A/N/: OH MY GOSH! You guys, the response I've had on this fic already has me fucking FLOORED. Your comments are amazing and are keeping me writing this at breakneck speed! Ugh, I'm so happy!

My updates will slow down again because Thanksgiving break is over, and I have to go back to being a responsible adult with a job. But I'm going to try to post bi-weekly at the very least! Bear with me please!

Also. Sidenote. I had to change Etsuki's eye color. Because uh. Her mother's eyes are actually blue? I'm using a canon character for her mother, and I have NO IDEA where I got green from? Channeling my inner love for Deku, probably. Oops. Well. Now she has blue eyes.

Izuku

It was a single beam of light filtering through the crack in the curtains of his hotel room that woke Midoriya Izuku at seven in the morning after his class reunion. To say that he was hungover was an understatement. His head was throbbing, and the little stream of light that had so rudely decided to shine in his eyes was not helping. Damn, he was tired. All he wanted was to wrap his arms around the warm, sweet smelling man that he'd had the most amazing sex with the night before.

Izuku reached his crooked fingers across the expanse of the hotel bed in search of Kacchan, but the bed beside him was cold. Kacchan wasn't there. Izuku sat up quickly in bed and looked around. The door to the bathroom was open and the light was off. It wasn't as if the blond was hiding in there. There were no signs of Kacchan at all. No clothes, no shoes, nothing.

He shouldn't have expected him to stay. Why would he? This was Kacchan he was talking about. That man, even when they were in school, had gone to the beat of his own drum. He did as he wanted, and didn't think anything of it. That much was still true based on their first shift together as hero partners. The fact that Kacchan had just left Izuku with all of the paperwork after claiming that he had other priorities to deal with. Well, Izuku wasn't pleased. So, the fact that he hadn't stayed through to the morning for some pillow talk didn't surprise him. Still, he had hoped that maybe Kacchan would stay. He'd hoped that this wasn't just some

He took one last look around the room, and when he was about to flop back onto the bed, he noticed a scrap of paper with Kacchan's scribbled handwriting on it.

Had to bounce. Last night was fun.

-K

Izuku smiled fondly at the note, some of his worries assuaged. If Kacchan was admitting that the time that they'd spent together the night before hadn't been a total fuck up, then he'd take it. He'd even said it was fun. Izuku would take his gains where he could get them. Although, sleeping with Kacchan probably wasn't the best idea. And Kacchan hadn't put in his note that they should do this again... Maybe he didn't want to? Maybe it was a one and done kind of thing?

He laid back against the pillows in the bed with a thoughtful hum. His thoughts were filled with the fiery blond from the night before. Gosh, he was beautiful. He remembered saying it over and over again as he touched and teased Kacchan. Sex with him last night had been an absolute dream. He wouldn't trade it for the world, not when sexual fantasies he'd had for years regarding the man had finally been fulfilled.

He had always liked Kacchan a lot. It started out as a childhood friendship. Izuku didn't think it was love back then. Not yet at least. What did four year-olds know about any sort of love beyond love for their parents? Still, they'd been close, and Izuku wanted nothing more than to be around him. But as they'd gotten older, as they attended UA together, his feelings had developed. He started to care for him as more than just a friend. It had been this whole bisexual crisis he'd been going through. It wasn't until he and Ochako had tried things out third year, and he'd had one big ass gay awakening that he'd realized just how strong his feelings for the blond were. It had always been Kacchan since they were kids, and he wanted it to remain that way. Those two years that they were partners, he'd only had eyes on Kacchan.

Well, that is, until Katsuki had left. Five years ago, one of his closest friends just up and moved without so much as a word. Izuku knew he'd been dating that girl, the one that Izuku hadn't so much as talked to once because of the severe stink eye she gave to him anytime he was near. He'd heard that they'd moved several hours north. He'd put his resignation in at the agency, and just... Left. No goodbye. Nothing. To say he'd been hurt when Kacchan left was an understatement. Izuku had been positively devastated. Kacchan had left and with him, he'd taken Izuku's heart. He'd been left with a gaping hole in his chest because of a man who probably didn't even love him back.

He couldn't remember much about those initial days. He'd spent so much time crying and feeling sorry for himself. He didn't even know why. Sure, Kacchan was his best friend, and sure, he loved him with all of his heart, but it wasn't as if he had any claim to him. Hell, he'd been less devastated when he'd found out Kacchan had a girlfriend in the first place. That didn't hurt as much because at least Kacchan was still there. He was there, and he was happy. That was all that mattered. He drank with Ochako that night to ward off any lingering pain.

But for Kacchan to just... Leave? To no longer have him there in his day to day life? Izuku felt so empty. He fell hard into a depression that he just couldn't shake. How was he supposed to go on without his other half, his hero partner, his best friend? He loved Kacchan with all of his heart, and suddenly, he was just gone. There were no warnings. There were no teary goodbyes. There was nothing, and in the void Kacchan had left, there was pain. What made matters worse was the lack of return texts from Kacchan. He'd texted him so many times. He'd tried to call. He just wanted to know why he'd left. Each and every message had been read, but he'd never gotten a single reply. It had taken him a full week just to get back to work and even longer to have any will to be around his other friends again.

