Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Katsuki knew the first morning would be difficult.

Waking up the kids before the sun had risen for the day was daunting to say the least. He was thankful that Katsuma was at least a little bit of a morning person, if that was even the proper category to put him in.

He had always been easier to get up than his sister, and of course, today of all days was no exception to that.

The usually sweet, outgoing girl looked as if she was ready to kill her father in cold blood the moment he opened her bedroom door. Even after they both came moping from their rooms to eat a small breakfast before getting ready, she kept her head low and refused to speak for the majority of the morning. She held grudges like her daddy, too.

As the morning continued, Katsuki’s unfinished coffee was left on the counter, forgotten about after he told them to start getting ready. There was soft music coming from the radio in the kitchen, and their plates from breakfast still sat on the kitchen table.

Toys littered the living room floor from the night before, pajamas thrown on the couch, and stuffed animals somehow found their way to the kitchen. He made a note to tidy up a little bit after dropping them off later.

He began heading towards the stairs to help them get ready for the day, only to stub his foot on one of the stray action figures along the way. He cursed to himself quietly.

The day had barely even started, and Katsuki already needed a cigarette.

When he finally reached the top of the stairs, he walked his way to the door with little pink butterfly stickers plastered all over it before gently knocking.

“Mahoro?”

He was met with rustling—then silence.

“Are you putting on your uniform like I told you to?”

A frustrated grunt came from the other side, “Yes, I told you I know how to do it!”

He listened to the reply with a huff. She had always been the stronger-willed of the twins. Today was no exception.

It was a blessing and a curse depending on which day you asked him. Some days, he felt as if he had met his match with her.

He looked down at the wristwatch that read 7:42. They still had a little time to spare, he thought to himself, figuring he would let her struggle just a little bit longer before ultimately helping her when she decided she was done trying to figure it out. He walked a few paces down where the open bathroom door was to see Katsuma brushing his teeth.

He looked at the boy who was already dressed, weary of the mess he might make. “Careful not to get anything on your uniform. And make sure not to get any spit on the mirror this time.”

Katsuma smiled as he made eye contact with his father through the mirror. “I won’t!”

Of course, as he said this, he somehow managed to spit little toothpaste droplets all over the countertop and faucet. Katsuki let out a deep sigh before patting the kid on the back, making another mental note to add that to the list of things he’d have to clean when he got home.

He left the bathroom and began his way towards the stairs. As he walked to the kitchen, he went over to where their school bags sat before checking through them again. He even packed some bentos for lunch, just in case they didn’t like the school food. He checked every little thing they could have possibly forgotten and made sure they were more than prepared, considering he would rather be overkill than underprepared.

As he rummaged through, a drawn-out ‘meow’ rang out right next to his feet.

He looked down to be greeted by a ball of white fur staring expectantly at him with bright blue eyes. Right. The cat.

In the midst of getting the kids ready, he had forgotten about her breakfast.

He quickly grabbed her bowl to fill it with her morning meal. In return, she happily chirped before bouncing to her food bowl, no longer bothering him at his feet.

He glanced at the bags one last time before going back to his now lukewarm coffee and taking a sip. Carefully putting the mug back down on the counter, he went back upstairs to get the last few things in order before loading the car up.

When he knocked on the girl’s door, he got no response once again. After being met with silence, he pushed the door open to see a defeated-looking Mahoro and a completely backwards uniform. He had to stop himself from laughing at the scene in front of him.

Wordlessly, he bent down on his knee and began straightening out the uniform, turning around her outfit and buttoning the school jacket properly. Her eyes didn’t meet his as she grumbled out a small “Thank you.”

He couldn’t help but smile at her. He gave her a quick peck on the cheek before calling out for her brother. “Katsuma, you ready?”

A loud ‘yeah!’ was heard from the other room before the boy opened his door and raced down the stairs, ready to grab his bag.

As the other two went downstairs, Katsuki went through the checklist he had and made sure they had everything one last time before going through the front door towards the car.

The drive to the school was barely ten minutes. They listened to the radio of some upbeat pop band both the kids enjoyed listening to, and once they arrived at the designated drop-off area, the line was so long that it almost spilled to the road.

Katsuki took this time to turn down the radio and look back at the two safely buckled away in their colorful car seats.

“Do you remember what we talked about?” He spoke firmly.

They looked up and nodded, Mahoro speaking first. “Be polite, listen to the teacher, and make sure to stay out of trouble.”

He hummed in agreement. “And what exactly is staying out of trouble?”

“Don’t push, don’t fight, and don’t call anybody names,” she said with a bored tone, as if she had rehearsed this a million times. Mostly because they had.

“And don’t say shit.” Katsuma helpfully added.

“Right,” Katsuki sighed. “Please don’t say shit.”

“Can we say the other words?” Maharo asked.

“No.”

Both of them deflated.

The rest of the car line went fairly quickly. He was relieved that he ended up doing the drop-off registration early, not having to actually get out and talk to anyone. When it was their turn to get out of the car, Katsuki turned around and started undoing their clasps.

As soon as they were free, they each gave him a tight squeeze around his neck before getting out of the car. The nice lady who was there to help smiled softly at the three of them before waving to Katsuki. A chime of “I love you's" rang out as they waved goodbye, all before disappearing into the crowd of other children.

No matter what happened or how much he prepared himself, he still felt a bittersweet pang in his heart seeing them go. As they made their way inside the school building, he wordlessly began his drive back to the house with a heavy heart.

Only on the way home did he roll down the car window, finally letting himself smoke the cigarette he needed all morning.

