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goldenchildkatsuki · 6 years ago

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WHITE FENCE, PURPLE ROOM

Kacchako Positivity Week Day 6: Ten Years Later

Summary: An epilogue of some sorts of 'Red bike, purple Bellflower' and 'White sand, blue ribbon'.

Writers note: I'm sorry but I can't give this universe a rest. I love writing the two of them in this environment and I would be lying if I didn't think about going further than this for a second but I think I'm going to leave it here. I have a lot of ideas for further chapters I think you can call it at this point, but this feels like a good note to end things on.

I recommend listening to the song: "Mothers" by Daughter.

Here's my contribution for the last day, day 6 of the Kacchako Positivity Week. It has been a lot of fun writing all these pieces and looking at all the pieces that other people made. They were all so good!

Thank you, Maddie [@quirk-y ] for organizing KPW and all the effort you put into it.

(see the end for notes)

Word count: 7.889

AO3 link: (x)

Ochako sighed and jumped up to sit on the kitchen counter. "I don't see how that would hurt him."

"I understand, I don't think it's a big fucking deal either but we don't have a say in this."

Katsuki held up a bowl of blueberries and she nodded at it. He added it among other bowls of fruit on the counter and turned to the stove to add milk to a pot. Ochako watched him stir the contents in the pot in silence. She knew he wanted to put a hold on the argument, and all honesty, she did too. But she couldn't help herself and speak out on it.

"Maybe we do have a say in this. I feel like we're in a position to at least speak up on it," Ochako continued to argue.

Katsuki continued to stay silent and kept stirring the oatmeal. She watched him with arched eyebrows, finished preparing the meal and scooping it out of the pot into two bowls. He decorated the bowls of oatmeal with their favored fruits and then added two spoons. He took his breakfast and put his back against the fridge opposite Ochako.

He had gotten angry a couple of times before when Ochako kept on bringing up the same matters that he was convinced should not be discussed. She expected him to react the same after staying for silent for so long. Instead, he looked somber as he stirred the spoon through his oatmeal.

"Listen, Ochako. I think it's about time I say this," he began.

Ochako frowned as she blew onto her spoon full.

"Reiji is not our kid. If his parents don't want him to be anywhere near ice cream than we should respect that. We have no right to get involved with how his parents choose to raise him. Even though we have been there for him more than they have. Since the beginning, I told myself not to get too attached to him and you told me you had would do the same."

She knew that this subject was going to be brought up eventually. Her own words continued to replay itself over and over in her head whenever the neighbor's son was at their house. A warning she gave herself and was determined to listen to became nothing but a bit of background noise in her head whenever she was around the six-year-old.

Katsuki exhaled deeply before he continued speaking. "I know it's hard, I know. But we save ourselves a lot of fucking heartache if we don't get too close to him."

The first emotion that sparked in Ochako was anger. His kind words were like gasoline to a smoldering fire and awakened something ugly inside of her, having an opposing effect to Katsuki's intention. Feelings of jealousy and unfairness molted together in white rage that she had to try desperately hard to contain inside of her. Despite how it made her feel, her husband was right. He had told her seconds ago that she once agreed with him and she would've been a fool to ignore the fact that she had been getting extremely attached to Reiji.

But couldn't he cut her some slack? Couldn't the world cut her some slack?

What if she didn't mind the heartache? What if she thought it was worth it? If she could love a child like it was her own, give them all the love they deserve, then she was sure that the satisfaction she would get from that could eventually heal any scar on the heart.

Ochako had been silent for some time. She knew it was starting to scare Katsuki but if she would open her mouth now she would say something she would regret. And frankly, she didn't have the energy to pretend everything was fine until Reiji had gone back to his home and mend things with him.

"You know I'm always on your team Ochako, but it had to be said. We'll give the topic a rest though since I can't afford you to get overwhelmed."

He pointed at her bowl with his spoon.

"Speaking of, can you at least try to finish your breakfast?"

Ochako's mouth set in a hard line. Sometimes it really didn't feel like they were on the same team. But Katsuki always proved to be in the end. In the end, he always cared for her, more than she could ask for him. Almost quite literally.

For almost a couple of weeks now Ochako had been infected by something that seemed to be like a summer flu. It was so typical for her to catch a cold during the summer. She described it as a cold, however, it had been holding her down more than a cold should and lasting longer than anyone would like it to last. But since it was something she never had before her immune system had to try it's hardest to fight the infection off. Katsuki however, had been getting more worried by the days and treating her like she had already hospitalized. Offering to do anything that required the slightest bit of energy and creating insanely nasty medicinal dishes and drinks to improve her health.

