Archive of Our Own

If anyone had asked Katsuki six months ago what things would be like now, his answer would be far different than his current reality. 

Not just different, but it was as if he’d taken a replica of his life, put it in a snow globe, shook it like hell, and let the flakes fall wherever the fuck they wanted. That much different. He wasn’t mad about it though, not in the slightest. He thought he had it all before, but looking back? No way. Now he had it all. Now his life was perfect.

As a matter of fact, he owed everything to Mina – words he never thought would be found in the same sentence, quite honestly.

As a pro hero, his career was tumultuous at best. Hectic, chaotic, and fucking dangerous on the best of days. He wouldn’t trade it for anything, though. This was his calling, his fate. This life was the one he was always meant to lead.

He and the self-proclaimed Bakusquad (and all the other unmentionable extras) had graduated seven years ago. It was hard to believe it had been that long and he liked to claim he hadn’t had a break since then, but that was a slight exaggeration. He actually used his vacation days here and there, even more so now since he and Eijirou got married three years ago. His husband wanted to take two weeks off of work for a honeymoon, which was absolutely ludicrous in their profession, but he compromised and they settled on one. See? Progress.

It didn’t help that Eijirou was constantly harping on him about creating work-life balance and practicing self care, either. He might still think it’s bullshit, but he had somehow created a bad habit of giving Eijirou everything he wanted. The sap was contagious, damnit, and Katsuki was a simp.

The snowglobe of his life began to rattle last summer. Mina, ever the social butterfly and philanthropist, had been volunteering at a local orphanage for several years. One night in early June she’d video-called Katsuki from what appeared to be a darkened hallway, her voice hushed and emotional. Her lip trembled as she explained that she was getting ready to leave for the night and overheard a conversation between the director and the board chairman.

They were shutting down the orphanage. With funding cuts and the loss of a very large grant, the non-profit simply couldn’t stay afloat. They’d managed to get most of the children adopted out, but there was one in particular that Mina mentioned.

~*~

“She’s so cute, Kats, but nobody seems to be interested in her because…” Her voice trailed off and she bit her lip nervously. The two were sitting at an outdoor cafe, both in full costume taking a quick coffee break on a shared patrol.

“Because?”

“Because she’s different.”

~*~

At the time, he thought maybe Mina was exaggerating. She tended to be a little dramatic when she was passionate about something, so it wouldn’t be unlike her to make an issue bigger than it was out of concern.

The little girl’s name was Kiari. She was two years old at the time and had been in the orphanage since birth, abandoned by her parents for the same reasons that had seemingly made her unadoptable.

Katsuki knew exactly what Mina was trying to do. She wasn’t slick, nor did the way she innocently batted her eyelashes cover up her scheme. She knew full well he wanted to adopt a kid…not that he’d talked to Eijirou about it yet, but that was neither here nor there. 

~*~

“Just come see her. Please? I guarantee you’ll fall in love with her just like I did.”

“I haven’t even talked to Ei about it yet, Min. I can’t just–”

“I didn’t say you had to adopt her on the spot, dummy. Just come meet her, yeah?”

~*~

So he had. A few days later after an early morning shift, he showered and changed into clean clothes, then met Mina at the orphanage. Up to that point, she’d been vague about what made Kiari so different. 

She was only two, so her quirk wouldn’t manifest for another couple of years, so it had to be something physical or behavioral. 

He was a hero. He could handle this. It was just a meeting, nothing more. He would walk out when they were done and get back to his regular life. No big deal.

Fuck. Okay fine. He was a little on edge.


~*~

Katsuki wasn’t one to get scared, but by the time he walked through the doors and down the silent, echoing halls, he was tense as fuck. As with most orphanages in the country, this one was severely understaffed and, from what Mina said, it left them unable to provide proper care to the children. That was why she was so adamant on volunteering in her off hours and advocating for adoptions. It was because of her that several of the little ones got placed to begin with, honestly.

