Chapter Text
Tsukauchi
You guys are registered foster parents, correct?
Nighthide
Yes, we have been for a few months.
However, we haven’t received any cases yet.
Why?
Tsukauchi
We might have one here that suits you two well.
She’s a 10-month-old girl named Milo, grounds for foster care and potentially adoption.
She’s Japanese-American, with no suitable relatives after her mother passed away.
If you’re interested then you two can slide down to the station when you get the chance to review the file etc., although, I would personally prefer it if it were sooner rather than later.
Nighthide
We’ll talk about it and I’ll let you know when we’re on our way.
I don’t see us waiting long.
Tsukauchi
Great. See you then.
☆☆☆
“Denki, love, can you wake up for a second?” Hitoshi gently prompted his husband, who was out cold after getting home from a particularly exhausting patrol. “I know you’re tired, but I think you’d really like to see this, okay?”
Denki rolled over, just barely cracking his eyes open. “What is it?”
“Tsukauchi says there’s a little girl in the foster program that-” he started to speak.
Denki’s eyes shot open, almost as if he’d received a caffeine shot. “I’m up, I’m up. You said something about a little girl?”
Hitoshi couldn’t help but chuckle. “So, Tsukauchi has a case right now involving a little girl named Milo, he says none of her relatives are in a state to take care of her, so she’s going into the foster system, and he thinks she’d suit us well.” he explained.
“Wait actually?” Denki questioned in disbelief.
“Yes. Get up,” Hitoshi deadpanned.
Denki threw the covers off of himself as he swung his legs over the side of their bed, sliding on his slippers. “You aren’t fucking with me, right?”
“Why would I mess around with something like this?” Hitoshi pointed out.
“I don’t know… where’s she even going to sleep?” Denki questioned, muttering to himself, rummaging through their closet. “What’s she going to wear? We don’t have baby clothes or anything like that…”
“Baby, we live in a mansion, there’s literally a spare room across the hall, and, in terms of baby stuff, there’s two kids living here already, we have baby stuff to use for now, and we’ll collect more of our own in no time,” reminded Hitoshi, who, for once, was the level-headed one in the situation.
“What about babysitters, huh?”
“Once again, we live in a mansion with our closest friends, and our neighbors are another mansion full of our friends. And, our parents aren’t gonna wanna stay away, you know that, right?” Hitoshi raised his eyebrow. “We don’t have to worry about it, love.”
“‘Kay, give me ten minutes to wake up and deal with this bedhead…” Denki murmured, making a mad dash for the bathroom.
“Okay, just go get ready!” Hitoshi chuckled insistently.
Within a few minutes, Denki had popped back out of their ensuite, fully dressed and ready to go.
“I’m gonna call my dads on the way,” Hitoshi explained, sliding his shoes on, tossing Denki the keys. “I think they’re gonna be excited.”
“Good idea,” Denki agreed.
“Where are you two off to at… barely seven AM? On a Tuesday?” Sero questioned, clad in pink, fuzzy Hello Kitty pajama pants that were baggy, clearly a size or two too big for him, since the drawstring was pulled tight. He sipped on his coffee, accompanied by Mina, who still looked to be half asleep.
“Yeah, this isn’t either of your usual patrol times,” Mina yawned. “Didn’t Kaminari get home like an hour ago?”
“Yeah, I got off at five this morning,” Denki shrugged, grabbing his well-loved jacket from the closet.
“What the hell are you doing up then, dude?” Sero raised a questioning eyebrow. It wasn’t like his friend to sleep for less than eight hours at a time, so being up, ready to go after barely an hour or so was a bit worrying.
“I don’t know, Hanta, why are you wearing Emma’s pajama pants?” Denki pointed out, in an attempt to take the spotlight away from himself. “We’re all doing stuff, yeah?”
“Pfft. He’s got you there,” Mina smirked.
“Someone’s gotta wear 'em, and they aren’t her size anymore,” he shrugged.
“‘Kay, Denks we gotta go, you sure you’re good to drive?” Hitoshi double checked. “The drive takes longer than when we go by train.”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine, I’ve driven with less sleep, and a shit ton less adrenaline,” Denki shrugged.
Mina groaned, “So, are we gonna get to know where you’re going?”
“Musutafu police station,” Hitoshi said.
“Somehow I’m getting the vibe that this isn’t hero related?” Kaita chuckled, moving to lean against the counter, her eyes assessing the situation. “Anything you need?”
“Yeah, can you make sure the spare room across from our room isn’t too messy? We’ll take care of the rest, but if you can, can you run the vacuum over it or something?” Hitoshi asked.
Kaita stared at the pair, puzzled for a moment or two, before she let out a gasp, “Wait-”
“Yep. It’s what you’re thinking,” Denki grinned. “At least what I think you’re thinking…”
“How old are they?” she smiled.
“She’s almost a year old, her name’s Milo,” Hitoshi smiled. “Nothing’s set in stone or official or anything yet, but Tsukauchi wants us to come down and take a peek at the file.”
“WAIT!” Mina hopped off her stool. “No wonder you’re so eager to go, OMG. I’m so happy for you guys!!”
“I don’t really know how the whole process works, but text me if you end up bringing her home with you, okay? I wanna be ready to meet her,” Kaita requested, her voice taking on a soft tone. She walked over and hugged the pair. “I’m so happy for you guys, and proud of you. Now SCRAM !”