The man could easily replace his apron for a lab coat since every time he went into the kitchen it seemed like a mad professor performing some kind of experiment. The intentions were right but she didn't know how many mysterious servings she could take.

"This tastes like wet woodchips." Uraraka scrunched up her nose as she poked the tip of her tongue in the thick substance.

Bakugou played around with a piece of banana and frowned at his breakfast. "It's gluten free, what did you expect? But that's all we had since Reiji started coming over and I need to you to hold up until we can go to the doctors."

When the pair moved from the city to their small dream town they expected to only come across the benefits. Their expectations were met for the most part but unlike people that have lived in the town their whole lives they weren't used to almost every shop being closed on Sunday's or not being able to reach the town doctors during the weekends. It could be quite irritable, especially at times like these.

"We could just drive to the city, honey," Ochako muttered after attempting another few bites to then putting her bowl down next to her.

"And get you checked out by some person that isn't familiar with your body at all? No fucking way."

Katsuki emptied his oatmeal in the trash, chucked his spoon in the sink and shuddered at the aftertaste. Ochako sighed in relief and did the same. If she had forced herself to eat anymore she probably would have to make a run for the toilet.

Ochako slid herself off the counter and then perked up at the sound of the nails scratching the wooden floors. Soon after she heard barking come from the living room.

"Danuja!" Katsuki yelled and he stomped past her to the living room.

Before his feet, the dog slid across the floorboards and to the front door. There she trickled from one paw to another, looking like she was dancing and loudly barked looking up at the window in the door. Ochako came out of the kitchen and held back the overly excited rottweiler puppy with her leg as Katsuki opened the door.

He greeted the man and woman standing on the porch with a simple nod to then quickly squat down on to reach the eye level of the boy standing in between them. He fist bumped the child and took time to ask how he was doing. If he tried out his new pencils yet and if he had already drawn something with them. Reiji happily revealed the pencils and the notebook he had hidden behind his back and Katsuki pretended to be taken aback.

Ochako enjoyed seeing the two interact, she could genuinely watch them together for hours on end but someone had to attend to the parents, especially since they looked like they were eager to leave. The woman already stood a little further back than her husband, clinging onto his arm as she stared frightened at the little dog behind Uraraka's legs.

"Ochako, Katsuki! We couldn't thank you enough for being able to look after Reiji so last minute." Reiji's father began as Ochako met his eyes.

"This award at the country club is quite a big deal you see, we could not let this slide!" The woman added as she kept clinging to her husband's arm.

"Sounds…Amazing!"

Ochako found it harder with every conversation to stay civil with the two. Every time they interacted she came to realize how they would never truly click because their personalities and ideals were simply worlds apart.

The woman clapped her hands together. "You two should definitely come to the club with us one time!"

"Who would watch Reiji, then?" Katsuki mixed into the conversation. Ochako doubted that they noticed but to her, it was obvious that her husband was struggling with the same thing but unlike her, he was losing patience with the pair fast.

The parents busted out in obnoxious laughter and the man ruffled his son's hair.

"Ah, of course, of course! Like we said, couldn't thank you two enough!"

Danuja started barking at the laughter and Uraraka couldn't thank the dog enough because it made the woman jolt and drag her husband off the porch.

"A-alright then!" she squealed. "See you in the afternoon, Munchkin! Oh and Ochako, can you please keep that dog off the lawn? We've just planted some new flowers, would be a shame if he ruined it!"

Ochako waved the couple goodbye, "she will stay off your lawn, don't worry!"

She watched the two climb in their old timer and drive out of the street. A loud exhale left her body and she glanced at Reiji who luckily didn't seem to have taken note of the tension between the pair of adults. The boy just kept showing Bakugou what he had already drawn and pointed out what he liked the most about his work. Ochako compassionately laid a hand on his cheek, pinched it and let the boy in. She hadn't even closed the door yet or Dunaja zoomed between her legs and skipped over to Reiji. She jumped up at him, only reaching his knees and wagged her little tale as the boy give her the attention she wanted.

The dog managed to get Reiji on the floor and he cradled her in his lap, licking his face completely wet while he continued. Licked his face completely wet whilst Reiji continued to pet her and scratch her behind the ears.

"Ah ‘Nuja!" The child chirped between the dog's licks.

When the kid could barely get his words out Katsuki picked the Rottweiler up and held her under his arm.

