Chapter Text
Uraraka Ochako groans, stretching her arms above her head. She lets out a heavy sigh, staring at the laptop screen before her, glaring at the blank document that just seems to be mocking her. She's been preparing this manuscript for months and her deadline is coming up soon, but she's nowhere near done. She's not even ready to finish half of it.
Rubbing her eyes, she impatiently taps her foot as she racks her brain for new ideas, new concepts, new something to add to the book. Of course, it's no use. She's been trying to write something for weeks, but nothing's inspiring her - there's nothing new to base the story on. She's travelled all of Kansai (that's where she built stories from for her past few novels), so what now?
Fingers hovering over the keyboard, she bites her lip and looks at the calendar on her desk. A crazy idea pops into her head, and she opens up her browser before she changes her mind. She sends out messages of apologies and a flurry of hasty explanations (to her parents, especially) before she sighs again and closes her laptop.
With plans and meetings for the next two months cancelled, Uraraka stands up from her desk and stuffs a small suitcase with clothes and necessities, then quietly leaves for the train station and makes her way to an adventure she hopes to find in Tokyo.
"Excuse me," Uraraka whispers, hand trailing out to stop the woman who just passed her. She quickly pulls it back, heaving another sigh as she looks at her surroundings. Tokyo is as messy and energetic as she's heard, but she didn't necessarily expect to get lost the moment she stepped out of the train station. Her frail voice and small figure aren't helping the situation either, because everyone's either engrossed in their smartphones or busy talking to someone else. She could easily look up the name of the guest house she'll be staying in, but luck would have it that she left her phone's charger back in Kansai and she has no more battery. "I have to spend money on a new charger too", she thought.
All of a sudden, Uraraka's fumbling on the floor with her suitcase following suit after she gets bumped into by a rather sturdy looking figure. "Ow!" she shouts, hoisting herself up to a sitting position as she glares up at the person who bumped into her.
She pauses, finding herself looking into a pair of bright red eyes that look like they hold no remorse whatsoever. She spends a few seconds like that, staring at the person in front of her, expecting him to say something or to even offer a hand, but what he says makes her scowl deepen instead. "Move out of the fucking way next time, round face."
With a new sense of anger driven into her, Uraraka pushes herself up and picks up her suitcase, glaring daggers at the blonde. He's much taller than she expected, and his build is bigger than hers by a long shot, but she wasn't going to let some hot-headed guy insult her like it was her fault she got pushed over. "Maybe you should watch where you're going next time! I was just standing there and you bumped into me!"
"Well, who the fuck stands in the middle of the sidewalk in the middle of the fucking day?" he spits, pocketing his hands into his pants. In another instance, Uraraka would take the time to appreciate the gray and wine red three piece suit he was wearing, but not after what just happened. "Move, pipsqueak. I'm late enough as it is, I don't need some tourist messing up my day."
He moves to walk past her, but Uraraka's insistent to receive even a halfway decent apology (if this guy could even muster one). "Hey mister, least I deserve is an apology!" she shouts, her Kansai accent becoming apparent. He stops in his tracks, turns around, and sends a nasty glare to Uraraka before turning back around. She huffs, placing her grip on the suitcase, then drags it behind her as she chases after him.
"Hey! If you won't give me an apology," she says, walking beside him (trying to match his pace, this guy was in a hurry). She receives a "tch", "Then can you at least point me out to Heights Alliance? It should be a guest house somewhere near here."
"Don't know where the fuck that is," he's walking faster than before, and Uraraka struggles a bit to match his pace. When she realizes she won't get a proper answer or a proper apology, Uraraka simply huffs and stops.
"Well, you don't have to be such a jerk about it!"
Pouting, Uraraka walks along the road she's suddenly found herself in (how fast was that guy walking, and how far are they from the station?) and tries to ask others for directions to no avail.
"Excuse me, are you lost?" Uraraka turns to her right to see a man looking at her with a worried expression, and she breathes a sigh of relief at the first sign of help. She plasters on the nicest smile she can muster at the moment and nods her head.
"Yeah, I'm just looking for a place called Heights Alliance. Can you point that out to me?"
"Oh, I can show you where it is! I'm heading that way," he says, giving her a smile. She gives him her thanks and proceeds to follow him, taking note of the stops to remember and cafés she can go to to write. When she begins to notice that the crowd of people is growing thinner, Uraraka's gut tells her that something is off and that maybe she shouldn't be following a stranger around in a city she has no sense of direction in.
"Oh, um, a friend just texted me and said she'll pick me up at the station, so no worries!" she blurts, quickly fishing out her phone and giving the man an apologetic expression. "Thank you for trying to help, though, but I should really get back t-" before she can finish her sentence, Uraraka is pushed into an alleyway and pressed against the wall, the man's right arm pressed heavily against her neck. Her hands immediately fly up to the man's arm, trying to pull it away from her, but not only is she weak, she's also tired.
Without the capacity to speak, along with quickly losing the ability to breathe, Uraraka's grip softens as the man tells her to bring out all her valuables from her bag snaked around her body. "I-I have n-nothing," she croaks, vision beginning to blur, "P-P-lease, just let m-m. ."
In a rush, air goes back into her lungs as her body crumples to the floor when the weight of the man is eased off of her. She's busy gasping for air, hearing the sound of struggle and grunts behind her as her vision resets. Trying to regain a coherent train of thought, Uraraka looks behind her to see the thief running away, cradling his arm like it was broken.
