As his alarm began to ring Hitoshi groaned.
He'd had barely any sleep and it would be putting it mildly to say that he felt like crap because of it.
He couldn't even be bothered to turn over and click it off, instead just sinking in deeper to the pillow.
A minute or so later though, the annoying bleeping stopped.
Looking over his shoulder with a half-open eye he found Shouta stood beside the bed.
"Sorry, I'm getting up."
A hand came to plop down on his head before a smile came to his Dad's face.
"Eri's downstairs eating breakfast; she's been talking about your stargazing last night. I'll mark you absent today."
He exhaled happily before lying back down.
"Thanks, Dad."
"Get some sleep, kiddo."
It was around midday when he awoke once again. Stumbling down to the kitchen he found a note left for him on the countertop of the island.
'Eri came to work with us for the day; leftovers from breakfast are in the fridge. Kacchan came round this morning to walk with you, he said he'll be around later and he's staying the night. If you could do the washing I would really appreciate it. Enjoy your day off, love Papa.'
He smiled.
Deku was late as usual and over the years he'd come to realise that waiting for Zashi just wasn't worth it and so he headed back to the house alone.
With his key that Zashi had thankfully gotten made for him he pushed open the door before heading inside.
Small footsteps rushed over before he spotted a young girl with an excited expression; as she caught sight of him though she froze up before terror appeared on her face.
"Who are you?"
"Eri." Came a small reply.
Oh, the brat Toshi and Deku rescued from that raid.
He really wasn't the biggest fan of kids but as that stupid exam with Icy Hot had proved he at least knew how to talk to them.
It was then that he noticed the familiar item she was wearing.
"Do you like All Might?"
She just looked confused.
He came to a crouch a short distance away from her.
"Who is your favourite hero then?"
"DEKU!" She exclaimed excitedly with a giggle.
Kacchan smirked.
"Deku, really?!"
"Yeah, and Lemillion; they're so cool!"
"Surrrrrrre they are…"
"Thought I heard you." Shouza spoke up as he descended the staircase.
"Yeah I was just talking to Deku's number one fan here."
She crossed her arms with huffy, puffed out cheeks.
"Why do you not like Deku?"
"Meh, he's my cousin, it comes with the territory; can't have him getting too full of himself." He teased.
"Cousin?" Eri confused tone asked.
"Yeah; a cousin is when your Mom or Dad has a brother or sister who has had their own kid. Deku is my cousin because he's my Mom's sister's son."
If she was confused before she just looked utterly lost now.
"What?"
"Nevermind."
"Technically Kacchan is your cousin now too, Eri, not that the idiot has bothered to introduce himself."
Oh shit yeah…
"I'm Katsuki but most people either call me Kacchan or Bakugou."
"Can… can I call you Kacchan?"
He smiled.
"Sure, I mean you're family, right?"
"Family?" She repeated, as if trying the word out.
Any further discussion of the topic was interrupted as the door opened to reveal Deku and Uncle Zashi.
"DEKU!" Eri squealed as she sprinted over to him, throwing herself against his leg.
"Hey Eri!"
Hearing more footsteps on the staircase he turned to see Toshi still dressed in his mismatch pyjamas of a Ms. Joke striped top and chibi style Mirko x Cinnamoroll blue pattern bottoms.
He smirked.
It had become somewhat of a family joke to buy Toshi hero merch, with Kacchan knowing fine well he's seen his Mom pick up those same pyjamas bottoms at the store the other day from the new collaboration hero line. It was all in good spirit though and his cousin truly did mean it when he said he'd wear anything.
Respect.
"Do you even know whose those heroes are?"
"She's on that bouncy ball from the bubblegum machine." Toshi pointed to his shirt. "These two I don't know."
"The white bunny thing isn't a hero."
"I know that!"
Kacchan smirked.
"I'm starving." His cousin voiced.
"Well it's ramen for dinner, not sure what I'm putting with it yet but it shouldn't be too long."
"Sounds good, right Eri?" Deku smiled.
She nodded eagerly.
Later that night the three of them were in their usual habitat piled on his bed watching All Might Adventures. With a full stomach from Hizashi's amazing cooking Hitoshi felt truly content.
"You gonna' fall asleep on us again?" Kacchan teased lightly.
He smirked.
"Yeah, right on your shoulder with lots of drool."
Deku burst out laughing.
It was still strange to him somewhere deep inside that he was able to talk to people like that. Able to joke, and tease, and mess around when before any comments like that, especially in that kind of tone would, and did, result in him, or sometimes even both of them, being punished.
Kacchan simply shook his head with a smirk.
Hitoshi reached over and picked up his Totoro, squishing the soft plushie against his chest as the episode began.
A few minutes later there was a knock at the door before a nervous little face popped round the frame.
"Hey Eri." Deku greeted. "You okay?"
"Mr. Eraser-… uhhh… I mean, Shouta said I should come up and ask if I could watch the toons with you."
The way she'd spoken the word 'toons' gave him the sense that she probably didn't know what they were and instead had just attempted to repeat the term anyway.
He doubted she'd ever seen a cartoon before.
"Of course you can."
An excited gasp followed before she immediately rushed over.
Kacchan reached out a hand to pull her carefully up onto the bed before she took a seat next to Deku, allowing herself to snuggle into his side as he lifted his arm in invitation.
"You comfy, Eri?" He asked.
The little girl nodded.
"Thank you."
'All Might's Day Off'
Eri, still dressed in Kacchan's borrowed hoodie, looked down at it as the number one hero appeared on screen. She looked to Deku as she pointed.
"Yeah that's All Might, this is his cartoon."
"Cartoon." She repeated, as if testing out the word.
"This one's a silly episode." He explained.
"Why's it silly?"
"You'll see."
Five minutes later and All Might was having anything but a peaceful day off as he trailed around the city getting in exaggerated hijinks whilst searching for a missing cat.
Eri was sat quite happily watching the show, her little voice humming softly.
"Are you excited to go to the Culture Festival at our school, Eri?" Hitoshi asked.
"Uh huh!" She nodded quickly.
"I think Shouza said we'll be thinking of ideas in class tomorrow." Deku stated. "We'll only have a week to get everything ready."
"Ehh, we'll be fine." Kacchan shrugged it off. "As long as the girls don't pick something dumb."
"Mirio, Dad, and Papa said they're gonna' take you around the festival so you'll need to point out things you want to see to them, okay?"
"Okay."
He couldn't help but hear the nervousness to her voice.
"We'll all be there too of course and we'll come and join you after we finish whatever our class does."
"Really?!" Her little eyes lit up a little at that.
Deku and Kacchan smirked.
"Of course we will."
"And if Shouza and Uncle Zashi buy us festival food then that'll be an extra bonus." Kacchan added.
Hitoshi scoffed.
"You're terrible."
"Shut up!" His cousin gave him a light shove to his side with a smirk.
"What do you think we'll end up doing?" Deku asked.
"Like I said, probably something dumb purely because of the girls."
"What would you class as dumb?" He enquired.
"I don't know, as long as it's not some song we all have to sing or something…"
The Next Day
"So it's decided; we're going to do a concert!" Yaoyorozu announced.
Kacchan let out a groan and slumped against his desk, burying his head in his arms.
Hitoshi burst out laughing.