chapter 3 ⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂ ⠂⠄⠄⠂☆ ch. 2
“so what’s up with her?” katsuki leaned his folded arms against the counter, looking over at mina who was chopping up a banana. it wasn’t often when katsuki would visit them, even when kiri would ask over and over. though when mina fell pregnant katsuki could notice a slight shift in kiri’s demeanor. he was always the biggest supporter in the room, ready to brighten anybody’s day who wanted it, or in katsuki’s case, didn’t. it was obvious, at least to katsuki, when his bright smiles turned into slightly worried ones. it wasn’t like he wasn’t excited to be a father; in fact, he was stoked. there was always a little part of him that was worried that he wouldn’t be a good dad. so katsuki had made the executive decision that he would visit more than he usually does. letting kiri know in his own way that there was someone there to support him.
“you’re going to have to be more specific than that. I know a lot of hers.”
katsuki rolled his eyes, hitting his fists gently against the counter. “y/n. I didn’t make her answer any questions but one, and the only question she had for me was how much money she was going to get. is it something from the divorce or...?”
mina popped a banana slice in her mouth, chewing slowly as she looked over at him. she scanned his face, which showed none of the concern he was showing with his words. “why do you always think there’s something going on? maybe she just wants a good amount of money for a vacation or something. you ever think about that?”
they stared at each other for a moment, not letting the eye contact break. if there was anyone who was happy to go toe-to-toe with katsuki it was mina when she was carrying a couple-pound baby in her stomach. she raised her eyebrow, looking back down at the array of fruit she had spread out, reaching for the blueberries and placing them in the blender. “if you’re so curious, why can’t you just ask her yourself? you’ve been working together for a couple of weeks now, right? haven’t you two had more than surface-level conversations yet?”
katsuki let out a small sigh, looking out of the window above their kitchen sink. he wanted to just be able to give you work and leave it at that, but he couldn’t ignore your newfound presence in the office. the quick nods the two of you would share in passing. he even swore he couldn't smell the lingering scent of your perfume, leaving reminders of what could have been. “no, we haven’t. it’s just been about work; we keep it… pretty professional.”
“do you want it to be more than professional?” mina asked with a smirk, leaning as best she could over the counter to look at him, her eyebrows wiggling in response.
“fuckin’ course not. that ship has more than sailed, and we both know that”
mina’s eyes scanned him over skeptically her eyebrows settling in place. she opened her mouth to respond but was quickly interrupted by the sound of the door opening.
“baby I’m home!” kirishima’s voice rang against the walls of their home as he walked inside. his smile seemed to get bigger seeing katsuki already sitting at their island. “hey man! it’s good to see you!”
katsuki gave him a nod of recognition before kiri’s attention was completely set on his wife. he wrapped one arm around her waist, gently placing kisses on her cheek and neck. she giggled softly turning to him to place one on his lips. “and it is very good to see you”
katsuki’s lips curled up into a disgusted sneer at the sight of it. “I’m still here in case the two of you forgot. don’t want you to start having it out on the table”
mina rolled her eyes putting the bottom of the blender container on before kirishima took it gently from her with a gentle “let me”.
“katsuki you’re going to understand when you get married. it makes you all soft and cheesy. everything that you thought was cringey before isn’t like that anymore when you find someone to do it with.”
katsuki got out of his seat with a shake of his head. “well, good thing I’m not getting married then.”
kirishima made a face at his words, his finger mid-press. “dude don’t say that. you’re gonna find somebody, and it’s going to be great”
he held his hand up to stop him mid-sentence, making a groaning noise so he’d stop. “I don’t got time for that shit anyways. I’m way too busy with the agency and shit like that” kirishima went to argue back, but mina placed a hand on his shoulder, shaking her head softly. if he was going to learn, he had to learn on his own.
