Cheaper by the Half-Dozen - Little Sh*t #11 [Part 1]

[Part 0.5]

Midoriya grinned to himself, swinging their linked hands as they walked. There were few things in the world that made him happier than spending time with Bakugou – he had always felt that way, but since they’d been together, it had made it so much sweeter. He wore a shiny ring around his finger, and every so often Bakugou’s thumb shifted, stroking across it lightly. Midoriya could barely resist the urge to stop and kiss him every time he did it, but he refrained, for the sake of not embarrassing his boyfriend.

“I want takoyaki,” he said, when Bakugou looked across at him. “You wanna buy me some?”

Bakugou snorted, but squeezed a little tighter at his hand.

“You’re such a brat,” he said fondly. “Not even a please.”

“Look who’s talking!” Midoriya laughed. “That’s rich coming from you!”

“Shut up.” Bakugou rolled his eyes, but couldn’t resist a smile. “Fine, I’ll buy your basic-ass snacks.”

“Thanks Kacchan!”

The sun was setting as they walked, casting a colourful glow across the market, and twinkly little lights were beginning to turn on, lining their path. It was all so pretty, so simple and perfect, and Midoriya never wanted it to end.

“Hey, look at this.” Bakugou chuckled to himself, pulling Midoriya over to a stall of little blown-glass ornaments. “Should I get it?”

Midoriya wasn’t sure which one he was referring to, at first glance. They were all gorgeous and fancy, impeccably detailed, but they weren’t something he’d expected Bakugou to be excited by. Until, that was, he carefully picked up a delicate little statue, mostly green, but speckled with little brown patches. It had a long, spotted tail, and four tiny feet, and it made Bakugou grin like an idiot.

“For All Might,” he explained, when he saw Midoriya’s confusion.

“Oh!” Midoriya felt his eyes widen. “Oh my gosh, it’s perfect!”

He handed it over to the shopkeeper, digging out his wallet, and Midoriya reluctantly released his hand to let him pay. It was weirdly adorable, seeing Bakugou so eager to buy a gift for someone else, especially when the recipient was All Might. They really were perfect for each other.

When his purchase was wrapped up and tucked safely into his bag, Bakugou led the way toward a takoyaki stall, and Midoriya could only smile and reach for his hand again, tucking himself into Bakugou’s side for warmth and affection.

“This is nice,” he said softly, Bakugou’s head turning slightly to look down at him. “Just being able to hang out together and do fun stuff like this, I missed this.”

“Yeah. That kid shit has really messed with our time, lately.” Bakugou sighed.

Midoriya just smiled, not bothering to correct him – that was true too, so close enough.

A band was playing on a stage at the end of the walkway, so once they’d bought their takoyaki, they made their way over to listen as they ate. There were a lot of people around, but Bakugou didn’t seem to mind for once, content to just lean into Midoriya a little and chat under the sound of the music.

By the time they headed back to the train station, there were a few more gifts and souvenirs tucked into Bakugou’s bag, plus a big box of animal-shaped macarons that Midoriya needed to share with his classmates – the happy little frogs were his personal favourite, but he hadn’t been able to resist getting some bears and bunnies and ducks too. He knew Bakugou would have rolled his eyes if it was anyone else who had gotten excited over them, but he’d just stood back and watched with a fond little smile when it was Midoriya.

“Thanks for coming with me,” Bakugou said quietly, as they walked up to the dorms. “I uh, had a good time.”

“Me too!” Midoriya beamed at him. “It was a perfect first date, thank you for choosing it.”

Bakugou took a deep breath before they walked inside, bracing himself to face the firing squad – their overeager friends were going to ask about every detail of their date, were going to want a play-by-play recap of every moment, and Bakugou didn’t want to ruin the night by yelling at them.

Inside, though, it was surprisingly quiet. There were no friends waiting to mob them, no one came running at the sound of the door, and other than Ojiro and Hagakure studying together in a corner, the common area was completely devoid of life.

“Hi,” Midoriya said, when the pair looked up. “Where is everyone?”

“A bunch of them went out after school,” Ojiro shrugged. “A few are in their rooms, I think Sero had detention.”

“Of course he did,” Bakugou said with a huff. “Asshole is always getting himself in trouble, he’ll be lucky if he graduates at this rate.”

“Aww,” Midoriya said happily. “It’s sweet that you care.”

“Shut up. Wanna do homework before the extras come back and bombard us with questions?”

“Sounds good!” Midoriya agreed. “Just let me go grab my books.”

