Wishfull-star: Thank you!


"Papa, will you tell Paul to not draw on the walls?"

"Paul, please don't draw on the walls. It would make a mess that would take while to clean up," Katakuri replied.

"See, told you! Shishishi!" and Luffy zoomed away again while his father was making dinner. He smiled, and wondered how Dragon would react when they went over to their home the next day to meet him and his family. He knew Dragon was strict with his children to a fault, but had never beat them.

Personally, Katakuri would never want a father so focused on the future of his kids. He wanted Luffy to enjoy his childhood and not worry about his future. Though he did have an unattainable dream: to be a zoo keeper for dinosaurs. Katakuri never told him it was impossible, not wanting to crush the dream he'd eventually grow out of.

When Luffy came back for dinner, he had a messy star drawn on his hand. "Did you draw on your hand? Or was it Paul?"

"I did it!" Luffy said, and thrust a permanent pen in the air. "I found this cool marker!" Katakuri had no idea how he found that pen. He asked for it, and then told Luffy he couldn't use the pens that looked like this. "What? Why not?"

"It's a permanent marker. Meaning it's very hard to clean up afterwards," he answered honestly, cutting up his chicken breast into bite sized pieces. Polite and fairly clean as he was, he would stab the fork into the food and then eat it off of the fork in one bit chunk. But Luffy said he wouldn't do it again. "That's very nice of you to do, thank you."

The boy beamed at being praised, and ate his chicken and mashed potatoes. He drank his lemon water. Katakuri was glad he liked the food he made and didn't seem very picky. Well, he didn't like soup very much, but there was plenty of other food besides soup, so it was fine to cut that out of their diets.

That night, Luffy insisted on sleeping in only his undies and pullup. But when Katakuri went in to wake him the next morning, some time in the night he'd put clothes on, the shirt inside out and backwards, his sleep shorts also backwards. "Did you get cold last night?" Luffy cocked his head. "You went to bed without many clothes, but woke up with clothes on," he pointed out.

"Oh yeah! I thought I peed but then I didn't and I got cold so I put clothes on," Luffy explained, eating his yogurt and granola for breakfast.

"Impressive. Doing that in the dark is amazing. You're very talented." Luffy was very happy with the praise again. Praising children often for little things was a good thing to do as it helped build self-confidence. "When we go to the Fusha's home, you have to be on your best behavior, okay?"

"Mmhmm!"

"Dragon looks like a grumpy grump, too. But he won't be mean to you or anything. He has a little boy, too, so hopefully you'll both get along," Katakuri explained. He was glad Luffy didn't see him as a "grumpy grump" anymore. Luffy promised he'd be a good boy, and Katakuri knew he'd do his best, even if it didn't end up being enough.

Luffy dressed in a shirt with a monkey on it, and some shorts with his flip flops. He also had a bag with his toys, in case Coby wanted to play. Katakuri didn't know how Dragon would react with Luffy being very friendly with Coby. He knew the boy didn't have many friends. While Katakuri knew Dragon was strict, he had rarely seen him with his children. He focused on work while Makino took care of the kids.

When they drove to the house, Jingle Bells playing on the stereo quietly, Luffy wondered why the doors were paper. "It's an old fashioned house. All houses used to be like that once. Though it gets a little cold during the night."

"Oh," Luffy said in interest. He was holding onto Katakuri's pant leg, too short to reach to hold his hand while they walked. He knocked on the front door, Luffy looking around the fairly boring yard in interest. Their backyard and front yard had a lot of flowers because Luffy liked them, being colorful.

Makino opened the door, and smiled at seeing them. "Good morning Katakuri, and Luffy." She crouched down, and Luffy thrust his hand out with a smile. Makino shook the small hand with a smile, and walked them inside. Luffy took his flip flops off, and wore the slippers Katakuri brought. His feet were too small to fit any of the slippers the Fusha's already had.

When they walked in, Luffy indeed said the place was chilly, even though it really wasn't. They went to the living room, and Makino told him Dragon had to leave for a bit, but would be back as soon as possible. Luffy pulled the bag off of his back, and said he had toys to play with Coby. "That's very nice, I'll go get him," she said.

"She seems like a nice mama," Luffy commented. "But purple hair is better than black," he added with a giggle, even if his own hair was black. Katakuri smiled, and Luffy went to the couch and didn't dump his toys out like Katakuri asked him not to. Coby came out, looking kind of sad. He greeted his father's friend, who had always been nice to him.

"Morning, Coby. Luffy, why don't you introduce yourself?" he said, and Luffy ran over, and greeted Coby with a blinding smile.

