Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

In their society, the human body had evolved to handle quirks… but that didn’t mean it always handled them perfectly . People bursting into flames and turning their skin to concrete didn’t come without consequences. There were… side effects to frequent quirk use.  The specific effects differed from person to person, but almost no one escaped unscathed.

Bakugou had seen examples of it all around him. He couldn’t even count how many times he’d seen Aizawa step aside to put in his eye drops in high school. Kirishima had a dermatologist on speed dial to combat the skin issues he’d developed after years of hardening. Uraraka still suffered from nausea after pushing her quirk too far.

And those were the more mild cases. Some of his friends had even more severe side effects that made even his less-than-soft (He is NOT soft dammit) ache with sympathy. Kaminari’s arms were laced with violent white lightning scars and he was trying a new experimental treatment for his severe neuropathy every few months. And Bakugou had covered a dozen or so patrols when Shinsou’s migraines got so bad they required hospitalization.

It wasn’t like Bakugou was immune to it either. His quirk, over time, tended to thicken up the skin on his palms. Luckily he was raised by a skin care guru and took great pains to avoid calluses. His kids would tease him relentlessly when he had to ask them for help doing something mundane (like itching his nose) because his hands were covered in a mud mask or soaking in two huge bowls of Grandma Bakugou’s secret treatment.

But he never imagined it would get worse than that.

Until it did.

--------------------------

He didn’t realize what it was at first, and he certainly didn’t think it had anything to do with his quirk. 

It started with his earpiece communicator and a call from Sero for backup. Bakugou had been at the agency when the alarm went off that a comrade needed help. Bakugou was out the door in seconds, heading in the general direction he knew Sero was assigned to that day, expecting to get the actual address from dispatch on the way.

Only the voice from dispatch in his hear was muffled as hell.

“Dispatch repeat.” Bakugou demanded into his throat mic. “Dispatch repeat. ”

Dispatch repeated the address but Bakugou could only make out a seven.

“Dispatch you are breaking up, fucking repeat.”

It wasn’t any better a third time, nor a fourth.

“Fuck it. Earpiece I grabbed is fucking broken. Send the address to my phone.”  Bakugou halted to a frustrating stop. He couldn’t use his phone AND blast himself forward and he was losing precious time because of unreliable, piece of shit equipment.

“Bakugou there is nothing wrong with this earpiece.” Hatsume waved it in his face later that day when he brought it down to the basement lair that housed her equipment lab.

“Bullshit. I couldn’t hear a damn thing all day.”

“Then it was on those idiots up in dispatch. Not my equipment.”

“I want a new one.”

“Excuse you.” Hatsume glared at him. “I know your babies just popped out of thin air, but mine take time to make. This one works fine.”

“Mei-”

“Don’t you Mei me. You’re taking this one back.”

“MEI-”

“AND I guess I can go check out Dispatch’s equipment. They’re due for an upgrade. Hmmm… maybe I can convince them to let me add that new rapid response program for coordinating with medical…” Hatsume turned away from him, mumbling in a way that reminded him an awful lot of his husband. He muttered his thanks and left, turning the earpiece over in his hand.

--------------------------

He started to suspect something might be wrong when the problems started showing up at home. 

He had always found it a little harder to sleep without his Izuku in bed with him, even HARDER knowing that he was out on shift when Bakugou was safe at home on a night off. So on those days he tended to stay up late, put something on the tv and kick back on the couch with a snack that totally did not fit in with his nutritional goals.

This time it was double chocolate ice cream and reruns of Say Yes to the Dress. Sometime around his fifth or… fifteenth episode and nearly halfway through the carton he nearly jumped out of his skin when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He spun, ice cream flying, to see his 13 year old rubbing his eyes sleepily.

“Dad?”

“Jesus Akio. Don’t sneak up on me like that.” Bakugou scrambled to get the container before it dripped chocolate onto his carpet.

“I didn’t… sneak.”

“Why are you awake? It’s a school night.”

“I know . But your show is too loud and those ladies scream a lot.” Akio pointed at the screen where some lady was freaking out over a dress. Bakugou turned to look and made a face at the hideous wedding dress the woman had chosen.

“Dear lord, do not go with the fucking mermaid you psychopath. You need an a-line with your body shape-”

“DAD!”

“Oh. Yeah yeah.” Bakugou reached for the remote and pressed the volume button, shocked that it was… he had been listening to it at nearly full blast. He muted it and turned to Akio who was looking at him weird.