Soon they were settled in at a dining table, working away together, but as the hours passed, still no sign of their friends appeared. Messages went unread, calls went unanswered. Other classmates returned from the library or the gym, Sero came in from detention and teased them about their “little date”, but the ones they’d expected most had just... vanished.

“I’m gonna call All Might,” Midoriya decided finally. “It’s weird that they’re not answering calls or anything; if they’d just gone to dinner or a movie or something they’d either have come back or answered a message by now”

“Yeah,” Bakugou agreed reluctantly. “It’s weird as hell.”

Midoriya picked up his phone, making one last check for answers before he pulled up All Might’s number, fingers drumming on the table as it rang. He picked up quickly, thankfully, but Midoriya suddenly realised he had no clue what to say.

“Um... Some of our classmates haven’t come home,” he explained finally, cringing at how stupid it sounded even to his own ears. “They’re not answering their phones or anything, and no one has seen them since school ended. Apparently they said they were going out, but didn’t say where, and they just haven’t been seen since.”

“That’s interesting,” All Might said, humming thoughtfully. “I’ll get in touch with Aizawa, and we’ll look into it. Thank you for letting me know, Young Midoriya. If you hear anything, let me know, and I’ll do the same.”

“Sounds good. Thank you, All Might.”

“Always happy to help!”

He hung up with a sigh, setting his phone down on the table, and shot Bakugou a weak attempt at a smile.

“He’s gonna talk to Aizawa,” he explained. “We just have to sit back and cross our fingers, I guess.”

“You don’t think...?”

“Surely not,” Midoriya said, shaking his head. “There were six of them, they’d be back by now, even if...”

“Yeah,” Bakugou said quietly. “Besides, Aizawa would have been told by now.”

“Of course! Someone would have called him!”

Someone, it turned out, had not called them. Within an hour, Aizawa and All Might were walking up to the dorms, herding a cluster of small, partially naked children. Bakugou thumped his head on the table, groaning, and Midoriya was tempted to join him, to try out the Bakugou-brand of self-preparation.

“I guess that answers that,” Midoriya said awkwardly, when Aizawa held the door open and waved the kids inside. “What happened?”

“Your classmates decided to visit some little market, and he got wind of it,” Aizawa explained, looking even more exhausted than usual. “They were split up at the time, and by the time the Pros heard, he’d hit just about all of them. He ran off as soon as he heard that the heroes were on their way, but there’s an ongoing search, trying to hunt him down.”

“Do you think he’s gonna come here again?”

“I hope he’s not that stupid,” Aizawa said wearily. “But we’ve got extra security outside, just in case.”

“Okay.” Bakugou sighed, taking it all in. “And until then, we have a whole party of these little sh— brats.”

“I’ll stay overnight to keep an eye on them,” Aizawa assured him. “This doesn’t all need to fall on your head. Again.”

“Don’t be silly, Sensei,” Midoriya said, with a tired smile of his own. “You look exhausted, and it’s not like we aren’t used to it. We can take it in shifts, here. We can even ask Class B to help, I’m sure they’ll be happy to!”

“I’ll stay,” All Might offered, glancing back at Aizawa. “You should get back to Eri.”

Aizawa hesitated, but conceded a little nod, pulling his phone out to check the time.

“I should go get her in bed,” he agreed. “Thank you. I’ll come by in the morning, and we’ll find some way to keep them entertained for the day.”

Bakugou opened his mouth, but Aizawa cut him off before he could get the words out.

“No, Bakugou, we will not be using them for hostage training.”

“You know me too well.”

Aizawa shook his head, but a tiny smile tugged at his lips all the same, as he took one more look at the toddlers already wreaking havoc in the living area.

“Alright. Good luck, I’ll see you all in the morning.”

“Have a good night, Sensei! Say hi to Eri for us!”

“I will.”

At Midoriya’s assurance that they would survive without him for ten minutes, All Might excused himself too, for long enough to retrieve his belongings to stay over. Their classmates quickly caught wind of the debacle, hurrying downstairs to join them, and Midoriya grinned when he saw the bags tucked under their arms. Yaoyorozu and Shouji came first, carrying three small futon and a pile of blankets from the storage closets. Asui and Sato weren’t far behind, arms loaded with spare pillows, quickly gathering more from the common area as well. And finally, Sero and Tokoyami showed up, Tokoyami holding a familiar box of children’s books.

“I hope you don’t mind,” he said, as he set them down near Midoriya’s feet. “I got them from your closet.”

“I don’t mind at all!” Midoriya assured him. “Thank you!”

