Work Text:
Ochako groaned, wiggling her door knob for the fourth time with no luck. She finally just gave up and turned around, resting her head on her door and dragging herself down, messing her hair as she fell. She looked down at the dress that was no longer the pretty pink she was so in love with, but was now covered in muted brown spots and the soft pink had turned salmon, one of her heels had broken and she held both shoes in her hand, having only her tights be the barrier between her feet and the ground.
I didn’t even get one dance.
She knew it was silly. They won the battle, she should be proud. But instead she was left flushed and disappointed. She wanted at least one dance but the party was ruined before it even got to start.
And now she can’t even go to bed properly.
Tsu shouldn’t be too far behind me, she should have a key.
She debated on whether or not she should just curl up on the floor and sleep, she was that exhausted. She wiped her eyes and brushed her hair out of her face as it fell, wishing that she could at least take a bath before passing out.
“Oi, what are you doing hugging the ground?” A gruff voice called out to her, her head shot up and she met a pair of annoyed crimson eyes staring down at her.
“Oh... hey Bakugo, my key won’t work so I’m just waiting for Tsu to get here.”
“Yeah, no shit your key won’t work, that’s my room.” Her eyebrows furrowed, looking down at her key again, “Which room is this, then?”
“327.”
“Crap, sorry.” She mumbled, realizing that she’s actually down the hall. She huffed, pushing herself up from the ground, stumbling slightly as she got up too fast.
“Oi, hold yourself up, damn it.” He scolded, grabbing her arm and holding her up slightly.
“I’m fine, sorry.” She mumbled.
“What are you drunk?”
“Yeah that sounds right, I’m drunk.” She rolled her eyes, sarcasm dripping from her lips, “I’m tired, that’s all.” She said with a yawn.
“Do you need me to walk you to your room?” He offered half heartedly.
She rose an eyebrow, “You? A nice gesture? Who are you?” He rolled his eyes, “Thanks, but no thanks. I’m just on the other end.” She stared at the ground and her eyes brushed over her ruined shoes and she sighed.
“Some party, huh.” She shook her head to herself, she should go.
“Why are we surprised, honestly? Trouble finds this class anywhere, even on I-Island.” He grimaced. She gave a weak chuckle and nodded.
She then looked back up and smiled at him, “Well… goodnight Bakugo, tomorrow will be a better day!” She waved at him and then turned away, the smile immediately falling.
“Why do you do that?” He called out after two steps. She turned back around, “Do what?”
“Smile like everything’s okay when it’s not? You can fool everyone here but you can’t fool me, Roundface.”
“What are you talking about? Everything’s fine. I’m just tired,” she shook her head, deeming him not worth her energy, “you know what… just... goodnight.” She waved him off and resumed walking.
“Admit it, you’re disappointed that you didn’t get to ‘dance the night away’ with your precious Deku .” He spat with a challenge, “As if he would’ve danced at all.” He smirked.
“And you would’ve?” She snorted, crossing her arms, her shoes dangling from her right hand.
“Hey, I at least can dance. Deku’s got two left feet and he knows it.” She stared at the ground, not really taking his words to heart, “Deku wouldn’t have danced tonight, he would have been too caught up with All Might and Melissa to even think about it. Sorry to crush your dreams.” He said, stuffing his hands in his pockets, leaning on the wall.
“I just wanted one dance, Bakugo. Didn’t have to be with him. I just wanted one.” She shook her head, staring at him with a look he didn’t expect. It wasn’t sad, or hurt, just disappointed. Which somehow was much worse. “So how about you just… stop it. You can resume your personal vendetta with Deku tomorrow.”
She looked back down on the ground and almost turned away until Bakugo cleared his throat, “Why did you want a dance so bad? Why does it matter?”
She shrugged, “I don’t know. I’ve never danced with a boy before… always wanted to ever since I saw a scene in one of those cheesy rom coms.” She shook her head, she shouldn’t have said that, “It’s stupid I kno-”
“What’s so stupid about it?” He scoffed, “Everyone there wanted to dance.”
