overhead helicopter, a bystander on the street, even the bus driver, all shouting in disbelief at her incredible feat.

“Woah.” Ochako couldn’t help but watch in awe, now completely enraptured and not bothering to hide her intrigue. “Does she work with you??”

“Uh huh.” Bakugo felt himself grin, having successfully reeled her in.

“Then she must be really strong!” She determined excitedly.

“She is.” In more ways she could know.

“And-and... I can do that too?”

“Yeah, someday.”

And it wasn’t just the knowledge that they were the same person, that she quite literally would one day be able to pull off the same move. It was a deep, reverberating, desire for this little girl in front of him to succeed. He couldn’t imagine her not accomplishing every single thing she wanted.

“So let’s try this again.” Bakugo moved to take off one of her gloves, but Ochako leaned back, holding her hands close to her chest, shaking her head.

A sharp pang of disappointment cut through him. She had never run away from him before, only toward.

“You trust me, right?” Ochako nodded, though the concern on her face didn’t ease. “I’m right here, it’s ok.”

Squeezing her eyes shut in dread, she let Bakugo take off one of the gloves and only blinked in surprise when nothing happened.

“Don’t touch anything yet. We need to start small.” Bakugo looked around for something light she could practice on. He swiped one of the blank sheets of paper from the side table. Everyone in their class had gotten in the habit of leaving spare paper around for baby Uraraka to use for drawing. “Here. You can touch thi- What the fuck? Are you ok?”

Ochako remained completely frozen on the couch, terrified of moving wrong and going queasy again. “I’m not touching.” She whispered, hyper focused on her task.

“Damn, cheeks.” She still had enough energy to glare at him for not using her name, apparently. He rolled his eyes and gently grabbed her wrist. “You’re fine. Watch.”

He pressed the sheet of paper to all five of her fingers, watching her face as he let it float easily up to the ceiling.

“Katsuki! Look! I’m doing it!!” She squealed with delight.

“And you’re not getting sick, see?” He carefully removed the other glove and guided her hands together, matching the fingers to one another so the paper could flutter back down to the floor.

“More! More!” Her brown eyes sparkled as she bounced on the cushion.

“Alright.” He chuckled and brought another piece of paper to her fingers.

“No! Something bigger!”

Bakugo grinned at her ambition, seeing the familiar fire raging in the backdrop of pure excitement.

“That’s my girl! Try this!” He gave her the tv remote without hesitation. But when his brain registered his words, it was as if he was the one flipped up into the air, the ground being pulled out from underneath him.

What the hell?

His girl?

Where did that come from?

“Look, Katsuki! It’s floating!” Ochako laughed gleefully, oblivious to the inner turmoil he was wrestling with.

“Uh, yeah. Let’s, uh, bring it back down before you go too far.”

Scrunching her face in concentration, she pressed her fingers together and winced when the remote smashed against the table, making the back pop off and batteries roll out.

“Oops?”

“It’s ok. Destruction is good.” Bakugo ruffled her hair before piecing the thing back together. Let’s see what else you can float.”

They spent the evening testing her limits with apples, tennis balls, shoes, and other relatively small objects. When her stomach began to roll at the water bottle, Bakugo took a mental note to try again the next day. He was unsure whether it was the actual weight of the container or the extended use of her quirk that was doing her in.

Caught up in the excitement of their impromptu training, Bakugo ended up moving the dirtied sheets into the dryer much later than he had planned. He only remembered when Ochako was happily munching on her dinner, which usually meant about an hour until bedtime.

“Damn it, the laundry. Eat your dinner, Ochako. I’ll be right back.”

“They look like hoppies!” She squealed at the strategically shaped rice balls on her plate.

“You mean bunnies?”

“Hoppies!” She insisted.

“Whatever.” Rolling his eyes, Bakugo left the toddler in hopes of having clean, dry sheets by the time she went down for bed. He tsked at the timer, which indicated the task would take a little over an hour, and returned to see the aforementioned girl pouting at her food.

“What’s wrong now?”

“They’re too cute…”

“They're riceballs. Just eat ‘em.”

“But the hoppies…”

“If you don’t eat them, I will.”

“No! They’re mine!” She quickly shoved a rice ball the size of her fist into her mouth, making her cheeks swell up like a chipmunk.

Smirking at his victory, Bakugo sat down next to Ochako and started to eat as well. Every once in a while, he would hear her growl in frustration, not being used to the gloves impending her every move, but he didn’t bother helping her. He couldn't keep doing everything for her. Besides, he knew how persistent she was and that she’d figure it out eventually.

Everytime her face hardened in determination and then proceeded to brighten into satisfaction at her accomplishment, Bakugo celebrated inwardly as well, which was strange because it’s not like her successes had anything to do with him.

“Alright, time for bed.” All the training must’ve taken a toll on Ochako because her rate of eating had slowed down considerably and she was nodding off with rice stuck on her face.

“Noooooo.” She forced her eyes open, but they immediately began to droop closed.

“This ain’t a fight you can win, Ochako.”

“Yes, I can!” She clenched her fists resolutely, glaring in defiance as he cleared the plates into the sink and quickly washed them. Though, she didn’t struggle against Bakugo when he picked her up or when he brushed her teeth, a chore she had recently been wanting to do independently.

She was so exhausted, the distance between the bathroom and laundry room was enough of a walk for her to pass out in his arms, her fists twitching and eventually relaxing.

When Bakugo saw that the sheets were going to take approximately another 30 minutes to finish drying, he sat back on the couch with the toddler against his chest. He figured he’d wait for the dryer to go off and then move Ochako to the bed then.

