Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals. Regardless of what you guys celebrate I hope you guys have fun today. I know I will
Atsuhiro didn't really know what he was doing here. Sure he watched the kids every few weeks and he and Julie got along pretty well, but it just didn't feel right. Christmas was usually a time to spend in close family's company (not like he had any close family to speak of) so he wasn't entirely sure if the invitation was one out of politeness or authenticity, though Julie didn't seem the type to hand out fake invitations.
Shivering on the doorstep, he decided why not.
Fixing his broach out of nervous habit, Atsuhiro knocked on the door, admiring the little white and blue wreath hanging from the handle. The loud screams that had been coming from inside tapered out, then stopped entirely, but he had long-since grown used to them and knew from experience no one was actually hurt. Beginning to wonder if anyone would end up answering the door, another noise came through, this time of the sound of footsteps.
Shifting on his heel, Atsuhiro smiled when Tenko opened the door.
"Tenko, good to see you again," he said pleasantly. Tenko looked surprised to see him there, but grinned a moment later.
"Didn't expect you today, Compress." He stepped out of the threshold, gesturing with his hand for him to come in. "Julie's in the living room."
Atsuhiro nodded his thanks before heading in, noticing all the festive decorations and the warm smell of cookies wafting from the kitchen as warmth engulfed him. Fairy lights were strung along each door frame, snowflakes hanging from the ceilings and cotton acting as fake snow spread out across various tables and furniture in the hall. The pictures lining the walls were now in more Christmas-themed frames, glitter seeming to be stuck in the most random places.
Entering the living room portion of the house, Atsuhiro smiled again when he saw Julie's kids scattered about the room, one stuffing their face while the other bickered…with… Wait, there seemed to be three more kids than he remembered.
Dabi was standing beside the Christmas tree fiddling with the ornaments while arguing with a boy that had curled green hair with black highlights, another with lavender hair and tired but relaxed eyes munching on cookies with Himiko, and a little girl that couldn't be older than five sitting in Julie's lap, Megumi cuddled close.
Still standing in the archway, he didn't notice when Tenko came up behind him, tapping his shoulder for him to move.
Stepping aside, Atsuhiro asked, "…Julie didn't adopt more kids, did she?"
Tenko grinned something impish, but didn't say anything.
Eyebrow twitching in slight annoyance, he watched the teen take up residence on his favorite couch cushion, starting up a game he didn't recognize on his switch.
Julie looked up when he stepped further into the room, grinning wide when she saw him. Her golden freckles glowed a little brighter than before, waving him over. "Atsu, hey! Glad you could make it." Atsuhiro twitched again, but he was smiling.
"I'm glad I could make it," he said, taking a seat a few spaces over from Tenko. Julie was sitting on the floor a few feet away, methodically running her hands through the little girl's hair. She blinked at him with large red eyes startlingly similar to Tenko's, waving shyly when he smiled at her. "I see you've added more kids to your arsenal."
Julie laughed, the movement shaking the girl in her lap, but she didn't seem to mind. "Nah, Izu and Hito," she gestured to the boy beside Himiko and the green-haired one that was now talking excitedly to Dabi, "aren't mine, but this one is." She hugged the girl tighter, grinning proudly.
"Who do the other two belong to?" he asked.
Julie shrugged, jaw muscle clenching a little as she frowned. "Not sure about Hitoshi other than his aunt's a motherfucker," she covered the girl's ears, "but Izu's mom is-" She paused, looking around, brow furrowed. She turned to the green-haired boy. "Hey, Izu, where's Inko?"
The boy named paused his argument with Dabi, saying, "Mom's outside. I think she got a call from the office."
Julie mm'ed.
"Well, anyways, this is the newest addition to the Chiba family, Eri. She came into my care…" Julie frowned, ticking off her fingers silently, "nearly two weeks ago, and celebrated her fourth birthday on the 21st." Her freckles flickered and seemed to dim, but didn't change color.
