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Throughout the past months, Kyouka had learned to be grateful for the little things. For benches and for crackers, for kind people on public transport and especially for her sleep headphones. She was even thankful for her thankfulness – because she was sure she would be needing it in the months that would follow.
Right now, Kyouka was thankful for the fact that the hero agency her husband worked at had an elevator – not a particularly fancy or safe-looking one, but these days, she took what she could get.
She briefly contemplated just sitting down on the unappealing-looking floor since the elevator was taking its sweet time – but she knew that as soon as she’d sit down, she wouldn’t be able to get back up and would probably ride right back down.
That was the last thing she needed right now; it was crucial to not waste any more time. Her and Denki had decided to spend the weekend going on a small trip to a fancy wellness hotel. She was already looking forward to getting massages and eating her entire body weight in lavish food.
As the elevator doors finally opened in front of her, she realized that every single one of the cubicles in her husband’s office was… completely empty. It appeared as if he hadn’t yet returned from patrol. Oh, well. She was going to have to sit down and wait for him. Sitting down sounded quite nice right now, anyways.
She made her way over to Denki’s cubicle, her swollen feet aching with every step, when her earphone jacks picked up on a noise, rustling of paper, probably, and something that sounded suspiciously like an elegant string of curse words.
“Bakugou? You in here?”, Kyouka asked, already knowing the answer.
Said answer came disguised in a low grumble that Kyouka interpreted as a friendly greeting. She decided to torture her poor feet for a few more steps and waddled towards Bakugou’s cubicle. Him, Denki, and Mina had been sidekicks at this hero agency for quite some time now. She liked that her husband worked with some of their friends, almost as much as she liked the fact that she could work with Sero and Kirishima at theirs. Well, she usually did, when her stomach wasn’t the size of a new-born whale.
At first, she’d wanted to protest when they’d talked about putting her on maternity leave for a few months, but when she’d finally gotten to this stage in her pregnancy, she’d finally realized why pregnant people didn’t go to work as the birth drew nearer; it was nearly impossible to feel like a normal human being and do normal human being things like fighting villains and deafening people with one’s earphone jacks.
While she still didn’t like being treated as if she was a fragile porcelain doll, she did have to admit that taking things slow was probably the wisest course of action as of now.
Bakugou was, as expected, in his cubicle, hunched over a boring-looking stack of papers. He looked up at her when she entered, his eyes stuck on her stomach for a brief second.
“That thing really needs to get out of there, like, yesterday”, he commented, got up and brought Kyouka a chair from the cubicle next to his.
Kyouka decided to let his nice gesture cancel out his rude comment and carefully eased herself into the chair, her legs and feet thanking her immediately. “Thanks”, she said, “I really needed that. Where’s everyone?”
“Everyone’s at home or on patrol. As is your husband. Should be back any minute now”, he said, turning back to his paperwork, a silent curse escaping his lips yet again.
“I figured”, Kyouka replied and yawned. Wow. Getting here had really worn her out.
Bakugou looked back up at her, critically raising an eyebrow. “You falling asleep?”
Kyouka mimicked his expression. “Don’t you have paperwork to do?”
Bakugou ignored her comment. “You can’t fucking fall asleep right now. Sparky hasn’t talked about anything but your trip all day. He’ll probably die if this doesn’t work out.”
“Don’t worry, it will. I’m not going to fall asleep.” Judging from Bakugou’s expression, he knew as well as she did that that was a lie. She’d accidentally fallen asleep in public places more times than she could count. “Anyway, how’s Kirishima?” She really missed seeing his bright smile at work.
In her eyes, it was kind of a miracle that him and Bakugou had gotten together. It’d been the summer after high school, a year after her and Denki and finally managed to pull their shit together, and they were going strong ever since.
It was nice, seeing Bakugou smile softly at the mention of his husband, even though Kyouka knew that she could never tell him that or he would probably never smile at anything ever again. “He’s alright. Keeps talking about your baby.”
Kyouka already knew that Kirishima would probably be their babies’ best uncle. She had no idea if he was good with children or not, but he would definitely bring the right amount of enthusiasm.
“You think he might want one, too?”
At first, Kyouka thought that Bakugou wouldn’t answer. Their friendship had come a long way since their early high school days, but there were still moments where she was afraid that she’d overstepped a line. Thankfully, he’d gotten more open about literally everything. Well, in his own way.