But maybe he was more tired from the events of the unexpectedly hectic day than he thought. Because in a blink, he was on his back, eyes heavy with sleep, and vaguely aware of someone tugging at the child in his arms.

Wait.

Someone was taking Ochako?

“No!” Bakugo squeezed her close and groggily opened his eyes, his vision slowly focusing on the green-haired dweeb Deku. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” His voice was deep with sleep and boiling anger.

“Sorry, Kacchan.” He whispered sheepishly, retracting his arms. “The others are coming and I thought maybe you wouldn’t want to be caught sleeping on the couch, cuddling Uraraka.”

“I’m not cuddling anyone.” He spat out, ignoring the fact that the toddler’s hair was indeed in his face and that he was refusing to let go. "And I don't need your fucking help."

“O-ok. Well, everyone’s gonna be here in a few minutes, just as a warning. I mean, I guess I already said that so I shouldn’t repeat myself. But it’s never a good thing to just assume. Not that I’m saying you didn’t understand the first time. I’m just trying to be clear about the information. Of course, you’re Kacchan so you would’ve understood right away. Unless you’re still too asleep to have registered what I said the first tim-”

“Deku. If it weren’t for the kid sleeping on me, I would’ve decked you a long time ago. So shut up and go away .” Bakugo demanded measuredly, but the rumbling woke Ochako up anyway.

“I’m sorry!” Deku said flustered and scurried away.

Ochako rubbed her eyes and snuggled in closer to fall back asleep when the rest of Class A entered the common area, chatting and generally making a ruckus.

“Would you all shut up??” Bakugo hissed at them, trying not to blow his top at the giggling nuisances.

“Awww, that’s adorable!”

“Fuck off, Sparky!”

“Mama Bakugo!”

“Don’t you dare take a pictu- No! Shitty Hair, I swear to god!”

“Shhhh! Don’t wake her!” Kirishima snickered with his phone out. “Wait, what’s that on her hands? Are those…?”

Bakugo nodded in confirmation, adjusting his body as Ochako yawned and opened her eyes. “Quirk resistant gloves.”

“Oh, she has her quirk now?” Momo asked with her hands clasped in excitement.

“Woke up puking on the bed.” Everyone’s face simultaneously twisted with disgust at the image.

“But I can lift things better now. Right, Katsuki?” Ochako asked sweetly, making multiple of her classmates melt.

“Can we see??”

The toddler nodded and took one of her gloves off, reaching for the paper on the couch from earlier in demonstration. Without hesitation, she placed all of her fingers on the surface and watched it make its ascent up.

“Nice job, honey!”

“That’s so exciting!! What else can you float??"

"Here! Try this!"

As their classmates rushed forward with their congratulations and encouragement, Bakugo shook with irritation. “Alright, extras! Back off! Give her room!” Glowering at the crowd, he pulled off Ochako's other glove so she could bring the paper back down.

Her giggles developed into another yawn, clearly not done with her sleep for the night. “We’re turning in so stop your yapping and keep it down out here.” Bakugo grumbled and held Ochako with one arm to free up his other hand for the now-dry blankets, leaving the rest of the class to deal with the new information on their own.

Once back in the room, Bakugo did his best to smooth out the sheet onto the mattress and fluff the pillows back up all with one hand. It wasn't quite to his perfect standards, but it'd have to do. Thankfully, all of Ochako's stuffed animals survived the ordeal unscathed so he arranged those out for her too. Damn. His room was almost unrecognizable.

“G’night, Katsuki.” The toddler mumbled almost incoherently, flopping onto the bed like a ragdoll and scattering the stuffed animals. Why did he even try?

“Good night, Ochako.” He laid down and waited for her to latch onto his torso before adjusting into a comfortable position and covering them both with the blanket, toasty warm and scented with fabric softener.

“One day, I’m gonna be strong like Uravity and be your partner.” Ochako vowed with her last waking breath.

And as her soft snores filled the dark room, leaving Bakugo alone with his thoughts, he finally whispered out loud to no one in particular-

“That would be nice.”

Chapter Text

5:54am

Bakugo shoved the tiny foot away from his face, only for it to come back, kicking him in the jaw. Not hard enough for it to actually hurt, but enough to prod him awake.

“‘Chako… Jeez.” He rubbed his face with a tired groan and sat up, making the toddler tumble off of him and land flat on her back against the now wrinkled blanket. Even then, she remained asleep, snoring with her mouth hanging out.

He moved the stray hairs out of her face when he noticed her nose wrinkling from the irritation. As she hummed in content and shuffled to her side to hug the grey-blue elephant in her arms, Bakugo reached over to the alarm clock on his nightstand to stop it from going off. It wasn’t like he needed it anymore and he wasn’t going to wake up the little girl if he didn’t need to.

The last 11 days had been so busy, every waking moment dedicated to keeping Ochako safe and happy. He didn’t resent her for it or anything, far from it, but it was nice to have a moment for himself to get some stuff done in silence.

Rolling his neck in a stretch, Bakugo stood up from the bed and walked over to his desk, where the agonizing paperwork sat off to the side. He sat down, trying to shove away the bitterness just long enough to scrawl out a couple of sentences as to why he thought he shouldn’t be punished for rightfully saving Uraraka’s life with an assist from his supposedly-dangerous quirk.

Usually, he was pretty good about being on top of logistics like this. Being organized and prepared for any and every part of herowork was a point of pride for Bakugo, but he just couldn’t seem to get this paperwork done, no matter how many times he tried.

