Chapter Text
The day had started just like any other school day. She woke up just before her alarm went off. She blearily stared into the open space of her dorm room as the sunlight stretched across her floor. She could very vaguely hear the birds outside and some of her classmates tiptoeing down the hall. Her alarm went off a couple of seconds after she pushed herself into a sitting position, startling her into getting up. Using the adrenaline from the alarm, she threw herself across the room to get dressed, warm feet pressing against the icy floor. She quickly threw her uniform on and grabbed her school work before heading out the door for the real start of her day.
She always left her dorm around the same time Mina trudged out of hers in pajamas. They walked together to the bathroom in silence, brushing their teeth and hair thoroughly. By the time they left the bathroom, Mina had woken up enough to talk. That morning she had asked a somewhat strange question but Ochako hadn’t thought much of it, “Have you ever thought about going on a date with any of the Bakusquad boys?”
Ochako, on her way out the door, waved a hand at her and wrote the question off as mid-morning curiosity. She threw a quick “no, not really” over her shoulder and started lightly jogging toward the academic buildings. She had plenty of time before class started, but she knew that she wouldn’t be the first student inside their homeroom. Iida and Izuku were always there before her; so, she wasn’t particularly surprised when their faces turned toward her upon opening the classroom door. She was, however, slightly thrown off because Izuku was sitting at Bakugou's desk, but that wasn’t very important.
The two of them rushed towards her, greetings on their tongues and smiles on their faces. She did her best to match their energy even though she hadn’t fully woken up yet, and it didn’t take long before Izuku got sidetracked and started off on a tangent about their homework. “You know, I’m good at math but that one question—oh, which one was it—didn’t make any sense to me. Did you guys understand it?” he paused, “Question 9! That’s the one.”
There was a beat of silence before Iida ushered Izuku to his backpack to explain the problem. Ochako took the time to settle into her desk with little fuss. She understood the problem too, but Izuku didn’t need to know that if Iida was willing to explain. Still, she felt a brief streak of pride when she realized she had done something better than Izuku. Right on time, some other students started filtering in. The order always varied, but not by much. Todoroki came in first, quickly followed by Momo and Jirou, then Bakugou came in followed by his merry bunch of misfits. Professor Aizawa came in behind them; so, Ochako redirected her focus to the desk in front of her.
Class went by quickly and soon enough it was time for lunch. That was when things got weird. Honestly, things probably would have been the same as always if she hadn’t ripped her tights when she got up. Pushing herself to her feet, the right leg snagged on one screw holding the desk together. She felt the snag but didn’t react fast enough, the black fabric ripping wide open on her thigh. The other students had mostly left for the cafeteria; so, Ochako stood in the middle of the classroom with a bare thigh and a red face—no one else around but Present Mic. Her teacher took one look in her direction and grinned. “Now, that’s a serious mishap! Do you have an extra pair?”
Luckily, she did. The pack she had bought had three pairs and it wouldn’t take her long to run back to the dorm and change. But she wasn’t sure that she could make it back to the cafeteria with enough time to eat something. With that in mind, she rushed out of the room. “I’ll be right back!”
But the second she turned the corner, she smacked straight into something solid and tumbled backwards. Instinctively, she tried to smack her hands against herself and float; instead, a hand wrapped around each wrist and yanked her back to her feet. “Dammit, Cheeks! Slow down!”
Bakugou let go of her wrists as soon as she was stable, seemingly eager to be rid of her. She smiled sheepishly and rubbed at the back of her head. “Sorry. I didn’t see you there.”
He rolled his eyes. “Whatever. What the fuck are you in such a rush for, anyway?”
She tried to cover the hole in her tights with one of her hands. “I need to go back to the dorms,” she said, starting to inch away, “actually, I should get going.”
She swiveled around him and picked up her pace. There was no way she would make it back to the cafeteria in time to grab a snack if she didn’t get back to her room soon. Bakugou, on the other hand, seemed to have no intention of letting her achieve that goal. As soon as she sped around him, he took a few long steps and kept pace. “Back to the dorms?”
She nodded. “Yep.”
He made a face that suggested he thought it was the worst idea she’d ever had. “You can’t just fucking skip lunch.”