From a room to the right, they both heard a screaming child. Inconsolable wails filled the end of the hallway, reverberating between the walls like a bouncing pinball trying to find its way out.

“She’s, uh, got a good set of lungs on her,” Mina joked with obvious apprehension and a slight grimace.

“I can hear that,” he replied, shooting a glance at her as she pushed the door inward.

He should have been surprised that there was no one in the room caring for the child, but he wasn’t given the circumstances. A two year old in a crib by herself in obvious need of attention was all sorts of unacceptable,  but it wasn’t as if he could have done anything about it.

As soon as they crossed the dimly lit room, fluorescent light flickering above their head like something out of a horror movie, Katsuki could immediately see what made the child so different. 

Her skin was… blotchy? No, that wasn’t a good description. Speckled? Ugh, no. It was as if two different skin tones were at odds with each other, battling for every square inch of visible space on her little body. Darker pigmented skin mixed with ghostly pale in a jigsaw of patterns and marks. He’d seen it before on a few civilians during attacks, but never in someone this small.

“Is it… shit, what the fuck’s it called? Starts with a V,” he asked as Mina picked Kiari up out of the crib, which instantly quieted the child, distracted by her bouncing pink curls.

“They don’t have a diagnosis yet since vitiligo is rarely seen at birth, but it doesn’t seem to cause her any pain or discomfort.”

Katsuki reached up and swiped a stray tear from Kiari’s little chubby cheek, drawing her attention to him. With what could be classified as the cutest and yet the most dangerous toddler move ever, she put her arms out, made grabby hands, and silently demanded that he hold her.

So like any badass pro hero with a quirk so strong he could level an entire city block…

He held her.

“I can see why you like her so much,” he said as the little girl's fingers played with his blond spikes, babbling incoherently. Kiari had dark pigmented circles around her eyes that almost made her look like–

“Because of the raccoon eyes? Somehow I knew you were going to say that. What can I say? We’re twins! Aren’t we, baby?” Mina’s slender pink fingers tickled the little girl, who squirmed in Katsuki’s arms as she giggled almost as loudly as she was screaming a short time ago.

~*~

He didn’t understand – and still didn’t to this day – why a skin condition would make a child so undesirable, yet that was the day and age they lived in, he supposed. One of frivolity and vanity over integrity and morals. He saw people’s self-absorption day in and day out as a hero and it disgusted him. 

Leaving Kiari at the orphanage that first night was hell. They’d spent a couple of hours there with her, taking her into the playroom and spending their time building towers with blocks and reading stories about puppies and kittens that went on adventures.  Kiari was quiet and well behaved – except when Katsuki used a red block instead of a blue one and her little toddler temper tantrum toppled the entire thing before falling to the floor sobbing.

How was he supposed to know she wanted him to use a blue one?? He didn’t speak gibberish!

Still, he couldn’t help but feel drawn toward the little girl, thinking about her every single day for the next week. His texts with Mina were more frequent than ever, demanding almost constant updates about how Kiari was doing.

It was unclear to him why he didn’t immediately talk to Eijirou. Maybe he thought he needed time to process, to decide if he even wanted to broach the topic, but he also knew that was complete bullshit. 

He wanted to adopt Kiari from the first moment he heard her crying.

~*~

“Ei, I want to talk to you about something,” he said after dinner was done and dishes washed, drying by the sink.

“What’s up, babe?”

Determining how to broach the subject of expanding their family wasn’t easy, especially for Katsuki. He’d come a long way in learning how to communicate appropriately and convey his feelings, but he still had a lot of improvements to make. Even he knew that.

“I was thinking about…” He paused, fiddling with the seam of his shirt for a moment. “...about adopting a kid.”

The speed in which Eijirou whipped his head to the side should have been enough to give his husband whiplash. His eyes shot open, jaw dropped. “You what?”

“Oh my god, nevermind, it was just an idea!” He panicked, throwing the entire train into reverse despite the high speeds he felt they were already at in an effort to take control of the situation again.

