It wasn't until a couple of hours later that Uraraka found herself jolting awake by a sudden clashing noise in the kitchen. She tried opening her eyes, but her lids were just too heavy, and she was too exhausted to try and put up a fight. She briefly wondered if Mina or perhaps even Deku or Iida came to check on her and thoughtfully covered her with a blanket until a sudden thought occurred to her. "K-Kiseki!"
Forcing herself to sit up she confusingly stared down at her mitten covered hands as the wet cloth slid down her forehead, finding the left over headache too painful to try and remember how she even managed to get here in the first place before a small crash startled enough to get to her wobbly feet. Her eyelids still felt heavy but despite her still feeling sick, that unexpected nap helped somewhat.
A muffled voice could be heard from further down the hall as she warily allowed herself to step out of her room, bracing herself on the wall next to her and only stopping when it all slowly came back to her.
Fussing Kiseki continued to arch his back and kicking his feet, doing his absolute best to fight the fresh onesie Bakugo tried sliding his arm into which would make this the second one he had to change since he'd been here.
Anyone who ever thought changing a child was one of the easiest things to do, never had the chance to meet this little tormentor still glaring up at him. Getting this kid dressed was like a never-ending battle making him wonder how Uraraka managed to keep calm.
"Here take this." He handed the baby a nearby wooden spoon to try and distract him, which surprisingly worked when Kiseki began banging it against his hands, more so as a weapon than anything. But right now Bakugo couldn't care less since he finally managed to get the onesie zipped up- which was a huge success in his book.
"Guess that worked." He smirked down at boy as Uraraka remained rotted to the spot silently listening. "Someday I'm gonna get you a drum set..." He placed the little boy against his chest and rested his hand on his back lightly bouncing him after making sure to have an orange burping cloth swung over his shoulder to hopefully try and avoid any other mishaps which was around the same time Uraraka realized he was walking around her dining room shirtless.
She was torn between letting her presence known and watching almost mesmerized as father and son continued to absently walk towards the kitchen after Bakugo carefully began picking up all the little things she guessed Kiseki had knocked down.
Compared to Bakugo, Kiseki looked so tiny in his arms. So fragile that it continued to break her heart watching him being held like this. Delicate, like Bakugo was worried any wrong move could break this child if he wasn't careful. Never expecting to have the opportunity to see him handle their son in a way that made her heart swell with so much warmth and pride she didn't bother hiding the soft smile even as a tear slipped away.
If only the others could see this softer side of him, then she knew there would be no question that this man was truly wonderful.
When Kiseki let out a small giggle right before banging the spoon against the fridge, Bakugo sternly raised him to be at eye level. "Shhh be quite kid, or you're going to wake you mom." He quietly shouted before repositioning him and briefly snapping his eyes towards the hall in time for Uraraka to hide before turning back to the child. "I don't suppose you know why your mom doesn't like me huh?" he found himself asking. "Or why we don't get along anymore…"
Clutching her chest Uraraka couldn't help the way her eyes began quivering as she cased her eyes downwards as his words sank in.
It was never about that. It was never her intention to make him think that, but what choice did she have in all this? If she allowed herself to weaken even just a little…she was afraid that this time, there would be no letting go. That the best thing would be to stay clear so both her heart and their future would remain intact. But could she really continue depriving Kiseki and Bakugo of something like this?
Could she really keep them apart?
Part of her desperately still wanted to cling to the hope that perhaps Deku was right. That perhaps the future she saw could be changed like it did for All Might even when Sir Nighteye thought it was impossible? But was she willing to risk it all?
One glance in their direction made her heart swell and throat tighten when she saw Kiseki's chubby little hands trying to grip Bakugo's cheeks while giggling which made Bakugo involuntary smile in return.
That's when she knew.
"You think that's funny brat?" Bakugo playfully frowned before movement in the hall caught his eye. Or rather someone. "Round-face…"
"Hey." The way he stared at her clearly not expecting to see her awake, pulled her back from the panic she felt only mere moments ago, replaced by a soft smile as she apprehensively approached them. "How is he?"
Upon hearing his mother's voice Kiseki let out a delightful squeal, his face instantly lighting up as he tried turning his head with the support of Bakugo's hand when his eyes landed on her.
"How long have you been standing there?" he warily asked, studying the way she averted her eyes towards her child instead.
"Not long." She quietly answered before slowly raising her eyes to meet his. "I'm so sorry I feel asleep like that and-" She hastily said but stopped when he raised his hand, palm up to stop her.
"It's fine Cheeks." He mumbled, "We haven't killed each other. So we both managed to survive the two hours you were asleep." He sarcastically squinted his eyes in a mocking manner.
"I'm still sorry." She bashfully looked down, forcing herself to not blatantly stare at his inviting bare chest no matter how tempting it was to want and run her hands up and down that familiar path. Bakugo had always been one of the guys in school that always took care of himself, and his body was always proof of that. Resulting in more than a few head turns in the process including hers, but somehow during her absence he only seemed to bulk up more.
