Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia.

Note: aged up characters

Suggested by zepeln

The Toughest Job

SevenRenny

As Pro Heroes, they were used to handling stressful situations. From their patrolling hours to answering emergency calls, they were always on the go. It was a difficult job, but this was nothing compared to their new challenge.

At 2:30 AM, both Izuku and Ochaco jolted from their much needed sleep. The baby's wailing seemed like an alarm clock. They both groaned and rolled out from their sides of the bed. Still half asleep, they wobbled their way to the crib.

"Aren't you tired?" Ochaco whined, reaching in and picking up the baby. Her movements were sloppy as she hugged the baby girl against her chest, bouncing her gently. Her crying tuned down until she was whimpering.

"If you need to go back to bed, just give her to me," Izuku offered kindly, reaching out to see if Ochaco would hand her over.

Ochaco shook her head no. "It's okay, Deku. I've–" she let out a wide-mouthed yawn. "– I've got her. You can go back to bed."

Both parents had dark rings beneath their eyes. With work and Akiko's ever changing sleeping habits, they hadn't gotten much sleep. And whenever they did manage to rest, they'd wake up to a baby needing attention. They never used the 'my-turn, your-turn' method. Instead, they'd both get up. Even though taking turns would've provided one of them some more time to rest, they'd never agreed to that. Instead, they'd both instinctively get out of bed, and it was up to whoever reached the baby first to try and persuade the other to go back and sleep.

The pink-cheeked baby suddenly screamed in Ochaco's ear, waking her up fully. She calmed down when her mother started gently bouncing her again. Ochaco's eyes slowly closed again and her head tilted to the side as she continued to ease the baby to sleep. She was too tired to care how exhausted she looked.

Izuku couldn't blame her. He was barely standing and it took too much effort to keep his eyes from closing shut. He slowly took the drowsy baby from her. Her response time was delayed and it took her a while to realize what'd happened.

"It's fine. You can go to bed. I'll watch her." It was hard for him to not fall asleep standing right there. His body begged him to rest, but she looked sleepy too.

She rubbed at her eye, stifling another yawn. "You're… You're tired, Deku."

"So are you," he pointed out. He adjusted Akiko in his arms, her head resting on his shoulder, before repeating the soothing motions Ochaco had been doing. He'd occasionally make soft shushing sounds whenever the baby made sounds of discomfort.

"You had a rough day," she told him, balling her hands into fists in frustration. "You just got home, and you start your shift early tomorrow," she complained desperately.

He knew she was just worried and stressed out. Akiko was their first baby, and they had absolutely no idea what they were doing. They were constantly worried and calling their own parents for assistance.

When the baby seemed to fall asleep on his shoulder, he didn't let her down just yet, just in case she wasn't fully asleep. He gave Ochaco a soft, encouraging smile. "It's fine," he whispered. "You go on ahead. I'll be there soon."

"Deku…"

"I won't be long. Promise."

It was funny how they were able to confidently subdue multiple villains in one day, yet, this baby managed to tire them out. They had to request different patrol shift hours so that one of them would be on duty while the other could be home with Akiko. They'd switch places once the working parent got home.

After making sure she was asleep, he gave the baby a tiny kiss on the head before placing her down. He smiled down at her. While the tiny tuffs of hair on her head were a darker shade of brown than her mother's, she already had the permanent blush on her cheeks, similar to her mom. She also had a rounded face and chubby cheeks that Izuku couldn't help but want to kiss.

…

Their apartment wasn't anything special. It was average, but it was bigger than the one he'd been raised in, and certainly much bigger than Ochaco's. It was supposed to be a temporary home, but they found it comfortable and were content with it.

Currently, they were in the kitchen, with Ochaco patting Akiko's back, and Izuku on the floor, assembling a highchair. He checked the instructions again, and while he needed a hand to do so, one of the chair legs came loose and bonked him on the head.

Akiko gave an open-mouth smile at that.

Ochaco chuckled. "Are you okay? Do you need help?" she asked, still laughing softly.

"I've got it," he chuckled as well. The list of baby supplies never seemed to end; from bottles, toys, clothes and diapers, to cribs and strollers. Izuku also had to keep an eye on the calendar to make sure they didn't miss any appointments for her check-ups and vaccines, marking the dates in red circles just to be on the safe side.

