Chapter Text
The head of the hospital had come down and personally apologized to Shouto for what had to have been the hundredth time. The nurse that had given him such a difficult time was nearly fired before his eyes, but Shouto insisted that all was fine. He just wanted to see his wife.
As he made his way to the room, he attempted to suppress the rising anger within. He knew Bakugo was with Momo. While he wanted to come up with other possibilities, his gut told him that this one was true. He trusted Momo completely, but he was confused. When had she and Bakugo reconnected? Surely, after the issues this caused in their relationship a few years ago, she would not withhold such information from him, right?
He calmed himself down as he gripped the doorknob. It was not until he heard the sizzle on the knob that he realized he was not as calm as he thought he was. Taking a deep breath, he stilled his thoughts, deactivated his quirk and eased his tight grip on the knob.
Calm, he was calm.
Turning the silver knob slowly, he pushed the door open and any ounce of calamity immediately dispersed as he absorbed the sight of Bakugo sitting at Momo’s side, their hands tightly intertwined. He felt as though the breath was knocked out of him and breathing was proving to be difficult for him.
“Oh, Sho! You’re here!” Momo gushed, a bright smile gracing her face. It was almost enough to dissolve Shouto’s anger- almost .
He eyed the pair curiously, rage fueling his inner thoughts. If looks could kill, Bakugo would have been disintegrated on the spot.
“Look who finally decided to show up.” Bakugo smiled, his stupid lopsided smile, running his free hand through his ragged hair.
Shouto hated him. He did not before, but he decided now that he did.
“Why is he here?” Shouto spat through clenched teeth. Momo’s smile faded, a frown quickly settling in.
“He was with Kirishima when Mina sent him to bring me here. Sho... Calm down. That’s all there is to it.” Momo calmly stated. She realized she was still gripping Bakugo’s hand and released it. She was 9 centimeters dilated last the nurse checked and the contractions were not letting up.
“Worried bustling blonde baby boys will pop out?” Bakugo purposely teased as if he was trying to pick a fight with the number two hero.
It worked.
Shouto did not find the insinuation that he had slept with his wife humorous and he absentmindedly stomped across the floor towards Bakugo, so quickly, it seemed as if he had teleported over. His fist connected with the blonde’s face before he realized what he was doing and blood spurted from Bakugo’s nose. His red eyes glared up at Shouto from the floor he had staggered back upon and Shouto readied his fist to land another punch.
“Oh my god! Wait! Please do not fig- ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh” Momo’s pleas turned into a screech of pain causing the two heroes to momentarily shift their attention to the most important matter at hand. The monitors beeped and the nursing staff rushed through the door.
“That’s it. Ten centimeters. They’re ready!” the main nurse excitedly exclaimed, before observing the scene before her. She began to ask about what had occurred, but Momo’s cries interrupted her thought process and she rushed to her side instead.
“Here, you two suit up.” the nurse stated, holding out masks, caps, gloves, and robes to Shouto and Bakugo. Shouto snatched both sets.
“Like hell he’s staying in here. OUT!” he growled.
“Fuck out of here, Icy Hot! I’m staying. I’ve been here for the past twelve hours while Ponytail here gave a wicked death grip on my hands. I have a right to stay at this point.” Bakugo hissed back, sleeve held up against his nose to prevent the blood from gushing.
“Excuse me sirs, but….” the second nurse attempted to interrupt, to no avail.
“Yeah!? Well I spent TWELVE MONTHS repairing her broken heart you stupid piece of shit.”
“If I never left, you would have never had a chance!”
The main nurse moved to attempt to calm the men down again, but they moved around her, completely ignoring her presence. Bakugo shoved Shouto and Shouto shoved him back harder. The nurse attempted to stand between them again as Momo pleaded with them to stop in the background. Shouto calmly picked up the tiny nurse and placed her out of their way, stepping up to Bakugo who stood just three inches shorter than him.
