Chapter Text
“Well, everything looks good, your baby is healthy.”
Katsuki studies the ultrasound screen in scrutiny, not entirely convinced that his doctor’s report is accurate. He looks down at his exposed stomach, round and firm, but no bigger than the size of a basketball.
“Why am I still so small, then? With my first I was on bed rest at six months,” he says, recalling the not-so fond memories of being confined to the bed and having to call Deku whenever he needed something.
“There’s only one this time, Kacchan, that’s probably why, right?” Deku chimes in, his fingers still interlaced with Katsuki’s. He nods, silently thanking his mate for the reminder and the reassurance.
He was so relieved the day he found out he wasn’t having multiples again. He loved his little quadruplets with all his heart, and would love any baby he birthed, but he had definitely harbored some anxiety over the possibility of ending up with eight children.
“That’s exactly it,” the doctor confirms, moving on to wipe the gel from Katsuki’s stomach. As soon as he’s clear, Katsuki’s hands immediately go to his stomach, instinctively caressing and cradling.
The doctor leaves them alone in the room for a moment, and Deku leans in to press a kiss against Katsuki’s round stomach. His omega purrs, happy with the attention and support from his alpha. Deku really is such a good alpha. He takes care of their family, picking up extra shifts while Katsuki is out of work.
“Kacchan,” Deku says, giving him a small smile as he reaches over to wipe away a tear from Katsuki’s face. Stupid hormones. They’re annoying, but he’s accepted them as inevitable these days. “Why are you crying now?”
“I’m not crying, just tearing up a bit,” he says, as if there’s a difference. Deku just lets out a light, airy laugh and kisses Katsuki’s cheek.
“Oh, okay, Kacchan, I see,” he chuckles. Katsuki pulls down his shirt and sits up on the exam table. He’s still a bit slower than he’d be if he didn’t have a bowling ball hanging off his stomach, but it’s nothing in comparison to how he was before.
His first pregnancy was awful in the last trimester. He loved being pregnant up until he had been confined to bed rest. Then it was tortuous. Not being able to move, almost constantly being in pain. His stomach had become stretched and bruised from being expanded to its limits.
This pregnancy is much easier by a long shot.
After they leave the doctor’s appointment, Deku drives them to the elementary school so they can pick up their litter from kindergarten. They all look so cute in their school uniforms, and Katsuki is fully convinced that they’re the smartest kids in their class. All of them collectively.
They pull through the pick up area and Katsuki’s heart feels so full as his little ones head for the car. Mitsuku tries to break into a run, but gets scolded by a teacher and told to walk.
Deku slows to a stop and gets out of the car so he can make sure each of the kids gets strapped into their car seats. Katsuki tries to twist around, but to no avail, so he adjusts his visor mirror so he can see into the backseat.
“Hi babies, how was school today?” he asks, lovingly.
“Very bad,” Mitsuki says.
“It was fun!” Osamu corrects. Mitsuki scoffs and reaches over to slap her brother.
“Hey! No hitting,” Deku scolds.
“Why terrible?” Katsuki asks, trusting that Deku has the behavior thing under control.
“Because! Kisa got her quirk and she broke the window!” Mitsuki explains, sounding way more exasperated than a five-year-old has any business sounding.
“Oh yeah?” Katsuki says. He’s not sure what to say to them about the whole quirk situation. He and Deku have talked about it before - they have no idea how genetics will play out in this situation. Some of them could end up quirkless, like Deku had originally been. They could get some variation of Katsuki’s quirk.
He feels empathy for his own mother whenever he imagines one of his rascal children being able to make explosions with their hands. Just the sheer terror of one of them blowing something up, or worse, hurting themselves on accident.
“When am I gonna get my quirk?” Saborou asks loudly, just as Deku gets back into the driver’s seat and shuts the door. Katsuki shoots Deku a concerned look. Deku matches his concern, but forces a smile as he twists around to see their pups.
“Soon, hopefully!” Deku says, cheerfully. Katsuki takes a deep breath, trusting Deku’s instinct on this one. He’s the one who has had to experience being quirkless as a kid. If their kids do end up being quirkless, he’s glad that Deku can help comfort them.
“When’s the baby coming?” Osamu asks. At least one of them asks the same question every day.
“She’s got a few more months of living in mommy’s belly,” Katsuki says, holding his hands over his stomach.
The pups are so sweet when it comes to their unborn baby sister. They like to touch Katsuki’s belly and blow kisses to the baby. Katsuki once overheard Mitsuki referring to her as her baby. If anything, Katsuki can rest easy knowing that his pup is going to be born into a big family that’s ready to shower her with love.
“Aw, I wanna see her!” Mitsuki shouts.
“Shh, not so loud,” Deku says, softly.
____
Every night, they have a routine. They eat dinner together as a family, unless Deku gets called in on an emergency (which thankfully doesn’t happen very often.) After they eat dinner, they clean up and then get each kid bathed. The bathing situation has been a work in progress, but they’ve gotten it down to a science. One bathes while the other dries and dresses.
