Incomplete [Chapter 3]

[Chapter 2]

“You have a lovely home, Mister Bakugou.”

“Thank you! Would you believe it was the first one we looked at? Amazing, right? We looked at others, of course, but this one was just so perfect for us! It’s still a little messy, but would you like a tour?”

With that, Izuku proudly took two caretakers from the Home through their handiwork, pointing out all the things that had made them fall in love with the place – the big bedrooms, the warm sunlight that lingered, the big bathtub in the upstairs bathroom, the pretty yard out back with flowerbeds Katsuki planned to convert to a vegetable garden. They smiled all the way through, complimenting the few possessions Izuku and Katsuki had moved in so far, and when he apologised for the empty bedrooms upstairs, one of them shook her head quickly.

“I’m glad to see that you have space for them,” she assured him. “The process is a long one, there will be supervised visitations before you can take them out yourselves, let alone before they can stay overnight. Please don’t rush, take your time, we will not ask you to take them overnight without plenty of warning and planning.”

“Thank you for being so understanding. And we know it’ll take a while, but we’re willing to wait! We want them to be safe and happy, after all. That’s the only thing that matters.”

When they sat down at the table to talk business, Katsuki presented them with steaming homemade muffins, and Izuku barely paused to offer them to their guests before he stuffed one in his mouth.

“You're such a good cook, Kacchan,” he praised, when he'd swallowed his mouthful. “I don't deserve you.”

“Quit it,” Katsuki said fondly. “They're nothing special.”

“Kacchan loves to cook,” Izuku explained to their guests. “I'm pretty sure he's trying to fatten me up or something with the way he feeds me, it's amazing.”

The staff seemed happy with everything they'd seen, muffins included, so they began to walk through the formal adoption process. They would meet up with the kids a few times to get to know them more, and should do so before they told them their intentions. Over time they’d be allowed to spend more time with them – to take them out for a day, or pick them up from school, and eventually to have them overnight on the weekends. All of it would give them a chance to not only make sure they were cut out for adoption, but to bond and see if they were a good fit for each other. At any time along the way, if things changed or weren’t what they expected, they could end the process without issue.

Izuku almost argued with that, but for once it was Katsuki who gave him a pointed look, and Izuku conceded a tiny nod instead, jaw clenched to keep from snapping.

“How about Monday?” Katsuki suggested. “After school? I’d like to see them again, even if it’s just at the Home.”

“You are most welcome to come visit on Monday! In fact, you’re welcome to visit any afternoon, as long as you give us a phone call to let us know you’re coming.”

“Every day?” Izuku perked up.

“Deku, come on.” Katsuki huffed, rolling his eyes. “The point is to not overwhelm them right away.”

“Right, yes, self-restraint. I promise I’m a patient person, really.”

“He just gets over-excited,” Katsuki explained. “Don’t worry, he’ll be calm.”

“We appreciate the enthusiasm,” one of the women laughed. “It’s good to see eager parents.”

With everything arranged, and the preliminary paperwork signed, they waved goodbye to the departing car and quickly began the set-up process. They only had a couple of hours before all their friends would be arriving for their house-warming party, and Izuku’s to-do list was still a mile long. There were boxes to either unpack or hide, snacks to set out, more substantial foods to prepare and cook – though admittedly that was more Katsuki’s realm of expertise – drinks to chill, certain possessions to hide, and-

“Quit mumbling, idiot,” Katsuki huffed, shoving him lightly. “I’m gonna start marinating chicken. Do you wanna finish off those boxes we took upstairs? All the clothes and shit?”

“Sure!” Izuku smiled, fumbling for Katsuki’s hand to squeeze briefly. “We’re gonna need another shelf for merch, I don’t know if it’s all gonna fit.”

“Make it work for now, we’ll pick out some nice ones another day. Or a bigger one, at the very least.”

“Okay! But yours are going on the bottom shelf.”

“Asshole.”

“Love you too!”

Katsuki couldn’t help but smile faintly at his back, watching him bounce up the stairs to finish the unpacking they’d made a start on while they waited for the adoption agents. When Izuku was out of sight, he turned his attention to the kitchen; they’d made sure it was the first room they unpacked, once they’d gotten the all-clear from the painters, so Katsuki had the space to work his magic. He rarely agreed to host a party at their place, but when he did, their friends all knew to expect a certain level of quality in their snacks. With a bigger, better kitchen, and a much newer-looking oven, he had to up the ante once more.

Izuku returned showered and changed when the clock ticked over to five, shooing Katsuki off to do the same. He took advantage of the opportunity to taste-test the array of plates Katsuki had ready to go, including some yakitori he was tempted to hide away so he didn’t have to share.