“Let’s be clear… she was mine before she was ever yours, bud. You may have claimed the title of boyfriend before I got a chance to, but I’m her husband, now and forever more and there isn’t shit you can do to change that.”
The two men were standing chest to chest, testosterone smothering the air in the room. Bakugo parted his lips to speak, but Momo interjected, the normally patient woman reaching her uppermost limit.
“BOTH OF YOU SHUT THE HELL UP!” Momo exclaimed, her face flushing red. Shouto froze as though he were a child prepared to receive a harsh punishment. Momo was upset and he was filled with regret. He hadn’t meant to upset her. In fact, he hadn’t considered how any of this would have made her feel. His mind flashed back to her anger after delivering Himiko almost four years ago and he hated himself for making her upset yet again during what should have been such a joyous moment.
He eyed Bakugo out of his peripheral and noted that the normally hot headed explosive hero had also calmed down. Momo equally had that effect on him as well and Shouto felt his anger rising again. Bakugo should not be allowed to still have feelings for his wife after how he left her shattered and scarred years ago.
Momo gently cleared her throat, her decorum returning. She ran her fingers through her long black hair and took a deep breath, locking eyes with Shouto.
“If you trust me, he stays, Sho.” Momo gently stated, a small, encouraging smile resting upon her face. Shouto did not need to consider this at all. He trusted Momo, completely. He reluctantly shoved the items into Bakugo’s chest, pushing past the slightly shorter hero as he eased closer to Momo’s bedside. He took her hand in his own.
“I am in love with you and only you. Remember that I am yours and don’t you ever allow your emotions to cause you to forget it.” she whispered, and it was all he needed to hear for peace to wash over him.
He heard Bakugo suck his teeth in the background and watched the blonde as he suited up in protective gear. He hadn’t noticed it before, but now that his mind was clear, he could clearly see the pain in Bakugo’s eyes.
Realization set in. What reason did Shouto have to be angry? He was the one married to Momo with a beautiful family. If anyone had the right to be angry, it was Bakugo. He was the lonely one; the one that would forever have to live with the fact that his decision making caused him to lose Momo. Shouto felt bad for him.
Snuggled closely together in the livingroom of the ski resort, Jiro mindlessly twirled her engagement ring around her finger, smiling internally. Kaminari had proposed at exactly midnight on Christmas and the pair could not get to sleep due to the excitement. They opted to binge watch music documentaries on Netflix instead and were in the middle of Metallica: Some Kind of Monster when his phone began to go off a mile a minute. His face beamed.
“BAKUSQUAD IS BAAAAAAAACK!” he exclaimed, sounding like a teenage girl that had just been informed that One Direction had reunited.
Her interest was piqued. Though Bakugo had returned a couple of years ago, the self-proclaimed Bakusquad never seemed to bounce back. Jiro stayed out of it completely. It was a little awkward knowing that her best friend was at the root of the dismantling of the squad due to the namesake himself shutting everyone out because of his complicated feelings for Momo.
“Tell me more.” she inquired, attempting to steal a glance at the tiny phone screen in her fiance’s hand.
“Bakugo is back in the group chat!!! Kiri said he was going to work his magic, but I doubted his abilities.”
“Well… what did Bakugo say?”
“He just sent two bomb emojis. Dope, right?”
“What the hell does that mean!?” Jiro snapped, rolling her eyes.
“Not sure actually. We all just responded with “AYYYYYYYE, BAKUBRO IS BACK!”
Her dofus fiance was smiling as if he achieved a great feat. She shook her head, reaching over to snatch his phone out of his hand, quickly typing What do the bombs mean? before hitting send.
“Good idea babe. See? That’s why I’m marrying you.”
Jiro shook her head, wondering what had provoked Bakugo’s return. Kaminari’s phone chimed and she leaned over to see the response.
Momo just dropped her two bombs.