"I swear she likes you more than she likes her owners, kiddo." Katsuki furrowed his brow as he looked at the heavily panting dog. "We're the ones feeding you as well," he mumbled.

Katsuki carried her into the living room and Ochako waited for Reiji to take off his shoes in the hall. He tugged off his little fancy shoes and let out a sigh of relief when he could finally stretch his toes. Ochako lent him her hand and helped him up. Reiji dusted off the dog hairs of his clothes and picked up his notebook and pencils.

"You've already drawn so much since the last time I saw you!"

Reiji flipped through his book again and showed Ochako what he had shown Katsuki minutes ago. He continued to explain the same exact same thing and she pretended she hadn't heard it before.

They started walking to the living room and saw Katsuki sitting on the couch with Danuja jumping against his chest. He pointed out the window.

"What's with the bike? Why is it laying against the fence?" Katsuki asked.

Reiji ran up to the couch and jumped on it next to him. He hung over the couch, pointing along with Katsuki.

"I was going to tell you!"

He turned to Katsuki and started blushing. "The bike is broken…I think. It makes a weird noise, the standard doesn't work and think one of the brakes doesn't work either."

The man sat up and looked from the kid to the bike and then back to the kid.

"How did you manage to do that?"

Reiji got even more flustered and started picking at the buttons of his shirt.

"I, erm, I tried to ride the bike without hands, like you said you used to do Mr. Bakugou. I thought I could do it but then I fell."

Ochako and Katsuki shared a look with each other. She crossed her arms and leaned against a chair.

"Is that so?" She kept glaring at her husband.

"I fell hard," Reiji raised his arms and showed his elbows that had more than one plaster on them and Katsuki hissed at the sight.

Ochako knew something like this was bound to happen soon. When Katsuki decided to give Reiji his first bike he couldn't give it without telling the stories that came with it. The afternoon he handed Reiji the bike they had sat on the front porch for hours. Bakugou told him everything from the moment he got his first bike to when he had to leave his bike behind since he could at one point drive everywhere he needed to go. Ochako sat on the swing on the porch and listened to every single story as if it was the first time hearing them and as if she wasn't there for most of the stories.

Katsuki mentioned skidding, leaning back so far he would be riding on one wheel, swerving on the roads to pester Ochako and of course -- riding his bike without hands. The more excited Reiji got the more excited the man himself got. Ochako tried to signal to him that he should maybe calm down a little but Katsuki was so engulfed in his storytelling he didn't notice her.

And now the inevitable happened. Ochako cringed at the thought of what Reiji's parents must've thought when he came back with his elbows scraped open and a broken bike. Knowing Reiji he probably knew how his parents would've reacted if he told the truth about what caused the fall and probably kept it hidden from them. Ochako's face softened at the thought.

"Oh Rei, well, that must've been a nasty fall but now you will remember to keep both hands on the handlebars," the woman tried to scold the boy.

"Or you can just get someone to sit on the back and yell ‘Two hands please!' every time you do so," Katsuki shrugged.

Ochako covered her mouth to not show the boys her smile.

"I'll fix the bike for you. Though it sounds like it probably needs more parts than what I have in the garage."

He looked down at Danuja who was still desperately trying to get his attention.

"I'll go and get them whilst I take this one on a walk. She has too much energy to be in the house right now." Katsuki put the dog on the floor and groaned as he stood up.

He couldn't even set a couple of steps without almost stepping on the dog who was somehow able to be more energized after she heard the word ‘walk'. Reiji followed Katsuki and tugged at his shirt before he disappeared into the hallway.

"Can I come?" He asked enthusiastically.

Katsuki was hesitant before answering. Reiji folded his hands upon seeing the doubt in his face and tried to make the same face Danuja made whenever they were eating at the dining table.

"I'm sorry Rei, but if you're around she's not going to behave much. Besides, I need someone to be the man of the house and take care of the Mrs. when I'm gone. She's really not doing so well remember?" Katsuki brushed the curly bangs out of Reiji's eyes as he kept pouting at him.

Ochako turned to them. "You say that as if I can't do a thing myself anymore," she argued.

"Hey, I know you're a kick-ass woman but we don't know what's going on with you right now. I would rather be safe than sorry alright?" Katsuki countered, rather harsh.

Reiji looked at the two adults with a confused look on his face. The kid was probably starting to think there was something very serious going on with her.

Reiji's goldfish had actually died not too long ago and the boy had been concerned about every little thing that seemed off about the body for weeks. Just having learned about ‘death' he thought that everything that was off meant it was near. Though they had managed to talk to the kid about it and calmed him down Ochako wouldn't be surprised if Reiji was on edge again.

