Chapter Text
Present
She was suffocating.
The spacious office with the full wall of floor to ceiling windows should not have felt so tiny, but it did. The scent of the array of congratulatory floral arrangements was making her sick to her stomach and she was sure that the walls were closing in on her.
She leaned back in the large swivel chair, attempting to steady her breathing. She really wanted to keep her breakfast down. She whispered a quick prayer up above before whispering a quick plea to her belly down below and held her breath.
Of course she would have no such luck.
She quickly grabbed her toiletry bag and darted out of her office, heading straight to the restroom.
“I am just trying to keep us both alive. I don’t know why you insist on being a brat.” she mumbled to her stomach as she washed her face and brushed her teeth.
She nearly collided with Shouto as she emerged from the women’s restroom.
“Mo…” he started, but she didn’t bother to stick around to hear what he had to stay. She was still upset with him. He had been such a jerk since finding out about her pregnancy and the stunt he pulled at the awards show the previous night was absolutely rude.
She heard him trailing behind her as she made her way down the hallway. She attempted to slam her office door shut before he could catch up, but it bounced back. She glanced down and rolled her eyes at his foot propped in the doorway.
“Juvenile.” he deadpanned, inviting himself into her office and shutting the door behind him.
“I don’t want to talk about it right now.” she hissed, stomping across the large room and flopping down at her desk.
“Fine. We don’t have to discuss it. Here, I bought you lunch and here is your mail.”
He held his arms out, extending both the bag and the stack of mail before her. She motioned towards the desk and he placed them down.
“We need to discuss it!” she huffed out. Where did he get off thinking he didn’t have to make things better?
“But I thought you didn’t want to?” he responded, a stupid, subtle smirk on his mouth.
“I DON’T!” her arms were tightly crossed on her chest now, her bottom lip pouting.
“We’re married though, so we don’t get the luxury of ignoring our problems. They’ll only worsen.”
He nodded, taking a seat on the corner of her desk.
“You shouldn’t take things so hard Momo. I’m putting in extra work so we can have more money. There’s an extra mouth to feed and you already count as three people as is.”
Her face flushed red as her eyebrows creased in anger. He immediately recognized his mistake and his eyes widened as he waived his hands in front of him.
“Sorry. I… you know I didn’t mean it like that. But you do eat a lot because of your quirk. Not that it’s an issue or anything.” he stuttered. She held her palm up to his face, shutting him up.
“One, we aren’t hurting for money, so I hardly think you need to be working these insane hours, while I’m pregnant nonetheless. Two, at the very least, you could have made sure I made it home first Shouto. You sent me home in a car after the awards show and you barely wanted to hold my hand. Who does that!?”
He frowned, pinching the bridge of his nose lightly. Momo sighed, softening her tone.
“I am still furious, but I know you’ve only been acting this way because you’re scared.”
“I’m not scared.”
“Yes, you are. And if you don’t want to call it that, fine. But you need to seriously get a clue and work through your issues because I cannot do this without you Sho, nor do I want to.”
“I’ll… I’ll do better, I promise.”
As he eased his way off of the edge of her desk, he knocked the stack of mail down. He bent down to pick the items up, pausing with a furrowed brow.
“What? What is it?” Momo asked, craning her neck to peer over the desk.
“Huh? Oh, nothing. Just… the pregnancy announcement is on the front page of the news and you have a copy here. I was just wondering how they printed that so fast.” he stacked the pile back together neatly and placed it upon her desk.
“Yes well, the press seems to never sleep. Those nosy crows.” she muttered, rolling her eyes gently. He held her gaze for a moment as if there was more he wanted to say, but instead, he left her with:
“I’ll be in my office if you need anything. Let me know if you come across anything interesting in that pile.”
When he left her office, Momo began sorting through the pile. Aside from the newspapers where they made headlines, a lot of the mail were congratulations cards. Word sure did travel fast. At the very bottom of the pile was an envelope with a return address in America, though the only other name on the envelope was her own. Her heart skipped a beat. As she ripped open the envelope and unfolded the letter, a strangled oh my escaped her throat. She immediately recognized the handwriting. She held the letter close to her chest, gliding across to her office door to lock it before returning to her desk to read the letter.
***
The Americans love Italian food.
They have this chain restaurant called Olive Garden that serves Italian cuisine. It isn’t nearly as good as the shit the chefs at your house made, but it's pretty decent. I could probably make that shit ten times better though.
You know, I never had Italian cuisine until I got with you? I never told you that before because I thought that you would think that I was some sort of uncultured fucktard swine that had not been exposed to enough in the world like you had.