When the doorbell rang he immediately filled with energy, bouncing to the door and throwing his arms around Ochako and Tsuyu, dragging them both in for a tight hug that made them laugh. He made sure to remind them how pretty they'd become as they got older, how he was blown away by how cute they both were, and as they shoved him off and complained weakly, he couldn’t help but notice their fond smiles. It filled him with a strange kind of joy, just knowing that he was the one who had made his friends happy.

“Do we get the grand tour?”

“Yes! Come in, we'll do it now! Kacchan, can you-?”

“I've got it,” Katsuki cut him off, waving him away as he headed back through to his kitchen. “You go entertain, I’ll handle the logistics.”

“Thank you!”

Katsuki began filling ice buckets in the kitchen, each one housing a different drink to cool, then set them all out on their brand new dining table in the wide living area. They’d finally managed to get the majority of their furniture in, and while their bedrooms were still looking a little empty, the living room and kitchen looked fantastic. He’d gone all out on making sure it was all perfect, had even set out a collection of their favourite photos along the top of a set of low cupboards they’d picked up for storage, and Izuku had been so patient with him the entire way through.

Soon the bell was ringing again and it was Katsuki’s turn to go open it and greet the guest, his fingers crossed the whole way to the door that it would be someone easy to handle. He barely got a chance to turn the handle before it was bursting open in his face, but he couldn’t help but smile when Denki launched himself inside, bumping fists before Katsuki had a chance to say no. Eijirou followed him, his smile a little apologetic, and Katsuki shook his head knowingly.

“Come on in, I've just got the drinks on ice so we can get started soon.”

“Excellent. Look at this place! You're a real, honest to God, grown man now!”

Katsuki had to resist the urge to argue, eyebrows dropping a little at the phrasing, but Eijirou didn’t seem to notice. He closed the door behind himself, then thrust a box into Katsuki’s hands, his smile too bright for Katsuki to be mad at.

“Oh, thanks,” he said instead, a little taken aback. “Um, I'll show you around when Deku gets back down here. He's showing the girls around right now.”

“No rush, I could do with a break anyway. We just came from patrols.”

“Ah, that sucks man. Take a seat, the sofa is super comfortable.”

“Don't have to tell me twice.”

He collapsed across the cushions, moaning obscenely, and Denki laughed at him brightly as he followed.

“Probably the only room he needed on the tour, if we're being honest.”

“You're not wrong,” Eijirou sighed, stretching out to get comfortable. “Is this new?”

“Yeah, we got it earlier in the week. The one from the apartment was way too small for this room, and kinda old and shitty if we’re being real.”

Thankfully the new sofa was big enough that Denki could sit as well, without shoving him out of the way to do it, so the three settled in to chat as they waited for the next guests, Katsuki fiddling with ice buckets again as they caught up.

“I've got it!” Izuku called, when the next bell rang. “Hey, Mina! Good to see you!”

He showed her through to the living room, pausing to greet Eijirou and Denki, then thumped Katsuki in the arm lightly.

“Food?”

“It's on the stove cooling.”

“I'm gonna eat it.”

“Save some for everyone else.”

“Not likely.”

With a grin he disappeared to the kitchen, returning with two full plates for the table and a mouth stuffed to bursting.

“Damn hamster,” Katsuki sighed. “Can I show these guys around now?”

“Yep! I got the door!”

Tsuyu and Ochako took over the couch when the guys evacuated, and Katsuki started the brief house tour, hesitating at the upstairs bedrooms.

“Um, these are the spare rooms,” he explained, gesturing to the closed doors. “They've just been painted, they’re not being used right now.”

He opened the doors to show them the plain, empty rooms all the same, smiling awkwardly when they began suggesting offices and home gyms. As soon as they’d had their fill he quickly closed the doors again, sealing the rooms away to wait for their future owners. Even so soon into the long journey, Katsuki still felt a weird sense of privacy about the rooms – they were reserved for two specific people, it would be rude to drag random people through them on a whim. None of them questioned him, neither his vague explanation nor how quick he was to move on, which he was secretly going to be eternally grateful for.

“Come see our room, we got a new bed too.”

“It’s so big,”  Mina gushed, spinning in circles in the empty space. “What are you gonna do with it?”

“Maybe a desk or something, for when we have to work from home. Deku will probably want some weights in here, too.”

“You don’t want a whole room for that stuff?”

“The spare is reserved for his walk-in wardrobe,” Denki teased, elbowing Katsuki in the ribs. “Need somewhere to keep all that fancy stuff your parents send.”

“Ugh.”

