Katsuki’s parents hadn’t meant to start something. They hadn’t meant to put their foot where they shouldn’t have, they hadn’t meant to assume their explosive son actually might have more than an affinity with his smiley best friend.

It was just the way Katsuki talked about him.

They’d known about Kirishima before the students had been moved into the dorms. They knew about Katsuki’s cheery, manliness-obsessed best friend just because of offhand comments from Katsuki of ‘Shitty Hair doesn’t know how to fucking math’

or ‘Shitty Hair was my partner’ and it became a little like ‘Shitty Hair this’, ‘Shitty Hair that’, and even though it still wasn’t that often, Katsuki’s parents weren’t sure they’d ever heard Katsuki talk about one person /this/ much since…well, since All Might.

And of course after the dorm move, Katsuki barely made an effort to talk to his parents. He’d blatantly ignore most phone calls and only pick up about once a week which became the check-in his parents used, and they noticed change. ‘Shitty Hair’ changing to ‘Kirishima’.

They noticed a softer tone, slowly becoming softer for /everything/ because their son was evolving so beautifully but for Kirishima it was…calmer. It seemed like Katsuki barely felt any true stress or anger talking about him. It was just casual, and friendly.

Until he started sounding sad.

And it wasn’t explicit. Emotions other than anger and pride were never explicit on their own with Katsuki but not because he tried to hide them, mostly because he didn’t know /how/ to show them, he wasn’t used to feeling much and his parents knew that.

Surprisingly, but maybe not so surprisingly, Mitsuki was the one who noticed the sadness.

“Yeah, Kirishima was fighting Soy Sauce,” Katsuki muttered, yawning a little as his parents listened on the other line. “He was good. He’s an idiot who can get better and he’s trying and that’s cool, I guess.”

“Kirishima or ‘Soy Sauce’?”

“You fucking know, shut up.”

His parents shared a knowing look. “So-”

“I wonder if he sees that,” Katsuki was continuing suddenly and his parents blinked in surprise. Katsuki didn’t usually speak longer than a sentence or two at a time. “He’s a fucking idiot, I’m not /joking/ he’s so- /aggravating/.

Shows such a front of loudness and confidence but he’s just dragging himself down all the time. And it’s dumb. He's dumb. Just want people to stop being dumb.”

“Ah well at least he’s working on it, son,” Masaru had laughed as Katsuki scoffed, but Mitsuki didn't say anything. She was thinking.

“He meant that for more than one thing,” she said after the phone call was over, after dinner, just randomly while they were cleaning up in the kitchen and Masaru paused, before turning to look at her in amazement.

“Who? What’s ‘that’?”

“Katsuki, you moron, and about Kirishima being dumb. There was this kind of…weight in his voice. You didn’t hear it?”

Masaru shook his head worriedly and Mitsuki rolled her eyes as she went back to the plates. But she couldn’t stop thinking that her kid had a quality to his voice and a colour to his eyes that said more than his words,

and she wondered what else Katsuki thought Kirishima was dumb about. Something that must dig a bit deeper.

The sadness didn’t stop, for a while.

“I’m so much fucking better than that Pikachu bastard anyway.” Sad.

“I don’t know why he likes going to other people’s dorms so much.” Sad.

“If he wants to keep being an imbecile like always then fine, he can keep being a fucking imbecile.” Sad. It got to the point that even Masaru noticed the dip in Katsuki’s tone and the short silences he’d take between sentences, and the parents would look at each other in worry.

They’d truly thought Katsuki had found someone who actually made him happy, but now things were going downhill so fast they didn't know how to keep up.

Until one day, Katsuki said, “I think I wanna go mountain-hiking with him one day,” and even though it wasn't a video call, they heard the smile. They heard the slight lift of his tone and the calmness mixed in with wist, and Mitsuki and Masaru looked at each other in amazement.

Katsuki wasn’t sad anymore. But there was /more/. He sounded happier than before he was sad, and the longing was still there in his voice but it held a sense of promise, a sense of ‘I'll be /able/ to do the things I’m longing for’.

There was the same softness but this time it followed a different design. One that was warmer.

“They’re dating, aren’t they,” they both said to each other in unison the instant the phone call ended, and they both looked at each other with wide eyes before bursting into laughter, grabbing each other for a hug which had Masaru yelling as Mitsuki crushed his bones.

“You heard it too?”

“OF COURSE I FUCKING HEARD IT, I KNOW MY SON!”

“Oh my goodness, should - should we celebrate?”

“You get the champagne, I’ll get his baby photo album to cry over how much he’s grown up.”

