My Father's Son - Chapter 38

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Katsuki liked to think that he didn't often make mistakes – he hadn't made any on patrol that morning, or during their daily gym time, and that was a pretty common occurrence in his work life. He did, however, make one big mistake as they sat down to lunch; as he pulled out the same little lunch box he used every day, but momentarily forgot who had filled it the night prior.

“Awww, look at you!” Denki cooed, leaning in and ruffling Katsuki's hair. “Look at your little bento!”

“Shut the fuck up,” Katsuki growled, shoving him off with his cheeks flaming hot. “Don't even start with me.”

“You even cut your crusts off!” Denki laughed, shoving him right back. “Cute little Katsuki with his cute little sandwiches!”

“Fuck off, asshole! I didn't do it!”

“Did your Mommy make you lunch? How cute!”

“Did Hiro make you lunch?” Mina grinned. “That's so cute!”

“Deku did, you idiots.”

“Izuku made you cute little flower and heart fruits?” Mina beamed. “That's so cute!”

“Shut up, you'll encourage the nerd. He's just trying to be condescending.”

“What? Izuku is? Why?”

“Pulled out all the stupid pity bullshit last night, all this 'oh no Katsuki isn't getting enough sleep' nonsense. Practically tried to tuck me into bed, the asshole.”

“Oh yeah, he sounds like such an asshole,” Ochako laughed. “Maybe he's just concerned about you? You probably haven't been getting enough sleep, aren't you guys moving right now?”

“So what?”

“So you've got this insane case at work, two young kids, two houses to take care of, and you're trying to pack and everything? It's just a lot, you know?”

“Think I can't handle it, round-face?” Katsuki glared at her, tearing a bite off his sandwich violently. “Trying to take my case or some shit? It ain't happening, asshole.”

“You know I would never try to take the cases that are important to you,” Ochako corrected him, infuriatingly patient. “Besides, this guy terrifies me. I'm still recovering from Overhaul, I don't want to take on the League just yet.”

“Yeah, you're insane to volunteer for it,” Mina smiled faintly. “Let me know if I can help though, right?”

“Like I need your shitty help,” Katsuki snorted, tossing a heart-shaped watermelon chunk in his mouth. “I'll handle it just fine without you nerds.”

“Just be careful, okay?” Mina pleaded. “We'd never survive if they got hold of the number one hero's quirk.”

“You think my quirk is the only thing that makes me a good hero?”

“No, but it's certainly a large chunk of it.”

“I'd still kick all your asses if I was quirkless,” Katsuki glared. “Wanna fuckin' fight me and try it out?”

“No, that's okay,” Mina grinned. “Gotta defend your man, I get it.”

“The fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“Your man who made you lunch,” Ochako added, hiding her smile behind a coffee mug. “Very cute of him.”

“Shut the hell up. You're all just fuckin' jealous that no one makes you lunch.”

“Fumi does!” Mina protested, taking a bite from an apple slice and waving her fingers at him pointedly. “And he knows how to put a ring on it.”

“Yeah, I'm sure it took no hints,” Katsuki scoffed. “It's not like Shitty-Hair makes lunch for Dunce-Face over here.”

“You comparing me and Eiji with you and Izuku?” Denki teased, watching Katsuki burn bright red again. “I didn't know you were so bold.”

“Why do I even sit with you pricks?”

“Because you wanted someone to admire your cute little lunchbox?”

“Fuck all of you.”

He scooped up his lunch and his bag, fuming as he stormed out of the room, heading back to his office to eat alone. He should have known his asshole friends would make fun of him. It was bad enough dealing with pity from the nerd who saw him at his worst, but he didn't need his colleagues to see his weaknesses. He'd spent too long building up his careful walls, only letting them in little by little, into areas he deemed safe.

No one wanted inside the thickest walls, not even Katsuki.

─────

The press conference came up with no warning, no real time to prepare, just an urgent call from his manager who gave him a brief rundown of what was going on. He hurried home from work to change, finding a concerned look already waiting on Izuku's face, but he just shook his head pointedly.

