˖ . ݁𝜗𝜚. ݁₊

THE slanting rays of the setting sun painted the sky an array of soft pinks, oranges and lilacs as the fiery ball of gas slowly dipped beneath the horizon. Thin trails of clouds drifted lazily across the heavens and the streets of Musutafu held a warm glow over them.

"Finally." You dusted your hands before they found their place on your hips and you stared down at your newly-built couch with a proud glint in your e/c gems.

It had been hours since you and your son had arrived at your new apartment in the city and without wasting a single second, you had gotten to work on building the furniture that the movers had brought in for you. You had gotten through the majority of the items and unpacked countless boxes and now, your new house was looking more like an actual home.

All that was left really, was putting together the bigger pieces of furniture you couldn't handle alone and of course, food. You'd taken Tatsuhiko to a nearby cafe for lunch and were planning something similar for dinner but obviously, you still had to buy groceries and whatnot.

You spun on the balls of your feet and made your way down the apartment's short hallway where you reached your son's new bedroom and peeked your head through the open door. Your lips tugged upwards in a smile when you spotted your son sleeping soundly in a ball on the floor beside where he had been drawing - crayons, pencils and paper scattered messily around him.

"Tatsu, honey." You crouched beside your son and gently shook him awake. His eyes slowly fluttered open to reveal the mesmerising shade of vermillion surrounding his pupils and he sleepily rubbed his eyes with his tiny fists.

"Mama...?"

"It's dinner time, baby. We're going out for food and then shopping for some groceries, okay?"

"Okay..." the boy's hand covered his mouth as it stretched open with his yawn and he slowly blinked the sleep out of his eyes.

You carefully scooped the four-year-old into your arms and held him by your hip. "Sorry for waking you, sweetie."

"It's okay, Mama." Tatsuhiko's head fell tiredly onto your shoulder and he struggled to keep his eyes open. "Where are we going?"

"There's a restaurant nearby that does really good mapo tofu."

The boy's face lit up at the mention of his favourite food and suddenly, all traces of his tiredness were gone. "Mapo tofu!? Really!?"

You chuckled with a nod before sitting your son down in the apartment's entryway where you helped him put on his shoes and jacket. You then slipped on your own shoes and jacket and grabbed your handbag from the floor beside you.

"Come on, then." You held your hand out towards your son who happily took it and you left your new apartment.

The walk to the restaurant didn't take very long and when you stepped through the door, you were greeted with the enticing smell of spices that made your stomach growl. You led your son to a table and helped him into his seat before taking off his jacket and draping it over the back of his chair. You did the same with your own coat as you took your seat opposite your son and your eyes skimmed over the menu laying on the table to see what you wanted.

Not long after, a friendly waiter greeted you and took your orders. He was surprised by your son's choice of spicy food but wrote it down with a smile before he took the menus and left.

"This place is so cool, Mama!" Tatsuhiko gushed as his red eyes danced around the restaurant and took in all of the different decor pieces. This restaurant was very different to the ones he was used to in the countryside and he couldn't help the grin that took over his lips. He was excited to see everything he could in this new city.

"I'm glad you like it." You folded your arms over the table with a fond smile shaping your features as you too, took in all of the decor around you. It hadn't changed much since the last time you were there. "You know, I used to come here all the time with Uncle Deku and the others."

The four-year-old's eyes lit up with the mention of one of his favourite heroes and he leaned forward excitedly. "What did Uncle Deku use to get, Mama?"

"Hm..." you tapped your chin in thought as you tried to recall the time you and the students of class 1-A would eat at this restaurant. "He used to always get katsudon."

"Katsudon?"

"Mhm. You know..." You leaned forward with your hand raised to cover your mouth as though you were telling your son a special secret. "Dynamight used to always get the mapo tofu."

"He did!?" A loud gasp escaped Tatsuhiko's lips as his eyes stretched wider than saucers. He couldn't believe that his favourite food was the same as his idol's. When he watched you nod in confirmation, his eyes shone with awe and his tiny hands balled into fists. "I hope my quirk will be just as cool as his!"

"Is Dynamight's quirk your favourite?" You perched your elbow on the table and rested your chin in the palm of your hand.

Tatsuhiko bobbed his head up and down frantically with a wide grin stretched across his face. "Mhm! Dynamight's explosions are so cool and powerful!"

Your smile faltered for a moment as you thought about the ash-blond hero; if only your son knew who his real dad was.

You knew it was a little selfish, but part of you hoped that Tatsuhiko would manifest one of your quirks instead of Katsuki's. You knew that it was just a matter of time before he pieced together that Aki wasn't his real dad and right now, you didn't want to even think about that conversation. If Tatsuhiko learned who his real dad was, there was a chance he'd push Aki away and you knew that would break your boyfriend's heart. You also didn't want to get your son's hopes up. After all, Katsuki had cut you off after you gave birth which made it likely that he didn't want anything to do with the boy.

