Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

For most people, their first memory should be lifechanging moment. One displaying the joy of childhood naivety with a melancholic twinge as they lament how bright life was back when they were shrouded in a warm blanket of ignorance, from the horrors of the world.

At 4 years old, Ochako Uraraka’s first memory began with the silent sobs of her mother, who’s lean body collapsed onto her knees. At four years old, Ochako knew nothing of the world except for her mother’s pain that day; she curled in on herself against the front door, looking to contain her anguish however her shaking hands that held the paper that, unknown to Ochako at the time, would shatter her perception of the world permanently.

“Mummy?” Ochako murmured as she peaked out of her hiding place behind the looming bedroom door separating her from her mother’s sobs, “What’s wrong?”

Her mother glanced up with parental instinct after hearing her child’s concerned tone. Wet eyes met with curious ones. Even at a young age Ochako knew this wasn’t normal for her mum; Her mouth wobbled as she avoided her daughter, tear tracks littered her usually jovial face, glassy eyes shone with fresh tears and her face flickered with too many complexities in its emotion to even name it. Her mumbling grew with fervent, picking up in pace but never volume.

Ochako couldn’t make out what her mother was doing. She couldn’t shake the distinct feeling that she had failed somehow. Had she done something wrong? Was she going to be told off? For a four-year-old, it was hard to comprehend the multitude of different emotions that appeared in her mind that day but a resounding feeling of failure toppled it all.

This isn’t how it’s supposed to be.

She didn’t understand it at the time but as the years passed, she grew to learn why her mother had been feverishly clutching that brown envelope and crumpled letter.

As the years of her childhood passed, she managed to hear mumbled conversations and snippets of scenes she had seen by leaving her bedroom door ajar when curiosity had got the better of her. From the safety of her duvet, many more aspects of her family’s issue were made clear by spying into their home’s dimly lit living room:

“You’ll have to find another part-time job soon.” Her father announced in the shadows that laid beyond her door.

“Can’t I take care of her and help out at the shop? I thought we had enough…” Her mother’s voice was hushed and thick with disappointment.

“The money just isn’t coming this month. The business isn’t doing too well and with the rise in the electricity bill this month…” A tired sigh cut off her father’s words.

“Do we have enough to cover taxes and the mortgage?”

“I’m not sure.”

“What about Ochako? How are we supposed to pay for her this month? Her birthday is coming up soon too.”

“I don’t know.”

“Have you tried asking your parents or sister—”

Ochako could only remember until that point as panic set in when her parents had confirmed her doubts. It was her fault somehow; could she be a burden? Was she not helping enough? Was there something she could do? The worst thing, she had lamented, was that she…knew she was completely useless to her parents. She hadn’t been the cause of the problem, at least she had hoped, however she knew whatever she was doing wrong was only making their problems worst.

At ten years old, you shouldn’t be contemplating how much of a burden you were to your parents but Ochako wasn’t your usual ten-year-old anyway. When she contemplated the issue, the doubts and ugly truths seemed to enable the observation skills in her mind. She had noticed multiple details that only supported her mental argument: her father’s ambling every time the post arrived, her mother’s-tired eyes from working horrendous hours for poor pay and, for Ochako, the worst had to be the fake plastic like smiles they presented her with whenever they breached the topic of money.

So as soon as her parents would let her, she volunteered to help out work out at the family business. Reluctantly, they agreed but wouldn’t let her work her life away for business. She couldn’t stay out relaxing as long as it cut out most of the time she could be working. Those nights she sat sun-dozed and sweaty under the shade of an oak, forgetting about her family’s issues (as selfish as it was), were a thing of the past. Despite that, still, it never felt like what she did was enough. The hunger to become better was still prevalent in her mind. Young Ochako had wrongly assumed in turn for losing her childhood fun, her family would go back to normal. She hadn’t known what exactly that was, truthfully but a child’s mind is wont to dream. Instead, her efforts had been ignored: Her mother kept up the fake persona, her father grew more reclusive from her and Ochako tentatively added another weight to the stack of guilt growing in her mind.

Years passed when yet another night of her mother’s muffled wails from the other side of her looming door came by. Every once in a while, a soft hiccup interrupted barely audible sobs. Despite the quiet nature of them, they shattered any chance of sleep Ochako was about to get.

As every thirteen-year-old did at that age, she found herself down a rabbit hole at around 3am. She researched different ways to make money and how to help someone. The two searches coincided in one matching result:

Heroism. Something that had completely passed her mind until this singular moment. It had been absurd to Ochako; how could she be a figure children could aspire to be? How could she be a hero that saves people when she couldn’t even help her own family with money issues? She had an interesting quirk, at least that’s what she had always been assured of, but did she have the skill to get into a highly regarded hero school? Ochako severely doubted it.

However, the money that heroes made? Well, the salary was unparalleled compared to all other careers available. It was more stable than celebrity work, less specialised than healthcare and was miles more interesting than politics or law. The only other way she could ever make that amount of money was to source it illegally which was absurd—she hated scammers and the like that preyed on the unsuspecting working person.