Most found it oddly adorable when spotting Heroes Deku and Uravity with a baby. It was a sight to behold. Many of their successful battles had been recorded, and while Deku still had a ladder to climb, he was already recognized within the public. So when he wasn't knocking out villains with a grin on his face, he would be nuzzling his baby girl, rubbing their foreheads together and smiling kindly at her little giggles and giving her soft cheeks kisses.

He slid the tray into place and jiggled the high chair a bit to check its stability. He kneeled to inspect it more firmly when he felt like it was a little too loose.

Akiko kept watching him and making random bubbly sounds from her mouth. Ochaco giggled. "You're so cute." She hugged her closer, adjusting her on her lap. "Yeah, that's daddy!"

Izuku gave them a sweet smile and waved hello in response. It was such a new feeling, being called a dad. He couldn't even remember his dad, and many of the fathers he'd come across hadn't been loving parents. He had no clue how to be a dad. He wasn't even sure if he was doing things right.

Turned out, even Ochaco admitted she was unsure of herself about this, but they both loved their little girl, and that was enough to drive them into doing whatever they could for her, which included waking up in the middle of the night with bedheads just to hold her to sleep.

Akiko's eyes trailed up to focus on the lights on the ceiling, then looked up at her mom curiously. Ochaco gave her a wet kiss and lifted her to playfully rub cheeks with her. Izuku thought it was cute how their almost identical blush marks pressed together to form a heart shape.

When playing with her, she almost always preferred her rainbow giraffe plushy. She'd turn over in her marine themed activity mat and reach for that one toy. The rattles in the giraffe's feet would chime whenever she shook the toy.

She also seemed to like pulling on Izuku's hair.

"Ow, okay…"

Well, that's what he got for trying to give her a kiss on her tummy. He awkwardly laughed and tried to somehow untangle her tiny hand from his curly hair.

He heard Ochaco giggled as well as she slid off her pink boots. "She got you again?"

"She's really fast." He gently tried to peel her hand out; unable to stop himself from chuckling at how silly this looked. He was flat on his stomach on their bed, spending a few more minutes with her before he had to head out. Ochaco folded her hero costume and put it aside before coming to his rescue, laying down on the bed and reaching through Izuku's hair to find her daughter's hand.

"Come on, Akiko. I know, I like daddy's hair, too. It's so fluffy, huh?"

Released from his daughter's hold, he got up and rubbed the sore spot on his head where the hair had been pulled. "Ah, mom called. She said she's on her way here," he reminded her.

Ochaco sat up on the bed and placed Akiko over her folded legs. The baby gripped each of Ochaco's index fingers, not sure which hand to focus on.

"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot," Ochaco admitted embarrassingly. With her lack of sleep and work hours, she almost didn't recall Inko's phone call from yesterday.

"Do you hear that?" she cooed happily to the child holding her fingers. "Grandma Inko's coming over!" she told the baby excitedly.

Izuku's mother had been visiting and calling and staying over since they'd found out Ochaco was pregnant. She'd guided them through the toughest parts and showed them how things were done, helped them buy supplies, and had been the one to call her son during his work hours when Ochaco showed signs of early labor.

He hadn't picked up on the first two calls, preoccupied with tying up a six-armed villain, but after handing the guy over to the police, he excused himself to call back. He'd arrived in the hospital later, still in his hero costume because he wasn't about to waste time taking it off. Kirishima – also known as Red Riot by the public – had been kind enough to abandon the fact that it was his day off and he hurriedly took over Deku's work post. "Good luck, man!" Kirishima had yelled through the phone as Izuku frantically maneuvered his way out of the crowed to get to where he was needed.

They were glad to have friends to help them out. Kirishima, Kaminari, Ashido, Bakugo, Juro, and everyone else, they were all different, yet, they all came together to help out when needed.

"Oh, look at you!" Kirishima cooed in a weird baby voice, holding Akiko over his head. She opened her mouth and smiled at his sharp grin. "Man, you're growing so fast."

"I wanna hold her, too!" Ashido pouted.

Izuku passed by, carrying the laundry basket, his sleeves rolled up. He smiled at the sight in front of him; most of their friends dropped by just to see how things were going. He was grateful for their help. It was weird, how he and Ochaco could deal with villains and rescue missions just fine but they still had their hands full when it came to parenting. As it turned out, 'It takes a village to raise a child' wasn't far from the truth.

Sure, things got easier after Akiko started actually sleeping through a night instead of constantly waking up because of a tummy ache due to passing gas. But it still wasn't easy. It was a hard job, and maybe harder than being heroes, because while saving people was their priority, they couldn't help but put Akiko's above everything else.

