Incomplete [Chapter 2]

[Chapter 1]

“I'm telling you, Kacchan, it's not right! No one ever picks the first house!”

“When have we ever been normal?”

“But we must be missing something!”

“Deku,” he said firmly, taking the anxious face in his hands. “It has three big bedrooms, two bathrooms, a yard, a nice kitchen, and the bank said they'll happily lend us the money. What could possibly be wrong?”

“What if it's in a dangerous area?”

“It's in the middle of the god damn suburbs, you saw it, and it has one of the best schools in the city nearby. I’m gonna have to pull so many strings to get them an interview at that school.”

“Maybe we just need to look at more of them! We might find something even better!”

“We looked at two and didn't like either of them, why is this so hard to accept?”

“Because it was the first house, Kacchan.”

“Maybe it was fate, Deku. Did you ever think of that? Divine intervention led us to that house because it's where we're meant to live. Don’t you think it means something that we managed to find the perfect house so quickly?

“You don't believe in that sort of stuff.”

“But you do.”

Izuku fell quiet, contemplating, and Katsuki laughed at the way the freckled face contorted between his hands.

“I'm cancelling the other viewings.”

“What?!”

“That's our house, Deku, you know it. We're gonna go to their office and we're gonna put in our offer and we're gonna get that house if it god damn kills us.”

Izuku smiled finally, softening as he looped his arms around Katsuki's waist. He nodded, and Katsuki released his grip, letting the head fall to his shoulder.

“That's our house, Kacchan.”

“Yeah. Ours.”

True to his word, Katsuki made three phone calls. Two to cancel the viewings they had scheduled, and one to the agency they’d visited first. Within minutes they were in the car, Izuku twitching in the passenger seat while Katsuki drove them through the evening traffic. Despite being such short notice, the agents were more than prepared for them, showing them through to an office with a serious looking man and a pile of paperwork already sitting in wait.

The owners of the house were sitting in another office nearby, and as soon as Katsuki finished filling out the papers, the agent left to show them the offer. If Katsuki had known which office they were in, he might have burst in on them and insisted on settling it then and there, face to face, but the agency had been smarter than that. He’d had to settle for being the one to fill in the pages instead, Izuku more than content to let him do the heavy lifting, and he couldn’t help but wonder if it was only him and Izuku who had that information withheld from them. They were well-known heroes, after all – who knows what kind of nonsense the owners might have pulled, trying to get more money out of them, or sell the address to the media, or claim they were coerced into accepting the offer, or hell, taking less than they wanted because they felt bad saying no to the heroes who protected their area. Maybe it was standard procedure for everybody, but maybe it was just standard procedure for heroes.

When the agent returned, he set the papers down in front of them, a new number written below their initial offer.

“They've said they would accept this much.”

“Done,” Katsuki answered, barely even pausing to breathe. “We'll sign it.”

It wasn't even five percent more than their original number, and Katsuki would have paid plenty more if they'd asked. The agent looked over at Izuku for his agreement, getting a smile and a nod in return, and soon they were stamping pages and signing their names on a dozen little dotted lines. As they handed the pile back again, for the agents to return and give the sellers the good news, Izuku leaned his head on Katsuki's shoulder, feeling lighter than he’d ever felt before.

“We bought a house, Kacchan.”

“Yeah, we did.”

The moment they left the office, with a list of dates and numbers on their phone, Izuku called their apartment building’s head office to cancel their lease. It would run out at the end of the month anyway, they just had to elect not to renew it, and those weeks between would give them plenty of time to pack up all their stuff and make the move.

And then, it would all be official.

He let Katsuki lead him through the streets as he talked on his phone, directing his next call to a builder that the real estate office had recommended highly. There were no major issues with the house, but a few tiny things that they figured may as well be fixed before they moved in; patching and repainting some walls after the old owners’ things were taken down, double glazing some windows to keep the warmth in, come winter, and of course changing all the locks just in case any creepy shit happened. Re-painting the walls would be the most time consuming part, though the builder said he could bring extra people in to get it all finished quicker, so it would still be done and dry long before their lease ran out.

It wasn't until they got back to their apartment and crashed on the couch that it all really began to sink in, and Izuku squealed as he dove on Katsuki for hugs, burying his face in the crook of Katsuki’s neck and missing the soft smile he got for it.

“We bought a house, Kacchan!”

“In two days,” Katsuki added, disbelieving. “Fuck. Who does that?”

“We do!” Izuku giggled. “I'm so happy, Kacchan.”

“Me too.” He hugged Izuku a little closer, nuzzling into soft green hair. “I love you.”

“I love you too!”

─────

The next few days went by in a blur.

