Nedzu was feeling sentimental, and honestly, who could blame him?
It had been a whole year since he adopted Izuku into his life and accepted his role as a parent to a human baby. Well, closer to ten months, since he found him when he was two months old.
Ever since adopting Izuku, Nedzu's life has gotten more tiring, but far happier. Before Izuku, life felt empty and boring. The only upside was being the principal of U.A., and even then he was still criticized for even the smallest slip up.
But when Izuku came into his life, he started to see the bright side of things. The world made of black and white grew into color each and every day. The hatred he felt all his life lessened when he heard Izuku laugh or saw him smile.
That's why he didn't really want to see Izuku get older, but he knew it was a part of life.
Instead of trying to hold back Izuku from growing up, like the humans used to do to him, he wanted to see him grow. He wanted to see Izuku become his own person.
But right now, he has a birthday party to plan for Friday. It will be interesting to see what kind of gifts people give Izuku.
"Now Izuku, we have to wait for the perfect temperature of the tea," Nedzu explained to the curious almost-one-year-old holding his cup of imaginary tea.
"Teeee," Izuku drawled as he held onto his cup with both hands, staring intensely into the bottom of the cup.
"Yes, and then we sip," Nedzu finished off with an exaggerated sip to his tea. Izuku followed suit with an equally loud slurp to his empty cup. He giggled and Nedzu smiled softly at the cheerful child.
'I wouldn't trade my life as a father for anything.'
"What the heck do we get for Izuku?" Hizashi asked as the small group walked through the mall.
Tensei had Tenya riding on his shoulder, meanwhile Nemuri and Aizawa were looking at the shop windows they passed. It would be hard to find a gift for Izuku due to how much Nedzu spoiled the kid.
"The best choice would be something more sentimental, opposed to just a cool plushie that we can buy anywhere." Aizawa explained, looking around for anything that would be good for Izuku.
Nemuri's eyes brightened when her eyes locked in a certain shop, "I got it! I can make my own stuffed animal!"
She took off and the others followed her inside the Build-A-Bear. Nemuri picked a white fluffy bear and a white mouse plush. She asked a worker to try to combine the two skins into one plush. They told her to come back at the end of the shopping trip since the custom order would take a while.
Hizashi headed down the hall and spotted something in the window of an antique thrift shop. He ran straight inside, leaving his other two friends to follow him. He ran up to the worker behind the register for the music box in the window. The worker agreed and got it down from the display.
"I used to have a little music box when I was little, so I want Izuku to have the same comfort I had when I was young," Hizashi explained while the worker retrieved the music box from its spot.
After that was done, Hizashi was carrying the music box in a doubled up paper bag. Tensei led the way since he wanted to check a specific shop, speeding up when he saw it further down. The others hurried after him.
Tensei speed-walked inside a bicycle shop and headed towards the kid's section. Once there, he spotted a bright cherry red tricycle with a woven basket and tiny bell attached to the front.
"I learned to ride when I was very young, and I loved the freedom of riding around. I hope Izuku will like it!" Tensei explained.
Once the trike had been purchased and the group had gone back to walking aimlessly around the mall, Tensei asked his little brother what he wanted to get for Izuku. Tenya thought for a moment before saying, "Colors!"
"Colors? Oh you mean like coloring books and stuff?" Tensei asked, receiving a nod from his brother. "Okay!"
The three headed to the general store to buy a coloring book and crayons. They were planning on simply getting a normal large pack of crayons, but then Tenya headed towards a large art kit containing crayons, markers, colored pencils, pencils, watercolors, and brushes.
"Colors!" Tenya exclaimed while trying to pick up the large blue kit.
The three teens shrugged, picking up the art kit before heading to the cash register to check out. They also got a pro hero themed coloring book that they hadn't seen Nedzu get Izuku yet. They walked out and met Nemuri, who had the custom plush in a large brown paper bag. Aizawa was the only one left who still needed to get a gift for Izuku.
A few minutes of searching later, he spotted the perfect gift in the window of a shop.
'Oh, Izuku would love that.'