He had just crumpled and thrown away another piece of paper with the words ‘ On the date of the incident, I did your fucking jobs and saved all of your asses’ drafted on it when Ochako tugged on his shirt.

“Whatcha doin’?” She asked with her hair sticking up in the back, her elephant now dragging on the floor.

“Filling out pointless paperwork.” Bakugo groaned and shoved the still-empty form aside. “It’s not your problem. Let’s go.”

Easily falling into routine, he handed Ochako his phone on the way to the bathroom in order to press the triangular play button on the pre-recorded brushing song. He checked her teeth for any missed spots, detangled her hair, and tied the laces on her shoes all before entering the kitchen together for breakfast.

As usual, they were the only ones in there, the other extras still milking an extra hour of sleep before class. Bakugo didn’t do that shit. He needed to train.

Ochako followed along comfortably, happily eating her cereal as he prepped his protein shake. She learned early on that no matter how much it looked like a milkshake, it certainly didn’t taste like one. Once he put the dishes into the drying rack, they went to the gym, just like every other morning.

“Now stand up with your feet apart and bend at your waist, touching the floor with your elbows.” He directed each stretch aloud, knowing she wanted to copy everything he was doing.

“Katsuki!” She grunted out with an oddly strained voice. “I’m doing it!”

Bakugo glanced next to him to see the toddler in a wide stance, almost in a split, with her head on the ground and arms spread out behind her like she was purposely trying to dive into the floor. Aside from her body forming an almost perfect pyramid, her face was also going red from the upside-down position.

“Alright, alright. Don’t pass out.” He re-righted her and moved on to the next posture with an amused smile.

Once he had run through all of his warm ups, he set up Ochako’s training materials, items for her to practice her quirk on while he was busy using the gym equipment. 

“You remember the rules?”

“Mhmm!” She nodded excitedly as he pulled the gloves off her hands.

“Tell me.”

“Only touch the things on the mat and don’t let them get too high.” She recited obediently. 

They came up with the first rule when she tried to lift one of the barbell weights while he wasn’t looking and promptly passed out, making him almost tear a hole in the wall of the infirmary as he burst in with Ochako in his arms. The second one was attributed to the sticky soda stain that followed what sounded like a rocket going off when the can burst upon landing.

“And use the trash can if you need to puke.” He reminded her, bringing the bin closer to her work station.

“I’m not going to puke!” Her cheeks puffed out resolutely.

“Ok.” And with that, he started to adjust the weights on the machine for his own training. “Yell if you need help.” He didn’t bother playing music anymore, making sure he’d be available at a moment’s notice.

And though she didn’t call out for help once in the whole 45 minutes, he ended up having to cut his workout short anyway because he paused so frequently to check on her. Each time, she hardly noticed his gaze, too singularly focused on her own training.

“You good over there?”

“Yes! You too, Katsuki?”

“Yep. I’m good.”

8:42am

“... by utilizing the derivative, which is provided here, one can easily determine the original function. This process is called Integration. You can think of it alternatively as Inverse Differentiation. The formula can be found on page 223, if you have any questions…”

“Katsuki?” Ochako whispered the first chance she could, her eyes large with worry.

“Hmmm?” He grunted in acknowledgement, trying to catch the last of the teacher’s instruction before indulging the 3-year old.

“How do you say differ-differten… diffren…” Her face twisted with frustration as her brain struggled to process and produce the unfamiliar word.

“Differentiation.”

“Diffreshishiuhshun.”

“Dif-fer-ren-shi-a-shun.” He broke down each syllable, digging up every meager ounce of patience in his body.

“Di… fer… ren-shi…”

“-a-shun.”

“Differentiation.” She said it slowly, forming the word carefully with exaggerated mouth movements.

“Why do you wanna know?”

“I’m writing notes! Like you!” She finished drawing on her paper with a flourish and held it up for him to see. It was filled with scribbles and strings of mock letters set in slanted, wiggly rows. Some parts looked like actual numbers, which would have been extremely impressive if not for the fact the same ones were on the board at the front of the classroom. 

She had been diligently taking notes with her crayons to emulate Bakugo.

Burdened by her admiration, Bakugo awkwardly patted her head and gave her a quick, “Nice job.”

He knew a better person would’ve gushed over her work, praising her more outwardly and explicitly, but his method seemed to be enough for Ochako anyway, making her whole body radiate with joy.

12:11pm

“Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t see you there, so small and all!” Ochako peered up at the strange man in her way with a comically large cafeteria tray in her small hands.

“Go away, Monoma.” Kirishima interjected with a frown, ready to steer Ochako around the annoying schoolmate as Bakugo’s rage flared up.

“Like I said, I had no way of seeing her! It’s not my fault Class A keeps getting involved in needless situations. Although, isn’t it strange? Considering how you’re all supposed to be the best of us?”

“Listen here, you little shit-” Bakugo lunged forward to pummel the annoyingly smiley Monoma before realizing it’d be better not to lay hands on the copycat.

“Ah! Yes, I heard it had something to do with you, the all mighty Bakugo. What was the rumor going around again? Oh! That you’re responsible for this whole mess of a situation?” Monoma easily side-stepped the explosive Bakugo as he yelled in blind anger.

At the scene, Ochako ran out from behind Kirishima’s protective stand and took one of her gloves off. “Leave Katsuki alone!”

“Shit! Cheeks, what are you doing??” Bakugo yelled as she smacked Monoma’s leg with her bare hand.

