Work Text:
“What was this about again, Midoriya my boy?” Toshinori asked, looking around the open expanse of the Yuuei sports field, green and fresh in the sunshine.
It was a warm and rare afternoon off for the students and most of them were occupying their free time away from anything that looked like class, except for Midoriya and his two friends. They were practically inseparable, those three, and for whatever reason they had asked him to meet them on the field that afternoon.
“It’s physical therapy.” Midoriya said, shuffling his feet. “We’ve all got arm injuries besides Uraraka, and Recovery Girl said we really should be exercising.”
“Yes!” Iida said promptly, when Midoriya inexplicably stopped talking with a flustered look. “We need to be strengthening and stretching the muscles and tendons to enable them to perform at their best capacity.”
Toshinori tilted his head, eyeing the students. Uraraka and Iida appeared composed if a bit eager for some reason and Midoriya looked as if he might run. Well, Midoriya did have the worst arm injuries beside Toshinori, perhaps he was concerned about pain or felt guilty about neglecting to do something about it sooner. Recovery Girl probably gave him a lecture, even.
“Physical therapy, hm?” Toshinori flexed his hand, only recently out of it’s cast and brace. “I don’t have much strength to work with myself….”
“It’s just catch!” Uraraka said, her smile a mile wide as she held up two balls and four mitts. “You and Deku can play with one ball and I’ll play with Iida with the other!”
“We even asked Aizawa to provide us with these softballs as they are larger and easier to grip than typical baseballs.” Iida said, and took one of the balls in question and handed it to Midoriya, who seemed to be studying his feet.
Uraraka held one of the catching mitts out to Toshinori and he accepted it, fitting it onto his hand as best as he could.
“We’ll be over here so we don’t accidentally hit each other.” Uraraka said, and with an extra large smile for Midoriya that almost looked like it was meant to be encouraging as she gave him his mitt, she and Iida ran down the field several yards.
It stabbed at Toshinori’s heart to see how awkward it was for Iida to throw the ball with his injured arm, and he turned away to smile at Midoriya who was still showing an inordinate amount of interest in the grass.
“Well, Midoriya my boy! Let’s play catch!” Toshinori said, stepping a few paces back.
Midoriya looked a bit red around the ears when he looked up, but his smile was bigger than Uraraka’s had been. “Sure!”
They lobbed the ball back and forth, Toshinori finding himself smiling as he fell into the rhythm of it. It was soothing in a way, the smack of the ball against the leather mitts, and far more enjoyable than the usual exercises that Recovery Girl had told him to do. They played in silence for the first few minutes, but Midoriya looked so happy and Toshinori felt so cheerful that it only made sense to converse.
“How have your classes been?” Toshinori asked, tossing the ball back and smiling when Midoriya fumbled it in surprise. “I apologize that I haven’t been around more.”
“Oh no! That’s fine, school is fine!” Midoriya grinned, and threw the ball back. “We’re all getting better at controlling our Quirks and everyone has such neat ideas about how to do it!”
“Good, good!”
They chatted about small things, enjoying the warm sun in the afternoon as they passed the ball back and forth. Toshinori didn’t even notice when Iida and Uraraka moved farther and farther away until they bailed from the field to sit on the sidelines, Uraraka almost doubled over with giggles.
Warmed by the sun and the light exercise, Toshinori’s arm felt less stiff than it had in a long time, and without thinking he threw the ball a bit harder than he had intended. Midoriya, startled, jumped into the air to catch it and fell flat on his back in the grass.
His arm shot up a second later, the ball grasped in the mitt, and Toshinori laughed.
“Well done, my boy! Good catch!”
“Thanks, dad!” Midoriya said, springing up, and he tossed the ball back with a grin.
On the sidelines, Uraraka and Iida stared at the two still playing ball, both of them smiling and laughing. Iida’s mouth was hanging open, and Uraraka was blushing so bright she could feel the heat from her face.
“…Do you think either of them realized what Deku just said?” She asked, and Iida shut his mouth so hard she heard his teeth click.
“I don’t believe so. And I think it would be best if we pretend not to have realized it either!”
“Good idea.” Uraraka nodded, but pulled out her phone.
And using Iida’s bulk to hide behind, just in case the two still blithely passing the ball looked up, she snapped a couple pictures. She had the feeling Deku might like to have them.