“I know,” he said needlessly. “I heard. I have to go do some stupid interview about it.”

He paused, hesitant to let his mouth open again, but Izuku waited patiently for him to find the words.

“Did you want to come? You can stand backstage and let me know if there's anything I need to add or anything I shouldn't say. Keep an eye on me or whatever.”

“Mom is out for the night, I should probably stay with the boys.”

“I wanna come!” Hiroki insisted, appearing out of nowhere to wrap himself around Katsuki's leg. “It's about me, Daddy, I saw. You gotta let me come!”

“I don't gotta do shit.”

“Please, Daddy?” Hiroki looked up at him with teary eyes, valiantly holding them back. “I love you Daddy, and I know you love me, I want to be with you.”

“Ugh,” Katsuki huffed, tangling his fingers in Hiroki's hair. “Fine, but you have to be good. Do whatever Papa tells you.”

“I will! I promise!”

“Alright, go grab your coat, it's cold out.”

“And Yuuchan too?”

“Yeah, Yuuto too.”

Izuku nodded faintly when Katsuki glanced at him, trying his best to be reassuring, but Katsuki didn't bother to answer it. He just trudged up to his room, digging out a dark suit to wear, and met all three of his boys at the car.

“Do you need to borrow my squishy?” Yuuto offered, when he saw Katsuki's face. “It helps lots.”

“Thank you,” Katsuki smiled faintly. “I'll be okay, I need to use my hands on stage for notes and things. You squeeze it extra hard for me, okay?”

“Okay!”

It didn't take long before they reached the usual hall, jam-packed with journalists looking for the newest gossip, not willing to miss a moment of the questioning and the breaking-news story. It wasn't every day they got to write a gossip piece about Downfall, after all.

“You stay here and watch me,” Katsuki instructed, as they reached the wings of the stage. “Cheer me on quietly, okay?”

“I promise!” Hiroki insisted, squeezing him tight when he bent down for a hug. “I love you, Daddy! I'm sorry they're being meanies!”

“I won't let them be meanies, not to us. We have the best family in the world, and nothing they can say will ever change that.”

“I love you,” Yuuto whispered, joining the hug-pile. “Be nice, okay? No yelling, even if they're mean.”

“You're a smart cookie,” Katsuki chuckled, nodding. “I'll keep my temper under control, I promise.”

It took every ounce of self-control he possessed to keep the promise, gritting his teeth as the lady on stage with him talked. The entire interview had been a nightmare, though at least it had been fairly civil, but she was doing her damnedest to ruin it and make him explode – probably her intention, he had quickly realised. She wanted him to blow up and yell at her, wanted him to show the world that she'd somehow done the right thing.

"And so when I saw this poor man with no quirk crying over his loss, I thought, 'that kid is going to have a tough life'. And I thought back to this young woman who had given birth alone, because the father was Downfall and he was busy working, and I thought: 'what better way to take that arrogant man down a peg, than to give him a quirkless child?'"

Katsuki took a deep breath, forcing his voice to stay level, but he was quickly cut off by a frantic, squeaky voice yelling from the side of the stage.

"Papa is amazing, " he yelled, tears filling his shiny green eyes. "He took care of Yuuto the best. And Daddy loves me no matter what!"

Murmurs filled the audience, and Katsuki turned in a hurry, catching Hiroki in his arms when he fought loose from Izuku's grip, holding him tight to keep him from jumping on the woman.

"Shh, Hiro, come on, you know better than this."

"I am not quirkless!" he yelled over Katsuki's shoulder, voice cracking as the tears streamed down his face. "and if I was, Daddy would still love me just as much! You're just a meanie!"

Izuku mumbled his apologies as he met Katsuki in the wings, but Katsuki just shook his head, handing the crying boy over in a hurry and whispering reassurances. Yuuto looked up at them in fear, so unaccustomed to Hiroki crying and yelling, and Katsuki paused long enough to ruffle his hair lightly.

