Chapter Text
Between pinched fingers Izuku holds out a soiled burping cloth. It's soaked through with slobber, snot, and mushed carrot and peas. He keeps it at an arm's length where it dangles over the washing machine barrel that reeks of sour milk and drops it in where it collects with the other equally used cloths from tonight.
That was the last one they had, having no choice now but to use one of his old shirts as a substitute. A plain white collar shirt with a tear that stretches from the cuffs to the elbow, snagged on one too many door handles... It lays over the shoulder Nanako rests against, her tiny body quivering with hiccups and sobs -- Well, it's more of a low-whine now, too exhausted to cry anymore.
Even now, she coughs and gags. He massages at her back with an open palm, starting from the base of her neck where little green tufts of hair inexplicably curl and down to the buttons of her onesie, all the while whispering a lulling hush.
He sways to try and soothe her, though quickly freezes with a wince as pain flares from his side. On his way back home from work he stumbled upon an active bank robbery, and the culprits didn't exactly give Deku a warm welcome when he busted in on the scene. One of the bigger criminals threw a whole safe at him! His suit dampened the impact, but only enough so that his right set of ribs didn't collapse inwards and shoot out the other end! He's lucky that they're only bruised.
When he got home, he immediately strapped a bag of frozen peas to the purple blotch that had already spanned the width of his hand. "One of those nights?" Ochako cringed as she watched him press it against the skin like a branding iron. They talked about the incident over dinner, and even now Izuku's loins heat and his heart yearns remembering her sultry promises of kissing him better later.
...That was about the same time that their daughter expelled her own dinner like she was possessed.
After that, he remembers putting the peas back into the freezer and-- His breath catches and his blood runs cold, Izuku's sights whip from the tight bandages wrapped around his waist and back to Nanako. Oh thank goodness she's still here! For a moment, he feared that he was cradling a bag of peas and had put their baby in the freezer! It's not his fault the similarities were uncanny! Green, limp, and cold...
Those puffy cheeks of hers usually so blush with color are now a sickly pale, he can't find a trace of Ochako in her at all now.
He should go check on her.
Izuku steps out into the kitchen and leans against the island countertop across from Ochako, settling against it with a huff as he shifts his weight opposite of the dense throb in his side and actively fights his usual absentminded instinct to bounce his daughter.
Ochako's fingers thrum a rhythm on the counter top, fanning out in waves over and over gain. She sighs, lowering the phone from her ear and mimicking Izuku's posture against the sink, albeit without the slant. Her brow scrunches as she hits the redial button.
Through the dull dial-tone, Izuku interjects. "Still nothing?" Even from here he's able to make out the words of some robotic voice giving her instructions on how to leave a message.
"No." Her shoulders slump and she hangs up, eyes narrowing onto her phone's screen. "I've tried Mom's phone, our home phone, and Dad isn't picking up either."
"Have you tried his contractor number?" He jokes, smiling when she does.
"Not yet."
"I'd tell you to try and call my mom, but..." For Mother's Day, Izuku and Bakugou pooled together some of their funds to send both of their moms away on a joint cruise. She was always there to watch over Nanako whenever they needed a break, she deserved one too.
Ochako laughs. "Yeah, no. She'd hitch a ride on one of those emergency rafts and paddle all the way back here to rescue us."
She would.
The moment spoils as Nanako breaks out into another fit of retching. They can hear her hallow stomach compress with each convulsion, a dry burping that mocks choking more than spitting up. Izuku has to brace his free hand against her so that she doesn't fall backwards from the intensity of each quake.
Ochako's hands hover and flinch with every excruciating gag. "Is she...? Again?!"
Looking over, Izuku only sees a few moist patches from drool and tears staining the old shirt, and he shakes his head. Nothing is coming out of her, however, that's somehow more concerning...
Babies throw up all the time! Well, to their limited experience; A mere nine months. It's why the keep second guessing themselves and tip-toeing around the edges of total panic. It's when she's not throwing up that a dreadful feeling sinks into the steadily becoming pit in their stomachs.
This isn't normal.
Maybe she ate something bad? No, Ochako had triple-checked the expiration date on the formula and baby food, and Izuku quadruple-checks the small glass of mushy carrot and pea blend beside him, quickly putting it back down as Nanako's thrashing continues, having to hold her tight to him.