After bath time, they settle into the living room on their big sectional couch and watch cartoons. As a parent of small children, Katsuki has become more of an expert on popular children’s shows than he had ever cared to be.
It’s nice to have their family time, especially on a night like tonight. All of the children had eaten dinner and taken their baths without fussing hardly at all. It really adds to the peaceful atmosphere.
And Katsuki fully plans on staying that way for the next half hour or so before the kids go to bed.
That is, until something black and rope-like shoots out across the living room and shatters a vase. Katsuki freezes and turns to Deku, giving him an aghast look.
“Was that black whip?” Katsuki asks, almost accusing. Deku’s eyes go wide.
“That wasn’t me!” he hisses.
“It was Osamu!” Isamu shrieks, pointing a finger at his brother. Osamu’s face turns into a pout and he starts to cry.
“Don’t tattle!” he shouts. “Didn’t do it on purpose!”
“Quirk! Osamu got a quirk! Where’s my quirk, Daddy?” Mitsuki squeals, clapping her hands together, fully amused.
“Okay, okay, it’s okay,” Deku says, getting up and picking up the broken pieces of the vase. Katsuki stays seated on the couch, hands rubbing tentatively over his stomach. Osamu and . . . black whip? Did Deku somehow pass One for All onto him? That doesn’t seem right.
“Do it again!” Mitsuku says, reaching over the couch and poking at his arm. “Osamu!”
“Mitsuki, sit down,” Katsuki hisses, then reaches his arms towards his son. “Osamu, come here.”
The boy nods tearfully and slides off the couch where he’s sitting. He can’t fit in Katsuki’s lap with the baby in the way, but he presses himself close and buries his head against him.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to!” he cries. Katsuki sighs and rubs his back.
“I know, it’s okay,” he says, soothingly. “You’re not in trouble. You just got your quirk, this is a good thing, okay?”
“Okay,” he says, still blubbering a bit. “What do I do now? Do I have to be a hero?”
“You can do whatever you want to do,” Katsuki assures him. The little boy pulls back a little and looks up at Katsuki with his big, red eyes. He smiles and wipes away his tears with his thumb. “We’ll take you to the quirk doctor, and they’ll run some tests, see if they can tell us more about your quirk.”
“What about me?” Mitsuki yells. “I want to go to the quirk doctor!”
“Isamu! What are you doing?!” Saborou suddenly shrieks, getting Katsuki’s attention. His gaze snaps in the direction of the boy, who is floating off the couch.
“Deku!” Katsuki shouts, pushing against the arm of the couch to hoist himself standing. He may have an easier time moving with this pregnancy, but his belly still impedes his movements.
“What’s wrong?” His mate calls back, padding back into the living room with a dustpan and broom. His eyes go wide as they lock onto the floating five-year-old. “Oh!”
He rushes forward and grabs him out of the air before he can run into something or fall.
“No fair!” Mitsuki pouts, crossing her little arms over her chest. Katsuki flops back down onto the couch when he sees that Deku seems to have things under control. He watches as Deku holds Isamu, comforting him.
“There we go! It’s okay,” Deku says to him. Both boys seem a little shaken up from having their quirks manifest so suddenly. And Katsuki doesn’t quite understand it. How they could both end up with pieces of One For All. But, so far, that seems to be what is happening.
Deku’s eyes meet his from across the living room, silently communicating his concern. They have had to perfect this art of pseudo-telepathic communication ever since their pups have been old enough to speak and understand.
They knew this day was going to come eventually. But they hoped if their pups ended up with quirks, they wouldn’t, you know, manifest all in the same day.
They manage to get the kids settled down enough to go back to watching television. Katsuki feels on edge the entire time, watching the clock until it’s time to put the pups to bed so they can talk about this.
When it’s finally bedtime, he takes the pups to their rooms. Isamu and Osamu share a room. When they first introduced the idea of letting each of the kids have their own room, they cried and Osamu ended up sneaking into Isamu’s room to sleep that night. Even though all four of them shared Katsuki’s womb and were born at almost the same time, he thinks that the two of them have a stronger bond because they’re the only two who ended up identical.
And, well, it’s nice that they have each other to lean on.
Katsuki and Deku both kiss them good night, reassuring them that everything will be okay.
“I know it’s new for you, but this is really exciting, okay?” Deku says softly, crouching down between their beds as he speaks. Katsuki stays standing, knowing full well that if he sits it’s going to take forever for him to get back up.
“What if I hurt Isamu on accident?” Osamu whines, looking across the room at his brother through bleary eyes.
“You won’t, baby,” Deku says. “I’m right around the corner, remember? Your daddy’s a hero, and he would never let anything bad happen to you, okay?”
“O-okay,” he mumbles.
“So’s your ma,” Katsuki reminds him.
“Yes, well, mommy is pregnant so he shouldn’t be doing any heroics right now,” Deku says, the sass clear in his tone. Katsuki just smirks as Deku gets up and follows him to the door.