She scoffed; she didn’t plan on skipping lunch entirely, but he hadn’t even asked before making the assumption. Somewhat annoyed and equally amused, she grinned. “Oh? And why’s that?” she asked, slyly. He stopped walking without warning and she paused, turning to face him. She watched for a couple of seconds as his face flushed red, mouth opening and closing like he was absolutely flabbergasted. She had always thought it was funny when he got mad, but this was especially entertaining. Eventually, he threw his arms up in the air in frustration. “What the fuck are you gonna do when hero training starts? You’ve got to eat, you dumbass!”
She flashed a cheeky smile at him, knowing she shouldn’t taunt him but doing it, anyway. “Well, that’s true, but if I didn’t know any better I’d say you were worried about me.”
His eyebrows slammed together, face turning redder than she’d ever seen it. She didn’t wait for him to yell before she turned on her heel and started running toward the dorms. There was no way she would make it back in time to eat, but that was okay. Taunting Bakugou was always worth it. She imagined the tantrum that followed her departure most of the way back to her room.
Then it hit her how weird the whole interaction had been. Why was he even in the hallway? Shouldn’t he have been at lunch? He had to have actively been skipping a meal to be in the hallway when she was, which meant he had no right to lecture her about eating. But that didn’t seem right because Bakugou wasn’t the type to be missing meals or killing time. He was always on the fast track to being the best, which meant he had strict schedules, routines, and meal plans. So, why in the world was he standing in the middle of the hallway long enough for her to rip her tights, talk to Present Mic, and bump into him?
She quickly changed her tights and adjusted her goal. She knew she wouldn’t be back in time to eat, but she was sure she could get back fast enough to ask him about it. She rushed back toward the classroom ready to begin her mini interrogation, but when she opened the door an empty room and silence greeted her. She peered inside, hoping to see Bakugou sitting somewhere around a corner or something, but no one was there. She turned, hoping to run to the cafeteria and grab something to scarf down when something on her desk caught her attention.
Carefully taking a few steps toward the seat, Ochako immediately identified the object—or well, objects—on the surface. One of the cafeteria trays sat on the desk holding various food items, all of which she loved but hadn’t been able to afford recently. Not that she had mentioned that to anyone; she wasn’t trying to be a financial burden on her friends. She had been trying to keep her lack of funds a secret until she had some way of remedying the problem. Apparently, she hadn’t done a very good job. Knowing her friends, they had probably noticed ages ago and then when she hadn’t shown up to lunch they had brought her food.
She made a mental note to thank them... and then pay them back. Glancing at the clock, she noted how much time she had to eat, sat down, and started scarfing down everything she could get to. The bell that ended lunch rang just as she was shoving the last of the food into her mouth, thoroughly full. She couldn’t remember the last time she had eaten that much,, and she was grateful for the opportunity despite knowing that she would probably save money for a very long time to pay her friends back.
She shoved the tray under her desk as everybody filtered back in for the next class, questions for Bakugou completely forgotten.
Except that her day got no more normal from there.
In between their last academic class and hero training, she sought all the people she normally ate lunch with to thank them for the meal. Except that as soon as she opened her mouth and started her praises, they stopped her. Izuku was shaking his head back and forth, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “But none of us left the cafeteria. We didn’t bring you food.”
Ochako tilted her head to the side. “Then, who did?”
They all shrugged. “I don’t know but I’m glad you ate something.” Izuku said, a soft smile spreading across his face. She took a deep breath and tried to think. If she didn’t know who it was that had brought her food, she had no way of paying them back—she couldn’t even thank them! And she had no time to ask her other classmates before All Might came into the classroom and started explaining their assignment.
It was a simple search and rescue mission. Each of them would be paired up with someone else, and their assignment was to retrieve (or rescue) five mannequins from a collapsed portion of the training area. The mannequins would monitor how much they were jostled or injured and All Might would keep track of how well the teams worked together. The only problem she thought she might have was communication. With no way to talk to their partners over long distances, they would all be forced to come up with alternative ways to maintain their teamwork if they separated. She would ace it. And then All Might paired her with Bakugou and she honestly felt like her entire day had been cursed. Weird questions in the bathroom, ripping her tights, mystery food, and then being paired with the least cooperative person in the class for a team exercise? That’s not a coincidence; it’s straight-up voodoo.