The Class B student shrieked as the toddler immediately threw up on him, clearly over-exerted by his weight. It wasn’t clear if that was her original intention, but she was sure ready for it, still latched on with all of her willpower as she continued to cough onto the humiliated Monoma. 

The rest of the cafeteria snapped out of their shocked silence to proceed laughing at the scene.

“Oh, you totally deserved that, Neito!”

“You’re seriously picking fights with kids now?”

“Alright, that’s enough, Monoma.” Kendo weaved through the howling crowd, grabbing the now-trembling classmate without the need of her karate chop for once. “Sorry, everyone! Please continue enjoying your meals!”

The only person not enjoying himself was Bakugo, who picked up the gasping toddler without hesitation.

“What were you thinking, using your quirk on that jackass??” He fought the urge to shake some sense into her, forcing the glove back on her hand instead.

“He was being a big meanie!” Ochako wheezed out through gulps of water he was forcing onto her in an attempt to rehydrate her. “I wanted to protect you!”

He almost dropped her.

1:23pm

“Katsuki…” A small whine crackled from the baby monitor on Bakugo’s desk, interrupting Aizawa mid-sentence. The teacher didn’t seem to mind, just staring boredly at the already packing student.

“Meet us at the training area.”

Bakugo nodded in acknowledgement and rushed to his room, where Ochako had just woken from her post-lunch nap. Still coming off the dredges of sleep, she held her arms in a request to be carried to their next destination. He complied easily, though he made sure to keep her awake by getting her to talk.

“You don’t need to protect me, you know. Especially not from shitstains like that second-rate wannabe.”

“But I wanted to be a hero.” Ochako pulled back from his shoulder with a pout, hands still clasped around his neck.

“That’s my job. You don’t have to worry about stuff like that.”

“I didn’t do a good job?” She deflated in disappointment.

Damn it. He was trying to make the rare effort of being comforting and he managed to upset her instead. “Ochako, that was one of the best things I have ever seen someone do.” Aside from his concern towards her quirk setbacks, the whole ‘barfing on Monoma’ thing was objectively hilarious. “I was just… worried.” He explained hesitantly.

“Worried? Why?”

“I don’t want you to get hurt.” He coughed through the discomfort. “You’re my responsibility and I promised to keep you safe.” Like that was the only reason why he panicked at the toddler trying to activate her quirk on a guy 5 times her weight with no concern for herself. It had nothing to do with the fact that even thinking about her getting hurt made his stomach churn.

He dropped her off in the observation area before meeting back up with the rest of the class below. There was some teasing and jabbing during the first few days after Uraraka turned into a child, but they had all become so accustomed to ‘Mama Bakugo’ by now, as Kirishima so fondly coined him, no one gave him a second look as he reintegrated into the group.

But while some effects of the disastrous amusement park incident lessened as the days went on, some of them worsened.

Like how Bakugo had the thought of Ochako lingering in the back of his mind as he went through his newest simulation. Every decision he made was no longer rooted in how to come out victorious in all its blazing glory, but how to keep someone like her safe. It got so bad, that just knowing that she was watching him from above did wonders for his grades.

The teachers praised him for his newfound considerations towards bystanders at the mock crime scenes. “You have made remarkable progress in examining the probability of endangering the public with your moves, Bakugo-shonen!” All-might pointed out as part of his feedback.

Bakugo was unable to keep the tiniest of smiles from escaping at the genuine commendation from one of the most important figures in his life. But what really broke him was when Ochako asked him to crouch down so she could pat his head with a “Good job, Katsuki!” just like he had done for her before.

He didn’t want this feeling to ever end.

4:03pm

“Would you like some more tea, lady Kirishima?”

“Thank you, your royal highness. I would be honored.” 

Bakugo glared at the giggling pair across the table from him, dreading his turn. He had thought that by dragging Kirishima to this fucking ‘tea party’ thing, he wouldn’t have to be the only one suffering through the humiliation, but it turned out to make the whole thing even more miserable.

“And you, lady Katsuki?” Ochako held up her juice bottle, posed and ready to pour it carefully into Bakugo’s mug.

“Fine.”

“You’re supposed to say ‘yes, please’!”

“Yeah, lady Bakugo! You’re no fun!” Kirishima elbowed him, making the make-shift paper crown fall over his eyes. He had half a mind to rip the thing into shreds and shove them down Shitty Hair’s throat. It would be the perfect chance to see if his insides could harden too. They could think of it like training. Really, he’d be doing him a favor.

“Yes. Please .” Bakugo forced the words through his teeth.

“Oopsie.” Ochako said quietly to herself as some of the liquid splashed onto the table. Despite the slight mistake, she persisted and filled Bakugo’s cup almost to the brim.

With all three of them served, they began to drink their ‘teas’.

“Pinkies up, everybody!” Kirishima reminded.

“I will kill you.” Bakugo vowed in a low voice as Ochako’s scrutinizing eyes focused on his now-straight pinky finger.

He wanted to say he wasn’t sure how he ended up in this position, but that’d be a lie. He knew the timeline and how far along he was on it. There weren’t many days left before Ochako turned back into her regular self.

And he would never forgive himself for ever making the one person who unconditionally supported and believed in him unhappy.

Even if it meant sitting next to a stuffed elephant named ‘Tutu’.

6:10pm

“What d’ya want on your pizza?”

“Ham! And corn!”

“Corn? The fuck?”

“It’s yummy!”

“What if we don’t have corn?”

“Then I be sad…”

Fuck. Guess he’d better find some corn, then.

