Cradle To The Grave

Sins Of The Father

Ochaco nodded, resting against him and kissing him, he looked at her with a sigh. Her scars were beautiful, and he adored them, he had even named some of them, but each one marked an injury, traumatic events. There had been a time where he struggled to meet her gaze because of the scar above her left eye from a fall he failed to catch her from. He remembered thinking he couldn't protect his own wife, his amazing prohero wife who was trained in martial arts, how was he supposed to protect the defenseless? The scars between her shoulders from a suit malfunction that had charred her skin. Her scars were from missions, missions where she saved people, a big part of why Deku loved her was her heart, her desire to help people, but every scar she had came with a memory of a day where Deku felt inadequate, undeserving of his title of number one hero, undeserving of the title of hero. Husband and father, even. A day where Deku didn't feel like a man. Soon his son, his baby boy would be riddled with the very same scars. Because he couldn't protect his son from making the very same mistakes he had made. Because he hadn't been there. All Kaz had seen was his daddy saving people, inspiring them. He hadn't seen the physical injuries, the way it had devastated his mother, the way it had kept him away from his growing family to the point his wife sometimes slipped and called him Himikochan, his son had called him Dekukun multiple times and he hadn't been able to be upset, because of course he called him the name he was called on tv.

"everything is okay." Ochaco murmured, kissing him with a yawn, Deku felt awful he was supposed to be consoling her, but now she was comforting him. He felt himself getting drowsy, he knew he would have nightmares, but maybe with Ochaco in his arms, they wouldn't be as bad.

"I love you Uraraka." he sighed

"Haven't been Uraraka in twenty years." she said with a yawn "But I love you too Dekukun."

Deku nodded, and they fell asleep.

*******

Kaz frowned as he climbed into the fort next to Kaide, slipping his arms around her.

"Did I wake you?"

She nodded, he looked at Pup with a soft smile, she slept like she was dead.

He sighed "I'm sorry."

She nodded

"I tested your wings, they're not ready."

Kaide frowned, she didn't want to fight with him so she didn't say anything.

"I was uh.. I was hoping to give them to you when I asked you out, but Toshinori said some stuff that made me think I shouldn't wait.. D-do you want to- do you want to go to a movie together.. Just us?"

"I don't know Kaz, if we date than, Pup might start to feel left out and you've known Pup longer than you've known me and this is our last summer and it would be nice if everything could be normal for just a little bit longer."

Kaz frowned, he supposed he had misread her signals. "You're right." he forced a smile

"Did I hurt your feelings? I just-"

"Don't worry. I understand. It would be unfair to Pup."

"I just don't want everything to change." She murmured

Kaz nodded "I get it." he sighed

"I'm sorry. Please. I-I think you're really cute I just-I don't want to mess things up."

Kaz shrugged "you don't have to be sorry." part of him wondered if it was how he behaved that night, a smaller part of him wondered if it was because he was quirkless, and not going into the hero program. It was unlikely, quirkless or not, he was one of the most beloved boys in Japan, always had been, and Kaide wasn't like that. Despite her father being known for his arrogance, it wasn't a trait she ever possessed, he suspected that her mutations had made it hard for her to develop the self esteem Bakugo had.

Kaide sighed, kissing his cheek as she sat up and put her hands in her pockets, she felt awful, she did want to go out with him, but she wanted three more months of normalcy, if she dated Kaz than things would change. She smiled when she saw his hand go up to cover up that he was blushing.

"Maybe our first year."

"I guess you're right. We don't have to talk about it anymore."

"But I just-"

"Don't worry about it, really. I get it. Let's just get some sleep. I'm sure your father will be here at four in the morning expecting you to have already done 1000 push ups or something."

Kaide laughed at the ground "You're sure it's okay?"
"It's fine. Get some sleep."

Kaide nodded, she knew her dads would worry when she told them she rejected Kaz, they knew she had had a crush on him for a long time. She would tell them she wanted to focus on her studies, they might not buy it, but it was what she had.

Kaz sighed, it made sense that Kaide didn't want to go out with him, so he was trying to take it too hard. Aside from the reasons she stated, he was also always shrouded in Deku's shadow, even before he knew daddy and the guy with the bunny ears were the same guy. He was practically his father's clone. Why would she want a relationship like his father's relationship with his mother? Where they seldom saw each other, barely knew each other. Kaz had grown up thinking his dad was in a relationship with Katsuki and Ochaco was with Toga. He hadn't been the smartest kid around, but still.. It wasn't the kind of marriage he wanted.
{**very minor spoilers?**with what is going on in the manga Deku got upset when I told him there would not be room for him to snuggle ochaco in the next chapter I wrote so I kind of skipped to this fic bc it was the one closest in the queue where I could arrange some cuddling}