Christmas Challenge | Day 9 - Christmas Baking / "There's more frosting on you then there is on the cookies."
Rating - E, no warnings

"Mommy, who are we making these cookies for?"

"For us! Duh, Matsu!"

Koge smiled at her daughters confident statement, working on kneading some cookie dough against the countertop. "Only some of them are for us, Natsuki. The rest are going to our friends and family as gifts for Christmas." Natsuki tossed a handful of sprinkles onto a cookie, creating a perfect blob of red on white frosting made by a highly skilled five year old. "Bam! Uncle Seiji is going to like my cookies more than yours, Matsu!" Her brother was carefully placing a piece of candy as a button on a snowman, tongue sticking out of his mouth in concentration. At seven, Matsuki was much calmer than his sister, who was bouncing in her stool. "No way, Natsu. Mine are perfect, they will be more impressed with mine."

'Lies!" Natsuki placed lopsided eyes on her horse cookie, two on one side. "You're just jealous of me and my perfect cookies." Koge shook her head, rolling the dough out with a rolling pin now to cut out the shapes. "Both of you are making perfect cookies. Uncle Seiji is going to love them all. Ah, Natsuki, don't squeeze the frosting into your mouth like that." The young girl stopped her partaking of the frosting, placing the tube down quickly as she spoke with her mouth full of the pink sweet. "Sorry Mom, I just like it." Using a range of cookie cutters, Koge stamped out the shapes in the dough before placing them onto a baking pan. "I know, but you're already bouncing off the walls and covered in frosting as it is."

Natsuki giggled maliciously, starting to put green frosting onto a Christmas tree shaped cookie. "Bwahaha, I am the evil cookie queen! Give me all your cookies or there will be punishment!" Beside her, Matsuki gave a small roll of his eyes, glowering at his sister. Koge noticed how he wasn't threatening or vicious in any way, his pale blue eyes and fluffy light blonde hair that matched his father's making him look like a little squishy puffball. His sister, however, did look scary, toothy smirk on her face and crimson glare locked on the Christmas tree as she used brown frosting on it. Her blonde, nearly white hair was a wild mess, her ponytail loose and bow lopsided. "This tree is half dead, Mom. Someone forgot to water it!"

"How sad for the tree." Koge gave a small shake of her head, still working on cutting the cookie dough. By now, Koge had grown used to her daughters darker sense of humor, something she had picked up from her father. Thinking of him, Koge glanced up at the clock, noting that he was late returning home again. Her phone had not gone off recently, so he hadn't messaged her, and that made her worry a bit. But, knowing him, he was just working overtime and was more focused on getting home than worrying about his phone. Still, she had hoped he would return home in time to partake in the cookie making. They were only halfway through at this point, so she held onto some hope that he would appear soon.

"Natsuki, are you putting a face on it?" Koge asked curiously, leaning forward a bit to look at the what was supposed to be a Christmas tree. Natsuki nodded. "Yeah, it's dead, so it's a zombie! Zombie tree is going to eat all your presents!" Matsuki carefully placed his finished snowman with his other finished cookies, brow furrowed in worry. "Natsu, that's scary! Can't you make some happy cookies?" He grabbed a star shaped cookie, going to work on it with yellow frosting. Natsuki blew a raspberry, giving an exaggerated roll of her eyes. "You're just a weenie! Don't be scared, it's just a cookie!" Koge narrowed her eyes at her daughter, who immediately clamped her lips shut and held the tube of frosting up to her face to hide behind it. "Sorry, I know I'm not supposed to call names like that."

"If you know, then don't do it."

Both children jumped at the sudden growl of a voice that came from behind them, quickly looking over their shoulder at the source. A huge grin spread across Natsuki's face as she dropped her frosting, standing up on her stool. "Daddy!" As Bakugou walked over, he caught her as she leaped off the stool onto him, latching her arms around his neck. "Hey, baby. How are my little squids, huh?" Holding Natsuki with one arm, he ruffled Matsuki's hair, who smiled at him. "Hey, Dad. We're making cookies!" Bakugou gazed upon the horrific mess on the kitchen island counter top, before his eyes met with Koge's. "Making cookies, huh? Looks more like making a mess."

