Chapter Text
Mina wanted kids.
Mina wanted kids badly.
She supposed it might be hormonal, a biological baby hunger that started to rise after graduating. And it had been easy to ignore, to push back into the far corners of her mind while she focused more on her budding career. She’d even been able to ignore it when Yaoyorozu and Todoroki had a baby. But then Bakugou and Midoriya had had Akio, which in and off itself wouldn’t have been a problem…but then Kirishima had started babysitting his “nephew.”
At their apartment.
And seeing her long-term boyfriend laugh and play and love on their little nephew stoked the ever-loving shit out of the fires of Mina’s baby hunger. Mina quickly realized that he would literally be the greatest father of all time and she wanted nothing more than to give him that opportunity. She hesitantly brought up the subject one night after Midoriya had picked up Akio, leaving the two alone. Kirishima had cried, (These are MANLY tears, babe) and they agreed that while they wouldn’t actively TRY to get pregnant, they also would stop using protection and she went off the pill.
If it happens then it’s meant to happen, Kirishima had told her with a big sharp toothy grin.
And it had happened. The first time a test came back positive she presented Kirishima with a little box that held the positive test and a tiny onesie that said ‘My dad is my hero.’ Kirishima looked at her with big wide eyes and then launched himself forward. She had giggled as he picked her up and twirled her around the room chanting Im going to be a dad! Im going to be a dad! Over and over and over again.
She fell asleep that night tucked tightly against Kirishima’s chest, listening to his heartbeat as he held up his phone, scrolling through baby names.
She had awoken later that night with some mild back pain and begrudgingly left the warmth of Kirishima’s embrace to their kitchen to grab an aspirin or something. She was opening the pill bottle when the most painful cramp she had ever had tore through her lower body. It was so sudden that she cried out, dropping the bottle. Little pills scattered onto the floor as she dropped to her knees and held her stomach. Kirishima came skidding in, colliding with their fridge.
It wasn’t until he turned on the lights that she noticed the blood.
Kirishima held her at the hospital, ran his calloused fingers through pink hair. His jaw set, unflinching as they listened to the doctor. He was her rock as she sobbed against his chest, though she knew it broke him just as much as it broke her. When they got home she had heard him crying in the shower.
But they survived. Vowed to try again when she was healthy and ready.
The second pregnancy came a little under a year later. It lasted three weeks longer than the first. They had hope. They celebrated just as happily as the first time, they even told Kirishima’s mother.
There was no back pain that time. Just a week of cramping and the tiniest amount of bleeding that ended in another hospital room with another doctor telling them yet again, they had lost the baby. Kirishima promised her it was ok. He had stroked her hair, whispered comforting words against her skin. Held her as she sobbed herself to sleep. But she knew he left that night and didn’t come back until morning with bruises lining his knuckles. It looked like he had been up all-night punching concrete, and he had.
The third time, she hadn’t bothered taking him to the hospital with her. She couldn’t stand to see him attempt to comfort her even though he was seconds away from shattering himself. This time tho, she didn’t cry. She was too numb. This time the doctor had answers.
“It’s your acid.” He had explained. “Gestation is such a…fickle thing and it requires a small ph range to be successful. The acidity in your womb, your blood…in you is simply too high to carry a baby. I’m so sorry.”
It’s your fault. The voice in Mina’s head spoke. You and Eijirou can’t have a baby and it’s YOUR FAULT.
The voice only got louder and louder as she made her way back to their apartment.
Your fault.
Why would he want to stay with someone who can’t give him children?
You’ll never be a mother.
He’s going to realize that.
He’s going to leave you.
The one thing you want most, you can’t have.
It’s your fault.
When she stepped back into their apartment, she took a single deep breath…
…and then she snapped.
--------------------------
Kirishima hummed cheerfully and hoisted his duffle bag of hero gear high on his hip so he could unlock his front door. He swung it open and prepared to give his best ‘Mina Im homeeeeee!!!!’ but the words died in his throat the second he stepped in.
His fists hardened on instinct.
His apartment looked like it had been ransacked, or hit by a tornado. The TV hung off the wall at a weird angle. Bookcases were toppled over. He could see the kitchen from his vantage point, the cupboards were all open and all of their dishes were shattered on the ground. The fridge was on its side. Knives were embedded into the walls. The table was cracked in half.