“Maybe. I don’t fucking know. What I do know is that I’m glad none of us are going to have to go through this”, he said, pointing his pen towards her stomach. “Honestly, what were you thinking? This looks like torture. And with Sparky of all people. That man shouldn’t be a father. I once saw him paint a face on his stomach with sharpie.”
Kyouka wasn’t fazed. “His bellybutton was the nose, right?”
Bakugou shook his head. “You knew that? And you still want him to be a fucking father? It’s not too late, y’know. You could still lie and say it’s Satou’s.”
She knew what he was doing (or at least she hoped this wasn’t how he actually thought about the father of her child), and it was working. She was thoroughly amused. “Why Satou’s?”
“Fuck if I know.”
“I guess you’re right, he does have kind of a fatherly vibe about him. I still think Denki’s up to the task. I guess he has to be. We both have to be.” She shook her head. “Kind of scary, huh?”
Bakugou let out a quick laugh. “I wouldn’t let that guy take care of a hamster, let alone a whole ass child.”
Kyouka rolled her eyes. “He’s not sixteen anymore, you know. He can take care of…”
She trailed off when she noticed something wet running down her thighs, covering her legs and, finally, the floor of Bakugou’s cubicle.
Oh. Oh no.
Was that… it? Had she… was that how this happened? Internally panicking, she looked up at Bakugou, who’d raised his eyebrows in clear confusion.
“You’re leaking”, he said matter-of-factly, as if that was something that happened quite frequently around these parts. Then, his eyes widened ever so slightly. “Fuck”, he whispered, “fuck… tell me you just fucking peed yourself.”
“Do you want me to have peed on your office floor?!”, Kyouka asked, panic clearly audible through the shakiness of her voice.
Oh, God. She couldn’t do this. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Not yet, anyways.
“Yes! No! I…” He ran his fingers through his hair, staring at the floor in front of him. “I’m… I’m calling Kaminari. And then I’m fucking driving you to the hospital. Alright?”
“No. No! Let me call him. I’m the one who needs to tell him”, Kyouka said, frantically grabbing her purse and scrambling through it in search for her phone.
Her trembling fingers weren’t of any help, she almost called about every contact in her phone that started with a “D” and when she finally clicked on the right name, she was overwhelmed by the biggest wave of pain she’d ever felt in her entire life.
“Fucking hell”, she groaned, trying to bend over in pain but failing miserably due to the size of her stomach.
“Waaaaassup, babe?”
Kyouka groaned. She wanted to reply something, anything, but she was still shaken to the core by the sudden pain that’d overcome her and then completely vanished about a second ago.
She looked over at Bakugou, who was just staring at her in silent horror before slowly taking the phone from her.
“You’re having a baby, dumbass”, he growled into the phone.
“Kacchan? What… I know I’m having a baby. The due date is in two weeks, she’s going to be a Cancer”, he said proudly.
“No, you idiot. Your wife is having your fucking baby right now”, he barked.
“What?!”, Denki cried out, happiness seeping through his voice. “That’s- that’s amazing! I’ll… wow. I’m… I’m going to be a father, that’s… I can’t believe it. I mean, she’s going to be a Gemini, but I can handle that, I think.”
“Just finish your shift and meet us at the hospital!”, Kyouka, who’d finally regained her ability to speak, yelled in the direction of her phone.
“I- I will, absolutely! I love you so much and I’m on my way to you and…” He trailed off, apparently distracted by something else. “Fuck”, he whispered. “Oh, oh no. That is… Kyouka, honey, please don’t hate me but there’s something… something happening over there. And there’s… there’s no one else around. I’m so, so sorry… I’ll just… I’ll take care of it real quick and then… see you at the hospital! You’ve got this! I love you!” With that, the line went silent.
“This isn’t happening”, Kyouka said. “This is not happening. Bakugou, please tell me there’s not a fucking villain attack happening that my fucking husband needs to take care of right as I’m about to give birth to our child.”
Bakugou just blinked. Kyouka had never seen him at a loss for words.
“I’m driving you to the hospital”, he finally said, grabbing his car keys from his desk and getting up from his chair before nervously eyeing her up and down.
“What?!”, she barked.
“Are you okay to walk?!”, he barked right back. His face turned remorseful about a second later. “I mean… you need a wheelchair or something?”
“I’m… I’m not sure. Do you… do you have a wheelchair?”
They looked at each other for a few seconds before coming to a silent agreement.