"I'm Luffy!" he declared.

"Coby..." the other boy said. They both knew one another's names, but this was a formality. Luffy asked him if he wanted to play, and Coby looked longing, but seemed hesitant until Makino give him permission. Katakuri sat ont he other couch, but didn't pay close attention to the boys. Coby was very quiet compared to the extremely talkative child.

Luffy had brought a bunch of dinosaur figures and some rubber balls to play with. Katakuri knew the light balls would cause no trouble, even if Luffy threw it as hard as he possibly could. Coby actually smiled while playing dinosaurs, and made a little ball of paper, crinkled up to make an environment. Coby inherited his mother's paper quirk, where she could produce any sort of paper.

It was nice, and Katakuri was glad they were getting along. It was hard not to like Luffy. He was just so bright and cheery. After about an hour, with the four of them eating cookies Makino made, with Luffy only getting two, Dragon returned home.

Coby immediately stood up and away from Luffy, letting go of the toys. Katakuri suggested Luffy put them away for now, sad that Coby wasn't comfortable acting like a child in front of his father. It really did make him sad. At least Makino was a good, kind mother.

Dragon looked at Luffy, and looked indeed like a "grumpy grump", but seemed to be trying to not look too bad. "I"m Luffy, I'm four," Luffy greeted. He had a bright smile on, despite facing a frown and hard looking big man. Katakuri was a bit taller though. He was 6'10.

"I'm Dragon." Luffy tested his name.

"Like the wingy dinosaurs!" Close enough. Dragon quirked a brow but didn't respond to it. He sat on the couch, with Coby hurrying to sit on the other couch, beside Makino nad Katakuri. Luffy held up his toys, and said he was playing with Coby, who looked panicked at this being voiced. Dragon looked at him in a scolding manner, and Katakuri frowned deeply behind his scarf.

Coby had never seen his mouth and so he didn't know if the boy would be bothered by it. "They played with Coby's paper as well. He's very talented already." This diffused the awkward moment, and the tense atmosphere faded a bit at Dragon knowing Coby could be considered as practicing. His behavior bothered him. He seemed scared of Dragon. Of course he could be scared of Dragon's temper or his strict personality, and Katakuri had no proof of wrong doing. Though it would trouble him in a way, he wouldn't hesitate to call child protective services if he learned the boy, and by extension, the other children were being abused.

Dragon asked Luffy what his quirk was, but Luffy replied that he hadn't gotten his yet. "What were your parent's quirks?"

"Papa is mochi." Katakuri appreciated none of them pointing out that Luffy couldn't have Katakuri's power since they weren't blood related, so the man couldn't have passed his quirk to his adopted son. "I hope I get mochi, too! Shishish!" Katakuri held in a laugh.

The child's behavior seemed to be shocking to Dragon, and Luffy went to Katakuri and sat on his lap. "Papa is your friend, right?" Dragon nodded, looking wary and like he wasn't sure what to do in the face of this bright, noisy child showing no fear despite his resting bitch face. "I will have friends too, when I go to school," Luffy said.

Luffy went to play with a hesitant Coby a bit while Katakuri sat with Dragon. Makino went to supervise the boys, seeming happy Coby was able to play with another kid. "That boy seems exhausting," Dragon said bluntly. The taller held in a laugh.

"Sometimes he is. But despite how noisy and bright he is, he doesn't make messes or cause trouble. He's very well behaved," Katakuri replied. "How are your kids?" He was trying to not seem like he was probing. They rarely talked about the children, but now that Katakuri had one, too, the topic was fine to breach in his eyes.

Dragon said, "Coby is getting along slowly with his quirk, thankfully. The other kids are doing well." Katakuri asked if Coby would be going to kindergarten soon. "It depends. I'm not sure yet. If not, he'll be homeschooled." Luffy would definitely be going to kindergarten to make many friends and good memories.

"Do you not know his parents' quirks?"

"His mother could control grow plants and father could create bubbles. So nothing dangerous or overwhelming," Katakuri replied. They both looked up when Luffy went zooming down the hall, Coby chasing after him. He spoke with Dragon about work and all. He still didn't understand why Katakuri gave up being a hero and instead switched to something completely different.

When it started to get later, and both Luffy and Coby were napping, the boy and his father left to go home for dinner. Luffy wanted to see Coby again, who looked the same. Makino was happy with how it went, and Luffy was on Katakuri's shoulders as they headed back to the car to drive home.