“Wait… THE TWINS ARE HERE?!” Jiro screeched, shooting up from the couch and running into the resort’s bedroom to grab her phone off the charger. Sure enough, the girl’s group chat was lively. Shouto had sent a picture of four tiny feet on behalf of Momo and then quietly exited the chat as the other four women went nuts. Jiro ran back into the living room.
“Hey Pikachu, how does Backugo know that Momo gave birth?” she inquired.
“He was the one at the hospital with Momo.”
She slowly nodded, tucking this piece of information away into her memory bank. She could not wait to get back home and have a girl’s day with Momo. Things were surely going to shift within their close knit group that was comprised of the former class of 1-A and Jiro was not sure if things would shift for the better or worse.
“They’re here. THEY’RE HERE!!!! Zukuuuuu. WAKE UP!”
Upon the insistent pleas of his wife, the number one hero slowly peeked open his eyes, the darkness of the cozy cabin bedroom occupying the space and time between them. His eyes roamed over to the tiny alarm clock that sat upon the nightstand. It was a little after four in the morning and he groaned, slowly rubbing his hand over his face.
“Ochako, it’s four in the morning. Why are you awake?”
“BECAUSE THEY’RE HERE!”
“Who? Who is here!?” he inquired, trying his hardest to mask the annoyance he felt at her shrieking at ungodly hours of the morning.
Somehow, even in the darkness, he could see her white teeth shining brightly, bearing a huge grin. It softened his mood immediately. He really loved her.
“The twins. Momo had the boys.” she squealed, flopping backwards, her head landing softly upon his chest.
“Oi! Already!?! Are they okay? Is she okay?”
He felt her head nodding as she sighed deeply.
“I wish… I wish that was us.” she whispered. Izuku sighed heavily, rubbing his hand through her disheveled brown hair.
“It will be, one day… just not now, dear.” he responded, bracing himself for the conversation he hated the most.
Ochako was ready to start a family, understandably so. They had been together the longest out of all of their friends and were the first couple to wed. Somehow, despite being the newest couple of the crew, Shouto and Momo were the first and only to have children. He knew Ochako desired to be a mother, but he was not yet ready to be a father. He did not see how he could be a father at this point in his career. He did not think it was fair to push parenting onto Ochako in the same way he had witnessed his mother having to do when he was a child. He wanted to be present during every waking moment of rearing their children and he knew he could not do that while he was in the prime of his career.
His brace was for naught, for Ochako did not provide the counterarguments or pleading that she usually did. His green brow raised in the darkness and he focused intensely on her breathing. He knew his wife like the Hero Code of Conduct and knew that even if she didn’t voice her thoughts and even if he couldn’t see her facial expression, he knew her breathing would tell him all that he needed to know.
“You’re crying. What’s wrong Chako?” he whispered, pulling her into his chest tighter.
“I sometimes think it’s never going to happen for us. At what point is it going to be the right timing?”
He clumsily brushed his hand against her face in the darkness, attempting to wipe away her tears. She stiffened beneath his touch.
“Ochako Midoriya, I promise you that I am going to make you the mother of my children one day. I really mean that. I want a family with you, and I know you’ll be a phenomenal mother. I too want to be a phenomenal parent, but I know I do not have the capacity to be that right now. The timing will never be perfect, but I am confident we will find a better time than right now. In the meantime, we have two new nephews to practice with.”
He heard her giggle beneath her tears and he smiled. She nestled closer into his embrace and his heart fluttered. He hated it when she cried, but loved when he could be the one to make them go away. When the tears stopped and her breathing steadied, he was sure that she was sound asleep. He closed his eyes to do the same, making a mental note to check on Yaomomo and Shouto in the morning. Those twins were a little early.
Even though she had carried the boys far further than she did Himiko, they were still delivered prior to the 37 week mark. This meant that Shouto was once again looking at his baby- well, babies -through glass incubators. This time, he didn’t feel afraid, nor alone. Bakugo stood by his side, staring at the twins as if he were in an entranced state.