The rest of the day went smoothly. He ended up picking up around the house before sitting down on the couch to open some work emails. He would have to go into the office here soon to collect some paperwork, but with the children being gone for school, he felt that it wouldn't be much of an issue these days.

Before he knew it, his watch told him that it was time to pick the two up. He could only hope that it wasn’t a complete shit show.

He knew Mahoro more than likely had an excellent day once she recovered from her morning grouchiness. She had always been the more outgoing of the two. Katsuma however… was another story.

As he got in the car to pick them up, he noticed the radio was playing a song the two liked to sing along to often. He caught himself humming along the melody on the way there, not being able to free it from his head entirely.

These days, he rarely listened to his usual music. He wasn’t quite sure when the switch was even made, but he knew it had been a second since he had even heard the familiar tone of the drums he had come to love so much. One of the small sacrifices, he supposed.

When he arrived back in the same spot he was in the morning, a teacher had turned back into the building to yell out what he could only assume was letting the two know their father was there to pick them up. Shortly after, the pair came dashing to the car, disregarding the teacher behind them telling them to slow down.

As they climbed in the back seat and began fastening themselves up, they spoke what sounded like a mile a minute.

“Papa, you’ll never guess what happened!” Mahoro said.

“It was so awesome!” Katsuma spoke at the same time.

He chuckled to himself as they finished fastening their belts as Katsuki drove off. “Tell me about it.”

And without an ounce of hesitation, they did.

“So we have one Sensei, Katsuma and I are in the same class! And he’s super cool! We got to go outside and eat a nice lunch—”

“Yeah!” Katuma overlapped, “We didn’t even need our lunchboxes! The food was really good.”

“But we did eat it for snack time, though.” Mahoro said.

“And we have art and library on Tuesdays and Thursdays, we get to go tomorrow and meet our other Sensei!"

“I’m happy to hear it,” he said, nodding towards the backseat. ”What did you do in class today?”

“We got to say things about ourselves and color some pictures,” Katsuma said.

“Yeah, and we also learned that one of the kids can count to ten in English!” Maharo hissed. “I wanna learn how to count to ten in English.”

“And we also learned everyone's favorite color.”

Katsuki listened to the two talk about the rest of their day as they continued home. It was nice to see them so excited. He could only hope that their admiration for it wouldn’t fade by the end of the week after the realization that they would be doing this for the next twelve years of their life.

As they pulled into the driveway, he unfastened their buckles, allowing the two to dart inside.

As he came inside with them, they were already pulling out their toys that he had put away in their bin to start playing again. He sighed. Koko pounced from the couch and greeted Katsuki happily as he walked through the door.

“You two don’t have any homework already, do you?” he asked.

“Nope, Sensei said that we won’t get homework for our first week.” Mahoro said, still rummaging through the toys to find her favorite dolls. The answer seemed reasonable enough.

“When’s supper? I’m hungry.” Katsuma whined after a few minutes of playing.

“In a few hours,” he said, starting to take out ingredients from the fridge. Katsuma let out a groan at the long wait.

“Can I have a snack?”

He nodded towards the kitchen. “You know where they're at, get yourself somethin’ if you want it.”

The boy got up to grab something out of the fridge before taking it to the table to snack on.

The rest of the afternoon was mostly spent as Katsuki sat on the couch, allowing the two to play with their toys a little longer as he finished up a few work documents on his laptop.

It wasn’t until an hour later that Katsuma had come back asking for another snack.

“Dinner will be soon enough. You’ll lose your appetite.”

“Nuh-uh! I'll still be very hungry. I'll eat all my dinner, I promise!”

“Katsuma,” he said sternly. He then sighed before getting up from the couch. He glanced at the kitchen and figured it wouldn’t hurt to have an early dinner. He looked back at Katsuma, who was now nursing a pouty expression.

“Tell you what, how about you help me cook? I’ll let you be my taste tester.” He said.

The boy looked up at him as if he was weighing his options before picking himself off the floor and pacing to the kitchen. “Okay.”

Katsuki followed behind him. “Go ahead and grab the sesame oil from the pantry.”

Without another word, the boy went over to the small door beside the cabinet to look at all the ingredients. He grabbed the bottle before heading back to Katsuki, who was now at the counter, pulling out a few things from the higher cabinets. “What are we making?”

“Karaage.”

At that, what was left of the little boy’s sour mood immediately dissolved. An excited gasp came from his mouth. “That’s my favorite!”

Katsuki cracked a smile. “Why do you think I’m making it?”

The boy became a lot more eager to help after that, fetching the small ingredients he could reach for Katsuki. He even put some of the ingredients in a bowl as Katsuki continued cooking.

Mahoro, barely ten minutes later, decided she was bored and would have more fun helping along with cooking as well. Katsuki let her put tiny pieces of chicken into the flower while Katsuma stirred in ingredients for their sauces.

The whole process took twice the time it would have if he had done it alone, but he couldn’t seem to mind too harshly when he looked down at the two with brightly lit faces, even if it ended up being a mess.

An hour later, the food was ready, and the three of them all washed their hands before digging into their meals.

The rest of the night went in similar fashion. They watched a couple of episodes of their favorite show before heading upstairs to brush their teeth and get ready for bed. As Katsuki tucked them into their separate bedrooms, he made sure their nightlights were turned on, and that no monsters were under the bed, just as he always did.

When he went back downstairs, he cleaned up the mess from dinner and began prepping what he would pack for them tomorrow.