Except that as soon as they were set free to discuss plans with their partners, Bakugou sought her out. It only took him a couple of seconds to cross the room, take a confident stance in front of her, and start talking, “You’re the one who specializes in rescuing; so, what the fuck are we doing?”
She knew not to take his effort for granted; so, she threw herself into explaining what she thought was the best plan. Scan the area, be careful of all the debris and use her quirk to dislodge anything they needed to, then when each of the bodies had been found they could work together to rush them to the rescue zone. He raised an eyebrow and clicked his tongue. “So, you’re saying that I shouldn’t use my quirk. At all.”
“Yes. Unless something drastically changes the plan, I think it would be best if you avoided using any excessive power.” she said.
His eyes flashed with what looked like anger, but he didn’t contradict her. Instead, he shifted closer to her and turned toward the starting area. Neither of them said anything else until it was their turn to go. Despite his obvious displeasure, Bakugou followed close behind her as she quickly scanned each area, looking for the paper-white bodies of the mannequins. Much to her frustration, however, she wasn’t having very much luck.
“Hey.”
She turned to look at her partner. He was standing a couple of feet away from her, pointing at the closest building to them (or rather to the remains of the building next to them). In the middle of the rubble and debris a dirt stained plastic arm was visible. She lit up. “Good find!” she said as she rushed toward the mannequin. Luckily for them, the building had completely collapsed and there was no chance that she would cause any more damage by floating away any of the debris; so, she quickly began touching pieces of cement and passing them to Bakugou. It took them quite a while to uncover the body, but the second they freed it, Bakugou hoisted it over his shoulder. Ochako released her quirk but focused her attention on her partner. “You’ve got to be careful with them! Don’t throw them over your shoulder like that.”
He rolled his eyes. “You got any better ideas? We’ve got to take them to the rescue area and if we leave them behind, we’ll have to find them again. It’s a fucking waste of time.”
She raised her eyebrows, somewhat angrily. “Who said anything about leaving them behind?”
“Tch. You said that we weren’t taking them to the rescue zone until we had freed all five. Don’t you think that’s a little unnecessarily risky? If this were a real situation, we would theoretically leave civilians in a dangerous area while we look for more. So, what we should do is take each one to the rescue area immediately.”
She threw her arms up in frustration, “If you had a problem with the plan why didn’t you say something sooner?”
His eyes narrowed, unamused. “This isn’t my fucking thing. I didn’t know how stupid it would be until we got in here, anyway. If all these things were close together, it wouldn’t be a problem, but we’ve only found one.”
“And we’re wasting time! They didn’t give us enough time to be running back and forth. We wouldn’t save everybody like that! And we’re not going to save anybody until we stop arguing!”
He rolled his eyes but moved forward, fake body jostling on his shoulder. “All I’m saying is that I’m not doing anything. We aren’t taking advantage of the fact that there are two of us here. You’re treating this like you’re the only one here.”
She trailed behind him. “So, what do you suggest then?”
He shrugged, unnecessarily shaking the single “civilian,” they had saved. “If you make something float high enough that I can see it from a distance I can find my way back to wherever you are. Which would give me the freedom to be running back and forth while you search for more civilians to save.”
Honestly, she should have thought of that sooner. Frustrated but willing to admit her faults, Ochako nodded and gave him a thumbs up before running off toward an area they had yet to investigate. As soon as she gave him the approval he started running toward the designated rescue zone. Fortunately, it didn’t take her long before she found the next two mannequins. They were just a couple feet away from each other and not nearly as buried as the other one had been. Each one had a leg trapped under a large slab of cement. Again, there was nothing being supported by the fallen wall; so, she activated her quirk on it and pushed it away from the “civilians.” She also picked up a smaller piece of debris (one that wouldn’t cause much damage if it fell from a long distance) and sent it spiraling into the air.
By the time she pulled the two mannequins to safety, Bakugou was right behind her, ready to transport them to the safety zone. She hurried on to a new area, scanning her surroundings. She spotted the next dummy right as All Might’s voice echoed through the arena. “Only three minutes left.”
This dummy was hanging out of a window, broken glass all around it. Ochako activated her quirk on herself and floated up. It wasn’t difficult to remove the body from the window; so she didn’t waste time before pulling it free and scanning her surroundings for something to serve as a symbol for Bakugou. Except that before she could even find something, his voice was below her. “Push it toward me!”
