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A/N: YO! This is part 2 in a series... So you might want to go back and read the first day.
Ochako always told herself she didn’t need the big wedding or the rings.
“Hmm,” Ochako hummed quietly as she wiggled her ring finger in the patch of sunlight creeping through the curtain.
The engagement ring was borderline obnoxious.
Ochako didn’t know the specifications. It was a big round diamond nestled in a delicate platinum band. Judging by Momo’s reaction, she knew that the price would give her nightmares. She could easily find out.
The two of them didn’t have any secrets.
She knew his phone passcode, computer password, bank account information, and his blood type. The only reason she didn’t bother was because of what Mitsuki had told her. Her husband’s mother had explained that it wasn’t necessarily about the price of the ring. The price was symbolic.
It showed that he took their relationship seriously. It showed how she was willing to save money to get something that she would like. Katsuki knew that the only reason she said she didn’t like diamonds was that she spent her life having to be conservative with money.
She let herself fantasize. Ochako couldn’t help it after learning that planets like Neptune and Uranus might rain diamonds.
But Katsuki decided to get her something she’d never get for herself, along with a wedding band full of little diamonds nestled around the ring.
Ochako had yet to take the pieces of jewelry off and was already dreading having to return to their day-to-day life, where she couldn’t wake up slowly with the warmth of her husband’s chest warming her back and nothing but the rings on her finger. With a happy little sigh, Ochako pushed back the covers.
“The hell are you going?” Katsuki slurred, tightening his hold around her waist as he pulled her tight against him.
Ochako laughed as she rubbed her cheek to his. “I wanted to check out the kitchen. Make us some breakfast,” she informed him.
He groaned as he buried his face into her neck. Katsuki squeezed her against him as he stretched and stifled a yawn. “Fuck that. We can just call something in.”
“I wanna cook, though.”
“For what?”
She laughed, wiggling an arm out as she reached back to scratch at his head. “Because,” she started, drawing out the two syllables, “I want to. And-” Her lips twisted for a moment. “-how often will we get a chance to have breakfast in bed once we get back?”
“How often will we get gourmet meals prepared for us between orgasms?”
Oh.
Well, shit .
That was a damn good point.
“Exactly.”
She hated how smug he sounded. “Hey!” she cried, squirming against him as he chuckled. Even more, the smoky smoothness in his voice made her skin prickle with desire. “Still!” Ochako fought her way from his hold as she hopped out of bed.
“What?”
She stuck her tongue out at him, plucking the button-down shirt he wore yesterday from the pile on the floor. “I’ll take care of breakfast. I’ll order something for us!”
Katsuki sat up on his elbows. “And that requires you to put clothes on?”
Ochako raised an eyebrow at him, smirking at the look of irritation on his face. She wiggled her shoulders as her fingers skipped over the button she’d ripped from the shirt the day before with a wink. “I’m not cooking naked,” she grinned, padding toward the door. “Remember what happened that time you fried bacon without any pants?” Ochako dipped her chin, cocking her head at him as she enjoyed the bright red of his ears. “Exactly!” She skipped out of the bedroom without giving him a chance to answer.
In another life, Ochako decided that she wanted a little house by the beach. There was something refreshing about waking up to the smell of saltwater and the feeling of summer sun year-round.
“Maybe when we retire,” she whispered as her mind conjured up memories of her weeks in ICU. Her nightmares never consisted of Toga’s eyes and the pain of the blade in her chest. The aftermath haunted Ochako.
The feeling of life and warmth leaving her body.
The sounds of everyone panicking and being unable to respond. The people sitting vigil beside. Some saying their goodbyes, while others act as if nothing is wrong.
The uncertainty.
And now, knowing that Katsuki had the same experience.
Ochako gasped as the room felt too small around her. Forcing herself to breathe and her limbs to move, she crossed the room and opened the front door. She crashed into the rail and closed her eyes as her lungs inhaled the fresh air.
They hadn’t talked about it.
After tumbling into each other, they’d clung to each other and promised they’d have years ahead of them but-
What if fate thought otherwise?
Trouble had a way of finding them.
They’d both had their share of injuries after the war. Ochako hadn’t thought much of sitting by Katsuki’s bedside through surgeries and emergency room visits, and she’d never felt the white hot panic of that Kagami’s mind trick had given her.