Once most of the kitchen was properly cleaned and his food was prepped for the next day, he went to their bags so he could wash the dirty bento containers. However, as he went to pull the contents from the bag, he noticed a small paper note shoved in amongst the other items they carried. It didn’t take but a glance to see the word “Introduction for parents!” in big bold letters. He sighed to himself, knowing he should have just checked their bags as soon as they got home. He’d have to make a mental note to check from now on.

He took the papers out of the bags completely before grabbing his pack of cigarettes from the counter and headed towards the front door. He figured it would be easier to sit through some sappy introduction letter while nursing some nicotine. When he got out on the covered porch, he sat down in one of the chairs before lighting a cigarette. Reluctantly, he began reading.

“Hello Parents of class 312! This is not homework, do not worry! This is just a sheet entailing some extra information for those of you who wish to know more.

My name is Mr. Midoriya. I will be teaching class 312 for their first year of elementary. Here are a few things about me!"

Katsuki scoffed at the overly energetic introduction. Even in the paper, he can't escape some painfully optimistic, meaningless small talk. However, something in the back of his mind stirred. A small flame of recognition found itself in the darkest corner of his mind. The teacher's name—He had only known one other person with the name ‘Midoriya.’

He shook his head and immediately expelled the idea. They were hours away from Musutafu, in a small countryside town that Katsuki had lived in for years; he would have known if it was him.

He continued with the paper.

“I’ve been teaching for 3 years, all first-year elementary. My favorite color is red, and my favorite food is Katsudon!

Today, we all learned a little bit more about our classmates! However, as for next week, we will be going over what to expect for the school year, as far as learning and how to behave in my classroom.

First things first, my classroom rules! I ask that parents make sure that their children have a folder to put all their paperwork in. That way, nothing will get crumpled in their bags!”

It sounded easy enough. Luckily, Katsuki had already bought them folders as well as their own pencils and crayons.

“Everything else is provided for. We have snack time every day before lunch. If your child has any allergies, please let me know so we can discuss bringing certain foods. If you don’t wish to pack a snack for the day, no worries! I always carry snacks in my classroom just in case.

Please make sure that your child comes into my classroom with proper manners and treats other students with the utmost kindness they can. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out.”

Bakugou took another puff of his cigarette as he continued. The rest of the note tackled what they would be learning for the year, who all the other teachers would be, and really just a mouthful of information word vomited onto copy paper.

As he took one final drag of smoke and put the butt into his ashtray, he went inside with the papers and put them into the children's folder. He would have to talk to them about making sure they didn’t just throw around papers in their bags.

He finished cleaning up the containers and turned off the TV for the night, before admittedly feeling a little tired himself. Recently, he had to start staying up a little later for work, but now that the kids would be gone for a good portion of the day, he might be able to get more done in the mornings instead of sacrificing his nights. He hummed. There were always positives to everything.

He used to not be able to see that.

He made sure Koko was fed one last time before heading upstairs to his own bedroom. He changed out of his clothes and into an old, withered band t-shirt and sweatpants.

He left his door cracked, knowing the cat would more than likely come to his bedroom when she was done with her food.

A couple of years back, Mahoro had made it her entire mission to get a cat for her and Katsuma’s birthday. Admittedly, Katsuki was against the idea of it at first. He never really thought of himself as an animal person, someone who could tolerate them, maybe, yet even then that was pushing it, however the moment he finally decided to visit some faraway shelter, his eyes immediately perked up to the one kitten that hadn’t been meowing for his attention.

He ended up putting her in his jacket as he rode home. He remembered how small she had been, and so immediately accepting of any warmth she could come by. From that day on, he grew a little more attached than he intended to.

Just as he predicted, as soon as he was done brushing his teeth, the cat came jingling up the stairs, the bright pink bell hanging off her collar made sure that she was heard. She took a nice spot at the foot of the bed, and quietly Katsuki gave her one last pat before he turned off his lamp and headed under the covers as well.

The next morning was hardly different from yesterday’s. The biggest change was how the kids seemed to be more excited to get out of bed and get ready this time around. They had more to look forward to today, and he was slightly relieved to know that his work was a little bit more cut out for him.

As they piled into the car, fastening their seatbelts and singing whatever crappy song was on the radio, Katsuki made it a point to remind them to put papers into their folders, not just their backpacks. They both nodded their heads, but Katsuki knew it would be a little bit more trial and error before they actually made the habit.

He dropped them off at the same place he did yesterday morning, the same teacher giving him a warm smile before waving goodbye. It was the same rinse and repeat for the rest of the day after that: Clean up the house a bit, do some work, feed the cat, and watch whatever sappy rom-com came on TV.

When it was time to pick up the kids again, there was another teacher out conducting the kids, different from the one he saw earlier. Her hair was golden brown with naturally tinted cheeks, and when she saw Katsuki’s car with the names of the kids plastered in the corner of the window, she smiled just as kindly as the other teacher before her.

The kids came running from the building shortly after, buckling themselves in and talking a mile a minute once again.

“Did you see Ms. Ochako Sensei?!” Mahoro asked. Katsuma added, “The one outside with the brown hair?”

“I sure did.”

“She’s our librarian! We got to go to the library today,” Katsuma said.

“Yeah, and we got to go to the art room too!”

“And the Gym!”

He let them talk as they drove home. Even once they were home, they were still buzzed with energy, still recalling the day’s events about being able to explore the school’s playground and anything else they managed to do.

After dinner, they ended up playing one of the many colorful board games that were sitting on the living room bookshelf. Only after Katsuki ended up beating the two not once, but twice, did he start putting the pieces back in the box and announced, “Alright, punks. It's bath time.”

