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They’d discussed plans for their day off last night. Their first day off together in weeks. Months, maybe. Far too long, either way. And they’d fully intended to make the most of it— they’d sleep in, maybe get some grocery shopping done. Izuku would drag him to that new hero merch store down the street, and Katsuki would do a bad job at pretending he wasn’t also interested. Katsuki would make dinner, they’d cuddle up and watch that movie Izuku’s been practically begging him to see, and Izuku would predictably conk out halfway through.
What Katsuki didn’t plan for, however, was to wake up to the sound of fussy whines and two scarred hands clinging tightly to his shirt.
Ah.
Okay, Katsuki thinks, running a hand through Izuku’s curls to try to ease the needy fussing, so we’re doin’ this today.
Katsuki flips into caregiver mode in an instant. He shushes him gently, sitting up and pulling him upright so he’s facing him on his lap. Izuku fusses for another moment, still somewhere between asleep and awake, before he blinks open bleary eyes.
“Hi, baby”, Katsuki greets him, bouncing him a little in hopes of easing his morning crankiness.
Izuku just blinks at him for a moment before he seems to realize what— or who— he’s looking at. The moment he does, his whine breaks off halfway and he breaks into the biggest smile, hands reaching to grab at Katsuki’s face with a happy coo.
“Good morning to you, too, squirt.”
Izuku clumsily fists Katsuki’s hair, entirely ignoring the hiss of pain it elicits, tugging at the blond strands happily. He stares at him with big doe eyes, like he’s the best thing he’s ever seen.
And in this headspace? Maybe he is. His world consists solely of Kacchan when he’s this little.
And, well, maybe his bottle, too. Katsuki’s reminded of this pretty quickly when Izuku begins to fuss again. Kacchan is great, but Izuku is hungry and he won’t hesitate to make it known. He never does.
Katsuki rolls his eyes, abandoning any previous hopes of sleeping in. He hauls them both up, one hand going to Izuku’s back, the other supporting his bottom. The baby’s arms immediately wind around his neck, head dropping onto his shoulder like it belongs there. He always fits so perfectly in his arms, Katsuki thinks. Like he really was made for him to hold.
Katsuki decides he doesn’t really mind being up so early. Day off or not.
Izuku is fairly quiet as Katsuki sets about making a bottle. It’s how he knows he’s extra little today— toddler Izuku would be talking his ear off by now about anything and everything. Katsuki loves hearing his nonsense rambles, he always does, but there’s something so special about his quieter, littler headspace. Maybe it’s the fact that he’s so carefree, completely at ease. Or maybe it’s the fact that Izuku sees Katsuki as the absolute center of his world.
He‘d never say it out loud, but oh, does he love when Izuku stares at him with those huge, earnest eyes— like he fully believes Katsuki single-handedly hung the moon in the sky. He loves being Izuku’s everything. He loves being needed the way Izuku needs him when he’s this little, so utterly dependent and clingy.
Izuku starts to get cranky again as they wait for the milk to warm, squirming even as Katsuki sways gently and pats his back to calm him. It doesn’t work very well; patience is a foreign concept to Izuku right now.
Katsuki just shushes him, shifting him in his arms to press a kiss to his forehead. The baby keeps fussing anyway, rubbing his eyes with a balled fist, other hand anchoring him to Katsuki’s shirt. Katsuki lets him fuss for a moment while he grabs the warm bottle and heads to settle them on the couch.
The trip to the couch, in Izuku’s opinion, takes far too long. He lets out the sharpest little whine like he truly believes he’s being wronged right now because he can see the bottle and it is not in his mouth and it absolutely should be by now and he cannot believe Kacchan would deprave him like this.
“Be patient, idiot, gimme a sec”, Katsuki scoffs, trying to situate Izuku on his lap as the baby tries his hardest to grab for the bottle he’s holding just out of reach. Izuku promptly answers that with a much louder, more frustrated cry— a warning of an incoming meltdown if Katsuki doesn’t hurry his ass up.
“Alright, alright—“ he mutters under his breath, Izuku latching eagerly once he’s finally holding the bottle within reach. He fumbles to tilt the bottle closer, down it faster, as if Katsuki has starved him and he’s being given his first meal in days. Dramatic idiot.
He watches Izuku drink, watches him eventually slow from eager pulls into a drowsier, lazier rhythm.
Katsuki loves mornings like this. He looks so utterly content, eyes half-lidded despite the fact that he woke not even half an hour ago. Katsuki can’t blame him, though. He’s got a warm bottle and snuggles. What more could a baby really want?
Izuku dozes for much of the morning, a peaceful half-slumber. He doesn’t really need more sleep, but a warm bottle always conks him out, and they’ve got all the time in the world today. Katsuki is perfectly content to half-watch whatever is on the TV, patting the baby’s back in a steady rhythm. He’d usually complain about wasting the day; it’s sunny out, they have things to get done, and they’re spending most of the morning on the couch. This is not how they planned for the day to go. And yet, he can’t really bring himself to be mad about it.
By mid-morning, Izuku finally stirs and perks up, full of energy after hours of dozing. He’s already squirming in his lap, playing with Katsuki’s hands and humming under his breath. He gets bored after a moment and moves to not-so-gently grabbing Katsuki’s hair for the second time today.
Katsuki winces and tries— keyword, tries— to redirect his hands. Yeah. He knows they’re gonna need to find something to keep him entertained.