“I’m...sorry.” Bakugou sighed and stood. He pulled Akio into a side hug and kissed his temple. “Go back to bed. I’ll keep it down.”

He watched Akio shuffle back down to his room before he took the ice cream back to the kitchen. When he got back, he stared at the mute button wondering how it was that loud and he didn’t notice. He brushed the feelings away and instead of unmuting, he toggled the subtitles on and pushed up his glasses.

--------------------------

He KNEW something was wrong when it started to affect the people he loved much more drastically than accidentally waking them up with a loud TV.

Bakugou had a rough shift. A villain with a short range teleportation quirk put up an hour long fight in a fucking cement factory and he had tried for even longer back in the lockerroom showers to get the powder out of his hair. He had a pounding headache, his ears were ringing, his hands were sore from having to blast that much for that long, and all he wanted to do was go home and put on his apron and take his aggression out on the pork he had been marinating for going on 48 hours now.

Only when he got home he was immediately assaulted by the chatterbox that was his nine year old.

“Dad! Dad you will not believe what happened today at school!” 

Hiroki launched into a story that Bakugou couldn’t follow because his ears were still fucking ringing and… and he wanted to listen but he needed to sit down.

“Hiroki I just got home. Can you not talk for five minutes?” Bakugou asked gently, not noticing the way Hiroki flinched. “I need some quiet ok?”

Baku waited for a cheerful ‘ok!’ from his kid. It was something his boys were used to, their parents needing a moment after a bad shift. Hiroki knew Bakugou would come find him to hear all about his day when he had fully switched from work mode to home mode. 

He turned around when the ok never came and froze when he saw Hiroki standing there like a deer in the headlights, tears pooling in his eyes. Bakugou panicked.

“Why are you crying?” He asked, genuine concern taking over. This time he absolutely saw Hiroki flinch at his words. His son’s hands flew up to cover his mouth as he stumbled back, right into Midoriya who had stepped out of the kitchen.

“What’s going on?” Midoriya asked, barely audible over the ringing still. 

Bakugou watched as Hiroki scrambled around them and ran back toward his room. When he looked back, Midoriya was glaring at him.

“What!?”

Midoriya stomped over to him and pushed him not-so-gently against the door. Bakugou hated that he had to strain to hear his husband hissing into his ear.

“Katsuki I don’t know what happened at work but you know the rules. We don’t bring it home and we never NEVER take it out on the boys.”

“I don’t- I didn’t. I told him I needed a couple minutes!”

“You YELLED at him. And WHY are you yelling now!?”

“IM NOT YELLING!”

“Ok you know what?” Midorya stepped back enough to yank the door open and shoved Bakugou back outside. “Take a walk and come back when you’ve calmed down.”

Bakugou stared in horror at the door Midoriya slammed in his face. He wasn’t horrified about the action itself, he was horrified that it barely made a sound. He had watched it fly shut with enough force to shake it and he didn’t hear more than a muffled thud.

Which meant… he might have been yelling and hadn’t even noticed. He winced, realizing how bad his word choice was if he had actually been yelling instead of speaking gently like he thought.

CAN YOU NOT TALK FOR FIVE MINUTES? I NEED QUIET. WHY ARE YOU CRYING?

“Oh…. fuck.” Bakugou raked a hand through his hair and sank down to sit on the little concrete step outside the door. The ringing… when he focused on it… it wasn’t ringing. It was more like the whine when your ears just wouldn’t pop. And it was something that had been happening more and more. 

And Bakugou had a horrible, sinking suspicion he knew why.

He ripped off his glasses and buried his face in his arms, folded across his knees. He stayed that way until a hand on his shoulder made him jump.

“It’s just me.” Midoriya sank down next to him. He propped his head on Bakugou’s shoulder and Bakugou hated that he had to push him back. Midoriya looked at him, confused. Bakugou pushed his glasses back on.

“I have to look at you.” Bakugou explained, not willing to admit he needed to try and read lips. “Is Hiroki ok?

“He’s...confused and shocked. I can count on one hand the number of times either of us have seriously raised our voices at him. He was startled.”

“ Fuck.” Bakugou breathed.

“I explained that it was a work thing, that you weren’t even remotely mad at him. He wanted to come out and say sorry but I wouldn’t let him since he has nothing to apologize for. He’s watching something with Akio on the laptop in their room. ”

“Jesus. I’m so sorry Izuku.”

“I know.” Midoriya reached out and took his hand, squeezing it. “Do I get to know what’s wrong? Bad day?”

“No.” Bakugou sighed. “Well...yes. It was a bad day but I’ve had worse. I just needed to sit down and I tried- Zuzu.”