He knew there were some neatly-folded sets of kids’ clothes in the box, too, so he dug those out first, setting them on one of the tables. Sero put two fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly, momentarily pausing the chaos of kids “exploring” their new home, and waved them all over.

“Come get clothes!” he called. “Find some that fit or you’ll be stuck naked and cold for a month!”

Hagakure and Yaoyorozu dug out a few more bags and boxes while the kids gathered around Sero, tipping out building blocks, little plastic animals, and a couple of soft plushies. Yaoyorozu brought over a big bag of clothes to add to Midoriya’s pile, crouching down with Ashido and Uraraka to let them pick something cute to wear, from what Uraraka had chosen for herself the last time around.

Midoriya caught a glimpse of movement, and looked over to see a little red-and-white head right beside Bakugou’s legs, mismatched eyes staring up at him in an eerie silence. He cracked a smile, holding back a laugh to keep from scaring the kid, and nudged Bakugou lightly, nodding toward his little shadow.

“Big Katsu.” Shouto said confidently.

“Oh. Hey there.”

“Little Shouto,” Shouto continued, apparently very serious about his deductions. “Big Katsu.”

“Yeah,” Bakugou said, bending down beside him. “You remember from before?”

“Mmm... No woller coaster.”

“Yeah, no roller coasters this time.” Midoriya laughed. “Hi, Shouto. How are you feeling?”

“Izuku.”

“Yeah! Good remembering!”

“Big Izuku,” Bakugou agreed awkwardly. “And Big Katsuki. We’ll take care of Little Shouto.”

“Izuku always big,” Shouto said firmly. “Katsu sometimes little.”

“That’s true,” Midoriya agreed, laughing again. “Sometimes Kacchan is little like you. Do you wanna come put some clothes on? That shirt looks a bit big on you.”

“Big Shouto?”

“Yeah, Big Shouto’s shirt,” Bakugou confirmed. “Let’s find you a Little Shouto shirt.”

“Little Shirt,” Shouto agreed. “Maybe pant.”

“Yeah, Little Shirt and Little Pants.”

Midoriya fished out something that looked the right size, handing it over, and Shouto’s eyes lit up when he saw the big All Might face on the t-shirt. He held his arms up, and Bakugou helped him with a surprising amount of patience, taking off his too-big shirt and replacing it with the kids’ one. Shouto held his leg to balance as he stepped carefully into the proffered pants, and Bakugou gave him an awkward thumbs-up when he was dressed.

“Good job,” he said, though the words were so strained it almost sounded painful. “So uh, are you tired?”

“Not sleepy.”

“Perfect,” Bakugou said. “That would have been far too easy.”

“Easy?”

“Never mind.”

He straightened back up, and Shouto just stood at his side, so close that if Bakugou were to turn in a hurry, he’d probably smack Shouto in the face. If it had been anyone else, Midoriya probably would have moved the kid away, but he trusted Bakugou to keep an eye on his surroundings.

“Hey, Eiji!” Midoriya called, when Sero had finished dressing him. “It’s been a while!”

“Izu,” Eijirou said, a look of recognition crossing his face. “You got big.”

“Yeah!” he grinned. “You got little! Have you met Shouto, yet? I think you and I watched him fight, last time.”

Eijirou hummed to himself, staring at Shouto in a slightly unnerving way, but Shouto just stared back impassively.

“Me and Shouto fought together while you were in the classroom,” Bakugou reminded him.

“Baku and HotColdMan,” Eijirou said finally, making Bakugou crack a smile.

“Yeah, that’s what little Izuku called him,” Bakugou agreed, and Izuku felt his face burn. “You remember you had lunch with our friends, that day? Kaminari and Ashido?”

Eijirou nodded faintly, looking around, and Midoriya smiled when he saw two tiny faces turn their way.

“That’s them,” Bakugou finished, nodding toward them. “It’s their turn to be small, this time. They haven’t before, not like you and Shouto have. So you’re gonna be a big brave hero and help us look after them, right? Since you know your way around, now?”

“Yeah!” Eijirou agreed, standing up as tall as he could manage. “My turn to be hero!”

Bakugou took a few steps forward, to greet the rest of the kids, and Shouto followed as close as he could, without stepping on Bakugou’s feet.

“Hey,” he said quietly. “Did the adults tell you guys what’s going on?”

They both nodded faintly, and Bakugou looked visibly relieved.

“Perfect. So I’m Bakugou, that’s Midoriya up there, and this is Eiji, and Shouto. Eiji is one of your best friends, when you’re all big, and he’s been little like this before, so he’s gonna help you guys out, okay? If you have any questions or anything, you can ask one of the big people, but if you’re worried, tell Eiji, and he can ask for you.”

