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WARNING: This chapter (and series) mentions fertility issues, injuries causing fertility problems, miscarriage, pregnancy, and other related themes. Read with care.
“I’m not dying.”
In hindsight, Ochako probably shouldn’t have sent him a frantic series of texts telling him to get her apartment.
“Neither is anyone else,” she added quickly, closing the door behind him. That was probably important to mention because they dealt with near-death experiences regularly as heroes. “I shouldn’t have made it sound like an emergency, and-” If she didn’t do this now, she’d probably lose her nerve. “-it’s not really an emergency, but I wasn’t sure what to say.” She avoided his gaze as she scurried through her living room.
The sound of his bare feet against the old hardwood of her hallway was familiar but not comforting enough to ease her nerves.
“I did need you to come over right away.” Ochako quickly walked into her bedroom, moving to the opposite side of the room. Her fingers fiddled with random things on top of her dresser.
There was a painful moment of silence. “Okay?”
She couldn’t look at him.
“Ochako, what’s going o-”
“I need you to inseminate me,” she blurted out, whipping around to face him.
Yo blinked.
Her hands curled into nervous fists as she drew her arms into her body. “I know,” she winced, looking at him with pleading eyes, “but hear me out.”
He stood deathly still in the doorway, mouth loosely dropped open in shock.
“Okay.”
It seemed like he was too dumbfounded to move.
“Okay.” Ochako nodded, taking a deep breath as she started to pace around her room. “I know this sounds crazy and maybe kind of sudden, but I decided I want to have a baby, so-” She turned back to him. “Why are you unbuttoning your pants?”
He blinked, “You said you needed me to inseminate you.”
She frowned, leaning back as she pointed to the vile on her nightstand. “Sperm donor.”
“Oh,” he spoke, hands dropping from his pants, “so you don’t-”
“No.”
“But-”
“No, thank you,” she shook her head, cringing a little. “Not that you aren’t good in bed, but-”
“I understand.” They had dated a few years ago. It hadn’t been a bad relationship, but their chemistry hadn’t been romantic, no matter how good the sex had been. They worked well as friends.
“But you were willing to impregnate me?” Ochako snorted, chuckling awkwardly.
Yo sighed, body relaxing in relief as he ran a hand through his hair.
“ Seriously ?”
“I don’t know,” he confessed, frantically shrugged. “You’re my friend, you seemed to be in need and-”
She cackled, “My hero.”
“Yeah, yeah, okay.” Yo decided to let her laugh as he buttoned up his pants and smoothed out his shirt. “What the hell is going on?”
Her laughter fizzled out as she looked at him. Lips twisting to the side as she walked toward her nightstand and handed him a pamphlet. “I decided I want to have a baby, so I purchased some sperm, and I need you to inseminate me.” Ochako handed him the pamphlet.
Yo took the little leaflet, looking at the heading before slowly handing it back to her.
“Don’t judge me.”
“I’m not he answered instantly,” Yo told her. “I just don’t-” He paused. “-understand.”
She nodded.
He stood for a moment, looking at the vials on her desk. “Where-” Yo stopped. “Is this a mortality thing?”
Ochako shook her head, brows furrowing angrily.
“I’m not judging you.”
She knew he genuinely wasn’t.
“I swear. This is a big decision-”
“I know.”
“And it feels-”
“Sudden.”
“Yes.”
Just because he wasn’t judging her doesn’t mean he didn’t have questions. “I want to be a mom.” There was no other way to really said it. “And I’m tired of waiting. That was the truth.
He nodded, listening, “If you’re worried about fertility, I’m sure you have time.”
“What if I don’t?”
“You’re twenty-five.”
“Yes.” In theory, biologically, she had plenty of time to worry about her fertility. “But I’m not getting married anytime soon, and I don’t want to wait for some magical, amazing relationship that might never come.”
“I hear you.”
He did, but Ochako knew he wouldn’t ever really understand. “Do you know how common it is for female heroes to lose an ovary? Or a fallopian tube? Uterus?”
Yo just stared.
“If that doesn’t happen, do you know how many female heroes struggle to conceive because of injuries and scar tissue?” she continued.
“I don’t, but-”
“A lot,” Ochako answered for him. “Remember that call a couple of months ago where Mt. Lady was seriously injured?”
