Author's Notes: Wow, I'm so behind on updating this fic here.

Before, the idea of waking up this early, especially for work, would have made Shigaraki throw his blanket over his head and absolutely refuse to get out of bed. What was the point? No one should be awake at this ungodly hour. It was the ass crack of dawn. There was nothing to do at this time.

However, a baby changed all of that. Yukiko was over four months now and, according to the internet, her sleep habits for the rest of her life would start settling. He hoped the fuck not. She still slept at odd hours for odd intervals and he didn't think he could adapt to it while also working full-time. He needed to get her on a schedule, but he didn't know how. The internet gave him tips, but every damn tip was geared toward a couple raising a baby. What about all of the single parents out there? Screw them apparently. Single parents could sleep when they were dead.

To be honest, he was starting to consider actual co-sleeping. She just wanted to be close and he was getting a little desperate. The only reason he hadn't caved beyond falling asleep on the couch with her was fear. It had been a long time since fear had been a motivation for him, but it was there, blinking like a warning sign in the back of his mind.

What if she got in the habit of sleeping next to him and would only sleep that way for years? What if he rolled on her while he was asleep? What if she rolled off of the bed? What if one of his gloves somehow came off? (He didn't like sleeping with the gloves on, but he needed to be extra careful with her.) What if she smothered on the blanket or a pillow? If she got cold? Too hot? What if-?

Sleeping should not be this stressful, but here he was, rubbing at the bags under his eyes as he pushed Yukiko down the sidewalk in a cheap stroller.

For her part, she seemed just fine, sitting still and watching the world pass her by. Shigaraki thought he would feel less like a dumbass pushing her in this than he did carrying her in the baby carrier, but he didn't. He knew people weren't staring at him (everyone minded their own business this early at least), but he felt too self-aware about this not being a good neighborhood. How could he defend himself with a baby? Would he have to run? It would take too long to unbuckle her and run with her in his arms. Did he really need to buckle her in? She wasn't moving. Maybe he should just go back to the apartment. Did he really need to go to work?

Stop it, you idiot, Shigaraki scolded himself harshly. You wanna pay your bills? You gotta go to work.

Besides, it wasn't his neighborhood or the early hour or even work that was getting him worked up. It was the idea of dropping Yukiko off at daycare for the first time, which pissed him off even more. Out of all the shitty things that had happened in his life, it shouldn't be this that was stressing him out so much.

Why was it such a big deal? It was daycare. He'd had this baby for over a month. He shouldn't be this...whatever. He didn't want to say attached, but he certainly didn't feel comfortable leaving her with strangers. It had been one thing for him to let Uraraka watch her. Even if he didn't exactly like her - even if they weren't and would never be close - he at least knew her somewhat. He knew she was a hero. He knew she was an annoyingly good person. He didn't know her well, but she wasn't some mystery person. Plus, she had watched Yukiko in his apartment.

Besides those times and the one time that Fuyumi had watched her while he slept, Shigaraki had never left Yukiko in someone else's care. It was freaking him out. Anything could happen and he wouldn't be there to do anything.

A million scenarios ran through Shigaraki's mind while he walked silently down the sidewalk. Judging by his blank expression and hard gaze, no one would've known that he was currently picturing every awful thing that could happen to her while he was away at work. He'd learned to perfect the art of thinking about murder without letting people know what was on his mind while he was in prison. Without the hand on his face to hide his expressions, he had figured out other ways to ease his stress via dreaming up shit.

Except this wasn't relieving his stress. This was making things much worse.

What if the daycare workers turned their back to deal with another kid and Yukiko got ahold of a small toy, stuck it in her mouth, and choked on it? What if she rolled onto her stomach during naptime and suffocated? What if she didn't nap at all because they wouldn't hold her? They would pick her up if she cried, right? What if she wouldn't drink her milk? What if they didn't feed her when she was hungry? What if they didn't hold her the exact way she liked to be held? What if another kid hurt her? What if one of daycare workers got frustrated and hurt her somehow if she didn't stop crying?