She chose not to go further into the discussion with Katsuki and mouthed at Reiji that it was alright.

"I-I will stay here then! I'll take care of the house and Mrs. Bakugou!" The boy straightened his stance and saluted Katsuki like a soldier would greet his commanding officer. It made the man scoff.

Katsuki went to take Danuja's leash and with a bit of struggling put it around her collar. He then took his wallet off the cabinet in the hall and turned back around to face Ochako and Reiji.

"Now take it easy alright? When I come back we're going to do something awesome."

He quickly scooted towards Ochako, put a hand on her lower back and planted a kiss on her lips.

"Promise," Katsuki said before leaving the house.

Ochako smiled when Reiji crossed his arms and looked up at her. What a determined look on his face. He was really ready to take his assigned job seriously, huh? It looked like even if she suggested an activity for them to do that required the slightest bit of energy the little guy would try everything in his power to stop her.

"Come on Shortcake, let's go and draw in the reading area. I want to see your create more future museum pieces," she told him.

Reiji's face lit up and he ran back into the living room to get his pencils and book. He then followed her and climbed the small staircase to a platform which was the reading area. He laid down on the carpet and started tearing out a piece of paper out of his notebook, handed it to Ochako and gave her one of his pencils with it.

Ochako sat in the rocking chair and started coloring along with the child. As he was perfecting one of his drawing, she was casually doodling, mostly watching over Reiji's shoulder as he scribbled in silence, gradually surrounding himself entirely with all of his pencils. After deciding that she was even uninspired to doodle, Ochako laid her pencil down and leaned back in the rocking chair.

The boy was drawing Danuja, running in what seemed to be his front lawn. She tried to hold in a snicker when she noticed. To her, it would forever be interesting to see the mind of a child at work. And especially if it was a creative one like Reiji's. It was amusing to see him think hard about which colors to use and how to draw certain shapes. To see his little hand tighten harder around his pencils the more frustrated he became. To see him come up with an idea in the first place.

She would love to see him try to paint something one day. And she wondered how he would feel about clay. Was he too young to take lessons or would it be alright? How wonderful would it be if Reiji could be surrounded by peers that shared the same hobby? If there was something like that she wouldn't hesitate to put Reiji amongst that.

If he was her actual son, that was.

The words she shared with her husband came back to her.

The feelings of anger still smoldered inside of her but she managed to keep herself from exploding. Health issues and conflict with her husband aside, the last thing Ochako wanted was for Reiji to take note of this complicated situation that was going on around him. They were feelings she herself still had to figure out. A full grown adult. A six-year-old shouldn't even come close to wondering about things like that.

Ochako pulled her eyes off him and stared ahead of her. From where she was sitting she could just about look into one of the rooms they had left empty. Usually, the door stayed closed, she made sure it did.

She seriously resented the room.

The two had once decided that the room was going to be for their future child. When they first decided on dubbing that the baby room they spent most of their free time in there. They would sit on the floor, right underneath the windowsill and like old times talk about possible designs. Both of them couldn't wait to bring their ideas to life, none of them had thought that the room could stay empty.

After that revelation, they had only talked about the room twice.

Once, were Uraraka requested to keep the door closed.

The second time, being recent, where Bakugou told her he had been thinking about the room and wanted to do something with it. Not further elaborating why the sudden spark of inspiration.

After their talk and seeing the open door, it was clear to her now. It was really starting to bug him too. How hard it was to live with a gap in his life, which was unclear if it would ever fill itself. And though unclear, the odds looked like they were against him.

She had to do something. Unlike her, her husband didn't want to live with the pain. He wasn't fine with heartache and so choose different ways to cope. Arguably better ways. What kind of partner would she be if she didn't try to help him with that? After all the effort he put into voicing his troubles and making his emotions clear to her, it would be wrong for Ochako not to. It was undoubtedly going to be a strain on her mentality. But in the end, it would be fine. As she supported him, he would support her too. It's been like that for the longest time.

Ochako played with her wedding ring as she kept looking through the crack into the room.

The more she thought about it, the more benefits of changing the room came to her. The fact that she would be productive was a big factor. Ochako hadn't done much but resting for weeks and was itching to get back into feeling busy again. She was sure her little caretaker would forget his mission for a moment if she told him it was a creative project.

"Say Shortcake, if you could paint the walls of a room, what color would you paint them in?" Ochako asked Reiji.

The kid put down his pencil and turned on his back. He looked up at the ceiling and made weird faces as he thought.

