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“Okay, I’m off.” Kiko’s voice spoke from the doorway of the kitchen, where Bakugo was preoccupied with the dishes from breakfast. She sounded exasperated, both from drowsiness and for the trials that awaited her in her classes. That, and she always waited until the last minute to actually put on her uniform, so she was just plain winded. “I’m probably gonna head straight to Ainu’s after school.”
“Know when you’ll be back?”
“I’ll…” His daughter grunted softly, as if struggling with something. “I’ll miss dinner, so don’t bother making an extra portion. Knowing Kaoru, she’ll quadruple check the whole project, and that will take two hours on its own…”
The man looked over to see her trying to jam her heel into her shoe while leaning against the entryway. Kiko was a third-year now, displayed by the teal tie around her neck rather than the ascot she’d had to wear the previous years (her school tried to differentiate grades with variations in the uniform). Said senior obviously had a lot on her mind, though, not looking as together as she normally did. The aforementioned tie was a bit loose (Ei was still trying to teach her how to tie it properly), her shirt a bit wrinkled, and the collar of her blazer was all sorts of messy. It was this latter detail that caught his attention the most, and he was about to lightly scold her for looking sloppy when something completely different caught his eye.
A bruise...on her neck.
Katsuki honestly felt himself tense up a bit, and his eyes widened somewhat as well. It wasn’t massive, but it was a deep purple and located just above the base of her neck. She’d been wearing a sweatshirt when she’d come down for breakfast, so it had been hidden before, but it was in plain sight now with her uniform. Only for a half second did the father consider her being injured before he remembered a certain boy had been over yesterday…
“There we go.” The young woman finally got her shoe situated, standing up straight and flashing him with a small, sweet smile. “Bye, Papa. Love you.”
“Hold it.” The order was short and sharp, but he didn’t mean to raise his voice like he did. Kiko had only taken a step or two towards the front door, but immediately froze, turning to him in startled confusion. Bakugo took calm, deliberate steps towards her. All he could feel was tension in his body, though he couldn’t quite name whatever emotion - emotions were going through him right now. The blonde gently lifted his daughter's chin to the side to get a better look at the mark, eyes narrowed seriously. His jaw clenched upon the closer expectation. Yep...that was a hickey alright.
“What the hell are you - ?” Kiko glanced at her father through her periphery in complete bewilderment. He ran his thumb over the mark, causing her to jump a bit from the nerves. After a second or two, she finally realized what he was looking at, her eyes widening a bit before quickly looking down at the ground. Her short hair shielded her face from him, but her shoulders noticeably tensed. That only confirmed his suspicions even further.
For about six months now, Kiko had been dating Tetsutetsu and Kendo’s kid, Akio. They were each other’s first ever partners, but they were mostly long distance, since the boy was enrolled in the hero course at U.A. The national school had just let out for summer vacation, a week before many others in the country, and the boy had come down for the weekend to spend time with Kiko before the summer training camp started. Both Bakugo and his husband had worked yesterday, and the two teenagers had been alone in the house all day…
When the kids announced to their parents that they were together, Ei and the metal head in particular had been super excited. It’s so freaking cool! She’s with the manliest person we could have hoped for! Katsuki had actually been annoyed with himself and the protectiveness that bloomed in his chest. Kirishima was right on the money. They’d known the kid since he was born after all, and he took more after Kendo in both appearance and personality. On top of that, he was aiming to be a hero like his parents, though the back of Katsuki’s mind reminded him that that didn’t stop some people from being disgusting little perverts. Still, Kiko had a solid head on her shoulders and didn’t take shit from anybody. She was seventeen, for god’s sake. She was almost an adult. If she wanted to be with someone, then nobody had the goddamn authority to stop her, even her fathers. They’d told her their expectations years ago, and Jiro had helped in giving her the infamous talk when she’d started going through puberty. Everything had been fine.
So why the hell did Katsuki’s chest still tighten a little?
There was a tense silence for a good twenty seconds. The hero glanced at his daughter, only to find her gaze still glued to the ground. He looked back at the hickey on her neck. If he hadn’t stopped her, she would have walked all the way to school with it being visible to anyone she passed. The uniform did absolutely nothing to hide it, and Katsuki knew that, even though it would be no one’s goddamn business, people would make judgements. He knew that there would be some insecure assholes who would call the top of their class a whore for the fun of it and drag that bright smile of hers down along with it. He knew that there might be some teachers who would think less of her for no freaking reason. He knew that harsh words would be thrown over something completely natural. He knew she would be mortified, even though there was no reason to be.
Gingerly removing his hands, he said, “Go sit at the table. I’ll be right back.”