(What if Yukiko thought he was abandoning her? Like her mother had? Like everyone had him? He wasn't going to panic - he was stronger than this - but the thought made his fingers twitch. What if she thought he didn't care about her? What if she thought he believed she was expendable or was gone for good?)

What if a villain attacked the area? There was no damn way any of those daycare people were capable of actually protecting the kids from a fucking villain. He wouldn't be there to protect her. He wouldn't be there to save her. He would be stuck relying on a pro hero to do their job and, even then, as he knew so well, heroes couldn't save everyone. They couldn't be everywhere. Sometimes they had to choose who to save.

He would know. He had purposely put heroes in that situation.

His stomach rolled. He looked down and watched Yukiko move her hands on top of the blanket he'd snuggled her in. He couldn't be for sure, but there was a very high possibility that he had made a parent think the same thing. Hell, he knew he had. He'd orchestrated multiple attacks on UA students, after all, along with the public. His grip on the stroller tightened. His therapist had taught him tricks so he wouldn't spiral into dark thoughts like that, but he had been right when he said that Yukiko might bring them up again.

"One thing having a child does that many people don't expect is give you the opportunity to empathize with others in different ways," his therapist had told him. "There will be things you never would've thought about before that suddenly become important. You will look at other things from different angles than before. It won't always be pleasant."

It wasn't pleasant at all. These were things he definitely did not want to think about.

And to think, it had all started because he was taking Yukiko to daycare for the first time. This better not happen every time. Uraraka had told him he would get used to it in time. Her parents had struggled with it as well. She said her mom cried the first few times. He wasn't going to cry or some other stupid shit - he was more worried that he might say something rude or smart - but it didn't make him feel better to know others had been in his shoes. He didn't want to be in these shoes. They sucked.

Once at the daycare, which bore a cheerful but ugly sign outside that made him want to sneer, Shigaraki took a deep breath and looked down at Yukiko again. She seemed okay. So far, she had been good with other people holding her, but it was clear she had preferences now. In the beginning, she hadn't seemed to care at all who was holding her, like it didn't matter. Now that it was clear she had options and people were paying attention to her, she let it be known when she did and didn't want to be held.

To be fair, there weren't very many times when she didn't want to be held.

After awkwardly opening the door and pushing the stroller inside (they really should make it an automatic door for parents with strollers, but what did he know, right?), he was once again assaulted by the sight of far too many bright colors. There were pictures hung on the wall drawn by the kids, most of them unidentifiable scribbles. One of them might have been a dog, but the amount of red was distracting. There shouldn't be that much red around a dog.

He couldn't remember ever drawing like that as a kid, but surely he had before his quirk manifested. Had Kurogiri or All for One let him draw when they were teaching him how to write and read? Actually, which one had taught him that? It was somewhat concerning that he couldn't remember that detail, but it had turned out that there were a lot of things he didn't know or remember. Therapy had brought some of it back to the surface - not always all at once, as it sometimes took time - but there were a few memories he'd blocked out on purpose most likely.

Who the hell had watched him when he was these kids' age? Had it been Kurogiri? All for One hadn't been around all the time. He had sometimes played the role of a father, but it was always a distant one except for the moments when it wasn't. Those moments were necessary in order for Shigaraki to form a deep and loyal attachment to him.

He didn't want to drop Yukiko off. He didn't want to let her go. She had to know that he didn't just keep her so she would have to become attached and dependant on him. No, it was necessary for her to go to daycare in order to learn proper social skills. He certainly hadn't. Maybe she was too young though. She wasn't even half a year old. She didn't have the concept for object permanence yet. She was too little. This was a mistake. It was too soon. He couldn't-

"Hi!" a woman with orange hair greeted, a huge smile on her face. "Tenko Shimura, right?"

Shigaraki snapped out of his spiral abruptly and stared at her. "Uh, yeah."

The woman - he had met her when getting the paperwork but he couldn't remember her name - crouched down in front of the stroller. "And this must be Yukiko. Aw, she has your eyes and that cute little mole. How adorable!" He didn't know how to respond to that, so he didn't say anything. Was he supposed to thank her? It was a weird thing to thank someone for when he hadn't done anything but have sex with a stranger in order to produce a baby. The woman stood back up and eyed him warmly. "Is this your first time?"