"Purple," he eventually decided.

Ochako was a bit taken aback by the answer. She had no idea how Bakugou would feel about the clashing color in their interior, with their home almost being entirely white. But she was willing to trust Reiji's artistic judgment.

"Purple like the flowers outside."

She hissed at that. The purple like the bellflowers in the front garden was far from what she had in mind.

"Well, that's going to be the color of the walls in the spare room. If we have the paint for it."

The boy's eyes started gleaming and he sat up, excitedly clamping onto his two feet.

"I think we have to check the attic for that." Ochako thought out loud.

She stood up from the rocking chair and waved Reiji to come along with her. Together they walked upstairs and gently she ushered the boy to walk up the narrow and steep stairs to the attic. The first thing Ochako noticed was they really hadn't come up here that often. A lot of things were stockpiled on each other and catching dust which there was a lot of floating around in the air.

Reiji went out to explore the only part in the house he hasn't visited yet as Ochako stood against a post wondering where she left the buckets she had brought up there months ago. The boy actually managed to bump into an empty bucket before she even had a clue where to look and took out the first bucket he saw by the handle. Ochako walked over to him and inspected the color.

Just as she thought, white paint.

She suggested Reiji should explore more parts of the attic as she forced herself into a narrow area where she spotted more buckets and took them out.

Green paint, yellow paint, turquoise paint, coral paint.

All gender neutral colors, like she remembered correctly.

Wasn't there anything she could mix to come close to the purple? Turquoise and coral maybe?

With the two buckets in her hands, Ochako turned back to Reiji who she now noticed had been awfully quiet for a hot minute. He was sat in a corner, bent over himself.

"'l-love'?" Reiji attempted to read something.

Ochako cocked her head, put the buckets aside and walked over to him. He had a big, old picture book on his lap. His finger hovered above the words written on a Polaroid picture.

‘With my love.' It read.

When he noticed Ochako's shadow casting over him he threw his head back and stared at her with his big blue eyes.

"Is that you and Mr. Bakugou?" His little finger went to tap on her face on the picture.

She sat down next to him and nodded.

"Mr. Bakugou looks so small," Reiji giggled.

It was true that Katsuki had grown a lot. And it wasn't the only thing that had changed about him. Looking at the pictures you could perfectly see him drastically mature through the years.

Like the curious kid he was, Reiji asked for the story behind the pictures. Ochako was happy to tell him all of them, it had been a while since she had looked through the book as well. She pulled the book on her lap and told the boy about the first time they ever went to the beach. Telling him about the long journey, and how they took a break in front of this very house wishing for what they had now. She couldn't stop laughing when she told Reiji about how Katsuki destroyed the sandcastle and how they competed in the sandcastle building competition with a little boy called Kaito.

Every other time they went to the beach she also remembered perfectly. Every detail came back to her as soon as she glanced over the picture, even when a lot of them looked remotely the same. Ochako told Reiji about time Katsuki got stung by a jellyfish and how he managed to shout out every curse word under the sun. And about the time they went when the water was too cold, but them being hard headed teens went for a swim anyways and caught a cold that had them bedridden for days.

The swimming shorts that drifted away, the ‘broken' kite, the chase after the vengeful seagull, the first car drive and the night of the empty beach.

Every memory a good one, especially the latter was close to her heart.

"Was this when…?" Reiji gasped.

"Mhm!"

Ochako pointed at her ring.

That was the last thing she saw coming when they went to the beach that day. She actually didn't think it was going to be a fond memory at first. That day they left incredibly late because Katsuki slept in, to then rush Ochako as soon as she was able to wake him up. He was irritable and quick to lash out at the traffic on the road, but to only then act like that wasn't the case when Ochako asked what his deal was. When they arrived at the beach, all they really did was sit on their towels underneath an umbrella and have multiple discussions.

Katsuki said he felt too sick to go swimming and Ochako suggested going home. But the guy insisted on staying, trying to convince her it would most likely be over soon. The hours went by and he didn't feel any better at all which caused to get Ochako more concerned. Eventually, she managed to drag him to the first aid hut and get painkillers to soothe his aching stomach. After that they laid for hours on their towels, apologizing about things that came out wrong and then teasing each other and joking around to lighten the mood.

More hours went by, the beach got emptier and Katsuki started feeling worse despite the painkillers. Back she was to being worried again, and after a few stern words he caved and agreed on leaving. When they packed up, Katsuki wanted to take a picture, like always before he left, insisted he would take one of her since they were the only ones left on the beach.