"Mama?"

The sound of your son's voice interrupted your train of thought and you focused your attention back on him. His head was tilted to the side a little and his eyes sparkled with concern from your lack of reply to his question.

"Sorry, hon. What did you say?"

"It's okay!" The boy's face brightened into a closed-eye grin and he pumped his fist in the air. "I was talking about how I want one of your quirks too, Mama! They're both so cool!"

You breathed out a chuckle and raised your other hand above the table, your gaze focusing on the little stars that erupted from your palm. "I wouldn't say they're both cool. This one's pretty useless..."

"But it helps me sleep!"

Your lips twitched upwards at your son's unintentional reassurance. He was right, your 'starry night' quirk had helped many times in putting the boy to sleep. On nights when he was particularly restless, you'd make the stars float above his head and you'd hum a lullaby. Worked every time.

You watched the constellations reflect in his bright, vermillion eyes and you smiled at the awestruck expression on his face.

"Do you remember the name of this one?"

"Ursa major!" He answered without hesitation. All because of your quirk which you deemed useless, Tatsuhiko had grown a certain love for the stars and constellations. He'd begged you for a telescope after he first learned what they were and the two of you had spent countless nights staring through it and familiarising yourselves with the constellations. Although they were a rare sight, his favourite things to spot were supernovas, he was always captivated by their beauty and lights.

"Very good, hon!" Your heart swelled with pride as you put out the stars in your palm. "You're getting so smart, Tatsu."

"I can't wait to start school so I can learn new things!" Tatsuhiko's lips were pulled into a wide grin before he tilted his head to the side. "When do I start again, Mama?"

"Next week." You smiled and raised an eyebrow. "Are you nervous?"

The spiky-haired boy's grin faltered and he cast his gaze to the floor while wringing his tiny hands. "... a little."

"Don't worry, hon." You reached across the table to hold your son's hand and gave it a gentle, reassuring squeeze. "You'll make loads of friends and learn lots of new things."

Tatsuhiko's grin returned in the blink of an eye and he nodded. "Right!"

After you and your son had finished your dinner at the nice restaurant, you made your way to the closest supermarket. The streets were quieter in the late hours of the afternoon but even so, a few pro heroes were spotted patrolling here and there. Tatsuhiko gushed over every one he saw and excitedly told you all about them. You happily listened to his detailed explanations about each of their quirks and ultimate moves and a fond smile adorned your lips as you watched him rant.

When you arrived at the supermarket, you grabbed a basket from the stack of them by the door. With your free hand, you held your son's and led him through the large store, walking up and down each of the aisles as you picked up some random bits and bobs you needed for your new house.

"Mama! Mama! Look!" Tatsuhiko gasped as he let go of your hand. Your eyes followed him to a display stand of various hero figurines and you watched him pick up a Dynamight one, holding it up for you to see it. "It's Dynamight!"

You nodded with a chuckle as your eyebrow raised questioningly. "Don't you already have one of those?"

"These are new ones, Mama! Look!" The four-year-old pressed a button on the back of the action figure and it suddenly called out one of the pro hero's ultimate moves.

"Howitzer Impact!"

When he pressed the button again, it called out a different move.

"AP Shot!"

You smiled sadly at the recorded voice of your old friend. You remembered when he came up with those moves, you had been tending to the few scrapes he'd earned during the class training that day and he told you all about the ultimate moves he was working on. You could still recall his cocky grin as he told you that his were better than everyone else's.

"Very cool, hon."

Just as you were about to turn around, you noticed the sheepish look on your son's face and stopped in your tracks. Your expression softened and you held your hand out towards him. "Do you want it?"

His face lit up. "Can I, Mama?"

You nodded with a smile and your son cheered happily before grabbing your hand with his free one. The whole way around the store, he played with the figurine with a giant grin stretched from ear to ear.

As you continued your way around the store, you scanned the different shelves for things that you'd need for the few meals you had planned in your mind but when your eyes landed on the particular bottle of spices you wanted, you groaned at its spot on the top shelf.

"Really?" You deadpanned before setting down your basket and standing on your tiptoes. You reached as far as you could but your fingertips just barely grazed the glass bottle.

"Oh... here, let me..." a soft, monotonous voice spoke from behind you before the kind stranger grabbed your desired spices from the shelf and handed them to you, their body freezing when their eyes met yours. "Y/n...?"

E/c met blue and grey and your eyes widened when you recognised the familiar face you hadn't seen in so long. His body had bulked up a decent bit over the five years you hadn't seen him and his dual-coloured hair was slightly shorter than before but there was no mistaking the burn scar over his left eye.

"Sho...?"