“You didn’t.”
“ I don’t count. I didn’t want to go in the first place.”
“Then why are we still talking about this?”
“You know what, fine. Go to bed, was trying to be nice.” He rolled his eyes with a grut, pulling his room key out of his pocket.
“What part of this conversation was supposed to be ‘nice’?” Ochako bit back.
“It’s nothing, it wasn’t… just, goodnight, Uraraka.” Uraraka.
She watched as he opened his door with a scoff, throwing one last glance her way before stepping inside. It wasn’t until she heard his door click shut that she turned back around, finally making it to her actual assigned room. She pulled out her key and swiped it, waiting for the red light to turn green, but the light stayed red. She groaned, wondering how her key could’ve deactivated in the time that she spent in the hall talking to Bakugo.
She dropped her shoes and started pounding on her door lightly, assuming Asui was already inside, “Hey Tsu, are you awake? My key card won’t work.” She knocked, speaking at a low level trying to not wake any of the people who might be asleep in their rooms. But there was no answer. She sighed, pulling her phone out of the small purse she carried and flipped it open, scrolling down to Asui’s contact and pressing ‘Call’.
She could hear Asui’s phone ringing on the other side of the door but couldn’t hear any change in movement, making her think she was already asleep. “Please, please, please pick up.” She groaned, the night’s events appearing before her every time she closes her eyes.
One dance, all she wanted was one dance.
“You’ve reached Tsu, you know what to do.” Asui’s voicemail beeped and Ochako clicked the button to end the call, not seeing the point of leaving a message if Asui was already asleep.
Hallway floor it is then, how fancy. She thought, sitting down once again but this time, at the right door. So how’s that for development?
She could go downstairs and ask someone at the front desk to help her with her key, but she didn’t want to go alone, or be without shoes for much longer. She half heartedly knocked at her door again, just for good measure, but still got no answer.
She scrolled through her contacts list, sending a text to Ashido and Yaoyorozu, seeing if either of them were awake to come help her with her key, but neither responded. She then scrolled past Bakugo’s contact, biting her lip as she considered messaging him, she knew he’d still be awake, it hadn’t been too long since they said goodbye, unless he was just so exhausted he skipped the shower and went straight to bed - which she severely doubted.
He wouldn’t help me. She shook her head, scrolling past Kirishima’s contact, her finger hovering over the ‘call’ button once again. Maybe he would, though. She pressed down on the button, assuming that he’d be awake with Bakugo.
“Uraraka?” That wasn’t Kirishima’s voice. “Uh… Kirishima?” She asked.
“No this is the tooth fairy, Kirishima’s taking his sweet ass time in the shower. What do you want?” Bakugo asked.
“My key doesn’t work, I was gonna ask him if he could come with me to go to the front desk and fix it.” She sighed, looking up at her closed door that taunted her.
“Why didn’t you just call me?”
“I didn’t think you’d be in the mood to help me.”
“That’s a stupid excuse.”
“Well, do you want to help me instead or am I waiting for Kirishima to get out of the shower?” She bit, rolling her eyes as she threw one of her broken heels out of sheer boredom.
“Yeah, just give me a fucking minute, damn.” He hissed, she could hear ruffling on the other side of the phone and saw his door swing open down the hall. She hung up the call and stood up once again, getting a head rush.
“Here.” He said, throwing a black ball at her, which she caught in confusion.
“What the heck are these?” She asked, staring at it.
“Socks, unbundle them.”
“Why are you giving me socks?”
“Your shoes are broken, you aren’t the same shoe size as me, so I grabbed some socks. If you don’t want them, give them back to me.” He scoffed, walking to the elevator and pressed the down button. She shook her head and immediately slipped them on. They were definitely a little too big on her, but at least her feet were now warm.
She left her shoes on the ground by her door, not caring if someone stole them or not, they were broken anyways. She stood next to Bakugo, waiting for the elevator door to open and they stood in silence. She didn’t really know what to say in that moment except, “Thanks.”