Kyouka hadn’t been pushed around in an office chair with rolls in quite some time. She couldn’t say she particularly enjoyed it, if she was being honest, mainly because she had to dig her fingernails into the cushion to avoid falling over – Bakugou was pushing her towards the elevator at an alarmingly high speed. She was glad when their little race came to an end.
As the elevator doors closed in front of them, she let out a deep sigh as she felt another cramp coming on. She closed her eyes, trying to breathe through the pain. She could feel Bakugou’s worried glance on her and, after an eternity of silence, an awkwardly comforting hand on her shoulder. She counted the seconds – it had been about forty-five now, but she knew there were still at least fifteen to go – when the elevator stopped.
“What is happening?”, she managed to squeeze out through gritted teeth. The contraction still hadn’t weakened.
“Fucking idiots! They can’t be fucking serious! I’ve told them about a billion fucking times that they should get this thing checked out. Why can’t they…”
Finally. Finally, it was over. For now. Though she wasn’t sure if she really wanted to deal with this completely new set of news. She took another deep breath before she replied: “Are you telling me that this fu- that this elevator we are in just got stuck?”
Bakugou, who had resorted to slamming his fist against the elevator wall and pressing random buttons, turned around to face her, his face pale and his eyes widened. “Yes”, he said, and Kyouka was surprised at his lack of accompanying curse words.
“Well. Fuck”, she said, trying to ignore the overwhelming panic that was starting to well back up in her again. “And what are we supposed to do now?” She was desperately trying to make her voice sound calm, but even she knew she was failing miserably. Right now, she really couldn’t be the steady one. Not when her husband was fighting villains while she was stuck in an elevator with Katsuki Bakugou – while she was in labor.
“How… how am I supposed to know that?!”, Bakugou snarled, though it sounded more desperate than anything else. “I’ve never been in this situation before! I’m going to… I’m going to blow this thing up and get us out of here.”
“You are not going to do that!”, Kyouka cried out. “Nu-uh! You are not using your quirk anywhere near my baby! Especially not while we’re stuck somewhere in the air in a fucking elevator!”
Bakugou looked like he was going to protest, but finally nodded. He seemed to have secretly come to the same conclusion. “I’m going to fucking call someone.”
“Call Denki. Please!”, Kyouka begged.
“How do you think is your useless fuck of a husband going to get us out of this one?!”
“He’s not useless!!! Call! Denki!”
Bakugou muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like a string of curse words before grabbing his phone and dialing Denki’s number.
After a few toots, Denki picked up. “This is a really bad time”, he whispered. “I’m so, so sorry, but they haven’t sent me any backup yet and… it’s bad. Really bad. But I… I really want to be there. For the birth. For everything. Please tell Kyouka to wait for me.”
“Wait for you?! It’s not like I can control this?!”, Kyouka snarled.
“I… I know, I’m so sorry! I want to be there for you, and I can’t and… I’m so, so sorry, okay! I’m really trying to make it on time, but I still have to find out how many villains there are and… And, please, Bakugou, take care of her in the meantime. We both need you right now.” He hesitated for a second. “Quick question: if Bakugou is there while you give birth, does that make him the official father? In the documents and stuff?!”
Kyouka and Bakugou exchanged a quick glance.
“I’m not going to dignify that with an answer”, Bakugou said.
“Denki, get your fucking ass over here as fast as you can. Please. I’m begging you. Things are really bad right now and we’re stuck in this stupid elevator and…” Before Kyouka could finish her sentence, she heard something exploding. Then the connection died.
Her eyes widened. “No. No, no, no, no, no”, she whispered. “That can’t be. Do you think he’s…?” She couldn’t even bring herself to finish that thought.
“No!”, Bakugou replied quickly. “No, no. That guy’s way too dumb to die. Believe me. And anyway, backup’s going to arrive any minute now. If anything happened, they’re going to call us. But they won’t. He’s fine.”
Kyouka desperately wanted to believe him – and before she could say anything else, she was overwhelmed by yet another wave of pain. “Fuck”, she groaned, feeling tears well up in her eyes. “We need to get out of here. Isn’t there… fuck, isn’t there some kind of button you can push in here so someone will come and help us?”
“Don’t you think I’ve tried that? No one’s answering. These assholes don’t even care. I swear, when we get out of here, I’m going to fucking blow them all up!” He shook his head before picking up his phone again.
“Who’re you calling?”, Kyouka asked, trying to keep her breathing steady. By this point, she was unsure whether her face was wet from tears or from sweat.