Bakugo had all of the mini circles of pizza dough rolled out with the cheese and sauce ready to go. The recipe said they could use regular toast bread, kids can’t tell the difference once the toppings are baked and melted on top, but he wasn’t gonna call the shitty thing ‘pizza’ if it didn’t look and taste like it.

He rummaged through the pantry and luckily found a can of sweet corn. Ochako cheered as he emerged from the storage room and grabbed it from him, holding and rocking it like a baby.

“I like corn.”

“You’re so weird.”

He set the drained corn, ham, and other toppings out across the kitchen counter for Ochako to decorate her own personal pizza. Once the spread was ready, he hoisted her up onto a chair for her to reach all the ingredients.

“Thank you!” She said automatically with a giggle and began to reach for a handful of ham.

“You gotta do the sauce first, Ochako.”

“No. Ham first.”

“But if you do tha-”

“No. I want ham.”

Rather than argue with her, Bakugo sat back and smiled at the laughing toddler adding heaps of cheese onto her dough. It didn’t look like anything he’d want to eat, but it sure looked like she was enjoying herself.

And when they put them into the oven to bake for 10 minutes, Ochako looked up at Bakugo from her crouched position and said, “That was fun! Can we do that again?”

He really didn’t want to make any promises, who knew how long she’d stay a kid anymore? And it wasn’t like she was going to come around afterwards, asking to make dinner with him once she became a high schooler again.

“Whenever you want.”

7:42pm

Now that Ochako was settling in bed for the night, Bakugo begrudgingly sat back down at his desk with the still frustratingly blank police form.

“What’s wrong?” Ochako called out from under the covers at his groan.

How could he explain it to her? He was just tired. And angry . Angry at the police, at society, for constantly pressuring him to prove himself against all of their bullshit predetermined assumptions. They acknowledged quirks were necessary in the situation, they let Todoroki use his ice wall and no one mentioned citing Uraraka for using hers before everything went to shit. So why was he asked to provide evidence of his ability to assimilate and change for the greater good?

“Just… I got in trouble. And I’m pissed .” He admitted quietly.

“Oh. Do you want a hug?” She asked, already getting out of bed before he could answer.

“I don’t need a hug. What I need is- alright, I guess this is happening.” He sighed and slung one arm over Ochako as she crawled up onto Bakugo’s lap, ignoring his protests, and hugged him. “... You can get off now.”

“All better?” She didn’t loosen her hold around his torso, her cheek squishing against his heartbeat.

“Sure.”

“This is what mama does when I’m upset. And daddy. And grandma.”

There wasn’t a single person Bakugo could think of who wouldn’t comfort this kid. “Ochako, everybody hugs you all the time. Because everyone likes you.”

“I like you, Katsuki.” She reassured him effortlessly. “You’re my favorite.”

It was like he had suddenly forgotten how to breathe. His whole body tensed as his brain malfunctioned and scrambled to remember. Finally taking in a shaky inhale after what felt like forever, Bakugo reciprocated her hug in full, wrapping his arms around her small body and resting his face atop her head. He held her tight, hoping she'd understand how much her words meant to him.

As long as this little girl liked him... maybe it didn’t matter what anyone else thought.

Chapter Text

Bakugo had gotten accustomed to being woken up by an elbow to the rib or a mouthful of hair, but this was a new one.

He was pulled out of sleep gradually, smoothly transitioning from deep slumber to the vague awareness of the warm weight in his arms. It took a moment for his brain to adjust, but once it registered what was happening, Bakugo’s mouth went bone dry.

Uraraka had returned to normal in the middle of the night without them knowing. Of course they didn’t. Would they have been in this suggestive position otherwise?

Her leg was thrown over his hip, hooking him close and pushing their bodies flush against each other. Bakugo wasn’t entirely faultless either, his right arm squeezing tight around her waist while his left supported her head. Their faces were so close to one another, they would’ve brushed lips if she tilted her chin up.

Holding his breath for fear of waking her with the slightest breeze, Bakugo slowly attempted to pull his arm out from under her.

“Nooooooo.” Uraraka whined and tightened her hold around his neck. “Stay...”

Fuck.

Fuck it all to hell, what was he supposed to do now?

Forget breathing, Bakugo was now worried that the deafening thumping in his chest would wake her. They were certainly close enough for her to feel it. For all the training he did for getting out of dangerous situations, nothing prepared him for this.

But before he passed out from the lack of oxygen, the alarm went off.

“Shit. Shit shit shit .” He whispered, desperately trying to wiggle out of Uraraka’s grasp.

“Whaaaa?” She groaned out and grasped around indiscriminately, trying to stop the beeping but pawing at Bakugo’s hair instead.

“Let go, cheeks.” Bakugo said with a strangled voice, hoping she’d stay half asleep.

But he had no such luck, her whole body tensed and her eyes shot wide open at the rumbling from his throat. She let out a high-pitched “Eeep!” and shoved him away, accidentally activating her quirk and making Bakugo hit his head against the headboard of the bed.

“Ow! Fuck!”

“Oh. My god! I am so sorry!!” Uraraka squeaked out and released him from her anti-gravitational hold back onto the mattress. She was so mortified, that she couldn’t find it in her to laugh as he landed awkwardly on his side and then promptly proceeded to crash onto the floor.

Rubbing the back of his head with a hiss, Bakugo scowled up at her. “What the hell??”