His faint smile able to convince her to go with his plan. Katsuki took her to where the waves crashed and asked her to stand to face the sea, which she did. She waited to hear the click of the Polaroid camera, to see the flash glisten in the water, but neither of those seemed to come.

When Ochako turned around she saw him, the big lump of nerves, with one knee in the sand and a small box in one hand, and that's when he snapped the picture.

She thought back to his welled up eyes.

"As if I wasn't going to say ‘yes'," Ochako laughed along with Reiji who had a good time imaging Katsuki as nervous as he was that day.

They continued to flip through the book and felt a lump swell up in her throat as she saw the wedding invitation.

"Woah! Did Mr. Bakugou draw this?"

She didn't think it would still be able to make her feel emotional to this day. But seeing the signature alone made her swallow down.

"No, a wonderful woman we met when were little drew this. She was a really good artist."

The card was a smaller version of the drawing Suzuki gave Ochako the first time she went to the beach with Katsuki. The invites were nearly not as beautiful as the original but still, her talent and hard work managed to shine. Ochako could remember how over the moon Suzuki was when they told her about the engagement and using her drawing for the invite. The woman cried tears of joy and signed that she was forever grateful for appreciating her art as they did.

Days after the wedding, she passed away in her sleep. Peacefully in the comfort of her rocking chair outside the home. Ochako who had started working at the home during college was the one who found her. Suzuki had a smile on her face, the fondest smile she had ever shown.

It was so hard to believe that the woman she was swaying with at her reception was sitting there, lifeless right in front of her eyes.

Suzuki had told her that she wasn't afraid to pass. That she actually wanted to pass. That after witnessing Ochako and Katsuki get married that she was convinced she had experienced every good thing the world had to offer. She had experienced, rejoice, reconciliation, redemption, and love that she knew would last a lifetime. She was ready for peace.

Ochako managed to make the conversation lighthearted, saying that by how strong she had been going it might take a while. She gave Suzuki years, but in it the end it was only four days.

Reiji sensed she was having a hard time to talk about the wedding and crept closer to her. He had sympathy written all over his face as he paid his full attention to Ochako's story. When she paused to regain her composure Reiji tried to fill the silence by commenting on the pictures.

Complimenting her dress, stating how shocked he was that there were so many plants, chirping that the fairy lights looked really pretty.

"It looks like Mr. Bakugou wasn't a good dancer. Did he step on your toes a lot?" The boy eventually managed to make Ochako laugh.

"He practiced really hard so he wouldn't do that! In the end, he did step on my toes once, but he didn't notice and I never told him," she winked.

They flipped through the book some more and came across a picture of the two of them in front of the house they lived in now. They stood in front of the white fence, Ochako with her arms around Katsuki as he looked at the silver key she was holding.

Building the house was a journey and a half. At Katsuki's graduation party his father revealed that he had actually bought them the plot of land years ago, convinced that the pair was going to last and wanted to help with their dream. It was the second time she had seen her partner cry actual tears of joy. The morning after the party Katsuki didn't waste any time and got in contact with the companies he made himself familiar with and made a name at to help him with building the house. From then on he spent almost every second he had on the project.

It ended up looking very different from his very first sketch he gifted Ochako on her seventeenth birthday. But as the years went by their taste changed, and so did Katsuki's art style. He also was more knowledgeable now and saw the importance in matters they didn't even think twice about when they were teenagers.

A lot of effort went into this. A lot of late nights full of frustration and neglect of health. Ochako pulled some weight off his shoulders by fully getting herself involved with the interior design. Katsuki played the yes-man and practically agreed to every stylistic choice Ochako had in mind. Though it was very much less frustrating than building the actual house it turned out it was still stressful styling the whole house, and that's why she stopped doing so and eventually left the rest to Katsuki.

Reiji slid his finger over the picture. "Why is Mr. Bakugou's hand on your belly?"

Ochako had tried her hardest to ignore that part of the picture. But now that Reiji had pointed it out she felt like she had to speak up about it.

"Because there was a baby in my belly at the time..." She carefully explained.

Aiming to leave it at that Ochako turned the page, only to be confronted by the picture of an ultrasound. She crossed her legs tighter together and held in a bit of her breath when she saw the boy's finger sliding over to the picture.

"Is this the baby?" He asked as he frowned at the black and white snapshot.

Ochako could only bring herself to nod.

"But where is the baby now?" Reiji pushed.