“It’s ok Kat. It’s ok.”

“It’s not ok. I couldn’t even tell I was yelling.”

“Hiroki will understand. You were distracted-” Midoriya started.

“I wasn’t distracted Izuku.” Bakugou cut him off. “I didn’t know I was yelling because I can’t fucking hear .”

“What...do you mean?”

“I can’t hear. And it’s getting worse. Even now I dont know how loud I’m talking because it sounds like I’m whispering. I can’t hear the tv. I can’t hear my students at school. I had to get Hatsume to jack up the volume on my earpiece. The last graveyard shift I covered I fell asleep and I fucking slept through the dispatch alarm. Fucking Shinsou had to throw shit at me and… Izuku I can’t hear.” Bakugou’s voice cracked. “I can’t hear.”

“Katsuki how… were you injured? How long has this been going on?”

“Not injured. It’s uh… It’s been getting worse the last couple months.”

“Why haven’t you said anything Kat!?” Midoriya let go of his hand and reached up to cup his face. “Why wouldn’t you tell me!?”

“Thought maybe it was temporary. Thought it would fucking go away. Didn’t want you to worry.”

“Well I’m worried now! Have you seen someone?”

“What do you think?” Bakugou shot him a look.

“ Kat. ”

 Bakugou just looked at him, trying not to cry and failing spectacularly. He hadn’t seen a doctor, he couldn’t . The doctors benched him for almost two months when he got his glasses. If he couldn’t hear… this could be the end of his career. He was only thirty five and it could just end like this.

“I'm scared.” he managed to choke out.

Midoriya pulled him into an embrace and Bakugou lost it. He hadn’t cried like this since the kids were little. He hadn’t been scared like this… he hadn’t been this afraid for himself since he was kidnapped back at UA. He buried his face into Midoriya’s shoulder and just sobbed.

“Oh Katsuki.” Midoriya shifted, tilting his head so he was talking as directly as he could into Bakugou’s ear. “It’s going to be ok. We’ll figure this out. We just need to see a doctor. It’s going to be ok.”

--------------------------

The next day, despite Bakugou’s insistence he could do it alone, Midoriya called in sick for the both of them so he could take Bakugou to the doctor.

He wouldn’t admit it, but the longer they sat in the waiting room, the more grateful Bakugou was getting that Midoriya was there. He was nervous, his leg bobbing up and down at a frantic rate, wringing his hands together until Midoriya reached over and grabbed one of them. When he looked over, Midoriya just smiled at him and squeezed his hand a little tighter. 

Bakugou smiled back and then dropped his head back down to stare at the floor. He shut his eyes and focused on listening, trying to make out the sounds of the waiting room around him. When he really focused he could make out bits and pieces of people’s conversations, the ringing of the receptionist's phone, laughter from the tv. None of it was clear though. It all sounded like he was listening to it from underwater and he sure as hell didn’t hear them finally call his name.

The doctor dug around in his ear with the brightest pen light Bakugou had ever seen. They ran a few tests that Bakugou didn’t understand the point of and then the doctor shoved Bakugou into a little soundproof box-booth and strapped a headset on him that looked like it might have come from 1983.

He handed Bakugou a little clicker with instructions to click the button whenever he heard a beep. Then he shut the door.

Ten minutes later Bakugou was getting frustrated that they hadn’t started the damn test and was about to start shouting when the doctor opened the booth’s door. His heart sank when he saw the doctor’s face.

“I failed the test didn’t I?” 

“You didn’t hear a single tone?”

Bakugou shook his head slowly.

“Alright.” The doctor sighed. “Let’s have a talk.”

“Can you… can you go get my husband?” Bakugou asked. “I want him to uh… hear this in case I...don’t”

The doctor brought Midoriya back and the two of them held hands again as the doctor explained.

“I’m estimating about… 70-80% hearing loss. I think it’s fairly obvious the degradation is the result of frequent exposure to the loud and percussive qualities of using your quirk without proper ear protection.”

“Is there anything we can do?” Midoriya asked.

“We can’t fix the damage that’s already been done. I don’t know of a healing quirk in the world that could reverse it.”

Bakugou felt more than heard Midoriya suck in a quick breath, definitely felt his husband squeezing his knee like a stress ball.

“But,” The doctor continued. “The good news is that now that we’ve caught it, we can stop it from getting worse. You’ll never be able to hear perfectly on your own, but with proper equipment we should be able to get your hearing back to nearly 100%”

“Equipment?” Midoriya asked.

