TW: MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH/CHEATING/BIG SAD
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Ochako dies during childbirth whilst birthing Katsuki's daughter despite her being in a relationship with Izuku. Katsuki knows the truth, Izuku believes the child is his own.

Katsuki helps him raise the little girl who has blond curls "just like my father!" (Izuku is very pleased that she's inherited this trait).

Izuku is confused by Katsuki's desire to be so involved but pins it on what "close friends they'd all been" when Ochako had been alive.

He's pleased with the help and support from Katsuki and the blond practically moves in. He's so good with the little one, and the girl loves her uncle so much in return.

Izuku can't be happier with the happiness in his life despite his deep sadness from losing his wife.

Maru is four when her quirk manifests.

Izuku has been so, so excited to see it. Katsuki's always appeared nonplussed about it all.

The school calls but Izuku misses the call. So they call Katsuki & tell him the great news that his goddaughter isn't quirkless, like he'd hoped.

She's a happy, healthy quirk-user who'd announced herself to the world by exploding a hole in her desk and made the entire classroom stink of nitroglycerin.

"We'll try Mr. Midoriya again later but if you get to him before us, do be sure to let him know the good news!"

Katsuki's apologising to the universe, to Japan and to his agency as he throws everything into a suitcase that will see him and Ru through at least a week. He picks up her bunny and her blanket and tie them around the handle of the case before barrelling out of the door.

School's out in an hour. Ru has an appointment. That's what he'll tell the school. He'll grab her and go.

Izuku will put two and two together immediately. And he. will. KILL. him.

Every bit of pain, every bit of devastation surrounding Ochako's death will surface again.

He'll hate Katsuki to his core.

Katsuki has to run.

And he's not going anywhere without his daughter.

Where's Kat going? Is he fleeing with Ru, essentially kidnapping her whilst consumed by love and guilt and pain?

Or is he running to a secure location where he can speak on the phone with Izuku and try to come to some kind of understanding? If there is one?

The school suspects nothing. He's picked her up more times than anyone could count so hand his precious girl over, no questions asked.
"See you tomorrow, sweet pea!" the teacher calls to Ru as Katsuki ushers her out of the school office. Ru waves & giggles, then takes his hand.

He doesn't tell the teacher that neither of them will be back the following day. Or the day after that. Her toddling and skipping is slowing them down, so once they're out of sight of the school Katsuki scoops her up into his arms and hurries to the car.

"Unckey Suki, where are we going!!" she asks, but it's less of a question and more of a squeal of excitement. She's clapping her hands as he straps her into her car seat but she captures his face in them as he goes to move away and shut the door.

Her face turns pouty, the way her mother's always used to, when she notices his expression. His chest hurts to see Ochako staring back at him.
"You are sad. Why are you sad?" Then she lights up like a star. "It is happy time!! We are going on a a'venture!"

Katsuki forces a smile. Boops her on the nose.
"That we are, little mochi moo. An adventure with Uncle 'Suki."
"Where is Daddy?"
Katsuki climbs into the driver's seat and snaps on his seatbelt.
"Daddy has work to do."
He hears her huff. "Always poopoo work to do."

The engine roars to life and Katsuki gives one glance over his shoulder to look at his daughter, his light and soul, before he faces the asphalt and shoots off towards the train station.

He wonders how long it will be until his phone rings.

The streets are busy but they make it to the train station in under fifteen minutes. Ru is playing with bunny as he unbuckles her from her seat, and he places her on his hip to yank the suitcase from the trunk.

Leaving the car down a sidestreet, Katsuki races into the station.

The tickets are pricey but he doesn't care. He's pleased that Ru is too busy gazing around to ask too many questions. She's perceptive just like Izuku, and it won't be long before she starts questioning their little "adventure" together.

He just needs space.

He needs to not have Izuku punching him in the face as he explains himself.

Not that there's much to explain, it's pretty fucking obvious what happened to get them all to this point.

The issue is, he's been pissed at a ghost for far too long.

If she'd been here, they would've taken the heat together. Ru would've been born and the guilt would have been too much for Ochako not to confess.

Katsuki's always wondered if perhaps it was the guilt that killed her.

And fuck if he hasn't utterly despised himself for that.

He needs her. God, he's needed her every day since he realised he loved her. And she loved him. She loved him deeply, wholly and beautifully tragically.

Her relationship with Izuku was fine. Okay. Normal.

But what they had? Passion? Lust? Depth?

That shit was real.

That shit was love.

And then she went and fucking /died/.

He's called her a selfish bitch once or twice in moments of grief, in moments of anguish, in moments of looking at their daughter and wishing Ochako was here to watch her grow.

They're halfway to their destination when his phone rings. Thankfully no one recognises him because of his hood and his scarf, but everyone looks up when he clicks accept and Izuku /screams/ at him.

"WHERE IS SHE?"

"I've got her."

He hears Izuku take a shuddering breath.

