Chapter Text
Shucking off his gauntlets at his locker Katsuki worked on catching his breath. He had just managed to make it back to the agency after taking down an entire group of villains which had taken way longer than it should have.
None of them were very powerful, one of them only relying on their knife in their attempt to take down the pro, but they had numbers.
Thirteen different villains had teamed up in an attempt to raid a bank and its neighboring restaurant. Katsuki had been the first one on the scene, single handedly trying to get the situation under control until backup could arrive.
Said backup took that moment to walk into the locker room chugging a bottle of water, dramatically gasping for breath once he finished.
"The fuck you gasping for Shitty Hair?! I was the one who took on most of those fuckers." Katsuki pulled off his mask and worked on removing the rest of his costume.
Kirishima chuckled as he chucked his water bottle into the recycling bin and made his way to his locker which of course had to be placed right next to Katsuki's. "You may have got the little guys, but I had to take care of the big one remember?"
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT HUH?!?!?!?" Kirishima hardens his body on instinct as Katsuki sets off a series of explosions in his face.
"C'mon man, you can't take all the credit. We wouldn't have even known about the three sneaking out the back if it wasn't for Earphone Jack."
Katsuki huffed, pulling on a shirt. "At least she was useful."
Kirishima grins and slaps Katsuki on the back. "Guess I'll have to step it up next time huh?"
Katsuki rolled his eyes. "You need to take a shower is what you need to do."
Kirishima raised a brow and sniffed himself as Katsuki checked the time on his phone. Seeing that it was well past 2:30 in the afternoon Katsuki cursed and started shoving his shit into his duffle bag. He was supposed to get Eri at 2:30. Eyebags was gonna give him an earful.
"Woah dude what's wrong?!"
"I'm late to get Eri!" He shouted, slinging his duffel over his shoulder and sprinting out the door.
Usually, Katsuki wouldn't have bothered with giving the red head a response, but when it came to his daughter, he made a promise to himself long ago that his friends would always be in the loop. If something terrible were to happen he knew that the idiots would prioritize her safety over anything else.
Katsuki isn't sure what he would do if something were to happen to her. She's already gone through more than any seven-year-old should have and the idea of adding more trauma onto that list haunts him every night.
Pulling into a back parking lot at U.A. Katsuki jumped out of his car and hurried for the building where Mr. Aizawa and Eri would be waiting for him.
He slammed his former teacher's office door open with much more force than he intended but Eri grinned and ran over to him, completely unfazed. "Daddy!"
"Heya Squirt!" Katsuki scooped Eri up in his arm and immediately tickled her waist, making her fall into a fit of giggles. "D-Dad stoooop ittt!!"
"Bakugo."
At the sound of the older man's voice Katsuki tossed Eri over his shoulder, making her shriek. He schooled his expression and looked at the tired teacher.
"Yeah?"
He asked, annoyed. He already knew he was in trouble for being late again. Did the guy really need to beat around the bush about it. Eri continued to squirm and kick her feet.
"We need to talk."
"Haha! You're in trouble!"
Grabbing her ancles Katsuki hung Eri in front of him making her shriek, her smaller hands reaching in an attempt to grab onto him. "HAH???? WHAT'D YOU SAY BRAT??"
His shouts only worked in making her giggle louder.
"Bakugo." Aizawa repeated, his tone serious.
Katsuki sighed and plopped Eri on her feet. "Do me a favor twerp, go find All Might and give him this." Katsuki hands Eri the drawing she had wanted to give the retired hero that she had forgotten at home.
"Oh yeah!"
As she ran off Katsuki pulled over a random chair and sat on it backwards, facing the older man. "I know I was late, but you know how it fucking is. You can't possibly tell me she's getting in your way because I know for a fact that she's so quiet you can't even tell if she's in the same room as you at times. She's an absolute fucking angel."
Aizawa rolled his eyes. "That's not what I wanted to talk about."
"Oh. Then what the fuck do you want?"
Aizawa shakes his head. "It's a wonder she doesn't copy that mouth of yours."
