My Father's Son - Chapter 49

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“Alright. Backpacks and tote bags?”

“Check!”

“Uniforms? The sports ones too?”

“Check!”

“Pencil cases?”

“Check!”

“Lunch supplies?”

“Check! And IC cards, and handkerchiefs, and emergency supplies, and hats, and Daddy are you gonna do this every day until we start?”

“Sorry,” Katsuki smiled faintly, ruffling fluffy green curls. “It’s a big step, you’re all grown up, I’m a little nervous I guess.”

“You don’t have to be nervous, Daddy! It’s exciting! And me and Yuuto have all our stuff in the school cupboard at home, so if you do get nervous you can go and check, okay?”

“Now you sound like my Dad.”

“Like Grandpa? I’d like to be like Grandpa.”

“He’s a good man,” Katsuki agreed, leaning over to plant a cheesy kiss on Hiroki’s forehead. “I love you, and you don’t have to be like anyone else, you can just be my Hiro.”

“Love you too, Daddy!” Hiroki grinned, slinging his arms around Katsuki’s waist. “You’ve started saying it lots.”

“Mm, I guess I have,” he agreed, stroking Hiroki’s back lightly as they navigated their way through the crowds at the station. “I know Yuuto needs to hear it, and I guess I thought it was nice for you to hear it too, even though we show each other all the time.”

“We get to have two kinds of love.”

“Showing and telling?” Katsuki asked knowingly. “Yeah, I guess we do, that’s pretty cool huh?”

“And it makes Papa happy too.”

“Yeah, he likes hearing you say it. Has he been doing a better job of showing you?”

“The best job,” Hiroki grinned, holding his arms up to be carried. “Thank you Daddy.”

“No problem, you know you can always tell me that stuff.” He scooped Hiroki up, carefully balancing their shopping bags in one hand, the other supporting Hiroki’s frame. “I don’t mind talking to Papa for you, or with you, if there’s something you’re nervous to tell him.”

“I know,” Hiroki assured him. “I can tell Daddy anything.”

“Yeah, you can. But uh, if you ever feel like you can’t for some reason, you know you can talk to Papa, or Nana, or Grampa Toshi, or Uncle Eijirou, or Uncle Halfie, or... Any of the adults in your life, okay? I’d much, much, much rather that you told someone else, than told no one at all.”

“Okay! I don’t know what I wouldn’t wanna tell you though.”

“Mm, hopefully nothing,” Katsuki smiled, resting his cheek on Hiroki’s hair. “But just in case.”

“Okay!”

He looked up when he heard the hushed voices around them, blinking at the massive plume of smoke rising from the next street over. He gritted his teeth, and Hiroki tightened his grip, reaching to grab the bags from Katsuki’s hand.

“We gotta go look,” he said firmly, clutching tight to their shopping and Katsuki’s neck. “You should run, Daddy.”

“I can’t take you over there if there’s something wrong.”

“It’s fire though, Daddy, I’m safe in fire!”

“It might be a villain, or an explosion.”

“No, it’s fire,” he said firmly. “Daddy knows explosions, Hiro knows fire!”

“Alright, fine,” Katsuki huffed, nudging his way out of the crowd and lifting his pace quickly. “Hold on tight, then.”

He ran toward the smoke, cringing when it grew taller and thicker, lifting his free hand to tuck Hiroki’s face into his shoulder. It was bad enough that he was taking the kid anywhere near whatever was going on, he was more than prepared to get out of there in an instant, but he didn’t want him inhaling a ton of smoke, too.

“Booms, Daddy,” Hiroki called over the growing noises of panic. “For the smoke.”

Katsuki nodded, popping off tiny explosions in front of them to clear the smoke away, giving him a better view of the house they were quickly approaching. It was engulfed by flames, and despite the crowd of onlookers, he didn’t hear any sirens approaching – he only heard the screams and yelling coming from inside the building.

“You!” Katsuki barked, when he saw a teenager filming. “Call the fire department, now.”

“They’ve been called,” someone else assured him. “They said they’ll be here as soon as they can, but...”

“I’m going in there,” Katsuki mumbled, setting Hiroki on the ground. “Don’t go with strangers, stay near someone who looks trustworthy.”