Your eyes slowly stretched wide before your expression brightened into a large grin and you pulled the man into a tight hug. Shoto stiffened a little at the sudden embrace but with the familiar scent of cigarettes and apples, his shoulders relaxed and his hands found their place on your back to return the hug. "Y/n, it's been a while. How have you been?"

"I've been great! What about you?" You grinned as you both pulled apart. Your heart was racing with joy; you couldn't believe that you'd run into an old friend so soon. "I heard you scored second place in the billboard rankings! Congrats!"

Shoto's expression softened with his smile. "Thanks. I've been good too. Very busy, but good." When the excitement clouding his mind dissipated, his expression faltered and he furrowed his eyebrows. "But wait, what are you doing here? Surely, Midoriya would have mentioned it if you were visiting..."

"Not visiting." You wiggled your finger as your face broke into a wide grin, unable to contain your excitement. "Moving!"

Heterochromatic eyes widened in surprise. "Really?" When you nodded in confirmation, the man's expression relaxed into a soft smile. "That's great. I'm sure everyone will be excited to see you again, especially ba—"

"Mama? Who's that?" Tatsuhiko tugged on the hem of your jumper as he hid partially behind your legs. His action figure was hugged close to his chest and after his red eyes scanned over the man's face a few times, his eyes widened in recognition and he gasped. "Wait, is that Shoto!? The number two hero!?" Even with his awestruck expression and heart racing in excitement, he stayed hidden behind you. He'd always been rather shy when it came to meeting new people - even if they were his idols.

"Hm?" Shoto's gaze landed on the boy hiding behind you and his smile grew. "Oh, this must be your son." He crouched to be at eye level with the four-year-old. "It's nice to see you again. I haven't seen you since you were a newborn."

Even though his heart pounded loudly against his chest with the excitement of meeting one of his favourite heroes, Tatsuhiko remained behind you and buried his face into your legs. You smiled at your son's shy nature and gently ruffled his spiky hair, urging him to look up at you. You gave him a reassuring smile and nudged his shoulder. "Go on..."

Happy with your reassurance, the four-year-old finally stepped out from behind you. Shoto's eyes raked over the boy's appearance and slowly widened at the familiar spiky hair and bright, vermillion eyes. He looked exactly like Katsuki only without the usual scowl and with your h/c hair.

"He looks like..."

You nodded with a tight-lipped smile before the man could finish. A sheepish expression took over your features and you rubbed at the back of your neck nervously. "Yeah... turns out I was wrong about the timeline..."

Heterochromatic eyes remained wide with surprise. Of all the things he was expecting out of today, this was not one of them. After a moment of staring at your embarrassed expression, the dual-colour-haired man cleared his throat and covered up his surprise with a small, warm smile as his hand extended towards your son. "My name's Shoto Todoroki, I'm an old friend of your mother's."

"You're friends with my mom!?" Tatsuhiko's head snapped to the side to stare up at you in shock but you only shrugged with a sheepish smile dancing across your lips.

"I may have forgotten to mention who the students of class 1-A were..."

"Does that mean you're also my uncle like Uncle Deku!?"

Shoto's eyes widened a little in surprise. The question had taken him by surprise but with the hopeful glint in the boy's vermillion irises, he just couldn't say no. "If that's what you'd like, then alright." He smiled softly.

"Hell yeah!" The spiky-haired boy grabbed the pro hero's outstretched hand and gave it an excited shake. "My name's Tatsuhiko! But everyone calls me Tatsu!"

"That's a lovely name, Tatsu." Shoto smiled as he pushed himself back to his full height. When his gaze returned to you, a thought popped into his mind and his smile softened. "I almost forgot, everyone is getting together for drinks tonight to celebrate the rankings. Would you like to come?"

Your eyebrows rose and you felt your heart rate increase with excitement at the thought of seeing your old friends again but then you remembered the boy by your side and shook your head with your hands waving in the air dismissively. "I'd love to, but I can't. There isn't anyone to look after Tatsu—"

"Bring him." Shoto shrugged with a smile and glanced at the four-year-old who was listening to the conversation with eyes filled with wonder. "I'm sure everyone would be excited to see him after so long and I bet he'd be happy to meet them too, considering who they are."

"Who are they, Mama?"

Your attention turned to your son who stood beside you with his Dynamight figure hugged close to his chest. His head was tilted to the side and his eyes were wide and sparkling with childlike wonder; he looked like a puppy.

You chewed on the inside of your cheek for a moment as you weighed out your choices before your lips curled upwards with your closed-eye grin and you ruffled his hair.

"You'll see when you meet them!"

˖ . ݁𝜗𝜚.

━━━ AUTHOR'S NOTE !!

hello, my lovelies! thank you for reading!
i hope you enjoyed the chapter!!

remember to leave a vote and comment!!
i love you, take care!!

word count ; 3k