"Hey, she knows the difference between bad words and good words. She's my kid, she ain't stupid."
"Quite the opposite actually. She's very intelligent for a child her age. Which I'm sure is how she's gotten such a good hold on that quirk of hers. It's been months since I've had to use my quirk in order to help her through her training. She's been able to regulate herself perfectly and has shown significant progress in using Rewind. That is why I am confident when I say that I believe she is ready."
Katsuki felt his hands go clammy. "Ready for what, exactly?"
"I think it would be incredibly useful for her to build her intellect and get the chance to socialize with other children her age by attending school. And before you ask, I've been considering this for a while. Nedzu agrees. She won't be able to attain the normal life we're striving to give her if we keep her cooped up in the halls of U.A. her entire childhood. But, as it stands, you are her guardian, so it is ultimately your decision."
Flipping the chair, he was sitting on around, Katsuki sits back down and leans back with his arms crossed. He thought he was doing a perfectly fine socializing the kid. Like, he brings her places, and she knows almost everyone from his old hero course class. Shit- she loves talking to everyone she meets.
But... she doesn't really have any "long lasting" friendships.
Katsuki didn't either by that age. He had already pushed everyone away by the time he was that old. He spent birthday parties with those who pretended to be his friends and his time not spent working on his quirk was spent tormenting the few tolerable kids from his school.
He remembers the crushing feeling that something, no, someone was missing.
Eri shouldn't have to go through that.
"Logically an average school day should fit well into your busy schedule but if you wanted to look into alternative activities for her to participate in like a dance class or art classes you could rearrange your day-"
"I'll talk to her about it."
Aizawa stares at Katsuki for a moment and he isn't sure what the old man is thinking. He's always hated that part of the man. He prefers being able to distinguish what's going through someone's mind before they can even open their mouth.
That was one of his biggest struggles in the two years he's spent raising Eri. A lot of the time it was impossible to tell how she was feeling since she had been trained at such a young age to keep quiet and stay out of the way. He would never hate her for that, no, he hates the sorry shit stains that put her through it.
Katsuki looks up as the teacher slides a small stack of papers towards him. "This is the school we believe would be the most appropriate, distance and safety wise. Every teacher has been through thorough background checks and very little attention is drawn here. There are actually quite a few pro hero children that go here that not even you know exist. And..."
Aizawa flipped to another page in the stack.
"This is who her teacher will be if you decide to let her attend. It's only September so she will not have missed much school by the time she joins in October at the earliest."
Katsuki scrunches his nose at the mop of curly green hair and matching emerald eyes staring at him from the paper. It was a pretty plane looking guy with nerdy glasses, a disgustingly toothy grin, and freckles.
The photo didn't really allow him to see much else with the guy wearing a baggy sweater and the shot only capturing the top half of the guy. Was Katsuki really willing to put his daughter's safety in the hands of this random man?
"Also, for the first week or two I will make plans to sit in on the class and ensure that nothing goes wrong with her quirk."
Katsuki nodded and shoved the papers into his pants pocket as Eri skipped in.
"All Might said he really liked my picture, Daddy!" Standing up he offered Eri his hand, who took it without hesitation.
"Oh yeah? What was his favorite part?"
"He really liked the explosions in the sky!"
"The fireworks?"
"Yeah those!"
"I told you it was a good idea to add those."
Eri grinned and waved to Aizawa with her free hand. "Good-bye Mr. Aizawa!"
"Good-bye Eri, I'll see you tomorrow."
"Dad, can we get ice cream on the way home?!"
"HAAH?! WHY WOULD WE SPOIL YOUR DINNER LIKE THAT?!" Katsuki shouted as Eri slipped her hand out of Katsuki's and ran for the door.
"Haaaah??" Eri copied as best she could with her high-pitched voice as she took off down the hallway. The impression wasn't half bad.
"Later teach."
Aizawa nodded, pulling out some paperwork to work on.
"Oh, also..."
The teacher looked at the young pro.
"You were wrong about what you said earlier."
Aizawa raised a brow.
"Ultimately... it's her decision."