Work Text:
“C’mon Ochako! It’s going to be our last Christmas get-together! Please, please, please don’t back out of this because you have ‘laundry and homework’ to do that night! IT'S CHRISTMAS!”
Mina was right. It was indeed the holiday season, but Mina didn’t need to know that simply spending her time with the class was more than enough. She simply had no time to spare now that she was cramming her internship and a possible intern job at Ryukyu’s agency once she graduated from the UA. She was finally so close to her dream, and after the League of Villain’s nation-wide broadcasted defeat, and the subsequent shift in the hero-villain paradigm in society, Ochako Uraraka had more work than ever to earn a well-deserved spot amongst the hero society. As much as she loathed it, she would forfeit her last christmas party at school if only to take the Christmas Eve shift at the agency and score those brownie points with Tsuyu and Nejire.
But Mina was really set on dragging her along, and she had no apparent intention of giving up convincing her best friend.
“Mina, you know I adore you, but you also know how much this means to me. I am no longer the ‘frail-looking, rescue-suited heroine’ I once was. I finally stand my ground fighting villains alongside my boss, people respect me when I go on patrols and no longer see me as hero eye-candy!” Uraraka sighed. She saw Mina’s face fall, because she knew she was in the right.
Until she smirked.
‘Bad news, she is plotting something!’
“Well,” Mina started. A ‘well’ was already dangerous enough. “what if you didn’t have to do your laundry all month?”
Ochako stopped for a moment. Mina offering to do her chores?
“What’s the catch here, hmm? Am I going to have to embarrass myself in front of everyone at the party? Because if that’s your bargaining chip then I don’t want to do it. You know very well I try to keep a good image nowadays, anything for my internship.”
Mina clicked her tongue in disapproval. “Okay, I’ll stop you right there, who do you take me for, huh?” Ochako raised an eyebrow. “The fact one of my best buds is Kaminari Denki does not give you the right to judge me, ok? We are a blast to be around!”
Sigh. “Well then, Mina, what do you want in exchange?”
“I want you to kiss Katsuki under the mistletoe! Easy, right?”
Ochako’s eyes went big as saucers. Easy?! To kiss Deku’s former-rival-now-turned-best-bud, one of the big three, the most fought-for-internships senior at UA, one of the most anticipated pro heroes of all Japan. Easy?!
Now Mina here was trying to make Ochako’s life hard.
Because that very same Katsuki has been a constant afterthought in her high school life. After deciding she would not chase after boys, and clearing the air with Deku regarding his own aspirations, crushing the possibility of dating and further cementing their friendship, she began to push herself to the limit. And who if not Bakugou Katsuki to help with that particular goal. His insane amount of stamina and almost-natural ability to control and hone his quirk made him the perfect sparring partner for anyone who was up to the challenge.
And Ochako was no quitter. She found herself anticipating every sparring session she had with him, absorbing every lesson he gave her whenever her technique was sloppy and enjoying his company outside of the classroom. Gone were the days of his overly abrasive personality. Sure, he wasn’t sunshine and rainbows, but he found himself replacing the outright volatile personality, for a much sarcastic, yet much more easy to navigate around.
So she found it comfortable enough to be his friend. Not just a classmate, or a sparring partner. An actual friend. Sure, that didn’t make her a fixed member of his very own Bakusquad, but it sure made her feel lighter, much more relieved and less defensive around him.
And the fact that she, despite her inner resolve not to, developed a teeny tiny, not-humongous crush for the hot-headed blonde, was definitely eating her up inside. The worst part was deciding to tell Mina about it, without expecting her to react to that in any way about it.
“C’mon Ocha! It’s the perfect situation, just make that thing float and ‘casually’ step under it when you’re in his vicinity. Please? For me?” The gall of this girl to bat her eyelashes at her! “Think about all of that laundry you won’t wash FOR A MONTH! And....i’ll do your dishes chore too”
“Mina, you better not shrink any of my clothes, I swear!”
Today was not his day, damned be that pink alien that called herself his ‘friend’.
Katsuki had planned to finally gather himself up and just ask Uraraka to the party as his date. He was tired of bullshitting around and pretending he didn’t have a big fat crush on his favorite sparring partner and self-proclaimed apprentice (although Kirishima didn’t need to know that last bit, for broship’s sake).
He would rather take a Texas smash to the gut before admitting he’d planned for an entire week to ambush her in the common room after her study session with Momo because he had memorized her time table (courtesy of the aforementioned alien-looking friend).