"Oh?" he said. "That's recent, isn't it. Is that why you didn't call me over this month?" Julie nodded, tossing a ball obediently when Megumi began to whine and scratch at her leg. The dog immediately gave chase down the hall, yapping all the way.
"Yeah, I've been busy. Mine and Dabi's birthdays are only a few days apart, then the heater broke so I was calling up Naomi-"
"Mr. Compress!" a loud squeal called behind them, before something small and blonde was throwing itself over the back of the couch. It was only Atsuhiro's quick reflexes that kept her from falling off. "I missed you!" Himiko cheered, nearly strangling him in the hug she gave him. "What'd you get me? What happened? Julie said you were busy and she was busy with trying to get Eri adopted so you couldn't come over, but I knew you would be here! Julie promised you would and-"
"Himi-chan, let him breathe!"
"Eep, sorry!" Himiko quickly retracted from him, looking sheepish as she sat back, nearly crashing into Tenko. The boy wasn't even phased as he talked to someone named 'Mustard' over his headset. "It's just we haven't seen him in so long, Izu-chan…"
The boy previously talking to Dabi sighed, coming over to plop himself on the couch armrest. Tenko didn't even look bothered when he nearly fell into his lap. "She's excitable," he said, laughing when Himiko threw a candy at him.
"He knows that! Compress watches us when Julie's busy."
"It's quite alright," Atsuhiro chuckled. "I come over often enough to see it coming." He straightened out his coat, checking his pockets to make sure none of his marbles had taken damage.
"Who is he?" the tired-looking boy asked, taking a seat next to Julie on the floor and throwing the ball for her when Megumi came back with it.
"Ah right, this is Sako Atsuhiro, stage name Mr. Compress. We met when I took the others to the carnival for Himiko's birthday, and my drunk-addled brain was dumb enough to ask a complete stranger to watch her kids. He's a performer, pretty good with his Quirk too," Julie said, swinging an arm around the boy. He leaned into the embrace readily. Her grin turned mischievous. "Izuku, go nuts."
Atsuhiro didn't have time to look confused before 'Izuku' sat up from where he had apparently fallen into Tenko's lap, only looking a little hesitant before asking an onslaught of questions, whipping out a notebook from nowhere.
"How does your Quirk work? Based on your stage name and the little marbles in your pockets, it has something to do with compressing a person or object, with the activation being in your hands, possibly up to your wrists or legs. What's the limit you can compress things? Does it work on living things? If you compressed refrigerated food, could it expire? You don't have any physical mutations from what I can see, and you have non-mutated hair and eye color, which is pretty rare in this day and age, so there probably isn't a lot of drawbacks to your Quirk-"
"Izuku, dear, what did I say about not overwhelming people?" a woman said, heading into the kitchen from where she exited the hallway. Atsuhiro felt his jaw was slack, so he quickly closed it. Julie looked amused. Izuku blushed, scrambling into the seat next to Tenko as the boy laughed loudly into his headset.
"I—I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend, promise! I just really like Quirks is all, and-"
"No, wait, let the green bean speak," Dabi said, coming up from behind Izuku and ruffling his hair roughly. Izuku scowled, swatting his hand.
"It's not funny, I was being serious…"
"I know you were, shrimp. Now I wanna know too." Dabi turned to Atsuhiro expectantly.
Atsuhiro sighed. "If you really must know…
"My Quirk, Compress, allows me to compress anything I touch up to my elbows into a little blue marble." He demonstrated by removing the gloves—not that he needed to, as his Quirk didn't require skin contact—he wore and marbling the little bowl of candies. Izuku gasped, fingers twitching around his pencil as he wrote down…something at lightning speeds. Atsuhiro blinked. He wasn't even looking at the paper. "The marble decompresses whenever enough force is applied to it, or I can even do it myself if I'm touching it." The marble glowed blue in his hand before revealing the candy bowl. He popped a piece of chocolate in his mouth, grinning at the amazed look on Izuku's face. "Usually I'm not one to expose my secrets like this, but you all have been such a wonderful audience," he said, chuckling when Julie threw another candy at him.