“I-I-I…” Uraraka stammered unintelligibly as she fumbled around to cover her bare legs with a blanket. She was once again wearing that thin-strapped yellow dress from when she was hit with the baby quirk. Having wrapped the sheet around her like a cloak, she leaned forward tentatively. “A-are you ok, Bakugo?”

The pain dulled into the background as a pang of overwhelming hurt hit him square in the chest. Since when did she call him Bakugo?

Determined not to let it show on his face, he hardened his features and stood up abruptly, stopping the alarm with a slap of his hand. “I’m fine.” He spit out, skull still ringing.

“Do you need an ice pack? I can go get one-”

“I said I’m fucking fine .”

Uraraka frowned slightly and then inhaled in that stuttered way before deciding against saying something important. She bit her lip and finally settled on a quiet, “Ok. I’m, uh… I’m gonna go.”

Bakugo nodded stiffly and watched her scurry out with his blanket still around her shoulders, closing the door resolutely behind her and trapping him in with his thoughts.

Good riddance. Now he could finally get back to his life, unbothered and free. Just how he liked it...

That’s what he wanted to say. If only he could stop feeling so shitty about it.

He shouldn’t have felt so bad and empty. It wasn’t like he expected her to stay a kid forever, or even until the end of this week. But there was an undeniable part of him that hoped things would be different when she came back and when she didn’t call him by name, he knew that wasn't the case.

Shoving down the disappointment, Bakugo forced himself to go about his day like normal, but his normal was all off.

He habitually grabbed his phone to go to the bathroom and pressed play on that ridiculous brushing song, letting it run through the first few words before realizing it was unnecessary and jamming the stop button with a growl.

Then he pulverized his protein shake well beyond its point of completion and took the pitcher to the gym, not bothering to pour it into a cup. Once there, Bakugo proceeded to run in circles for an hour straight in an attempt to forget about the training mat stashed by the door with items like baseballs, snack packs, and books of various weights that he thoughtfully gathered the day before.

After a quick shower, where he sat crouched under the steady stream of water for a few minutes longer than he’d like to admit, Bakugo finally entered the classroom, for once not being one of the first to arrive.

“Yo, Bakugo!” Kirishima slapped him on the back with a grin. “Must be a big relief to have Uraraka back, huh?”

Relief was a good word for what he should have been feeling instead of… whatever this shit was. He would’ve gladly scraped at the hole in his chest with his own hands in order to fill it with anything but this fucking awful feeling if he could.

“Yeah, whatever.” He didn’t even have the strength for a good comeback, shrugging off Kirishima’s hand with a glare and sliding into his seat. All the while making damn sure he didn’t look at that corner desk in the back where practically all of class A was gathered to greet the much-missed brunette.

“Uraraka, you were such a cute kid!”

“A-ah, thank you?”

“Not that you aren’t adorable now!”

“Oh, no. You’re still our super cute ‘Chako Chip now, of course-”

“-Of course!!”

“But girl, you have to see this pic of you and Bakugo sleeping on the couch from the other day!”

“It is PRECIOUS!”

“No!” Bakugo slammed both his hands down on his desk, leaving palm-shaped scorch marks across the surface and setting his stack of blank drawing paper on fire with the stray embers.

“Well, damn. Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed today.” Mina muttered with her phone in hand, making both Bakugo and Uraraka break out in a twin blush at the memory of waking up together.

“Bakugo, go stomp out the fire in the hallway and grab a new desk from next door. Everybody else, get to your seats.” Aizawa directed monotonously from his position on the floor and watched the class disperse to their respective spots with bloodshot eyes.

“Don’t worry, Ochako. I’ll send it to you later.” Mina whispered assuredly to her still-flushed friend before scurrying off with a wary look at the explosive blonde, who was hauling his charred desk towards the door with a deadlier aura surrounding him than normal.

And maybe Aizawa knew what he was doing, because Bakugo came back into the classroom a little less tense than before, having let out some of his frustration on the smouldering pile of ash outside. But then again, maybe not, because the bitterness just returned every time Bakugo felt the urge to look at the empty spot next. By the time the bell rang for lunch, he was more than ready to bolt out of there.

Frustratingly enough, the cafeteria posed its own set of problems. He picked out a bowl of spicy tantanmen in the lunch line, fully intending to enjoy the first peaceful meal alone in a long time, when his hand hesitated over the last package of mochi in the dessert section.

Bakugo looked behind him to see Uraraka towards the end of the line, still swarmed by classmates. Damn it, she was too far away to guarantee that she’d get the sweets before someone else took them. Nobody said it was his responsibility to make sure she’d get the thing, he wasn’t her keeper, but Bakugo knew the exact pout she would make at the realization that they were out and couldn’t live with not doing something about it. With a groan, he swiped it up and paid for the sticky sweets.

Staring ahead at the exit, Bakugo refused to make eye contact with Uraraka as he placed the mochi on her tray, along with the receipt for her to show the cashier that it was already taken care of.

“Bakugo? What…?”

“It’s yours.”

Ignoring the flabbergasted exclamations of their peers, he walked all the way back to the dorms, where he could eat without being bothered in his room. The same room where Ochako’s drawings were taped onto seemingly every open surface on the walls.

Suddenly not hungry anymore, Bakugo set down his food and began to pull down the artwork. It wasn’t like he had anyone to bug him about putting up every single scrap of paper that had even a speck of color on it anymore. The random cut-out shapes and strips were dumped into the garbage without a second thought, but the drawings were another story.

Among the multiple pictures of the Uraraka family and strangely colored animals was one of Ochako and Bakugo holding hands on the beach. It wasn’t particularly well done or even close to being proportionally accurate, but…

You’re my favorite.