“Yeah,” Yo nodded, “I’m not sure what that has to do-”
“They had to give her an emergency hysterectomy,” she told him, turning around for a moment as she combed her fingers through her hair. “They didn’t have time to call her husband, talk to her-” Ochako shook her head, lips twisting as she shrugged. “She woke up. They told her that they had to remove her uterus.”
“She’s not you.”
“You didn’t hear her cry when they told her.” Ochako had been trying her best to forget the sound. She’d pulled people from burning buildings and told people their loved ones were gone. “The doctor walked out of the room, sighed, and said, ‘Another one’.”
That left her shaken.
“This is common.” Ochako couldn’t help but wonder how many others. “And I’m not waiting.” She’d put her life on hold for everyone else.
Ochako had spent the better part of high school molding herself around Izuku.
She worked hard to lighten the load for her parents.
She let herself be a role model to young girls. She lived, dressed, and existed for the public to adore.
“I want to be a mom,” she told him firmly.
Yo sighed, “Alright.” His arms gestured out before slapping at his sides.
“Alight?”
“Yep,” he nodded, “I will inseminate you.”
Ochako squealed, bouncing up to him and wrapping him in a hug. “You’re the best!” she cheered, pressing a wet kiss on his cheek.
“This is so weird,” he sighed with a smile as he returned the hug. “And since it can’t get any weirder, I have to ask-” Yo chuckled as they pulled away from each other. “-who’s sperm am I inseminating you with?”
“I picked-” She picked up another folder. “-a sperm donor.”
He wasn’t sure what to say about that, but he accepted the folder and opened it to check out the information.
“I really like this guy and, and,” Ochako started as she tapped his shoulder excitedly, “I got a discount on it.”
“Discount sperm?”
“Yep.”
He frowned, “We don’t see a problem with that?”
“Not at all!” she chirped. “A couple of years ago, they started omitting quirk information from donor forms because people were buying sperm or eggs to create super children-”
“The fuck?”
“Yeah.” It wasn’t surprising. “So not many people are using donors, so clinics are losing money just storing sperm no one uses.”
“Waiting to get to the part about the discount sperm.”
“The clinic sold me all of this guy's samples,” Ochako explained. “And no one has used him before, so my kid won’t have any long-lost random siblings. If I decide to have more kids, they could all have the same father 'cause I have all the sperm!” The words flew out of her mouth at rapid fire.
“Or you’ll meet someone?”
“Maybe, maybe not, but,” Ochako took a deep breath in, “I’m ready for a baby now.”
“With your discount sperm.”
“There’s nothing wrong with the sperm.”
Yo hummed, reading over the information. “Dude probably was an ugly baby.”
Ochako rolled her eyes.
“And all his answers are generic,” he continued, shaking his head. “Oh wait! He works in law enforcement and his favorite hero is All Might and some other dudes who were top ten when we were younger, of course. Yeah, dude is original.”
“I like him.”
“On paper. I’m pretty sure if this guy tried to buy you a drink in a bar, you’d literally pay him to leave you alone.”
Ochako laughed, “Don’t talk about the father of my future children that way.”
“Um, as their future favorite uncle, I think I’ve earned the right to say what I would like.”
“You are not the favorite unclet.”
“I’m literally inseminating you.”
Fair.”
“Speaking of which,” Yo grinned, cheekily nudging her shoulder. “You know, having an orgasm helps with the process.”
Ochako snorted.
“I’d be happy to help-”
“I feel like the earth’s population would be higher if that were the case, but no thanks.” She took off her pants and underwear. “Appreciate the offer tho.
Yo shrugged, before looking at her with concern all over his face. “You orgasmed when we-”
“Yeah.”
“Okay good, just making sur-”
“Yeah.”
“This is awkward.”
Very. “This was already awkward. You’re about to insert some discount sperm inside me.”
“True.’
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A positive pregnancy test wasn’t as exciting as Ochako thought it would be.
Her doctor had warned her that the IUI procedure was unlikely to work and that she needed to prepare herself to undergo IVF.
And she didn’t want to.
Logically, she knew IVF would have been the better choice, but she didn’t want to have to go through the egg retrieval. Not to mention the extra money-
But she didn’t have to worry about that.
She was pregnant.
About four weeks.
So she called her doctor, only to be told that they couldn’t see her for at least another four weeks, but it would be more like six because they didn’t have any available appointments, but-
What was she supposed to do?
Was she supposed to stop working?
Did she tell people?
What was she supposed to eat?
In her desire to become a mother, she’d forgotten that she’d have to undergo ten months of pregnancy.
Without a fucking clue.