“And the other one is my room,” Eijirou grinned, slinging an arm across Katsuki’s shoulders. “Get me a bed, okay? For when Denki kicks me out for eating his ice cream.”

“Get your own house, asshole.”

Mina threw herself across the new bed, sinking into the soft mattress with a groan, and it thankfully seemed to distract the guys, turning their attention toward the shiny wooden frame.

“It's so comfortable!” Mina gushed. “I’m never moving again.”

“Right? I never want to get out of bed anymore.”

Somehow they ended up four-wide, lying across the bed sideways, and Katsuki grinned to himself when he looked over at his friends beside him.

“Thanks for coming, guys. I'm glad we could celebrate together.”

“Izuku is rubbing off on you!” Denki declared. “You're too nice all of a sudden!”

“Oh shut up, here I am trying to be grateful and you gotta fuckin' ruin it.”

“There's our Katsuki!”

Despite himself he smiled again, punching Denki in the arm and producing a little yelp that quickly shut him up.

“You're welcome,” Eijirou grinned. “Thanks for having us.”

After a few minutes of lying and talking, the doorbell rang again, and with a groan Katsuki hauled himself up off the mattress.

“The nerd'll be missing me by now,” he sighed. “You assholes coming?”

“Right behind you.”

─────

Izuku quickly finished setting out plates and glasses as the car pulled into the driveway, smiling softly when Katsuki went to the doorway to greet them. With the last glass down he brushed his hands on his jeans to make sure they were dry, stepping out into the hall to throw his arms around a much shorter frame, one that felt like it might snap if he squeezed too hard.

“Welcome, Mom!” He hugged her tightly, grinning. “I'm so glad you made it.”

“It's good to see you too, Izuku. You've been so busy lately!”

“I know, I'm sorry! I'm sure you can imagine what a production it was to get everything sorted in this place. But it's all done now! Let's show them around, Kacchan!”

He conceded his grip on his mother, waving toward the living room, but the weight that hit him caught him off-guard, almost making him stumble.

“Oof! Hi, Mother, it's good to see you too.”

“Ah Izuku, I love hearing you say that,” Mitsuki sighed fondly. “You're such a good boy, aren't you? What did my little brat do to win your heart?”

“Kacchan always had my heart,” he laughed. “He never had to win it.”

“Such a lucky boy. Okay my son, show us around this gorgeous new house of yours!”

“Oi, oi, damn hag! He's your son but I'm still the brat?!”

“Maybe you should try acting more like your husband!” she sang, draping an arm around Izuku's shoulders. “Is it still fun using that word? Has the novelty worn off yet?”

“It's my favourite word ever,” Izuku grinned. “It'll never wear off. Come on in! This is our living area.”

Katsuki grumbled half-heartedly as he followed them, getting a fond clap on the shoulder from Masaru on his way through, and a big smile from Inko.

“You know she doesn't mean it, she loves you more than anything else in the world,” Inko assured him. “She never stops talking about you, her words are much fonder when you aren't around.”

“When she's bragging about my achievements,” he snorted. “No surprises there. But yeah, I know, she loves me or whatever. It's fine, she always liked Deku better.”

“I promise you that's not true.”

“Thanks,” Katsuki grinned, hugging her with one arm and watching her face light up. “Come have a look around, it's a really nice place.”

All three of their parents had merged into one family the moment the wedding passed. It wasn't like they hadn't been bordering on it, to be fair, the entire time they'd been dating, but when the “I do”s were said and the kiss was done, they had immediately become one. There was no debate over which side of the family to visit, would be none when the holidays rolled around, they were just one big unit.

Izuku's face fell when he thought of the two kids waiting for them, waiting to be absorbed into that giant family bubble just as easily, and Katsuki shot him a knowing look.

“Look at my kitchen,” he chimed in quickly, taking the attention away while Izuku had his moment. “Deku isn't allowed in here, way too nice for his haphazard attempts at cookery.”

“Something smells good,” Masaru praised, glancing at the oven door. “Is that beef?”

“Yeah, the fancy stuff. It was a gift from someone I helped at work, thought you guys might like to share in it. It came up really nice, just resting with the vegetables to give them some extra flavour.”

“Sounds delicious.”

“Wow, so much cupboard space!” Inko marvelled, as Izuku opened and closed every cupboard to demonstrate. “You'll never run out of food if you fill these!”

“Yeah! Kacchan was insistent that we needed a kitchen with lots of space. Come see the bathroom, it's super pretty too!”

Katsuki smiled as Izuku took the lead again, his moment pushed aside for the sake of entertaining, and soon they were marvelling over shining white tiles, marble basins, and the fancy laundry machine and dryer that Izuku hoped would save them some time once their laundry loads doubled in size.