But most concerning were the tell tale acid burns on almost everything. Kirishima had to fight back the panic and bile that rose in his throat, it looked like Mina had put up one hell of a fight against something but his girlfriend was nowhere to be seen. He dropped his duffle bag and edged into the room, hero instinct on high alert.
“M-Mina?” He called out, gaining no response. He peeked into the kitchen, nothing. Spare bedroom empty. Hallway closet empty. Empty. Empty.
He found her in their bathroom, sitting on the floor, slumped over their toilet.
“Mina?” He let his hands return to normal and knelt down beside her. “Mina are you ok? What happened, should I call the police?”
He reached out a hand and placed it on a bare, pale pink shoulder. His girlfriend slowly lifted her head to look at him. He’s pretty sure his heart stopped beating.
He had literally broken one time, his hardened form shattering, and he still didn’t think that was AS broken as Mina looked right now.
“Babe.” He lifted his hand to her cheek. “Babe what happened?”
She blinked at him a few times before her bottom lip startled to wobble and she started to collapse. Kirishima’s arms darted out and caught her, pulling her against his chest.
“I. L-lost. The. Baby.” She hiccupped through absolutely anguished sobs. Kirishima’s heart sank…damn…she had almost been 11 weeks this time.
“I…It’s going to be ok babe.” He shifted from a kneeling to a sitting position so he could pull her into his lap. She felt impossibly small, crumpled against him. He pushed a kiss into her pink hair and rocked her slowly. “We should go to the hospital to make sure you’re ok. Ok babe?”
“I already went.” She cried.
“w…what?”
“I went this morning. The…the doctor told me it’s been happening because of ME. Because I’m too acidic to carry a baby.” Her sobs got impossibly harder, her whole body shaking in Kirishima’s arms. He held her tighter.
“God Im sorry hon. Im so sorry. It’ll be ok though ok? There are other ways to have a baby, we could-“
“No.” She breathed, pulling away from him. “You don’t understand Eiji! I don’t want that. I want our baby. I want to carry your baby inside me. I don’t want to adopt, or surrogate. I don’t. I just want to be a mother and carry my child and I just want a baby Eijirou. I just want a baby. I just- “
“I know.” Kirishima barely rasped, beginning to sob himself. “I know babe.”
All he could do was hold her until she sobbed herself quiet.
“I fucked up the apartment.” She whispered, muffled into his chest.
“I…saw. Its ok, I would have too.”
“M’sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, it won’t be too hard to clean up.”
“No Im…Im sorry I cant give you a baby Eijirou. Im sorry you ended up with someone who can’t make you a father.”
Kirishims frowned and pulled her away far enough to cup her cheeks between his palms. He stared into her eyes, seeking out the pinpricks of gold that floated on a sea of inky black. He rubbed his thumb over the round flesh of a pink cheek, wiping an errant tear from her skin.
“Mina don’t you ever be sorry for that. Remember we said that whatever happened will happen, and whatever doesn’t happen won’t? And I promised you that either way, I would be right here by your side, no matter what. And a long time before that I promised you that I wanted to live with no regrets. And to this day my only regret is not asking you out sooner because you are all I’ve wanted since middle school.”
“I love you so much Ashido Mina.” He pushed a kiss on the tip of her knows and grinned when she smiled softly at the action. “And I will never *kiss* ever *kiss* EVER *kiss* stop loving you.”
“I love you.” She whispered back, kissing him before collapsing against his chest again.
Kirishima hired someone else to clean their apartment.
Yet even after it was clean, he still could see the subtle cracks in his girlfriend’s demeanor. She stopped signing up for modeling gigs, which she loved. She was a lot quieter, which in their relationship was unheard of. She found excuses not to be home when Kirishima had to babysit for Bakugou. And worst, worst of all…she teared up every time she saw a baby or toddler in public.
She didn’t know that Kirishima saw, because it was nearly impossible for him to take his eyes off her when they were near each other. Had been impossible since middle school. He saw, he knew.
And he was determined to find a way for her to have his baby.