Work Text:
"Are you sure you don't need anything before I go, Kacchan?"
Izuku frets about, fingers passing over Katsuki's arms without really touching. He hovers over their baby girl, careful not to jostle her lest she wake up and start crying. She was definitely not a morning person.
"Yes, I'm fuckin' sure."
Katsuki's voice is still heavy with sleep, his eyes drooped as he yawns. "Go to work already."
Katsuki was the one who took off the job to take care of their baby, so it was up to Izuku to pick up his slack and get to Number One in his absence. But it was so hard for him to leave when Katsuki was holding their baby girl and outlined by the warmth of their house as he sees him off.
Izuku shifts his weight from one foot to the other and back again. Then he nods, tipping forward onto his toes.
Katsuki allows a loud smooch to be pressed to his forehead, unable to stop the way his lips quirk up with a half-smile.
"Alright, alright. I'll go now. But make sure you call if you think of anything— or if anything happens. Even if you just run out of diapers— or baby formula. Or you need a new stroller, or…"
Katsuki rolls his eyes as Izuku continues on, shuffling forward to herd him towards the door as he shifts their baby against one of his shoulders. His fretting husband hardly notices until Katsuki yanks the door open to fully kick him out.
Izuku pouts, but acquiesces quickly when Katsuki kisses his forehead in return for the one he received earlier.
"Have a good day," he grunts, his palm large enough that it practically dwarfs their daughter's head as he keeps her steady. She nuzzles in against her daddy's neck, her tiny tiny fingers fisting against his t-shirt.
Katsuki can see how Izuku's heart melts into goop at the image. His own had probably grown a size or two just from the way she let out a silent yawn against his skin.
Katsuki shoos Izuku out before he decides to call in sick to work (again), and waves goodbye the three times Izuku twists his head back to watch them as he heads towards the driveway.
And then, it is just Katsuki and little Koharu.
Katsuki rubs the last wisps of sleep from his eye with his palm, yawning up at the ceiling as he shuffles deeper into the house, towards the kitchen to start fixing breakfast.
"'s just me and you today, li'l baby," Katsuki mumbles. Koharu is still sleeping peacefully against his shoulder, and he moves slowly so that he doesn't jolt her too badly. "Gonna be busy as hell. You gonna be good for me?"
Koharu, of course, doesn't respond. He's gentle as can be as he tucks her soft hair behind her ear, and reminds himself to find one of her little baby bonnets so that her ears won't get cold from the A/C.
For now, he just shifts her down towards his belly as he leans back against the counter while he waits for his tea to steep, allowing her to steal warmth from his core. She was such a sleepy baby that it had honestly worried Katsuki the first day or two she'd come back from the hospital.
But she just liked sleeping. Almost as much as she liked laughing and chewing on Izuku's curly hair ends.
So Katsuki allows her the rest, rubbing his thumb across her chubby cheeks. She has Izuku's skin color, his expressive eye shape, his nose. But she had gotten her deep brown hair from Katsuki's side of the family. It was a surprise, but she was such a beautiful baby that Katsuki couldn't imagine her any other way now.
Her red eyes blink open and awake when he moves the kettle off of the burner before it squeals, and she curiously blinks down at his fingers as he adds a dash of sugar to the brown-ombre drink.
"Looks good, huh? You seem more like a coffee drinker though," Katsuki says casually. Her milk is already heating in her bottle warmer, steam rising from the machine.
He uses the few minutes it takes for it to heat to get her ready for the day.
Katsuki had given her a bath the night prior, so he just gives her a thorough wipe down with a few baby wipes and a smattering of soft powder to keep her chubby arms and legs dry.
Once she's fresh, with a new nappy on and some socks to keep her toes warm, he totes her from the changing table over to the bed. Her crib was in his and Izuku's room, but she probably spent more time in their bed instead of her own. They couldn't help but want to cling to her at night, to make sure nothing happened or just to bask in the fact that their little baby was here, with them.
The mattress shifts with a quiet sound as Katsuki sits beside her, settling her outfit of the day beside her. Katsuki kisses at her cheek, loudly smacking his lips to make her giggle.
Koharu kicks her legs happily as he puts her in a little overall dress, complete with a Deku decal stitched in the front. Katsuki had bought it after Izuku insisted on the Dynamight-themed baby bottles, baby blanket, and baby shampoo.
He didn't even know that last one existed. It was scentless, but orange? Somehow, it left her hair smooth like silk.