"My first time what?"

She was trying to be nice, but the understanding look on her face still put him off. "Dropping her off at daycare. You looked a little…" She waved at his hands, the four fingers of each one gripping the stroller nearly white. "Tense."

Shigaraki forced his hands to relax. "No, I'm fine."

"Of course," the woman replied, still understanding, "all parents are." He hastily handed her the backpack, as if he was trying to reassure her that he was totally okay. She gazed down at Yukiko. "Do you want to get her out or me-?"

"I've got it," Shigaraki cut in, moving around the front of the stroller to pull the blanket off and unbuckle her. He already didn't like this woman, even though he knew she was being kind and just doing her job. He hadn't struggled this hard with Uraraka or the Todoroki family, but then he couldn't even remember this woman's name. He was probably acting like an immature idiot. He was probably being dumb. No doubt she would tell the other employees about him - how silly he was, how attached, it was so sweet, blah blah blah. Ugh, it was so annoying.

Once he had Yukiko unbuckled, he awkwardly pulled her into his arms, her foot getting caught on the stroller. It took a few painful seconds of jerking and figuring out what was going on, but then she was against his chest and he was standing up.

And he really, really didn't want to let her go.

"I promise she'll be fine," the woman reassured him. "If you like, we can send you hourly picture updates. We do that for parents...adjusting to the change."

"I…" Shigaraki swallowed. Why was he acting so weak? It was pathetic. This was nothing. A little over a month ago he hadn't even wanted to hold her. What the hell was wrong with him? Uraraka did that too and it did relieve some of the confusing stress he felt when he was gone. "Sure, whatever." The woman held out her hands. They lacked the distinctive pink pads like Uraraka's that Yukiko liked poking. "She ate like thirty minutes ago, so she'll probably hungry in a few hours. I changed her after, but she shits like a demon, so good luck with that. She likes to be held upright. She likes the swing, but only in the afternoon-"

"Yukiko will be okay," the woman interrupted carefully. "I know you don't think so now, but some time apart will actually be good for both of you."

Shigaraki tried not to cringe as he slowly handed Yukiko over. He thought things were actually fine, seeing as how she didn't fight him, but the moment they connected eyes, her lip started to do that dangerous wobble and his heart shot into his throat. Oh no. That wasn't good. "But she-"

"She will cry," the woman said as Yukiko started up. "That's normal. It's an adjustment. She's not mad or upset with you. This is something new. She'll get better in time."

But would he? Fuck, this was much harder than he'd anticipated. A part of him had kind of thought he'd be relieved to hand her off and get some time to himself, even if it was at work. Now he felt like a shitty father. What kind of monster just dropped their kid off and didn't care? It was impossible to spend every second with her, but he suddenly felt like he should've been capable of that. He shouldn't feel relieved to not be around her. What had been wrong with him?

"You better go so you don't run late for work," the woman told him, bouncing a weakly crying Yukiko in her arms. She hadn't cried with Uraraka, Fuyumi, or Rei. Maybe there was something wrong with this lady. No, he was being paranoid, trying to see villains in everyone. "We've got your number on file."

"Right."

Shigaraki knew it was expected of him to say goodbye to Yukiko - probably step forward and kiss her on the forehead or something - but he didn't (couldn't) do that. Instead, he took one last look at her and then stiffly walked out the door. A myriad of emotions filtered through him the moment the door shut behind him and the sound of her cries were abruptly cut off: guilt, relief, fear, reluctance, disgruntlement, happiness, and then shame all over again. He just kept walking in the direction of his work and tried not to think about her. That was all he could do to not drive himself mad.

Pulling out his phone, Shigaraki hesitated, but then quickly typed out a text and sent it before he could think about it any longer: This fucking sucks.

As soon as it was sent, he regretted it, wishing he could snatch the text back and scolding himself for allowing himself to be so weak that he would text about it. Uraraka's reply came back right before he was unlocking the door for the store. She had probably been asleep since she worked the night shift, which made him wince, but she didn't seem angry. It was hard to tell over text.