“Hearing aids.”

“Hearing aids?” Bakugou choked.

“You get them, you pass a hearing test, I’ll clear you for duty. Until then you’re benched. Desk only. In the field and at UA.”

“I… I can still be a hero?”

“Bakugou-san.” The doctor smiled at him. “You’d be shocked at how many heroes are out there right now with medical devices. Hearing aids are not going to stop you. You should know that considering you were taught by one of the most famous heroes with hearing aids ever.”

“What?” Bakugou asked. “I was?”

“Present Mic… Ohhhhh.” Midoriya nodded his understanding.

“Maybe you should talk to him. See who he recommends for the hardware. In the meantime I’ll get you a list of the manufacturers I would recommend. And we can follow up when you’re all hooked up. Anything else you want to talk about today?”

“No.” Bakugou managed to croak even though his throat felt like it was swelling up.

“Thank you Doctor.” Midoriya added for him, watching as the doctor walked out, waiting until the door closed until he turned to his husband. “Well that was pretty ok news. Wasn’t it?”

Bakugou said nothing. 

He continued to say nothing, despite his husband’s prodding, the entire way home. He got home, kicked his shoes off, and barely made it the few steps to the couch before he collapsed into the cushions. Midoriya sat on the floor next to his head and gently rubbed Bakugou’s neck until the blonde conceded and turned to look at him.

“I know you’re upset.” Midoriya said. “But that was way better than we were expecting and you know that. Don’t you dare let yourself spiral.”

“It’s my fault.” Bakugou looked up at him helplessly. “It’s happening because of my quirk. I fucking did this to myself.”

“You know I think the same thing every time I look at my arms.” Midoriya raised said arms, covered in mottled scar tissue. “Doesn’t mean I would have done anything differently Kat. They’re from using my quirk. My quirk helps people. How can I regret that?”

“You can be a hero with scars. How the fuck am I supposed to do what I do if I can’t hear? How am I supposed to teach my students- HOW am I supposed to keep my students safe? How- how do I keep Akio and Hiroki safe!?”

“Katsuki. The doctor said you could hear perfectly with hearing aids-”

“ Hearing aids. HEARING AIDS!? I am thirty fucking five and I would have to wear them for the rest of my life Izuku. I barely coped with getting glasses. What… how can I do this?” Bakugou stared at him, Midoriya stared back for a long moment before he spoke.

“I love you.” Midoriya smiled. “Did you hear me?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you want to keep hearing it? You wanna hear our boys say it?”

“Y-yes.” Bakugou admitted, tears pooling in his eyes again.

“Then you get hearing aids so you can. That’s all there is to it babe.” Midoriya leaned over and kissed him gently. “And I think talking to old Mic-sensei would be a good idea.”

“I haven’t spoken to him or Aizawa since the old man retired. I don’t even know how the fuck I would get in contact with them.”

“Well. Lucky for you we work their kid. Ask Shinsou.”

------------------

“What… do you want? Do you know what time it is?” Shinsou asked, staring at Bakugou with murderous intent. He had obviously just woken up, dressed in nothing but his boxers and a shirt.

“It’s fucking 3pm.”

“And I worked a grave last night. This is like waking me up at the ass crack of dawn. I’m not taking a shift today. I don’t care if you and Deku are my bosses now, if you don’t get off my porch I will make you.”

“I’m not here to make you work. I’d fucking call you.” 

“Then why are you at my house?” 

“I… need help.” Bakugou glanced away, feigning interest in the potted plant dying on the Shinsou-Iida’s porch. 

“Wha… Ok not that I’m opposed. But what could I possibly help you with here that I couldn’t do at work?”

“I need to talk to your dad.”

“Uh… ok? I can give you Aizawa-”

“Not that dad. Which one do you call dad? Wait, fuck-” Bakugou held up a hand. “I don’t care.”

“You… YOU need to talk to Present Mic?” Shinsou actually chuckled. “About what? You a singer now?”

“No. I-” Bakugou took a deep breath. “I’m losing my hearing and they want me to wear hearing aids and he’s the only person I know that’s done that and was still able to be a hero.”

Shinsou stared at him, eyes going large. After a moment he nodded slowly.

“So that’s why you haven’t been on the duty roster. I thought maybe you died and Midoriya just didn’t want to tell us yet.”

“Sorry to disappoint.” Bakugou glared at him.

“Right so… dad. My dad. I call him Dad, Aizawa used to be Papa but since Kenji came we all just call him Grumpy.”

“TMI.”