Strangers depended on them only at times of need, but she needed them all the time. She wouldn't survive without them. She was small, fragile, sensitive, and she still managed to give them that fuzzy feeling in their chests whenever she made the cutest sounds or pointed at something.

"Hey, hey, Bakugo," Kirishima snuck of behind the blond who was sitting on one of the sofas.

"Huh?" Bakugo grumbled. The redhead suddenly placed the baby on Bakugo's lap. He instinctively held her by the armpits and stared at the mini-Ochaco, not sure what to do with her or how she made it onto his lap in the first place. His mind was too preoccupied trying to figure out what to do with this brat.

Izuku stood to watch. Bakugo would rarely stop by, but he had been one of the first few people to come see the baby. He never touched her; aside from that one time she'd reached for his shirt and he had to peel her hand away. He knew it was because Bakugo just didn't know how to handle children. That, and he tended to cover up his true thoughts and feelings through yelling and tantrums.

Because of that, Bakugo wasn't the friendliest person, but he knew even he wouldn't hurt a baby. He'd usually glance at the child from afar, but never took the opportunity to get close. "I'm not touching fucking Deku's brat," had been his excuse, but Kirishima was confident that Bakugo just didn't know what to do around babies.

He continued to stare at the infant in his grasp. She made bubbling noises and pawed at his shirt with a chubby hand and tiny fingers, leaning against him and staring up at him innocently.

Bakugo suddenly realized he was holding a baby. "Oi, take her back!" he demanded.

"C'mon, she likes you, look!" Kirishima pointed out. He leaned down to her eye level. "You like uncle Kacchan, don't you?" Again, he used that weird voice.

Whether she understood him or not, she leaned her head against Bakugo's chest, snuggling up to him. They have never seen Bakugo blush. The expression on his face was beyond hilarious. His hands hovered over her back, too shocked to hold her. His face was a mixture of confusion, shock and disbelief.

And Ashido was so glad she recorded that with her phone.

Some of them cooed at the sight because damnit that was just too cute!

"Shi – take her back!" Bakugo glared at everyone, his red eyes piercing. Kaminari snorted at how the blond had cut himself off just to not curse in front of the baby.

Iida politely extended his arms. "If you don't mind?"

"Just taking the brat already."

Iida carefully picked her up and held her against his chest and examined her face. She stared intensely at him, then simply uttered a sound that mimicked a tiny hiccup. She found it amusing and smiled at him. Something within Iida melted and his only free hand clutched over his heart. They could've sworn they saw flowers floating over his head. At that moment, Tenya promised himself he'd protect this smile. This precious little girl would never be harmed while her uncle was around!

"Oh my god, just let me hold her already!" Ashido whined.

Iida snapped out of it, fake-coughing into his hand awkwardly. "Oh, yes. Please, be careful with her."

"I know, I know," Ashido waved him off and finally held the chubby-cheeked baby. "Hey! Ewww, you're so cute! You're adorable!" She gave the confused child a wet kiss on the cheek.

Ochaco giggled as she watched her child get smothered in love by the group of friends. Almost everyone wanted to kiss those rosy cheeks she'd inherited from her mother. Ochaco remembered getting her cheeks pinched a lot when she was younger.

Everyone got a turn holding her. Jiro learned to keep her ear-jacks out of the child's reach. Kaminari learned to not lean down too much or she'd grab his hair, too. Yaoyorozu rocked her in her arms until she seemed to relax, and she eventually carefully passed her on to Todoroki, who held her just as gently.

At the end of the day, they had to part ways, but not until some gave the baby a few more kisses before finally handing her over to Ochaco. She held Akiko's hand up and pretended the baby was waving goodbye at them.

"You have really nice uncles and aunts, huh, Akiko?" Ochaco said sweetly at her.

The baby saw her father and reached for him. Her mother understood and happily handed her over to him. Izuku hugged her close as she yawned and placed her head on his shoulder, her eyes half shut.

"They tired you out," Izuku chuckled softly.

They had to admit, this job was much harder than being heroes; but it was also the most rewarding job out there. They didn't do it for a paycheck or to fulfill a task. They did it because they wanted to see her grow and be happy. No matter how tough this job was, it was worth it.

She was worth it.

Note: Yeah, the idea was just too cute. I couldn't help it. I just had to write it.