I bet, but you've got this! She'll be excited to see you when you get off work. Try not to think about it all day.

I'm gonna think about it all day.

I know. You'll survive and so will she.

Ugh. This giving a shit thing is not fun.

Aw I think it's cute how much you care about her. :)

Never use that word in reference to me again.

She sent back a gif of someone putting on sunglasses with the words "Deal with it" stamped across the bottom. It could have been worse. Touya would've roasted his ass completely for this moment of weakness, hence why he hadn't even considered texting him. To be honest, Shigaraki wasn't sure why he felt compelled to text her when he had been talking about the daycare situation with Fuyumi too. Maybe because Uraraka would be understanding but blunt. It was easier to deal with that than soft and gentle understanding bullshit.

Did it make him feel any better? Honestly, he wasn't sure. He just wanted to open the store and get this work day over with. Because he had to do it all over again and he wasn't excited. That was for sure. Yeah, he would survive, but at what cost?

A few days later, while Uraraka was on patrol, she felt her phone buzz, alerting her to a text. Since she was on the clock, she didn't pick it up, but she would take a brief break to eat soon and could check it then. One of the newer sidekicks was with her and she didn't want to set a bad example. It had taken her years to make the jump to pro and she didn't want to mess that up by answering a text message. It wasn't long after that before the call about a hold up at a convenience store crackled over the radio and the two of them were off.

Some nights were slow. Others weren't.

Tonight was one of the latter. Nothing catastrophic happened, but so far she'd already had to deal with a mugging, an assault, and a domestic abuse case that had, awkwardly, turned out to be roleplaying. Sometimes things got really weird. One of the things she hadn't anticipated upon becoming a hero would be people actively breaking the law so that heroes would show up and stop them. It was some twisted fantasy thing that heroes, many of them women, got caught up in. It was embarrassing and awkward as hell. Honestly, she might've preferred actual criminals.

Luckily, the hold up at the store didn't take long to end. It turned out the criminal had been using a water gun in order to rob the place. The sidekick did most of the work while she observed. It was a good experience for them. Ryukyu trusted her to guide the younger recruits. She said that she had a very supportive personality that was not often seen in top pro heroes. After the hold-up, was another mugging and then a belligerently drunk woman attacking her ex's apartment with her quirk and then…

Was it a full moon or something? She couldn't wait to be back on morning shift soon.

Uraraka wasn't able to even eat before returning back to the agency. Only when she sat down at her desk to begin typing up reports did she finally pull out her phone to check on the text. She wasn't as surprised by who it was so much as what the text said.

Shigaraki
You can tell your friend.

Well, that was straight and to the point. No lead up, no pleasantries at the beginning, no explanation for why he was telling her this now in the first place.

Uraraka leaned back in her seat and responded: Sorry tonight has been one thing after another. I hope you're asleep, although I'm curious about the change of heart.

It turned out that Shigaraki was, in fact, not asleep: Yukiko doesn't understand that I need to sleep in order to work. She smiled a little, even though she felt bad. Before she could say anything, he sent another text. Your friend that keeps texting you about shit - you can tell her. Or whoever asks. It's been over a month. It's stupid to think I can keep a lid on this. It was an unreasonable demand.

Oh, well that was considerate of him.

A sense of relief came over Uraraka as she sank in her seat. She hated lying, even if it was for someone else's sake. She had known it wasn't bad like usual lying, but it still hadn't felt good, even more so when she realized how worried she had made her friends. Yes, Deku had gone to extremes and Todoroki had only vaguely apologized when she had talked to him later that night, but it had been out of concern. She had pulled the same stuff when she wasn't fine after the break-up. Back then, Deku hadn't been around to help as much, so understood why they had done it.

Thanks and don't worry. I won't go blabbing about it to everyone.

Better not. Shouldn't you be sleeping?

I'm still at work. Like I said, crazy night. Hopefully your day at work won't be as wild.

If a bunch of gamers try to start a riot, I'm pretty sure I can stop them in my sleep. They're not exactly scary.

Uraraka grinned and texted back: Idk apparently you were a very scary, dangerous gamer.

