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"What the hell are you doing?" Bakugou growled.
A young girl in her preteens jumped and spun around. She sighed when she realized it was only her father. "Don't scare me like that," she whined as she shot him a look before returning to observing the shelves.
"I leave you for five minutes," he continued to growl, his brow twitching, "to get produce, with the instruction to meet me at the cashiers after you get-"
"I got it!" she chirped as she raised her hand, showing exactly what he had asked for. "Sorry I made you worry, I got distracted is all."
Bakugou sputtered in anger, trying to find the words to dispute her claim until finally he deflated with a huff. Damn brat.
"The hell ya lookin' at anyway," he stated instead.
She hummed, "Razors."
He blinked rapidly for a moment, wondering if his hearing aids were a little screwy again or if she actually said that. Then he looked to the short shelf she was staring at and-
Yep. She actually said that.
"You're fucking 12!" he exclaimed, his basket of goods flailing with the motion of his arms. "The hell you need razors for?!"
She raised a brow as if he was the ridiculous one. "Uh, for shaving, obviously?"
Bakugou literally growled before spitting between gritted teeth, "Mind your tone, brat."
She had the audacity to scoff and roll her eyes. "What else would I need razors for, Parental Unit Number Two?"
Not this shit again.
"How many times have I told you to stop calling me that?" he groaned, dragging his hand down his face in exhaustion. The cause? This GREMLIN.
"Lost count," she replied quickly with a shrug. "But seriously, Parental Unit Number One said it was ok to try shaving my legs and see where I go from there."
Bakugou scowled. Why wasn't he number one?!
(He knew why; his brat of a daughter knew he liked to be first in everything and purposely made him second to irk him. As much as he wanted to be mad about it, he couldn't help but secretly find humor in that.)
Bakugou sighed aggressively and rubbed his temple with one hand. "Ok, fine, let's say it is. Why do you want to shave your legs? You look good to me."
She seemed to shrink and turn away from him, uncharacteristically quiet as she rubbed her elbow. His brow twitched downward in worry.
"The other girls are doing it," she mumbled. "And before you say anything, I know I don't have to and shouldn’t get pressured and whatever. But I want to try it and just… see what happens, ok?"
Thinking long and hard, Bakugou considered her words. After a moment, he sighed in understanding and nodded stiffly.
"So which one you lookin' at, brat?" he asked fondly, and she peered up at him with a bright smile.
"I was thinking this one!" she exclaimed as she pointed at a bright pink razor.
Bakugou closed the distance between them and leaned forward to see the packaging better.
The pink monstrosity claimed to perform different things for the skin (something about aloe and being a softening agent? Whatever the fuck that means) and he scowled in thought as he compared the other "feminine" razors that were as bright and pink.
Then he saw the prices.
"The fuck?!" He nearly choked on his tongue.
$14?! For a single razor?! The fuck was it made outta?! Adamantium?!
Sure, he heard his mom mention the bullshit of how more expensive women's products were to men's - he even remembered the term for it - but he didn't think it was this bad.
"Yeah, fuck that, you're not getting that," he grumbled as he stood up to his full height and pulled her by the arm.
"Hey-!"
"Relax, you're still getting your razor," he snapped without the bite. "Just not the frilly pink expensive-as-fuck ones."
He took them to the opposite side of the aisle where the men's razors were.
Ah, decent priced razors. Just the way it should be.
"Wha- no, dad, these are for boys. I need girl razors-"
"They're all the same shit," he sneered, "the only difference is the damn color-"
"No it's not! Will you just- let go of me?!" she nearly shrieked as she tried to pull herself out of his grip.
He let go immediately and she stomped where she stood with her hands curled into fists. "These are boy razors. I want girl razors."
"They're the same damn thing!" he spat, his voice raising in volume. "They both have blades and shit, isn't that what matters?!"
"No," she dragged with her hands on her hips, as if she were reprimanding a child, "they are not the same thing!"
"Who told you that, hah?" he snapped back.
Raising her nose and looking down her face, she replied matter-of-fact, "Magazines did."
Bakugou gave her a flat look. "Magazines," he said incredulously.
She gave him a confident nod. "Yes, magazines."
He waited for more, but she stayed silent as if that was plenty enough for an answer.
He raised a brow, "Are ya gonna say who or what they said, or are ya expecting me to take that as an answer?"
Her face flushed red and she crossed her arms as she looked away with a pout. "Experts."
"Experts?"
"Yes, experts!"
The corner of Bakugou's lip twitched as he fought back a smirk. "So unknown experts of a magazine you're not naming said that you haveta use pink razors."
"No!" she fought back, facing him with a stomp and her hands clenched at her side. "Just... lady razors."
She released air between her teeth in a fashion similar to Bakugou's and turned back toward the men's razors. " Tch, you wouldn't understand."
Resisting the urge to groan and throw a fit (he's the adult, dammit) he opted to instead sigh dramatically. "Fuckin'- Look brat, lemme show you somethin-" He started to walk away before barking for her to stay there as he walked to the women's section to grab the cheapest razor.