He brushes through it now, mostly with his fingers. She hasn't grown enough yet for any real styles, but it was already thick like her other papa's. Katsuki has already been looking up styles he could give her once she grows up.
She'd be adorable with braided pigtails.
Katsuki gathers up his little baby and hugs her close as he heads back to the kitchen, eyeing the clock.
He'd have to hurry and leave the house if he wanted to get anything done, or else he'd get caught in the endless cycle of admiring his little Koharu. Then Izuku would come home and do the same— and they'd never get anything done.
So first things first: chores.
Katsuki feeds Koharu, tucking her in the protective cocoon of his arm as he eyes the floor to see where needs vacuuming. There are also a few recyclables he'll have to tote downstairs… and maybe he can set a pot on to slow cook something while he buys more groceries for dinner.
He makes a mental list of everything that needs to be done, careful as he wipes at Koharu's chin with a soft cloth and burps her.
And once she's all full and starting to doze again, he grabs for the fabric he uses as a sling to carry her with. It's pale grey in color and relatively thin so that she won't overheat while nestled directly against his spine like that.
He's practiced so much even before she arrived that it's basically muscle memory as he bends over and lays her against his back. Katsuki wraps her snugly to him, and feels how she relaxes between his shoulderblades almost immediately.
He knots it in the front and takes a few steps to make sure she's really secure, before he finally starts to clean up.
Koharu hardly budges at the noise of the vacuum, even when he has to bend to lift the edge of their coffee table to get the crumbs stuffed in those corners.
He decides not to vacuum the bedroom, to put it off for the next day. Or maybe he can convince Izuku to do it later in exchange for a kiss or two. Izuku was always so schmoopy when Katsuki cuddled up under him and kissed at his jaw— though Katsuki made sure not to use that trick too often.
Katsuki's hands do feel a bit empty, though, missing the warmth of his husband's palms against them.
But with the most annoying chore out of the way, he quickly moves on to laundry. He'll also need to dust the cabinets and buff the dining room table (the wood has started to get dull with how often Deku sat at it near the twilight hours, finishing up last minute papers for work or looking up videos to watch with Koharu to keep her mind active).
He washes one of their thick blankets first, so that he can hang it to dry before he heads out to shop. Despite being dirty, Katsuki can't help but hug the heavy fabric and breathe in. The scent of his husband is ingrained in the fibres, and it brings him the slightest amount of comfort before he grimaces and shoves the dirty laundry into the washer.
Koharu is hardly one to judge his laundry habits, though, and he reaches back to squeeze her chubby little leg just to feel her. She kicks out reflexively, falling more comfortably against the curve of his back and waist, and quickly puts herself back to sleep again.
If Katsuki focuses, he can feel her little heartbeat bouncing back against his own, and that comforts him even more.
Laundry finishes up quickly. He has half an hour before he can put in the next load, so Katsuki decides to put something on the stove.
"How do you think Papa will feel about meatballs for dinner?" Katsuki mumbles.
Even though he felt a little ridiculous speaking to someone who barely understood, his dad had insisted that it was important. If not to bond with Kohaku, then to atleast encourage her to speak on her own faster.
So Katsuki sucked it up and spoke a sentence or two to her whenever he could.
He pulls out the defrosted beef and sesame seeds, and chews on his lower lip for a brief moment before he grabs for their slow cooker. It'll probably take two hours to finish cooking the meat, so he'll have time to buy noodles once he goes out. Maybe some extra green onions, garlic… were they out of panko?
Katsuki flurries through the kitchen, rolling up his sleeves as he prepares the meal. He's able to make the meatballs with the ingredients they have, and leaves them on to cook as he scribbles down the rest of the groceries he'll need to get.
He'll buy Izuku something extra as a treat while he's out… he went crazy over lemon cake recently, so maybe...?
Katsuki tucks the list in his pocket and heads to their foyer closet, to drag out Koharu's stroller. It doubles as a bassinet (which Katsuki rarely uses because he preferred having her in his arms anyway), so he has to fiddle with that before he begins to unwrap Koharu from his back.
She's awake for once as he circles her back to his front. Her hair is messy from the shuffling, and she gives him a toothless grin when he pauses to brush the little curls flat again.
"Yeah, yeah. You know you're a pretty baby, don't ya?"
Katsuki pulls up one of her rolled-down socks, feeling at her joints to make sure she isn't overheating, before he finally sets her in the cozy stroller.
It's cushioned with one of the softest blankets they'd bought, and has a colorful attachment jangling from the top that Koharu likes to stare at and reach for when she's bored of looking around.