Masaru burst into laughter then, tears already at the corners of his eyes and Mitsuki snorted, muttering, “Wuss,” as she leant forward to wipe them away, then promptly pushed the guy off the sofa, yelling at him to get a move on.

Katsuki’s parents could always pride themselves on being observant. They were /designers/, it was in their veins and if they weren’t going to have that upped up one hundred percent when it came to their only kid then there was barely a point.

That was why they were so sure about Katsuki’s newfound affinity, why they were so certain Kirishima was a ball of sunshine who’d be the best person to have Katsuki’s heart, and why they weren’t going to worry.

Sure, they’d be concerned in their own right without being able to help it but Katsuki was getting mellower these days, more aware of other people, their feelings. When Katsuki was ready to tell them, he could, and they’d be there to accept Kirishima into the damn family already.

And that time seemed to come much sooner than expected.

“Oi, you know how I’m comin’ home this weekend,” Katsuki muttered over the phone and Mitsuki nodded, stroking Masaru’s hair because the big lump had managed to fall asleep even after promising he’d be able to stay up. “Can I bring someone?”

Mitsuki sat up so fast that she got whiplash and Masaru’s head fell off her chest, making him blink open his eyes groggily. “Huh…?”

“WHAT?!” Mitsuki screeched and they could basically hear Katsuki’s eye-roll.

“Calm the fuck down, Satan, I can want people over."

“What, but - okay. Fine. Let’s say you’ve made friends there.”

“The fuck’s ‘let’s say’ supposed to mean?!”

“You see them all the time at school and you’re only coming to see us for a weekend, you really can’t bear to stay /two days/ away from whoever the heck this is?!”

There was a short phase of silence then. That's when Mitsuki fully thought over her words. Someone Katsuki couldn’t bear to stay two days away from. Someone he really liked. Someone he adored.

Mitsuki slapped Masaru in her realisation which had the latter groaning, but she was already back to Katsuki. “Wait, hold on-”

“He’s not gonna be here the whole weekend or anything. He lives nearby.”

“Okay. Fine but who the fuck is ‘he’?”

“Woman, you don’t need to swear every sentence-”

“THAT’S RICH COMING FROM YOU JUST ANSWER YOUR MOTHER!”

“Ugh. I know you already know who it is. Don’t play dumb.”

Mitsuki paused for a moment. Then she hung up the phone and threw it against the wardrobe.

“MASARU! HE’S BRINGING HIS BOY HOME!” Mitsuki yelled in Masaru’s face as she shook the man by his shoulders and he blinked, trying his hardest to fix his glasses as he sat up with wide eyes, slight sleep-sand forming in the corner of them.

“Huh?”

“MOTHERFUCKER-” Mitsuki pulled him up completely and squished his face, staring straight into his eyes as Masaru gave her a rabbit caught in headlights look back. “Kirishima's coming to our house this weekend.”

Masaru blinked. “I…I thought Katsuki was the one coming…?”

“WHA- HOW DO YOU EXIST WITH THAT PEA-SIZED BRAIN OF YOURS?!”

“WHAT?! MITSUKI, I’M /VERY/ SLEEPY, PLEASE-”

“Oh for fuck’s sake just, just go to sleep. I’ll tell you tomorrow.”

Masaru smiled sleepily and held his arms out, and Mitsuki grumbled but fell against him. Though she blinked when she heard, “Kirishima likes meat, doesn't he…I’ll…make him a really good hot-pot…him and Katsuki will like that…”

Mitsuki shook her head, scoffing a little but it turned into a laugh as she tapped Masaru’s cheek, and Masaru blew her a sleepy kiss.

So when Saturday morning came and Masaru got ready to drive to UA only to be shot down with Katsuki’s deadpan text of ‘we already got the train’, that had them a little giddy because it meant they were meeting Kirishima straight off the /bat/.

They’d been talking about it almost all night.

“Do you think Katsuki’s done the boy’s eyeliner this morning too?”

“Maybe. I’m sure he’ll be the sweetest little gentleman to exist, huh.”

“What if he’s so bright we’ll be blinded?”

“Katsuki might say that a lot but don’t think he’s blind yet, right? Lucky little fucker.”

“Oh /no/, I don’t think I can bear to think about what his smile would be like.”

“Bet you a thousand that Katsuki dies a little every time he smiles.”

“Bet you ten thousand Katsuki kisses him every time.”

“HA, MASARU!”

It was eleven am when there was a knock on the door and Masaru let out a gasp from where he was cooking in the kitchen, meanwhile Mitsuki threw open the bathroom door and tore her face mask off. “They're here early?!”

“THEY’RE HERE EARLY!”

“I’M FUCKING COMING, TURN OFF THE STOVE!”