“For what?”
“Coming with, even though you’d probably prefer to go to bed.”
“If I didn’t come, Shitty hair wouldn’t let me hear the end of it.” Ochako scoffed a laugh and shook her head, “You would’ve been fine.”
“He would’ve lectured me on how unmanly it is to leave a girl helpless all night, cheeks, trust me, I wouldn’t have been fine.”
The elevator dinged and the doors opened, letting the remaining people in it off, before the students stepped in.
“Still, thank you.” She chuckled, looking down at her socked feet and wiggling her toes, “For the socks too.” He hummed a response and the doors slid shut, entrapping them in the elevator.
Since they were silent, Ochako could hear the soft elevator music playing on a low volume. Completely instrumental and slow enough for her to start swaying, closing her eyes and smiling to herself, imagining herself at the party, having her one dance. She knew she probably looked foolish but she didn’t care, it was only Bakugo after all, if anyone in class 1A would care the least, it’d be him.
The elevator dinged and the doors opened, snapping her out of her thoughts. She blinked away spots and walked out of the elevator side-by-side with Bakugo, who looked more determined to get her key working than she was.
“Oi, over here.” He called someone working the front desk who seemed very uninterested in helping a couple of fifteen year olds. The girl looked like she was in her early twenties and sat in the chair on her phone, attempting to ignore the couple. “My friend’s key doesn’t work and her roommate’s already asleep, fix it.”
Ochako lightly hit his chest for being rude to her but silently noted that he called her his friend. It probably meant nothing and was just for the situation, probably wouldn’t sound as important if he’d said ‘his classmate’... right?
The girl rolled her eyes but never looked at the two, “Then why don’t you two share a room?” She said, dripping with sarcasm.
“Hey, you’re lucky for this hotel to still be standing, help her , or I swear to god I will bl-”
“What! He means to say is,” Ochako interrupted, pulling him back by his arm, “my key doesn’t work and I’m really tired. Would you please help me get into my room?” The girl looked up from her phone and looked at Ochako.
“Oh my god, what happened to you two?” She asked in disgust.
“You must’ve just started your shift.” Bakugo scoffed.
“None of that is important… can you help me? Please?” Ochako dismissed the two and held out her key.
“Fine… what room and I’ll need to see a form of identification.”
“I’m fifteen…”
“Then where’s your teacher?”
“Asleep.”
“Can you wake him up?”
“Not likely.”
The girl groaned and ran her fingers through her hair, “Guess I’ll just have to take your word for it. What room was is?”
“301… My roommate is Tsuyu Asui, I’m Ochako Uraraka.”
“‘Kay, found it.” Ochako nodded and thanked the girl, turning her head to see that Bakugo was scrolling on his phone. It took about a minute and a half for the key to be ready and she felt a wave of relief wash over her.
“Sorry you’re not in bed right now.”
“I’m rooming with shitty hair, I wouldn’t be asleep right now anyways.”
“And why’s that?”
“The guy takes year long showers, I bet you ¥500 that he’s still washing his hair.” Ochako laughed, shaking her head, “It’s not that bad.”
“You’ve clearly never roomed with him before.” He hid a small half smile and looked away as they waited for the elevator to open.
“What a night, right? Fighting villains and then my key doesn’t work.”
“Definitely the highlight of the night.” He said with no hesitation.
“Oh yeah, arguing with receptionists is so much fun.”
“More fun than the dances that never were.” She inhaled deeply and nodded her head, looking away from the blonde, staring at the elevator doors until they dinged open.
They stepped inside and the doors closed, the slow elevator music playing through their ears once again, “Sorry,” he mumbled, she shook her head in response, “It’s fine.” She whispered.
He bit the inside of his cheek and pressed the stop button on the elevator, making the floor move, “What are you doing?” She hissed, too tired for his shenanigans.
“Wanna dance?”
“What?”