It seemed to be a tiring day since Luffy fell asleep on the drive home, no music playing this time. Katakuri hoped that Dragon was only strict with a temper and didn't actually hurt his family. But he'd keep a look out for that from now on. With him being a father now, he knew how to raise a kid with care, and would never want Luffy scared of him. He didn't care about his mouth at all, which was a relief.

-x-

"Papa? When will I get my magic?" Luffy had started to call quirks magic, and Katakuri didn't feel the need to correct him. Luffy was four and half, and there was no sign yet of either type of quirk, though Katakuri kept a look out for anything. The boy was wondering when he'd be cool, and was getting a bit impatient.

The man said he could develop it soon, as he still had six months until he wasn't four anymore. Even though quirks usually manifested in the first six months of being four years old. But he asked if Lufyf wanted to go to the doctor to see. "No! Doctors are scary!" He was scared of them after needing to get a handful of shots.

"They're not scary, those ones just did something that made you uncomfortable." He didn't want the boy afraid of medical professionals. But Luffy disagreed, and still thought doctors were scary. But after that conversation, Katakuri started to want to take Luffy in to see if he was quirkless. If he was, it changed nothing for Katakuri.

He didn't expect him to be a hero like Dragon wanted Coby to be, to follow in his footsteps. Katakuri just wanted Luffy to be happy with whatever he did in life. But there was still a long time until he had to decide on his future ambitions. Besides the dinosaur job he wished for. So, to get him tested, he called a quirk specialist and asked for him to not dress as a doctor to make his son more comfortable.

The man agreed to do it, and soon Luffy was sitting in an office with orange walls and some colorful paper on the chair in the middle of the office. Since this place looked nothing like the previous hospital, Luffy was unafraid. This place was meant for children, so it made sense that it was colorful.

Luffy swung his legs back and forth, not understanding why they were really there. Katakuri felt a small deal of worry over this, but didn't show it. The boy was watching a cartoon on his dad's phone while they waited. When the doctor came in, he was wearing a farmer's outfit. Luffy giggled at it, and said he looked like the scarecrow from "Oz Land."

"I'm not a scarecrow, I'm a farmer," Dr. Crocus said with an indignant look that made Luffy giggle again. "Now, let's get onto focusing on you! This place is colorful, but must be getting a bit boring." Luffy nodded, though he hadn't acted bored at all yet, focused on the phone and his favorite cartoon.

"Now, I'm going to do some magic on you, and we'll be able to see your bones through this screen."

"Wow! I wanna see!" he held Crocus's hand so he didn't run off, always wanting to explore everywhere he saw and thought could be interesting. Such interesting thing could be anything, even just peeking under a car on the sidewalk. Or in mail slots before Katakuri told him not to do that anymore.

He waited, but it didn't take long before Luffy returned with a lolly pop. It was fine, sugar in very small moderation. Luffy climbed the step stool back onto the chair, and talked about the x-ray machine with Katakuri, excited about seeing his bones soon. And it didn't take long before Crocus came in with a big envelope.

He took out the sheets and put them on the light board. Katakuri leaned forward, hiding his nervousness. He didn't know how Luffy would take it if he was unable to have a quirk when he wanted one, even though his father didn't use his quirk around the house. It was a caution since some kids get hung up on their parents' quirks and were devastated when theirs was different or they had none at all.

When the sheet went up, and he saw Luffy's pinky toe, he let out a small sigh. He was quirkless. The boy was amazed by seeing his bones, but as the situation was explained tactfully, Luffy's brows furrowed. "But… Why? Was I a bad boy?" he asked in worry, turning to his father.

"You were not a bad boy. Sometimes kids just don't have quirks. There's nothing wrong with you for it," he said kindly. Luffy started crying, and it was heartbreaking. He was comforted, and Katakuri put him to bed when they got home. The sobbing tired him out. It was so sad, and Katakuri felt for him deeply. He had a quirk, but he knew the sadness he felt about not being "normal".

While Luffy was sleeping, Katakuri group texted his family the news. All of them expressed condolences, and felt sad and pity for the boy. Even if he'd been quirkless when Katakuri met him, he would have adopted him regardless. A quirk didn't matter to him, but it mattered to Luffy. Now, Katakuri was annoyed by how much quirks meant to the world. If they weren't such a big deal, maybe Luffy wouldn't have been so upset.

He'd be surrounded by quirks for the rest of his life. Hopefully he could move on from it soon. Find that he didn't need one to be happy or live normally. Katakuri would tell him about unfortunate quirks and let him know that having no quirk could be better than having bad ones. Because there were bad ones out there.