Remembering Ochako’s words, he slowly, carefully, folded the tape over the edge of the paper to keep from ripping the drawing and sandwiched it between two notebooks in his desk drawer. He couldn’t say if he would ever willingly let it see the light of day again, he would never live it down if others found out he kept it, but he couldn’t bring himself to throw it away. That piece of paper was the only tangible remnant of the little girl that loved him.

He shuffled the rest of the drawings into a pile and made a mental note to eventually send them to Uraraka’s parents in case they wanted a piece to hold onto too.

Now that those weren’t staring into his soul anymore, he hurriedly slurped down the lukewarm noodles and changed into his blue and white gym uniform before booking it to the training area.

Arriving just as class started for the second time that day, Bakugo knew how he looked to others. Frazzled and out of control, he was doing a piss poor job of convincing others that he was unaffected by this whole Uraraka thing. He would need to up his game if he wanted to get them off his back.

Determined to prove he was fine and completely unbothered by the fact that Ochako would no longer be around to cheer him on, Bakugo set out to ace his newest simulation. 

It started off pretty well. In fact, it was the best he had felt all day, blasting things apart to his heart’s content and demolishing everything in his path. But then he saw her watching him off to the side and he misfired.

“Ochako!” He yelled out in horror as the side of the building collapsed from his explosion and a 3 ton chunk of concrete embedded with ragged metal beams hurtled down towards the brunette girl who now had her fingers splayed out in preparation for defense.

In hindsight, he shouldn’t have doubted her ability to handle the situation on her own. And if it were anyone else, he wouldn’t have cared. But in that moment, all Bakugo could think about was the little girl who could hardly float a lunchbox the day before.

He sprinted towards her with gut-wrenching familiarity, hoping once more to god, any god out there, that he’d make it in time to protect her. 

In a last ditch effort, Bakugo jumped and shielded her with his body as he thrust his hand up to blast the falling wreckage and hopefully lessen its impact on his soft flesh and crushable bones. His body seized at the realization that he almost didn’t make it, his fingers brushing up against the bottom of the rough surface just before setting off his quirk.

“I got you.” He squeezed his eyes and braced for the impact, but instead of feeling the raining debris pelt his back and head… there was nothing. Why wasn’t it falling back down?

“Ummm. Bakugo?” He heard her say underneath him.

Opening his eyes and glancing up, Bakugo saw that the blasted fragments of the building were hovering above them, held up by Uraraka’s power. She must’ve touched the thing right before he blew it apart.

Of course she did. She could more than take care of herself.

“Did you… did you just call me Ochako?” Her cheeks turned pink from both the implication and the pressure of holding up so much dispersed weight.

Though he wanted nothing more than to deny it and walk off, he couldn’t just leave her there in the landing zone of dangerously sharp debris. Not to mention their whole fucking class was witness to what just happened. So Bakugo pulled her out from the shadow of the looming rubble, thick enough to block out most of the light, and watched as she let it drop into a massive dust cloud.

There was a tinge of pride at the sight of the destruction she was capable of. And then it was quickly replaced by the gaping loss of his right to celebrate it with her.

Not only was he not her person anymore, he was the one who put her in danger in the first place.

Damn it.

Maybe all those people had a point. All he did was destroy things.

Bakugo quickly turned and left the training area before he did something embarrassing like cry in front of everyone. Thankfully Aizawa stopped Kirishima and Deku from running after him because he wasn’t sure he could yell at them without his voice breaking.

He reached his room without interruption and was left alone for the next two hours. He would’ve preferred to have been getting his frustrations out through a physical outlet, but he didn’t want to risk running into anyone and, well, that’s what he tried to do in class and look where that got him.

“Bakugo?” Her voice accompanied a soft knock. “It’s me, Urara… Ochako.”

He opened the door tentatively to see Uraraka standing in the hallway with his blanket folded neatly.

“I came to bring this back.” She offered it up to him and bit her lip when he didn’t accept it right away. “A-and to apologize. I think I’ve been making things weird between us all day.”

It wasn’t her fault. At all.

“I really don’t mind you calling me Ochako, I was just caught off guard when you said it. I was already pretty frazzled when I woke up this morning.” She full-body blushed at the memory. “And then trying to piece together the last two weeks…”

“So you don’t remember.” The dread he’d been trying to brush aside came rushing back.

“I remember feeling safe.” She smiled warmly to herself and hugged the blanket to her chest in reminiscence. “And happy. I was really happy.”

So was he.

Snapping out of the daydream-like memory, she shook her head and re-extended the blanket. “So thank you. And I’m sorry for any trouble I caused. Though, I don’t know if I can be held accountable for what I did as a 3-year old.” She laughed.

Bakugo took the sheets back from her, stuck between wanting her to leave and stay forever. “It’s fine. It’s whatever. And... I’m… I’m sorry. About the building thing earlier.”

“You don’t have to be sorry about that.”

“Yes, I do.” He grit hit teeth in anger towards himself. “I almost hurt you!”

“But you didn’t?” She frowned, not understanding his inner turmoil. “I could’ve handled it.”

“I know that.” Shit. The last thing he wanted to do was offend her. “But I was being reckless with my quirk. It should’ve never happened.”

“Is this about that high-risk quirk form? Kirishima told me the police gave you one at the amusement park.”

How did she pinpoint things so exactly?