The nurse kindly tried to answer her questions, which left her more confused.
“I’m sorry, what ?” Ochako snapped. and the intern cowered in front of her.
She had somehow survived the first twelve weeks of her pregnancy without imploding or saying anything to anyone besides Yo. Ochako quickly realized that she couldn’t say anything to her boss or coworkers.
A blood test at her doctor’s office confirmed she was pregnant. Her joy had been short-lived after receiving a referral for a “viability ultrasound”. The nurse had told her that miscarriages were common in the first trimester, especially with her staying on active duty.
“Umm, Dynamight-san said that I would be patrolling with you today.”
Ochako thought the logical thing would be if she just kept working, quietly trying to take more rescue shifts. “He did?” It seemed like the right thing to do.
At the moment, she thought bludgeoning Katsuki with her bare hands would be logical, but that might be the pregnancy hormones.
She nodded slowly, taking a deep breath. “When?” she growled, the word almost inaudible from her clenched teeth.
“Just now?” the intern squeaked. “When I went to report to Dynamight for patrol, he told me-”
“We’re going to sort this out.” She had to remind herself that this wasn’t the intern’s fault. The poor kid was still in high school and shadowed whoever he was told. “Come on.” The words left her mouth sharper than a blade as she stomped around the office, searching for Katsuki.
This wasn’t the first time he’d handed an intern off to her.
“Bakugo,” she started, slamming her hands on his desk.
Katsuki froze. The pen in his hand stilled over the signature line of the report he was working on. He blinked slowly, eyes still focused on the paper.
“I know you think you’re too good to work with interns, and I’ve enabled this shitty little delusion,” she nodded, chuckling as her body vibrated with rage. “But I don’t have time to wipe your ass today.” She had to leave early for her ultrasound appointment.
The viability ultrasound.
“So, I need you to take your head out of your ass, put on your big boy underwear, and do your fucking job.” She could hear the intern choking behind her, and Ochako would feel bad about this outburst later.
After the ultrasound.
More likely, after she got done with her first trimester.
“Shut up, round face.”
Later. “Bakugo.” Right now, she was thinking about places to hide his body.
“I don’t have time to babysit the fucking kid today,” he dismissed, not even bothering to look up at her. “And I don’t have time to listen to you bitch.” He started writing again. “Just take him.”
Ochako could feel her face flushing brightly as her hands clenched into tight fists.
She knew this wasn’t personal.
Despite the monumental growth he endured during their time at UA, Katsuki was still a bit of an ass.
Ochako knew this was his way of asking for a favor without using his words, but-
“Are you fucking crying?” Katsuki asked her.
It pissed her off. “No.” Ochako sniffed, blinking as she felt fat tears rolling down her cheeks. “No,” she whimpered. Her hands furiously wiped at her face as she tried not to start sobbing. She met his eyes as a little cry left her lips, shoulders shuttering. “Don’t look at me!” She’d almost made it through her first trimester without a meltdown at work. Well, there had been that one time there hadn’t been any glazed donuts in the breakroom, and she had cried in the bathroom for thirty minutes.
“Are you on your fucking period or something?”
Her head snapped up to him as rage stormed over her face. “Stay the fuck out of my uterus!” she screamed, slamming her hands against his desk before she stormed out of the office.
Katsuki looked at the intern with a mix of shock, horror, and pure confusion.
The poor teen shrugged, eyes wide.
“Oh, wha-” Rumi cackled as she walked behind Katsuki. “What the hell did you do?” She laughed, slapping the back of his chair.
“What the fuck did I do?” he cursed. “Did you see that shit?”
Rumi nodded, “Yeah, so I know you fucked up somehow.”
“No!” He actually hadn’t.
Maybe.
“You not gonna do something about that craziness!”
“Don’t need to too. You heard her,” Rumi chuckled with a shrug. “Stay the fuck out of her uterus.”
Katsuki gawked. His jaw moved up and down as he struggled to speak. “Oh, so when I scream in the office, it’s a fucking tantrum?” he snarled, pushing the hand his boss had placed on his head.
“Exactly.”
To be fair, he probably did have this coming.
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“You’re pregnant!?”
Ochako nodded with a bright grin.
Izuku slowly reached for the ultrasound photo on the coffee table. “Oh my god,” he gasped softly, bringing the photo close to him. “For real?”