His daughter didn’t look back at him or show any response, but he turned and left the room anyway. Walking down to the end of the hallway, he opened the door to her room and flicked on the lights. The place wasn’t as neat as Katsuki would normally keep it, but it certainly wasn’t messy. His eyes zoned in on the top of her dresser, where she kept a multitude of little things including her makeup. Grabbing a bottle of her foundation and the cleanest sponge he could find, he swiftly returned to the front of the house. He found Kiko sitting at the dining room table as she was told, her slumped shoulders and somewhat bowed head making her look like a little kid who’d just been scolded. Bakugo pursed his lips a bit. The thought of her when she was little was not helping this freaking rock in his stomach.
She didn’t raise her head upon him entering, but she did subtly lift her eyes toward the makeup he set on the table as he sat in the chair next to her. The rigidness of her body and the gloomy shadow over her eyes as she still refused to look at him further weighed on his chest. Shit. She probably thought he was mad - or worse, disappointed. Shit. He mentally cursed and scolded himself. Had he looked angry earlier? Damn it, he’d promised himself that he would do better with her, that he wouldn’t be a pathetic father like he had been before. She couldn’t decipher his unreadable expressions like Eijiro could, and sometimes his natural, somewhat harsh way of speaking grated on her more than it ever could his husband. Katsuki had never been good with words - he’d always been a man of action, of service - and even in his forties, he had trouble remembering that sometimes actions weren’t enough. Kiko did understand him, understood how he showed his love. She was second only to Ei in accepting and loving him as he was, but still...sometimes she needed more.
His face stoic, he pumped a decent amount of foundation onto the sponge. He silently looked up at his daughter, who now looked at him with cautious curiosity, and motioned for her to turn her head away from him. After a second, she did so, pursing her lips. He began to gently dab the makeup over the mark. Immediately, it was masking it pretty well, though Katsuki knew it would take another layer or two to make it completely disappear.
After a minute or so passed of this process, he decided to softly voice a question. He obviously couldn’t change what had happened. He wasn’t angry in the slightest. He’d accepted that she was grown up now. At least...he thought he had. Still, there was one thing he needed to know, one thing that would determine whether or not he had to kick a certain kid’s ass. Finishing up the second coat, he asked, “Were you safe about it?”
Kiko had relaxed quite a bit since he began, quietly observing his face as he worked and realizing he wasn’t upset. Still, she looked down, a rabid blush on her cheeks. “Nothing happened….”
“Kiko, don’t lie to me,” her father gently warned, fixing her with a stern look.
“I’m not. I promise.” She met his eyes for the first time, and he immediately knew she was being truthful. After a second, though, she grew sheepish again and glanced back down at the table, muttering, “I wasn’t...ready…”
Bakugo ignored the dumb part of him that felt immense relief at the revelation. Still, he didn’t mind the pressure lifting from his chest. “Don’t act so shameful about it, idiot. You’re the only one who gets to decide that shit. Anyone who thinks they control you or your body is a pathetic bastard.” There was a short pause before he further asked, “And ginger-top backed off, right?”
His daughter chuckled, either at the nickname for her boyfriend or her father’s protectiveness. The lightness of the sound further seemed to ease Katsuki’s nerves. “Yes, Papa. He was very respectful.”
“He damn well better have been.” He allowed his normal gruffness to come back with that threat. “If not, I would have Howitzered his ass. Doesn’t matter whose goddamn kid he is.”
This caused Kiko to now full on laugh. “Trust me. He’s aware.”
Looking back down at his work, Katsuki dabbed the last finishing touches on her neck, the hickey having completely vanished. He felt the need to tag one last thing on: “And it shouldn’t be the fear of me blowing him up that makes him respect you…”
The girl seemed taken aback by that statement for a moment, but she quickly looked down, clearly thinking about said boy with a soft smile on her face, “It’s not. I know it’s not…”
God, that smile might have broken his heart a little. It was a look he’d seen on many of his peers' faces - at their weddings, at get togethers, in small moments when it seemed like no one else was looking. A smile that Ei gave him on a daily basis, a smile that he felt on his face staring at the redhead in return, whenever he wasn’t stubborn enough to hide it.
Damn it... He really hadn’t gotten over it yet, had he? He didn’t think such a thing would stump him. It was so logical, such a natural step. But still...he felt himself stupidly wanting to cling onto this while scolding himself for it at the same time. He’d felt the same thing when they’d taken Kiko in as a newborn, when they were only supposed to foster her and give her to some other family. When they’d been told she was going to be given away, all Katsuki had wanted to do was hold her close, even though he knew he was being stubborn, even though he was constantly calling himself an idiot and a sap for thinking that kind of shit.
Yeah...this wasn’t the first time his daughter had made him feel like this.