Making it harder and harder not to want to relive those memories stored away and find out first hand if everything was just the same as she had remembered. But now that he was also holding their child like that only made him even sexier- how was that even possible?
While she on the other hand couldn't even wear the same clothes she once had due to the newfound curves she seemed to accumulate during and after pregnancy.
"Like I said it's fine idiot." He readjusted Kiseki, never once feeling the need to let go of him yet. "Only thing I had to deal with was your minion barfing all over me."
Startled Uraraka's eyes grew a second before a small hysterical laugh bubbled out of her until she covered a hand over her mouth, finding this whole situation hilarious and surreal. "He threw up on you?"
"That's what I said." Rolling his eyes he felt Kiseki beginning to squirm in his hold as he let out another squeal trying to reach for her.
"Here let me." She reached for him and watched the way he seemed to briefly hesitate before passing him to her. "You don't seem mad about it." She acknowledged.
"I'm not a damn heartless monster Round-face. I knew the risks of holding a baby but picked him up anyway." He shrugged, now fully aware of being shirtless in front of her. Raising his hand he awkwardly rubbed the top of his head as he watch her with the boy. And for reasons he couldn't explain it made him feel proud at seeing how great she was at taking care of this baby all by herself.
"Thanks." She warmly smiled down at Kiseki as he snuggled himself closer to her, making him feel safe, soothing and comforting.
Bakugo wanted to tell her how amazing he could see she was at this. Wanted to tell her how strong and brave she was for tackling all of this on her own, but instead just found himself staring at her with pure admiration.
"Thanks again for doing this." She quietly said, rocking her baby gently in her arms.
Silently nodding, Bakugo found himself unable to tear his eyes off the two of them.
"What?" she warily asked when she looked to see him softly staring at her until her voice seemed to bring him back from whatever he'd been thinking about. Watching him bling once before she could see a cute little blush appear on his cheeks before he looked away.
"Nothing."
Nodding, she remembered her previous conversation that day with Mina and thought that perhaps now was the right time to ask him. "Bakugo, what do you think about Mina and Kirishima?"
Groaning he placed his hands on his face. "Not this shit again..."
"What?" she confusingly blinked trying to suppress her amused smile when she saw the annoyed expression on his face.
Dramatically exhaling he settled her with an exasperated look. "Those two idiots keep fuckin dancing around each other like a couple of stupid puppets with fucked up strings, while I'm stuck in the middle of it." He pointed his thumb at himself. "Damn nauseating is what it is."
"Well, what's the harm in-"
"No!" he quickly cut in making both mother and child stare back at him. "Don't even think it. Don't even say it. There's no way in hell I'm playing matchmaker."
"But they clearly still love each other." She argued. "What's the harm in giving them a little push?"
"Off a cliff yes. But you couldn't pay me enough to put up with all that sappy crap, and if it doesn't work out guess who's gonna constantly have to hear about it all day."
"But-"
"Forget it." He dismissively shook his head. This girl could barely stay on her own two feet right now with the fever she had earlier, yet all she was still cared about was her child-which made sense to him, and her friends which made sense to some extent. "They're both adults Round-face, we're not in high school anymore. If they wanted to be back together they would." He said leaving little room for argument. "I'm not about to sit here and waste my time trying to get them back together only to see…"
'Kirishima being hurt…' She realized. Snapping her mouth shut, Uraraka couldn't help but fall for this man more. Realizing he was refusing to help not because he didn't want to, but because he didn't want to see his best friends' heart being broken again for the second time.
"Oi quit smiling like that you look like an idiot." He uncomfortably mumbled when he could see her catching on.
"Sorry." Nodding, she flicked her eyes towards a dozing Kiseki and back to Bakugo who was still watching her. "Bakugo…why did you take care of me? I could get you sick."
Shaking his head he made quick work to move towards the kitchen, intending to finish what he started earlier with the food. "Don't read too much into it alright. Beside's, we need you at work and it's not like I enjoy washing puke off me again."
That statement instantly made her turn away in humiliation. "Oh that."
"Yeah that." He spat back sarcastically before returning to seasoning and heating up the soup. "Besides if you do get me sick…you take care of me, and I take care of you." He indifferently shrugged, focusing on the food.
"…what?" she softly whispered, eyes growing wide yet hopeful. "What did you say…?"
"What?" he confusingly frowned as he turned and leaned against the counter.
"N-nothing." She dismissively waved her hand, but he could see the sadness linger in her usual joyful eyes, but just like all the previous times she just shrugged it off.
When she opened her mouth again, she stopped when they heard the dryer go off. Which made her accusingly frown at him. "What's that?"
"It's called laundry space case. You should try it."
Opening her mouth in an O' motion she whipped her eyes towards an already clean basket with neatly placed clothes inside. "You did my laundry?"