"Show off."
"Wow, that's really cool, Mr. Compress," Izuku said, writing slowing slightly as he looked over his notes. "It's rare to see a Quirk as impressive as yours without any drawbacks, and I bet food won't expire in there, so it'd be like an inventory in a game, except you can presumably store as much as you want without straining yourself, and it's even more handy if you can protect them somehow by putting them in a jar or something, or even just carrying around heavy things in your pockets. I assume it reduces weight as well as size, so-"
"Remember to breathe, Izuku," Inko said, looking amused as her son turned red and sputtered apologies. Atsuhiro waved his hand dismissively, throwing a piece of chocolate back at Julie.
"Nonsense, I rarely find someone so interested in my Quirk, so it's nice to feel appreciated," Atsuhiro said. Izuku gave him a watery smile, fingers playing with his pencil.
"You—you don't think it's creepy…?" he asked, sounding so unsure of himself Atsuhiro couldn't help but let his heart go out to the boy.
"Of course, it's natural to want to explore your interests, isn't it? When it comes to magic such as mine, it pays to know every little loophole about it. It might end up saving your life one day, don't you agree?"
Izuku beamed, eyes determined as he gripped his notebook tight. "R- right!"
—
Hours later, with Megumi safely kept in Himiko's room after he tried to eat chocolate and after they had had dinner and moved on to dessert, Julie put on an old pre-Quirk era American movie. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer played cheerfully in the background as Julie argued with Dabi and Hitoshi, firm on her statement. Atsuhiro wasn't even sure how they got into the argument in the first place.
"Guys, all I'm saying is most modern day movies are shit because of mutations-"
"I thought you didn't have a problem with mutations?" Atsuhiro asked, trying to keep the accusing tone out of his voice. Julie just looked annoyed. She cracked her knuckles like she was getting ready to start an intimidating lecture.
"I never said mutations are a big deal, just when it comes to the movie industry. It's a bitch and a half for writers to explain away mutations to a character when it doesn't fit the plot, so now it's just lazy writing that leaves plot holes for them to trip over later on," she said.
"But why does it matter if the mutation doesn't fit the story?" Hitoshi asked. He was looking pretty upset himself. "You always said-"
"I know what I said!" Julie snapped, dumping half her bucket of popcorn on top of the boy when he tried to interrupt. He yelped, following back into Himiko who was laughing, scattered candy wrappers around her as she braided Eri's hair down the side. "The point is it's lazy writing! If they can't explain something away like, fuck, someone's rocky features, then why the fuck would they make the movie set in before the first Quirks? It's historically inaccurate and makes it difficult for both the cast and crew members, not to mention it hardly gets an audience!" Julie was nearly shouting now, Inko taking a long gulp of her white wine beside her. "There's nothing wrong with mutations, what I'm saying is they just gotta not focus on it and it won't be so fucking crummy!" Julie huffed, taking a chunk of the chocolate bar she was holding. Dabi patted her leg reassuringly. "Hell, some of my closest friends have mutations—Spinner himself has a full-body Lizard Mutation, and-"
"Wait a moment, you know Iguchi?" Atsuhiro asked, sitting up in surprise. Julie looked equally surprised.
"…yeah," she said. "He's a founding member of the Quirked Defenders, after all-"
"I knew it!" Izuku yelled from where he was letting Himiko braid his and Tenko's hair, having finished with Eri, jumping up. Himiko made a noise of protest and sat him back down. "I've seen you on the news, I thought I recognized you!" He was practically vibrating where he sat, grinning wide. Inko just looked amused. "I've been meaning to ask you but I kept forgetting, then you guys just kinda stopped but I knew you were still active, the police kept trying to get you and some others come down to the station to ask you questions, but you guys were always able to slip away before they could get there, it's so cool!"
Julie blinked.
