The kink in her neck is what wakes her. She almost forgets why she's on the sofa for a moment before the recollection of last night grips her with a stomach twisting pang. She stares at the messy coffee table and tries not to think about the harsh words still ringing in her ears.
Ochako takes a deep breath, counts to ten, and sighs it out while shaking her head. It's a new day, after all. There's work to be done, people to be saved, money to be made.
A glance at the doormat tells her that Katsuki's already left. Her shoes and helmet are left on the floor, devoid of any Ground Zero attire. It must be late.
She reaches for her phone to check the time.
It's half past eight. Nejire sent a text saying how Yui had stepped in this morning so it wasn't necessary for her to come in until later. Given the lack of anything to do, she tumbles off the couch and stretches her spine out on a patch of sunlight. Katsuki's dad had given them this faux sheepskin rug as a housewarming gift. As she sprawls out on the wool, she wonders why she'd chosen the couch when she could've slept on this cozy marshmallow.
The tension in her body gets released with each stretch. She's never been particularly flexible, but she enjoys spreading out in the sun.
Three years ago, she'd pulled her back when Tsu tried to help with her hamstrings and nearly cried from the pain. Somehow it came up last night and they'd almost peed themselves laughing about it. After their bouts of giggles died, Tsu told her she missed her and asked her to come over whenever she was free. She texts her to see if that invitation for tea is still good.
Fifteen loose-limbed minutes later, Tsu responds with a thumbs up emoji. Ochako rises accordingly.
On her way to the shower, she walks through their empty bedroom and notices the bed's been made. Sometimes she really does wonder if she's the reason this house is somehow always disorganized. Katsuki is a great homemaker, be it from his OCD or disciplined upbringing.
Maybe he thinks of her as more of an inconvenient roommate than a partner, that would explain how brutal he'd been. Then she thinks about how lonely he must've felt in their king-sized bed last night and resolutely stops thinking about him. Chooses instead to hum to herself as she washes her face, brushes her teeth, and gets dressed.
As she's putting her phone in her bag, she grazes her pill case. It's a seashell-shaped compact that opens up to reveal the dial pointing to Friday's pill. She pops it out of the aluminum sheet and swallows it dry.
Before nine o'clock, she's locking the door behind her and walking down the stairs of their condo. A fruit stand catches her eye on the way over so she buys a pound of grapes before continuing down the street.
Tsu lives in a one-bedroom apartment a few blocks away. She'd relocated after graduating because of how close it was to Ryukyu's agency. Her little sister opens the door and Ochako finds herself blinking away the mental image of her best friend when she was a schoolgirl.
"Hi, Ochako," she says.
Ochako smiles. "Hi..." The girl's name momentarily escapes her.
"Satsuki." she supplies, minimally peeved.
Ochako's eyes wince around her smile. "Right. Satsuki. You've grown so much."
"I'm thirteen now."
Her eyebrows rise. "Wow."
"Tsu's feeding Nana." Satsuki says, stepping aside, "Come in."
She takes the bag of grapes from her and goes to wash them in the sink. Tsu is on the couch nursing her daughter. Ochako waves as she steps out of her shoes.
Tsu smiles back and holds a palm up, wordlessly asking for five minutes. Ochako takes her seat on the other couch and stares at her surroundings in the meantime. Half-assembled baby furniture is littered around the place with the cardboard boxes they came in.
On her left is the stroller she'd gifted Tsu for her baby shower. It's a yellow carriage with a scalloped canopy. It looked a lot better on the display pedestal at the store than in Tsu's bleak living room. Her daughter must be sensitive to light.
Ochako gets pulled out of her musings to see Tsu gently place her sleeping baby in the rocker nearby. She rises silently and ushers Ochako out with a beckoning wave. Satsuki has already prepared the tea kettle and a tray of treats for them to take outside. They both sigh out in relief when they manage to walk out and slide the door shut behind them quietly.
"Sorry it's a mess in there." Tsu says when they're in the fresh air of the tiny balcony. "I live on my couch now."
Ochako stumbles around their cramped surroundings. There's less than a foot of space between the door and chair, so she has to bend awkwardly to sit down.
Once they're both seated, she smiles up at her friend and asks, "How are you?"
Tsu's prolonged sigh is dampened by the rowdy noise of the cars below.
"Oh, you know," she shrugs, "Terrible."
Ochako can only nod sympathetically for her. Tsu has her hair pulled up to reveal bags under her now droopy eyes and sallow face. A blotch of vomit streaks through the collar of her shirt.
"Also look terrible," Tsu mentions as she's pouring tea out for Ochako.
She accepts the cup with a light swat on her friend's hand. "Tsu, no, come on,"
"No, it's true," Tsu shakes her head, "I'm hideous."
Ochako shakes her head. She hates hearing stuff like that. Not only is it untrue, but it's really damaging. She lifts her head to consider her friend.