“Yes! Kats! Yes! Of course I want to adopt! Please, oh my god, please? You’re not joking right? I never thought you would want kids! Holy shit!” 

Eijirou was up off the couch in a flurry of activity, pacing back and forth with a smile so big it practically illuminated their entire apartment.  Clearly all of Katsuki’s worries about Eijirou thinking they weren’t ready for kids was way off the mark.

Katsuki smiled, a real genuine smile, as he cupped Eijirou’s cheeks mid-stride and kissed him. 

They were really going to do this.

~*~

That was four months ago. By the time Eijirou met Kiari – and, as predicted, fell in love with her immediately – and they made their way through the adoption process, it was well into August. Who the fuck knew it would take so long? With the place shutting down and staff leaving every single day, Katsuki had been nervous as fuck.

Having never even truly entertained adoption before, they were both unaware of the intricacies that came with it. There were multiple tedious inspections of their apartment, which then led to lists of detailed corrections they had to make after each one, and mass amounts of paperwork. They didn’t complain – well, okay, Katsuki did, but whatever – because as long as it brought Kiari home, that’s all that mattered. It was all worth it.

In the meantime, they had visited her almost every single day at the orphanage, continued to work their jobs, and transformed the spare bedroom/office into Kiari’s bedroom. They’d given it a fresh coat of cream-colored paint, decorated the walls with tons of pink flowers and purple hearts, and bought more toys than she’d probably ever seen in her life.

On September 25th, she came home, and their life had been an amazing whirlwind ever since.

There was one monumental thing that both Katsuki and Eijirou, along with all of their friends and family, agreed on, though. The fact that Kiari had a skin pigment condition, through no fault of her own, made her even more special. It was never a deterrent to adoption for them. Not even close. It made her unique and adorable and perfect .

And if anyone said otherwise, they’d have Katsuki’s boot up their fucking ass.

Of course it took time to settle into a schedule, especially as two working pro heroes. They alternated shifts for a while until they found a daycare that they both approved of, which was more difficult than either of them anticipated since they’d both very quickly fallen into the roles of ‘overprotective dad.’ After all, their jobs ensured that they were painfully aware of all the dangers that could potentially harm their child.

How were they going to survive her teenage years?

Now, though, it was more than halfway through December, only three days before Christmas, and they finally felt as if they had a grip on this whole parenthood thing. Okay not really, but sometimes anyway.

Currently, Kiari had thrown herself on the floor in the genkan because she wanted to wear her pink light-up sandals rather than her snow boots. It was below freezing and there were several inches of fresh snow on the ground and she wanted to wear sandals . 

She’d turned three in November, but the terrible twos still very clearly had their claws in their little princess. Good thing she had overwhelming cuteness on her side.

“Kiari, c’mon baby, we gotta get you to daycare! Daddy’s gotta work and Papa needs to come back and sleep!”

Katsuki had just gotten home ten minutes ago from working the overnight shift, but offered to take Kiari to daycare since Eijirou was running late. That wasn’t necessarily an uncommon occurrence, but apparently the morning had gone to shit thanks to spilled oatmeal, wardrobe issues, and difficulty locating a yellow bear that he had never heard of before that moment.

Eijirou still didn’t know what bear she was talking about, but had distracted her with her favorite cartoon while he cleaned up. They sometimes struggled to understand her, but they tried. She was slightly delayed in her speech skills, but they worked with her daily and had already noticed an improvement.

“Hey, I’m off at six. We should decorate,” Eijirou said, kissing Katsuki’s cheek before squatting down and zipping up Kiari’s winter coat.

Christmas wasn’t a huge holiday in Japan, but that didn’t mean they weren’t going to make it special for Kiari. Thus far, all of her holidays and birthdays had been treated as any other day, a product of being in a facility with many other children and not enough people to care for them. 

When she turned three last month, they had their entire friend group over for a party, which included streamers and balloons, cupcakes and candles, and little gifts wrapped in pink paper with sparkly purple bows. When they sang happy birthday, she giggled so loudly and adorably cooed along with them. The twinkle in her eyes and the pure happiness on her face were unforgettable.