“Eiji,” Eijirou said firmly, offering them a clumsy bow. “Hello.”

“Denki,” Denki returned, patting Eiji on the head.

“Mina!”

They all nodded at each other solemnly, and Bakugou looked at Shouto next, waving toward the tiny Iida held in Asui’s arms, and the slightly bigger Uraraka, pulling a bright pink dress on with Yaoyorozu’s help.

“Uraraka and Iida are your best friends when you’re big, just like these three. And Izuku, too, of course. But you’ve got some friends your own size to play with, this time. Isn’t that cool?”

“Had Katsu.”

“True,” Bakugou admitted. “You had me last time. You still do, but sometimes little friends are better.”

“How about we all settle in and watch a movie before bed?” Midoriya suggested. “I have some cool hero movies we could watch.”

“Hungwy,” Shouto objected, tugging at Bakugou’s pants lightly.

“I’m hungry too!” Denki announced. “I want cake!”

“I want cookies!” Mina added, turning to give Denki a grin. “And potatoes!”

“Potato cookies!” Denki agreed “And chocolate cake!”

They tore off toward the kitchen, and Sero quickly fired tape from each arm, catching them in place. He dragged them both back despite their whines, and Midoriya couldn’t help but giggle at them.

“Cool your jets, little buddies,” Sero said with a laugh. “We don’t have cake or cookies, but I might be able to find some potatoes.”

“Oh!” Midoriya said, glancing at the fridge where he’d put away his macarons. “I have some cookies.”

“Cookies!” Denki and Mina yelled, tackling Midoriya from either side. “Gimme gimme gimme!”

“Okay, okay!” Midoriya agreed, picking them both up to stop the flying little fists. “No hitting!”

“Only good kids get cookies,” Bakugou said. “If you hit, you don’t get cookies.”

“I’ll find the cookies,” Denki whispered. “You fight him.”

“Deal!” Mina whispered back. “On the count of three!”

“I can’t count to three.”

“That’s okay, I’ll do the counting! You just run when I say three!”

“Okay, got it!”

“Or,” Midoriya said, trying his best to hold back a laugh. “You two can go sit down, and I can bring you the cookies. Do you want to watch a movie, or read a book, or play with some toys?”

“Heist!” Denki declared.

“H-Heist?” Midoriya asked, using all of his willpower to ignore the cackles behind him. “Uh, can you... explain to me what a heist is?”

“When the movie people get money!”

“Huh. Yeah, that uh... that sure is a heist.”

“It might be a little late for a heist tonight?” Yaoyorozu suggested. “How about we have a quiet night tonight, and plan a heist tomorrow instead?”

“Kay!” Denki agreed. “Cookie movie.”

“Cookies and a movie sounds perfect,” Midoriya agreed. “Go get comfy! Kacchan, can you—“

“I’ve got it,” Bakugou assured him. “You grab the food.”

He ushered the kids through to the living area – thankfully a little easier with Shouto and Eijirou happy to follow him everywhere – and with help from their classmates, began laying out cushions and futon for them to sit on. Iida was almost asleep already, curled up in Yaoyorozu’s arms, and Uraraka and Shouto both found a comfy spot to settle in, but Denki and Mina immediately started up a pillow fight, and to Bakugou’s surprise, Eijirou ran off to join in, too. He sighed at them, and debated splitting them up, but decided it wasn’t worth bothering – they couldn’t get too hurt, that way, and maybe it would tire them out a little.

“Comfy?” he asked, when he saw Uraraka staring at him. “What’s up?”

“Kacchan?”

“Oh. Yeah. You remember me, huh?”

She nodded, just once, and he pointed at Shouto awkwardly.

“You remember him, too? He played with us at the park, on the playground.”

She nodded again, and Shouto blinked at her, before turning his gaze back to Bakugou.

“You were big that time,” he explained. “Me and Uraraka were little, and Izuku too, and Yaoyorozu – over there, holding Iida. You guys took us to the park, and you played on the playground with us. They told me about it, afterward, but I don’t remember it.”

“Ochako,” she corrected him. “I remember. We surfed.”

“Surfed?”

She stood up to demonstrate, holding her arms out and making wooshing noises as she ran, then returned to her seat like it had explained everything perfectly.

“It was fun.”

“I’m glad,” Bakugou said, resolving to ask someone when things went back to normal, rather than question the four-ish-year-old. “We’ll have some fun tomorrow, too, but it’s getting late, so we’re not gonna do anything too exciting before bed.”