“Katsuki! Babe!” The greeting on the other end of the line answered her question immediately. “I’m glad you’re calling. Guess what, I’ve finally found out what a single piece of confetti is called. It’s ‘confetto’. Cool, right?!”
“Amazing!”, Bakugou replied and Kyouka was surprised to find that it actually sounded somewhat genuine. “Big fucking problem, though: Ears is having the baby.”
“I know that Jirou’s having a baby. Kaminari gave us this long monologue about mucus plugs the other day, don’t you remember?”
Bakugou closed his eyes for a second. “She’s having it right now.”
“Right now?!” Kirishima’s voice sounded almost as happy as Denki’s had. “That’s… that’s amazing. So she’s lost her mucus plug already?”
Bakugou shot Kyouka a questioning, though slightly embarrassed glance.
“I’m not answering that”, Kyouka said.
“Alright!”, Kirishima chirped. “So, happy days! How can I help you? Kaminari’s probably over the moon. He’s been brainstorming baby names for the past, like, fourteen months. Wait, how long are people pregnant for? He might’ve been…”
“He’s not here!”, Kyouka interrupted. “He’s out there fighting some random villain.” She swallowed and tried not to think about it too much. She needed to focus on the task at hand. This was about the baby. She couldn’t worry about her husband right now, even if it pained her. “And we’re stuck in this damn elevator.”
“You’re what?! The one at your agency, babe?!” Kirishima sighed. “Didn’t you tell them to…”
“Yes!”, Bakugou interrupted him. “I did!”
“Those guys never listen, do they?”, Kirishima said, sounding disappointed. “Should I call someone? Should I come over? I…”
“Get help! Just get help!”, Kyouka cried into the phone, feeling another contraction coming on. They were getting closer and more painful. She knew what that meant.
“Alright, alright, alright! I will! Love you both! Stay fresh!”, Kirishima said quickly before hanging up.
Silence hung heavy in the air between them; at least until Kyouka let out another pained groan. “This is getting really, really bad”, she howled.
Bakugou nodded. “I… I can imagine”, he said. He sounded so strangely polite that it almost made her chuckle. “What… what can I do until help arrives?”
Kyouka thought about that for a second. “I… don’t know. Distract me… somehow? Tell me a story. Anything. Please.”
“I’m not big on storytelling. Your husband can do that. Or mine.”
“I’ve heard most of Denki’s stories. And neither of them is here.”
She shot him a pleading look until he sighed. “Fuck. Alright. But don’t you dare ask me to do this again. This is only happening because you’re in pain and won’t be getting any sleep for the next eighteen years.”
“Got it.”
“What do you want to hear?”
“Everything”, Kyouka said and smiled at the annoyed expression she received in response.
He indeed told her… everything. Or at least… a lot. He told her about that time his mother had caught him throwing raisins at pigeons. He told her about that time he’d thought his quirk had disappeared (he’d just been cold and tired and eight years old). He told her about his first date with Kirishima and how he’d accidentally set a waitress on fire out of nervousness.
Listening to him didn’t erase Kyouka’s pain or her worries about Denki and her baby, but it helped her calm down a little, helped her stay in touch with what was happening around her. It grounded her.
…but the contractions kept on coming. And they wouldn’t stop coming. And Kyouka knew that if help didn’t arrive soon, she would be having this baby on the floor of this dirty elevator. Next to Katsuki Bakugou.
She sighed. She’d never thought she would do this. Never in her wildest dreams. But…
“Bakugou?”
“Huh?” He looked over at her and his expression froze. “…you’re not being serious.”
“I wish I wasn’t.”
“Ears, I…”
“Me neither.”
“Fuck.”
“Yeah”, Kyouka agreed.
She’d never seen him more uncomfortable. She’d never been more uncomfortable herself. But she knew that she needed to get over herself. And the fact that she was in incredible pain almost numbed her to the humiliation that came with the thought of Katsuki Bakugou delivering her baby.
“This will never have happened. Alright?”, he said.
“Fine by me”, Kyouka replied, clenching her teeth in pain.
He sighed and pushed himself up from the floor before taking off his jacket and giving it to her.
“You want me to give birth on your best leather jacket?”
“You want your baby to touch this disgusting floor? I mean, hell, it’ll be the perfect preparation for the rest of her life in this hellhole of a world, but I thought the point of having a kid was to at least pretend for a few years.”
Kyouka sighed. “Gimme that”, she said and took his jacket before placing it under her butt and getting into position. Or at least the position they’d proposed to her in one of her preparation classes. This felt… wrong. But did she really have any other choice?