Not these nerds.

One of these days, Shigaraki was going to have to come to terms with the fact that he was and had been one of those nerds. It wasn't this day, but eventually, he'd get there.

Tell Yukiko I said hi and I can't wait to see her again.

Object permanence remember? But fine.

She thought about telling him to take a video so she would know if he did it or not, but then she was supposed to be writing up reports right now. Besides, he might not indulge her or think she was even weirder than before. She let it go, clicking out of the conversation. By now, she was used to him not actually saying goodbye and could kind of tell when the conversation was over. She needed to get to work; she was so ready to get this morning over with so she could get home and go to bed.

But first, though, she pulled up a contact and hit the call button.

Within seconds, Mina answered the phone, bubbly as ever despite starting her shift in thirty minutes: "Hey, girl! This is unexpected. What's up?"

"Hey, when's your next day off?" Uraraka asked.

"Tomorrow actually."

"Wanna do brunch?"

"Oh, are you finally ready to tell me all the juicy details of what you've been up to?" Mina asked curiously. She could hear the grin in her friend's voice.

Uraraka sighed. "It's not that juicy, trust me." It would certainly be unexpected. Mina was still expecting her to say that she was in a secret relationship, but only the first half of that was right. "Same place, same time as usual?"

"Sounds good," Uraraka replied. "See you then! Have a safe day."

"You know it. Bye, love!"

This time, when Uraraka ended the conversation, she set her phone aside. Some people actually said goodbye. She wasn't exactly looking forward to telling Mina, seeing as how she didn't know how she would react. She would probably have to also tell Tsu when she came back ashore. It would feel good not to lie to them anymore. Plus, she would actually have someone to talk to this about. It wasn't as weird as it was in the beginning to her, but she knew her friends would make it weird all over again.

How fun.

One thing Uraraka hadn't anticipated was the situation with Shigaraki not just being weird, but also hilarious, which Mina apparently thought it was. Upon realizing that Uraraka was not lying about helping the former League of Villains with his baby and wasn't hiding a secret, steamy affair, Mina had burst into laughter. She was trying to keep it to a minimum, holding a hand over her mouth, but people were still looking at them curiously.

"I didn't think it was that funny," Uraraka muttered as she poked at her food.

"You're Tomura Shigaraki's secret babysitter," Mina pointed out after managing to contain herself. "I mean, yeah, I'm a little concerned and I've got like thirty questions, but I trust you. If you're doing this, then it's for a good reason." She wiped the tears from her eyes and took a deep breath, sitting back in her seat. "If I'd found out about this earlier, I would have been way more worried, but this been going on for over a month and you're fine. Hell, you're happier than I've seen you in months. Maybe this was the distraction you needed."

"That makes me sound so stupid," Uraraka complained.

"No!" Mina exclaimed. "That's not what I meant." She slapped her face with a hand and shook her head. "You just… I don't know. Midoriya was right."

Uraraka sighed. Maybe this was a mistake. She would have been teased less if she had told Mina she was having some wild affair. "It's not that big of a deal."

"Uh, yeah, it is," Mina replied. "You've been secretly helping a man raise a baby - a man that tried to kill us multiple times, in case you forgot."

"I didn't forget," Uraraka muttered, "and he didn't either. He brings it up a lot like he's trying to scare me off."

Mina leaned forward, her golden eyes glittering with excitement, and propped her chin in her hand. "What's he like?"

Uraraka sat upright. "Oh, well, he's actually really attentive with Yukiko-"

"No, no, not as a dad - we'll get to that later." There was an intense look on Mina's face that Uraraka knew she would regret. Mina was different from Tsu. Uraraka could've told Tsu what was going on and there wouldn't have been that many questions. She would have taken whatever Uraraka said at face value and left it at that. Mina was different. She liked to gossip and wanted as much information as possible. "What's he like as himself? C'mon, he only plotted out some of the most well-known villain attacks in history. And now you're just babysitting his kid like it's nothing? You have to have a few stories."