Katsuki leaves her for the briefest of moments to change clothes. Anxiety nips at his mind as soon as she's out of sight, but Katsuki can't exactly slob it up in a grocery store. He still had some dignity (despite being covered in baby puke and diapers for the last month) thank you very much.
He rushes out of his sweatpants and passes a wet cloth over his face to make himself that much more presentable.
Koharu is still in her bassinet when he comes back, of course, but he presses a relieved kiss to the backs of her chubby hands before he lifts the stroller to begin the ordeal of carrying it down the few steps at their front door.
He locks up the house behind him, eyeing their security camera and alarm as he goes. But as long as Koharu was with him, he didn't really give a shit if someone tried to break-in.
(Besides, what kind of fuckin' idiot would try to break in to the home of two of the most noticeable Pro-Heroes of the last decade? The dumbest of asses, that's who.)
The air is pleasantly cool as Katsuki totes his daughter to the streetside grocery. At the intersection, he kneels by her stroller to make sure he's tucked a blanket up to her chin. She'll definitely kick it off before he's even stood up fully, but it makes him feel better.
"Oh, how cute! How old is she?"
A woman that Katsuki vaguely recognizes from their neighborhood beams brightly at the bassinet, bending over so that she can wiggle her fingers at the chubby baby. "She looks just like her daddy."
Katsuki grunts, eyeing the red light across the street before he turns to briefly bow his head in greeting. "… Two months."
"Only two? Oh, she's growing so fast!" The woman laughs jovially, and Katsuki's shoulders relax as she quickly falls into some story or another about her own baby (or her cousin's?? Katsuki gets a bit lost as she speaks a mile a minute).
She walks with them across the street once the light turns green, her bag jangling with charms that catch Koharu's attention. The woman, of course, notices, and smiles even brighter.
"She must be so smart, huh?" The woman unclips one of the charms, a soft squishy thing that looks like a marshmallow if he squints. "Can I give her this?"
Katsuki's eyebrows shoot up, and he quickly surveys the thing. It's too big for her to choke on, and didn't have any fuzz that would shed and make her itchy… hm…
Koharu babbles at the happy woman and reaches her fingers out for the thing swaying just out of reach of her. And how the hell could he resist those sparkling eyes as she makes grabby hands?
"Fine," he says, gruffer than he means to.
But either the woman has no self-preservation skills, or she's lived in the neighborhood long enough to recognize that Katsuki isn't trying to be rude, because she simply laughs again and passes the new toy over. Katsuki will probably have to cut off the clip part when he gets home, or just hang it from her crib's mobile or something… but Koharu immediately takes to the toy.
She chews on one of its rounded edges, squealing joyfully when it squishes in her mouth.
Katsuki watches for a few seconds more, before he glances back at the woman and bows his head again. "Thanks."
"Of course!" She hooks her bag over her shoulder more securely, already gearing up to walk down the street. "You take care of her, yeah? She's so cute. You'll have to tell me her name next time!"
She waves goodbye as she goes, already headed towards the next intersection before Katsuki could think of a response.
She kind of reminds him of Izuku, in a way. Happy-go-lucky and pleasant. A motormouth.
Katsuki squeezes his palms down on the stroller's handholds, and feels his wedding band minutely shift at the tension. He rubs his thumb across the curve of it just so that the sunlight can catch it better, and just that simple motion reminds him of Izuku. Because of course it does.
Izuku likes to stick his knuckle past his lips and play with his ring, twisting it around his finger when he's deep in thought.
Katsuki always teases him that one day he'll accidentally swallow the thing, but he thought it was a cute habit anyway.
With a soft sigh and a fond smile, Katsuki heads into the grocery.
---
It's a quick trip through the aisles. Koharu gathers attention just as she did at the crosswalk, and Katsuki nods neutrally to each person who stops by. He watches their hands like a hawk, though, and glares when anyone tries to touch her with their grubby ass hands. Who knew what germs they had?
But nothing much happens beyond a couple of sidekicks wanting a picture with a Pro, and some short housewife needing help reaching a high shelf.
Still, Katsuki feels tired from head to toe as he drags Koharu's stroller back up their front steps and unlocks the front door. The security system beeps briefly before he types in the code, and Koharu makes a noise that could be her mimicking the sound.
Katsuki grins at her. "Smart as hell already, ain't ya?"
Katsuki plucks her from the stroller and kicks it out of the walkway, to put it away later. For now, he just wanted to curl up on the couch and cuddle her for a few minutes until he had to finish up dinner before Deku got home.
