Freeze Frame

Chapter 90

Third person pov

"Bakugo, you were so cute." Lillian frowned as she gazed at the four year old Katsuki. "What happened?"

Mitsuki howled with laughter. She honest to god adored this kid. When her son had come home with that medal, she'd assumed the worst! That maybe he'd taken it or somehow unintentionally pressured her into giving it to him. But no, that wasn't the case at all. Lillian was perfectly fine with Katsuki. She and her son were friends. How long had it been since Katsuki had a real friend? Not just some follower? Not to mention she hadn't seen her little boy blush in years. This girl was doing things to him, and Mitsuki was reveling in it.

Lillian liked Bakugo's parents. Masaru was low-key, but Mitsuki was scarily similar to Bakugo. It was easy to see who he took after. It was interesting to see how unaffected Katsuki's dad was by it all. The bantering and cursing rolled off him like water off a duck's back. She supposed maybe he was just used to it. She'd gotten used to Bakugo's temper well enough. It didn't really bother her anymore. Maybe it's because she knew how soft he was underneath it. He was way better than people realized! She understood why the "Bakusquad" hung out with him so much despite his telling them to fuck off.

"What the fuck's that supposed to mean, you little shit?!" Katsuki's voice lacked threat. Lillian just raised an eyebrow at him, looking down at the album, and then up at him again almost suspiciously. So far, they hadn't studied for shit. Lillian had said some things in English Katsuki was pretty sure were less than polite, but he couldn't be sure. His dad had choked on his coffee. The young blonde had almost forgotten his father spoke four languages. It didn't matter. Freckled and the Hag were bonding, and he didn't like it!

"Nothing, nothing. Don't worry about it. At least your cheeks are still squishy." Lillian paused, frowning. "That sounded vaguely sexual. I mean your face, just in case."

Mitsuki fell into another bout of howling laughter that made Katsuki's eye twitch, and Masaru hid his smile behind his mug. Lillian was fitting in perfectly. She didn't bat an eye at Katsuki's temper, nor his mother's. Their cursing did nothing to sway her, which was mildly concerning but also appreciated. Trying to correct their language was like initiating a train crash. A shit ton of people died and something exploded. You really just didn't want to go there. Masaru liked her!

"I bet you were an ugly as shit baby." Katsuki grumbled, massaging one of his cheeks self consciously. Squishy? His... His face wasn't squishy. Fuck her! Her face was squishy! She looked like... a puppy! Yeah! A round, big-eyed puppy. 

"I wouldn't know that, now would I?" Lillian quipped. He groaned.

"I brought you here to study and to- and to fucking interrogate your sorry ass! Not so you could get into cahoots with the fucking hag!" Bakugo threw his hands up in exasperation, and Lillian raised an eyebrow for what felt like the millionth time. Interrogate? That was new. She really didn't know what she was still doing here. The sun was beginning to set, and that wasn't a good thing. Mihoko had driven Rei to the police station to meet up with Tsukauchi, which meant nobody was there to watch the boys. Hajime was at work. Who knows the state the house would be in when she got back...

"Be nice, Katsuki! She's our guest!" Mitsuki nagged, grinning ferociously. Katsuki's expression was nothing short of venomous. 

"Yeah, Katsuki." Lillian teased. Bakugo's face immediately caught aflame, but Lillian was already looking back at the album. Mitsuki's grin widened as she openly stared at him. Masaru was far more subtle about it. "Look, it's little Izuku! Shoto would die if I showed him this."

Bakugo ground his teeth, ears hot. His glared harshly at his mother's sly look, and snarled at his father's grin. What the fuck was up with them anyway? They were hovering around and giving him all these weird looks. And now Lillian was all up in his damn baby pictures. He wasn't fucking cute. No, you know what?! She was the fucking cute one! How about that? Fucking- she was adorable, not him. Fuck her. He should call her that, see how she likes it.