It made Uraraka uncomfortable enough to squirm in her seat. "Well, um…" She thought about him - what he was like and how he acted around her. They'd had a month of this going on and she did have a lot of thoughts about how he behaved. It was nothing like what she'd expected. "He's actually a huge nerd."

"What?" Mina laughed. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, like a ton of video games, multiple consoles, a really diverse anime selection," Uraraka listed off. Actually, Deku owned a lot of the same stuff now that she thought about it. She bet Shigaraki would hate learning that. "Plus, the first few names he came up with for his daughter were all from video games. That reminds me: I need to look up 'Yukiko'. It's the name we chose, but I'm almost certain it's from a game."

Mina put a shocked hand over her mouth. "Oh my god."

"And he's got a dark sense of humor," Uraraka continued. How many times had he made a comment that caught her off guard? In the beginning, he might've been trying to throw her off so she would either leave him alone or wouldn't be in his life anymore, but by now she knew it was simply him. She could roll with the punches. "He'll say stuff as a joke just to keep you at an arm's length, so you have to know when to push back. It's like he never expects that, although surely Touya must've argued with him before. That's all they do with each other now."

"Does it turn you away?" Mina asked curiously.

Uraraka shrugged. "He'll make jokes or references about him being a villain in his past - he's very self-deprecating - but, if you throw it right back at him, he backs down or acts like it's a game." She kind of preferred when it was the latter. At least then he had some spunk in him. Maybe it was spite. "He's very blunt, like Katsuki. I wouldn't say he's nice. It's more like…" She lifted a hand to her chin and rubbed her bottom lip thoughtfully with her thumb. "He's capable of being nice, but I feel like he thinks it's a waste of time. He'll be nice if he thinks you deserve it or if you're truly good, but faking nice isn't worth his time."

Raising an eyebrow, Mina asked, "Are you saying he's not a liar?"

"He really isn't," Uraraka insisted, shaking her head. "He says whatever's on his mind - and he doesn't care if it insults people or not. He's being honest."

"That does sound like Bakugou," Mina put in.

"He's really not that bad?" Uraraka said thoughtfully. "Considering everything he's done, especially to us, he's actually pretty normal. I mean, he works at a video game store, for god's sake. Does he get annoying? Sure, so do I, but I wasn't going to let him deal with this on his own and it just sorta...spiraled from there."

Mina shook her head. "You're too nice."

Uraraka rubbed the side of her face. She was so tired of people telling her that. She wasn't too nice. She was just the right amount of nice. If she had seen other people ignore Shigaraki clearly in need, she wanted to believe that she would have stepped up to help him, but she knew that she probably wouldn't have, which made her feel bad. She wanted to be good, but being around Shigaraki and Yukiko and watching her for him no longer felt like it had anything to do with that. It was just a part of her life.

"He's not a bad person," Uraraka muttered, "and he's a good dad even if he isn't completely attached."

"You really do care, don't you?" Mina asked. Before Uraraka could protest, Mina added, "I'm not arguing with you over this, but… Do you remember in our third year at UA? You and Shigaraki got into this massive fight while he was in the League. It was originally with Midoriya, but then you jumped in and-"

"Of course I remember," Uraraka cut in. She didn't want to think about it, much less talk about it. The whole memory just made things weird. Yes, she had been in a one on one fight with Shigaraki before, but she wasn't sure if he actually remembered it and she didn't want to bring it up. The whole point of him doing civilian stuff now was that his villain past didn't hinder him. If she brought it up, then she would only hurt his progress.

"He almost killed you," Mina said, "but now that I look back on it…" She tilted her head. "I don't know if I've ever seen you so happy even then. He took you seriously. He considered you a threat. He went all out. Other people thought you were just this cute girl, but he didn't."

Uraraka rolled her eyes. "If that's the only criteria for me to be kind to people…"

"C'mon, you can't say I'm wrong," Mina told her. "Yeah, you were terrified and you were shaking and bleeding, but you won and you were elated. You literally brought a building down on him. I remember the look in your eyes." Bakugou had said she was glowing - that it was one of the first moments he knew he liked her, maybe even started falling in love with her. That triumph, that strength, that excitement. Shigaraki probably didn't think fondly of the fight if he did remember. "Midoriya freaked out so hard when Shigaraki disintegrated the floor right under you."