“I can help, Daddy.”

“You’re not going into a burning building, you’re six.”

“I know, but I can help.”

“You’ll get hurt.”

“The fire is my friend, Daddy!”

He held up his hands, and Katsuki cursed under his breath, glancing back at the burning doorway.

“You stay on the driveway, don’t go near any windows,” he hissed, setting Hiroki down at the fence line. “You do not come closer, hear me?”

“I know!”

“See if you can clear me a path.”

He half-expected Hiroki to light up at the suggestion, to be excited to help, but instead he only found the fiercest determination waiting in his expression, as he set down their shopping bags.

Katsuki ran toward the building, watching as tendrils of fire pulled away from the door, whipping past him toward his son’s hands. He took one last look back, at Hiroki gathering it into a ball in one hand, the other one already pulling more fire from his path.

“Be careful!” he yelled, one last time. “I swear to God, Hiro!”

“Go, Daddy!”

Gritting his teeth, he shouldered through the remnants of the door, holding an arm over his face to hold back some of the smoke. Fire continued to whip past him, disappearing out the door, and Katsuki followed the screams to a burning staircase, groaning to himself as he looked it over.

Steeling himself, he jumped toward it, redirecting himself upward with his explosions to sail through to the second floor. The flames seemed thinner, but the smoke was far more intense, forcing him to use more explosions just to see where he was going.

“Where are you?” he yelled, cursing inside his head. “Keep talking!”

“Hello?! Oh my god, hello!! Please help me!!”

He kicked open a blocked door, shattering the frame around it along with the debris that had been keeping it closed, and coughed as he hit another wall of smoke, blasting it away quickly.

“Come here!” he yelled, waving the young woman over. “Hurry!”

He pulled her close, letting off another explosion to clear the smoke, and she gasped for a moment before the little rush of oxygen filled back in and she took a long breath.

“Wait a moment when I blast,” he instructed. “You’ll only get a breath or two.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet, come with me.”

All the windows in the house were narrow and set up high, too small to climb out, which meant he only had one other option.

“Is anyone else in the house?”

“No,” she gasped, pausing while Katsuki let off another blast. “Just me.”

“Come on, then.”

He held one hand up, taking aim at a weak spot on the wall, and pulled the woman behind him as he let rip. A huge explosion blew out the wall toward the street, and Katsuki heard screams and yells from beyond as it hit the grass in the front yard – nowhere near his waiting son, he’d made damn sure of that.

“Daddy!” Hiroki called, his hands moving quickly as he pulled the fire away from around their opening. “Come down!”

“Coming, bud!” he called, pulling the woman onto his back. “Hold on tight.”

She clung to him tightly, and Katsuki dove out into the daylight, a few quick blasts slowing his descent. He took in deep breaths of the fresh – or, fresher – air, barely registering the repeated thanks and sobbing from the woman he set down.

“No one else is inside?” he confirmed again.

“No, my boyfriend isn’t home yet.” She trembled, barely choking the words out through shuddering breaths. “My phone, I don’t have my phone.”

“Hey, kid,” he called, to the teenager who was still filming the madness. “Stop filming, call her boyfriend. Lady, you need to sit down, he’s gonna help you alright?”

He practically dragged her out to the street, shoving her onto the footpath while the boy knelt down next to her – thank god. Teenagers were usually the easiest to order around, much to most heroes’ disbelief.

“Hiro!” he called, finally hurrying over to where his son still stood with his hands outstretched. “It’s okay, she’s out, you did a great job.”

“It’s getting hotter, Daddy. I don’t want it to spread.”

He glanced over to where the rubble he’d blown out of the house sat, surprised to see it charred but extinguished, lying peacefully in the grass.

“Time to go out now,” Hiroki mumbled, looking down at the fire in his hands as it slowly died down. “Don’t burn houses, it’s not nice.”

Katsuki watched in awe as the flames extinguished themselves in his hands, more quickly replacing it when the stern green eyes looked up at the house again.

“You’re amazing,” he whispered, when he finally heard sirens approaching. “The best hero in the world, good work Hiro.”