“You fucking asked.” Shinsou chuckled again. “But yeah, dad. I’m sure he’d love to talk to you actually. Normalizing heroes with disabilities is kind of his thing.”

“I’m not disabled” Bakugou reached out and punched Shinsou’s shoulder.

“Call it what you want. But it’s definitely something I think my dad can help you with.” Shinsou grinned wickedly. “And I will gladly put you in contact with him on one condition.”

“Ok?”

Shinsou stepped back into the house and yelled over his shoulder.

“KENJIROU!!” He yelled.

“WHAT!?”

“COME HERE!”

Within seconds Shinsou’s very hyper seven year old appeared in the doorway as well.

“Baku-ojisan!” Kenjirou said cheerfully. “Is Hiroki here to play!?”

“Uh...no?” Bakugou looked up at Shinsou, confused.

“No playdates space cadet. But go get your overnight backpack.” Shinsou instructed.

“Why?”

Shinsou grinned again.

“Because Uncle Bakugou is taking you to Grandpa Mic’s house.”

Chapter Text

Bakugou was glad that Present Mic apparently only lived a few blocks from Shinsou’s house because while he’d had the kid over plenty of times for playdates, spending more than five minutes alone with him made him want to get rid of what was left of his hearing.

He was beyond relieved when they arrived at a nondescript little townhome with a cat-shaped door knocker. 

Aizawa answered the door and they stared at each other until Kenjirou spoke up.

“Hi Grumpy!”

“Kenji.” Aizawa said in greeting, lifting his arm so Kenjirou could skip inside, “Bakugou.”

“Uh. Shinsou gave me your address in exchange for walking the kid down here.”

“And you needed my address because?”

“Is your… Yamada home?”

“My Yamada is walking the cats. Can I help you with something?” 

Bakugou almost laughed. Aizawa was in his pajamas, staring him in a doorway almost identical to how his son had fifteen minutes ago- wait, what?

“Walking the cats?”

“Yes. Can I help you with something?” Aizawa asked, breezing over the implied question.

“Uh… No. I just… I wanted to talk to him about… hearing aids.” Bakugou didn’t see the use of beating around the bush, might as well be upfront about why he was here.

Aizawa appraised him for a moment, and then stepped aside.

“He’ll be back soon. You better come in and join us for lunch. I hope you like tuna.”

Bakugou didn’t like tuna, but he accepted the sandwich and awkwardly sat across from his old sensei at their kitchen table, watching as the man forced food into his grandson before letting him go play. The kitchen itself was making Bakugou even more uncomfortable than Aizawa staring at him was. One wall was covered in cat shaped clocks, there were cat shaped placemats on the table, cat shaped salt and pepper shakers, and every single cat seemed to be looking at him.

“How’s school?” Aizawa asked suddenly.

“Uh. Good. It’s good.” Bakugou forced a smile.

“How are your brats?

“Good. Good yeah.”

“You know I’m still impressed how respectful they turned out despite having the two of you as parents.” Aizawa said dryly.

“Thanks. I’m surprised your grandkid turned out so happy despite having your cranky ass to look up to.”

“Touche.” Aizawa grinned and opened his mouth to say something else when the front door opened and Yamada walked in with the weirdest sight Bakugou had ever seen. The man had one white cat on a leash that he unclipped before he set down the basket he had been holding, unloading what Bakugou had ASSUMED to be a fluffy watermelon but was actually the fattest white cat he’d ever seen. And Bakugou’s jaw literally dropped open when the fat cat wiggled itself through the kitchen toward it’s water bowl on only it’s front legs because it’s front legs WERE THE ONLY LEGS IT HAD.

“Oh. Bakugou. What a pleasant surprise!” Yamada came over and dropped into a kitchen chair, reaching over to grab what was left of Aizawa’s sandwich. “What are you doing here?”

“What the fuck is that!?” Bakugou was still staring at the cats.

“Oh. That’s Hugh.” Yamada chuckled. “It’s short for Human, since he’s only got two legs.”

“A-and the basket?”

“Well Hugh and Ali- Ali is short for Alien. They’re twins from the same litter so we figured if Hugh is Human than Ali needed to be Alien. Anyway,” Yamada waved a hand around in the air. “Hugh was born without legs so he can’t walk but Ali likes to go for walks and the fresh air does them both good so… basket.”

“Why the fuck is it so fat?”

“He doesn’t have legs . And Shouta doesn’t understand that he can’t exercise off all the treats he spoils him with-”

“Are you here to talk about our cats or would you like to get down to business?” Aizawa cut him off.