So while Katsuki wouldn’t allow him to go ‘all out’ for the upcoming holiday,’ he’d agreed to a few small decorations. You know, for Kiari.

Gods, they were in love with this little girl.

They were originally going to go to Eijirou’s moms’ house for the holiday, which had been planned before they even met Kiari, honestly. It’d been a few years since they’d taken the trip to see them, time consumed by opening their own agency, but now it felt near impossible to do it. 

When Eijirou broke the news, they were sad of course, but understood. They’d raised a pro hero and accepted a second into their family as a son-in-law, so they were used to rolling with the punches. However, they made sure to put in a request for a Christmas morning phone call.

Honestly, they’d been a great support through the entire adoption process, as had Mina and, surprisingly, Denki. It took a village, he supposed, and that was something that was proven at every turn.

“Sure, I’ll pick Kiari up from daycare early and take her shopping for a few things,” Katsuki replied with a yawn, managing to get Kiari into her boots. Once her coat was zipped and her gloves and hat were on, they all left together. 

Kiari nuzzled into Eijirou’s side, resting her little pink cheek against his shoulder as they walked in the same direction down the sidewalk.

“What are you going to get?” Eijirou asked, a sly twinkle in his eyes. He thought he was being slick but he wasn’t. Katsuki had known him long enough to recognize when he was up to something.

“Dunno. Probably just a fucking red stocking and a tiny tree or something? I’ll let Kiari pick out a couple things.”

“How about I stop on the way home and get a couple of G-I-F-T-S?” he spelled out in a stupid but adorably exaggerated way. 

Thank the gods Kiari couldn’t spell yet, because this idiot was ridiculous about it. He spelled out P-O-O-P for fuck’s sake, and scolded Katsuki when he spelled F-U-C-K in return. The kid was doomed in the cursing department with him as a father. Might as well get her teachers used to it now.

When they parted ways, Katsuki hanging a right to go to the daycare, and Eijirou to the left for the agency, the three of them exchanged smooches with a promise to see each other again at dinner time.

“Go kick some villain ass.”

“I will, babe. See you tonight.”

***

If they thought, in general, time went by quickly, it didn’t hold a candle to how fast the last two days went. Between work and parenting, time was at a premium. Eijirou’s normal procrastination was clearly contagious, because it was Christmas Eve and they had barely done anything.

It took some begging on Eijirou’s part and some reluctant bribing on Katsuki’s, but they had somehow convinced Deku and Ochako to cover their shifts over the next two days. It didn’t hurt that they were head-over-heels in love with Kiari and would do anything for her, but regardless, they were grateful.

While Katsuki stayed home to bake cookies with their daughter, Eijirou ran out for some groceries and a few last-minute gifts. It was a tough decision on who was going to do what, but the last time Eijirou even touched the oven, he set the smoke alarm off and forced the entire apartment complex to evacuate.

Okay, it wasn’t a tough decision at all.

“I’m back!” Eijirou called out as he stepped into the apartment and toed off his shoes. 

“Daddy! Tookies!” Kiari squealed as she grabbed one of the cooled cookies, practically coated in red and green sprinkles, and held it up for Eijirou. He quickly moved his hands to hide a couple of bags behind his back. 

“It’s so pretty, Kiari! Did you make it?”

“Mhm!” She accentuated her point by taking a big bite of the proffered cookie and running back into the kitchen.

“Oi! No running with food!” Katsuki scolded. He made eye contact with Eijirou who jerked his head to the side a few times, wordlessly requesting Katsuki come to their bedroom.

“Hey, go eat your cookie and see if your cartoon is on, okay? Don’t touch the damn oven!” It was off and already cool, but he didn’t want to take any chances. Kissing the top of Kiari’s head, he jogged down the short hall to their bedroom.

When Katsuki walked into their bedroom, Eijirou was pulling out his purchases.