But sure, leave it to Mina to take the place as both his most and least reliable source for love advice and help. Just what was he thinking when he approached her for help?
Ah yes. The fact she was coincidentally dating his best friend.
‘Convenience’, they call it. Damn you too, Kirishima, tame your fucking girlfriend once in a while.
To be honest with himself, the whole ‘I-have-a-crush-on-you’ conundrum was disorienting for Katsuki. For once, because he’d never been in a position before where he had to bare his emotions and appear so vulnerable without involving some kind of physical contact akin to violence - as he and Deku were so accustomed to….those were the days, - and even he didn’t find a confession during sparring a romantic move to make.
Sure, he would do it his way, but keeping his dignity intact, alright?
Except Katsuki Bakugou was, surprisingly, a complete stranger to anything love related.
Not that he didn’t have it in himself the capacity to love. He loved his parents, but the relationship he had with them was as volatile as it was nurturing (tough love, Mitsuki Bakugou would call it. Masaru silently agreed). He...tolerated his friends enough to form a special bond that he now found easy to label as friendship. He loved...no, idolized All Might, highs and lows be damned. He respected Best Jeanist as his first mentor.
But love someone? Want to hold someone’s hand, whisper sweet nothings to someone’s ear, kiss someone stupid and let himself become a fool in the process?
Fuck no. Or at least he thought so until goddamn Uraraka Ochako walked through their Class-A classroom threshold that fated first day of school and threw his resolve out of the goddamn window.
Uraraka Ochako, the girl who dived head-first into that one duel at the sport’s festival. The girl who earned his respect after a well-fought battle, who rejected her friend’s help to ideate a plan against him, yet managed to almost bury him in a massive pile of floating debris, driving him to his limit. The girl who, afterwards, abandoned her comfort zone as a glorified rescue-type hero and instead took an internship at Gunhead’s to better her combat abilities. The girl who didn’t stop there, and proudly admitted she wanted to become better and stronger, thus enlisting his help as her sparring partner only to find out she was made to fight as an equal besides him?
The girl who persevered for the sake of others, who was as selfless as she was loving and caring despite coming from a modest upbringing.
The girl of his fucking dreams.
So how in the world would he, the almighty Katsuki Bakugou, even approach her without losing himself in the process, and become a babbling, hot-headed idiot in front of her?
He sighed, watching quietly from the couches as Mina and Uraraka got involved in yet another round of friendly banter beside the kitchen’s counter, as he missed another opportunity to ask her out. Fan-fucking-tastic.
It could only take a christmas miracle to make a move on her, for sure…
When Ochako heard Mina talk about the get-together at one of Momo’s private estate cabins, she did not imagine not one bit just how inmense the “cabin” was. It resembled a full-on ski residence, and there wasn’t even a mountain around. The place was spacious, comfy and not overly posh but well equipped, with various chaises , sofas and tables, and meticulously decorated by the girls of both classes, namely Kendo, Pony and Hagakure, and of course Yaomomo herself. All in all, Ochako felt less bad for coming here instead of finishing her calc cramming session. It was nice, she could get behind this. Plus, she had to admit she needed the extra distraction after the amount of class work and internship duties she had piling up the entire week.
The party was in full swing when Mina and Ochako arrived. The entirety of Class A plus Class B -sans Mineta, who was already taped in an unknown location inside of the Class A dorm as a measure of contention- were already nursing cups of punch and eating snacks, some scattered through the couches of the main room, while others were talking animatedly in small groups.
Satou and Shishida were discussing nutritious recipes, as per Shishida’s request, to keep increasing his muscle mass, while Awase was once again trying to contain Monoma who was sort of trying to win an impromptu dance-off with Kaminari, who was totally clowning Monoma’s serious attempts to win it. Beside him was Shinsou, who looked half-amused and half-embarrassed at their friend’s antics. He was most definitely enjoying it, even if he said he wasn’t.
Deku, Todoroki and Iida were happily munching on some fried chicken pieces, while discussing a new team movement they wanted to demonstrate to Aizawa for an upcoming tag team activity, and Katsuki….
Katsuki was just sitting there, by himself, in a much more secluded corner, by some miraculous chance. It almost seemed too good to be true…
...Until she saw Mina not-so-secretly waving at Kirishima, who was failing miserably to hide behind the desserts table.