Ochako picks up her phone again. An array of colors reflect in her eyes as she scrolls through her contacts. "I'm calling the doctor."
"Sounds like a good idea." He straightens with a sudden hiss, causing Ochako's attention to snap right back to him. Her eyebrows crook upwards, stretching the skin at the bridge of her nose -- She looked at their baby the same way just moments ago, and he's not sure how to feel about the implications of that.
"Hey, how about you two go and rest for a moment?" Reaching over and smoothing a hand down his free shoulder, she tilts her head over in the direction of their living room. "I'll fill you in on what they say. Alright?
"That sounds like an even better idea." He gives a small chuckle through his grit teeth, taking Ochako by the hand and bridging the small gap between them to press his lips against her forehead in a chaste kiss.
When he was younger the thought of such an action alone would have had him buried into his own hands and cursing himself a pervert. Now it's a casual reassurance, a wordless 'everything will be OK' that they both sorely need. What hasn't changed is the way both of their complexions heat up and how she struggles to meet his gaze.
"Izuku! Don't lean! You're gonna hurt yourself!" A firm yet gentle push to send him back upright.
It feels like Nanako agrees, the slight dip made her fingers curl into him nestle against him with a high keen. He realizes that there is still a semblance of Ochako in their little girl after all; They fuss the same.
"Ochako, I'm barely taller than you! Besides, I'll be bending over more just to sit on the couch."
"Yeah yeah, you just watch yourself Mister." She shoos him off with a playful wave of the hand. He revels in that little pout of hers. Another semblance; they both have very pinchable cheeks!
His condition alone makes settling down onto the couch a challenge, and having to keep Nanako as stable and vertical as he possibly can throughout the process only makes it doubly so. When a majority of his weight finally rests against the couch he couldn't just sink into it and go boneless, as much as his bones want to.
Even if he could, he can't, too preoccupied with trying to distract Nanako from whatever is ailing her. He coos, tries a couple of silly faces, he even plays with one of her favorite shakers he found partially stuffed into the cushions, but she just hides into the crook of his neck! She doesn't even want to pull on his hair! Nothing works, and at this point he'd let her use his injured ribs as a sensory mat if it just brought her smile back...
Seriously weighing that option makes him soothe at the site, a touch that twitches away as the bruising reacts, a dense shock that reverberates through his chest, shuddering as he massages it with a feather's pressure.
It gives him an idea, one that doesn't involve tiny little fingers prodding into him.
"Hey! I know! You wanna see if Daddy's on TV?" No response. Not that he particularly expected one, but anything -- a babble, or a trill! Either would have been better than her hoarse breaths.
Despite Nanako's lack of enthusiasm, he's confident that this might just be the trick to liven her up. Ochako always told him about how bubbly their daughter got whenever she saw him on TV, though he's still not one hundred percent sure if she's old enough to recognize him or if she's just a fan of Deku! He'd only ever seen her reaction once when he came home after saving one of his students from themselves, a sort of beserker quirk that made them go into a rampage in the city. It was a rough night and it put UA back into the spotlight of controversy, though Izuku didn't feel an ounce of shame watching as Nanako clapped and cheered at his image, amused by how confused she got between the two of them when he stood side by side their television!
... Maybe just a touch sad when she paid more attention to the visage of his hero counterpart than the real deal ...
But that's great right now! He reaches over to the arm rest where the remote is -- At least, that's where it should be. He pats and pats, finding only soft fabric.
It's not there. Instead, Izuku looks to the remote's second most prominent resting spot, the ceiling! And there it is, floating up in the corner of the room with a wobbly pink aura emanating from it. He smiles. It's a game he and Ochako played often, it all started on a whim one day when she wanted his attention, and it became a fun little ritual of theirs ever since. She liked to watch him stretch out and jump for it, and he liked the challenge, he also liked how she'd run her hands up and under his shirt mid-stretch, those soft finger pads of hers gliding like mochi against his scarred build and-- Come to think of it, that might just be how Nanako was conceived.
With a groan, Izuku manages to rise from the couch and he peers into the kitchen where Ochako is still stuck on the phone, giving short answers to what must have been an essay's worth of question regarding Nanako's routine. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought she was participating in a telephone survey.