This was not something she could brush off. A curious child like him would keep pushing, not having exactly understood yet that this is a subject that comes close to heart. The more he would keep fishing for answers the more it would hurt her. She knew the strain of telling him would be less than not speaking about it.

How could she even begin to explain? This was not about losing a goldfish, this was about losing one of the things she cherished the most.

Ochako was careful to choose her words. "The baby stayed a very tiny bean. A bean that wouldn't sprout."

It was the most child-friendly why she could think of explaining a miscarriage to a six-year-old.

Thinking of it alone was draining to her. She didn't have a lot of energy, to begin with. But as long as Reiji kept asking questions, she would try to her best to answer.

Even though it hurt her so, even if she felt like the scars were far from mending now.

Reiji put his small hand on Ochako stomach and she dug her teeth in the delicate flesh of her lip, trying hard to hold back tears.

"No Shortcake, the bean is not there anymore..." She whispered as she combed her fingers through his soft, dark strands.

"Can't you make another baby?" He then asked as he kept his hand on her stomach.

Ochako couldn't answer that question because she didn't know herself. After the miscarriage, Katsuki and her were obviously beyond devastated. The house had never been so quiet after that afternoon they found out. Ochako was the first one to suggest that they shouldn't try again. Determined to fulfill their dream of being parents one day, they kept trying.

And trying.

But their attempts were in vain.

Having no clue what they were doing wrong, they visited their doctor. Who then told them that Ochako most likely had underlying medical issues. If they wanted to find out for sure they had to make another appointment.

The appointment was never made.

Too scared to find out if she was infertile she avoided the doctors. Katsuki had tried to convince her a couple of times. Had even suggested to call the doctors himself.

That led to a broken house phone, a dent in the wooden floor and in one of the walls.

It was her body, she told Katsuki. He had no say in the matter whatsoever, she claimed.

He was in perfect health. She wasn't.

If she went back to the doctors she might have to live with the guilt of not being able to provide children and complete the perfect picture they both wanted so badly.

What did he have to feel guilty about?

For the first time since they lived together, they didn't sleep in the same bed.

The morning after Ochako woke up seeing that Katsuki was plastering the dent in the wall. They told each other good morning and never spoke of the appointment from that day onwards.

"I don't think so," Ochako breathed.

"But you would make a very good mommy and Mr. Bakugou would make a very good daddy."

"I wish that you saying that was enough for it to happen..." She felt a tear running down her cheek and quickly tried to wipe it away before it rolled off her face.

Ochako put an arm around Reiji and pulled him close to her chest. She put a hand on his head and left a kiss on his crown as she let a few more tears run down her face. His hand that was on her stomach wrapped itself around her waist and scrunched up the fabric of her shirt that was hanging loosely off her back.

"Don't be sad Ms. Bakugou. I meant it!" He mumbled underneath her.

"I know."

The woman sniffled and kissed his crown again.

Children were too good for this world.

Scared she was going to smother him, Ochako loosened her grip and he sat up again. Lightly she rubbed the aching points on her chest.

The poor boy's eyes were glossy as well. With the little energy, she had left she forced herself to smile at him.

"Let's go and try to paint the room purple alright?" She croaked.

Ochako took closed the book and stood up to get the buckets. She picked up the turquoise and coral paint. Sh left Reiji sitting with the book as she looked for brushes.

She waved him over when she collected all the necessities and went back down a floor. She went into the master bedroom to fetch two old dress shirts of Katsuki's. One she threw over Reiji. As Ochako buttoned him up and rolled up his sleeves she asked him to go put the paint tools downstairs whilst she changed. He nodded and took the two buckets and brushes downstairs with his shirt dragging across the floor.

Ochako opened the closet again and fetched one of her denim shorts she didn't wear anymore out of a nook of the closet. She pulled down her jeans and noticed that she had dirtied her underwear a little bit.

Great.

Though she wouldn't constantly get reminded of failed attempts by not keeping track of her menstrual cycle, it did mean that she was constantly getting surprised. Often at the worst of times. Like right now, right when she wanted to get busy.

But it was good her period finally came around. It explained why she was so tired and the heavy emotions that unexpectedly switched every now and then. Now that she kept thinking about it, it did explain practically every symptom that had been bugging her.

Slowly she lowered her panties and cringed at the few spots of blood. It made her feel a little queasy. Ochako groaned and threw the panties next to the laundry basket. She took another pair and put it on along with the shorts.