“all right, man. if that’s how you feel, then that’s how you feel”
you were supposed to be at work thirty minutes ago. you’d assumed you had been so tired last night that you forgot to charge your phone, hence your alarm not going off. your hand sprang to your charger, quickly connecting it to your phone before you did anything else. jumping to your feet, you quickly headed into the bathroom, getting ready as swiftly as you could. it wasn’t long before your phone lit up to life and was immediately swarmed with texts and calls.
“fuck…” your foot caught on the rug in your bathroom as you made your way back to your nightstand. katsuki’s name shone across the top of the screen, and all you could do was silently pray that he wouldn’t completely chew you out over the phone. your thumb swiped across the line quickly, putting it on speakerphone as you went back into the bathroom to continue.
“where the hell are you?” his voice was low and gruff, almost as if he was whispering into the speaker.
“I know I’m late and I am so sorry. my phone wasn’t plugged in last night, and that’s completely my fault. I am getting ready now and should be there in the next thirty minutes. right on time for that meeting you have”
even through the bathroom fan, you could hear his sigh, practically seeing him rubbing the bridge of his nose in annoyance. “whatever. do I need those notes you usually give me beforehand? are they here in my office somewhere?” he rustled around on the other side of the line, opening and closing the drawers on his desk.
“I didn’t put them on your desk yet. they’re sitting on mine. just walk in; it should be sitting on top of the pile. review those, and you should be good to go until I get there”
“alright, bye” he hung up the phone, placing it in one of his uniform pockets. katsuki ran his tongue over the top of his teeth as he walked over to the door. he was mad at first, but then when he heard the panic in your voice on the phone, he dropped it. plus it’s not like it would be hard to find a stupid briefing paper anyway.
he walked into your office, heading straight to your desk. there was a couple of times before he was in your office. usually, it was the other way around. you would drop everything off that he needed and leave it at that. it was curt, effective, and involved the least amount of talking. something that, for the most part, the two of you didn’t argue about.
your office was a good representation of your personality, or at least it was in katsuki’s eyes. a couple potted plants lined up against the windowsill, soil slightly damp from a recent watering. a couple of photos of family and friends sat on top of your desk, along with stupid trinkets that did just about nothing.
he reached his hand over, brushing over a couple of papers, scanning to find the right one. unfortunately for him, his hand made the wrong move, knocking about half of the stack on the floor. “of fucking course,” he mumbled under his breath, leaning down to gather them the best he could. “this is why we should keep the papers in the… desk” his eyes locked onto one specific packet with the words in bold.
foster family starter kit
katsuki’s eyes squinted, reading them over and over. his thumb absentmindedly flipping over to the table of contents. they were filled with the expected chapters of ‘what is fostering?’ and ‘how to create a safe and loving environment for your temporary addition.’ he closed the packet, flipping it over to the back with a new question gnawing at his curiosity: why?
even though he was a well-trained and seasoned hero, the sound of the door opening had him almost jumping out of his skin. How long had he been in here?
you almost didn’t notice him subtly moving the fostering paper to the back of the pile as he stood up from the ground.
“did they fall? I meant to put them in my desk, but I just never got to it. did you find the briefing paper at all?”
katsuki’s eyebrows scrunched in confusion at your words before opening his mouth in realization. one hand went to the back of his head as he threw the stack of papers back onto your desk. “no, I didn’t, but I damn sure dropped them on the ground. you can find them now; I don’t want to mess up more shit on your desk” you nod sifting through the pile he just threw down. his eyes stayed glued onto your figure, and you could feel them burning right through you.