It was the day of Izuku's birthday party. Nedzu hosted it at his apartment since he wanted it to be a private party with only Izuku's close family: Nedzu, Aizawa, Hizashi, Nemuri, Tensei, and his first friend, Tenya.
Izuku was dressed for the occasion in a birthday-themed onesie and a party hat on the top of his head surrounded by his curly green hair.
The party started with an animated movie before cutting the cake Nedzu had made ahead of time.
Nedzu was delighted that it turned out so well. It was a small, two-layer cake covered in delicious white buttercream. The top had the message 'Happy Birthday Izuku!' written in thin green icing. All kinds of sprinkles were all around the cake. One layer was vanilla and the other was chocolate.
Aizawa, Hizashi, and Nedzu chose the vanilla cake on top while Nemuri, Tensei, Tenya, and Izuku ate from the bigger chocolate layer on the bottom.
After the cake, everyone sat down and talked to each other while their stomachs settled. About half an hour later, it was time for presents.
"Yay!" Izuku said happily as Nedzu rounded up the gifts.
"Who wants to go first?" Nedzu asked, prompting Nemuri to raise her hand.
"I'll go!" Nemuri answered while picking up her present. "I think Izuku will love this."
"Oh really?" Nedzu asked.
"Yep!" Nemuri said, placing the bag in front of Izuku. Izuku ripped open the paper to see an imitation of his father in plush form.
"Papa!" Izuku cried out before hugging the plush to his chest. The white bear mouse hybrid had on a white dress shirt, black pants, a pair of black shoes, a black vest, and a glossy red bow tie. Nedzu chuckled at the small toy that looked like him... sort of.
"Thank you!" Izuku exclaimed, muffled by the plush's soft fur.
"I'll go next!" Hizashi said as he placed a soft brown bag in front of Izuku. Izuku placed the plush to the side before ripping open the paper.
"Pretty," Izuku murmured, looking at the music box. It had a light mint green outside with a carnation pink rim. Hizashi went ahead and turned the little crank. The soft song began to play as the music box opened to show a ballerina dancing in the center. Izuku giggled at the dancer while swaying to the music.
"I think he likes it," Hizashi whispered to his friends.
"Thank you," Izuku mumbled as he focused on the ballerina doing her dance as the lid slowly shut.
Tensei stood and wheeled over the tricycle. Izuku's eyes widened in curiosity, toddling over to investigate it.
"This is a lovely tricycle," Nedzu commended.
"I hope Izuku likes it," Tensei responded.
"He does. Thank you, Tensei. He will love it when he is old enough to ride it." Nedzu thanked. Tensei's cheeks reddened in embarrassment, realizing that Izuku probably won't use the bike until a few years later.
Tenya went next with his gift, and Izuku loved it because of the many colors. Nedzu smiled as Izuku started to make a mess with the markers on the first page of his new colouring book. He carefully took the markers away for Aizawa to give Izuku his gift.
"Problem child, I think you would like this since it is comfortable and makes us spot you easily," Aizawa said before handing Izuku's gift to him which he proudly ripped open.
Izuku was now holding a pink sleeping bag with a soft pink lining on the inside. Izuku smiled before changing, "Yay, Yay, Yay!"
He started to climb inside with his plush bear with the help of Aizawa. "Thank you," Izuku mumbled from beneath all the comfy material.
Nedzu laughed at seeing his little boy having fun with his family surrounding him.
Now it was Nedzu's turn to give Izuku his last gift. He laughed maniacally before lifting a huge bag from behind the couch. He gently dumped the contents onto the ground to show everyone what he bought: Movies.
A whole collection of movies ranging from animation to teen comedies. Studio Ghibli, Pixar, Dreamworks, and Disney movies took up the majority. But Aizawa saw Mean Girls and Legally Blonde in the pile.
"What is up with these?" Aizawa asked at the two movies that stuck out from the cartoon movies.
"He needs to be cultured," Nedzu responded, which got him laughs from three of the teens in the room. Tenya looked confused while Aizawa looked on with a smile.
Izuku looked out from his sleeping bag to see his family having fun with each other. Nedzu looked at him to receive a smile from his little mouse.
'I think he knows how much his family loves him. I know that Izuku's family will grow in the future.' Nedzu thought.