Imagine his surprise when he hears a familiar laugh echo from the living room. There's a shift of clothing, and then a familiar head of hair peeks out from the couch cushions.
"Kacchan, you're not supposed to cuss around babies," Izuku half-heartedly admonishes.
"The fuck are you doing home already?" Katsuki glares at the nearby clock.
He was back a whole three hours earlier than expected.
Izuku atleast looks sheepish as he ducks his head again and pats the couch to usher Katsuki forward. "I… took off a little early. I missed you guys!"
Katsuki rolls his eyes. "Sap."
But he, of course, obediently falls into the empty space on the couch left for him beside Izuku. He holds Koharu out so that Izuku can grab her and give her some attention, but quickly finds himself swept up in the hug he gives her.
Izuku is warm and firm and smells like his favorite deodorant— 'mountain pine' or some shit. Izuku's arms shift to circle around his back fully, allowing him to angle his head in the safe curve of Izuku's neck.
And that simple motion makes Katsuki melt in the hold, like sugar in warmed milk.
"Asshole," Katsuki grunts, for good measure. "You shoulda signed up for leave if you were gonna take off from work just to see her so often."
"I came to see you, too!" Izuku argues lightly. "I missed you just as much."
Katsuki feels Izuku hide a kiss near his temple, and tilts his chin up so that he can leave a responding one against Izuku's collarbone.
"Yeah, yeah," Katsuki grumps. "… missed you, too. Was gonna finish dinner before you got in."
"I'll do it! You work so hard every day, Kacchan." Izuku leans back, and his warmth gets replaced with the waning sunlight from their balcony window. "Do you wanna rest here while I finish everything up? I can put on a movie for you. Or start a bath!"
Izuku is half painted in the evening's colors. His fingers tuck some hair behind Katsuki's ear, though he thumbs at the strands that are too short to stay there.
He smiles when Katsuki takes too long to answer, but doesn't push. Just waits patiently, palms resting against the backs of Katsuki's arms to feel him.
The light grows brighter in the room, and he moves to block some of the light in Katsuki's eyes with his shoulder.
And just that simple motion, the loving touch combined with that little shift of Izuku's shoulders, makes Katsuki feel like he's home.
"…Nah, I'll help. You'll burn the house down."
Katsuki kicks off of the couch, and Izuku is already up with him before he's turned towards the kitchen.
"I would not!" Izuku argues back quickly, padding after Katsuki like a duckling.
Koharu clings to his collar with one hand while she suckles her thumb, and Katsuki eyes the growing wet spot on his t-shirt with a half-smile.
A budding feeling of elation grows in the pit of his belly and fills him from his bone marrow to his veins and all the way out. He isn't sure why that moment reminds him why he loves the two of them so much, but he pauses long enough that Izuku gives him a curious look.
"I love you," Katsuki says, easy as can be.
He watches as Izuku's eyes grow just half a centimeter wider, before they crinkle at the edges with the force of his smile.
Shyly, as if they hadn't been married for half a decade already, he toes forward and takes up the space at Katsuki's front.
"I love you too, Kacchan."
Izuku kisses him, lips pressed to lips, and Katsuki sneaks his hand against Izuku's waist to pull him closer so that their bodies are flush from top to bottom.
When they pull apart, Izuku is blushing that same way he did when they first kissed so many years ago. Cheeks brushed pink as if someone had dipped him in strawberry powder.
His fingertips catch at Izuku's palm, tugging him forward so that he can hold it tightly.
Izuku dips down so that they can kiss again, just briefly, before he pulls away to hide his face against Katsuki's chest and muffle his enamored laugh there. Koharu had gotten squished between them in the moment, and she burbles at them now that she's free.
"Sorry, li'l baby. We love you too." Katsuki kisses her from her cheeks to her forehead to her chin in that way that makes her giggle.
Izuku follows up with a few of his own, as well as a noisy raspberry against her skin that sends her reeling into a tumble of laughter.
"We love you more than anything, Ko-chan," Izuku agrees. "Your daddy and I will always love you no matter what, okay?"
Izuku lifts her, and she swings her legs as if she's having the time of her life. Katsuki could live in this moment forever, probably.
He commits the image to the most permanent part of his memory as he grabs for Izuku's hand again and tugs him towards the kitchen.
But he knows that he'll have so many more moments like these to look forward to, so many more pockets of joy to rest in, and so many days to bask in the love of his husband and his daughter.
They'll each have a lifetime together, and Katsuki couldn't be happier.