"It's not that damn difficult to do laundry idiot." He irritatingly retorted but the obvious growing blush on his cheeks made him turn to face the stove instead. "Besides, your kid threw up all over my shirt so I had to wash it either way."
"Oh…so that's why you're…." she timidly gestured to his exposed chest.
Smirking he found it cute that something as mundane as being shirtless had her looking so flushed when he was sure this wasn't the first time she'd seen a man like this, considering she had a child. And he knew that back in their UA days there were more than a few times when the girls had seen them at least shirtless training or swimming. "Believe it or not Cheeks, I don't make it a point to parade around half naked for your amusement."
"What? -No I didn't mean…" The pink to her cheeks began to spread through her entire face despite the fatigue she still felt. Raising her hand free hand to her cheek that was the last of her troubles when another horrifying thought occurred to her. He did her laundry.
'Did that mean…oh gods please don't tell me he did all of it?!' Whirling back to the basket, she did a quick scan with her eyes that told her that there was a pretty good chance he did.
Was he tempted to continue teasing her the same way he did before? Definitely, but instead decided to push towards more pressing matters since he didn't see himself spending most of his evening in her apartment being the target to the Uraraka's family vomit ritual. Not to mention by the horrified expression on her face he had a pretty good idea that she may have just realized that he cleaned everything including her delicates -which he made sure to keep his eyes closed the entire time like some damn child. Not caring in the least if that's what it was since he wasn't planning on adding doing her laundry today.
He was just lucky that his mom happened to answer the phone to give him some pointers on how to go about cleaning women's undergarments all while bombarding him with questions he would never EVER answer. But as soon as his mom mentioned handwashing some of them, he quickly hung up and threw that crap in the washer on delicate. If it ruined some of them then he had no problem paying to replace them. But that only confirmed his hunch from earlier. "Uraraka…"
Upon hearing her name, she whipped her humiliated eyes to see him sternly raise his brows.
"I meant what I said earlier. When was the last time you had a full nights rest?" He didn't want her to take this the wrong way or maybe feel like he's overstepping, but he was never known to keep what he really thought to himself nor was he going to start now. "Look I'm not here to tell you how to do things nor do I want to be since you seem pretty much capable of handling things on your own." And she was doing a dam pretty good job at doing it too, he thought. "But that doesn't mean you should neglect yourself either."
"I'm not." She argued but based on the unconvinced expression on his face as he walked past her to get to the dryer told her she wasn't convincing him either.
"You're still sick."
"I'm better now."
"For how long?" he threw back as he raised his clean shirt above his head before pulling it the rest of the way down to cover himself. Uraraka inwardly pouted- whether it was because he may be right or because he was now covered up she wasn't sure. "I mean it, look at yourself. You're barely sleeping and can barely stand on your feet right now with how sick you are. Maybe that's your body's way of telling you to relax and take care of yourself. And trust me, the last shit you want is to slack off during a patrol."
"Like that day…" She understandingly sighs. "Yeah I know. It's just…I've just had a lot on my mind lately with work, Kiseki…"
"Alright then how about you let me ease some of that burden."
"W-what?" tilting her head forward, she wasn't entirely sure she heard him right. "How? And why would you do that?"
"Look I know that you have your mom and other people willing to offer a helping hand…but I also know that you're the kind of person that won't want to put that burden on anyone if you can help it. So how about it? I'll keep an eye on that kid of yours while you take the day to yourself."
She couldn't do much else but look at him stunned by his sudden offer. "But I-"
"And for the record, I'm only doing this because you're one of the best heroes we have out there. Can't have you out their half assing it." He clarified as he moved back to the stove. "Otherwise when I beat all of you morons at being the best, it won't count as giving it your all."
"I guess you're right." She gave a small smile, looking down at the now sleeping infant in her arms. Suddenly feeling flustered by the weight of Bakugos attention on her.
"But…do you know how to take care of babies?" She tried to stall for time to come up with a reasonably explanation as to why this would be a bad idea even if it was just one time.
"A simple thanks would be nice." He scowled, growing impatient. "Look, do you want my help or not?"
"I…." Chewing on her bottom lip she thought about it. "How about it Kiseki? Would you like Bakugo to watch you?" she asked her child who only uncomfortably grunted before wiggling closer to his mother.
She should say no. She really should but the thought of him offering and Kiseki getting to spend time with his father tore at her heart strings the more she tried to convince herself otherwise.
"Ok." she said after a beat, watching the way his brows raised in surprise. "I suppose you have a point."
"Gee try not to overdo your enthusiasm too much." He scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest before gesturing to the soup. "Hurry up and eat this otherwise I won't hear the end of it from the damn nerd brigade that I let you starve."
Nodding she momentarily turned only to hear his sneeze.
"That's different." He argued when he saw the small smile forming on her lips before pulling out a spoon and bowl for her.
Carefully placing Kiseki down she quickly followed Bakugo into the kitchen where her warm overdo soup was already calling to her. She just hoped she made the right decision.