To no one's surprise, they both groaned.

“Pleassseee, just one more game!” Mahoro whined.

“Nope. Bath time, then you all can play all you want until bed.”

“Fine,” Mahoro mumbled. “But I’m not going first!”

Katsuma gawked at her. “Yuh-huh!”

“Nuh-uh.”

“Yuh-huh”

“Nuh-uh.”

“Yuh—”

“Okay!” Katsuki said, exasperatedly. “Rock, paper, scissors, best two out of three. Loser takes a bath first.”

At that, they both turned to each other competitively. Mahoro lost the first round, but Katsuma lost the other two.

In the third round, Katsuma rolled his head back and started faux whining.

“Hey, none of that. You know the rules. Go upstairs. I’ll be up shortly.”

“But—” Katsuma was quickly cut off by the stern look Katsuki gave him. It was enough to get him to zip it and take his losses. Maharo cheered.

When Katsuki went upstairs to run the water up in the bathroom for him, Katsuma looked at him through the doorway with puppy dog eyes. “Can I at least have some time to play before you wash my hair?”

Katsuki gave a soft smile. “Sure, kid.”

Once the bath was all settled and Katsuma was happily playing in his bubbles, he went downstairs to sit on the porch and lit another smoke. It would give the boy enough time to play as he got a little bit of fresh air.

Not even a minute after Katsuki sat down on one of the porch chairs, the front door creaked open to reveal a small Maharo. She liked to sit outside on the other porch chair with him when he was outside smoking, something he had grown accustomed to.

“Hi.” She said as she sat down.

He blew out some smoke. “Hey, sweetheart.”

And that was that.

She usually didn’t say much when she was out here. They simply looked out from their covered porch into the field and trees that sat in front of them.

Their house was a little secluded, but Katsuki liked it much better than a cramped city apartment he would have no doubt had if he stayed in Musutafu all those years ago.

As he continued nursing his cigarette, the little girl did eventually speak.

“Do we have to go to school for the rest of our lives?”

“Not all of it. Just for a few years.”

“How long is that?”

He took another puff, “About twelve.”

At that, she turned to him with a bewildered look. “Twelve?! As in twelve whole years?? That's practically my whole life!”

He huffed. “No, it is not. You get out when you’re eighteen, and some people go to school even longer, if they want to.”

“Why would anyone ever wanna go to school longer than they have to?” she asked, genuinely flabbergasted.

“I thought you liked going to school?”

“Well, yeah, but not for twelve years!”

At that, he chuckled. “Don’t worry, it’ll pass quicker than you think. Besides, you don’t go to school every single day. You get weekends and school breaks.”

“When do we get those?”

“Usually for holidays.”

“Oh,” she said, and left it at that.

They sat on the porch for a little while longer until the butt of his cigarette was all that was left.

He eventually got up, Maharo following behind him. “Alright. Let’s go wash your brother's hair, then it’s your turn.”

She grumbled behind him but didn’t say anything. They both went inside for the night.

The rest of the week followed in similar fashion. They would ramble about what their day consisted of, play a few games, and then go to bed. It was a simple routine, a routine that Katsuki never thought he’d be accustomed to, and especially not at the age of twenty-four. Twenty-five, in less than two weeks, he thought.

On Saturday, the kids were happy to sleep in. He made a small breakfast for the three of them. The two of them played in the back yard while Katsuki stayed inside, petting the cat and reading some weird article he found on his laptop.

It was barely after lunch time when the kids came from outside, raiding the fridge for juice boxes and climbing all over Katsuki like a jungle gym.

In the midst of climbing, Mahoro said excitedly, “Can we go to the park today? I wanna go play on the swingset!”

Katsuki looked at them, both smiling at him with pleading eyes. He gave an unimpressed look. “Y’all have a swing in the backyard.”

Katsuma spoke up, “Yeah, but it’s not the playground swing!” He said, emphasizing playground as if it meant something important. “Besides, you’ve been working on your computer all day, you should go and play too!”

He looked back down at his laptop. Admittedly, he wasn’t really working, at least not anymore. He had completed his project that he had been working on for the past few days yesterday. Really, all today had been was checking his emails and accidentally getting sucked down rabbit holes of weird trending articles. He really had nothing better to do.

With a sigh, he stood up. Mahoro fell off him onto the couch with a thud. “Fine. You,” he said, pointing to the bright-eyed girl, ‘Bring me your brush and hair ties so I can put your hair up before we leave.”

Both of them squealed with excitement before Mahoro ran upstairs to grab her brush. Katsuki grabbed their outside bag from the coat rack next to the door before putting a few bottles of water in it. Once Mahoro came down and let him put her hair up, they both ran outside to jump in the car.

Once they were on their way with a clear destination to the park, Mahoro sighed.

“When do we get to sit in the big kid car seats?”

“You mean a booster seat?”

“Yeah, that.”

He looked at them through the rearview mirror. “When you two are big enough.”

“But we are big!” Katsuma said.

“Nope. Gotta weigh more before you start riding in those.”

“But all the other kids our age are riding in them!” Mahoro said back.

“I bet those kids are bigger than you too, aren’t they?”

“No,” she said, lying straight through her teeth, but not pressing any further. That only confirmed his suspicions.

He knew that their mom was a very small woman. He figured out very early on in their lives that, despite his own size, they would more than likely take after their mother in that aspect. The two were a little small for their age, but nothing that was concerning. At least, that was what the doctor said at their last check-up. Katsuki may or may not have been—at some point—a little frightened at their lack of size as well, worried he may have been doing something wrong.