“I feel like you have something to ask me, so if you would like to do it, please do it now.”
katsuki always hated when people could see right through him. he had been working for years to make sure that he was never that transparent so villains wouldn’t be able to get through to him. that’s when they pinned you as weak, and he sure as hell wasn’t weak. but there were always the ones that saw through the bullshit. his parents, deku, and you.
he smacked his teeth together, going around your desk to sit in your chair. “I just don’t get it. I let you ask me one question about the job, and it was about money. no hours, no insurance, just money”
you didn’t miss a beat as you continued to look through the papers on your desk. you could’ve sworn it was at the very top of the pile yesterday. “I don’t understand. people want to know about how much they’re getting paid all the time. there is absolutely nothing wrong or strange about that”
“no, but you know that I can pay you well. anyone in all of fucking Japan knows that. what I want to know is why are you looking for a specific number” he leaned across the desk, looking up into your eyes, but you couldn’t bring yourself to look back. “listen, I know we haven’t talked in a while, but if you need some money, I don’t care about giving it to you—”
you scoffed, slapping the papers back down onto the desk with a soft plop. “katsuki I’m not going to take free handouts from you. that’s embarrassing. plus if people find out around the agency, they’re going to start spreading rumors about me, and that’s the last thing that I want to happen”
“it’s not a fucking handout. plus who gives a fuck what people around the office say? I could’ve given it to you for any reason, and it’s none of their business why I did it”
“and that’s exactly why people would love to talk about it, because it’s none of their business”
“mina didn’t say shit, but if this is about the divorce—”
“you talked to mina about this before having a conversation with me?” your mouth hung open in pure shock, to which he held a hand up.
“she didn’t give me any details. it was like talking to wall”
the whole situation was strange to you. why was katsuki fighting so hard to figure out why you needed the money? why was he going to other people instead of you? and the biggest question of all.
“I found the foster packet when everything fell. is that what this is about?”
“it’s for someone else; they’re curious” it was quick, but not convincing. katsuki shook his head in disbelief.
“you really want to pull that bullshit with me? after I’ve interrogated hundreds of villains? you’ve got to be kidding me”
you put your hands up, a sign that you were ready to wave your white flag and get this over with. “you want the truth? fine. I’m infertile; that means it is very, very difficult for me to have kids. was this a problem in my marriage? yes, it was a very big one. one in which we had to take out a very big loan to do IVF, which ended up not working as you can see, I am childless and no longer married. so yes, I am trying to pay off my half of the loan that we decided to split; that is why I am a bit money conscious. is that what you wanted to hear?”
you hadn’t meant to deliver your life’s story to a man you’d never thought you’d see again just because he kept nagging you, but here you were. your face was hot with anger, and the tips of your ears could melt ice. katsuki never broke eye contact with you, though. his firey red eyes stayed locked onto yours in the beat of silence that passed afterwards. he cleared his throat once, then twice, before standing up. his jaw tightened. for once, words didn’t come easy. the silence stretched until he finally muttered, “well, damn… I didn’t know it was gonna be that depressing. should’ve kept my damn mouth shut…”
you knew that katsuki bakugo never said the exact words ‘I’m sorry,’ but he would find his own way of words that would eventually work up to be the same thing in a different font, and this was his way. you reached across the table, giving him a heavy smack on his arm. “do you always have to be an asshole? I just shared something so deeply personal, and that’s your response?” you smacked him once more before taking his place in your chair.
“yeah, well, I didn’t know it would bring down the room like that”
your eyes flit down to your desk, snatching a paper that had been hiding in the corner of your desk. “here is the briefing for the meeting. get out of my office and read it. I’ve had enough of you for one morning” there was no mental preparation for this type of conversation beforehand.
he shurgged his shoulders as he took the paper from your hands, exiting out of the room. you would hate to admit this to his face because his ego could already fill up a parade float, but it felt like some weight had lifted off of your shoulders.
most of the responses, as one can imagine when you tell them about any inconvenience in your life, were pity.
“oh I’m just so sorry that happened to you!”
“maybe it wasn’t your time”
“not everyone is meant to be a mom”
over, and over, and over again. for once, it felt like honesty had made the room lighter. most people gave you pity dressed as comfort… but he gave you something else entirely. feeling lighter, you collected your papers back into a pile before heading over to the meeting room.