Ochako was the one who really got him to get over himself. Kacchan was never his. He was just being dramatic. The depression still lingered for a while. He'd actually started therapy just to get his head on straight. It had been affecting his hero work, and he couldn't allow that to happen. And finally, three years with Kacchan had gone by, and Izuku was finally healing. He was happy again. He was seeing his family and friends. He'd actually met someone that he was able to date without comparing him to Kacchan.

Shino Yo was the first person who didn't remind him of Kacchan. He was sweet and funny and kind. That is, until he wasn't. While he was all of those things on the outside when Izuku had first met him, he wasn't those things all of the time. He was, for one, lazy. He didn't pick up after himself. He constantly called off of work for the stupidest things such as headaches. He was also just a douchebag. His words were sugarcoated. His 'I love you's' didn't mean anything to Izuku because Yo only ever said them when he was on the cusp of leaving him.

It hadn't been healthy at all, but even still, Izuku had a hard time breaking things off with him. Call it separation anxiety after all of the things that Katsuki had put him through. He just couldn't do it. And when they finally separated after Yo put a fucking hole in his wall, Izuku rebounded. A lot. And when he meant a lot, he meant that he was sleeping with a different person at least once or twice a month. It had been like that up until Kacchan walked back into his life the day of Siren's attack.

Izuku had thought he was dreaming. Iida hadn't said a word about Kacchan coming back to the agency. No one had told him that the blond was coming back, and maybe it was because of that look Izuku got in his eyes each time his former friend was brought up in conversation. Maybe they didn't want him to get his hopes up if Kacchan decided not to come back. He didn't really know.

But he was here now, and they'd had sex. And holy shit, it was amazing. Izuku smiled up at the ceiling and breathed out a happy sigh. He was definitely content for the morning. Nothing could ruin it, not even the empty spot beside him in bed because Kacchan had acknowledged that the encounter had been fun. Maybe that meant it could happen again.

Kacchan wasn't going to be one of the many rebounds after his breakup with Shindo. He was going to do his best to convince Kacchan that they could be more. He only hoped that the blond would accept.

With one last contented hum, Izuku climbed up out of bed and started the dull process of packing up his belongings. He got halfway dressed by the time he realized that there was a little, golden necklace with a ring on its chain sitting on the bedside table. Izuku furrowed his brows at it. He'd taken it off of Kacchan's neck the night before because somehow, he'd managed to get cum all over it during his orgasm. Not wanting to have it get gross overnight, he'd taken it to the bathroom and cleaned it. Apparently, Kacchan didn't notice it when he'd gotten up to leave because it was still sitting right where Izuku had left it.

He furrowed his brows. He didn't know its importance, but he assumed it was more than just a piece of jewelry. Kacchan wouldn't have worn it otherwise. He wasn't the type for accessories. Not like that, at least.

Izuku picked up his phone, preparing himself to text Kacchan when he thought better of it. Why should he just text him and have the blond tell him to give it to him when they worked together next when he could just, you know, drop it off to him? It would give him an excuse to see Kacchan again. And damn, he needed to see him again soon. Preferably outside of work so if he popped an inopportune boner, he wouldn't be too embarrassed.

There was only one problem with this plan. He had no idea where Kacchan was currently living. He'd only been back in town for a few weeks, and they'd hardly gotten past their whole spat over paperwork from their first shift together. They weren't exactly on 'let's go hang out at one another's houses' yet.

So once he'd gotten himself all packed and ready to go, Izuku headed straight to the agency as opposed to going home. The hotel was actually surprisingly close to his and Iida's shared agency downtown. He made the walk quickly, his thoughts wrapped around seeing Kacchan again.

As soon as he made it to his office, he set to work on searching up Kacchan's address. And when he found it, he furrowed his brows. He was surprised to see that Kacchan didn't live in the city. He'd expect the young blond to live smack in the center of the city, close to all of the chaos that it had to offer. But no. He lived in a quiet, residential neighborhood. It was actually the neighborhood that they'd grown up in, oddly enough. Well, whatever made Kacchan happy.

Izuku logged out of the computer after scrawling down the address on his wrist. He then set off to find Kacchan.

The house that Katsuki lived in was modest to say the least. It was a single story home wedged in between several others of similar shapes. It had a cute, little stone path that led up to the front door and several large windows with their curtains drawn. Izuku walked up the path to the door and knocked on it thrice. When there was no reply after a moment or two, he raised his fist to knock again. Before he could rap his knuckles against the wood, however, the door swung open.