It was less than five minutes later before they arrived at the park. The two of them attempted to unbuckle themselves, but the child locks never budged. Katsuki opened their doors and freed them from their seats, and before he could even lock the car up, the two twins were making a run for the playground.

He kept them in his line of sight as he went to find a seat at one of the benches. There were other parents with their own kids out today as well, said kids who were also running around the playground with extensive energy. His two made no trouble finding some of the kids and befriending them, forming some kind of child-like hierarchy as they all stormed the playground. It was a little funny to watch them all storm around the playground like a cloud of wasps.

He remembered what he was like at their age. The thought alone almost made him laugh out loud as the memories of him being an obnoxious brat came flooding back into his memories, how he made all the neighborhood kids follow him around with no rhyme or reason. God, he really was a snot-nosed asshole.

A familiar tangle of green hair and bright green eyes flashed through his mind.

A sharp pang of guilt settled deep in his gut. Memories all came rushing back of the neighborhood boy who used to trail him around, begging for even a sliver of approval from the blonde.

He remembered just how badly he tormented him; it was something he couldn’t escape. In the rare moments when his guard was down, whether he was sitting in silence, nursing a cup of coffee at his kitchen table, or even right before he drifted off to sleep, his face always flashed through his mind.

How he picked on him all through elementary school, up until the day he left Musutafu. Even before they ended up going to different high schools, he still remembered how sweet that boy was to him, regardless of the torment Katsuki put him through.

He… tried his best not to ponder on it too long when these memories suddenly came rushing back, or at least as much as he could help it. Even if he had the chance to come face to face with him now, he had moved hours away from their hometown, hoping—praying for a new start. He knew he more than likely would never get to apologize to him, or really even see those sad emerald eyes again. What a horrible tragedy it was.

He shook himself from the thought, focusing on what was in front of him. That’s all he could do, and what was in front of him right now were two kids, who he loved more than the entire world. He smiled to himself before searching for the two of them on the playground.

Of course, they were still running around, playing what looked like tag. Some random mother was yelling at them to ‘slow down!’ in the distance. He just laughed, knowing that kids would never listen until they ended up scraping a knee. Even then, it would only slow them down temporarily.

It was a little over an hour and a half later when his own kids came over to the bench where he sat to get some water. The two of them were panting and filthy, specks of dirt on their knees and arms as they drank the water like they had never had any before.

“You two almost ready to leave?” he asked.

“Almost,” Katsuma gasped once he was done with his water.

“We gotta say goodbye to our friends first.” Mahoro said.

After they were done drinking all the water he had packed, he let the two go back to the playground, bidding farewell to their playground buddies before running back to Katsuki.

As they walked back to the car, the two of them looked at each other before grinning almost evilly at each other. That wasn’t good.

“Papaaaa,” they both drew out at the same time.

“Hm?”

“Can we get ice creaammm?” they both said, as if they had practiced saying it in unison.

“It’s almost four, you’ll ruin your appetites for supper.”

“No we won't!” Katsuma said. “We pinky promise!”

“So,” he started, “if we stop for ice cream right now, you two will eat ALL of your food tonight? Even the super gross veggies?”

“Mhm!” They both nodded their heads frantically.

He knew damn well that was a lie, but just like everything else before, he couldn’t find a good enough reason to say no. He never did.

“Rotten, but not spoiled,” his mother told him once. The memory made him realize just how long it had been since he visited. He made a mental note to take the kids up there sometime.

“Fine, but if you two don’t eat all your food tonight, no snacks before dinner for a week. I mean it.”

“Okay!” They both easily agreed, leaving the two bouncing with excitement once they got to the car.

The ride from the ice cream shop was quiet. Both of the kids were happily eating at their cones in the back seat. Admittedly, he even got himself a scoop of mint chocolate chip as well.

By the time they were home, both kids were a sticky mess.

When they were all finally out of the car, he spoke. “You two have to take baths as soon as we get inside.”

They began moping, as per usual. He rolled his eyes at them.

“And one of you can take a bath in my bathroom.”

At that, they immediately put their whining to rest. Now, they were both starry-eyed and gasping with bewilderment. Very rarely did he let the kids in his room, and even rarer, did they get to take baths in his bathroom.

‘I wanna!” they both shouted, immediately bickering over who would be the one to take a bath in the sacred room.

They both ended up fighting until Katsuma finally won the argument, excited to get in the bath and left his sister to wallow in sadness at her defeat.

The rest of the day went calmly after that. Once the last bit of the sugar from their ice creams seemed to be out of their system and the exhaustion from running around all day hit them, they both passed out on the couch fairly quickly after getting out of the bath, leaving Katsuki with a little bit of quiet as he listened to the soft music from the kitchen radio.

The cat curled up peacefully at his feet as he chopped up some veggies, to which he smiled softly as he continued with dinner.

Sunday, they mostly laid around the house, still a little tired from the day before. They simply took the time to rest for the next week ahead of them. The day droned on with a quiet hum, and before he knew it, it was already time to get the kids ready for bed and organize their bags.

They had done decently with remembering to put their papers in their folders, but there were still a few times when they shoved them in the bag without a second thought.

They seemed to enjoy the snacks he had been packing for them as well, which, Katsuki took with a little bit of pride. It was so far so good, nothing bad yet. Of course, they were still his kids, and it was only a matter of time before something eventful arose.

And of course, he was right.