Finally they made it upstairs, and Katsuki saw the hesitation in Izuku’s face, a little pleased to know that he felt the same way Katsuki did about the rooms.

“Is this my room?” Mitsuki teased, pointing at one of the closed doors upstairs. “I'm moving in, you know.”

“They’re, um...”

“We bought a whole bunch of new stuff even though we didn't really need it,” Katsuki picked up, trying to look sheepish. “So those two are full of stuff we're not using right now, it’s a mess.”

“Yeah!” Izuku agreed, laughing awkwardly. “We'll show you another time, when they’re ready, but come look at this bathtub! It's huge! Kacchan never gets out of it!”

“Says the man who always climbs in with me,” Katsuki scoffed.

“How could I not when it's big enough for two?”

The sealed rooms were quickly forgotten in favour of marvelling over more pretty tiles and the amazing bathtub that Katsuki had fallen in love with the first time they walked in, and Katsuki shook his head at them fondly when Mitsuki and Inko climbed in to test it out for size.

“Come see our bedroom then we'll go eat,” Katsuki suggested, waving them over. “Take a look at this masterpiece.”

“Wow, I love this bed!” Inko gushed the moment she saw it, running her hand across the shiny wooden frame. “It's beautiful!”

“Kacchan has good taste,” Izuku grinned. “He picked the pretty frame, I just picked the softest mattress. Feel this, Mom.”

He dove across the bed, sighing happily as he sprawled over the covers, and soon all five of them were sitting on the squishy mattress, oddly reminiscent of when Katsuki had shown his friends around less than twenty-four hours ago.

“I'm starving,” Izuku announced, when the laughter died down. “Kacchan, is the food done?”

“Yeah, come on down.”

Soon they were all laughing again, sitting around the table with glasses of nice wine and cuts of beautiful beef, but still Izuku found his smile wavering between jokes, his eyes wandering to the two unoccupied chairs.

How could such a full table feel so empty?

“Is everything okay?” Mitsuki asked, when Katsuki brought out dessert. “It seems like something is on your mind, Izuku, are you alright?”

“Ah...” He rubbed at the back of his neck sheepishly, his smile awkward. “Yeah, everything is fine. There's no need to worry, I mean.”

“We're just working on something,” Katsuki offered. “It’ll be kind of a big change, work hours changing and all sorts. Not a bad thing, of course, just... big.”

“Katsuki, my little brat, did you get Izuku pregnant?”

Izuku couldn't but help laugh at that, clapping a hand over his mouth, but Mitsuki seemed pleased to see her joke land so well. Katsuki just rolled his eyes, stuffing a spoonful of fruit salad in his mouth, but he cracked a smile all the same.

“You've got a big backyard,” Masaru pointed out. “Are you getting a dog?”

“Oh man, that's a great idea!” Katsuki gushed, strangely excited by the idea. “One of those big fluffy Akita ones? I wonder if I can teach it to play dead when I use my Quirk. Deku, let's get a dog!”

“I'll think about it,” he laughed, his smile a little more natural this time. “It could be fun.”

“I'll name him King Explodo-Dog”

“You will not.”

“You can't stop me, stupid Deku. He'll learn to answer to it long before you get home from work.”

“I was thinking Dog Might.”

“You're an idiot.”

“Better than Explodo-Dog.”

“King Explodo-Dog, thank you very much!”

“What about King Explodo-Dog Might?” Inko suggested, smiling when the whole table choked on their dessert. “I can't wait to hear you calling that in the streets when he goes missing.”

“Or Dog For All,” Katsuki snorted, too amused by his own joke.

“Inutsuki,” Izuku mused. “If we follow convention.”

“If we were following convention we'd just mash our names together,” Katsuki snorted. “Such a creative way to name your child.”

“Listen here, brat, you have a great name. Considering your first choice of hero name you do not get to complain about it.”

“My first choice of hero name was genius,” Katsuki argued. “It's not my fault it wasn't appreciated.”

“I like Dynamite better,” Izuku offered. “It suits you.”

“I tried for King Dynamite but they didn't like that either.”

“Shut up,” Izuku laughed, “Your hero name is perfect. No regrets.”

“Well yeah, I'm not the one who called myself Deku.”

“I like it!” Izuku pouted. “It's like you're there with me when I'm fighting, even if you're not.”

“Sappy idiot.”

He reached across and ruffled Izuku's hair, getting a fond smile for it, and for a moment Katsuki's hand lingered, comforting.

“I'm always watching anyway, nerd,” he mumbled. “You know that.”

“Thanks, Kacchan.”

[Chapter 4]