Izuku was expecting to come face to face with his hero partner. He was not expecting a little girl whose height wasn't even at his waist. She had pale blonde hair that hung in loose waves and pale skin. Her little face was sharp and angular despite all of the baby fat that was on her cheeks. Her eyes were a pretty cerulean blue. She was dressed in a Dynamight costume, although she was missing the mask and the bulky gauntlets. She was honestly really cute, but who the hell was she?

He blinked at her, and she blinked back at him, albeit owlishly. It seemed that they were at a minor impasse. And because he was both the adult and the pro hero in this situation, he figured it was his job to get them moving forward.

"Hello," he said brightly to her, crouching down so that he was at her eye level. He'd learned through work that it was always easier to work with children if they felt that they were at the same level as the adult they were speaking to. "Is this the Bakugou residence?"

She blinked at him again. "Daddy says I'm not supposed to talk to strangers," she said.

Izuku's eyes widened because she wasn't wrong. What child was allowed to speak to random adults that knocked on their front doors. Actually. Wait. Hang on. What child was allowed to open said front doors? Izuku was actually really concerned that this little girl thought it was okay to do that? And where the heck was Kacchan? He was almost positive this was the address he'd written down. He did a quick check of his wrist to the numbers on the side of the house. They matched. Did he write down the address wrong? He was so confused.

"I'm sorry," Izuku said quickly, offering the girl another bright smile. "I'm actually just trying to find Bakugou Katsuki. I must have the wrong addr-"

Before he could finish the sentence, however, the little girl turned her head to look back into the house and shouted, "Daddy! The hero from the TV with the nice ass is at the door! He wants to talk to you!"

Izuku blinked owlishly at the girl. What the heck just came out of her mouth? The hero with the nice ass? Why was that language coming out of her mouth? She couldn't have been older than four! His thoughts raced as thundering footsteps made their way toward the genkan. He was half expecting this child's father to come and yell at him for speaking to his child. What he was not expecting was Kacchan to be the one to come around the corner.

"Etsuki! How many times have I to...ld you..."

The words died on Kacchan's lips as soon as his fiery eyes landed on Izuku. They both stood in stunned silence for a solid thirty seconds straight before the little girl between them spoke up.

"So, are you gonna taaaalk?" she asked with a little bit of sass on the end of her tone.

Izuku's eyes flashed down to the little girl, and he smiled at her again. "I'm sorry. My name is Midoriya Izuku. What's your name?"

"I'm Etsuki!" she said animatedly. "You're Deku!"

"I am!" he said. "I'm surprised you know that."

"I know a lot of things. Daddy says that I'm really smart," she said with a bright, beaming laugh. "Like, when we watched fights on TV, I could remember what Daddy said about you."

"And, uh, what did he say about me?" Izuku asked, glancing up at Kacchan. The older blond's eyes were averted to anywhere but Izuku.

"He said that you have nice legs and a nice ass-"

Suddenly, Kacchan's hand clamped down over the little girl's mouth. And apparently, Etsuki knew exactly what she was doing, spilling Kacchan's secrets, because she giggled beneath his hand.

"Etsuki," Kacchan admonished. "How many times have I told you not to curse?"

The little girl pulled Kacchan's hand off of her mouth. "But you do it all the time! And I was just repeating what you said!"

"Well, Daddy, doesn't make very good decisions," he said with a roll of his eyes.

"Daddy?" Izuku asked.

Those red eyes widened a fraction and a blush spread across his cheeks as Izuku's words registered in Kacchan's ears.

"Uh- Yeah. Fuck," the blond said, running a hand over the back of his neck. "This is my daughter, Etsuki."

"Yeah! And I'm the coolest daughter in the whole wide world!" Etsuki said, spreading her arms wide for emphasis.

Simultaneously to her spreading her arms, little explosions set off at the ends of the little girl's hair. She didn't seem to notice at all. But Izuku, on the other hand, was in his glory because this little girl had Kacchan's fucking quirk! Well, part of it. It was similar at least, and it was so freaking cool!

"Daddy tells me all the time!"

"I'm sure he does," Izuku said. "You must be the best daughter in the world with such a cool quirk!"

Etsuki beamed at his praise. "You think it's cool?" she asked, eyes wide with wonder.

"Yeah! It's awesome! You're going to be so powerful just like your daddy!"

He heard a little tch from above him, and Izuku averted his green eyes to the man. It was then that he noticed the little butterfly barret that was holding back his bangs. For some reason, he couldn't take Kacchan quite as seriously, what with the light blush that was still spread across his cheeks and his daughter's clip in his hair.

"Earth to Deku," Kacchan said. "Quit nerding out and come on. We're about to head to the agency."

Izuku stood up tall and tilted his head to the side. "Oh. Uh. Alright. Do you mind if I join you?"

"Please!" Etsuki shouted as she jumped up and down. More explosions burst from the ends of her hair.

"I can't really stop you, can I? You own the place," Kacchan said at the same time.