By the time the fire truck arrived, parting the crowd to get through, Katsuki felt like they weren’t even needed anymore. Two hoses came out, watering down the area around the mess as well as the burning rubble, and finally Hiroki let his arms go limp.

The crowd burst into cheers and applause when the fire was gone, and Katsuki crouched to hugHiroki in a hurry, sheltering him from the mass of onlookers who suddenly wanted to talk to him.

“It doesn’t hurt,” Hiroki assured him, when he caught a glimpse of swollen red palms. “I know it looks sore but it’s not.”

“You burned yourself,” Katsuki frowned, gently holding his wrist to get a good look. “I didn’t know you could burn yourself.”

“Me neither.”

One of the firefighters came over to check on them, thanking them for their work, and Katsuki glanced back at the woman on the sidewalk, grateful to see the teenager still standing beside her. Another firefighter had joined them too, a woman who was clearly more prepared to deal with burns and shock than Katsuki was, much to his relief.

“You need to get these checked out,” the man beside him spoke up. “You’re a brave boy, they must hurt a lot.”

“I’m okay! Fire is my friend,” Hiroki assured him with a bright smile. “They don’t hurt at all!”

The man blinked at him, lost for words, and Katsuki cracked a smile finally as he kissed Hiroki’s hair.

“He’s pyrokinetic,” Katsuki explained. “We’re still gonna go get those burns treated, though. And get checked out for smoke inhalation.”

“Thank you for your hard work,” the fireman nodded. “Can we do anything to help?”

“I think we’re good, I’m just gonna call a taxi to take us to the hospital. Hiro, you got your phone? Mine is a bit overheated right now.”

Hiroki nodded, and Katsuki reached for his bag before Hiroki could try it himself.

“Can I ride your truck?” Hiroki asked, marvelling at the massive red engine behind them. “I can help if there’s a fire, I promise I won’t get in the way.”

“I’ll tell you what,” he smiled. “You get your Dad to bring you to the station, any day you want, and ask for Butsui. That’s me, and I’ll show you around the whole station and even let you use the siren. But only if you go get your hands fixed first. Deal?”

“Deal!”

“Good boy. I’ll see you again soon then, okay?”

“Thank you Mister Butsui!”

Katsuki hung up the phone as they waved goodbye to each other, shooting him a quick wave of thanks of his own, then he scooped up Hiroki and their shopping bags, squeezing his way out to the street.

“The taxi is gonna pick us up down here,” he explained, hurrying away from the crowd before any reporters could follow. “I’d better call Papa, too.”

“He’s gonna be worried.”

“Yeah, he is.”

“You should start with ‘we’re okay!’ so he doesn’t panic.”

“Good plan.”

The taxi pulled up within minutes, and as soon as he’d buckled them both in, Katsuki opened Hiroki’s contacts list. He scrolled down to ‘Papa’ and with a deep breath, hit the call button.

“Hi Hiro!” Izuku answered quickly. “How are you and Daddy going with the shopping?”

“It’s me, nerd,” Katsuki said softly. “We’re both fine, so don’t freak out, okay?”

“Oh God, what happened?!”

“I said don’t freak out,” Katsuki huffed quietly. “There was a house fire, I had to go get a girl out, she was trapped. Hiroki cleared me a path with his quirk, he was awesome. We’re both totally fine, but his hands got a little messed up from all the fire he extinguished, so we’re in a taxi to go get him checked out at the hospital.”

“I’m fine, Papa!” Hiroki called, leaning closer to the phone. “It doesn’t hurt! They just look a little yucky!”

“We’re about to learn a lot more about his quirk, I suspect,” Katsuki snorted. “They’re burned and blistered, but he’s not in any pain.”

“I’m gonna come meet you at the hospital,” Izuku insisted, and Katsuki heard the telltale sounds of him throwing stuff around to get ready. “I’ll bring the car and pick you up.”

“Don’t do that, we’re fine, you stay with Yuuto.”

“I’ll bring him too, it’ll be fine!”

“They won’t even let him in, you’ll just be stuck in the waiting room with him. We’re in a taxi, we’ll get one home too, or take the train.”

“No way. I’ll... I’ll drop Yuuto off at Tamaki’s! He won’t mind!”