Following his instructions, she lowered the mannequin to safety. As soon as he had a hold on it, she pushed herself further up the side of the building, hoping to spot the last mannequin. “Hey!”
She looked down, where Bakugou was still standing below her, mannequin over his shoulder. She wanted to be frustrated that he was wasting time again, but she knew that he had to have heard the warning. He had to have a reason for lagging. “What?” she yelled back.
He pointed in the direction of the rescue zone. “I know where the last one is! But you gotta float a lot of shit to get it!”
She quickly pushed herself back to the ground before she released herself and started running with him toward the goal. Glancing over at him, she couldn’t help but notice that he was making very little effort not to jostle the dummy. “You know, I’m sure I told you not to throw the ‘civilians’ over your shoulder like that.”
He rolled his eyes, somehow able to make the most annoyed face she had ever seen while running. “Yeah, but I’d rather have a hand free to use my quirk without blowing the thing to bits.”
She scoffed. “I thought we agreed that you wouldn't blow anything up in this exercise.”
He shook his head. “You’ll change your mind when you see the last one.”
She tried to discount the almost ominous comment and picked up speed. Within seconds the safe area was visible. Bakugou sprinted ahead of her and quickly rid himself of the dummy with surprising gentleness. Then, turning on his heel, he stopped and pointed up at the building she was standing next to. She tilted her chin upward and could only barely spot the torso of the body. Near the top of the building, it looked like several floors had either collapsed or were collapsing. In what looked like the most unstable portion of the destruction, a mannequin seemed to be trapped in between a sizable portion of cement and half of a wall. It was a wonder that Bakugou had even seen the figure.
All Might’s voice echoed over the speaker again. “Only one minute left. Use your time wisely.”
Panic settled into her system as she desperately tried to figure out how to manage the task ahead of them. Bakugou’s voice boomed just a few inches away from her ear unexpectedly and she spun out of his space with a quiet squeak. He paused, eyebrows together like he was confused. Then, as if nothing had happened, he started talking again. “If you make us both float, I can use my quirk to get us up there fast. Then you can let us both go when we’ve got something under us. You make the fallen portions float and I’ll get the dummy. You just gotta get out of there before you let it down again.”
She blinked. There were several issues with the plan, but she didn’t have much time to be questioning it. Clock counting down, she quickly smacked her hand against herself and then him. Now, what she wasn’t expecting was for him to pull her flush against his body before setting off a minor explosion that sent them rocketing toward the top of the building. For a moment, she was so thrown off by the proximity, she almost missed her opportunity to release them for a good landing. A second delayed, they fell from a dangerous height back toward the building. Bakugou set off another couple explosions, adjusting their course as they fell. Landing heavily, he kept her legs from hitting the ground and all she could think about was how much his knees must have hurt.
As soon as he had his footing, he let go of her and pushed her toward the collapsed portion of the building. “Make it float.”
Looking at all the concrete up close, Ochako was suddenly faced with the possibility that she wouldn’t be able to lift it all before she reached her limit. “40 seconds,” All Might said, and she threw herself toward the debris. Touching everything she could reach, she started haphazardly throwing it all upwards. She felt the building shift a little as she went and instinctively she smacked her hand against the floor next to her knee. Her intention had been to push herself off the unstable portion, but the sudden nausea that overwhelmed her suggested that she had taken on a much larger struggle.
“Fuck. Cheeks don’t pass out.”
She closed her eyes and doubled over, unable to respond. The building shifted again, cracking as it tried to float. She heard Bakugou’s footsteps as he freed the mannequin and pulled it toward her. She wanted to celebrate but her head was throbbing and she seriously felt like she would vomit. Besides that, her arms felt like they would rip off her body. She heard Bakugou say something, but she couldn’t make out the words over the blood pumping through her ears. What sounded like All Might’s voice echoed throughout the stadium just as she felt herself being moved. Suddenly, there was too much. Too much against her skin, too much against her body. Everything hurt and she couldn’t help the whining noise that came out of her throat.
“Shit. Don’t throw up on me.”