“Oh. Oh I am so sorry, I’m interrupting.” Yamada made to stand up but Aizawa yanked him back down. 

“He’s here to talk to you.” Aizawa stood abruptly. “I’m going to go hang out with Kenj.”

“Oh… ok?” Yamada watched him leave. “What can I help you with Bakugou?”

“I… A couple months ago… Ok.” Bakugou put his hands on the table and took a deep breath. Being this open? Being this personal with anyone other than Midoriya or Kirishima felt actually painful. “Almost two years ago I started… noticing shit sounded muffled. I went and had the doc clean my ears… it didn’t help but I didn’t tell anyone. It didn’t get worse so I thought I was fine.”

“It got worse recently?” Yamada asked.

“I fought this villain down in the subways. My… blasts were amplified in the closed space. After that I noticed it was way worse. Doctor says… 70-80% of my hearing is gone. I’m guessing closer to 70 because I can like… I can hear people talk if I’m looking at them. But they benched me, can’t even fucking teach… unless I get hearing aids.”

“Oh. I...see.” Yamada pursed his lips tentatively. “And how do you feel about that?”

“Fucking terrified.”

“Of anything in particular?”

Bakugou took a deep breath and looked over at the fat fucking cat.

“What if it gets worse? What if I can’t be a hero? Akio’s voice is starting to crack and what if I can’t hear what my kid sounds like after puberty? What if I wear hearing aids and people fucking look at me different? I’m just… fucking scared.”

“Yeah that’s a lot of stupid things to be scared of.”

“The fuck?” Bakugou shot the man an incredulous look. Yamada just laughed and stood up.

“I’ll be right back and then we will address those stupid fears one at a time.”

Yamada came back with a box and handed Bakugou a familiar headset.

“You’re afraid it will get worse? Take steps to prevent that.” Yamada sat back down. “You think my headphones were for show? No. The highest noise cancellation the support department could fabricate. They interfaced with my hearing aids and I could choose what I wanted to hear, cutting out what could hurt me.”

“I… don’t think I could wear something like this. It’s not exactly fucking Ground Zero.”

“So find something else that works. Point being, protect your ears.”

“Right.” Bakugou nodded.

“Next, you’re afraid you can’t be a hero? That’s… stupid. I did it. I know of at least a dozen other hard of hearing or deaf heroes. We have a group chat, get together every August. Ok? Stupid fear.” 

“O-ok.”

“Next, I was present for Hitoshi’s pubescent squeakery BECAUSE I protect my ears when I can and I follow my doctor’s rules about wearing my hearing aids safely. AND, the nice thing is that when it got really bad and annoying? I could just pop ‘em out.” Yamada grinned, then sighed. “Your next fear is the only one that even has a pinch of justification.”

“Fucking fantastic.” Bakugou abandoned his polite posture and sank back into the chair.

“There were people… there ARE people that have looked at me, judged me, tried to tell me what I could or couldn’t do because I can’t hear. It sucks. But there are also people who looked at me, judged me, tried to tell me what I could or couldn’t do because I’m gay too. There’s people who judged my Tosh because of his quirk. And Bakugou I seem to remember a whole lot of news stories hating on your potty mouth.”

“Potty mouth?” Bakugou smirked.

“Shush. I’m in grandpa language mode. My point is that… I know you. You’ve never cared about what anyone other than your family thinks about you. Why would that change?”

Bakugou looked down at his hands. The man was right. Bakugou had never given a shit what anyone ever thought of him...except…

“Ok so maybe I’m… scared of what my family will think. What my boys will think.”

“You’re their dad. That’s all they’ll think. I can’t promise you a lot with hearing loss, but I can at least promise you that. They love you, and believe me when I tell you that it feels the same whether they say that to you, or sign it to you.” Yamada smiled at him and Bakugou couldn’t help but smile back.

“Could you… Like I’ll get fucking lessons or whatever… but could you teach me some signs?”

“I’d love to. Anything specific?”

“I.. have some ideas.”

--------------------------

Bakugou was more nervous the day he got his hearing aids than he was the day he got married.

Of course, letting Hatsume Mei that close to your brain was enough to stress anyone out. The woman had never made hearing aids before but she was the only one Bakugou trusted enough to make the equipment his entire career would depend on now.

Although he was beginning to regret asking her when she grabbed his head and all but jammed them into his ears, fussing over the fit and tweaking with a comically small screwdriver for nearly ten minutes before she slipped his glasses back on and stepped back.