Katsuki's heart fails.

He's never been afraid of Izuku fucking Midoriya before.

But hell if he isn't shitting himself because of the man now.

"I'll give you one chance to tell me where you're going with my daughter. One chance and if you give me any bullshit, so fucking help you, Bakugou."

'Fuck'. 'Bullshit.' 'Bakugou'.

The pit in Katsuki's stomach consumes him entirely.

"I...I can't. Just-"

"That's your one chance-"
"-Daddy? Is that Daddy? Gimme! I wanna talk-"
"-Izuku, please, let me-"

The phone beeps off. Izuku has hung up. Katsuki stares at the blank screen and takes a deep breath.

Shit.

Does Izuku have a techy way of tracking Ru so he can immediately locate her? Or is he clueless as to where she is, requiring the help of friends/heroes to locate her?

The Bakugou family lodge is a secret location. It's deep in the wilderness, perfect for those getaways that are needed to escape from the world.

This is absolutely one of those times.

He and Ru get a cab from the station to the end of the winding, six-mile dirt road.

She's asleep in his arms as he trudges along, tugging the case behind him across the stony ground.

As he walks, alone with his own thoughts, Katsuki thinks about how he's gotten to this point.

They were best friends.

No one would've guessed that they would've been, but by the end of UA he and Ochako were thick as thieves.

She was dating Izuku by the end of second year.

She'd told Katsuki all of her highs. She'd also told him all of her woes.

After fights with Izuku, she'd end up at his apartment. He'd have the door open ready for her to storm in, screaming about Izuku's idiocy. Or she'd shuffle in, sobbing, burying herself into her chest at the first moment she could.

He'd never told her he loved her.

Not once.

Not even when he finally kissed her as she cried about Izuku never being home and focusing more on work than her.

He didn't tell her when she kissed him back, her salty tears giving a tang to her sweet taste.

"Katsuki, I-"

"I know."

That had been as far as 'I love yous' had gone.

But as he'd fucked her on his sheets, watching her writhe and hearing her scream his name when her husband was none the wiser, he'd thought it over and over again.

She was meant to be with him.

She should've been with him.

But Izuku had gotten there before Katsuki had truly realised what he wanted. Because if he had, he'd never have stopped fighting for her.

But now she cried and moaned his name again and again and again.

Even when she and Izuku were at their "happiest", Ochako was in Katsuki's bed. On his couch. In his shower. Bent over his balcony.

But Izuku had never known that Ochako sought out Katsuki, not even the first time she'd done so. She'd always gone off to her "special place".

Izuku was a moron who didn't ask enough questions, obviously.

He never knew that she wept into Katsuki's mouth, telling him that "it should be you, it should be you, it should be you."

The press loved DekUravity. They were Japan's most loved couple, and boy did they seem it.

Katsuki knew better.

"I love you," she'd finally breathed one day on her lunch break, wrapped around him with his cock buried inside of her.

He'd been on patrol and she'd appeared, pulling him into an abandoned high rise.

"I love you, I love you."

His lips were penned with dangerous exclamations. Exclamations that the universe simply couldn't hear.

So he'd lifted her off of him and shaken his head, muttering no no no under his breath.

Too far. Too far. Too far.

Looking back, her saying it didn't make it more real, but yet his brain had taken those three words as a siren. An alarm.

It all had to stop. What was he doing? She would never leave Izuku for him.
Doing all of this was leading to eventual misery.

It had to end.

Ochako cried a lot that day because of him. It broke his heart as she clawed at his chest, at his hair, at his face. But not once did she say she would leave Izuku for him and that just told him that everything he thought was right.

That he was making the right choice.

He didn't see her for weeks after that godawful day.

He'd taken on more villains than he'd ever taken on in his life during that time, sending his depression deep into their bones with every roar and every explosion.

And then she appeared on his balcony at 1am.

The wind howled. The lightning illuminated the sky in cracks and booms.

His beautiful girl was shaking and shuddering

and holding a pregnancy test.

"I don't know which one of you it is," she sobbed, falling to her knees so hard it made him wince. He dropped in front of her, taking her face in his hands and kissing her despite himself.

They didn't speak.

There were no right words to say.

And then she died.

"Complications."

Uravity, #4 pro, Ochako Uraraka. A queen, a wife, a lover, a pillar of strength.

Gone within moments of seeing the perfect little girl who now lays across Katsuki's back, so obviously his.

The lodge looms into view and Katsuki feels relief wash through him. He unlocks the door, pushing inside, into the darkness, and slips Ru off his back and into his arms.

With his elbow, he feels around for the light switch on the wall but the lamp beside the couch turns on.

"Put her in bed," Izuku snarls, voice quaking like a man on the brink of insanity. How the hell had he found them?!

Ochako's husband shoves himself to his feet and crackles with energy. Katsuki catches his breath.

"Put her in a goddamn bed so I can finally /fucking/ kill you."

Will Izuku understand...?