"You're…" she trails off. Mom-Tsu looks nothing like the sleek-haired, bright-faced, glowing girl she used to be. She's honestly never seen her this bad. "A new mom." she answers delicately.
"And I'm going bald." Tsu adds, untying her topknot to comb through her lank locks and collect the strays into a distressingly large clump. She watches her friend grimace as she leans to toss the hairball down.
"You okay?"
"Yeah," Tsu says, "It's just my scar."
"Oh." she winces into her tea, "Did you get a fourth-degree tear like Mina?"
"I wish. They made me get an emergency c-section."
Ochako looks up at her and frowns. "Why?"
Tsu stares at the apartment complex across the street and shrugs. "Apparently my labor wasn't progressing."
"How long were you in labor for?"
"About twenty hours."
Ochako's grip around her cup tightens. She's glad Tsu's eyes are still fixed on the window panes ahead and not Ochako, because her face just fell.
"Twenty hours?"
Tsu nods absently. "They made me sit through almost a whole day of contractions with Izuku mumbling by my side. I was eight centimeters dilated and they said I still wasn't ready to push. I told them I wasn't comfortable being on my back but they said it was protocol. Then they said if I didn't concede to a c-section that something was gonna happen to the baby."
Ochako looks back into her tea as guilt seeps down to the pit of her stomach. She never got to visit Tsu at the hospital to check in on her. She'd only received a text from Deku saying their daughter had been born and barely had time to send him a congratulatory response before getting back to work.
"That's when Izuku started really freaking out. After all that time, I was put under anesthesia and then they just… cut me open." Tsu's voice was always a bit monotone, but now it sounded hollow, "Kinda felt like I was getting dissected."
Ochako blinks tightly, trying to shut the image out of her friend going through that. She should've made more of an effort to be with Tsu in her time of need. "Oh my god."
"It didn't hurt or anything. In fact, I really don't remember much." Tsu mutters, "Just that I was freezing and dizzy and felt like I was gonna bleed to death. Izuku started crying so I thought something happened to Natsumi. Then it took three hours to sew me back up."
She reaches out to rub her hand. It's all she can think to do.
"Tsu."
Tsu sighs again.
"Yeah."
Ochako opens and closes her mouth uncertainly, unable to find the right words. It's quiet for a painful moment.
"On the bright side," she suggests, hoping it doesn't sound too callous or dismissing, "Your baby's healthy and you're better now."
Tsu nods and the tension in the air lifts. "Oh, yeah. At the very least."
"How much did she weigh?" she asks, desperate to change the conversation.
"Just over two kilograms, tiny thing. She looked like an actual doll when she was born. Her eyes were wide open." Tsu's sigh is dreamy now, "Such a beautiful baby."
Ochako stirs a spoonful of sugar in her tea stiffly. "Mhmm."
"My mom said she looked just like me when I was born."
She nods politely and bites into a cake to avoid having to reply.
"These are really yummy." she remarks, still chewing.
"They're petit four." Tsu says. "Aoyama said he bought them for Natsumi. I have no idea why."
Ochako licks her lips clean after she swallows. "So cute! I almost don't wanna eat them. Almost." she says before popping another in her mouth.
"Did you try these at the party?" Tsu asks, pointing to the pinwheels. There were three varieties but they were all too spicy for Ochako's liking.
"Oh, yeah," she says, "Katsuki really liked them."
"I have more inside. You should take the rest."
"Oh, no thanks. Mina already gave me enough gyoza." she explains, "Plus we're not really talking right now."
She regrets saying that as she thinks about how tired Tsu must be of having to hear her rant about him. Not that Tsu's ever said anything, but she always feels like she's annoying her. Because, honestly, she and Katsuki are never not fighting.
"Why?" she asks.
"We like, got into a fight." she mumbles, tucking her hair behind her ear. "It was really stupid."
"About what?"
She pauses to think for a moment. Money. Work. "Babies."
Tsu covers her face. "Oh, god."
"Yeah, it was like this huge thing. Basically, he wants a kid, but I was like, 'not now'. And I guess he thinks 'not now' means never, so-"
Satsuki slides the door open. Tsu whips her head around.
"What happened?" she asks, "Did Nana wake up?"
"No." Satsuki replies and nods to the tray. "Can I have the last coconut thing?"
"Do you want it?" Tsu asks her.
Ochako shakes her head. She'd had her eye on it but she's glad she hadn't taken it. She picks up the coconut cube and extends it to her.
"Thank you." Satsuki says before going back inside. Ochako smiles back.
"She looks just like you." she says after the door slides shut again.
"Nana?"
"No." she cringes inwardly, "Your sister."
Tsu stares down at her reflection in her tea. "Oh, yeah. I see a lot of myself in her lately."