“I wanted this with her, ya know?” he mumbled, causing Shouto to quirk his eyebrow in disbelief. Bakugo was very bold and Shouto wondered if maybe he should have knocked him unconscious earlier instead of attempting to fracture his face.
“Bakugo…” Shouto started, the simple name on his tongue a warning for the blonde. Bakguo held up his hands.
“You have nothing to worry about Half-N-Half.” he grunted, and Shouto let his defenses, or rather, offenses, down.
“I get that maybe you never considered me a friend, but I once considered you a friend.” Shouto started, but was interrupted before he could continue.
“That’s because you lack social skills fucktard. We were hardly friends back then.”
Shouto’s mouth tightened into a thin line. He took a deep breath, wondering why he was even trying to have this conversation with Bakugo, before Momo entered his mind. Right… for her. He would do anything for her. He rolled his eyes and forced himself to continue.
“Right. Well, anyway. Even if we ditch the F word, I still had a great deal of respect for you and I know you had the same for me, even if not as humans, as heroes.”
He eyed the blonde next to him and noted that he was listening. Shouto gave a singular nod to no one besides himself before continuing.
“I lost a lot of respect for you though. The way you left her wasn’t right and the letters? I don’t know what the hell that was about, but if you knew we were together, you should have stayed in your place. Thinking you could just waltz back in and stir up trouble really forced me to lack any remaining respect for you. Even in high school and beyond, when the two of you dated, I kept my distance out of my respect for you. You couldn’t provide the decency to do the same and I am disappointed in you.”
“Tck. Disappointed?” Bakugo grunted.
“Did I stutter? YES. Disappointed. And make no mistake, the only reason I haven’t killed you yet is because of-”
“The law and your career as a hero, I know.” Bakugo interrupted. Shouto chuckled.
“Because of Momo. I don’t care about the rest of that stuff. For whatever reason, Momo still cares a great deal about you, so I am allowing you to live despite the disrespect you have showcased.”
Silence engulfed the air between the two men as they watched the twins silently stir before them.
“You won’t have to worry about me anymore. Even I can take a hint on when to give up. She’s in love with you and has made it very clear that I don’t have a chance.”
Shouto’s eyes widened briefly and though he had returned to his naturally stoic expression just as quick, Bakugo caught it.
“Never thought the number two hero had a single insecurity. You were always an overconfident asshole.” Bakugo chuckled, causing Shouto to stiffen.
“She’s obviously your achilles heel. Well, at any rate, you may have won this battle, but the war is not over. I am coming for your number two spot, even if I could never be number one for her.”
Shouto turned to stare at the explosive hero, taking his statement into consideration. The two men eyed each other for a moment, and a form of unspoken understanding stood between the two.
“Thanks for today, Bakugo. Merry Christmas. Don’t be a stranger.”
The left side of Bakugo’s mouth turned upward into a snarl and his red eyes blinked slowly.
“Don’t mention it. I’ll be around to teach my boys how to be a real man.” he grunted, giving Shouto a playful nudge before making his exit.
Shouto stared at the empty space next to him, before turning his direction over to the twins. The blazing red hair that sat atop both of the boys’ heads made Shouto smile. It was kind of funny how he had always resented his left side, hating his turquoise eye that sat beneath the scar and his bed of red hair. Now, he couldn’t be more in love with the color red.
Red.
He thought back to the first time he noticed Momo in her red hero costume.
Or the first time his mind flashed from being green with envy to red with rage over seeing Momo with someone other than him.
Annnd the first time her cheeks flushed red at his touch.
There was also the red polish that had graced her nails on their wedding day, her nails holding him close as they consummated their marriage.
So many times, they cleaned the red blood off of each other’s wounds after a long day of work.
On numerous occasions, her red lipstick had left stains all over his mouth.
He was even appreciative of Bakugo’s red eyes, his final glare giving him the reassurance that things would finally settle between the three of them.
This color told so much truth and painted a picture of how he felt for her. Red was the color of their love, and they had three red-headed kiddos as evidence of said love.