Izuku shrugged his shoulders. "Not really," he said with a smile. "But Kacchan?"

"What?"

"You might want to take the butterfly clip out of your hair before we go," he said. "I'm sure Kirishima would have a field day if he saw it."

Another furious blush spread across Kacchan's cheeks, and Izuku was living for it. It reminded him of the night before when he had him naked beneath him. Kacchan had looked so delicious, all flushed and bothered like that while he begged for more. God, if Izuku could get him like that again... He was sure his heart would explode and his brain would short out.

Kacchan reached up to snatch the clip out of his hair, but before he could a length of long, blond hair reached out and wrapped itself around Kacchan's wrist. Izuku's eyes followed the hair down to its source. Etsuki.

"Oh my gosh! You can move your hair, too?" Izuku asked, thoroughly nerding out now. His eyes were full of wonder as he studied the little girl who seriously had too much power for her own good at such a young age.

"Well, duh," she said. "But you have to leave it in, Daddy! I put it there so you have to!"

A wide smile stretched onto Izuku's lips. "Oh! I didn't know that! You can't take it out now, Kacchan."

"Yeah, well you can wear one, too, nerd," Katsuki grumbled.

A gasp sounded from the little girl. "Oh my gosh! I need to make you look pretty, too!"

Izuku's green eyes shot down to Etsuki. "Uh, I think my hair is fine. I really appreciate the thought-" His words stopped in their tracks as the saddest little pout formed on her lips. Her lips even fricken wobbled!

"B-But," she said with a sniffle, averting her cerulean gaze to the ground.

"Deku!" Kacchan snapped. "Don't make my kid cry!"

Izuku waved his hands in the air in a placating motion. "I'm sorry! It's okay! You can do my hair. I'm sure it'll look fantastic."

Etsuki immediately brightened at his words, a mischievous little smile spreading onto her lips. Izuku was pretty sure he was just played by both Etsuki and Kacchan. He was just played by a little girl! What the heck?

"I'll go grab my clips! You come inside with Daddy," Etsuki commanded, pointing her stubby little finger at Izuku.

He nodded, still a little gobsmacked at the brains of this girl. She raced off into the house, and Izuku looked at Kacchan.

"I didn't know you had a daughter," he said. "You didn't, uh, mention it last night."

"We didn't exactly do much talking," Kacchan said without looking at Izuku. He was blushing once again.

Right. They hadn't talked much at all. They'd really just fucked. So, how was he supposed to know that Kacchan had a daughter? Wait. Holy shit-

"Are you married, Kacchan?!" he asked in a whisper yell. "Did you have an affair? Did I make you have an affair? Oh my god. I'm a homewrecker. I'm a terrible fucking person!"

Katsuki's hand, which smelt of burnt caramel, slammed down over his mouth, effectively silencing his panicked questions.

"No, I'm not fucking married, dipshit," Kacchan said, holding up his left hand. His ring finger was barren of a ring. "I'm fucking divorced, asshole. Besides, why the fuck do I have to be married to have a kid?"

Izuku's brain short circuited and he ran his hands down his face, dragging Kacchan's hand off of his mouth with them. "I'm sorry, Kacchan, I'm just a little shocked, is all. I wasn't expecting you to have a daughter, although that would make sense as to why you grabbed a kids meal that time we grabbed dinner..."

"Do you ever stop mumbling?" Katsuki asked with a low groan of frustration. "Look. I don't want to talk about this right now. Not with Etsuki around. This shit upsets her."

Izuku nodded. "Alright. I, er, I understand, Kacchan."

Just then, the little girl came back into the genkan, a bright pink accessory back in her hands.

"Alright! Makeover time!"

By the time she was finished, Etsuki had managed to get a multitude of clips into both Izuku and Kacchan's hair. Kacchan was exclusively in butterflies while Izuku had a gigantic unicorn horn headband in his hair. She then added with a flourish that he and Kacchan were respectively the Unicorn and Butterfly Kings.

"I'm fine with that, Etsu, so long as I'm the superior King," Kacchan said as they walked down the sidewalk toward the train station. The little girl's hand aws clasped tightly in her father's as if not to lose her.

"What does superior mean?" she asked in a quizzical tone.

"Better," Izuku supplied. He found it typical of Kacchan to want to be superior in literally everything, even his daughter's make believe play.

"Uh, no," Etsuki said matter-of-factly. "Unicorns are way better than butterflies, Daddy."

"WHAT?" he roared in response. "Then why did he get to be the Unicorn King?!"

Etsuki giggled and so did Izuku because evidently, this was one of the few things that he was going to win at with no questions asked.

"Uh, you picked out the butterfly clip, remember?" Etsuki asked.

"Yeah, Kacchan. You picked out your clip," Izuku said with a shrug. "How about a ride from the magical Unicorn King, Etsuki?"

The little girl gasped in wonder. "Oh my gosh! Yes. Can I please Daddy?" she asked, looking up at her father with wide eyes.