"How so?"
"She does my laundry. Keeps me fed. Goes out to buy more wipes and diapers. Holds Nana for two minutes so I can use the bathroom. Everything."
Ochako nods and reaches for another petit four. This one tastes like lemon curd. She's almost considering having a child just so Aoyama buys her some. "That's nice."
"I don't know what I'm gonna do when she goes back to school." Tsu sighs, looking out to the street again. "Probably die."
"Don't say that." she says around her fifth cake.
"She's like my mom, sister, and husband all in one."
She downs her mouthful with a sip of tea. "Deku doesn't like... help?"
"He does, but he's tired too. The commission doesn't care that he's a dad now." she frowns, "He comes back to a crying baby and exhausted me. Sometimes I want him for myself but when he's here, he's just trying to soothe Nana so I can get a break."
Ochako nods along, listening idly. She's thinking about Katsuki working long days and nights and then coming home to a messy house and needy baby. She doesn't have any siblings and her parents are too busy working to help out.
"Anyway," Tsu says, pulling her out of her thoughts. "I'm probably never having another kid again. I have no idea how my parents had three. I love Nana, but nope. "
"Really?"
Tsu shakes her head resolutely. "No way. I've been raising my siblings since I was five so I thought I could handle it, but literally nothing could've prepared me for this."
"Is it really that bad?"
"For me it is. I swear to god it's the Midoriya-genes." Tsu says, "My parents said I never cried. Natsumi cries seven hundred times a day. I'm serious. She cries in her sleep."
"Sheesh."
"And whenever Izuku's mom comes over to help, she just stresses me out more. She's like 'Oh, I bet she's hungry. Has she bathed? Maybe she needs to be changed. When was the last time you fed her? She's gonna catch a cold. Where's that sweater I knit her?'"
"Aw, Inko," Ochako smiles wanly. She's unfortunately well acquainted with Deku's mom and her frenzied mollycoddling. "I'm sure she means well, but yeah, I know where you're coming from."
"She's just so... irritating." Tsu confesses, "Izuku wants to move us out somewhere closer to her house, but I don't know. He brought her over the other day and she was trying to calm Nana down but then started tearing up, saying something about what his dad would say if he saw her, and then Izuku started crying too. Before I knew it all three of them were bawling and I felt like jumping out the window."
Tsu rarely complains, so she hears her out until the end. When Tsu pauses for a sip of tea, Ochako offers an optimistic shrug. "At least they're both gone and she's asleep-"
As if on cue, Natsumi starts crying. Tsu takes a deep breath in through her nose.
"Tsu," her sister calls.
"What?"
"Nana's crying."
"I'm aware."
"I can't find her pacifier."
Tsu sighs out the breath she was holding and starts rubbing her temples. Ochako places a soothing hand on her wrist. She's eaten almost everything on her half of the plate, except for the pinwheels that she keeps for imaginary Katsuki.
They both rise promptly and shuffle out of the balcony one at a time. Tsu takes her baby while Ochako puts her shoes back on. She lingers around the doorway because it always takes them twenty minutes to say goodbye. They tried continuing their small talk, but it's kinda hard to have a conversation over her daughter's incessant blubbering.
"Well," Ochako hedges, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, eager to get away from the infant's screaming. "I should probably head over to Ryukyu's so Yui can take her break."
"Tell Yui I appreciate her picking up my slack, and you too, Ochako. Really," Tsu says, adjusting Natsumi over her shoulder so she can look Ochako in the eye, "Thank you."
"Aw, of course, Tsu," she starts to smile but then Nana's shrill howls actually begin to worry her. "Is she okay?"
Tsu winces as she tries to detangle Natsumi's shaking fist from her hair.
"Oh, yeah." she explains, walking her out to the front door. "She has a different crying style for every occasion. This is her 'Is-mommy-having-a-life-outside-of-my-existence?' cry."
Ochako blinks. "Oh."
"That's very inconsiderate of you, Nana." Tsu chides, "The world doesn't revolve around you."
Natsumi starts crying harder, like she understands. Ochako grimaces. It feels like her eardrums are getting pierced by the noise. She feels bad for the neighbors, but mostly for Tsu's early-onset hearing loss.
"Mommy's kidding!" Tsu insists, "Of course it does, my princess."
Natsumi keeps crying. Tsu sighs again before leaning in to kiss Ochako goodbye. There's two stains of breast milk on her when she pulls away.
"Sorry," Tsu says, patting her nipples, "That happens."
Ochako looks down at her blouse with a placable smile. "That's okay, I have to change anyway. Good luck," she says, starting to backpedal towards the staircase.
"Thanks. And remember what I said," Tsu calls after her, "Use protection. Don't let him put a baby inside you."
"Okay!" Ochako beams, waving her off, "I will. I won't."
lmk how you're liking this!