“Hey that’s my line…!” Bakugo yelled from somewhere in the living room, where he was probably sitting with Aiya and Masaki, judging by the sight of Bluey on the TV, which wasn’t surprising since the kids were typically early risers.
“Yes, ma’am,” Denki chuckled, heading into the garage, Hitoshi barely a few steps behind him.
☆☆☆
“Hey, dad, we’re stopping by Musutafu for a bit, might be a few days, maybe not even overnight, but just in case,” Hitoshi spoke into the phone.
…
“We have a meeting with Tsukauchi, he has a case he wants us to take a look at.”
…
“No, it’s not work related.”
…
“The case is a child neglect case, and he thinks she’d be a good match.”
…
“Yeah.”
…
“Her name is Milo.”
…
“Yeah, she does.”
…
“I’m so excited, pretty anxious, but it’s a good anxiety, y’know?”
…
“Ha, yeah, so far we’re just looking into her case, I’m not sure if we’re even meeting her today.”
…
“Okay, I will.”
…
“Yeah, he’s driving.”
…
“He’s going to scream.”
…
“Yes, dad.”
…
“I mean, I feel like Kaita’s gonna cry if she isn’t the first to meet her.”
…
“Yeah, if things go well we’ll be over.”
…
“And if things go really well then we’ll be over at some point soon with her.”
…
“Love you too, bye.”
☆☆☆
“Okay, so, I have a few things to go over with you two before you get to meet her, and if that goes well then we’ll come back here to get a head start on the paperwork side of things,” Tsukauchi said. “Does that sound good for you two?”
The pair nodded along, squeezing each other's hands affectionately.
“The first thing that needs to be established is that the usual process has been expedited since you are not only heroes, but heroes in the hero communities program, which removes the risk of you two being a random foster-family, since we all know the system needs work, and it adds several levels of safety, and adds a reassurance that Milo is in good hands,” he explained. “Basically all it does is removes the interviewing parts of the process and the home evaluation. Secondly, there will be routine check-ins from social services for the first year or so to ensure her wellbeing. I have no doubts you can take care of her, but her past does potentially play a role in her wellbeing. Don’t be bothered by the check-ins. It happens to everyone going through this process, it’s not personal.”
“That all sounds reasonable so far,” Denki hummed.
Hitoshi nodded in agreement. “Going into this her comfort and safety are some of our top priorities.”
“That’s the ideal mentality going into this. Thirdly, ideally, at least for the first while, she won’t be exposed to the media. This can, and will, put her into a bad situation due to Chargebolt’s public hero status. I’m not saying you can’t post about her if that’s something you’d be interested in, but just hold off for a while.”
“For the most part we were thinking about avoiding the media with this anyways, and we agree with your points about her safety coming first.”
“Well, I think that’s about it for the first overview. Now. Milo’s been hanging out with Sansa almost all day, and she’s looking forward to meeting you, so she’s ready whenever you are to meet her. She’s probably going to be a bit shy at first, as we’ve observed how shy she is around new people, which is to be expected under these circumstances.”
The couple glanced at each other.
“I think we’re ready,” Denki nodded.
Tsukauchi smiled softly, before leading them further into the station, down the narrow, dimly lit (notably more than usual) hallway in the direction of Sansa’s office. Tsukauchi knocked on the door quietly, and after a moment or two the group could hear the cat-officer call for them to come in.
When the door opened, it revealed the officer sitting with a little girl, who was half asleep and leaning into him, and who looked identical to the pictures, Hitoshi mentally noted. They had a children's book open in front of them, and it appeared that he was reading to her.
“Woah, Milo, do you know who they are?” Sansa cooed. “You were so excited to meet them earlier. It’s Mr. Hitoshi and Mr. Denki, mhm?”
In response, the baby in his lap reached her tiny hand out and started playing with the bell around the man’s neck. He gently shut the colorful book that was open on his desk, turning his attention to the adults in the room. “You two ready for this?”
“Definitely.”
☆☆☆
“EEEEEEE!!!! Is this her????” Hizashi squealed, a bit too loud for Hitoshi, nor Denki’s, liking, afraid he’ll wake her up.
“No, this is some random kid we picked up on the curb,” Hitoshi rolled his eyes. “Yes this is her.”
“She’s so tiny,” Eri, who’d come over to meet Milo, gasped. “Look at her little fingers…”
Shota observed from the sidelines with a dopey grin on his face. He took the time, not only to observe the baby asleep in his son’s arms, but observe the excitement and pride that filled the room. Shota’d be lying if he said he wasn’t also excited. Milo. His second granddaughter, third grandchild overall, Masaki being the only grandson. It made him, quite frankly, feel old. It reminded him of how all three of his children were grown adults, seeing the babies made him miss when his children where that small, or, in Hitoshi’s case, he missed the things he wish he could’ve been there to see throughout his childhood. But, enough about Shota, because at some point while he was zoned out, someone had FaceTimed Kaita, and on the other line, their entire house was freaking out from how adorable she was (mostly Emma and Mina), and they were all looking forward to meeting her the following afternoon.
“OH. EM. GEE. Now we get to go on another baby clothes shopping spree!” Mina grinned.
“We’re gonna hang up now so this little one can be properly put down for her nap,” Hitoshi chuckled.
Glancing behind the group (and the phone), Hizashi sprawled out on the couch, totally tweaking out with excitement. “I think it’s been a good day, Sho.” he muttered.
He nodded in agreement, it was, by far, a great day.
Hitoshi grinned, glancing between Denki and Milo. This was his little family, and he loved them more than anything, and no one could change that for the world.