“Fine,” Katsuki huffed. “Make sure they all know we’re okay, Ryouji will freak out. My phone overheated, so call us on Hiro’s if you need anything.”

“See you soon!”

Izuku hung up without waiting for an answer, already rushing out the door, and Katsuki shook his head faintly as he set the phone down.

“Keep it with you, in case they call,” Hiroki instructed. “My hands won’t work right I think.”

“Yeah, we should have gotten you some water or something before we left.”

“The fireman did it!” Hiroki assured him. “When you were on the phone he poured lots of water on my hands.”

“Oh, good, I’m glad.”

“Maybe I should carry a water bottle everywhere.”

“It couldn’t hurt,” Katsuki smiled faintly, hugging him tight. “You did an amazing job today, but remember this was one time, because it was an emergency. Don’t go chasing house fires, okay?”

“I know!” Hiroki laughed. “Not ‘til I’m a pro hero.”

“Exactly.”

He paid the driver quickly when they stopped at the hospital, dragging Hiroki out before he could touch anything and make things worse, and he breathed a sigh of relief when they stepped through the hospital doors.

“My son burned his hands,” he said to the lady at reception, watching Hiroki hold one up to show her. “And we both inhaled some smoke, but I think we’re okay on that count.”

“Alright Sir, fill this form out please and have a seat, we’ll be with you as soon as possible.”

“Yeah, absolutely. Um, I know we’ll need to wait, since it’s not super urgent, but is there somewhere we can run water over his hands? A bathroom or something? Just to keep the heat down?”

“Of course. Just to your left there down the hall, there’s a bathroom you can use. Just bring me back the form when you can, and I’ll send someone to get you if necessary.”

“Thank you so much. Alright Hiro, come on, gotta get some more water on those hands.”

He set Hiroki down in favour of holding the clipboard and opening doors, waiting until the hands were under cool, running water before he began filling out the form. He pulled out Hiroki’s phone again as an afterthought, texting Izuku an update, and by the time he finished filling out the paperwork Izuku was barging through the bathroom door, tearing up already.

“I’m gonna go give them your form,” Katsuki chuckled, when Izuku pulled Hiroki into a tight hug. “Stay with Papa, and keep those hands in the water.”

“I know! Hi Papa, I missed you too.”

“Don’t you ever scare me like that again.”

“Okay!”

Katsuki returned to the desk with his form, handing it over, and the receptionist gave him a slightly sterner look when he started to leave again.

“Sir, I know you’re worried about your son, but you should really get checked out too. I need your information as well.”

“Oh,” he said dumbly, blinking at her. “I uh, I’m... Downfall. The hero.”

Her eyes widened, and she quickly turned to her computer, typing in passwords to pull up his secure information. Katsuki was used to the process, had done it plenty of times in his career, but the staff always seemed shocked and nervous every single time.

“We’ll get you in right away, Sir.”

“No,” he cut her off quickly. “Honestly, I’m fine, please don’t give me priority. The people here need attention more than I do.”

“Are you sure, Sir?”

“Very. My son when you’re ready, and me after he’s sorted.”

“Very well, Sir. Thank you for protecting us.”

“Of course.”

He hurried back to the bathroom, relieved to find Hiroki sitting happily on the counter, hands shoved under the tap. Izuku’s jacket was laid out beneath him, whether to for warmth or sanitation he couldn’t be sure, but regardless he was glad to see it.

“Daddy,” Hiroki grinned. “Hi.”

“Hey bud,” Katsuki smiled, ruffling his hair. “You holding up okay still?”

“I’m fine! Doesn’t hurt!”

“Good, I’m glad. Your phone has been going crazy in my pocket, it’s probably Ryouji.”

“Can you phone him? I wanna talk to him and Yuuchan.”

“Yeah, I can do that. How about I leave it with you and Papa, and I’ll go back to the waiting room in case they call us.”

“Okay!”

“Here, take mine,” Izuku instructed, handing over his own cellphone. “Call me when they call you, I’ll send him out as soon as it rings.”

“Alright, nerd. Take care of him.”

“You know I will.”

He set the phone down on the counter, letting Izuku open the dozen texts from Ryouji, and headed back out to the waiting room.

As hard as it was to admit, having an extra Dad was coming in handy.

