New Beginnings

Alone at Last

BAKUGO'S POV

"What do you want to bring?" Midoriya asked, laying some toys on the floor in front of Masao. "You can only take two toys."

"We take five," Masao said.

Midoriya looked at me, silently asking what to do. "Bud," I said, squatting down to his level. "After Grandma's, we're not coming back home. We're going on a long vacation, where you'll be able to get lots and lots of toys. But if you take five, you won't be able to get as many on vacation." We're splitting time between renting an RV and staying in hotels. I don't want to lug 20 toys back and forth between the two kids on top of everything they're going to want while we're away.

Masao sighed and grabbed his Etch A Sketch and Vet play set. "I take stuffy?" he asked, holding up the small plastic container containing his plastic vet tools.

"For your vet set? Yeah, you can take the dog," I said, nodding toward the pile of stuffed animals in the basket. The vet set was a little bigger than I would have liked, but it's still better than adding an additional three toys. "Alright, go put them by your blue bag by the front door. Tell Grandma and Grandpa that you're done."

"Don't run down the stairs, please," Midoriya added, knowing Masao would do just that because of how excited he was.

When he was on his way down the stairs, we turned to Kenzo's room. Since Hanako wanted to pick her own stuff out, she needed more time to get her stuff together. Kenzo, Masao, and Kimi's bags were packed earlier when the kids went to get ice cream with my parents. When we walked into Kenzo's room, he was sitting on the floor, looking at least ten different toys.

"Alright, bud," Midoriya said. "You can take two," he said.

Without hesitation, Kenzo grabbed his Mario toy set, which included two action figures and a set of pipes that the figures fit in. I would have to grab a bag to keep it all together, but each piece was about the size of his hand, so it was doable. Then, he picked up his brown teddy bear, which had his name stitched on the front of it. Eijiro bought it and stitched his name into it the day we found out we were adopting a boy.

"Dad?" he asked quietly. "Can I get a new bear?" He's had that bear his entire life.

"Of course, bud." Watching his sad expression almost killed me. Seeing how he looked at his most prized possession from Eijiro with disgust made me realize how badly he was truly hurting. He wasn't taking it as well as Hanako and wasn't as oblivious as Masao and Kimi. I should have put him in therapy right after his dad left.

It will be the first thing I do when we get home.

Walking to the trashcan by his small desk, he dropped the bear inside before he grabbed his Rubix Cube and put it with his Mario toy set. "Are those the two you want to take?" Midoriya asked. After Kenzo nodded, Midoriya looked around the room until he found a drawstring bag to throw them in since they were smaller. After the toys were in the bag, he handed it to Kenzo.

"Midoriya, can you head to Hanako's room? I'll be there in a minute."

"Of course," he said. He shut the door behind him when he walked out, probably knowing we needed a private minute.

"What's wrong?" Kenzo asked, putting some of his toys in the toy box and the others by the door to go back out to the play mat.

I walked over to the trashcan and grabbed the bear. "I'm going to keep this," I told him. "I'll put it away so you don't have to see it, but I think we should keep it for now."

"Why? Dad isn't coming home, right?"

"No, bud, he isn't. But I think you might want that when you're a little older. If you don't, that's okay. You'll never have to look at it again. But if you do want it, I would hate for you not to be able to get it back." He nodded, refusing to look at the bear in my hand. "I love you, Kenzo. I'm so sorry that you're hurting."