New Beginnings

Something More

Hey everyone! Sorry about the technical difficulties last week! I hope y'all enjoy this chapter😄

MIDORIYA'S POV

With a small cooler of beer in one hand and my phone in the other, I stopped by Bakugo's office. "Are you sure you don't want to go over with me? The kids are all asleep, and I have the baby monitor and walkie-talkie in case they wake up." I turned so he could see both clipped to the side of my cargo shorts. He shook his head. "Come on, don't you want to actually know your neighbors? Be able to hang out with someone other than kids every once in a while?"

"What's the point?" he asked without looking up from his computer screen. He'd been in his office all day, budgeting for our vacations and figuring out what days to put in for vacation at work.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"What's the point in making friends with the neighbors?" Is he serious? "Why should I go over there and pretend to like people that I don't like?"

"Why don't you like them?" When he didn't answer, I realized he didn't have an answer. "Did you have any friends before you got married?" It might have been a stupid question, but I have to know.

"Just my ex." He closed his laptop and finally looked at me. "We had other friends, including the guy he cheated on me with for years. After we got married, I didn't have time for friends. Nobody wanted to come here and hang out with the kids, so he went out after they were in bed, and I stayed home."

I frowned. "And now you don't want friends because you think they're all going to leave or stab you in the back." I wasn't asking if I was right. I knew I was right. I've always been good at reading people. He's so easy to read that he's pretty much an open book.

"How the hell do you do that? You know exactly what's going through my mind without me having to say it out loud." He rolled his eyes and pushed himself away from his desk. "Give me one good reason why I should go with you."

"Because I think letting people in won't be such a bad thing. You told me recently that not everyone is like my ex and his friends. I think you need to say those words in the mirror, you know?" I set the cooler by my feet. "I think letting people in may help you see the good in people and the good in life again."

He studied me for a minute. "I know the good in life. They're upstairs, sleeping."

I rolled my eyes. "You know what I mean." He still skates through the motions too much. I think he needs more people he can talk to—people who can actually hold an adult conversation.

He folded his hands under his chin and debated briefly before sighing. "If I go, you have to do something for me."

I cocked an eyebrow. I don't know how much more I can do for him. I don't mean it badly, but I already live here. I cook, clean, shop, help care for his kids, and so much more. I don't mind doing it, but I don't know what else I could do for him. "What's that?"

"If I go over there, I want you to see an abuse counselor. There's one in the next town over to the west. It's a twenty-minute drive, but I think it would help you a lot." I quirked an eyebrow. That technically wasn't for him. It was for me and my trauma. Did my jumping around him bother him that badly?

"If I'm going to commit to therapy, then you have to go to way more than one social event with the neighbors. Months, possibly years of therapy isn't equal to one social event." He rolled his eyes. I'm right, and he knows it. "If I go to therapy, you have to stop saying no every time I suggest we go do something with someone or I ask if you want to come out with me and the kids when you're not working."