If she had dared to look at Izuku with those eyes, he would have surely melted. How could he not when she was so cute. And evidently, Kacchan had no resistance to his daughter's willpower because he immediately caved and nodded his assent.

"Don't fuckin' drop her, Deku," he snarled. "Got it?"

"I won't, Kacchan," he said, kneeling down in front of Etsuki. He helped the little girl to climb on before he stood tall and started walking once more.

"Why do you call Mr. Izu Senpai by his hero name all the time, Daddy?" Etsuki suddenly asked as they neared the train station.

Izuku looked to Katsuki. He was honestly kind of curious how he would respond to the question considering how his hero name had actually come about. While they had long since reconciled for their rough past, it was still a fact of their lives. How would he explain it to his daughter?

"I came up with his hero name," Kacchan said, effectively stealing all of Izuku's thunder. Well, he figured that Kacchan wasn't exactly wrong, but that's not how it happened, either.

"Well, sort of," Izuku said. "But your daddy is the reason I picked it."

Etsuki gasped again, and although he couldn't see her face, Izuku was sure that she was in a stunned state of wonder.

"My daddy helped you pick your hero name!" she exclaimed.

Izuku nodded. "Yeah. He did."

"Cause I'm the best," Kacchan interjected.

"Yeah," Izuku said softly, smiling to himself. "He really is."

As soon as they made it to the agency, they were swarmed by heroes who just adored little Etsuki in her Dynamight hero suit. Izuku and Kacchan watched her exclaim to anyone who would listen that her Daddy was the coolest superhero ever and that she just had to support him. There were lots of oohs and ahhs at the little girl. A quick glance at Kacchan showed a small yet proud smile on his lips. It was a look that he wasn't used to seeing on the temperamental blond. He found that he kind of liked it.

"Look who finally brought my favorite niece to visit me at work!" a woman's voice said. It was Utsushimi Camie.

She approached them, dressed in her own hero suit. She looked worse for wear with dark circles under her eyes. Considering she'd been on the poles with him the night before, he wouldn't be surprised if she was even more hungover than he was. It had taken him a helluva lot of alcohol to get him onto that pole, and while he didn't exactly know Utsushimi's opinions about it, he did know she'd had a lot to drink over the course of the evening. Her hangover now had to be brutal. Moving around had at least assuaged his. It evidently wasn't the same for Utsushimi. But she hid her hangover beneath the bright smiles that she had for Etsuki.

"Auntie!" Etsuki squealed as she raced up to the blonde hero. "I didn't know you were gonna be here!"

"I didn't know ya'll would be here, either," Utsushimi said, and there was a knowing smirk on her lips.

"I promised I would bring her. There's some things I actually need to settle with Deku here," Kacchan said without any further explanation.

Izuku's eyes snapped over to Kacchan and he furrowed his brows. That sounded like a lot more than just returning the necklace that was nestled safely in Izuku's front pocket. That conversation would go either one of two ways. They'd either talk about the insane sex that they'd had the night before, or they'd talk about something else entirely. Either way, Izuku wasn't sure how to react.

"Well, I can take Etsuki here on the best tour of the agency ever while you two talk," Camie said, patting both him and Kacchan on the shoulders.

"Really, Auntie?" Etsuki asked. There were stars in her bright blue eyes.

"Totally," she said, taking the smaller blonde's hand. "C'mon babes. We can start with the training room."

"Cool!"

Izuku watched as the other two walked off. The rest of the heroes in the lobby dispersed once Etsuki was gone. They had no interest in grumpy Kacchan, and they already were acclimated well enough to him. It was suddenly just himself, Kacchan, and the secretary in the entryway of the agency.

"You said you needed to talk to me, Kacchan?" Izuku asked after a few moments of tense silence.

"Yeah," he said. "Your office okay? I don't need everyone hearing my business."

Izuku nodded, suddenly aware of the sort of conversation that Kacchan wanted to have. He sounded tense if not apprehensive about whatever he needed to say. Izuku just hoped he hadn't overstepped any boundaries in coming to Kacchan's house that morning. He honestly had been coming to return the necklace with the small ring which he assumed now was Etsuki's. He hadn't been expecting any of this craziness, this deep insight into Kacchans life.

He led the way to his office on the third floor, and once they were both inside, he shut the door behind them. When he turned into the room, he noticed that Kacchan had already settled himself on the edge of his desk. He looked apprehensive as he stood there, and Izuku immediately figured that they were not going to talk about their one night stand.

"Uh," he said, clearing his throat. The noise made Kacchan's head shoot up and his eyes connect with Deku's own. "What did you want to talk about?"

Kacchan lifted his hand and fiddled with the receiver for his cochlear behind his ear. It was then that Izuku realized that he was nervous.

"Look, Deku. About Etsuki," he started before tapering off.

"Did you seriously name her after yourself, Kacchan?" he asked. It was a safe place to start. Comical, light, airy.