Koge smiled, working on kneading the left over dough to roll it out again. "We are having a great time. If anyone is making a mess, it's your little gremlin there." Natsuki giggled, pointing down to her zombie tree. "Daddy, look! It's a zombie Christmas tree! Isn't it cool?" Bakugou took a seat on the stool Natsuki had been using, setting the young girl down on his lap. "Wow, that's pretty good. You know, Seijirou doesn't like zombies. That might scare him." Natsuki smirked, going back to adding more details to her cookie. "Ehehe, that would be so funny!" Koge rolled her eyes, cutting out more cookie shapes. "Katsuki, don't encourage her to scare him. She already thinks it's hilarious to jump out of nowhere and scream. Last time he spilt his coffee everywhere!"

Bakugou and Natsuki both snickered, sharing a knowing glance between each other. "He's just too easy, Utsuro. Even when he expects it, Natsu is still able to scare him. That's pretty funny and you know it." Koge sighed, giving a small shake of her head. "Yeah, I mean… Okay, it is funny. But he's being kind enough to teach her. I just feel like there needs to be a bit more respect shown to him." Bakugou nodded, working on fixing Natsuki's ponytail as she started on her next cookie. "Yeah, I know what you mean, even if he is a kook. You hear that, Natsu?"

Natsuki nodded in an exaggerated series of headbangs, pulling her hair from Bakugou's hands as she did. "Yes! I will not scare Uncle Seiji anymore. Maybe." Bakugou chuckled, going back to fixing her hair once she was still. "No, no maybe. You listen to your mother." Natsuki nodded in a more tame manner this time, her new ponytail bouncing about. "Yes, Daddy. Only on special occasions, like Halloween?" Koge smiled, closing the oven and setting the timer. "Okay, only on Halloween. I'll allow that."

Bakugou grumbled a bit as he pulled dried frosting out of his daughters hair. "Natsuki, there's more frosting on you than there is on the cookies." Matsuki looked up at his father, watching him. "When we first started, she squeezed a tube of frosting on her face. She's always making a mess." He looked back at his mother as she placed a bowl in front of him. "Would you like to mix this batch of dry ingredients, baby?" Matsuki nodded, moving to prop himself up on his knees on the stool to be taller. "Yes, Mama. With my hands?" Koge smiled, giving a small nod. "If you want."

Bakugou watched his son as he timidly put his hands into the mixture of powder, working it about. "Matsu I'm not surprised that your sister did that. She's probably eaten her own weight in it, too. She's a little gremlin, after all." Natsuki giggled in a high pitched, malicious voice, as if she were an evil witch. "Hehehe, oh yes, I am the eeeeeeevil frosting gremlin. Watch me devour it aaalllll!" She shoved a broken piece of cookie into her mouth, wiggling about happily as she chewed it. While she was distracted, Koge walked around the counter and took her own sugar in the form of a kiss from her lover. "I'm glad you made it home in time for the cookies, Katsuki."

Bakugou reached up to rub her arm as she wrapped them around his shoulders, her cheek pressed against his and body resting on his back. "Yeah. I had an impromptu meeting I couldn't bail out of. And my phone is dead so I couldn't text. Sorry." Koge kissed his cheek gently. "It's okay. Did you want to make some, or just watch?" Bakugou furrowed his brow as he gazed upon the pile of naked cookies, thinking for a moment. "Well, there's a lot, I guess I could–"

Before he could finish, there was a loud series of familiar sounding crackles and a pop from beside them, a cloud of smoke and mixed dry ingredients swallowing the family. Natsuki squealed in surprise, though she was still quick to lay blame. "Matsu! Why'd you do that?!" Coughing a bit, Koge waved the cloud away from her face, moving over to her son. "Natsuki! You stop that, you know it was an accident." Sure enough, Matsuki was frozen, staring at his own palm in shock with tears welling up in his eyes. "I-I-I'm sorry M-Mama, it just w-w-went off." Frowning, Bakugou stood, placing Natsuki down in the stool instead.

