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Katsuki is having a crisis.
Nothing bad, per se. Nothing to be a cause for concern, however…
It is rendering Katsuki quite helpless.
You see, Todoroki Fuyumi has recently given birth.
As her brother, Todoroki Shouto of course has to visit her.
As her brother’s boyfriend, Bakugou Katsuki is unfortunately made to tag along.
It isn’t that Katsuki doesn’t like Fuyumi, not at all. He’s come to think of her like a sister.
And it isn’t that he and Shouto aren’t close enough to be visiting family members who’d recently given birth either.
In fact, Katsuki thinks that he will spend the rest of his life with the man.
It’s just that… It’s weird.
Babies are weird, and Katsuki doesn’t have any siblings, doesn’t have any cousins or other family friends such that he might have come across a baby in his life before this moment, so he’s just… unsure what to do.
Shouto, on the other hand, despite being the baby of his family, despite being socially awkward and sometimes dense, seems to be doing fantastic.
He sits on the edge of his sister’s hospital bed, cradling his new nephew in his arms, cooing at him.
“Hi there, little one,” he says with a voice full of wonder. When the baby blinks his eyes open, Shouto makes an exaggerated expression and exclaims, “Ah! There you are!”
Katsuki remains standing in the corner of the room, watching the scene before him unfold.
And he’s… struggling, because he’s never seen Shouto hold a baby before now, and it’s doing things to him.
Namely, it’s giving him Thoughts and Ideas, that he’s still way too young to be thinking about.
That he didn’t even know he would want to think about.
“He looks just like you when you were a baby,” Fuyumi tells her youngest brother, eyes fond.
“He is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” Shouto replies.
It’s fascinating, how gentle Shouto is with him. And that sounds like a bad thing for Katsuki to think, but it’s true.
Time and time again he’s reminded of how pure and gentle Shouto’s soul is, in spite of his upbringing. Is floored by how kind he can be, how understanding.
Katsuki knows that Shouto is going to make an excellent uncle.
And perhaps, he will also make an excellent… Katsuki shakes his head clear before he can finish the thought.
He himself has never really wanted kids, has never given much thought to it. It’s the expected thing to do, he guesses, but he’s never had a strong opinion on it either way.
Now, he thinks he might.
“Katsuki,” Shouto raises his head and looks at Katsuki for the first time since they entered the room. He tilts his head towards the baby in his arms and beckons, “Come, look.”
Katsuki jerks up, snapped out of his daydream, and somehow locks eyes with Fuyumi. He doesn’t know what she sees in them, just that the responding smile and nod she gives him makes him blush.
He approaches, slowly, cautiously, settling next to Shouto. He looks at Shouto, then at Fuyumi again, before turning his gaze to the little boy resting in his boyfriend’s arms and greeting, quite awkwardly, “Hi?”
He cringes even as he says it, face now flushing from embarrassment at the fact he has no idea how to interact with a baby. He doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do, or say, so he just sits politely with his knees together and his hands in his lap, staring at the baby lest he meets a Todoroki’s eyes instead.
Though, the baby is a Todoroki too, he supposes.
“Would you like to hold him?” Fuyumi asks from the end of the bed. Her voice is so gentle and soft. So encouraging. She will make a lovely mother, Katsuki thinks, and then wonders whether that’s a weird thought to have.
Outwardly he is stammering through a response. “I— It’s alright. I shouldn’t, it’s—”
But Shouto either doesn’t hear the clear apprehension in his voice or just doesn’t care, because he says, “Here,” and begins passing his sister’s newborn son into a stranger’s arms.
Not that Katsuki is a stranger. Still, he panics and only just manages to mimic the position Shouto held his arms in before suddenly, undeniably, there is a baby in his arms.
Katsuki goes completely still, as if even his breathing might startle the infant.
“Move your arm up a bit,” Shouto tells him, guiding his arm in place. “So you’re supporting his neck.”
How does Shouto even know that? Now that he thinks about it, Fuyumi hadn’t needed to explain how to hold a baby. Shouto just did it.
How many babies has Shouto held before? And why wasn’t Katsuki there to see it?
Arms now in the proper position, Katsuki is able to relax a bit. A minuscule amount, but at least he can breathe comfortably now.
He can also take a proper look at the baby for the first time, who is, Katsuki suddenly realises, so small. His everything is so small. His whole body fits in the length of Katsuki’s forearm. His cheeks are so pudgy and he has a cute button nose.
Katsuki finds himself smiling. Maybe babies aren’t so weird after all.
And then Shouto says, “Look at how small his hands are,” and holds one up for Katsuki to see.
Katsuki follows the movement, but rather than stopping at the baby’s adorably tiny hand, he looks up at Shouto instead.
Shouto, who is still focused on his nephew, who gently moves his hand up and down, looking so happy and excited.
Shouto, who meets Katsuki’s eyes in the next moment, and grins so widely and brightly that it makes Katsuki’s heart hurt.
Fuck.
Katsuki is so in love with him.
From the corner of his eye he can see Fuyumi watching them, and does his best to ignore his embarrassment as he smiles back at Shouto.
The moment is interrupted when the baby starts crying, startling Katsuki and for once Shouto too, but Fuyumi easily takes control of the situation and asks Katsuki to pass him over, saying that he must be hungry again.
It takes Katsuki a moment to realise how she will be feeding him, after which he quickly stands up and turns the other way. He hears Fuyumi laugh, and then Shouto telling her, “We should probably get going then. I’ll see you later?”
And to his nephew too, “See you soon, little guy.”
Katsuki looks back just in time to see Shouto press a kiss to the baby’s forehead, which stops his crying for a moment, his doe eyes gazing up at his uncle.
Shouto seems content to stay there forever, but the newborn starts crying again so he finally steps away, giving his sister an apologetic look. He takes Katsuki’s hand and they start heading out together, but not before Katsuki remembers his manners and says, “Congratulations again, it was nice seeing you.”
Fuyumi smiles at them as they leave.
Outside the hospital, Katsuki comments, “I didn’t know you liked babies so much.”
Shouto hums, looking up at the clear blue sky, swinging their arms lightly. “I don’t. Or didn’t. I don’t know. He was so cute though, don’t you think?”
Katsuki thinks back to how Shouto had looked holding the baby in his arms. How happy and content. How beautiful.
“Yeah,” he says, voice suddenly hoarse. He tries again, “Yeah, it was very cute.”
Shouto just grins at him, a glint in his eye telling Katsuki his feelings are completely transparent. “Great. I’m gonna let Fuyumi know we can babysit him if she needs.”
And that is not where Katsuki thought this conversation might be headed, but he doesn’t mind it at all.
He’s already thinking about it, Shouto and the baby in their home. How domestic it will feel.
He wonders if they might have a kid of their own in the future. Wonders if that’s something Shouto would want.
He looks at Shouto, then, and Shouto looks back at him.
Shouto squeezes his hand, and it doesn’t answer anything, because Katsuki hadn’t asked anything in the first place, but he has a feeling that Shouto knows.