─────

“I get to go see a special quirk teacher!” Hiroki beamed, waving his bandaged hands. “Because I got burned but I didn’t feel it.”

“It doesn’t hurt?” Ryouji asked, carefully holding his wrist to look at the bandages. “At all?”

“Nuh-uh! They said the burns are kinda bad but not as bad as they expected, and that I probably shouldn’t get burns, but maybe it was too much and my body hasn’t learned yet.”

“It took a little arguing because of his age, but they referred us to a specialist,” Katsuki explained, when Mirio’s eyebrows shot up. “They can do some tests to make sure it is quirk based, that he doesn’t have some kind of condition stopping him from feeling that pain or anything. And probab;y give us some safe ways to work on his tolerance.”

“Special quirk training!” Hiroki beamed. “I’m excited. I just have to keep the bandages on for a little bit, they’ll be gone before we start school!”

“I’ll write for you if they’re not,” Ryouji promised, kissing a bandaged palm. “You’re so cool, stopping a whole fire.”

“Not the whole fire,” Hiroki blushed. “Just the bad bits.”

“He was very clever,” Katsuki praised, scooping him up to hug tightly. “He protected me, and he made sure it didn’t spread to the neighbours.”

“Daddy taught me well!”

“I’m so damn proud of you.”

“Thank you!”

“But you’re still never doing it again.”

“I know!”

He set Hiroki back down, letting him run off with Ryouji and Yuuto to play, and when Mirio smiled at him wryly, he sighed.

“It was a fight,” he admitted. “They insisted he was too young to see a specialist yet about that kind of stuff, since he shouldn’t be using his quirk yet anyway.”

“I would have gone with ‘I’m the number one hero and I want a referral’,” Mirio teased. “It still astounds me that you don’t play that card more often.”

“I like not being recognised,” he shrugged. “Makes life more peaceful.”

“I guess that’s true, you’d hate getting stopped in the street for autographs.”

“He gets recognised by kids a lot,” Izuku pointed out. “He’s really sweet with his little fans.”

“Shut up, nerd.”

“Yeah, he’s so paternal,” Mirio laughed, leaning on Katsuki’s shoulder despite his grumbles. “He claims it’s only his kids, but he’s great with them all. Ryouji loves him.”

“He’s practically my kid,” Katsuki huffed, shoving him off. “The in-law part is too long.”

“You’re so cute.”

“Shut up.”

“It sounds like you’ve had a long day,” Tamaki smiled softly. “Why don’t you stay for dinner?”

“Oh, thank you, but my Mom is already cooking,” Izuku assured him. “I’ve been keeping in touch about what was going on, she’s putting together all Hiroki’s favourites for him. She even stopped to buy chocolate milk.”

“She spoils them,” Katsuki snorted, glancing down the hall, toward the bedroom where the boys were playing. “Is he all sorted for school?”

“Pretty much! Is that what you guys were out doing? School shopping?”

“Just some last minute stuff, all sorted now. Just need to teach them the trains now.”

“Oh, they didn’t talk to you?”

Katsuki frowned, though he was a little relieved to see that Izuku looked equally confused.

“Ryouji was talking about biking to school. He said Yuuto was telling him how much he liked it, and they talked about riding to school instead of using the train.”

“They didn’t mention it,” Izuku confirmed, when Katsuki glanced at him. “I know Yuuto has been loving his bike rides with Kacchan, but they never mentioned school. Are they allowed to?”

“Yeah, a lot of the students come from further away than public schools.” Katsuki folded his arms, eyebrows knitted together in contemplation. “They’ve got plenty of bicycle parking, although it’s usually the older kids who use it. I’ll have to find time to take him to pick a bike out, he’s still using Hiro’s. And I should check the route, see if it has decent cycling paths. And-”

“Katsuki,” Mirio laughed. “Slow down.”

“Shut up.”

“I’m gonna pick the boys up Saturday morning and take them for a ride,” he continued, unphased. “We’ll see how decent the route is, and how tired they are after riding there and back.”

“And I’m sure Mom won’t mind taking them to get a bike!” Izuku grinned. “She’ll love the chance to take them shopping! And before you complain, yes, she knows what a decent bike looks like! She used to take me to kindergarten on the back of her bike every day!”