“Love you, good night,” Katsuki says, before turning out the lights.
“Didn’t you break a window when you first got Black Whip?” Katsuki asks, keeping his voice low as they move on to Saborou’s room. Deku shrugs.
“Well, yeah, but I’m not gonna tell him that, he’ll just get scared,” Deku explains, which makes sense. “Also, it might be different since he’s still a pup.”
“Yeah, well I guess we’ll see -”
Katsuki stops talking as soon as they reach Saborou’s room. He’s still standing up in his pajamas, not even in bed yet. Though, oddly enough, the bed still looks disheveled as if he had been in it already.
“Hey, get your butt in bed,” Katsuki says, keeping his tone lighthearted. The boy jumps slightly and looks up at them in a way that has Katsuki’s maternal instincts spiking. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I think I got my quirk, too,” he says, quietly. He and Deku look at each other again.
“Oh? Why’s that?” Deku asks.
“Um, because,” he says, quietly. They both watch, equally puzzled as their oldest son crawls underneath the bed. Katsuki holds his breath, waiting.
And then it happens.
The bed lifts off the ground, startling both parents. And sure enough, shy little Saborou is underneath, holding it over his head.
Strength.
“Oh!” Deku says, eyes wide with excitement.
“Put that down,” Katsuki insists, his instincts spiking again at the prospect of his baby getting crushed by the heavy bed frame. Deku reaches over and places a hand on his back, sensing the anxiety and attempting to soothe. He eases up a little bit, and then a little more when the bed is safely on the ground and Saborou is out from under it.
“Wow, so you look mighty strong!” Deku says, cheerfully. “Are you excited?”
“Yeah!” he says, beaming. Saborou runs to Katsuki quickly and hugs him. Katsuki pats his head and smiles as he places a big kiss against his belly. “Goodnight Mommy! Goodnight baby!”
They finish saying goodnight to Saborou, and then it’s on to Mitsuki.
Oh, Miss. Mitsuki.
“I’m gonna be pissed if none of these kids get my quirk,” he scoffs, mostly joking. The stop at her bedroom door to find her already tucked into bed, soft sniffles coming from under the covers. Deku sighs and gives him a sad look.
They’re in for a wild fucking ride if Mitsuki is the kid that ends up with an explosion-based quirk. He’d much prefer it in the hands of someone a little more even-tempered like Saborou.
“Baby girl, what’s wrong?” Deku asks, moving over and kneeling next to her bed. Katsuki goes over as well and sits down on the edge of her bed. She sniffles a little harder before throwing back the covers and revealing her sad, red little face.
“Everyone has a quirk b-but me,” she wails, covering her face with her hands. “It’s not fair! Isamu and Osamu don’t even want to be heroes! They don’t know!”
“I know sweetie,” Deku says softly.
“No you don’t . You’re already a famous hero, and you have the best quirk,” she scoffs, tearing up all over again.
Deku opens his mouth to say something, but then thinks better of it. Better not to get her hopes up just in case.
“Everyone gets their quirk at a different time,” Katsuki says. “Kids your age are still starting to manifest . . . You never know, it could be even a year before it comes. Don’t get your hopes up yet.”
“A year is too long!” she cries. Katsuki nods, well aware of how quirks can seem so important, especially at her age, and especially for someone with such a competitive spirit.
It takes a while to calm her down enough to sleep. But eventually, she starts to tire herself out. It’s late, and she’s worn from crying. They give her hugs and kisses and reassure her that they love her before they leave.
Deku helps Katsuki get up from the bed and they retreat back into the living room.
“Well, shit,” Katsuki groans, as soon as they’re finally out of earshot of young children. He sits back on the couch and props his feet up while Deku settles in next to him.
“This is so exciting, I don’t know why they’re so upset,” Deku admits, draping an arm around Katsuki’s shoulders before placing a kiss against his cheek. “I would have been over the moon to get such cool quirks at their age.”
“Yeah, because you’re a nerd,” Katsuki says, teasing. Deku shakes his head.
“I remember when you got your quirk, Kacchan -”
“Shut up, I never said I wasn’t a nerd,” he chuckles, holding his hands over his belly again. He’s in the middle of relaxing against his mate when he feels something move. “Oh.”
“Oh? What’s oh?” Deku asks. Katsuki takes Deku’s free hand and moves it to the spot where he just felt the kick. He follows Katsuki’s lead and his eyes go wide with amazement when the baby kicks again. “Wow, Kacchan! Hi, baby!”
“Yeah, hi,” Katsuki chuckles, still amazed as he was the first time he felt his first litter start to kick and move. “In just a few months, it’s gonna be damn zoo in here.”
“We’ll be okay, Kacchan,” Deku says, dreamily, as he moves his hand up to the side of Katsuki’s face. He kisses him long and deep. “We’ve got four beautiful pups - what’s one more?”
Katsuki smiles and opens his mouth to speak.
Only to be cut off by the sound of an explosion coming from down the hall.
Maybe they do have their work cut out for them afterall.