She washed her hands in the kitchen before meeting Reiji who stood in front of the crack into the room. She dried her hands on the shirt and pushed the door open. Back again that queasy feeling was. Now that she knew what was going on with her body every symptom seemed to hit her much harder than before. Add that with the unpleasant sensations the room gave her and she felt as sickly as she did in the morning.

Ochako sat down puffing out little bits of air and Reiji immediately came wagging to her side with a brush in his hand, aiming to help her. She waved him off, gesturing that she was fine and opened the turquoise paint bucket. With the brush in her hand, she hovered over it.

This was it.

The white walls were finally going to get a color.

The room was finally going to have meaning.

"What kind of room do you want this to be?" She asked Reiji.

His hand went on his chin and he hummed. "A room that makes you happy." He came up with.

What that exactly meant, Ochako didn't know but she couldn't deny that it was a good idea.

A room that made her happy.

Maybe after the walls were colored she knew what would have to be in it for the room to make her ‘happy'. But that meant she had to actually lower her brush into the paint.

Her hand didn't allow it. It refused to move its muscles the way she commanded them.

She felt herself getting lightheaded from staring into the bucket for too long. Her head was spinning and her stomach turning, nausea now getting extremely serious. So serious that she couldn't stay in the room for much longer. The first wave was making its way up her throat when Ochako threw her brush down and stood up. She covered her mouth and rushed to the upstairs bathroom so that Reiji couldn't hear.

Almost missing the toilet bowl Ochako vomited the contents of her stomach into the toilet bowl. She coughed between waves of vomiting and dry heaved. Messily she tried to hold her hair out of her face and keep herself from sinking deeper into the bowl. When the waves of pressure took longer to come she swallowed back the spit the was hanging from her lips and dried her eyes. The cold of the tiles felt horrible against her heated up skin and sent shivers down her spine. Desperately she tried to get herself off the floor but she had been completely weakened.

Something really wasn't right. Only now she realized that Katsuki's concern, how over the top it may have been, was fair.

Ochako tried to raise herself off the ground again and turned around to search for the ridge of the sink. Her eyes traveled downwards to the cabinets underneath the sinks. Her hand that had almost reached the ridge made its way to one of the golden knobs of the cabinet instead. Her hand gripped one knob tightly and turned it to the right.

Click.

"Danuja for fuck's sake, I thought you would be tired by now!" Clumsily Katsuki tried to fish the key of the front door out of his pocket as he got weighed down by multiple plastic bags and dragged off the porch by the still overly excited puppy.

After missing the keyhole a couple of times Katsuki managed to unlock the door. Immediately the dog zoomed passed him, running into the house looking for her other owner. With a bit of grumbling, he threw down the bags and stretched his arms.

How long was it going to take for that Rottweiler to become so lazy that it would think five minutes around the block was enough for the day?

Walking around with the dog this excited was an exercise he wasn't that fond of. Something that he couldn't pull off alone at least.

Maybe he should've let Reiji come. Now that he thought about it he was sure Ochako would have been fine on her own.

Just before he wanted to call out for them Danuja came running out of the spare room with Reiji. He was wearing one of his old dress shirts and letting the sleeves and the bottom drag across the floor. The dog chewed on one of the cuffs as the boy walked up to Katsuki. The man didn't know what to think of this sight and scratched his head.

"Rei, what are you wearing? And whe-?"

"I don't need the bike anymore," Reiji casually interrupted him.

Katsuki blinked at him and the kid simply stared back at him with his innocent eyes.

"What? Why? I just went out and bought the things to fix the bike. Couldn't you have told me sooner?"

"You can fix the bike, I'm only saying I don't need it anymore," the six-year-old elaborated.

Katsuki scoffed. "What are you��"

His attention then went to the creaking of one of the doors. He saw his wife stepping out of the spare room. Now more confused than ever he lost his words.

Why was she wearing an old dress shirt as well, why was she in the spare room, why did she look even sicker than before?

"Ochako, what is…"

A smile appeared on her face, a smile brighter than he had seen in days. From behind her back, she pulled out a small thin stick.

A pregnancy test.

Katsuki gasped, made his way to her and cupped her face.

"A-a-are you sure?!" He yelled.

She held up her other hand and showed three other tests that all showed the same result.

"I'm pretty positive."

Writers note:

Reiji, meaning: courteous child; a well-mannered baby; kind and well behaved. Danuja, meaning: knight, a ruler. The first child, a girl, Bakugou Sumire, meaning: purple, flower. The second child, a girl, Bakugou Seika, meaning: pure summer. The third child, a boy, Bakugou Katsuro, meaning: the victory of the son.

Beta reader: @kyuubaee

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