“I didn’t question it,” Katsuki huffed. “I trust Inko.”

“But not me?” Izuku pouted.

“I’ll ask Inko about taking him,” he continued, pulling his phone out to text her. “And yeah, Saturday is cool. Come for lunch after, I’ll invite Eri to come visit the boys.”

“Sounds great! What can we bring?”

“The kids and their bikes,” Katsuki said flatly, staring at his phone – thankfully cooled and working. “I’ve got the rest.”

“You always say that, let us help!”

“You mean like how you let us help when we come here for a meal?”

“Respect your seniors!”

“Yeah, you should, Number Two.”

“Rude.”

Katsuki cracked a smile, looking up just in time to see Mirio burst out laughing, clapping Katsuki on the back.

“Alright, alright!” Mirio conceded. “But I am gonna bring the wine!”

“Fine. But now we’re going home, I want Inko’s food.” He looked toward the hallway again, raising his voice a little. “Hiroki! Yuuto! Time to go!”

Tiny footsteps came pattering toward him, and with a last little poke at Koara’s cheek that made her giggle up a storm, Katsuki nodded toward the door.

“Thanks for taking care of him,” he added gruffly.

“It’s the least we can do, Ryou spends half his life at your place.”

“He’s a good kid, we don’t mind having him.”

“So is Yuuto! Fair trade!”

Yuuto paused in the entryway, blushing a little, and gave them a quick little bow as he stepped into his shoes.

“Thank you for having me,” he said quickly. “And for the yummy snacks.”

“You’re most welcome,” Mirio assured him, grinning. “Don’t tell Katsuki we loaded you up with sugar.”

“I won’t!”

With a little assistance on Hiroki’s end, they managed to get everyone into the car, waving goodbye out the windows as they took off. It took less than two minutes to get back home, and Katsuki felt a little ridiculous for driving it at all – not that driving home and walking from there to Mirio’s would have been any less silly.

“So how come you didn’t tell us about the bike plans?” Izuku asked fondly, as they climbed out at the other end. “Mirio said you’ve been planning for a while now.”

“We were gonna make a presentation,” Hiroki huffed. “To convince you.”

“As much as I love your presentations, we don’t need one for that,” Izuku chuckled. “Mirio is gonna take you all for a ride on Saturday to see how hard it is, and we’ll decide from there. And we might have to check with the school, some schools want you to be a bit older before you bike there.”

“I’ll ask Ears at work, she can get her husband to check.”

“Auntie Jirou?” Hiroki clarified, humming to himself quietly as he considered. “What does she do at work?”

“Supervises sidekicks and helps with their training and stuff. Takes care of our interns too, she’s pretty good at it. Nice enough to not make them cry, but won’t take any hell from them. Most of them don’t even know her quirk stopped working, so they think she’s always listening in.”

“That must be scary.”

“Exactly. Teaches the little sh- teenagers to behave themselves.”

“Welcome home!” Inko called from upstairs, when they closed the front door behind themselves. “Who’s hungry?”

The boys took off like a pair of rockets, leaving Katsuki and Izuku laughing in the entryway as they set their shoes aside neatly.

“His hands are gonna be okay, right?”

“Yeah, healing quirks are pretty great. The bandages are just to keep them clean, he should be good in a couple of days.”

“Thank goodness. You guys had me worried. I can’t believe you let him help.”

“I didn’t expect him to do so much,” Katsuki grimaced. “I couldn’t leave someone trapped in there, and he kept begging to help, so I told him to clear me a path to get in. I thought he’d get me through the front door and be done with it, but he was... Amazing. I didn’t even know he could extinguish them, they’ve always kind of died off slowly or he’s put them out with water. Honestly, I think there would have been significantly more damage without him. And he’s six.”

“He’s gonna be a great hero.”

“Or a firefighter,” Katsuki snorted. “He wants to see the truck, they told him to come by any time and get a tour.”

“Charismatic firefighting hero.”

“Sounds about right,” Katsuki chuckled, shoving Izuku toward the staircase. “Come on, I’m starving, dinner smells good.”

“Gonna eat it all before you get there.”

“We’ll see about that.”

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