He’d bring him outside and let him play around or go for a quick walk, but he’s really not in the mood to give him a bath right now if he gets dirty, and the weather is on the chilly side lately with winter creeping in. He’d have to bundle him up…
“What’re we gonna do today, baby? Huh?” He says, glancing around the room as Izuku promptly sticks two fingers in his mouth and stares at him expectantly, like a little I dunno, you’re supposed to decide.
Katsuki sighs. Being a baby is so easy. His eyes scan the room for another moment before landing on the bookshelf in the corner of the room. Oh. Duh.
“You wanna read a book, Izu?” He prompts, bouncing his knee a bit. Izuku’s whole face lights up, eyes going big and round. He leans forward so abruptly that Katsuki has to grab his waist to keep him from pitching off his lap entirely.
“Easy, easy,” Katsuki chides, even though he’s already smiling as he stands, keeping a hand on Izuku’s back so he doesn’t wiggle right out of his arms. Izuku kicks his feet happily like he absolutely cannot contain the excitement of being read to.
The reaction is an expected one. He’s the biggest book nerd no matter the age.
Katsuki crouches in front of the bookshelf, Izuku squirming to look at it himself, grabbing for absolutely every book with no actual specificity.
And he grabs directly for the spine of the actual biggest book on the shelf, one of his hardcover novels. “Yeah, no. Try again.”
Izuku whines, offended, and dramatically drops his head on Katsuki’s shoulder. As if Katsuki has just single-handedly ruined his whole life.
“You don’t want that one, dummy,” Katsuki snorts, sliding a hand under Izuku’s thigh and shifting him up a bit. “I promise. Let’s look for one with pictures, yeah? Preferably something that doesn’t have 70,000 words.”
Izuku peeks up at him, lower lip wobbling pitifully like he’s genuinely on the verge of tears. Knowing Izuku, he might actually be. Katsuki presses a kiss to his nose, smoothing his curls back from his forehead.
“C’mon. We’ll pick a good one.”
Izuku sniffles.
Katsuki’s fingers trail along the row of children’s books they’ve collected— most well-worn and dog-eared, covers fraying.
He skims past a few before he lands on a familiar cover, pulling it from the shelf without hesitation once he realizes what it is.
Guess How Much I Love You.
Izuku’s favorite. If he’s telling the truth, it’s his favorite, too, really. This one is their book. It’s special.
And Izuku, predictably, lights up when he sees the worn cover.
“I know, sweetheart, I know, we’ll read it”, he huffs a laugh as Izuku scrambles to grab for it. They settle back onto the couch at his insistence, Izuku shifting to nuzzle into the crook of his neck like a kitten, two fingers still lodged firmly in his mouth. Katsuki sighs and reaches for a paci from the side-table drawer, tugging Izuku’s fingers from his mouth with a grimace. The reaction is instant— Izuku’s face immediately crumples, tears already threatening to fall. Katsuki slips the paci into his mouth as quickly as he can, very intent on not causing a meltdown today. The moment it settles between his lips, Izuku quiets mid-whimper. He sucks once, like he’s testing it— then again, slower— and settles. He seems to decide that it’s a suitable replacement for his own fingers… barely.
Crisis successfully averted, Katsuki bounces his knee a little and places a hand on his back to steady him as he flips the first page open. He spares one more glance down at the bundle of curls in his lap, his heart skipping a beat at just how small he looks like this. He doesn’t get how someone with enough strength to flatten buildings can manage to make himself look so little at the same time.
“Alright. Page one,” he murmurs, dropping a kiss to the top of those curls he loves so much before continuing. “Let’s do this.”
“Little Nutbrown Hare, who was going to bed, held on tight to Big Nutbrown Hare's very long ears…”
Izuku melts almost instantly. He loves this book.
They’re barely halfway through the book before Katsuki feels a little bump to his jaw. He pauses.
“What?” he asks softly, raising a brow. Izuku stares at him. And stares. And then does it again, just a little bump to his cheek with shield of his paci.
Katsuki blinks, and it dawns on him. “Was that a kiss?”
Izuku does a full-body wiggle, clearly proud of himself, and does it again.
“Paci kisses”, Katsuki realizes.
Katsuki can’t help his smile. Of course. Izuku wiggles again as if to confirm it, punctuating it with another gentle bump of plastic to the corner of Katsuki’s mouth and a dramatic little mmph.
“You givin’ me kisses, baby?” he murmurs, and Izuku just stares at him very seriously like duh, what else?
Katsuki shifts his arm around Izuku’s middle, steadying him, and gives him a kiss right back. It’s just a little press of lips to his cheek, but Izuku bursts into giggles, feet kicking, and Katsuki snorts. Presses another to his forehead. His nose. The shield of his paci.
Izuku squeals and falls forward, forehead thunking lightly against Katsuki’s collarbone as he squirms, utterly delighted. Katsuki’s heart thumps loudly in his chest. He rests a palm between Izuku’s shoulder blades, thumb rubbing slow circles as the baby settles— still wiggling with excitement, but trying so, so hard to calm down because they’re supposed to be reading. Reading is very important. Reading is serious business.
Katsuki turns the next page and keeps reading. Izuku sinks against his chest, eyelids fluttering with that contented, dreamy haze he only gets when he’s really little. Katsuki watches the tiny furrow between his brows relax.
None of this was in their plans for the day. Even still, Katsuki thinks maybe this is better. Better than sleeping in. Better than groceries. Better than merch or dinner or movies.
This is exactly where he wants to be.