“Dance. Isn’t that what you’ve been complaining about for the last half hour?”
“I haven’t been complaining … just… okay maybe a little but that still doesn’t explain why you stopped the elevator.”
“It’d be a pretty short dance if I didn’t stop it, now do you want to dance or not?” He asked, holding out his hand.
She stared at it for a second and softly scoffed a laugh, “This is so cheesy.”
“Yeah… what happens in this elevator stays in this elevator. This is not too great for my reputation.” She laughed and grabbed his hand, he immediately pulled her in, making her gasp.
“Put your arms around my neck,” He instructed, putting his hands on her waist. “Since when did you learn how to dance?”
“Ayoyama ambushed all of the guys and forced us to learn, guess I should send him a fruit basket…” He answered, rolling his eyes as they swayed, Ochako lips formed a thin smile and she blushed, looking down at their feet.
“Head up, I don’t wanna dance with a headless chick.” She laughed an apology and he gave her a crooked smile.
“Did you mean it earlier, when you called me your friend?” She blurted.
He thought for a minute before answering, “Yeah… but that stays a secret.”
“Oh yeah, can’t let anyone know the Katsuki Bakugo has friends.”
“See, now you’re getting it.” He smiled, pulling her in closer, the gap between them, barely there.
She hummed, laying her head on his chest and she could feel his body tense. She worried that she went too far and was about to lift her head back up until he relaxed and rested his head on hers. They couldn’t tell by the music if they had been dancing for one song or three but they swayed in comfortable silence for much longer than probably necessary. But they were comfortable.
“You looked really pretty tonight.” He blurted, her eyes shot open and she lifted her head, a pink blush covering her cheeks. She smiled, “Thank you, you looked great tonight too.”
They were so close, inches away from each other. He looked deeply into her chocolate eyes and clenched his jaw, peering down at her thin pink lips. Her lips parted and her eyelids hooded, he could tell she wanted it too, he felt an incredibly strong urge to lean down and kiss her in that moment but a certain green haired boy flashed in his vision.
“Bakugo…?”
“We should… get back. You probably want to go to bed.” Her eyes widen at his words, stepping away from him. Her heart sank as she watched as he cleared his throat, pressing the button to start the elevator back up.
“Thank you, for the dance… and everything else.” She whispered, fumbling with her fingers. He shrugged in response, nodding to himself.
The elevator dinged and they stepped off onto the floor, “Well, goodnight. See you in the morning.” He said, walking over to his room.
“Do you mind, walking over to my room? I want to make sure the key works before I let you go.” He shrugged and walked with her, the whole twenty feet. He didn’t quite understand it, she was close enough he could’ve watched her from his door, but he didn’t feel like arguing.
She entered the key and watched the red light turn green, a relieved smile appeared on her face and she sighed happily, turning to Bakugo, who just nodded. “Great, it works. Goodnight, Uraraka.”
“Wait,” she said, grabbing his wrist to stop him from moving, he turned back to her with his eyebrows furrowed. She took a deep breath and leaned in, planting a small kiss on his lips, very small, almost a peck. “Thank you… for everything.” She smiled, opening her door and walking inside, leaving him standing in the hallway dumbfounded.
He wandered back to his room, closing his door behind him, hearing the sound of the shower still running, snapping him out of his funk. Shitty hair’s still in the shower… we should’ve actually bet on it. He smiled to himself.
Then his mind wandered to the kiss, immediately regretting that he wasn’t the one to initiate the kiss, hell, he was pissed that he technically didn’t kiss her back . Does the kiss means that she liked him back? Or was it just something she did in the heat of the moment? Did the hall fall under the ‘what happens in the elevator stays in the elevator’ rule?
He gave into his own mind game and pulled out his phone, typing a message to Ochako:
B: The hall =/= elevator, right?
He watched as the time ticked by, had she already fallen asleep? Was she in the shower? Did the text freak her out? Does she regret it?
Then his phone dinged.
U: right :)