-x-

"He's quirkless?" Dragon asked in surprise over the phone when Katakuri called him about it.

"Yeah," the father replied. "He's upset about it, but said he wants to not be upset and was working on it."

"Good thing you aren't a hero, then."

"If I was, he wouldn't be required to be a hero, too," Katakuri replied, keeping his voice normal and not clipped. "Is there any way for Coby to try and not show his quirk when they see one another?"

"I'll tell him not to," Dragon said, though he did sound frustrated about that. He liked showing off his kid's quirk, even fi it wasn't his own, since paper could be helpful if used correctly. None of the kids had gotten Dragon's powerful wind quirk. It was a strong one, so it was something to think highly of, but it would probably make Luffy feel better for now to not be in contact with any useful quirks.

His aunts and uncles had gathered and told him all the cons about their own quirks to try and cheer him up. Know that he was possibly skipping something that could be a pain. He didn't know his biological parent's quirks, so he hadn't known what to expect. And he had surprisingly not asked. Though he might still think Katakuri would have passed his down.

But Luffy really was trying to be happy. He hated feeling sad, and didn't want to anymore. Katakuri tried to help him by giving him distractions and tasks. Lots of treasure hunts to keep him with some sort of goal often. Once he went to kindergarten in a few months, going to be put in day care soon, Katakuri would return to his job.

Dragon asked if Katakuri was upset about it at all. "I feel for him and his disappointment, but it won't really affect anything else. If he wishes to be a hero, it might be a problem, and he could lose some confidence in himself about this, but otherwise, he'll still be raised the same. At least now I don't need to worry about anything going wrong when developing a quirk," he explained.

"That's true," Dragon said, sounding surprised with his words in a way. Agreeing about something like this, a weakness in his eyes. Katakuri would be going to the farmer's market with Coby and Makino the next day. While Dragon seemed to not be overly happy with Coby being friends with someone like Luffy, he did not prohibit their play dates.

Though Coby would not be using his quirk around Luffy anymore. Katakuri knew he could do that, and wouldn't have trouble not using his quirk. Luffy came into the room, his hands sticky with glue while holding up his paper with the macaroni glued to it. "Very nice, Luffy. I'm impressed." He giggled.

Katakuri told Dragon he should be going, and he'd meet up with them at their home the next day. Luffy was excited to see Coby and Makino, who he thought was really nice.

The next morning, Luffy had his harness on, and they drove to the Fusha residence to pick up the other boy and his mom. She was with him at all times, like some sort of body guard. There was another carseat in the back for Coby to sit in. He said nothing of the quirk situation. When they got to the market, the first thing both boys got were some fresh honey sticks. Luffy liked the pineapple one.

Coby always seemed so happy around Luffy, though he sometimes frowned when Katakuri showed affection to Luffy. Even a soft smile. It was only lucky he had Makino to love him, because she clearly did. He and Luffy had never really met the other kids. They were usually somewhere else.

When they went in further into the crowd, Makino was holding Coby's hand tightly, knowing he wouldn't wander off on his own and didn't need a harness and leash like Luffy did. The crowd was noisy and busy, but the four managed to stick together. It was when they were getting bags of cherries that Luffy was separated from them.

He fell down in the crowd, but stood up, and found his leash had torn. The crowd was too tall for him to see through, and he was being shoved all around. He wanted out of the crowd, and ran to the left, even though he'd come from the right. He now stood on the corner, crying for his papa to find him.

But he was too short to see above the crowd, even though his dad was super tall and should be noticeable. He was scared, now. But when a nice looking man came behind him, and asked who he was looking for, Luffy said he lost his daddy. The man was wearing a white suit outfit, covering all of him but his face. He looked like a hero. "Do you know where he is?"

"I saw him this way. I'll show you if you want." Luffy agreed, and followed the man. They went to a more barren place, and Luffy wondered where everyone went. "Your dad is waiting in there. He thought it would be easier for you to find him if it wasn't in a crowd."

"That makes sense!" he ran into the alley way, and looked around. "Papa?" he called. "Mister, I don't see him!" Luffy said, turning around to see he wasn't there, now. Then Luffy was grabbed around the throat, and a painful stabbing was made in his neck. He turned around before falling on his back.

The hero man had bit him! Meanie! Luffy cried for help from his papa, but the man left him. Now he was all alone, and his wound started to burn horrifically. Like fire was pressed to his skin! Then the burn spread to the rest of him, and he started screaming at it. He writhed on the ground, and tried to crawl away, but he couldn't manage it. Something was really wrong!