At some point they met with a painter to discuss their colour options, arguing for an hour about colours for the kids' rooms while he watched on awkwardly – the colours were all too boring to Katsuki, no matter how much Izuku pointed out that they could get posters and artwork to hang up – before the painter produced a book of wallpaper photos as an option, and everything quickly fell into place. Simple, classy paint throughout the house, with fun wallpaper over top to come later on, after they’d gotten to know the kids a little better.

At multiple points, they went down research rabbit holes on adoption and foster care – Katsuki had tried to veto the second part, but thankfully Izuku knew how to talk him down. If for some reason they couldn’t go straight to adoption, foster care would get those kids home to their new dads a lot quicker, and a lot of the information was relevant to both options anyway!

And when Friday came, and their patrols ended, Izuku could feel himself buzzing with excitement. He insisted on being the one to make the phone call, squeezing at Katsuki's hand to get some of the nervous energy out as he did, and the ringing seemed to go on forever.

Izuku’s perception of time had gone completely out the window over the course of the week, but he did know that the time had finally come, and he hardly even knew what to say, but he couldn’t bear it another moment, couldn’t stop to plan out something eloquent and intelligent to say, he just had to get them on the phone, had to get everything started as soon as humanly possible, had to get those kids home to a family that loved them and cared for them and would be the best damn fathers in the world because that was what they deserved.

“This is Bakugou Izuku and Katsuki, we were in last weekend?” he began, when the staff finally picked up. “We were told to call back at the end of the week, if we were still interested?”

“Yes, of course Sir, I've been hoping for your call!”

“We haven't changed our minds,” he clarified. “We want to adopt them.”

“I'm glad to hear it, Sir! The first step will be to visit your home, just as a formality, to make sure you have the space and a safe environment and such. Please don’t stress too much, we can point out anything you might have missed and help you to get it fixed if needed. When would be a good time for you both?”

“We’re actually just moving into a new place,” Izuku smiled awkwardly, even though she wouldn’t see it. “You’re more than welcome to come, of course! We just don’t have all our furniture in yet, and we’re still getting some painting and stuff done. Is that okay?”

“Of course, I fully understand. We are required to do a few home visits throughout the process, so I will be happy to see the progress as you go along. We’re more than willing to wait a few weeks, though, if that would be better? You must be busy with the move.”

“No, no, that’s fine! Um, maybe Friday? Most of the work should be done by then, we’ll just be working on the bedrooms. We don’t have patrol Friday nights, so we could do any time really, but in the afternoon would be best?”

“That sounds perfect.”

“Great! I have your card here, so I’ll email you our new address for Friday, and our contact information in case you need to get in touch. Just let us know what time would work best for you!”

“Wonderful. Good luck with the move, and I look forward to seeing you Friday.”

“Thank you! See you then!”

Izuku squealed again the moment they hung up, and with a laugh Katsuki pulled him in tight, planting sloppy kisses over his cheeks and neck that only made him laugh harder. They fell onto the couch in a heap, a surprisingly bright grin spreading across Katsuki’s face, and Izuku quickly ruined it with kisses.

With promises of hefty bonuses for working overtime, the builder and painters had already assured them that the downstairs area would be ready by the end of the week. Initially it had just been to let them move in furniture, but things had continued to just fall into place for them perfectly, like it was just meant to be. Maybe Katsuki had been on to something with his fate comments.

Hopefully the painting would be a good enough excuse for why there was no furniture in the kids’ rooms yet, if they cared at all, but they were going to have to go pick out some beds soon at the very least. With the next two nights off work, maybe they could sit down and do some research on furniture, find out what the necessities were and pick out some designs they liked that the kids would hopefully like too. It would have been nice to let the kids pick it out themselves, but Izuku knew that wasn’t practical, so they would just have to handle it themselves for now, and let the kids do upgrades over time.

The most important thing, after all, was that soon they would be able to bring their new kids home.

Izuku couldn't wait.

─────

Izuku wiped his face on the hem of his shirt, sighing faintly, but when Katsuki wolf-whistled at him he couldn’t help but laugh. All his exhaustion seemed to instantly melt away when he saw the little smile aimed at him, and despite being drenched in sweat, he flung his arms around Katsuki’s neck.

“I love you,” he mumbled, resting his head on Katsuki’s shoulder. “You always make me smile.”

“It isn’t exactly hard, you big dork,” Katsuki teased. “You stink.”

“You knew what you were signing up for when we got married.” Izuku grinned back, wriggling one arm around to wave a shiny ring in Katsuki’s face. “You’re stuck with me.”

“Good.”

“You’re such a sap, Kacchan.”