"It's okay, little dude. You stay here and take care of Papa. I love you, you know that. I'm gonna keep my promise, you just gotta keep squishing."

Yuuto nodded, reaching to pat Katsuki's hand lightly before he turned to help comfort Hiroki. The room was still whispering when Katsuki returned, and he discovered far too late that his lapel microphone was still running the entire time, his cheeks burning slightly pink with the realisation.

"Sorry about that," he said awkwardly, returning to his little podium with the cue cards his agency had provided, that so far he hadn't bothered to touch. "Um, where were we?"

"Would you like to tell us about the mix up? From your end?"

Katsuki opened his mouth to respond, but the muffled wails from the side of the stage were impossible to tune out, breaking his heart with every whimper and cry that failed to be stifled in Izuku's shoulder.

"Sorry, I can't do this right now," he said instead, proud of himself for how level his voice remained. "Give me a minute."

He stalked back over to the wings, ignoring Izuku's wide eyes and the much louder mumbles filling the room, and scooped Hiroki into his arms for a hug. Izuku watched in amazement as Katsuki turned around, walking straight back out to his podium with Hiroki already quieting a little in his arms.

"I know I'm not the most paternal looking hero in the world," he spoke up, the room falling silent to listen. "No one watches me yelling at villains and expects me to be a good Dad, but I've been doing my best for six years to raise my kid properly. I'm sure people will call me arrogant for saying it, but I think I've done a damn good job. My son is the sweetest, most polite kid, with a heart of solid gold. You can say whatever the hell you want about me but you will not talk about my kid like that."

The woman looked at him for the first time, eyes wide with what he suspected might be fear, and he was honestly pretty damn happy to go with that assumption. She better be scared.

"You alright?" he asked quietly, as Hiroki scrubbed his eyes on his sleeve. "You know I love you, little man, you don't need to cry about what random strangers say."

"But I don't like it," Hiroki pouted, his cute little face buttering up the audience in an instant. "Daddy is the best hero and the best Daddy, I don't want people to say mean things!"

"I know bud, they just don't understand, it's okay."

"Can I say hello to everyone?"

"Sure, buddy."

"Can I introduce myself?"

Katsuki paused, but finally nodded, cracking a tiny smile.

"I guess our secret time is over, huh?"

He shifted Hiroki a little lower on his hip, pointing out the microphone, and despite his tear-stained cheeks, Hiroki smiled.

"My name is Bakugou Hiroki and I'm six years old!" he said confidently. "My Daddy is Bakugou Katsuki, Downfall, and my Papa is Midoriya Izuku! When I was a little baby, the people in the hospital switched me and my brother Yuuto – um, I thought it was by mistake? But uh, I think maybe not now? – but it's okay because I might not have met Daddy if they didn't! It's a little funny that lots and lots of people are here today to hear about me, even if some of them were being mean!"

Katsuki smiled, and Hiroki giggled sweetly – if the audience hadn't been wrapped around his little finger before, they certainly were after the giggle.

"I never got to have a Mommy, but because of the nurse I get to have a Daddy and a Papa now, and a brother, and a Nana, and my Grandma and Grandpa too! I have a big, big family and everyone is the best and loves me no matter what!" He paused, glancing over at the stunned nurse, and Katsuki sighed when he poked his tongue out at her. "And I have the best quirk ever, so you were wrong."

"Heroes don't make fun of people, Hiro."

"They do sometimes!"

"Nuh-uh."

"Hmph. Fine. But it is the best."

"You gonna go back to Papa now?" Katsuki asked fondly, smiling even though he knew it would put them on the front page of the news. "Gonna be a good boy for us?"

"Gonna be the best boy," Hiroki grinned. "I'm sorry I yelled and interrupted, Daddy. Thank you for the hugs. Oh. Um, I'm sorry I yelled, everyone! I hope you don't think too bad of me for yelling."