"Good thing I can float," Uraraka countered dryly.

Mina snickered. "You could say he swept you off your feet."

"Stop that!" Uraraka scolded. The last thing she needed was for anyone to assume that there was anything actually going on between her and Shigaraki. It was absurd and it would probably make him uncomfortable if he found out.

"I just want to make sure you're good," Mina finished, sounding serious again after teasing her. "You're one of my best friends and I don't want you to get hurt again."

"He's not going to hurt me," Uraraka assured her. It was an odd thing to say, considering who she was talking about, but she really didn't think he would. At least not physically. He wasn't the only one trying to keep people at an arm's length. She had to learn how to care about people without letting them in too much. One of these days, he wouldn't need her around anymore to help with Yukiko and he probably wouldn't want her around so much. It was simply an inevitability. Shouto had thought something similar about Touya, even if his big brother was back in his family's lives.

"Good," Mina said decisively, nodding her head once, "because if he does, I'll have to kick his ass, even if he is a single dad."

Uraraka laughed a little and smiled. "Thanks, Mina, for everything."

"Hey, it's my job as a best friend to be supportive of all your insane, weird adventures and relationships," Mina proclaimed cheerily. Then, she winked. "Besides, I'm used to your questionable taste in men by now."

"Mina, it's not like that!"

"You just can't help yourself when it comes to bad boys with secret soft sides," Mina teased.

"Oh my god, I don't know why I told you."

Mina playfully stuck out her tongue. It felt really good to tell someone about this and not be judged for it. She knew not everyone would react the same way as her. Bakugou, for one, could never find out. Luckily she hadn't talked with him since their last joint mission during villain attack almost three months ago, so she didn't think he would. Iida would probably be concerned. Tsu might not like it either. Still, for just an hour or two, she had someone on her side and it was nice and a relief.

A thought popped into her head. "Oh shit, I just remembered something. I wanted to tell you before, but Shigaraki didn't want people to know I was helping him, so I kept it to myself."

"Oh?" Mina leaned forward. "I'm super curious now."

Uraraka's cheeks turned pinker than normal as she admitted, "I kinda accidentally saw him nearly naked?"

Mina howled with laughter, completely unrestrained and uncaring that people were looking over at them. "The strangest things happen to you! How much did you blush? How much did he blush? Why was he naked? You need to tell me everything."

"He was wearing a towel and he practically ran into his bedroom, but it was still unexpected and I almost died, I swear." A wave of relief washed over Uraraka even as she hid her face in her hands. She'd been sitting on that embarrassing moment for a month without telling someone. She needed someone to commiserate with though and Mina was the perfect friend to do that with. She'd make it funny. That was what she needed right now.

Her phone buzzing distracted her and she pulled it out of her pocket to look at it. Mina calmed down enough to peer at it and ask, "Oh, is it him?"

"No, he's at work right now," Uraraka replied offhandedly as she unlocked her phone. She caught the raised eyebrow and suspicious look on Mina's face. "I mean, I assume he is. He switched to morning shift so it would work with the daycare's hours." She definitely didn't like the way Mina was looking at her right now, but she at least didn't say anything about it. "It's actually Deku."

Mina sat back. "That's not nearly as fun." She waved a hand. "Go on. I'm gonna use the restroom real quick."

When Mina got up and walked to the back of the restaurant, Uraraka read Deku's text: Hey, I'm leaving in an hour or so, but I just wanted to apologize again. I don't want to leave with something in between us. I should've trusted you and never violated your privacy.

Uraraka sighed and smiled faintly. It was just like Deku to do this. He had apologized to her already, but they hadn't had the chance to see each other since he followed her to Shigaraki's apartment. It was a wonder he had been able to stay in Japan for this long. Due to his quirk, he was able to work throughout the country and come back to stay in town most of the time. Not tied to an agency, he went where he was needed, but so often that led him to work out of the country where Uraraka missed him.

She didn't want him to leave with a sour feeling between them either.