She wasn’t sure she could prevent that. She tried to open her eyes, but the second she could see again; she felt even more nauseous than before. The building sped past her in the most disorienting manner and it took her a moment to realize it was because she was free falling. They were free falling. Subconsciously, Ochako reached out for Bakugou’s face. She had to make them float. She had to stop the fall. His arm moved against her stomach, jostling her just enough that it became impossible for her to focus on anything besides the nausea coursing through her body. She heard a loud “ BANG,” and suddenly she couldn’t handle it anymore.
“Dammit, Round Face!”
Then everything went black.
“I told you earlier that she’ll be okay. You should go back to the dorms and focus on something else. You’re stressing yourself out.”
“I’m not fucking stressed. She threw up on me and she’s gonna get what’s coming to her.”
The sound of something thin smacking into skin echoed throughout the room. “Hey! Don’t fucking hit me!”
Another smack. “Stop cursing in my infirmary, young man. Or I will have you removed.”
Ochako heard some grumbling and what sounded like a chair scraping against the floor. Blearily, she opened her eyes and the school clinic came into focus. To her left, Bakugou seemed to fume, curled up in a chair defensively. Recovery was just a couple feet away from him with what seemed like a medical file in her hand. “Ah! It looks like she’s returned to the world of the living. Uraraka, sweetheart, how do you feel? Is there anything you need?”
She weakly shook her head. Honestly, besides feeling a little tired, she felt okay. Recovery Girl nodded like she expected the answer and then shot a glare in Bakugou’s direction. “See? She’s fine.”
He rolled his eyes. “I already told you; I’m not here to check up on her. She owes me a new shirt for fu--” his eyes darted to the medical file, “I mean... she owes me for throwing up on me.”
Ochako rolled her head towards him, trying to get a good look at his face. “I threw up on you?”
Fierce red eyes darted over to her, rage coursing through them like a flooding river as he jumped to his feet and leaned over her, menacingly. “Yes! After I explicitly told you not to, you lost your damn lunch down my back.” Recovery Girl lightly smacked him again, but that didn’t stop his tirade. “So, now you owe me! And you better not think you’re getting out of this with a dumb excuse. ‘I didn’t mean to’ isn’t gonna work here. That shit was gross!”
Another light smack. “Young man--”
He plopped back in his chair, having exhausted his energy, and shot an almost apologetic look at Recovery Girl. “I know. Stop cursing. I got it.”
She nodded, accepting his pseudo-apology for the moment, and circled the bed to stand on Ochako’s other side. Ochako turned her head to face her. The old woman smoothed back Ochako’s hair and gave her a light smile. “Try not to push yourself so far past your limit next time, okay?”
Ochako nodded. Saying nothing else, Recovery Girl started walking toward her desk, closing the medical curtain behind her and suddenly, it was just her and Bakugou. She turned back to him, expecting for him to have more to say. What she didn’t expect was for him to be staring at her more intensely than she’d ever seen before. Heart leaping, she held her shaking hands up near her face. “I know I threw up on you and I’m sorry but--”
He rolled his eyes. “I already told you; you’re not getting out of this that easy.”
She glanced away, embarrassed. “I know... I just... I don’t have enough money to--”
He interrupted her, “Who the fu-- Who said anything about money? I said you owe me not that you’re paying for my laundry bill.”
Watching his face as he spoke, she tried not to laugh at the way his nose turned up when he was trying not to curse. He looked almost disgusted by holding back his colorful vocabulary. The giggling started before she could stop it and his face morphed into utter indignation. “Hey! What’s so funny?! I swear if--”
She shook her head and tried to quiet down. “Nothing. Nothing. So, what exactly do I owe you, then?”
Grumbling, his face dusted pink and his eyes darted away. “Let me see your hands.”
“What?”
His arm darted out and grabbed at her wrist. “I said, ‘let me see your hands.’”
She had a lot of questions but didn’t protest as he unfurled her fingers and started examining her hand. The longer he analyzed her, however, the more flustered she felt. His face was so genuinely curious as he turned her palm and looked at a fresh angle. Feeling somewhat vulnerable, she pulled her hand away, but he only tightened his grip. “Hold on,” he said, quietly . And that was weird enough. Then, he pressed his thumb against one of her finger pads and rubbed.
Unable to take anymore, she blurted out, “What exactly are you doing?”
He didn’t look up from her hand. “Trying to figure out how you managed that stunt back there.”
And suddenly, she could relax. He was curious about her quirk. That was all.