Katsuki snorted. "It wasn't intentional, asshole. I just liked the meaning. It means 'hope'," he replied. "And the fact that it was sort of close to mine and mom's. But that ain't everything!"

Izuku smiled. He'd hit the nail on the head alright.

"How old is she?" he then asked. A safe segway and a safe way to get a timeline on the last five years of Kastuki's life that Izuku hadn't been a part of.

"Three and a half."

"Why didn't you tell me about her before now?" he asked, even though he knew the question was insensitive. That was private information that Izuku had no right to know unless Kacchan wanted him to.

And evidently, his question struck a nerve because Kacchan's face immediately hardened. "Well, you didn't fucking ask, either, Deku."

"What do you mean, Kacchan? Before these last few weeks, I hadn't heard from you in five years!" Izuku sputtered. "How could I ask if I didn't know she existed!"

"Well, I don't know," the blond said sarcastically. "You could have fuckin' texted or called, Deku."

"I did, Kacchan! I did! Everyday for almost a year after you left, I texted you. I called you. And you read every single text, but I never once got an answer!"

Katsuki's brows immediately furrowed, his lips left parted as if he were about to answer. But the words never came. Because Izuku had caught him in his damn lie.

"What is going on with you, Kacchan?" he asked softly, taking a tentative step closer. "Why won't you just tell me the truth?"

Katsuki wouldn't look at him. His eyes were locked on his feet as he fiddled with his hearing aide. "You wouldn't understand, Deku."

"You're right, Kacchan. I don't understand. I don't understand why you left without saying goodbye," he said, wringing his hands. His brows were knitted over his eyes in frustration. "I'm so damn confused. You're my friend. You were my hero partner! I thought that meant something to you. How could you just leave without even telling me? You just... disappeared..."

Katsuki raked his hands through his blond spikes, catching some of the clips that Etsuki had put there. He ripped one of them out and slammed it down onto Izuku's desk, anger pouring off of him in waves.

"Look, Deku, I don't have to explain shit to you. It's my business why I left, and not yours. My life is so damn complicated. I'm a single fucking dad. I'm trying to be a pro hero and her hero at the same time," Kacchan snarled. "So when I'm ready to tell you all of the details of my shitshow I call a life - if I'm ever ready - then you'll be the first to know. But for now, just- Fuck off, okay? Shit! We have sex one goddamn time, and you act like you're entitled to every detail of my life."

Izuku took a step backward and shook his head. "I never said I was entitled to any part of you, Katsuki," he said softly.

He wouldn't cry over Katsuki again, not even when his words were beyond hurtful. Kacchan had always been so good at that. Using words to hurt Izuku. If he didn't want to talk about it, then fine. He didn't need to talk about it. But he could have said it in a kinder way than he had. He could have avoided intentionally trying to hurt him. But he wouldn't be Bakugou Katsuki if he didn't do everything in his power to hurt Izuku.

He took another two steps back, unfortunately retreating from his own office. "But if that's how you feel..."

A look of pure confliction crossed Katsuki's face, but Izuku couldn't bring himself to look at him very long. He had too many memories of the past five years resurfacing. Even though Kacchan was right in front of him, it felt as though he never returned. Izuku still felt so desperately alone.

"Izuku, wait," Katsuki said, reaching a hand out. The use of his first name had Izuku stopping in his tracks. "I didn't mean it like that."

Izuku shook his head. "I think I need some time to think. This is all so-"

Suddenly, Izuku's phone went off in his pocket. It wasn't his personal phone. It was his work phone. The perk of being a pro hero was being on call on his days off. He pulled the device from his pocket and looked at the notification that was blaring at him. It was for a rescue. There was just an address from Iida and an urgent message to be fast.

"Look. I need to go... But, we can talk another time, Kacchan. Just... Not now," he said before he turned out of the room and left without looking back.

With the use of full cowling, Izuku managed to get to the scene of the rescue in a matter of minutes. He shot across Musutafu to a residential area on the outskirts easily, green lightning flickering around him the entire time. And when he arrived, the acrid smell of smoke filled his nostrils. It wasn't the same sort of smoke that came from his hero partner when he set off explosions. Not. It was much sharper. It smelt more of chemicals and plastic than the sort of scents Kacchan's explosions let off. He took the scene in with wide, desperate green eyes. Before him was a fire, but not just any fire. It was a house fire. The two-story house was already half engulfed in flames. The windows on the second floor had already shattered from the raging inferno that were the flames. The flames devoured the roof, leaving the building structurally unsound.

His heart plummeted into his stomach as he took it in the street surrounding the house. The fire department and a few other heroes were on the scene, but based on their quirks, none were well equipped to enter the burning building. The fire department had their hoses ready and were fighting the flames, but there wasn't a water-type quirk user in sight. They must have deemed that the house itself was a lost cause. Sure, they would put out the fire before it spread, but that wasn't their priority. There was a reason Hero Deku was on the scene. They wouldn't have called him for a house fire unless they needed him to enter the building. Someone was trapped inside.