Bakugou rolled up the sleeves of his shirt before looking at her questioningly. “Are you… you know?”
Kyouka took a deep breath in a desperate attempt at calming herself. “Am I what?!”
“Your… your…” He was scrambling for the right words. “Your fucking baby needs some fucking space to come out. Does it have the space it needs?”
“Are you asking me if my va-…?”
Bakugou interrupted her. “Yes.”
“Well, how am I supposed to know?! I haven’t seen it. And I can’t exactly feel how many centimeters it’s dilated. It should be about ten centimeters before I can start pushing. You have to…”
“I know I have to!”, he barked. “But how am I supposed to find out if it’s at ten centimeters? I didn’t exactly bring my fucking ruler here today!”
“I don’t know! Measure by eye or something! Are you trying to tell me that Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight can’t measure things by eye?!”
He groaned in frustration before kneeling down in front of her. “Alright! Then pull down your fucking pants and let’s get this over with!”
“Wow, Kirishima’s a lucky guy, huh?”, Kyouka managed to say before crying out in pain. She really needed to start pushing soon or she would go insane.
“Don’t you dare bring him into this!”, Bakugou growled, keeping his gaze fixated on some point above Kyouka’s head while she was pulling down her sweatpants.
“Well?!”, she choked out.
Bakugou took a deep breath, a single drop of sweat running down his forehead.
“Don’t you dare blow up my baby”, Kyouka warned him.
He nodded, running his hand through the disheveled mess of hair on his head before finally glancing down. “I guess this is fucking happening now.”
Kyouka had no idea how much time had passed, but a whole lot of blinding pain and blood and pushing and both of them being angry (“I’m going to kill Kaminari. I’m going to fucking kill him!” – “I’ll help! I can’t believe he did this to me!”) and a screaming, yet absolutely adorable baby later, the elevator suddenly started moving again. After a few seconds, the doors opened in front of them, revealing a distressed-looking Denki, covered in bruises and dirt, as well as Kirishima, who looked – well – only mildly stressed.
Both their mouths dropped open when they looked at the scene in the elevator – Kyouka was gently cradling their baby while Bakugou was sitting next to her, covered in blood, his eyes closed. He looked like he was meditating.
Denki was the first one to break out of his trance. “Kyouka are you…? Is that our…? Is she…? Did Bakugou…?”
An awestruck look on his face, he dropped down next to Kyouka and their baby, looking back and forth between them with wide eyes.
“Babe… did you deliver Jirou’s and Kaminari’s baby?!”, Kirishima asked, sounding impressed.
“Damn right I did”, Bakugou muttered, his eyes still closed.
Kyouka shot her husband an exhausted half-smile. “Take me to the hospital. Right. Now.”
“A- alright. Come on. Come on. Kirishima’ll carry you. We’ll get you to the hospital.”
The doctors confirmed that their baby was completely healthy and that the unconventional way of delivering her would lead to no further complications down the road. Apparently, Bakugou had done everything right.
Their daughter was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. The most beautiful thing she had ever seen, with little blonde fluff covering her head and the hint of jacks already visible on her earlobes.
She was almost asleep from exhaustion and Denki was still cradling their newborn daughter with tears in his eyes when the rest of their friends were allowed to come in.
“Oh my God!”, Mina and Sero cried out in unison.
“Quiet!”, Kirishima hissed. “She’s asleep!”.
“Look at her!”, Denki said proudly, presenting them the small bundle in his arms.
“Oh, fuck no”, Bakugou whispered after giving her a quick look-over.
“No cursing in front of the baby!”, Kirishima whispered, trying to cover her small ears with his giant hands.
“What? What about her could possibly lead to this reaction?” Denki didn’t look too pleased.
“She looks exactly like her stupid father.”
“That is true”, Mina remarked. “So… I guess you were right all this time. You actually did have sex. Good job, Kaminari.”
“Nah, she could’ve been made in a jar or something”, Sero chimed in. “I once watched a documentary on that.”
“She wasn’t made in a jar! Kyouka, back me up here”, Denki whined.
Kyouka just grinned at them. “Oh, she totally was.”
Her husband stuck out his tongue at her.
“Anyway, what are you going to call her?”
“We haven’t decided on a name yet”, Kyouka said, “but we do know who should be her godfather. I mean, if you want to.” She looked at Bakugou.
She wasn’t sure if she was imagining it or if she actually saw a small tear forming in the corner of his eye.
“I… yeah, sure. It’s whatever.”