When Uraraka looks at her savior, she thinks that maybe his arm might actually be broken. The blonde from earlier is panting, elegant suit crumpled and stained with dirt and a few footprints. His red eyes dart to her crumpled figure. "What the fuck, Kansai?! You're alone for a few fucking minutes and you get mugged?!" he roars, towering over her.
Uraraka couldn't say anything, maybe because she's tired and nearly got choked to death, or maybe because she's ashamed that it's true. "I-I'm sorry," she whispers, then immediately asks herself what she's apologizing for. The man doesn't bother commenting on the misplaced apology however, before he reaches out a hand and she gratefully takes it.
"Whatever," he says, pulling her up to her feet. "Don't just trust anyone you meet, idiot. You're lucky I was passing by."
She bows her head sheepishly. "Thank you very much. I don't know what to think if you hadn't arrived just now."
Uraraka hears a "tch" before she looks up at him. "You owe me for this goddamn suit," he says, "and for my time." Despite the insanity of his request, or the fact that he just said saving her threw him off schedule, Uraraka nods her head in solemn apology.
"I'll wash your suit."
"Damn right, you should," he says, picking up her suitcase. Normally, Uraraka would be flustered and angry at the attitude he's displaying towards her, because it was just plain rude and disrespectful, but it's either from the shock or from the guilt that she keeps her mouth shut. "Come on, I'll bring you to High Alliance or whatever the fuck you were talking about earlier."
Startled, Uraraka slowly follows after him and watches as he fishes out his phone and takes out a GPS app. "It's Heights Alliance," she says, energy beginning to build up. He nods and places an earpiece into his right ear.
"Yaoyorozu? Yeah, I'll be late today. Something came up. Send my apologies to Nezu."
When Uraraka is certain that he's no longer talking to anyone via the earpiece, she speaks up. "I really am sorry for what happened, and for how rude I was before. Is there anything I can do to properly thank you for saving me back there?"
He shakes his head, "I just did what was right. Do you want to press charges?" he asks, and Uraraka startles for a moment at two things: 1) the declaration of pressing charges, and 2) the fact that he uttered more than two sentences without cursing. "Well?" he asks again, stopping and looking back at her.
"I-I don't remember his face, and I don't think I want this to escalate that far," she says, looking down. "And even if you remember his face, I'd have a hard time looking for a legal defense and all,"
He looks at her like she's stupid. For a moment, the look on his face convinces her that she is. She cocks her head to the side and raises an eyebrow, "Is there anything wrong with what I said?"
The gradual shock that reaches his face and the "O" his mouth forms makes her eyebrows rise even more. "You don't know me?" He asks, eyebrows furrowing.
"No? Am I supposed to?"
He grins, and it's not one of those grins that are warm and nice. No. It's one of the grins where you know that something wicked is about to happen. "Of course you wouldn't," he says, taking out his wallet and plucking out a card before handing it over to her. She stares at it for a while before reaching out and reading what it says. "Bakugou Katsuki, attorney-at-law. Pleased to make your acquaintance."
"You're an attorney?!" she blurts, not being able to hide the shocked expression on her face or the flustered way her words came out. "B-But you're so. . ." she pauses, thinking if it's really okay to continue, then shakes her head as if telling herself to go on. "Foul-mouthed!"
He grins again, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm a professional, of course. My 'foul-mouth' isn't active during cases or when I'm at work." He shrugs. "Outside though, I'm free to do what I damn well want to."
He turns around and continues lugging her suitcase behind him. Uraraka recovers from the shock and goes to walk beside him. "So, Bakugou Katsuki. You're a hot shot, then?"
He scoffs. "Only the best, of course."
They walk for a few minutes in silence, and Uraraka's almost sure that this awkwardness would go on for longer, but before she knows it Bakugou stops and sighs. She looks up at the large building divided into two wings. "Well, here's that goddamn Heights Alliance place. Don't get lost next time. See ya."
"W-Wait! Your suit! And. . . and I need to properly thank you!" Uraraka flounders.
"Just do me a favor and we'll call it even," he says, not stopping to turn around. "Don't be fucking stupid."
Uraraka rolls her eyes, but shouts after him. "Thank you, Bakugou Katsuki!"
She turns around and walks into the building after that, but she catches sight of the nonchalant shrug of his shoulders right after her thanks.
The next day, Uraraka's lying in the comfortable bed as she stares at the ceiling. She really had no plans, and just decided to drop everything in Kansai to go to Tokyo in search for inspiration. Yesterday's events were thrilling, but she wasn't really up for another "get-mugged-and-then-rescued" kind of experience.
Today she would tour Tokyo and maybe stop at a café at the end of the day to try and write something, but when she flips to lie on her right, she catches sight of the bedside table. A slim card sits on top of it, and she reaches out to grab it.
"Bakugou Katsuki, attorney-at-law. Yuuei Law Offices." she reads, biting her lips. Her eyes trail down to the bottom of the card, taking note of his contact details.
Uraraka makes decisions in a quick second, and she tries to make these decisions happen as quickly as she can as to avoid any regrets or indecisiveness. So when she gets the idea to put his email in her phone, and when she gets the idea to ask him to meet up, she follows through, hoping that this story would play out the way she wants it to.