Izuku shot over to the firefighters on the scene, his landing causing the ground to vibrate slightly. His viridian gaze shot to whom he assumed was in charge.

"I came as fast as I could," he said firmly. "What's the situation like?"

"Hero Deku," one of the firefighters said. Izuku recognized him as the Fire Chief. "The three residents of the home are trapped inside. Two adults and one child. The child is believed to be on the top floor while the adults are trapped on the bottom floor."

"My team will have you connected with the comm unit in my mask. I'll keep you posted," Izuku said before darting off in a flash of lightning.

He'd gotten all of the information that he needed. He needed to know where they were, and that was all. The people inside were his priority. The longer he sat there listening to their briefing on the situation, the longer they were stuck inside. He could deal with the rest himself. He already knew that the building was structurally unsound. The roof was engulfed in flames. It was part of the reason that they hadn't sent in any quirkless first responders. He could protect himself if the situation got dangerous. They could not.

After donning his facemask to cover his mouth and nose, Izuku entered the house from one of the broken upstairs windows. He didn't want to break any of the windows downstairs and he especially didn't want to open the door and risk feeding oxygen to the flames. He needed to prevent this fire from spreading anymore than it already had.

The heat inside of the building was unreal, but fortunately for him, the floor of the portion of the second floor that he was in hadn't been devoured by the flames yet. He could safely get across it without getting too close to the flames. The room he seemed to have entered was the master bedroom. A quick search of the floor and the closets yielded him no results. There was no one in the room. He swept through the open bedroom door and into the hallway, shutting the door to the room behind him. Sure, the building was already engulfed in flames, but if he could stop it from spreading faster, then he'd try.

The hallway outside of the bedroom was in a much worse state. There were flames engulfing the entire ceiling and the upper portions of the wall. Izuku crouched low as he made his way through. As he swept through, he did a quick check of the closets and the bathrooms, but again, there was no one. There was no child. He came to the last door on the second floor. This was the only door in the entire upstairs that had been shut aside from the closets. Even the bathroom door had been open. Izuku frowned at this and placed his palm against the wood. It was hot under his touch. Not a good sign.

Izuku threw his full weight into the door, easily bursting through it. But what waited for him on the other side could only be described as hell. The entire room was immersed in brilliant orange flames. From what he could tell, it was a child's bedroom. There were melted remnants of toys with demonic looking melted faces littered about the room. But at first look showed him no one. And above the roar of the flames, he didn't hear anything, either. There couldn't have been a child in here. And if there was, well...

But Izuku pressed forward. He opened the closet door, did his best to check under the flaming bed. But there was no one. His heart sank. He'd been told that the child was up here, but there was no sign of them at all.

Izuku backed out of the room and into the hallway. The heat was starting to get to him. He had to be careful. He wasn't invincible. Fire could easily kill him if he wasn't careful. Once in the relative safety of the hallway, he touched his hand to the button on his mask before speaking.

"I've cleared the upstairs. There are no signs of the child. I'm proceeding to the first floor of the house. Over."

He didn't bother to wait for a response as made his way to the stairs. He was surprised to find that they, too, were engulfed in flames. He took a few steps back before running forward and leaping over the entire expanse of the stairs. He felt the heat of the flames lick at his back, but he managed to land on his feet unscathed.

Since the fire department's initial inspection, the fire had spread. It was filled thick with dark, black smoke, making it damn near impossible for anyone to breath without a rebreather mask such as his own. Parts of the first floor, especially those that overlapped the child's bedroom upstairs, were covered in the bright, burning flames. He swallowed and began his sweep of the first floor. It wasn't until he was looking in the very last room on the first floor that he found both adults. They were inside of the first floor study. Unfortunately, they were both unconscious due to the thick smoke.

With a single, steady hand, Izuku summoned Black Whip. The dark tendrils of his secondary quirk wrapped around the two unconscious adults. He shot a blast of air at the window with his other hand. The glass shattered, and Izuku leapt through with the two unconscious adults in front of him. Not more than a second after he cleared the front yard to get to the first responders on the scene, the world shook violently.

He felt the heat of the house exploding before he actually heard it. But once he did, the world was ringing. His head was in a complete daze. He was thrown forward onto all fours, but luckily, Black Whip kept the two unconscious victims suspended in the air and safe. He managed to gently set them on the ground before his concentration snapped completely and the dark tendrils disappeared. Slowly he turned to face the house - or rather, what used to be the house.

The flames must have caused a gas line to burst. The building was in shattered shambles and the fire was devouring it completely now. There was no way that even he could go back inside. It was too dangerous.

Beside him, one of the two adults, a woman, stirred. She sat up in a daze, her body colored a dirty grey from the smoke. Her brows furrowed as she looked at the flaming mess that used to be her house.