"I…" she said. Blinked again. She shook her head like she was clearing it. "Yeah, that's me. We've been active for a few years now, and the police and Hero Commission keep trying to shut us down, but it's technically not people from our group causing the problems, so they got nothing on us." She looked annoyed about it. Atsuhiro couldn't blame her, after all the news reports he's seen about it. Stain was still a rising figure; the few times that vlogger had gotten to speak to him, he had supported their cause, and he knew it was creating more problems for the already-struggling group. The only thing Atsuhiro knew for sure was that if anyone tainted his and Harima's beliefs…
"It's so cool that you guys have been going for this long! I've read about groups similar to yours that never even get close to the accomplishments you've made, and they usually get shut down a lot sooner too! In fact, without you guys, that Aizawa guy never would've been able to get the rule taken out about Quirks being mandatory for U.A. application," Izuku was saying, looking star-struck. "Apparently Quirkless people are so uncommon now, most people aren't even aware of the disctrmination we go through, so many people are just now hearing about it. There's even enough to be causing problems for official and unofficial government branches like the Commission and Hero school boards of directors. You guys are really making a difference for a lot of people!"
Julie blinked again, looking very put-out by Izuku's word vomit. She smiled, something small and fond and proud. "I'm glad we're making a difference. Most people on the news aren't talking about it, and a lot's being overshadowed by all of Stain's victims…" she said, voice quiet. "Thanks, Izu."
Izuku beamed.
Wiping her eyes, Julie turned back to Atsuhiro, saying, "Back to you. How do you know Spinner?" Her voice wasn't accusatory, just curious, but it still made him twitch.
"He's been to a few of my shows," he lied easily, though it was only a half-lie. He couldn't go saying that Iguchi had seen him robbing the Uwabami Hero Agency and then they went for tea after, now could he? "He was intrigued about my Quirk as well and wanted to ask me a thing or two about how I was able to use it for my performance."
"Hey that's right, depending on the profession, people can use their Quirks with the right permission, can't they?" Dabi asked, looking a lot more awake than he had moments ago.
Atsuhiro nodded, glad of the change of topic. In the movie, "Silver and Gold" began to play. "Correct. The carnival I freelanced for had special permission and papers from various people, saying anyone under their employ could use their Quirks as long as it was for their performance."
"Neat," Dabi said.
"Medical professionals can do it too," Izuku said, tapping his chin in thought. "In fact, lots of people in the Hero business, or that even work for them, can use their Quirks to test products, depending what it is."
"You talking about Support Gear companies?" Julie asked. Izuku nodded. "You're right, my dad has a subtle Metal Manipulation Quirk. He's good friends with the CEOs of Hatsume Studios, so he was usually on-scene a lot to help build and test new tech."
"Really?" Dabi asked, looking surprised. "I didn't know your old man knew famous people."
Julie grinned, but Atsuhiro noticed how her freckles dimmed a little. "Well technically I do too. I practically grew up with Naomi—hell, I practically threatened Chika to treat her right…" She laughed like she was remembering a funny memory. She turned to Himiko, who had finished braiding Izuku and Tenko's hair. "Actually, I've been meaning to introduce you to their daughter, Mei. She's got the whole 'mad inventor' vibe goin' on and she's your age; I'm sure you two'll cause one hell of a headache for me down the line."
"You can count on me!" Himiko cheered.
"Can we get back to the movie now?" Tenko complained, draping himself across Julie's lap dramatically. He pouted when she ruffled his hair.
"Stop," he whined, swatting at her hand. They all laughed.
—
"Presents!" Himiko screamed.
"PRESENTS!" the rest of them screamed.
Inko poured herself another glass.
—
"First up, Himiko," Julie said, pulling out rather a few large boxes from behind the tree. Himiko squealed, looking happier than Atsuhiro had ever seen her.