He groaned, rolling his eyes at the sight of mini versions of themselves, Pro Hero Dynamight and Red Riot in doll form, which was all Kiari seemed to get excited about at the toy store when they took her in an attempt to get some shopping ideas. He had a suspicion that Deku was behind all of this, especially because there was no inkling that Kiari even knew that her fathers were pro heroes to begin with, but like hell they weren’t going to get her exactly what she wanted for her first Christmas.

“Fine, I’ll keep her occupied, you wrap them. And don’t fucking cut yourself on the scissors this time!”

“Babe! That was once!”

“Ei, your quirk is literally hardening!”

“Go! I hear her coming!”

***

Despite not being related by blood, one wouldn’t be able to tell that when it came to the sleeping habits of Eijirou and Kiari. They had the innate ability to sleep through just about anything and at any hour of the day or night. After Kiari came home with them, it took all of two days to get her onto a good sleep schedule. 

After that? She took solid two hour naps daily, and she cherished her ten to twelve hour nightly sleep regime, to the point that if it was interrupted, she became an adorably grumpy gremlin. Eijirou joked it was then that she took after Katsuki, earning himself a smack upside the head which only backfired when Kiari scolded Katsuki because ‘hitting is wong!’

All of that, however, was thrown out the window on Christmas morning.

Oh, not by Kiari. She didn’t understand Christmas from any other day. Not yet, at least.

No, it was all Eijirou. A child at heart, he was awake at one, two, then again at three, tossing and turning, restless in bed to the point that Katsuki was two seconds from throwing him off the side of the balcony.

“I can’t sleep,” Eijirou finally whispered as the clock inched toward four.

“No shit, really? I hadn’t fucking noticed,” he grumbled in return. After they got Kiari in bed, they were up late getting the gifts set out, the cookies half-eaten, and the stockings filled. It might not have taken long, but Katsuki was admittedly a perfectionist, and Eijirou kept putting big presents in front of little ones, or trying to force large stocking stuffers in before the small ones. It just made no sense!

Hindsight being twenty twenty, he now could see he was doing it on purpose just to get a rise out of him, which he completely fell victim to, but it was fine. The subsequent wrestling match was won by him and … well, he definitely won with what happened after that.

Merry Christmas, indeed.

Needless to say, he was tired. 

“Can we just get up? Please? It’s Christmas morning, Kats!”

Eijirou rolled over, pulling their naked bodies together, pressing his lips to Katsuki’s softly. “Merry Christmas, Katsuki. I love you,” he whispered. “You stay here, I’m gonna get a quick shower and then make coffee, okay? I promise I won’t cook!”

“Yeah, yeah, okay,” he muttered, already closing his eyes again.

Another couple of kisses, and his naked form was scurrying excitedly out of the still-darkened room into their en suite bathroom, and Katsuki was soon lulled back to sleep by the sound of running water.

***

When he woke again, it wasn’t slowly or naturally. It wasn’t with sweet kisses or soft touches. No, it was with a shrieking toddler hurdling herself onto the bed at light speeds and landing all thirteen kg of her body directly onto him in one fell swoop. 

“What the–!”

“PAPA! Get! Up!”

“Kiari, you’re knee, it’s in my–”

“Pessents! SANNA BOT PESSENTS!”

“--nuts,” he finished, though clearly Kiari both wasn’t listening and didn’t care. He quickly extricated her from his most sensitive parts, glad that he was covered up with a blanket since he carelessly had fallen asleep naked. He really needed to be more careful if they were going to have late nights like that.  “Santa came?”

“Yep! Sanna! Come!”

She held out her chubby little hand as she crawled off the bed, showcasing her little toothy grin as she looked up at him. He swore he fell in love with her more every day.

“Let Papa get dressed, I’ll be right out, okay?” Katsuki kissed her little hand, making her squeal and run away. He could hear her chattering to Eijirou in the living room, probably attempting to tell him word-for-word what had just happened.

He took the shortest shower of his life, threw on some sweats and a t-shirt, and padded out to where the rest of his family was at the lit-up Christmas tree.