"Off you go, little guy," Katsuki said softly, setting him down on the stage. "Be good for Papa."

"I will! Thanks Daddy, I love you!"

"I love you too. And you, Yuuto – you be good too."

Yuuto nodded from the wings, taking Hiroki's hand when he returned, and with a little huff Izuku bent down to talk to them sternly.

"Downfall, could you tell us how you managed to go so long without the media catching wind of this... situation?"

Katsuki nodded, taking a deep breath and thanking his lucky stars that they'd all gotten so used to explaining the whole messed up situation.

"The hospital gave us a pretty hefty cheque to not take them to court over the matter, and considering we managed to sort the situation out pretty happily, it wasn't worth pursuing. Everything has been going well, so it never really got any public attention until the case records went public and someone recognised my name on it. But if you mean to ask why you didn't know I had kids, I didn't want to risk any villains trying to kidnap them to get to me."

He paused again, looking straight into a camera lens as his face fell stern.

"I'll say this one time, and one time only. If anyone lays a finger on my family, you will regret it for the rest of your miserable life."

Katsuki expected the usual nervous silence that came with his press conferences, so when the audience erupted into cheers and applause, it took him by surprise. He blinked at them stupidly as they sang his praises, and after a moment he cracked a little smile.

Everyone wanted to protect their family, he wasn't special in that.

When the nurse shuffled off the stage with a little bow, leaving him to take the press questions alone, it felt like a weird victory. He was sure she'd expected to have some kind of support, for Katsuki to blow up and make everyone think he shouldn't be a parent, and he was a little proud of himself for shutting her down so easily – and frankly pretty politely, if he did say so himself.

The first journalist stepped up to the microphone with a wide smile, and he waited patiently for her to speak.

"First of all," she began, "your son is adorable."

"Thank you!" Hiroki called from the wings, making the entire room laugh – Katsuki was no exception.

"Second, it seems like you've done an amazing job of raising him, so well done on that."

"Thank you. He made it very easy."

"I apologise if this is overstepping, but you've gotten us all curious – Hiroki's... father? Papa? Has no quirk, but Hiroki does?"

"Hiroki has an amazing quirk," Katsuki grinned, before Hiroki could do it himself. "His Papa still has quirk genetics, even if he doesn't hold one himself, plus his partner had one, and those all morphed together to give Hiroki his own. Yuuto has a really awesome one too, they're gonna be the best hero duo in the world when they're old enough. At least that's their plan right now."

"Better than Daddy!" Hiroki called, getting another laugh as Izuku hushed him once more.

"Yeah, gonna be better than Daddy," Katsuki agreed easily. "You wanna come run this presentation for me, Hiro?"

"Can I?!"

"You may as well."

Exhaustion clear in his face, Izuku conceded his grip, letting Hiroki run back out to join his Dad in the middle of the stage. Katsuki stepped away from the podium and knelt down beside him, pointing the microphone out again for him to position himself.

"Alright, any more questions?" He asked with a wry smile. "Hiro is better at this than me anyway, but I guess I can help him out if he doesn't know the answer."

Beaming again, Hiroki chattered away with journalists like it was no big deal, and Katsuki could only watch him fondly. He answered questions with the eloquence of someone twice his age, and Katsuki had never felt more proud.

"What do you think your Hero name will be?"

Hiroki screwed up his face in thought, shrugging his little shoulders slightly.

"I'm not sure, I have a long time left to decide. Grampa Toshi calls me Prince Explosion Murder but Daddy wasn't allowed to be King Explosion Murder so I guess I can't use that one. And I like Downfall Junior but Daddy says no."

"You don't need to carry all my screw ups with you," Katsuki reminded him quietly. "You're gonna forge your own path, you don't need mine."

"Maybe Rise. Like heat does!"

"That's a good one."

"Or Pyro!"

"Sure."

"Or... Phoenix."

"That's cool too."