Denki paused in his pillow war to lean over to Mina, whispering something that made her giggle, and Bakugou pointed at them, frowning.

“No heists.”

“How did he hear me?!” Denki gasped. “He must be magic!”

“Maybe he has a hearing quirk,” Mina suggested. “I have a gloopy quirk, wanna see?”

She began producing acid before Denki had even finished his excited agreement, the substance a lot thicker and lumpier than Bakugou was used to, and he sighed at them, turning to look at the kitchen doorway.

“Can someone bring towels when they come back?” he called. “The old, beat up ones.”

“I’m on it,” Sero yelled back, laughing. “Just a sec!”

Denki watched in delight as the acid continued bubbling up in her hands, gasping when it began to spill over, and dropping to the floor to watch as it very, very slowly began to singe the carpet.

“Amazing!” he said, clapping his hands in delight and making the lights overhead waver. “That’s mine, I think. No one else makes lights go buzz when they clap.”

Eijirou clapped beside him, staring up at the lights and waiting pointedly, and Denki grinned, clapping again and watching them flash.

“Who’s ready for cookies?” Midoriya asked, thankfully distracting them from their quirk-talk in a hurry. “Come wipe your hands, before we eat!”

He offered them a bunch of damp towels, and each of the kids took one to clean up, even the shy Shouto who still held tight to Bakugou’s pants even as he moved.

“Which one would you like?” he asked, showing the kids the box.

“Duck!” Mina and Denki answered in unison, pushing each other lightly as they fought to be first.

“Got it, two ducks,” Midoriya answered quickly, handing them over. “Go find a spot to sit down before you start eating.”

“Okay, Mister!” Mina agreed. “Eiji, come on.”

“Which one would you like, Eiji?” Midoriya asked, turning the box to face him.

“A bunny please.”

“What good manners you have!” he praised, handing over a bunny cookie. “Go have a seat before you take a bite.”

“I will. Thank you, Izu!”

“You’re welcome!”

Finally Midoriya headed over to Bakugou’s side, sitting down with him and the remaining kids, and offering Shouto and Ochako the box. Ochako gushed over them, cooing about how cute the cookies were before she finally picked a frog, but Shouto just stared at them, wide-eyed.

“What’s up?” Bakugou asked knowingly. “You don’t like cookies?”

“I like cookies.”

“Eat a cookie, then.”

“My dad doesn’t like it when I eat cookies.”

“I don’t see your dad around, do you?”

Shouto looked around carefully, as if Endeavour might genuinely be hiding off in some corner, then finally shook his head, looking up at Bakugou again.

“Which one is Big Katsu gonna eat?”

“I’m not sure yet. You wanna pick for us both?”

“Mm... Teddy?”

“Sure, teddy sounds good.”

Shouto carefully picked up two bear-shaped cookies, handing one to Bakugou, then sat back contentedly, wedged between Bakugou and Midoriya on the cushions. Midoriya handed the cookies across to Yaoyorozu next, letting them do the rounds before the box returned to him a lot lighter than it had started, and he just smiled to himself as he picked up a frog to eat.

“Stay with Big Katsu tonight?” Shouto asked quietly.

“Stay with everyone tonight,” Midoriya assured him. “We’re gonna have a big sleepover.”

“Big Katsu too?”

“Not all night, but I’ll be here when you go to sleep,” Bakugou promised. “And I’ll come back down in the morning, so you won’t notice me gone much.”

“All Night? Hewo?”

Midoriya snorted, nearly spraying crumbs all over their cozy group nest, but Bakugou just shook his head, smiling faintly.

“All night, like when you sleep,” he clarified. “But All Might is gonna come over soon, too. He’s gonna have a sleepover with us.”

“The weal All Might?”

“The real one,” Bakugou confirmed.

Shouto looked around again, eyes even wider than before, and after a moment he gave Bakugou a clumsy thumbs-up.

“No Dad,” he confirmed. “Lots of All Might.”

“Yeah, we’ve got it all sorted,” Bakugou nodded. “It’ll be fun and safe, I promise.”

Everyone finally settled down when the movie began, and it didn’t take long for All Might to slip back in, doing his best to avoid disturbing them. He laid out a futon near the door, making up his bed where he’d be able to prevent the kids from disappearing outside, then headed through to the kitchen with a little smile. Bakugou considered going to help, when he heard pots and pans rattling, but with Shouto leaning into his side, half-asleep, and Midoriya’s hand tracing slow patterns on his back with his fingertips, he couldn’t bring himself to disturb the peace.

[Part 2 coming soon!]