The next week went by just as smoothly as the last. They had begun receiving homework, which Katsuki always helped them with as soon as they got home. It took them not even thirty minutes to get through most of the work they were sent home with for the day, and really, both of them seemed to enjoy it to an extent. That, he was thankful for.

It wasn’t until Thursday of the third week when their blissful, trouble-free bubble was popped.

It had been a few days after his twenty-fifth birthday. Immediately, he knew something was off when he went to pick them up from school. Mahoro was uncharacteristically quiet.

When they got home, he had asked if either of them had homework, just like always. Whether or not they actually did, he still made sure to check their bags, and Mahoro conveniently weaseled her way upstairs as he started examining hers.

At first, he just assumed that maybe she had just gotten a bad grade, or even that the homework she had was something she wasn’t quite confident in. It wouldn’t be the end of the world if she were just having difficulty understanding something specific.

Sure enough, as he dug out her folder, his questions came to a halt as he pulled out a little yellow piece of notebook paper.

It was a handwritten note, and most certainly not hers.

“Hello! This is Mr. Midoriya. I’d like to speak to Mahoro Bakugou’s parent(s) after school tomorrow to discuss a behavioral issue. Please meet me in classroom 312 after class is dismissed. Thank you for your cooperation! :)”

As soon as he finished the note in jotted-down ink, he felt a large sigh rattle through his bones.

He grabbed his cigarettes from the counter and headed to the front door.

Katsuki had only been inside the school one other time before this.

It was before the two had actually begun going to school, when he still needed to do all the registration paperwork to get them properly enrolled. It was a pain in the ass to get it all done, however he had never actually been throughout the school like he was now.

It was a lot emptier than the first time he had come through. Even now, after all the kids had spilled out from the hallways, he saw most of the teachers were still there, either wandering the halls or sitting in their designated classrooms. On his last visit, all he really needed to do was go to the front office, which was easy enough considering it was at the very front of the building. Now, however, he wandered the halls with no sense of direction.

He ended up having to bring Katsuma down as well, unwilling to leave him home alone, and unable to obtain a babysitter on such short notice. Luckily, the librarian he remembered Mahoro briefly mentioning had been generous to let Katsuma stay in the library as he talked with their teacher about his sister's alleged ‘behavioral issues.’

As they made their way from the library to the classroom, Mahoro looked as if she were ready to curl up into a ball and die. It almost made Katsuki laugh, considering he highly doubted it was anything serious. However, he kept his mouth shut and his expression neutral. He just hoped this meeting would be fast, he could feel a headache coming on.

With no help from Mahoro, who was keeping the instructions to her classroom under tight lips, he finally found the door that had the numbers “312” plastered on the wall next to it.

As he reluctantly opened the door, he looked in—

To see that no one was there.

Was this the wrong room?

He looked over to Mahoro, who, in judging how all the color seemed to come back to her face at the notice of her teacher’s absence, only proved that they more than likely were in the correct place. It was the first sign of life he had seen from her since she came home with the note in the first place. Even when Katsuki tried talking to her about what had happened, she just shrank up and claimed not to know.

“Oh no! I guess he left for the day.” She feigned concern, “That means we go back home now!”

She was already making a U-turn to head out when Katsuki grabbed the back of her shirt.

“Sit.”

His tone left no room for argument. Immediately, she deflated again and made her way to sit at one of the chairs closest to the teacher's desk, her head hung in shame. He figured it wouldn't hurt to sit out in the classroom for a few minutes just to see if he might have been running an errand of some sort.

He took the time to assess the classroom. He hadn’t actually seen it just yet, which he felt a little guilty for. There was supposed to be a get-to-know-the-teacher event before school actually started, however he barely missed it due to work-related reasons. The walls were well decorated with all sorts of children's drawings. Over to the right were some brightly colored cubbies where children would put their backpacks and supplies for the day.

There were letters of the alphabet plastered on the wall, and cute cartoon characters were drawn on the chalkboard at the very front of the classroom. Overall, the room looked very welcoming for six-year-olds.

He continued observing the wall, wandering around the room to take a closer look at things. A few minutes flew by before he ended up looking at his watch. Maybe they had been too late, and the teacher had already made a break for it. He wouldn’t blame the guy, considering it was a Friday evening.

Just as he was about to let Mahoro off the hook and go back to the library to pick up her little brother, he heard the rattling of the door.

He turned his head to look as the door creaked open. The teacher had been pushing the door open with his back, his head facing away from the father and daughter as he looked to be carrying a large stack of papers.

“I am so sorry for the wait! I didn’t realize the printer would take so long,” the teacher had said apologetically, and immediately, something in Katsuki shifted, immediately on edge. His voice was far too familiar for his liking, and his hair…

He had only seen that shade one other time in his entire life.

“It’s really not a worry, I understand,” Katsuki said, just a little spaced out.

The teacher shut the door with his foot before twirling around. “I appreciate you meeting me! I wasn’t quite sure if Ms. Mahoro here would even give the note to—”

The man stopped right in his tracks as he had fully turned around from the door.

“—You.”

Son of a bitch.

The first thing he noticed was how his face was completely covered with different shades of freckles, much more than the last time he had seen in middle school, which had admittedly been years ago.

The next thing that caught his eye was the newly obtained pair of glasses that sat on the bridge, now framing the same haunting green eyes he remembered like the back of his hand.

He was staring, he knew he was staring, and yet he couldn’t seem to rip his eyes away.

Katsuki wasn’t sure what his face looked like at the moment. If it was any indicator of all the emotions he seemed to be feeling all at once, then it had to have been some ugly, twisted-up mess. Thankfully though, his face was completely still along with the rest of his body. He wasn’t really sure if he was even capable of moving at the moment.