“Like you can talk.”

He grabbed a handful of Izuku’s hair, dragging him off, and Izuku laughed as he conceded his grip, settling instead for beaming at the soft look on his husband’s face. He still felt so lucky every time he woke up to Katsuki in his arms, or laced their fingers together, or sat down to eat a home-cooked dinner Katsuki had made for them to share. Never in his wildest dreams could he have imagined that he’d get to marry Kacchan, and now they’d bought a house together? And were planning a family together?

Izuku could have woken up any second, in his bed back at his mom’s place, and he wouldn’t have been at all surprised to learn that none of it had been real. Disappointed? Absolutely, more than anything. But definitely not surprised.

“Is that all your merch?”

Izuku jolted, snapping out of his thoughts and back to the apartment, where Katsuki was picking up a carefully packed box from beside him.

“I can carry it!”

“You’d trip on the stairs,” Katsuki snorted, bumping him with a hip as he passed. “I’ve got it. Go start the bath for me?”

“Only if I can share with you.”

“Fine,” Katsuki huffed, clearly holding back a laugh even though they both knew Izuku could see right through him. “This is why we got the house with the big bath.”

“I’m so excited to use it,” Izuku agreed. “All those little jets after a long day of fighting and chasing villains? It’s gonna be heaven.”

“You know,” Katsuki hummed, glancing at the clock on the microwave. “They’re painting downstairs at the moment, right? And they’ll be finishing up soon?”

“You wanna go use the new bath?” Izuku grinned knowingly. “We could put some of these boxes in the garage for later, save making a bunch of trips on move-in day.”

“Sounds like a good excuse to me. Grab some clean pyjamas, no one will know if we drive home in just our pyjamas.”

“I love you so much.”

“Get a move on, nerd.”

Katsuki headed out the door with the last giant box of hero figures, and Izuku retreated to their bedroom. The room was strangely empty, devoid of all but their bed and clothing, everything else already packed into the back of the car to take to the new place.

When they pulled up in front of their new home, Izuku still didn’t feel like it was real. From the outside, it reminded him a little of Katsuki’s parents’ house – not much of the same style, but the same size and elegance that had awed Izuku as a little kid living in an apartment. He still remembered the day he found out that only the Bakugous lived in that house, that they didn’t share it with another family or two or three, and his mind had been blown by the concept. The knowledgethat now he owned one of those homes, that he had a big house with a driveway and a front door and a little garden of shrubs and flowers along the front, still hadn’t fully sunken in.

“Hey,” Katsuki said quietly, when he’d turned off the car. “I’m glad it’s you.”

Katsuki wasn’t great with words, never had been, but Izuku had become a pretty good translator over the years. And when Katsuki said those words, Izuku’s eyes filled with tears, failing miserably when he tried to blink them back.

It’s you. The one he’d married, the one he’d bought a home with, the one he was starting a family with.

It’s you. The person who had been there by his side, through thick and thin, for as long as they could both remember.

It’s you. The man he’d fallen in love with, who he’d chosen to spend the rest of his life with, and Izuku couldn’t have been more grateful for that fact.

“I love you,” he squeaked, when Katsuki snorted at his dumb tears.

“I love you too, you big dummy,” Katsuki chuckled, ruffling Izuku’s hair fondly. “Come on.”

Izuku wiped his tears on his sleeve and dragged himself out of the car, hanging back while Katsuki locked it and rounded the car to join him. They walked side by side to the front door, fingers lacing together like second nature, without even a conscious decision to make it happen.

“It looks so new,” Izuku gushed, when they stepped onto plastic dropcloths and saw all the fresh paint around them. “I love it!”

“It’s pretty great,” Katsuki agreed. “I’m glad we went neutral, I think the orange would have been too much.”

“So funny,” Izuku snorted, elbowing him lightly. “I wish I’d said yes just to see how far you’d take it before backing out.”

“I didn’t go out and marry you just for you to suddenly start calling my bluffs, nerd.”

“Noted,” Izuku grinned. “No bluff-calling.”

“Good boy.”

He dropped Izuku’s hand, instead wrapping an arm around his neck and pulling him into a choke hold, getting laughter in return. It was still nice knowing that even when he got a little rough, Izuku never got nervous or backed off – Izuku trusted him, much more than Katsuki really deserved, and he would do everything in his power to keep it that way.

“You stink,” Izuku complained, prying his way out and running to the stairs before Katsuki could grab him back. “I’ll race you!”

He didn’t wait for an answer before he hurried off up the stairs, and Katsuki smiled at his back as he jogged after him.

Katsuki had no doubt in his mind that he was the luckiest man in the world.

[Chapter 3]