Hiroki flashed him his brightest smile, and Katsuki couldn't help but return it, ruffling his hair lightly.

"We'll keep a list for when you're in high school, yeah?"

"Yeah!"

Katsuki continued to glance over at the wings every so often, keeping an eye on Izuku and Yuuto, but they had both quickly retreated to keep from being called out. Yuuto hid behind Izuku's leg, his Downfall orb held tight in his hands, and Katsuki smiled as he covered his microphone for a moment.

“You don't need to be nervous, Yuuto, I'm not going to make you come out. If you want to stay there, you stay there, it's okay.”

Yuuto nodded faintly, and Katsuki freed his microphone again, nodding to Hiroki to take the next question.

“Yes, next please!” Hiroki called brightly, pointing at the next journalist in line. “Hello, thank you for coming!”

“Thank you,” she smiled warmly. “It's very nice to meet you. Do you think you could tell us a little bit about growing up with the number one hero as your Dad?”

“He's the best Daddy!” Hiroki answered immediately, beaming his blinding smile out at them. “He teaches me lots of important things like how to be responsible and what makes a good hero, and when I'm sad or I'm sick he gives me lots of cuddles and makes it all better!”

“Oi, you don't need to tell them about the cuddles.”

“But I like the cuddles! Oh, and Daddy is a really good cook! He makes vegetables really yummy so I even like eating vegetables! And he helps me with my homework, and makes sure I study hard so I can go to good schools. And I'm going to the best school, soon! I start in just six weeks, and I'm excited to meet lots of people and learn lots of things!”

“You don't feel sad that he isn't around very much?”

Katsuki had to bite his tongue to keep from snapping, ready to cut Hiroki off too, but to his surprise, Hiroki just looked confused.

“What's very much?” he asked, completely innocent about it. “More is always nice, but I have to go to school sometimes!”

“Do you ever get to do things together on the weekends?”

Hiroki's eyebrows knitted together, his head tilting to one side a little.

“Daddy doesn't work weekends?” he said, genuinely confused. “Daddy never worked weekends, unless maybe when I was too little to remember? Do you mean what do we do on weekends? We go to the science museums and the parks and we play video games together, and for my birthday we went camping! My favourite park was the big adventure park with all the trees, and we got to climb and do ziplines. Oh, I like climbing, too! Sometimes we go rock climbing!”

“I've always made sure to schedule my work around Hiroki, not the other way around,” Katsuki added, proud once more of how level his voice remained. “On the rare occasion that I have to work unexpectedly, Hiroki gets his grandparent time. My parents love him, and Yuuto too, almost as much as I do. I would never let work get in the way of my family.”

“But you're the number one hero, we know you work long hours, we've seen it with our own eyes.”

“Of course, but there's no reason I can't schedule those long hours around the times when Hiroki is at kindergarten or school or his other lessons and sports and things. The agency is very understanding, they've had my back from day one. And now I have Izuku and his mother around, too, so it's not like I ever have to choose between catching a villain or having an adult to take care of my sons. The switch didn't affect any of that, it would have been exactly the same if I'd been raising Yuuto this whole time instead.”

“Daddy, if we hadn't been switched, would I have been Yuuto?”

“Huh?”

“My name, I mean.”

“Oh. Yeah, I guess so. It's kind of a weird thought, isn't it? And he would have been Hiroki.”

Hiroki giggled, softening the audience up once more, and Katsuki ruffled his hair with a smile.

“Thanks for being my son.”

“Thanks for being my Daddy!”

With a few closing remarks from the conference hosts and Katsuki's agency representatives, the most ridiculous press conference in the world began to wrap up, and Katsuki glanced back to see a nervous little face stepping out of the wings.

“I wanna say hi,” Yuuto whispered, biting his lip. “Can I?”

Katsuki nodded, meeting him halfway to pick him up, and the room dissolved into whispers around them.

“Want me to introduce you?”

Yuuto nodded, his tiny arms winding around Katsuki's neck, and he hid half his face in Katsuki's shoulder as he surveyed the massive crowd.