"What'd ya get me what'd ya get me?!" she all but screamed, pouncing on her presents the second they were in front of her. Julie laughed, handing out a few more presents: two small ones to Hitoshi, several medium-sized ones to Izuku, Dabi got another few about the same as Izuku's, three little ones and one medium one to Tenko, three small ones to Atsuhiro, two large ones to Inko, several big ones for Eri, and several small ones and two medium-sized ones for Julie.
"Merry Christmas, guys."
They all began unwrapping their presents, various shouts of glee and happy 'thank you's passing over as they ripped the wrappings.
Atsuhiro got a new white mask painted with intricate black markings, an adjustable strap on the back, a slick new deck of cards, and polish for his broach. Atsuhiro smiled, holding each of the items like they were something precious.
"Oh, that's from the kids," Julie said, gesturing towards the cards and polish. "They noticed you're always wearing the broach when you come over, and Tenko thought you'd like to try other sleight-of-hand tricks." Tenko cheered from behind her, grinning triumphantly as he held a new video game high like it was Simba and he was atop the Pride Rock. "Fuck yeah, the new Animal Crossing!"
"And this one's from you?" he asked coyly, grinning when her freckles flickered pink then back to gold.
"…maybe."
"She had it specially made just for you!" Himiko chirped, grinning wickedly when Julie took a large gulp of wine. "I heard! She made sure it would fit you and everything! Even had her CEO friend do it!" She yelped when Julie grabbed her, almost smothering her in the crushing hug she gave her.
"Shh, Himi-chan!" she whined, freckles glowing pink again, though he suspected the wine was more at fault this time. Himiko pretended not to hear her.
"I bet she spent a lot of time looking at you if should knew the right measurements-"
"I'm fucking dead, slain by my own child, how dare," Julie said, falling backwards and taking her with her. Dabi and Izuku exchanged looks, then smiled and dog piled on the poor woman, Eri joining in a moment later. Inko and Atsuhiro laughed when they heard the little girl babbling.
"Mom, Mama! Where's Mama go?" she whined, turning big doe eyes on Tenko. He immediately melted.
"You're so fucking cute," he heard him mutter before he tugged her into a big hug, watching in amusement as Julie wrestled with the kids to sit up.
"Drowning!" she wailed. "Can't breathe, lungs constricting! Who knew kids were so frickin' heavy." She gasped dramatically, flinging her arm over her head as Himiko giggled, playing with the ends of her hair. "I want a Spring funeral, none of that depressing rainy shit. Make sure my tombstone says something cool—Dabi, why aren't you writing this down?"
"I'll get right on it," he deadpanned, making no move to get off her from where he laid on her legs.
"Ass."
Inko laughed, rubbing a finger over the cloth she had gotten. It was a beautiful fabric with gold trimmings, clashing nicely with the navy material. Atsuhiro would have to ask Julie where she got it when she rose from the dead.
"Hm, hey Hitoshi, whatcha lookin' at?"
He looked up, spotting the boy staring in wonderment at the bracelets in his hands like they were the stars, tears in his eyes. He didn't seem to hear Dabi.
"Uh-oh," Tenko muttered, letting Eri go as he sat up. "You okay…?"
"I love them," Hitoshi whispered, looking up, eyes immediately finding Julie in the pile of kids. He crawled over, pushing Himiko off gently and hugging Julie tight when she sat up. She looked bewildered for a moment, blinking down at Hitoshi until she spotted the bracelets still clutched tight in his hand. She smiled something fond, wrapping an arm around him just as tight, her other hand going to rub his hair.
"I knew you'd like them," she murmured softly.
"What is it?" Himiko asked curiously, leaning over to peer at his hand. She was already hugging him.
Hitoshi sniffled, hugging Julie a moment more before holding out his hand but not fully letting go.
They were pronoun bracelets.
Each was different color; pastel-colored beads centering the pronouns he/him, she/her, and they/them.
Hitoshi sniffled again, slipping on the masculine pronoun bracelet, fingers running over the beads like he was trying to mesmerize the texture.