They both stood there at a stalemate. Katsuki didn’t know what the other man would do. If he had half a brain, he would start cursing profanities at him right here on the spot, child be damned. Maybe he would blow up about how the man who ruined his entire life stood right in front of him.

Or maybe, just maybe, he would start crying on the spot, just like he did when they were kids. Katsuki cringed at the thought. He would rather the man tear him a new one than have to relive that.

Whatever the man with bouncing green hair and glasses had planned for him, Katsuki made sure to mentally prepare himself. He straightened his shoulders and did his best to stand as tall as he could, prepared for anything that was fixing to be thrown at him.

However, what Izuku had done instead was none of those things. Katsuki couldn’t even prepare himself for it, because the man who stood in front of him did not yell. He did not cry. He didn’t even scream.

He smiled.

A smile so kind, so soft, Katsuki thought for sure that maybe it wasn’t meant for him, that he had, for some reason, forgotten who he was, and the man standing in front of him was just another parent he needed to speak to about a rambunctious child. However, deep inside he knew that his impression wouldn't have been forgotten so easily, no matter how badly he wished it would be.

“It’s nice to see you, Katsuki.”

He had never felt smaller in his entire life.

“Hey, Izuku,” he spoke out in a whisper, because of course he remembered him.

He remembered, and yet, here they were, addressing each other as if they had been lifelong friends rather than what they actually were.

Surprisingly, the teacher chuckled.

“You know, I had a sneaking suspicion it was you. I’ve only ever met one person with the name ‘Bakugou’ before, even after becoming a teacher. But, you know,” he said as he walked towards his desk to set his papers down, “You can never be too sure.”

It was silent for a beat. “I saw your name on the introductions you handed out,” he said. “I had the same thought.”

For whatever reason, this made Izuku smile impossibly warmer. “It’s a small world.”

“Somethin’ like that.”

Izuku flashed one last welcoming smile before sitting down in his chair. Mahoro still sat in her chair, a visible face of confusion now overtaking instead of hiding her face in shame.

“Right, well! Unfortunately, there is a reason you’re here. I’m sorry to call you down on a Friday evening.” Izuku said, sympathy laced his words.

There was something so different about him now, Katsuki couldn’t help but notice.

It didn’t take but just a few simple words to see that he was nowhere near the timid boy he used to be. He kept his hair a little shorter at the bottom rather than one uncontrolled mess. His glasses suited his now much sharper face, and the clothing he wore was more thought out, but it was so much more than just looks.

The man in front of him was no longer scared. Far from it. No, the man who sat in front of him was confident, put together. He was a different person than what Katsuki knew, and it didn’t take much for him to see that. Of course, he wasn’t one to talk, he had changed quite a bit over the years, too. After all, he was the one sitting in an elementary school classroom for his own kid.

That was enough to get Katsuki to feel like he could breathe a little more, even if just a bit.

“No worries. Didn’t have much planned anyway.”

“Here, have a seat,” the teacher kindly gestured. At the end of the desk was a chair, which he cautiously sat in.

“So,” he starts, “Mahoro has gotten herself into a little bit of trouble.” And Katsuki nods.

“I wish I could say I’m surprised. I knew the time would come eventually, just hoped it would be a little… later into the year,” he mumbled.

Izuku let out a laugh at that, and god, he hated just how nice it was to hear his laugh, a sound he had never really heard in their earlier years.

“You know, she’s a lot like you. She takes charge a lot of the time, very confident in her abilities,” he said gently.

Katsuki let out a humoured huff.

“And she also has a mouth like you did as well.”

And there it was. The real reason they were here.

He let out a small breath he didn’t even realize he was holding, just by finally being told what happened.

He didn’t really know what to expect truthfully. He wouldn’t have been the slightest bit surprised if she had ended up pushing a kid off the slide or something far more punishable. He figured it would be best not to say that out loud, though.

Katsuki slowly turned back to Mahoro. “Is that so?” he said.

Her face was back to being as pale as a sheet.

Katsuki looked back at Izuku, who was poorly concealing a smile at the gesture.

“What did she have to say?”

“During our recess time, she and her friends were playing,” he explained calmly, “She ended up taking a little bit of a tumble before shouting out a long list of words that I’m sure you can figure out.”

He couldn’t hold back a snort, which he quickly disguised as a cough. He looked back at the teacher with a very faux serious expression.

Izuku looked at him with a raised eyebrow, but held a similar amused look.

“Right,” he said, his voice strained. “That, um, was very inappropriate of her. I’m sorry about that.”

“I understand finding a new balance with school life and home life can be difficult, but I do ask that you remind her of what she can and cannot do.”

At that, Katsuki did sober up a little bit. “Yes. She was already well aware that she should not be saying that, and I will make sure to talk to her as soon as we get home. I apologize on her behalf.”

Izuku nodded. “I’m only giving her a warning this time. She’s a very kind young lady, and she didn’t really say it to anyone in particular, so it’s really not as bad as it could have been.”

“Still,” he murmured, “I’ll make sure that she knows better. For next time. Again, I’m sorry about all this. I’m sure you’ve got some weekend plans of your own.”

“It’s quite all right. I appreciate you understanding,” he said softly.

They both just sit there for a few moments, not speaking.

The conversation that revolved around Mahoro was clearly over. The girl still sat in her seat a little ways from Katsuki, still holding her head down with shame. Katsuki didn’t know what else to say, but he knew he had to say something.

