Forever & Always

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

Izuku had his brows scrunched up as he looked down at the clothes he was wearing-- struggling as he tried to properly tie his neck tie, which he hadn't done to himself since he graduated from high school.

"No, wait... I'll start over," he mumbled to himself as he fondled with his tie once more, unsconsciously pacing around the room to keep his frustrations at bay-- starting the step-by-step process Shoto had once taught him before on how to tie a necktie.

"Ugh... why is this so damn hard?" He grumbled as he got lost in the steps for the nth time today and had to do it all over again.

He had no idea how long he had been fiddling with his tie, that the soft knock coming from the door got him startled and literally made him jump.

"Izuku?" It was Inko. "May I come in?"

"Ah... I-I'm not ready yet, is it already time?" Izuku asked, glancing at the clock-- actually surprised to see that he had been messing with his tie and had wasted nearly thirty minutes in doing so.

"What's wrong sweety?" Inko asked, a hint of worry in her voice as the female beta waited for her son to open the door for her.

Izuku was looking down on his shiny leather shoes with eyes that reflected utter defeat and Inko knew exactly what was happening when she took one look at the sloppy tie that hung around her son's neck.

Inko smilled before gently reaching for Izuku's chin and slowly raised it up for his eyes to meet hers. "Want me to tie it for you? For old time's sake," she said and Izuku gave a bashful nod before he let his mother in to work on her magic.

Inko had a smile on her face as Izuku watched her start on his tie-- giving the female beta only five minutes before finally securing a clean knot that comfortably hugged Izuku's neck. "There," she said, flattening the soft creases on her son's light green buttoned shirt with a smile.

"I've let you tie my neckties since I was in high school and watched you a million times," Izuku said, "How is it that you make it look so easy when it really isn't?"

Inko giggled. "Well, it is my job as your mother to take care of you," she said, "So, it's obvious that I should learn how to tie a necktie so I can do it for my son,"

Izuku let out a small smile as he turned to the full-length mirror and looked at his reflection.

He was wearing pastel green long-sleeved buttoned shirt tucked inside a pair of black trousers that were paired up with black leather shoes and the dreaded black necktie. His usually messy, curly hair was combed and styled to make it look tamed.

Inko smiled at her son before she took a step closer to him and joined him in watching their reflections at the mirror. "Do you remember when you were a kid, how you used to face your reflection every morning and would practice that smile your favorite heroic cartoon character used to make?" she said, making Izuku laugh.

"How can I forget?" Izuku said, "Everytime I face the mirror, I always had to fight the urge to imitate All Might's smile and it would make me laugh upon realizing that,"

Inko giggled before she reached up for Izuku's hair gently combed it-- fixing the few strands that went astray at the time his son remained frustrated with his necktie." You're all grown up now, Izu..." she whispered, "How is it that one day, you're this tiny ball of green blur zooming around the house with your high pitched squeals and laughs, and the next you're suddenly taller than me... more matured, with an eleven-month-old daughter and an alpha waiting for you to say your 'I do's' at the altar today?"

Izuku just shrugged.

Today was December 21st, winter solstice, and the day Shoto and Izuku decided to push through with their postponed wedding after Izuku conceived their daughter. The couple once had agreed that they would get married by April-- Sakura season in Japan-- but it was postponed when Izuku found out that he was pregnant, months before their wedding took place.