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Approximately a week ago, Izuku’s favorite movie had switched. Shouta had been going through different movies and telling Izuku the summaries in a desperate attempt to get him to choose anything but the Little Mermaid again. At one point Shouta had enjoyed the movie, but somewhere between the twenty-first and twenty-eighth time watching it, Ariel’s voice started to sound like nails on a chalkboard. Hizashi was on the other side of Izuku attempting to hype up the different movie. He made comments like “that sounds cool” which had worked to get Izuku to watch Snow White, but it hadn't beaten the Little Mermaid. After ten minutes of reading summaries, he stumbled upon Tangled.
“Look at the lizard!” Izuku exclaimed and Shouta felt a spark of hope dare to ignite in his chest.
“Want to check it out?” He had asked and Izuku nodded rapidly. Midway through the movie when Izuku had started doing a bit of a dance to music, Shouta had shared a look with his husband that was a mix of relief and dread. A new favorite movie had been found.
When his son approached him with the bouquet of fake red roses, a bunch of hair ties, and a hairbrush, Shouta figured he should’ve seen this coming. Furthermore, he cursed himself that he had bought the flowers in the first place.
“Dad?”
“Yeah, bub?”
“Can I braid your hair like they do in Tangled?” Izuku asked, his bright green eyes staring up at him.
“Why don’t you go ask Papa? I’m sure he’d love for you to braid his hair.” Shouta suggested and Hizashi popped his head out of the kitchen. His long blonde hair was already pulled back into a braid with green flowers interwoven. It looked a bit ridiculous with strands of hair sticking out here and there but the pride in Izuku’s eyes made him hold back his laugh.
“Papa let me practice on his hair!” Izuku exclaimed.
“Now that you’ve practiced, you want to do mine?”
“Please?” Shouta nodded. How could he say no?
“Alright, here’s what we are going to do. I’m going to sit on the floor leaning against the couch and you can stand on the couch.” Izuku nodded as Shouta moved off the couch and onto the floor.
“Remember to be gentle, okay?” Shouta reminded him. Izuku let out a hum before starting. Izuku pulled the hairbrush through Shouta’s hair, working slowly to get any knots out.
“I’m going to brush and brush and brush and brush your hair.” Izuku sang and he heard a snicker from the kitchen. He was going to have to get Hizashi back for this because there was not a doubt in his mind that his husband was recording this.
“Did the movie inspire you to do this?” Shouta inquired.
“In-sp-ire?”
“It means something that makes you want to do it. Like if Papa gave me a hug, which made you want to hug me. He inspired you to hug me.”
“Got it. The movie inspired me and when you guys do my hair, it's nice. Wanted to do it for you.” Izuku replied and Shouta smiled.
“That’s nice.” As the braiding went on, Shouta couldn't help but think of how much Izuku had begun to change since they started fostering him. For the first two weeks, he refused to ask for anything. Izuku’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts
“Done!” Shouta stood up and stretched.
“Want to take a picture for me so I can see what it looks like?” He asked and Izuku nodded. He passed his phone, Izuku took the picture, then handed it back. Shouta glanced at the picture and hid his smile behind his scarf. It was surprisingly good. There were fewer rouge strands of hair and the flowers were firmly in place.
“You did a good job. Thank you.” Izuku gave him a blinding smile.
“Alright, you two. Dinner’s ready. Go wash up Izuku.” Hizashi called. Izuku went off to the bathroom and Shouta went over to Hizashi.
“The braid looks good on you,” Hizashi said and kissed him.
“Did you plan this?” Shouta asked.
“Nope, this was all our sons doing. Turns out he's been practicing for a bit now. We might have a little hairstylist in the future.”
“Over being a hero? No way.”
Later that night as he got ready for patrol, he couldn't help but smile as he took out the flowers. He was about to take out the braid but stopped. Who was going to notice anyway?