“I’m…” he started, not really knowing where he was going with that conversation. “I’m glad you’re doing good for yourself.”

And Izuku, the kindhearted person he was, understood exactly what he meant. “I’m happy to see that you are too, Katsuki.”

“So what made you move from Musutafu?” He blurted out without thinking.

He smiled. “Just a change of scenery. There was a teaching job down here, I ended up taking it fresh out of college. I was looking for something different.”

Katsuki nodded at the response.

“What… about you?”

“The city wasn’t really for me. I figured that out quickly once I had those two,” he said, motioning to Mahoro, and Katsuma in spirit.

“Can’t say I blame you. I’m sorry their mother couldn’t make it—”

“Their mother and I ain’t in contact.” He said hastily, not wanting to be mistaken for still being with that woman.

“Oh! I’m so sorry for assuming. I just thought that, well, I don’t know. I promise there wasn’t any judgment at all. Things happen all the time. I see my fair share of home lives, really. Parents split up all the time! Or, ah, that’s to say that you two did split up and nothing horrible happened, if so, I truly am sorry—”

For the first time since this meeting, that was the first time Katsuki had seen a crack in Izuku’s facade. He may have changed, but the boy who still rambled on and made a fool of himself was still somewhere in there. A part of him was relieved, afraid that he might have killed that part of him.

He cut Izuku off with a chuckle. “It’s really alright. Their mother was never in the picture. Nothin’ to split if there wasn’t anything together in the first place.”

That seemed to calm the teacher down, if only a bit. “I really didn’t mean to pry. It’s not my business at all.”

“You still work yourself up over small things that don’t matter, you know.”

At that, Izuku finally looked back at Katsuki, really looked. “Old habits die hard.” He said with a small smile.

It went quiet again.

“I’m sorry.”

The teacher softened. “I should be the one apologizing, I went out of line—”

“That’s not what I’m talking about.”

His voice felt small.

There was a certain look of sadness in the green-haired man’s eyes. “It’s okay, really.”

“It ain’t. Nothing about what I did was okay. I think…” he trailed off, gathering the guts to say what he had been wishing to say for far too long.

“I think about you a lot. And I hoped that one day, by some miracle, I’d finally have the chance to say it to your face.”

At first, the other man didn’t say anything. They both sat quietly as Katsuki stared down at his hands, fiddling his fingers together as if he was the one in trouble, not Mahoro.

“You’ve changed, Katsuki. Even the way you carry yourself, it’s easy to see. Don’t beat yourself up over something you did when you were a kid.”

“Still doesn’t make it right.”

Izuku could sense that the blond wouldn’t let things go so easily. So, he sighed before getting up from his seat.

“I really am happy to see you again. I know I wasn’t exactly the easiest kid to get along with, either.”

Now it was Katsuki’s turn to look at Izuku, making a face that was as if he had just spoken blasphemy. Izuku could only laugh before walking away from his chair.

“You two are free to go home now, if you’d like. I trust Mahoro has learned from this, and I would hate to keep you waiting for your weekend much longer.”

Katsuk mumbled a quick ‘it’s fine,’ as he stood up from his own seat before straightening out his pants.

“Oh, and I just wanted to let you know that there will be a Parent-Teacher conference here in a week or so, just to check up on progress. It’s not mandatory, but we hold one each month for their first year of schooling, just so we know what to help with.”

Katsuki nodded. “You got the date?”

He ended up grabbing a sheet from the giant stack of papers he had brought in earlier.

“Here, this has all the dates for the rest of the year for you. I was going to send them home with the students on Monday, however seeing as you’re already here, it wouldn't hurt to go ahead and give you one.”

He took a look at the paper to see that it would be the Monday after next. He didn’t see why he couldn’t make it.

“Thanks, teach.” He said before gesturing to Mahoro to get up and come with him.

“And I’ll see you Monday, Ms. Bakugou.” Izuku said kindly. She shyly waved to her teacher before tucking herself on her father's leg, hiding herself from the embarrassment of being in trouble. The gesture was not missed by him.

Before they could fully leave the classroom, a voice called back, “Oh, and Katsuki.”

He didn’t want to admit just how quickly he whipped his head around at the sound of his name being called. They made eye contact one more time.

“Happy late birthday.”

At that, Katsuki felt frozen in place.

He must have had a sliver of what he was feeling at the moment plastered on his face, seeing as how the other man chuckled a little bit at his reaction.

“Your birthday is still the twentieth, right?” He said.

“Uh, yeah. Thanks. Thank you, I…” He felt like a rock had gotten stuck in his throat. “Thank you. See you around, Izuku.”

He barely saw the way the teacher smiled at him before turning towards the door and making a break for it as quickly as he could without looking suspicious. They started walking towards the library to pick up Katsuma, yet he couldn’t shake the jittery feeling he had picked up from his conversation with him, re-running lines in his head like a broken record.

On their way to the library, Mahoro curiously spoke up.

“Why did Midoriya Sensei know your birthday?”

Truthfully, he didn’t really know what to say to her. He wasn’t quite sure why he’d remember at all.

Instead of having to face that thought, he turned to her with a quirked eyebrow. “Don’t think you can try and get the spotlight off you now, we still have a lot to discuss when we get home.”

She grumbled with a sigh of defeat before continuing on their walk to the library.

As they reached the doors to pick up the other twin, Katsuki looked down at what he was wearing.

It was a simple T-shirt with a pair of black jeans, nothing memorable. He only had one thought as he left the school that day.

He really wished he had worn a better outfit.