It seemed like his silence was enough confirmation for her. “Because it’s totally ridiculous they’re making you fill one out at all.” Uraraka crossed her arms in annoyance on his behalf. “Did you return it yet? If not, I can go with you to the station to explain things.”

“You would do that?”

“Of course!”

She was doing it again, vouching for his character when no one else would. Maybe it wasn't child-like wonder and a clean slate that made him so great in her eyes. Maybe… maybe it was just her.

“Why?”

“Because you totally saved my life?”

“I mean… why are you…” So nice to me. So ok with all of me. “What do you think is... good about... me?”

“That’s not a very Bakugo question. You know how incredible you are.” Uraraka laughed to herself.

But when she saw that he was the furthest thing from laughing along with her, she stopped with a sharp inhale. “You do know how incredible you are… don’t you?” Her voice was slow and soft and alarmingly disarming.

He already had the inconvenience of grieving the loss of something that was never meant to be his in the first place. There was no way he was subjecting himself to any more of these feelings if he had any say in it. “Obviously. I’m the strongest, the best in class. Forget I asked. Bye.”

But before he could close the door on her, she grabbed him by the arm with a “Wait!”’

God, why couldn’t he say no to her?

“Bakugo, you are so much more than just your quirk, or your strength, or even how smart you are. You need to know that I wouldn’t be around if it weren’t for you.” She peered into his eyes, searching for any indication that he was getting through to him.

“That’s an exaggeration. Your parents would’ve just taken you home.” He argued gruffly.

“I’m not talking about the whole babyfying thing. I mean I wouldn’t be here as a hero.” She insisted, holding him by both arms now. “When people look at me and my quirk, they assume I’m just a weak, naive little girl. But not you. You’ve never once held me to any other standard than the one you put on yourself. You demand that I be strong and constantly better myself so that I can stand next to you as an equal. And I am so grateful for you.”

Bakugo slid his arms out of her hold, much to her disappointment. But then her frown turned into a surprised gasp when he leaned down to embrace her. He couldn’t see her face, but he just knew she was smiling when she stepped into him and wrapped her hands around his torso in reciprocation.

“If you ever need a reminder, just come find me.” She murmured into his shoulder.

Happiness flooding his body as he breathed her in, Bakugo wondered if that offer extended for the rest of his life.

--- 

Katsuki was on his stomach, building things out of legos with his daughter in the living room after dinner when she burst into tears out of nowhere.

“Wha-what the fuck?” He watched with his mouth open in surprise.

“Akari? What’s wrong?” Ochako put down her work file and stood up from the stool at the kitchen counter to comfort the crying 3-year old.

“Is it because I took this red thing off? I can put it back, kid. See?” Katsuki stuck the aforementioned piece back onto the top of the castle without any effect on the crying girl. 

Well, he tried. Maybe this was just one of those things she needed to cry out?

He and Ochako learned pretty early on that their daughter was more prone to mood swings compared to other kids. She got frustrated quickly, like him, but also loved openly, like her. It often left her vulnerable to a lot of overwhelming feelings, certainly too big for a child to process on her own. This led to a few mishaps with her volatile quirk, but that's what those little black gloves were for. She was pretty much an even blend between the both of them, the little girl even mastered that scowl on her round face like Katsuki had imagined all those years ago.

“Was daddy being a meanie?” Ochako teased as she scooped Akari into her lap and held her with soft pats down the back.

“Nooooooooo.” She cried, shaking her blonde pig-tails furiously.

“Ok, then. What’s wrong, baby?” The couple waited patiently for her explanation.

“I-I-I…” She tried to form her words through the hiccups. “I can’t marry daddy!!”

… What?

Katsuki still had no idea what was going on, but his wife seemed to be handling it just fine, nodding and affirming the crying child’s words.

“I see…” He didn’t. Not at all. “You’re upset because you wanted to marry daddy, but you can’t because mommy’s already married to him.”

Oh.

“Uh huh!” Big fat tears rolled down Akari’s round cheeks and Katsuki couldn’t imagine holding more love for anyone in the world. “I love him so muuuuuuuuuuuuch!!!” Well, there went his heart. RIP forever.

Ochako laughed and squeezed her daughter close with her arms and legs in a whole-body hug. “Me too. Isn’t he the best?” She looked at Katsuki with a twinkle in her eye.

He was a lucky, lucky bastard.

“I have an idea.” Ochako wiped the tears from under Akari’s eyes, now sparkling like rubies, and smoothed her bangs out. “How about we share him? Hmm?”

“... Ok, mommy. We can share.” She sniffled after a hesitant agreement and climbed out of her mom’s lap to find his.

Katsuki sat up with his back against the couch to let the toddler rest on his chest as she finished calming down with shuddering breaths, fiddling with the top of his shirt like she had done since she was a baby until she fell asleep from the emotional exhaustion. And when Ochako finished her work and shimmied into his side to rest her head on his shoulder, his whole being melted into her.

“Hey, Ochako?”

“Hmmm?” She peered up at him with complete adoration in her eyes and he hoped she could see the same reflected in his.

“I love you.”

And though he’d said it countless times before, she smiled like it was the first. As if all she ever wanted was for him to say those words.

He didn’t need her to say it back. He already knew. Everytime she smiled at him or held out her hand to hold, there was this tiny part that whispered from within that he didn’t deserve it. But he’d be damned if he let it win. She did too much for him to throw it away like that.

So before she could feel obligated to repeat his words back, he leaned down to kiss her.

But he really should've known that she'd find a way to sneak in the last word because he found himself smiling into her mouth as she whispered right before they touched,

“I love you too, Katsuki.”