Matsuki's quirk was exactly like his own, so he knew the troubles he was going through as far as keeping control of it, especially when nervous. It didn't help that the child was timid and nervous natured, so it was constantly going off without him prompting it. Gently, he scooped up his son and sat down on the stool, placing him down on his lap. "Let's go over what happened, squid. Were you nervous?" Matsuki was trembling, sniffling as he tried to wipe the powder from his face, completely covered in it. Koge stroked his hair gently to comfort him, but allowed Bakugou to take over the talking.

"Y-yes, Dad. I was scared it was g-going to go off when my hands were in the powder."

"Do you think that those thoughts made it go off?"

The young boy nodded. "Yes… It's my fault, I can't control it." Bakugou took his sons hand gently, wiping his palm of the powder. "Matsu, I had trouble with it, too, when I was young. I know it doesn't make much sense, but the key to a quirk like this… is to be confident and not fear it. You've gotten much better, you know." Matsuki tried to control his hiccups as he looked at his palm, comparing it to his father's. "I just get nervous that it's going to go off… then it does."

"Because you're worried about it. Just… think of it like…" Bakugou looked up at his wife, hoping she wouldn't mind his metaphor. "Think of it like you really have to pee, and your worried you might pee before you get to a bathroom. What would you do then?"

Matsuki scrunched up his face a bit in thought. "Uh… not think about it? Or if I can't ignore it, go to the bathroom?"

"Exactly. So, if you realize you're nervous about it, try to focus on something else. If you can't, then you have every right to excuse yourself until you can calm down. Remember the breathing techniques I taught you?" Bakugou patted his sons back as he nodded. "Good. Don't just let it all well up inside until it goes off. Tell us, or just excuse yourself to calm down. Now give me a boomfive." He held up his hand, to which Matsuki clapped his hand against it, both of their palms going off with a small explosion. "You got this, kiddo."

Matsuki gave a smile, reaching up to wipe his face of tears. "Thank you, Dad. I'm going to go clean myself and change clothes." He hopped off his father's lap, jogging out of the kitchen. Bakugou looked up at Koge, who was glowering down at him. "A pee metaphor? Really?" Bakugou shrugged, putting his arms around her waist gently. "Hey, whatever he can understand. He calmed down a lot faster this time." Koge nodded, kissing him gently. "He did. He really depends on your support… I have a hard time calming him down because I don't understand the quirk like you do." With a sigh, Bakugou rested his forehead against hers. "You know, with Natsu, it would be a lot harder if she had ended up with it. It would be going off constantly, just from her high energy."

Koge rubbed his arm gently. "I think we know how she is at this point…" Bakugou's eyes downcast to the floor, brows furrowing as he thought of it. "I don't think she understands yet… Soon we're going to have to sit her down and explain." Placing a soft kiss on his forehead, Koge ran her fingers through his hair. "I'm sorry, Katsuki… It's my bloodline… I never knew my great grandmother didn't have one…" Bakugou shook his head, pulling his lover closer. "Stop. It's no one's fault. Quirk or not, she's tough, and she'll end up an amazing fighter learning under Seijirou."

Hearing an odd noise from beside them, both adults looked at their daughter, a small gasp leaving Koge's lips as they noticed the state she was in. Caught red handed, Natsuki stopped, holding a tube of frosting above her head, which she had squeezed almost empty into her hair.

"Uh… I'm a cookie."

"Natsu!"

"Oh my gosh, she's adorable Katsuki, I have to take a picture!"