“For real.” Her face hurt from smiling so much, but it wasn’t bad. “I’m pregnant.” She’d been stressed about the ultrasound from the moment she’d scheduled it, with things reaching a fever pitch as she sat in the waiting room with the painfully full bladder they told her to have for the procedure.
When the image of a twitching blob with a flickering little heartbeat filled the screen, she’d cried in relief.
“Almost twelve weeks.” She had patiently waited for the tech to finish the test before the doctor told her that everything looked okay. The morning sickness had caused her to lose weight, and the doctor encouraged her to watch her nutrition but-
The baby looked great.
“It’s still the first trimester.” There was still a risk of miscarriage, but it was lowering with each passing week. “And I hadn’t planned on telling anyone until the second trimester when I go on desk duty but-”
“You’re still active?” Izuku questioned with a frown.
“Don’t look at me like that.” She knew it probably wasn’t the smartest decision. “I’m working with the EMTs doing more rescue shifts.” They were long shifts but were typically easy and less risky than a patrol. “I didn’t want to tell everyone that I was having a baby and there be a miscarriage or have to terminate because of some complication, but everything looks good so far.”
Izuku looked back at the ultrasound photo. “Whoa.”
“Right?” she laughed, leaning her head on her best friend’s shoulder. “You can tell Melissa, by the way.” Ochako didn’t mind her best friend’s wife knowing. “When is she getting back?”
“Tomorrow morning,” he answered. “Who’s the father?”
“Well-”
“Shindou?!”
“What?! No!” Ochako screeched. “Well-”
“You’re kidding !”
“No, no, no,” she told him frantically. “I used a sperm donor.” She really needed to figure out how to explain this clearer in the future. “Yo helped me with the insemination process, but it’s not his sperm.”
Izuku frowned, “Helped with the insemination process?”
Ochako nodded slowly.
“You couldn’t have asked anyone else.”
“Nope.” She really couldn’t have. “You’re telling me if I asked you to inseminate me with my discount sperm, you’d be willing?”
Izuku cringed for a moment.
“Thanks.”
“No, I-”
“Exactly.” She didn’t take it personally. Even though Ochako had left any romantic feelings for him in high school, asking him would be weird. “No.”
Izuku shrugged. “And discount sperm?”
“Yo had the same reaction.” Ochako sighed, flopping back on the couch. She followed her hands below her belly button. “The sperm bank was about to trash that sample-”
“And you used it?”
“ Because ever since that law passed about omitting quirk information and other identifying characteristics from sperm or egg donor profiles-”
“So people aren’t creating super babies?”
She nodded. “Right. So because that information isn’t available anymore, people aren’t using donors like they used to.” It made sense. “The sperm I got is fine. It works. The doctor said our quirks are compatible. I liked the guy’s profile, and no one else has used his sperm, so I purchased it all just in case I decide to have more so all the kids will be siblings.”
“That makes sense.”
Finally. “Thank you.” Ochako knew that Izuku would get it.
“You know, Kacchan donated his sperm.”
Ochako felt like the room was spinning. She pushed her back into the couch's cushion as she looked at Izuku. “Since when?” No fucking way.
“Right after graduation,” Izuku recalled.
No.
“Well, maybe a couple of months after.”
She fumbled with her phone, pulling up the information about her donor. “I am not carrying Bakugo Katsuki’s spawn.”
“I didn’t say you were just-”
The universe wasn’t that unkind. “No way.” She went over the information on the profile anyway.
“I mean,” Izuku started, peering over her shoulder to look at her phone screen, “it says he works in law enforcement.”
“That could mean anything.”
“His favorite hero is All Might.”
She rolled her eyes. “Your favorite hero is All Might. You’re telling me this your baby now?”
“It says he also really admires Edgeshot and Best Jeanist and that both heroes played an important part in his decision to pursue a career in law enforcement,” Izuku read before looking up at her with a cocked eyebrow. “That’s Kacchan.”
“Shut up!”
“He likes hiking.”
“A lot of people like hiking!” she replied defensively. “I like hiking.”
“And mountain climbing,” Izuku continued as he scrolled down on her phone. “Same age as us? From Japan?”
“That doesn’t mean anything.” Ochako refused to believe it.
“Number one on his high school entrance exam?”
That just meant the man she picked was smart.
“Says he threw a softball record sixty-seven meters in middle school before throwing it seven hundred nine meters in high school.”
She stared at him blankly.
“The quirk apprehension test?”
Realization washed over her, sending ice-white panic in her veins.
“That’s Kacchan.”
Oh no.
To be Continued...