You should have, but I know you were worried about me and you felt guilty for not being here before. I love you, Deku. I can't stay mad at you for long.

Thank you so much! I've been kinda freaking out tbh.

But don't do something like that again. I thought Shigaraki was going to have a conniption.

How mad was he after we left?

He was worked up worse than Katsuki in our first year.

Geez I'm sorry you had to deal with that. Nothing you can't handle though. You're a hero!

Uraraka giggled and texted back, You big dork. He actually gave me the go ahead to tell people about it if I'm asked. I think he even kinda apologized?

Whaaat? You got him to apologize? Lol

Well he said it was an "unreasonable demand" to not tell anyone. That's big for him.

Uraraka knew that was about as good as she was going to get from Shigaraki, but she didn't mind. She could tell it was a lot for him and he really was making progress. They texted often enough throughout the week and she saw him enough to see him slowly becoming more comfortable with parenthood, asking for help, and maybe even her. She paused, considering her next text. It probably didn't need to be said, but she thought it was a good idea anyway.

You know he might not message you, right?

Deku took a minute to reply back. Maybe he was busy doing something since he was at the airport, but she had a feeling that he was thinking about her words. I know, he finally responded. I'll accept it if he doesn't. I shouldn't try to barge my way into his life. Someone has to want help in order to receive it sometimes.

He could've been frustrated since Shigaraki had asked her for help but seemed even more resistant to the idea of him, but Deku wasn't. He had learned that, no matter how much he wanted to help a person, sometimes they didn't want him to help them. It was a hard lesson for a hero to learn and even more difficult to accept. Letting a person drown when there was so much they could do to bring them back to shore felt like a failure and went against everything they knew as heroes.

Uraraka had pushed her friends away when they wanted to help her. Bakugou had pushed Deku away when he had tried to help him so many years ago. Todoroki had pushed back until Deku broke through. They all did it in one shape or form at some point in their life. It turned out that, despite his villainous history, Shigaraki wasn't completely different.

But he reached out to you and that's a start. I'm glad he did. For both of you. I think in a weird way this helped you too.

Uraraka's stomach did an uncomfortable flip. She could never help it when the conversation started to veer in this direction. If you're going to bring up Katsuki, don't.

I'm not. I'm just happy to see you doing better. And you're really shining at your agency!

Aw now you're starting to sound like Tenya.

Speaking of him, have you told him about Shigaraki?

Uraraka cringed a little. No I haven't.

Are you?

If it comes up. I don't think he'll approve. Shouto doesn't. I think he's upset with me for keeping it a secret for so long.

He understands why you did it. He's just protective.
Tenya probably won't like it either, but I think he'll understand too. You know how passionate he is about recovery. You're just being a little more active in the process.

I expect a lecture either way.

"Hey, sorry that took so long," Mina said, sliding back into her seat. "Someone recognized me and actually wanted to talk about hero work instead of gossip."

Uraraka looked up from her phone. "Oh, that's good. I'm almost done, by the way."

Mina waved her off. "Nah, don't worry about me. Tell Secret Agent Man that I said hi and he better get me something from his trip abroad this time. I want to look worldly." She waved over their waiter to order another drink, not bothered at all by Uraraka's continued texting.

You should. ;) I'll text you when I land! It's going to be a long flight. Hopefully I get some sleep.

I'll miss you 3
Mina says hi btw and to get her a gift

Miss you too. And Mina! I'll get you both a souvenir this time. Maybe I can get something for Yukiko! You think that would be ok?

Sure. Have a safe flight!

With the conversation done, Uraraka clicked out of it and then slid her phone back into her jacket pocket. She felt better after having spoken with Deku. Even though they didn't talk about what had happened, she didn't think they needed to anymore. It had happened and it was over. They knew the truth about what she'd been getting up to, and honestly, she was happy. She didn't like lying and she wasn't good at it. Shigaraki knew that now. After a few days to cool down, she didn't think he was mad about it anymore. It was what it was. A weird world where he had to raise his child to the best of his ability, even if it meant a little embarrassment.

She could handle that and so could he. Life wasn't so bad at all. Things felt good.