“This is my other son, Yuuto,” he explained, when people quieted down to listen. “He's not a big talker like Hiro is. He just wanted to drop by and say hello.”

“Hello,” Yuuto whispered, raising one hand in a wave. “I'm Yuuto.”

Katsuki could hear the little chorus of 'aww's run through the crowd, a few of the older women even pressing their hands to their hearts, as if they had to hold the organ in place.

“That's my brother!” Hiroki grinned. “We were born on the same day, so that makes us twins!”

“Not quite,” Katsuki reminded him.

“Close enough!”

“Sure,” Katsuki snorted. “Close enough.”

“Should I answer a question?” Yuuto whispered. “Do they have questions?”

“They might have one or two. Do you wanna?”

“I'm good at questions,” he nodded. “I learned for school.”

“Yeah, you're an expert. Alright, let's ask if anyone has a question for you.”

A man raised his hand, and Yuuto pointed at him in the crowd, letting Katsuki turn them toward him.

“It's nice to meet you. What was it like finding out Downfall was your Dad?”

“Downfall is my favourite hero,” Yuuto said shyly, refusing to meet Katsuki's eyes. “I like lots of other heroes too, but Downfall is my favourite, so it was good.”

“Is that a Downfall toy in your hand there?”

Yuuto nodded, holding it up to show off, and Katsuki cracked a little smile.

“They haven't been released yet, they're gonna be part of a special event series, but I got one to approve for printing and I thought he'd like it.”

“I squish it when I get nervous,” Yuuto explained. “Like for school interviews or when I watch the hero fights on TV.”

“Which other heroes do you like?” Another journalist chimed in. “Do you want to be a hero too?”

“I'm gonna be a hero with Hirokun, we're gonna be a duo,” he nodded. “I like Suneater and Hawks and All Might and Red Riot and Chargebolt and lots more.”

“What kind of quirk do you have?”

“I make little booms. One day I'll make them big like Dad, and then I'll be even better because they don't just have to come from my hands.”

“He has kind of a modified version of mine,” Katsuki clarified. “He can maintain a bunch of explosions at once, which is pretty awesome. Both my boys are gonna be amazing heroes, if that's what they decide to do.”

“Do you know what your hero name will be, or are you still deciding, like your brother?”

“I know mine,” Yuuto said confidently. “I always knew mine.”

“Can we hear it?”

“I'm gonna be Firefly!”

“That's a very cool name,” the journalist praised. “I can't wait to hear all about you as you get older.”

“Thank you for your support!”

“One more question, you think?” Katsuki asked, when he glanced over at the clock to the side of the stage. “Who do you think looks like they have a reeeaaally good question?”

“Mm... The tall lady!”

He pointed her out in the crowd, and Katsuki smiled, nodding when she pointed to herself questioningly.

“For all three of you, if you had to describe each other in one word, what would you say?”

“Daddy can go first,” Yuuto instructed, making the whole crowd chuckle.

“Easy,” Katsuki smirked. “Yuuto, you're perseverant. You work so hard and never give up. And Hiroki, you're compassionate. You care about everyone and do your best to help them.”

“Hirokun is strong,” Yuuto added, smiling faintly. “I wanna be strong like Hirokun.”

“Yuuchan is kind!” Hiroki piped up. “The kindest!”

The audience was melting like butter, watching them exchange their compliments happily, but both boys paused when they looked up at Katsuki.

“We have the same word,” Hiroki explained awkwardly. “I know we do.”

“Uh-huh. Everyone has the same word for Dad.”

“What's that?” the tall lady asked, smiling warmly. “What word?”

“Inspiring.”

Katsuki teared up when the boys answered, completely in sync, without a moment of hesitation. He scooped Hiroki up in his other arm, hugging them both tightly, savouring the feel of their warm little bodies curling into his sides.

“Thank you,” he whispered. “I love you both so much.”

“We love you too.”

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