“That’ll do it.” She handed Bakugou an oil streaked mirror and stopped back, looking much too pleased with herself.

Bakugou… stared for a long moment before reaching up to hesitantly poke one of them. He’d asked Mei to make them black. If he had to wear them… he was damn sure going to make it look fashionable. They looked very sleek and modern, specially designed by Mei to fit around his ear without interfering with his glasses. He let himself be cautiously optimistic, they didn’t look…. They didn’t look all that bad, it really looked like he was just wearing sports headphones or something.

“Alright. I’m going to turn them on, we’ll start pretty low and...there.” She looked up at him. “Can you-”

Bakugou jumped.

“I CAN HEAR- ow Jesus. Is that how loud I’ve been fucking talking?”

“Yes. Now shake your head.”

“What?”

“Shake your dumb head. Back and forth. Shake it like you mean it.”

Bakugou did so and Hatsume grinned.

“Perfect! Yeah these babies aren’t going anywhere. The fit is so good you good go through a jet engine and they’d still have to pry them out of your decapitated head.” The woman cackled.

“Good. Great. Can it go any louder?” Bakugou made grabby hands for the remote she was holding, she handed it to him with a sigh, then handed him a tablet with a 3D schematic on it.

“The ones you have in are your everyday hearing aids. I’m not finished working out the programming kinks but these bad boys will be your on duty ear pieces.” Hatsume gestured to the tablet. 

Bakugou used a finger to rotate the image. They looked like… little black macarons with weird wings.

“Since we already modified your mask to include prescription goggles, I designed these to integrate fully into the mask but still be removable if needed. They’re carbon fiber, water proof, and explosion proof. They’ll amplify your hearing of course, but also will function as your earpiece and sound protection. The inner layer conforms to the shape of your ear and is made out of a malleable but dense sound-proof polymer I stole from my side-gig over at Iidatech.”

“You stole?” 

“No need for specifics. Anyway, I’m modifying the program Present Mic gave you for selective sound filtration. I’m making it adaptable so it will automatically block sounds over a certain decibel. I’m also writing a program that will allow you to control them from your wrist communicator AND let you control your at home ones from your phone. I’ll probably have them done in a week or so…”

Hatsume trailed off when it became clear that Bakugou wasn’t really listening to her. He was just staring at the tablet, flipping through the rest of her images that showed diagrams of how they would attach to his mask and then an eerily realistic rendering of him actually wearing them.

“Bakugou? I… I know they are still kind of big but I made them as slim as I could.”

“What?” Bakugou finally looked up at her. “No, fuck Mei they’re great. They’re amazing. It’s just nice to… hear.”

“I can imagine. I can also imagine you’re eager to go test those out. Just don’t jack up the volume right away, ease into it ok? I don’t need another lawsuit.”

“Another?” Bakugou shot her a concerned look.

“NO NEED FOR SPECIFICS.” Hatsume took the tablet back and waved him off. “Now shoo, go hear everything you’ve been missing blasty boy.”

“I will.” Bakugou stood and swept the shorter woman into a crushing hug. “Thank you Mei. Thank you. ”

“Get out of my lab or I let loose the robo-pigeons.”

Bakugou just laughed and backed away, hands raised and oddly pleased at the sound of his own laughter.

-------------------------------

“So!?!?” Midoriya launched himself into Bakugou’s arms not even five seconds after he stepped through the door. “Oh they look so good! Did it go well!? Can you hear!? Do they work!?”

“They work.” Bakugou chuckled, wrapping him up in a hug. 

“Can you feel them? Do things sound any different? Did she make them waterproof like we asked? I know you like to watch tv in the bath. When will you get the heroics ones? What about-”

Bakugou just laughed and buried his face against his husband’s neck.

“I’m sorry. I’m rambling.” Midoriya cut himself off and gently returned the hug.

“I know. I can hear you.” Bakugou’s throat felt suddenly tight, and his next chuckle definitely came out as more of a sob. He hadn’t even realized how fucking much he missed hearing his Izuku’s voice with clarity. “I can hear you.”

“Oh Kat-Mmrph!”

Bakugou cut off whatever sappy shit was about to come out of his husband’s mouth by kissing him, pushing him back until they both toppled over the arm of the couch and collapsed into a pile of limbs and giggles. And oh fuck Izuku’s laugh sounded heavenly. It was so good that Bakugou couldn’t stand to silence it, instead moving to pepper the nerd’s jaw and neck with little kisses so Midoriya was free to laugh.

“Kacchan!” Midoriya protested playfully, though his hands were most definitely pulling Bakugou closer and not pushing him away.