"M-My husband and son?" she asked, her watery gaze focused on Izuku.

"Your husband is fine, ma'am, but I didn't find your son," he said before wincing.

He had oh so very tactfully just delivered this poor woman devastating news. He hadn't rescued her son. He hadn't found him before the house had gone up completely. The news sat heavy on Izuku's own heart, too. It wasn't his first failed rescue. He doubted that in the long run, it wouldn't be his last, either. But that didn't mean that it wasn't absolutely heartbreaking.

The woman looked at him with wide, horrified eyes. Tears immediately pooled in her eyes and started to stream down her cheeks. They left clean streaks on her soot-stained skin.

"H-He's g-gone," she stammered as she threw her head into her hands.

Izuku leaned in close to her and wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace. He ignored the way that his own tears were falling from his eyes at this crushing loss.

"Everything will be okay, ma'am," he whispered soothingly to her. "I'm sure the other heroes got him out. Everything will be okay."

Everything was not, in fact, okay. The other heroes hadn't gotten the young Sazuki Haru from the house. Izuku hadn't found him, either, and he'd searched so damn hard. He'd combed through every room, but there was no child in sight.

"Our initial report shows that the young Sazuki boy is unaccounted for," Fire Chief Tanaka said at the post fire debriefing.

If Izuku had found him, they wouldn't have had to have this meeting. The fire department would have handled the paperwork. They would have processed the scene, but there was currently a child missing. They had yet to find a body within the wreckage. Izuku silently prayed that they never did, that Sazuki-chan had somehow managed to escape. But he knew that his prayers wouldn't be answered. There was no way.

"Hero Deku, what did you find inside of the house?" Tanaka asked.

Izuku lifted his head to look at the fire chief. He sighed heavily. "I searched each room, but I didn't find the boy. I searched all of the closets, under the beds, but he wasn't there. It was as if he just... Vanished."

"As of right now and until a body is found, young Sazuki is going to be presumed alive," Tanaka concluded as he passed around photocopies of the boy's latest school pictures. "The boy is seven years old, and his quirk allows him to manipulate light waves. It's possible that during the fire, his quirk was active, which would have made it near impossible for Hero Deku to find him. We will process the scene, but it may take several days. In the meantime..."

But Izuku tuned out the rest of what he was saying. He had a feeling that they wouldn't find Sazuki, but he couldn't explain why.

It wasn't until after he'd gotten back to the agency, showered off the acrid scent of smoke, and gotten dressed that he realized he'd never returned the necklace with the small ring on it to Kacchan. It still sat safely in the pocket of his jeans.

Katsuki

As soon as Etsuki had finished her tour of the agency, Katsuki had hopped on the train with her, heading toward home. The little girl had passed out in his arms halfway through the ride home. He hadn't bothered to wake her because she was due for her nap anyways. But because Etsuki was sleeping, Katsuki was left in the deep recesses of his thoughts.

His most recent argument with Deku was currently on loop in his head. He'd been an utter shit head. What he'd said was fucking stupid.

Fuck off, okay? Shit! We have sex one goddamn time, and you act like you're entitled to every detail of my life.

He should have never brought up their one night stand. Currently, that was the biggest issue he saw with what he had said. He knew that it had nothing to do with anything. On the contrary, it was actually his inability to open up that was the root of the issue. It was Deku's infallible desire to help people. The two traits didn't cope well with one another, and it had resulted in him hurting the greenette. Fuck. Katsuki was such a fucking idiot.

He leaned his head against the top of Etsuki's as the train pulled up to their stop. He got off and began the short walk back to his little house.

He wanted to open up to Deku about everything. He wanted to reconcile with him, but that was something that was so much easier said than actually. The last five years had been a whirlwind of trauma and pain and happiness all combined into one, knotted mess. He hadn't the slightest clue as to where to start in untangling it.

The mess inside of him had caused him to hurt Deku yet again, and after all of the growth in their friendship the pair had experienced over the years, he found that beyond frustrating. He had no desire to intentionally hurt the green bean anymore. He hadn't had that sort of malice in a long time. Not since they were kids in middle school. And now that he'd gone and done it the fuck again, well, Katsuki was pissed with himself. He needed to tell Deku the truth, but figuring out a way to do it was the hardest part.

But at least he knew he'd see the idiot again to talk. Not only were they hero partners, but Katsuki had also forgotten to ask if Deku had his necklace with Etsuki's tiny, golden ring. He just hoped that the next time he saw Deku, they might be able to fix things. He glanced down at the sleeping girl in his arms whose name meant that very thing: hope. If she'd taught him anything since she was born, it was that there was never any harm in hoping.

Endnotes:

Deku: *Goes over to Kacchan's to possibly get laid AGAIN*

Also Deku: *Gets cock blocked by a three year old*

My best reader: Etsuki baby please leave Daddy alone with his friend he has some serious stuff to be doing rn