"If you don't like those ones, I can get more, if you want," Julie said, one arm still around the boy. "Those were the only ones in the shop, and you haven't used any others yet, but there are clasps there where you switch out the pronouns for others-"
"Thank you," Hitoshi murmured, hugging her again. Atsuhiro wondered why the boy was so happy to receive them, not knowing that Hitoshi has rarely ever been given gifts before.
"Of course."
"Aww, they're so pretty, Hito-chan!" Himiko cooed, running a hesitant finger over them. She straightened up like she suddenly got an idea, smiling so wide it looked like it hurt. "Ohh, hey hey, I got an idea!" She retracted, quickly going to the shredded remains of her wrapping paper and grabbing several different cans of hair dye. "If you ever wanna, we could have a girls' night with Eri whenever you're in the mood! We can paint our nails, and Dabi can show us how to dye our hair!" She paused, considering. "Only if you want to though…"
Hitoshi grinned, wiping away the last few tears. "Yea- yeah, I'd like that.."
"Great!" Himiko cheered, pouncing on him.
Everyone laughed, watching as Izuku finished unwrapping several brand-new customizable notebooks and gel pens after giving Hitoshi his own teary hug.
"Hang on, there's one more present for Hitoshi," Julie said when everyone stood after opening the last of the presents, ready to go into the kitchen for more cookies. Everyone watched in curiosity as she hurried down the hall, hearing a door open and close as she got whatever it was. When she came back a few minutes later, she was holding a big silver-wrapped box.
Brow raised in interest, Atsuhiro watched as she handed the box to Hitoshi, who in turn set it on the table. The box shifted a little, something squeaky coming from inside.
Eyes wide, Hitoshi ripped the wrapping off, a furry little black head poking up and oh, it was a cat. A kitten, at that.
Hitoshi's jaw dropped.
"I—this—what-"
The little kitten squeaked, clamoring out of the box clumsily and nearly slipping on the counter. It squeaked again, making a beeline for Hitoshi and immediately crawling up his shoulder, nuzzling the side of his head.
Hitoshi yelped, wincing when little claws dug into the fabric of his hoodie. "Ow- hey!" He pulled the kitten off, carefully, until it was cuddled in his arms, purring up a storm. He melted at the sight.
"Aww."
Julie grinned smugly. "Her name's Jiji," she said. "Found her out in the snow last week. Little thing was almost frozen and coated in fleas. I couldn't just leave her out like that, of course, and I knew you would like her despite her rough play."
"You—what-" Hitoshi sputtered, eyes wide as he tried to formulate a complete sentence.
"If you can't take her home, that's fine, you can leave her here—of course, it'll mean you'd have to come over here more to watch her, and I can pay for everything if your bitch of an aunt won't." There was a victorious gleam in Julie's eye, like she was winning a game none of them knew how to play. Atsuhiro hummed thoughtfully; he wouldn't put it past the woman to have ulterior motives for giving Hitoshi the cat, especially if it would help him. To one like Sako Atsuhiro, it wasn't exactly difficult to figure out the boy had a troubled home life (he didn't doubt Julie saw the thin scars along his wrists, though it was hard to tell what they were from—self-harm scars looked different, after all), and it was clear one of the obvious reasons of having the kitten was to get Hitoshi out of the house.
Atsuhiro smiled, reaching over to rub between the little kit's ears as she batted at his hand.
Truly, her caring heart was something to admire.
Hitoshi was quiet for a few moments, clearly processing all what was happening, a little frown pulling his lips. Atsuhiro finally realized with a jolt that the boy likely didn't receive many presents, and was happy to be gifted the pronoun bracelets as a show of acceptance.
"...thank you," he mumbled finally. He could see Julie visibly relax, smile growing.
"Now that all the presents are out of the way, let's start-" Julie stopped suddenly, face twisting into a cringe, freckles shining an odd green color. Confused, everyone turned around, looking for the source of her disgust, and-
Atsuhiro felt his face fall slack in horror.