“Mmmm.” Bakugou managed to breathe between nibbles. Every little faint sound coming out of his husband was like music to his ears. Lord, but he wanted to pull more sounds from him. Sounds he’d desperately been missing. 

“Please tell me the boys aren’t home.” Bakugou growled, hand slipping up Midoriya’s shirt.

“Hiroki’s in his room.” Midoriya said, a hint of disappointment in his words. He knew exactly what Bakugou had wanted to get up to.

“Bah!” Bakugou grumbled, letting his head drop into the crook of the other man’s neck. “Fine. Later. Tonight.”

“We’ll have an early dinner.” Midoriya teased, chuckling as Bakugou pushed himself up to look down at him. Bakugou smirked and leaned down for one more, lingering kiss before rolling off the couch to his feet.

“Where are you going?” Midoriya asked.

“If I can’t hear you, then I want to go hear my kid.” Bakugou smiled at him and started to walk off, trudging down the hall toward the boy’s bedroom. He swallowed down his disgust at the state of the room, he’d have to have another talk with his kids about leaving dirty laundry everywhere.

But now was not the time. 

He walked over to where Hiroki was sitting cross legged on his bottom bunk with their nintendo thing. His son barely glanced at him approach.

“Hi Dad! One second, I’ve almost beat this boss.”

Bakugou grunted and gingerly tossed a pair of old socks off his son’s bed. He shoved Hiroki over against the wall so he could lay next to him, looking up at the kid’s game. Hiroki seemed unphased by being moved and just kept smashing buttons at a pace that made Bakugou feel a little dizzy.

He watched for at least ten more minutes before Hiroki’s game made a series of happy trills and his nine year old kicked out his feet with excitement.

“Yes! Did you see that Dad!?”

“Uh...sure?”

“I’ve been trying for months to get that combo down without Akio’s help!” Hiroki sighed happily and turned to look down at him. “So what do you want? Is it my laundry? I told Papa I’d do it I’m just- OH COOL!!! YOU GOT YOUR HEARING AIDS!!!”

“Yes I did.” Bakugou winced at just how loud his kid was. Hiroki noticed and clasped his hand over his mouth.

“Oops. Sorry!” He reached out and poked one. “Do they hurt?”

“Nope. They kinda just feel like… headphones.”

“Do they work? You can hear? Can I try?”

“No you can’t fucking try!” Bakugou chuckled and swatted his son’s hands away. “I can hear better than I have in a long time. But uh… That’s actually want I wanted to talk to you about?”

“Huh?” Hiroki looked confused, almost worried at his dad’s tone. He shifted a little closer, knees bumping into Bakugou’s torso.

“I promise I am going to do everything I can to keep my ears safe. But with my job… there’s always a chance that someday I won’t be able to hear anymore. And I’m not scared of that, but I am scared of something.”

“But you’re not scared of anything!” Hiroki protested. 

Bakugou chuckled and pushed himself up into a sitting position, slightly crouched in the tight confines of the bottom bunk. He reached over and tweaked at Hiroki’s ear.

“I yelled at you Bean Sprout.”

“No! It’s ok! You didn’t know-”  

“It’s not ok.” Bakugou cut him off. “And I never want to accidentally do it ever again just because I can’t hear you talk. So… I want to learn to see you talk.”

“Wh….what?”

“The city center uh… has classes. Every Sunday. Sign language classes. Kenjirou’s grandpa teaches them sometimes. I’m going to start going and I… was wondering if you’d come with me.”

“You want me to learn sign language with you?”

“Yeah. I do. What do you say?” Bakugou watched as Hiroki’s freckled face split into the widest grin and he tossed his gaming device out off the bed in favor of throwing his skinny little arms around Bakugou’s neck.

“Ok!”

Bakugou let out a relieved breath. He hadn’t been worried that Hiroki would say no, but he had been worried that his son wouldn’t exactly be enthusiastic about it. He eagerly returned the hug before pushing him back.

“Here, Mic-san already taught me this.” Bakugou slowly moved his hands through the sign Yamada had taught him.

“What’s it mean!? Is it a swear!?”

“No it is not a swear you fucking goof!” Bakugou laughed. “It means I love you. ”

“Oh.” 

Bakugou tried and failed to not look amused at the brief disappointment that flashed over his son’s face before the kid looked up bashfully.

“Can you teach me?”

“Yeah.”

In the end, Yamada was right. It didn’t matter if his kids said it with their mouths or with their hands… the ‘I love you’ felt the same.