“Merry Christmas, Katsuki,” Eijirou said again, grinning ear to ear.

“Papa! Sanna came!”

Katsuki scooped Kiari up and sat onto the floor, crossing his legs so she fit perfectly onto his lap. “Sure did, kiddo. Ready to open your presents?”


***

The excitement of the morning had been a lot for Kiari, and she’d passed out on the couch about twenty minutes ago, leaving Katsuki leaning back against Eijirou’s chest, still sitting on the floor.

“There’s something hidden back there,” Eijirou said quietly, but with a devilish inflection in his tone as he pointed toward something deep within the tree. Katsuki followed his finger, squinting a bit. 

“The fuck are talking about? All I see is the tree and lights.”

Eijirou pressed his lips on the shell of Katsuki’s ear, then leaned forward, pushing them both toward the tree for a moment to snag something from a branch in the back of the tree. Handing it to Katsuki, he nestled them back again, snaking his arms around Katsuki’s waist and resting his chin on his husband’s shoulder. 

It was a red wooden ornament, hand-carved into a flat circle with a photo cutout in the center. The picture in the middle was of the three of them, a candid that he could only assume Eijirou conned Uraraka or Deku into taking. He’d wondered why they’d mysteriously showed up at the same time and same place to pick out a Christmas tree, but it all made sense now.

Sneaky bastard had set it all up behind his back.

However, it was the wording on the ornament that made him furrow his brow in confusion as he ran the pad of his thumb over the blocky letters. “Baby’s First Christmas,” he said aloud, letting them ruminate in his mind. “It’s not her first Christmas, though, Ei.”

Eijirou hummed and Katsuki turned his head to the side just enough that they could see each other. His husband smiled, like he always did, soft and sweet, full of love and fondness, as if Katsuki and now Kiari were everything that mattered to him. 

“No, but it's her first Christmas with us, and ours with her. First of many, and I’m just.. I’m just so..”

“You’re going to cry aren’t you.”

“No! I swear I’m not!”

He was. Tears were already forming in Eijirou’s eyes, breaking free from the corners and streaming down his cheeks. Katsuki turned just slightly so he could kiss his husband, then hug him tightly – not without calling him a sappy ass, of course – then allow him to be pulled back into his arms again.

This was the real meaning of Christmas to them. Love. Family. Happiness.

He couldn’t wait to see what Baby’s Second Christmas brought to them.

Hell, who knew, maybe there would be another baby.

Merry Christmas, indeed.

***

“Daddy! Papa!” Kiari’s woeful and tear-filled shrieks permeated the wall between the living room and their bedroom, making Katsuki sit straight up in bed, Home Alone style. “Kiari!” 

It was still dark, not even the first hints of sunrise peeking through the blinds, and a glimpse at his phone told him it was only 4:30. Shit .

Eijirou, slower to wake as per the norm, perched himself up on his elbows, groggily rubbing his eyes and yawning. “What's going on?”

Katsuki clambered out of bed, heading for the door just as Kiari pushed it inward, illuminating the room with the hallway light. Tears streamed down her cheeks as Katsuki immediately picked her up, pushing her dark bangs from her eyes and kissing her forehead, using the opportunity to make sure she didn’t have a fever. “What happened? Nightmare?”

“No Sanna! Up early buh no Sanna!”

With a look of confusion, he turned to Eijirou, silently asking if he had any idea what she meant. For a long moment, his returned stare was sleepy and blank, but when the light bulb went off, it was almost comical.

“Oh! She thinks if she gets up early, that she’ll get more presents! Sorry baby girl, that’s only on Christmas. Gotta wait till next year!”

That…was not the answer she wanted and it led to another round of tears and wailing.

However, it was nothing that some snuggling in Daddy and Papa’s bed couldn’t fix. And if anyone found out that the Pro Hero Dynamight and Red Riot dolls were there, too?

No they weren’t–

Actually…yes they were, because they would do anything for their little girl.