Chapter Text
“Hey, guys! How’s it going?”
Katherine Ride groaned as a cheery voice rang through in the group call. It was early in the morning, and her dads were still asleep, despite the late July sunlight that was beginning to stream through the windows. Katherine was in the living room, her head lying on the coffee table. She had just pulled an all-nighter trying to work on the research project her teacher had assigned her second-year class in June.
“Yo, sleepyhead, we’re talking to you.”
She picked her head up and gazed at her three friends on the screen. Sukii Takeuchi was staring piercingly at her, their scarlet eyes narrowed. Kio Fujimori was looking at her with concern, her lemonade pink hair fluffy around her face. And finally, there was Sora Nakano, who was watching all three with amusement, her clover green eyes glinting with mischievous intent. Katherine shook her head back and forth and smiled at them all. “Sorry, Sukii, I’m kinda out of it this morning.”
“No kidding,” they responded, unimpressed.
“Yeah, I can see the circles under your eyes, Songbird,” Kio added, tilting her head. “Are you alright?”
Sora sighed. “She was probably up all night again working on the research project that’s due in October.”
Katherine grinned awkwardly. “Yeah…guilty as charged.”
“Katherine!” Sora and Kio yelled in unison. “Seriously?”
Sukii shook their head in disbelief. “You’ve been working on that since summer break started! Give it a rest, Wings!”
She shot them a look. “Listen here, Mad Scientist, you’ve been tinkering with your death ray–”
“Atom Vaporizer,” they corrected through gritted teeth. Sukii, although quirkless, had a mind made for inventing and they acted upon it. They were stepping out of their comfort zone with this invention, as they usually opted for more covert, accessorized support items.
“Same thing—for as long as I have,” Katherine finished.
“Yeah, except Sukii’s not losing sleep over it,” Sora pointed out.
“Okay, well, what about you?”
“I’m doing hypnosis, remember? If anything, my project is putting me to sleep.” Sora had taken an interest in studying hypnosis around the time the project was assigned. As someone with a Mind Reading quirk, she was curious to see how it worked.
Katherine pursed her lips, seeing that this discussion wasn’t going how she wanted it to. “What about you, Kio?” she asked.
Kio giggled. “I’m looking at hacking programs. Not much to lose sleep over in my case, you know.” Kio’s quirk was Translate, and while her translations didn’t work on computer codes and such, she had learned to decipher them without her quirk’s assistance.
“What’s your project on again, Songbird? Lizards?” Sora joked.
“They’re called dragons, thank you very much,” Katherine grumbled, her wings puffing out in indignation.
“Well, I don’t see why you’re working so hard,” Sukii admitted, “especially since Kio translated that book you found in Ms. Nakano’s shop.”
Katherine glanced over at the thick leather book sitting to her left. The letters pressed into the cover read The Book of Dragons. Though it appeared worn and insignificant, it was her most valuable source of information for this project. When she had first discovered the book, it had been written in a Celtic language she couldn’t understand. With the help of Translate, though, Kio was able to convert the whole book into Japanese text. “I know,” she said, turning back to her phone, “and The Book of Dragons is helpful, but I feel like there’s something that’s missing…”
“What?” Kio questioned. “It seems like everything is there. Speed, class, firepower, what more could you want?”
Katherine shook her head. “Not missing from the book. I just have this sense that there’s something I need to do before I can bring this whole project together.”
Before she could continue, bedroom doors opened and shut on all four screens
“Sukii?”
“Kio, is someone making breakfast?”
“Sora? Who are you talking to, kiddo?”
“Katherine, you’re awake?”
“Ah, looks like we all have to go,” Sora mumbled. “I’ll talk to you guys later!”
“See ya.”
“Bye!”
“Talk to ya later!” Katherine replied as she pressed the end call button. She closed the notebook she was writing in and stood up, suddenly coming face-to-face with her dads, Hizashi Yamada (Present Mic) and Shota Aizawa (Eraserhead), who were both glaring at her. “Gah, dads!” she exclaimed, obviously shoving a pile of notebooks off the table. “Dads. Hi, dads. Good morning!”
“Very inconspicuous. Did you pull another all-nighter?” Hizashi asked.
“…Would you believe me if I said no?”
Shota rolled his eyes. “That is the worst possible way to respond.”
“Yeah, I did,” she admitted, picking her notebooks up with her levitation. “But I have a good reason!”
“Which is…?”
“…Can you give me a minute?”
“Katherine.”
“I know, I know, you told me to stop,” she muttered. “But it’s not like I’m goofing off, I’m doing homework.”
Hizashi’s face softened as he watched his thirteen-year-old daughter painstakingly reorganize her notebooks. “Kiddo, that’s not what we’re worried about, it’s just…this is the third all-nighter this week! You’re not getting a healthy amount of sleep.”
Katherine gave him a look. “Um, hello? If you want to talk about unhealthy sleeping schedules…” She drifted off, pointing at Shota.