Your parents felt that way about me. They never flat out stated it quite that way (I see where you get your politeness from), but still, they said it in so many words. I’m not a fucking idiot ya know? I could read between the damn lines. I wasn’t good enough for you according to them, but you looked at me like I was the greatest thing walking this fucking planet. That shit is still insane to me. How could someone like you, look at someone like me, like that?
You are authentic Italian cuisine.
I am nothing but Olive Garden.
Leftover Olive Garden that has been sitting at the back of the fridge for three days… which by-the-fucking-way, is a true story. I’m eating it now as I write this letter.
Now, whenever I eat it, I can’t help but to think of you and the first time I met your parents. God they hated me. It's one of my proudest fucking accomplishments seeing them squirm in their damn seats during dinner that night.
Do you remember?
***
Momo read the letter and re-read it again. The letter had no proper greeting nor did he sign it- it was all on brand for her ex.
The tears were rolling down her cheeks before she had even processed what was happening.
Hormones.
She blamed her hormones.
But it wasn’t her hormones. She chose to ignore that truth as she held the letter close to her chest.
He had been gone for almost three full years now. She had not spoken to him nor heard from him at all since he broke up with her. This letter was so random. Why would he send this? How could he stir up her emotions like this?
She was sobbing now. Absolutely inconsolable and she had no choice but to facetime her best friend. Only Jirou would be able to get her through this.
***
“Are you going to write back?”
Momo sniffled, shrugging her shoulders into the camera.
“You absolutely cannot do that, YaoMomo. Surely, you know better.”
The creation hero nodded, hiccuping gently.
“Are you going to tell Todoroki?”
Momo’s eyes widened as she shook her head frantically.
“What!? No. Stop. You have to tell him!!! You can’t keep this from him.”
“Does he really *hiccup* have to *hiccup* know?”
“Absolutely! How would you feel if he kept something like this from you?”
She considered the question for a moment. Jirou was right.
“YaoMomo, do you still… and be honest… love him?”
Time stood still and Momo held her breath for what seemed like minutes on end. The sound of Jirou sighing deeply shook Momo out of her trance.
“God, I still hate him. Ugh. Look… There are clearly some unresolved emotions involved, and I think its natural given the nature of you two’s relationship and how things ended. You have to talk to Todoroki about this. I am glad you called me, and I love you, but this is going to blow up in your face if you don’t handle it properly.”
“I’ll tell him today. Thank you Kyoka. I have to get back to work.”
Before she ended the facetime call, Momo had already decided that under no circumstances was she going to tell Shouto today. She felt bad lying to her best friend, but Jirou could sometimes be a bit insistent and mildly judgmental, especially concerning Bakugo. She shoved her phone into her desk drawer and pulled the letter out again, making sure her office door was still locked.
She opted to spend the rest of the workday avoiding her husband so that she could continuously re-read the letter and reminisce about the first time Bakugo met her parents.
Past
He knocked again, once then twice, growing ever more impatient as he waited in the hall.
“Hurry the fuck up, Princess. What are you doing in there?” he shouted through the door, hearing her shuffle around on the other side.
“One second!”
She was lying. She said one second 3 minutes ago. He furrowed his brows, running his hand through his wild blonde hair. As he raised his hand to knock again, the door swung open.
His eyes roamed over his girlfriend slowly, a grin spreading across his face. She wore a simple, knee-length, halter top dress that hugged her body just right. He grabbed her by her waist, pulling her into a kiss, causing her to squeak.
“Inappropriate, Katsuki!” she lectured, pulling away and taking a moment to allow her eyes to roam over his form. She frowned.
“Surely you aren’t going to wear that to meet my parents tonight, right?” she asked, her arms folded tightly across her chest as her eyes roamed over his form yet again.
He looked down at his black tank-top and khaki cargo shorts, shrugging his shoulders.
“I always wear things like this. Why would I change that tonight?” he inquired, his red eyes glaring at her.
“Because you’re meeting my parents for crying out loud! This won’t do. Come here.” she demanded, pulling him into her room and shutting the door behind him.
She turned her back to him and he watched as she lowered her dress, her upper back now exposed to him. Moments later, a black button up and khaki slacks emerged from her chest. She adjusted her dress and shoved the items into his arms.
“I’m not putting this stupid shit on.” he growled.
“Katsuki, please don’t do this right now. My driver will be here any minute. Please please please just put it on. I don’t have time to argue with you today of all days” she pleaded, pouting her lips out in a way that made him want to plant a million and one kisses on them. He reluctantly agreed, stripping down to his boxers right before her, causing her to blush and immediately retreat to the corner.