“WHAT, I CAN’T JUST-”

“DO IT, YOU’RE COMING WITH ME!” Mitsuki yelled as she tore into the kitchen and grabbed Masaru’s hand and tugged the guy who managed to catch the switch to turn off the stove before they both raced out.

“JUST A SEC!”

“Hurry the fuck up,” a voice groaned, then there was a chirpier yet rougher voice saying, “Yo, you talk to your parents like that, man?”

“His /voice/. It’s so /kind/,” Mitsuki hissed as they both pressed their ear up to the door, and Masaru nodded in agreement.

“I hate them.”

“‘m sure you don’t, bro.”

“Can you shut up because who asked? And OI, WHERE ARE YOU TWO?!”

“Here, here, shut your ungrateful gob,” Mitsuki managed to say after catching her composure and opening the door, docking Katsuki’s head.

Katsuki winced before growling, and Kirishima blinked at her and just when Mitsuki tried to smile at the vibrant-haired kid, Kirishima pulled on Katsuki’s sleeve and tugged a little so he was closer to him, and further from Mitsuki.

“Uh…sorry, ma’am, um, but, don’t…touch your son like that? Please?”

Mitsuki froze, eyes wide but she was speechless. Everyone was speechless, even Katsuki who stared at Kirishima like he was crazy and the boy was already sweating a little,

swallowing as his clutch on Katsuki’s shirt nervously got tighter. “S-Sorry. Just, worried.”

“Do your parents not do that to you?” Katsuki asked confusedly and Kirishima’s eyebrows furrowed further as he shook his head adamantly.

“Not at all.”

“That’s alright, I apologise, okay let’s get inside,” Mitsuki said robotically as she turned on her heel and walked off, and Masaru said a hurried greeting to the boys before rushing after Mitsuki.

“Mits-”

“Katsuki’s boyfriend /hates me/,” Mitsuki whisper-screeched, clutching her head and Masaru sighed, frowning as he took hold of one of Mitsuki’s hands.

“Hey, hey. He was probably just surprised, especially since the first thing you did to greet Katsuki was…hit him…”

Masaru and Mitsuki looked at each other, eyes creased. And they knew what they were getting at, but after years of learned habits, it was just so much easier to overlook it and move on.

Their hearts were heavier but they swiftly moved back to where they were without another word, and Mitsuki tried to paint a smile on again as she was about to clear her throat, but she paused. Masaru bumped into her but Mitsuki brought a finger to her lips.

“Trust me, dude. I’m gonna hug my parents so hard when I get home that they’ll cry! I'll cry, too!” Kirishima cheered way too happily for the words, fist pumping and Katsuki watched him with an amused smile on his face, chin resting on his palm.

“Oh yeah? You're all gonna be ugly blubbering messes, I know /you’re/ gross when you cry.”

Kirishima tried to get offended but burst into giggles instead, and Masaru and Mitsuki looked at each other in amazement because holy hell,

that /was/ one of the happiest smiles they’d ever seen, and the laugh complimented it even more.

“Seriously, though, man. Thank you for…letting me come here before I go become an ugly blubbering mess. I’ll be able to man up and head off later…”

“Oi, oi, look at me,” Katsuki said, voice unwavering but…/caring/ as he tilted forward to get a look at Kirishima’s downcast face, and Kirishima did look at him. “So you didn’t tell them you were coming home. So what?

I know you’ve got your separation anxiety shit going down so you shouldn’t need to stay away for so long. And I know you told me they’re crazy busy now but you know and I know they’ll be so happy to see you so

when I send you off you’ll be having that dumb usual smile on your face, not this miserable thing you've got going now, won’t you?”

Kirishima smiled so gratefully as he murmured, “Thanks, man,” and raised a fist, and Katsuki rolled his eyes as he knocked his own against it.

His head turned then and he caught sight of his parents who seized up, expecting Katsuki to flip out - but they were wrong. Katsuki just nodded at them, straightening up before he flicked his head in Kirishima’s direction.

“Wanna greet the loser properly, folks?”

That was how handshakes and smiles were engaged, as well as Mitsuki and Masaru getting slightly starry-eyed by Kirishima’s oh-so-bright, “I’m Kirishima Eijirou, thank you for letting me into your house!”,

then his even brighter laughter at Katsuki saying in distaste, "You sound like you're some fucking stray.”

“Am I /your/ stray?”

Katsuki reached out as if he was about to scratch Kirishima under the chin, then he realised the others were here and he trudged away, grumbling something as Kirishima bounded after him and the other two just looked at each other in amazement.

“They’re in love.”

“Mitsuki.”

“I fucking CALL IT-”

“I need to cook the hot-pot.”

“Holy shit, get in the kitchen.”

-