"Hey, Ochako? Sorry, but, could you release the remote? I don't think tonight is a good night."
She breaks away from the phone just enough to whisper to him. "Huh?"
"The remote? You uh, left it on the ceiling?"
"Left it on the--?" She mouths the words back to him, pupils darting from side to side as her mouth gapes ever slight. She returns briefly to the call, hushing a few apologies and promising to be right back before rushing over to Izuku's side and looking up at the device that rotates slowly inch by inch in the air.
"But I didn't..."
"You didn't?"
"No...I didn't." She puts all of her fingers together, again and again. She even hisses her classic 'release!', something she only ever does anymore when she's tried, or in this case, at a complete loss. "I-I didn't!" She pales. "Izuku! It's not me!"
"Not you? But then..." A quizzical look as he hold their daughter in outstretched arms, her little limbs dangling completely limp. Izuku can't hear Ochako warn him to protect Nanako's head as the realization dawns on him.
She had Ochako's finger pads at birth, so he always thought she'd have her mother's quirk, but despite knowing this it doesn't make the moment any less magical. A burst of energy shoots through him, one that outweighs the pain in his side as all of his muscles tense to excitement.
He blurts, "She's got a quirk!-- Your quirk! Oh my gosh! That's amazing!! But she's, she's only--! Is this even possible?!"
Lost in amazement, Izuku doesn't notice Ochako wrenching their baby out of his frozen grip. A good thing too, he wouldn't have been able to resist the urge to toss Nanako up into the air and catch her over and over again.
Ochako tries to pry Nanako's fingers out of their little balled fists, but it proves more challenging than Izuku's, and despite how lethargic she is it's surprisingly tight. She sighs, "It's happening more and more these days." He doesn't pick up on her solemn tone, in a full-on fanatic mode, shaky hands rummaging in his pockets for his phone and taking photos of the floating remote like he's blissed out on some tour of a hero museum. He's over the moon! No, further than that. He's over Pluto!
Izuku looks at the unfocused photos with stars in his eyes. "I can't believe this! Can you believe this?! I just-- Wow! I mean, Wow! Think about--! She can-- And you--! You're both--!" How do you put words together again? For the first time, there's too many thoughts to handle! He can't even ramble through it! When his brain refuses to work, he speaks with his heart. "Ochako! This is the best day of my life!" Sure, maybe he's living a little vicariously through Nanako, but he's leaking with pride! And tears apparently.
"You said that when we got married, and when I first told you I was pregnant."
"I know!"
"And when Nanako was born..."
"I know!"
"So, uh, which day is it then?"
"I don't know! This one? This one! No, what am I saying?! All of them! But this? This is just, 'amazing' doesn't cut it! It's awesome, incredible, and--!" Blurry! Everything looks underwater, he wipes away the tears and sees Ochako's lips pulled back into a thin line, unsaturated eyes that match the pallor of her skin watching as Nanako squirms against her. "You're not smiling..."
"Of course not! Just the other day some I had a couple come in for quirk counseling because their six month old suddenly started coughing up fire!"
There's a quiet. Izuku stares at her, he's barely able to construct his own sentences, let alone figure out where the problem is in hers.
She spells it out, "Izuku, their house nearly burnt down!"
Oh!
"B-but she's not breathing fire!" Yet. Somewhere in all of his quirklessness, that gene exists. It could be that their daughter awakens to it later and-- No! He can feel himself getting worked up again and quickly mutes his imagination.
"The issue is the same. She doesn't know what a quirk is! Even less how she can control it! And it's not like she can just listen to use and understand how it all works..." Ochako lets go of Nanako's tiny hands as she starts to wail. "And look at her! Poor thing. She's not ready for this type of power yet! It's not just about hurting others, she could hurt herself! Or worse..."
Worse? What's worse than--?
The thought needs no completion.
This could easily become the worst day of his life.
Izuku comes crashing back down to reality with a newfound black hole of anxiety exploding in his chest, he's not sure if it's physical pain from how incredibly quick the adrenaline faded and the repercussions of his exhilaration hit him like a safe, or if it's emotional pain from the 180° of going beyond Pluto to cratering down into hell. Whatever it is, he tries to swallow it.
A tight gulp as he chokes his worry down. "Aizawa?"
Ochako nods. "Aizawa."