“Really Mina? You told your boyfriend about this?”
Mina pouted. “Babe, I cannot keep secrets from my boyfriend! That counts as cheating, you know?” she whined, her arms crossed as she feigned indignance. The gall of her best friend, for real.
“I enlisted him too, because you are a big fool who’s also a chicken who hasn’t acted on her feelings for god knows how long. Seriously though, we are rooting for you!” she chirped animatedly. “And Kiri totally agrees with me, right babe?”
Mina leaned down to meet the top of his head to plant a quick peck on his forehead. “You are absolutely right, babe. Our Ochako should just go for it. I even distracted Katsuki by telling him I would go get us some punch! The oldest trick in the book and he fell for it, haha!”
Ochako gave him a fake laugh. Couldn’t he realize how terrified she was of actually going with this whole scheme?
The things she sometimes did for love, she swore.
Ochako hastily fished inside her bag, looking for the protagonist of the night. A tiny mistletoe plant neatly tied with a red ribbon now sat in the palm of her open hand. She gave it the stink eye for bringing her so much anxiety in the moment.
“Aw, that’s so cute Ocha! You remember what you have to do, right?”
Ochako rolled her eyes at Mina. It was a simple kiss, not quantum physics. And yet, trying to give a hot take on probability amplitude sounded much more appealing than trying to fool the Bakugou Katsuki into smooching.
Then again, she had the chance to blame the kiss on a stupid, westernized tradition, while allowing to give in to something she has wanted for so long. Plus, when was the last time she kissed someone?
Maybe poor, blushing Awase that one time at a Halloween party during their second year. Spinning the bottle was a dangerous game to play when Tetsutetsu and Mina are the game hosts.
But there was also the possibility of Katsuki flat out pushing her away. Then again, Kirishima was here, which meant his best friend was deemed safe to kiss, right? Surely he wouldn’t let her walk to her own death... right? Clutching her plant behind her back, she gave the tiniest of steps towards Katsuki, who grew more impatient by the minute. She had to act quickly if she wanted to catch him by surprise before he stormed off to find Kirishima.
“Red rock, this is Pink Fluff. The objective is approaching the target. I repeat, the objective is approaching the target!”
Ochako rolled her eyes. “Mina, I’m right here . I can’t believe you have the nerve to act in cahoots with Kirishima, in front of me!”
“Sorry Uraraka, you are so not discreet. You’re even worse than with Deku, if we’re being honest here. Don’t be shy, go for it! You have my blessing, as Bakugou’s best bro!”
Ochako gasped, horrified. If Kirishima knew, then so did --
“Easy, girlie. He might be smart, but when it comes to love, he’s way more dense than me” he chuckled, flashing a toothy grin. “We got you. You have your mistletoe ready?”
Ochako raised the tiny plant, a pinky raised as usual. “Is this enough?”
“You ain’t making tea with that, darling, relax!” Mina laughed. She placed a hand on the small of her friend’s back, giving her a gentle push towards Katsuki, who was idly lounging on a couch by himself, probably wondering why Kirishima was taking so damn long to come back with drinks.
Maybe this wasn’t such a great idea….
“GO!”
At Mina’s sudden encouragement, Katsuki snapped his head to the side, looking straight into Ochako’s wide eyes, her hands already trembling behind her back. No escape now. No backing down. She was doing this for her laundry. And her internship. Definitely not for him, or his beautiful red eyes, or those arms….
“Hmm? Uraraka?”
Now or never, it’s just a kiss! You got this!
Ochako laughed nervously. “Um, would you look at that? Mistletoe!”
The tiny plant floated almost innocently, hovering over him. Katsuki was baffled. Was this really happening?
She had no time to react when she felt her lips over his. Gentle, and very, very soft. She could feel the underlying urgency of wanting him to move, to confirm the reciprocity. He pushed her slightly away.
“S-sorry Katsuki!” Oh, she fucked up, real bad, didn’t she?
But a smirk and an amused scoff brought her out of her frenzied thoughts.
“Hmm…..Not bad, Cheeks. But if you are up to, I can offer you training on that too… if you’re interested, that is.”
Oh, trust Bakugou to make this a challenge as well. She felt panic slowly being replaced by a newfound confidence.
“I will tell you Katsuki, I am the best apprentice you could ever dream to have!”
He smiled, this time, no amusement or sarcasm. It was a genuine smile.
“I know, Uraraka. You sure are”