“Such a proper prude.” he chuckled, buttoning the final button before announcing his completion. She twirled around and gave him a once over, smiling in approval at her work. Her phone buzzed and she let out a high pitched meep, before grabbing his arm and dragging him out of her dorm.
***
“What do your parents do for a living?”
“Design industry.”
“Have we heard of them?”
“Hell if I know.”
Momo dropped her fork, her cheeks flushing red. This night was going absolutely awful, but really, what else should she have expected from Katsuki Bakugo?
He twirled the chicken alfredo around his fork and chomped down swiftly, his eyebrows knitted together tightly- a tell tale sign of his frustration.
He was being absolutely rude tonight, but her parents had not been much better. They asked him all sorts of classist questions and she felt herself shrinking further into her chair with every second that passed.
They hated him, and Bakugo felt the exact same way about them.
“Bakugo…” her mother stated the name as if it left a disgusting taste in her mouth. “Can’t say that the name carries much weight in our circles.”
Momo gasped. “Mother!”
Her mother carelessly shrugged.
“I don’t see why you’re choosing to spend your time mingling with the likes of him. You should watch the company you keep dear. We taught you better than that.”
Usually quick witted, Momo noticed that Bakugo was having trouble responding. There was this look in his eyes, so slight, she almost missed it. She could not pinpoint exactly what emotion the look held, but she felt her heart drop. She slammed her fork down.
“You’ve also taught me to maintain my grace and poise, always- neither of which you have exhibited tonight. I am utterly embarrassed!” she shrieked, getting up from the table and storming out of the dining room.
She found herself in the middle of the garden, hoping that the moonlight would burn her eyeballs out of her head. She could not believe what a disaster the night had been. She was not sure if she should cry or shout at all of them.
She felt his presence before she saw him. She glanced over her shoulder and watched as Bakugo approached her, his left hand rubbing the back of his neck. He eased into her side and inhaled deeply before exhaling slowly.
“I’m…. sorry.” he muttered.
“For?”
“I guess I could have been better behaved.”
“Ya think?”
She turned to face him and the look in his eyes from earlier had returned, however, his defenses were down with her and she was able to study it a bit more closely now.
Were his feelings… hurt? Her parents had hurt his feelings.
Duh.
It should not be a surprise, anyone’s feelings would be hurt with some of the things they had thrown at him tonight, but for some reason, she never thought Bakugo could get hurt. He was BAKUGO after all. He had such a tough, unbothered exterior and she could not believe her parents had cracked his shell.
It infuriated her. She felt a new type of anger take over her and she stormed back into the house to confront her parents.
“Mother, Father, I love you both dearly, but tonight was absolutely uncalled for.”
“Oh Momo-kins please, you’re being dramatic. We stated nothing but the truth.”
“You can’t just treat people differently because they’re not the spawn of your rich, snooty associates!”
“Lower your voice. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why you are sticking up for that boy.”
“Because I love him, Mother!”
Her mother gasped as if Momo had just admitted to murder, and she couldn’t withhold the eyeroll, though she was trying her hardest to remain respectful.
“Absolutely not. If you choose to take things seriously with that ragtag, no manners having, demon seed, you will leave us with no choice but to cut the cards.”
Momo stomped over to her clutch that hung neatly on the hook and fished out her wallet. She took out her credit cards and slammed them down before her parents.
“Well, snip snip!”
A pair of scissors materialized from her arm and she did the honors for her parents before sharply turning to make a beeline for the garden to get Bakugo, only, he was standing by the door, his red eyes wide.
“We’re leaving. Let’s go.” she promptly stated, straightening her back and holding her head high as they exited the Yaoyorozu Manor.
It wasn’t until they had exited the gates at the end of the long driveway that she broke down. The tears fell hard and fast and she felt Bakugo pull her tightly into his chest.
“Great. How are we going to get back to campus?” she sighed, realizing that she had really just been cut off from her parents.
“There are these things called buses and trains that us commoners take, let’s go.” he teased, leading the way to the nearest bus stop.
As they got settled into their seats for the long ride back to U.A., Momo rested her head on his shoulder. He glanced down at his girlfriend and smiled.
“That was some Boss SHIT, Princess. No one has ever done anything like that on my behalf. And… I love you too.”
The last part came out softer than a whisper, and he almost hoped she hadn't heard it. But her head shot up and she looked into his eyes, a smile creeping onto her face. She didn't tease him or even respond. Instead, she left it alone and nuzzled her head back into the crook of his neck. She knew when to shut the hell up, and it was one of the things he loved about her. After tonight, he could add additional things to the list of reasons why he loved her and he knew he would sleep well now that she had admitted that she loved him too.