Damn it…
He placed the makeup on the table, leaning back in his chair. “Well, go look at it in the mirror.”
Kiko pushed her chair back, turning and heading back down the hallway toward her bathroom. Bakugo allowed himself a couple of seconds to just sit there, letting everything inside him settle down a bit, before getting up and following her. He found the girl studying his handiwork in the mirror while also applying some setting powder so it didn’t eventually rub off or bleed onto her shirt. Resting against the doorframe and crossing his arms, he inquired, “Well?”
She responded with a cheeky, almost excited grin at her reflection. “Holy crap. It’s like it was never there.” Turning to him with a raised eyebrow, she asked, “How did you cover it so well?”
The blonde gave her an evil smirk, almost laughing at the perfect opportunity. “Ei’s practically naked in his costume. We had to learn some tricks to hide them.”
Giving an overdramatic grimace, Kiko threw her head to the side with a disgusted look in her eyes. “Ug..Why did I ask?”
“It’s what you get for not hiding that damn hickey better, dumbass.”
It was a joking jab, but he saw her grip tighten on the counter a little bit. She looked down somewhat, and her hair once again blocked her eyes from his view. “Yeah. I’m sorry…”
Feeling a slight heaviness come back in his heart, Katsuki took a few steps towards her, gingerly reaching out and pulling her head to his chest, cradling her against him. “Come on. Cut that out, squirt. There’s nothing to freaking apologize for.”
You’re not a little girl anymore. All of this is completely natural. The urges to try new things. Being embarrassed by your parents. You’re growing into the most badass, brilliant, beautiful young woman, and people are starting to see it. That boy sees it. He cares about you so much - it’s obvious. And you care about him too. And Eijiro and I aren’t the most important people in your life anymore. And I’m jealous of a freaking teenager, god dammit. And I’m scared I won’t have moments like this anymore. I’m scared that you don’t need me anymore. I’m scared that I won’t be able to protect you. I’m scared. I’m so goddamn scared and so pissed at myself for feeling scared. Pissed that there are sometimes I just want to be the selfish dad. Pissed that I’m somehow taking this harder than Ei. Pissed and scared that I haven’t been the father you needed, no matter how hard I freaking tried. Scared that I’ve never been good enough. Because I love you so freaking much, squirt. I never thought anyone other than Eijiro - freaking bright as the goddamn sun, mountain-of-a-man Eijiro - could get to my heart like this. I never thought that anyone, let alone two people, could become more important to me than my own life or ambitions. The two of you have made me into a goddamn softie and weakling, and I hate it but I love it so much. I...I just…
He knew he could never voice those things out loud. There was always some part of him - a stubborn, prideful part of him, the remnants of his former self - that wanted to keep those feelings under lock and key. Unfortunately for his stubbornness, though, his husband and daughter could read him like a book. Kirishima knew that that dumbass smile of his and his well-placed kisses turned his partner to absolute jello, regardless of how many shouts of protest and shitty-haired pet names were thrown his way. Even though he didn’t say “I love you” on a regular basis, Kiko knew that he would take a million bullets for her - regular or quirk-erasing - if it came down to it, and that had nothing to do with him being a pro-hero. They knew, and it pissed him off sometimes, but...he was so grateful too.
Placing a subtle kiss into his daughter’s hair, Bakugo said, “Now get going. You’ll be late.”
“Okay…” Kiko pulled away from their hug, a small smile on her face, though she still looked a little awkward. The two of them walked back to the front of the house. As she went to grab her bag, she commented, “Man, with the train, I probably won’t get there till halfway through first period now.”
“Just say it was delayed because of a villain. They’ll believe that.”
“That doesn’t happen as often as it did when you were a kid, Papa.”
“Oh, yeah? You wanna just tell them your dad was helping you cover up a hickey?”
She turned to him with wide eyes, flabbergasted. “Okay! Okay! I’ll come up with something.”
He smirked again at her embarrassment, but before he could get another tease in, she walked over to him, getting on her tiptoes and kissing his cheek. Wrapping her arms around him in a quick hug, she quietly mumbled, “Thank you, Papa.”
God, he really was turning into the sappy dad. Ei would never let this go if he found out. Damn, who was he kidding? The redhead definitely already knew. They’d exchanged enough looks whenever the teenagers were together. Bakugo had heard from many parents that letting go of your child got gradually easier, but never fully went away. Even if that was true, it didn’t really matter how hard it was for him or Ei. As long as she was happy and living the life she wanted, then they would just have to freaking deal with it. If there was one thing Katsuki knew it was that he would rather die and lose his quirk than ever take that away from her.
Brushing his fingers through her hair one last time, he whispered, “Anytime, squirt.”