Dabi stood near the stove, oblivious to the stares, as he dunked a beautiful gingerbread cookie into fucking ketchup like some sort of heathen. The boy only looked up, confusion on his face, when Hitoshi made an odd retching noise.
"What?"
Atsuhiro shivered as he bit into the cookie, ketchup smearing across the reddened skin around his mouth. Atsuhiro took several deep breaths. Exhaled loudly.
"I'm not drunk enough for this," he muttered, grabbing the nearest wine bottle and chugging the last of it.
"Seconded," he heard Inko and Julie say, before they each polished off their glasses. Izuku made a noise that could've been a gag or a laugh, Atsuhiro was still too sober to try and discern it properly.
Wiping the memory for his brain and praying for strength from whatever god that would listen, they all migrated back into the living room, cookies abandoned in an attempt to stave off the nausea.
Everyone just about calmed down, Tenko going to pop in another outdated Christmas movie, when there was a commotion behind him.
"Oo, look!" Himiko squealed suddenly, pointing at something he couldn't see. Fearing for his sanity, Atsuhiro peered up to where she was pointing, spotting-
Oh god, that was a mistletoe wasn't it.
"Oh fuck me," someone muttered beside him, and he saw- yep, that was Julie.
Most of the kids whistled, and Atsuhiro couldn't help but roll his eyes as Julie whipped around to glare at Inko, her hands moving in fluid movements that clearly indicated that the mistletoe suddenly being there when it hadn't before was her doing. She, in turn, smiled innocently at Julie.
"Whatever is that look for, Julie-chan?" the woman asked, voice sugary sweet.
"Inko-chan," Julie said, but it sounded more like a whine. Inko just blinked big green eyes at her.
"You know the rules of mistletoe!" Himiko chirped, coming over to tug on Julie's arm and until she nearly fell into Atsuhiro, grabbing his forearm for balance. By now the two of them were flustered, Julie still half-glaring at Inko over his shoulder.
"Do it!" Himiko demanded, cheeks puffing in a pout. That was apparently all the encouragement the other kids needed, as they all joined in, evil little grins on all their faces.
"Fuckin' traitors, the lot of them…" Julie muttered, freckles flashing from a variety of colors too quick for him to pick one. Her hand was still on his arm.
Sighing dramatically, Atsuhiro shifted on his feet until he was facing Julie fully, grinning with a confidence he only partly felt. "Shall we, dear?"
Julie rolled her eyes, but she was smiling.
The kiss was short, hardly more than a peck, but both adults were flushed with the kids screaming in the background.
"I hate every single one of you little shits," Julie declared, hardly shifting away from him as she glared accusingly at them. Tenko and Dabi were laughing, while Izuku, Hitoshi, and Himiko were trying and failing to look innocent.
Eri waddled over, nearly tripping several times as she pulled on Julie's pant leg, eyes big and innocent to the world; Atsuhiro couldn't help but coo.
"Aww, not you, baby, you're my favorite," Julie immediately amended, scooping little Eri up and nuzzling her. Atsuhiro swore he saw Inko take a picture.
"Hey!" Tenko shouted, looking indignant. Julie did the only mature thing anyone would do and stuck her tongue out at him.
"Boo, if you cared so much for me you'd've gotten me a gift." Julie sniffed, pretending to look hurt. Tenko rolled his eyes, pointing at the silver charm bracelet on her wrist. There were several intricate designs etched in it and dangling charms, some mimicking stars while others had flowers or small beads. Atsuhiro didn't even notice she was wearing it.
"Who do you think gave you that?" Tenko asked, but it wasn't accusing.
Julie grinned and ruffled his hair. "Thanks, Koko." She ignored the squawk he let out as he tried to swat her hand away.
After that, everyone moved on to doing their own thing while the fifth movie of the night played.
Well, Atsuhiro decided, watching the kids laugh and eat cookies, Inko and Julie on the fifth bottle of wine and Jiji tangled in the bright ribbons of torn wrapping paper, this wasn't such a bad way to end the year.