“I’m an adult; I’m held to different standards,” he stated. “Stop deflecting.”
Katherine grumbled something inaudible under her breath as she sat back down on the couch and sifted through her notebooks. Shota sighed and sat down next to her, Hizashi following his lead. “Katherine, pardon me if this sounds harsh, but it appears that you’re in a bit of a study block,” he stated, ruffling her hair.
“It’s not a study block, I just…I feel like I have tons of information, but it’s just words on a page,” she explained, placing her notebooks neatly on the table. “Usually I can work with words on a page, but this time, it’s just not doing it for me.”
Hizashi nodded. “That does seem like a struggle. Maybe you should take a break and come back to it later? You’ve still got two months.”
Katherine placed her chin in her hands. “It’s not the topic itself I’m grappling with. I’m actually pretty drawn to it. It’s the materials I have to work with that are the problem.”
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, hugging her tightly. “Well, you haven’t been sleeping, so that might be a factor. Maybe if you go take a nap you’ll feel better.”
“That’s a good idea,” Shota agreed.
“Both of you,” Hizashi clarified, narrowing his eyes. “She made a pretty good point earlier.”
Shota scoffed and got up, turning towards the hallway. Katherine scooped up one of the cats, Fish, and followed him. “Can we nap with you?”
“Who’s we?” he griped, turning and seeing her holding Fish. “Oh. Yes, you two are welcome.”
Katherine giggled and padded into her dads’ room, flopping down on the bed.
I guess Loud Dad could be right. Maybe I just need to sleep for a while and then I’ll be alright again.
…
“HEY GUYS, GUESS WHAT?”
Katherine yelped as she woke up, whisking her wings out in shock. She felt her left one hit something solid and Shota shot up, holding his nose. “Um, ow?”
“Sorry, EraserDad!”
Shota turned and glared at his husband, who had just burst into the bedroom, holding two trays of food. “What are you doing, Hizashi? I thought you wanted us to sleep!”
“You two have been sleeping for almost four hours!” Hizashi responded. “I think it’s acceptable to wake you up now. And don’t bite the hand that feeds, honey.”
Katherine eagerly took one of the trays and ripped into some salmon, humming with delight. “What’s up, then?”
“Well, Katherine, I couldn’t stop thinking about your studying problem, so the cats and I did some research of our own. You know how you’re a visual learner?”
“…No?”
“Well, you are,” Shota told her.
Hizashi nodded. “The point is, I think I may have found a solution!”
Katherine perked up. “Really? What is it?”
She scooted over as he came over next to her and sat down, pulling up a webpage on his phone. The site appeared to be advertising…
“An amusement park?”
“Not just any amusement park!” Hizashi exclaimed, smiling. “Dragon’s Den!”
“The dragon-based theme park that has a Jurassic World feel about it?” Shota asked.
“Minus the dinosaurs, massive amounts of property damage, and casualties. But yes!”
“I don’t see how this helps me,” Katherine piped up. “I don’t need rollercoasters and funhouses to help me with this.”
“It’s not exactly a thrill ride place. Dragon’s Den is more like a wildlife preserve in a theme park setting. It houses almost every species of dragon known to humankind!” Hizashi remarked.
“What Hizashi is trying to say,” Shota elaborated, “is maybe if we go to this place, you’ll get back into the swing of things for your project.”
“We even get a discount for memberships because we’re Pro Heroes! What do you say, kiddo?” Hizashi asked, looking expectantly at Katherine.
She stared at the screen before turning to him, beaming. “What do I say to a chance to observe dragons in somewhat natural habitats? Yes, obviously!”
“The only problem here, Hizashi,” Shota interrupted, “is who will take her.”
The two looked at him, confused. “What are you talking about? You guys will, won’t you?” Katherine questioned.
“We can’t. I don’t like amusement parks and Hizashi is banned from them.”
“What? Legally banned?”
“No, just within our family,” Hizashi mumbled. “The risk of me blowing out someone’s eardrums on a rollercoaster is too high. But as I said, Dragon’s Den isn’t a thrill ride place, so I don’t think that’ll be a problem.”
“Great. Then you can take her,” Shota muttered, pulling the covers back over his head and rolling over.
Katherine poked him in the side. “C’mon, EraserDad, don’t be like that!”
“Yeah, Shota,” Hizashi agreed, “it’s not a family trip without you! Please?”
“No.”
“Pleaseeeee?”
“Will you two quit it?”
Shota pulled the covers away from his head and looked at his husband and daughter, both of whom were making puppy dog eyes. Despite his grim expression, he sighed. “Fine. But can we at least bring Nem?”
Hizashi shrugged. “I see no problem with that.”
“Can we invite Hawks?” Katherine asked excitedly.
“Why Hawks?
“’Cause he’s fun!”
“We’re not fun?” Shota questioned.
Hizashi looked at his husband like he was an idiot. “Okay, fair.” He pointed at Hizashi. “He’s not fun?”