Most of the razors had locks on their individual peg hooks. Only one of the “cheap” ones was outside of the locking mechanisms. He took it off its hook and stomped his way back to his daughter, who stood where she was told with a scowl.
He then reached out to grab the cheapest men's razor and held them up side-by-side.
"This," Bakugou stated while motioning the pink razor, "is $8.99, while this," he lowered the pink razor and motioned the black and blue razor, "is $7.99. Why do you think the prices are different?"
She furrowed her brow and scrunched up her nose. "What do you mean? They're not-"
"Before you say they're not the fucking same," he growled, "actually /look/ at them. Compare the two, then tell me why they're priced differently. Look. "
She scowled, an expression mirroring her father's, before clicking her tongue in annoyance and rolling her eyes to the two razors.
Her eyes darted between the two, mentally cataloging the similarities and differences. As time passed her brow furrowed more and more.
"I don't get it," she finally said after some time.
Bakugou resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Fatherhood taught him patience... Sort of. "What don't ya get?"
Her countenance scrunched into a further frown. "They look... Exactly the same. 'cept the color."
She shifted as she looked at one razor then the other. "Same number of blades... Same number of replacement heads... They both follow 'closely to the skin'- whatever that means," she grumbled. "They're literally the same thing."
Bakugou fought back a grin. His girl was so smart. "Yeah? Why you think that is?"
Her eyes darted up to meet her father's briefly before landing back to the razors. She shifted back and forth on her feet before lifting one and tapping the tip of her shoe rapidly on the tile. "Is it... Mmph..."
She continued to ponder, the reason seeming to stump her. He was able to see the moment the idea crossed her mind by the way her eyes widened before narrowing in anger. /Bingo./
"No way," she said crossly. "It is not because it's a razor for girls that it costs more!" She looked up at her father, her gaze softening. "Is it?"
Bakugou sighed. His daughter is incredibly intelligent and can understand many, many concepts, but she was still only 12.
He put both razors on a random shelf and bent over to meet her eye, his hand lightly grasping her shoulder.
"There's something called the pink tax," he explained. "It's a name women have given products that are specifically for women, but cost more because of who it's for."
He glanced at the short shelf next to them. "Razors are just tip of the iceberg, kid. Big companies make money by taking advantage of it being a men dominated field, even though it's for women. Women's products like pads and tampons- oi, don't give me that look! You might not need it now, but yer gonna need it eventually, brat!"
She scoffed and rolled her eyes, but he could hear the underlying giggle beneath her act.
He couldn't hide his affectionate smirk even if he tried.
"My point is a lot of fucked up men dictate how much shit should cost and decided to charge girls more just 'cause they can." He shrugged with a sigh. "Wish I could tell you more, kid, but that's about it."
She gave her father a pensive look, and Bakugou waited patiently for her to absorb the information she just learned.
When she was deep in thought, she nibbled on her lower lip, her nose twitched upward (sorta like a rabbit's), and her brow twitched downward. It was one of his favorite expressions on her, and every time he resisted the urge to smile or sneakily snap a picture.
Finally, she released her lip and nodded in determination. "Ok," she nodded in affirmation before meeting her father's expectant but patient expression.
"I don't want to give money to a money hound shithead," she concluded, "so I'm going to wait on purchasing a razor until I can research a better alternative."
Bakugou's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. Holy shit, he was not expecting that. "Uh," he said intelligently, "alright.”
She gave him another determined nod. "I'm going to make sure I purchase my razors from women-led companies, and shove it to those damn money groveling bastards!"
Bakugou burst out into laughter. He wasn't expecting that at all, but hell yeah was he going to support her!
"I think you mean 'money grubbing'," he laughed, "but I like your spirit."
He calmed down and looked, really looked at his daughter. When did she grow up to be so... grown up?
Ugh, great, now he was getting choked up. He coughed to cover up the knot in his throat.
"All right, brat," he grinned wolfishly, standing back up and releasing her shoulder. "Let's head home then. We're going to research the shit out of this and shove it to those greedy bastards, right?"
His daughter's eyes flashed as she grinned back and nodded. "Right!"
Pride swelled in his chest as he tousled her hair. "That's my girl," he growled as she hissed and whined.
"Daaaaaaaaad, quit it!" she smacked his hands with a whine and failed in her attempt to fix her hair. "Let's just go already, I've got shi- stuff to look up."
Bakugou winced as he realized that, yeah, she'd been cursing more than usual, and he hadn't been calling her out on it. Shit.
"Ugh, let's not tell Parental Unit Number One about the cursing, yeah?" he grumbled as he put the two razors on the shelf back to their respective spots.
She grinned up at him. "Sure," she drawled, "Parental Unit Number Two."
He sighed heavily before shaking his head with a chuckle. "Little shit," he grumbled as she skipped ahead in a giggling fit.
She truly was his daughter. And he couldn't be more proud of her.