She never thought she was in danger of losing him.
Even when he’d been stabbed in the chest, Ochako was sure that he’d pull through.
“Oi-”
Ochako exhaled, the wind whipping her hair in her face as Katsuki stepped behind her in nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist.
“What are you doing?”
Why was she suddenly so afraid of him dying? “I-” They needed to talk about it. “I was thinking,” she started, licking her lips and turning back to the sea, “we should retire on a beach somewhere.”
He pressed a kiss against her pulse as he curled his hands underneath her shirt, bringing her against his chest. “We’ve got a good three decades before we have to worry about that.” His fingers cradled her waist as he pulled her against him.
“Or,” she breathed, watching the waves lap against the sand, “we could just not go back home.”
Katsuki chuckled, “Yeah, we can open a fish stand.”
She kept her eyes on the water. “I’m serious.”
“Okay.”
Ochako knew he was waiting for an explanation. “I don’t think I can survive losing you.” The confession was fragile and left her feeling more exposed than the first time she’d laid her feelings for him out there.
“Good thing I’m not going anywhere,” Katsuki replied with his usual bravado.
“You died,” she whispered.
His fingers crawled up her belly, finding the scar nestled between her chest. “You did too.”
“Not like you did.”
“Dead is dead.”
That was true. “Not the point.” She hated thinking about the reality of their mortality. “You don’t ever think about just-” Ochako shook her head. “Walking away from being a hero?” Somewhere along the way, heroism became more than just a cash grab for her. “We’ve done enough,” she told him quietly. “We’ve literally given our lives to make the world a better place. We deserve to live now, don’t we?”
He carefully perched his chin on her shoulder. “Do you want to quit?”
“I don’t know.” There was a small piece of Ochako who wanted to just walk away from it.
Be a civilian.
“Maybe?”
“Do you want me to quit?”
Ochako snorted, “I’m not answering that question.”
Katsuki removed his hands, spinning her around to face him. “I’m serious,” he challenged, squaring his shoulders as he looked down at her, “do you want me to quit?”
“You wouldn’t.”
“I wouldn’t?” Katsuki lived and breathed the job. It was the only thing he’d ever wanted to do with his life. “You realize, if I didn’t want to have to consult you about shit, I wouldn’t have married you.”
Those words were somehow more powerful than an ‘I love you’.
“You’re allowed to want me to quit.”
She shook her head. “That’s a trap.”
“You don’t think you’re more important?” he challenged.
His words washed over her, stealing the breath from her body. “I don’t have that much power.”
Katsuki smirked, cocky and daring. One corner of his mouth curled defiantly, showing a dangerous dimple in his cheek. “Try me.”
“You know-” It always enraged Ochako when people dared to ask how she could stand to be in a relationship with Katsuki. “You know I would never ask you to quit.” She would never take that from him, no matter how much she worried. “Do you want me to quit?” Ochako questioned, asking what she refused to answer honestly.
Katsuki curled his fingers underneath her chin, lifting her head to meet his gaze. “I want you to be happy.”
“You know you don’t have to romance me anymore. We’re married now,” she teased before scowling seriously. “I’m serious.”
“I am.”
“Which doesn’t answer the question.” The question she has yet to answer because a part of her wouldn’t hate it if they took less risky jobs.
“I-” He takes her hand, lacing their fingers together. “I have faith-”
“Who are you, and what have you done with my husband?” Katsuki had never surrendered himself to a higher power in their years together. He grumbled and moaned anytime Ochako mentioned a temple visit. It had been nothing short of a miracle and lots of bickering that he agreed to a blessing at their wedding.
“-in our goddamn ability to not die,” Katsuki snapped, playfully plucking her between the eyes. “I’m not fucking done yet.”
“No?”
“Fuck no,” he told her, swooping her up in his arms and pressing a kiss to her lips. “You think you’re getting rid of me so easily?”
Ochako laughed, “No, I’m quite attached to you.”
“Good.” He tossed her over his shoulder.
She squealed, laughing loudly. “We’re supposed to be getting food.”
“Later,” he decided, carrying her back into the bungalow, “that asshole interrupted us yesterday, so I’m getting a redo.” He carried her back inside, straight to the bedroom. Katsuki dropped her on the bed before gently pinning her down beneath him.
Ochako wiggled beneath him, smiling brightly.
(To be Continued...)