Momo had always known something was wrong with Katsuki and Midoriya. The two of them were always at odds and the air seemed to change once the two of them were in the same room. Some sort of deep set grudge or rivalry.

Momo was an observant young woman. Overly so. She wasn't dumb enough to ignore the way Midoriya flinched when Katsuki walked by him. The way he tried to sink in on himself, trying desperately to become smaller in the explosive young man's presence. How he stuttered and choked on his words when he tried to talk to him.

She knew something was wrong. But knew better than to pry. Not that it wasn't her concern - she considered both young men to be her friends after spending three years together at UA in their Class A. Momo never thought to make it her business. She had always figured the two just rubbed each other the wrong way and never could find a way to get along and she let it be.

Finding out that Bakugou Katsuki, the person she was raising her son with, was a bully was something that chilled her to her core and lit her blood on fire. The person she'd been having such deep discussions with. The person she'd been relying so heavily on. The one she'd been looking up to for all these years. The person she was starting to feel for…

A dirty, rotten bully who had never once apologized.

"Bakugou Katsuki, I'm so utterly disappointed with you," she growled out uncharacteristically, gnashing her teeth in disgust. "I want - no. I need you to think about everything that you just told me and I need you to work on that. Don't come near me or Itsuki until you've… done something about this. I don't even know what to do with myself right now."

Her heart felt like it was being gripped roughly and squeezed, as if to kill her. As if to torture her and make her beg for death.

"Momo…"

"No."

"Momo, please-" she saw such utter, raw emotion in Katsuki's eyes as he begged her to listen to her. On his knees, angry tears in his eyes, praying to her to not leave. To not walk away from him. To not leave him alone with his thoughts in this long, dark hallway.

She couldn't comply with these wishes.

It would hurt too much to be with him right now.

Before she could storm away from him, she felt a strong grip on her wrist, tugging her roughly towards him. He twirled her in his arms and pressed her against him.

"Mo, I'm sorry…"

She paused. "I'm not the one who needs to be apologized to, Katsuki, and I know you know that."

"You're… you're probably right-"

"Definitely right."

"Yeah… you're right. For some reason you always are… But I'm still sorry to you too. I… didn't want to deal with it and that's cowardly of me. It's wimpy as fuck. But… I wanted to move away from it and not keep looking back on that. It was wrong of me and I'm sorry to have dragged you into it. You don't deserve that. You… you and Itsuki deserve better than-"

"You don't get to tell me what I do and don't deserve, Katsuki," she cut him off in that infuriatingly dignified way of hers. "I won't tell you what to do, but things need to be made right somehow. You need to make things right and I just can't do that for you."

"I know."

"I can help you… But you need to want to."

He choked back a sob. "I know… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry." And he trembled as he held her - clutched at her, as though for dear life. As if she was the only thing keeping him rooted in that very moment. And she reached her arms out - slimmer and lean - to return his embrace. She would hold him and comfort him. But she wouldn't let something like this pass untreated.

Momo never once thought she'd see so many sides of Bakugou Katsuki as she had in the half a year they'd had Itsuki. Never thought she'd be allowed to see him so soft and vulnerable. Never thought once someone like him would be begging for her forgiveness and wanting to desperately to change to make things work.

She knew a part of it was for his own personal growth, but she also was painfully aware at how much he wanted to please her and keep her with him. Keep her close. She knew… and yet, as he stared into her eyes… she wouldn't let thoughts of kissing him plague this moment.

Mentally slapping herself on the wrist, she couldn't believe she'd just been thinking about kissing Katsuki in such a vulnerable moment! How awful…

"Go to bed, Katsuki… rest on it. But we need to make progress, please?"

"Yeah… I'm sorry, Mo," he nearly whimpered and her heart broke into pieces and melted for him. God how he could make her feel so many things in the span of twenty minutes.

From that point on, Momo could tell he was trying harder. He refused to be rude to Midoriya. He stopped calling him Deku, which was strange since that was the only thing he'd ever called him since they were children.

Momo didn't know what happened, but the two had apparently been talking deeply about what had transpired in their past. Katsuki reported to her almost nightly about how things were going. How the two of them had begun training and were playing soccer, together, with Itsuki.

Itsuki was thrilled with his papa's newfound acceptance of Uncle Deku's presence in their lives. The young boy had gotten rather attached to their friends and Momo was glad to see the positive impacts on not just Katsuki and Midoriya's lives, but on the others as well.

And, somehow… Katsuki only grew kinder… more comfortable with her. He would catch her by the small of her back as she was about to fall backwards from a step stool and would simply pat her hair in response to her apologies. He would stare at her during their discussions, late at night, when he thought she wasn't looking. Momo noticed.

The way he would look at her lips and lick his own subconsciously before looking away. The way he would hold her hands gently as he showed her how to do certain tasks she wasn't familiar with due to her upbringing. How he would gently place his hand on her knee to steady himself as he got up from his spot next to her on the sofa.

It was too… domestic. Too saccharine. Momo didn't know what to do with herself…

Katsuki was having similar problems of his own. He felt sick. Going to Kirishima, he confided in his first real friend.

"I just… don't know what's going on. I feel… weird when she's around, man." Katsuki ran a hand aggressively through his already messy hair, attempting to calm himself. "She smiles and my gut feels like I got punched. I don't know what's going on, Kirishima."

"You're in love with her, dude," Kirishima said.

"Excuse me?"

His self proclaimed best friend of three years stared him dead in the eye, looking more serious than he'd ever seen him. "You're in love with Yaoyorozu and you're letting it rip you apart. You're being an idiot, man."

Katsuki felt enraged. "I don't love her! Are you insane?"

"You don't? Then I'm good to go after her, then?"

Katsuki's blood ran cold. "What the fuck did you just say to me?"

Kirishima's eyes narrowed at him in disdain. "You just said you don't love Yaomomo. So then one of us should be fine to take her? If you're not dating her, you don't get to puppy guard her from the rest of us, you know. All of us are definitely noticing how adorable being a mom is making her. Don't blow your fucking shot, Bakugou. Someone will take advantage of your hesitation and it'll be the worst thing you'll ever have to regret."

"... You're a dick."

"And you're a moron." Kirishima smiled. "But that's fine. I'm being serious, man. You need to figure out whatever's going on in that spiky head of yours." Frowning, he continued, "Dancing around the issue and not making a decision is really unmanly."

"Yeah yeah… ok."

Kirishima clapped him on the back. "I'm proud of you, bro. I support the two of you with all my heart. She's a good girl, man. She'll be good for you."

"... she really is something, isn't she?"

Kirishima suddenly grinned at him. "Have you kissed her yet?"

"Wha-!?" Katsuki squawked. "The fuck do you think-"

"Whoah! I'll take that as a no. Dude… it's so obvious she's into you too. How the hell have you not kissed someone with a face like that? You're only literally raising a kid together, too."

"Ugh! Shut up! You're a dumbass, I should've gone to Kaminari and that's fucking saying something you pleb!"

The grin Kirishima gave him was purely devilish as he said, "Whatever makes you feel better, daddy!"

"AAAAAARRRRGGGHH!"