Little thirteen-year-old Ochako slipped back into her bed that night beaming with hope that becoming a hero was all it stacked up to be; she could make enough money so her mother never had to hide her feelings, her father would finally spend time with her, she could use her gift to help tons of other people like her and (if she was lucky enough) she could find normality and happiness in the career. She vowed that even if she never became a hero, she would do what was best for helping her family.

It was a shame Ochako had lacked that childhood naivety. Maybe if she hadn’t experienced the hardship she did, she would have been able to grasp that normality by pursing different choices. Though, no matter your morals, you cannot admit that the path she eventually led wasn’t lifechanging.

Chapter Text

I’ve done it. I’ve actually done it. Really, she had just taken the first step in her heroic vow. Ochako was close to screaming to the rafters as she stared down eagerly at the letter from UA. I can save them. Finally, finally. Barely comprehensible thoughts flew in and out of her mind before she could catch them. Even her hands couldn’t seem to stay still; playing with the letter as she reread the words over and over again until they blended into mush.

“Congratulations on passing your practical and physical entrance exam. We are proud to offer you a place at UA high school and will be pleased to welcome you in April for your first year of training apart of the hero course.”

If there’s anything I can be proud of its my determination.

Confusion washed over her as droplets of water pattered onto the paper smudging the ink ‘hero’.Huh, that’s strange. It isn’t raining today. Not to mention she was in her house anyway. There had to be a leak of some sort.

God, Ochako, how dense are you? Her already rosy cheeks were warmer and noticeably wet. Her vision blurred. She was crying and she hadn’t noticed. Ochako had no memories of crying from anything other than an eating feeling of guilt in her heart. Of course, she wasn’t oblivious: Her friends cried, or she saw movies where the main girl cried when her confession of love was returned. Maybe she had just accepted that…well, she wasn’t a normal child by any means of the word.

Why should she waste someone’s time with her tears?

“Ochako, honey, are you alright? What have you got there?” Realising her child was sobbing, she rushed over to comfort her. Before her mother could embrace her, muttering her condolences into vacant ears, Ochako grinned. Her mother stuttered in her beeline path, reconsidering her decision. She thinks it’s bad news, would she not believe me?

“It’s my letter from UA…I’m going…UA…I’m going to become a hero, for you mum. And dad.” She raised her head, bangs shielding some of her sight, meeting her mother’s curious eyes. Ochako allowed her tears to fall unabashedly, half proud of her achievement and half relieved. Her words hadn’t (on surface level) seem heavy with commitment but now she was finally on the way to heroism. As a reminder, she would etch the words into her heart.

Her mother’s hollow eyes softened after Ochako pledged her heart. Why is she looking at me like that? Is that pity…or? Ochako wasn’t able to hide her face scrunching into confusion which in response her mother was quick to clarify, “Honey, you’ll be wonderful. I’m so glad you’re finally following your dreams now. You don’t need to help us out when you start the term. We’ll…we’ll cope, Ochako. Don’t you worry your pretty little head off about us, okay?”

Don’t…

…worry?

Her mum had no right to say that, of course Ochako would worry. She had never known a life where worry wasn’t resting dormant at the back of her consciousness, waiting to pounce at every turn. How was she supposed to ignore the whole reason that got her into the hero career path? Anger simmered beneath her tear-stricken face. She turned her gaze to the damp letter, creased due to her vice like grip, “I’ll try.”

Chatter cluttered the classroom on the start of their fifth week at U.A. The Monday had been a pleasant one for May; sun peaking its head out behind the wispy clouds and a crisp breeze flew through open windows as if to greet them.

Ochako adored the cool crisp weather over sweltering summers spent wading in her own sweat or shivering in layers upon layers of clothes. Not to mention, she had more free time in spring too due to the business having a dry patch during the season. I shouldn’t be grateful about that; it just makes me feel guiltier if anything. However -if Ochako was honest with herself- it felt nice every once in a while, to forget and pretend at teenage activities. Especially when the sun’s rays looked so sweet.

“So, Kirishima, why did you decide to become a hero?” Todoroki’s razor-edged voice cut through the din of miscellaneous small talk. Mostly as it was rare that Todoroki would ever deem a situation important enough to use his voice. Ochako was half certain the son of Endeavour had been a mute until he had told Bakugou to ‘Stop yelling, otherwise I’ll be the one needing hearing aids much earlier than I would wish.’ His voice had been harsh, disgust filled and all while insinuating he looked down on Bakugou. This very moment was just golden. Ochako was placing it in a mental hard drive especially since, in the aftermath, Kirishima had to hold back Bakugou from blowing the classroom to smithereens.

All subsequent interactions Ochako had with Todoroki, consisted of nodding, one word replies or the rare sentence that held as much emotion as a piece of cardboard. He hadn’t been bothered to make any meaningful connections with the class -yet. Ochako had assumed he was one of thoseupper-class brats who thought they held superiority simply because their parents were rich. Disgustingly rich.

If Ochako utterly despised a group of people (besides villains); it would be the corrupt rich class in society.

She knew it wasn’t exactly fair to stereotype Todoroki as one of those people since he was just a teenager -like herself. On the other hand, Todoroki hadn’t dispelled any of her assumptions…so she’d kept them. Others had done the same, a minority had tried like Momo and Kirishima (the class’ allocated social butterflies) whose experiments had mixed results. Bakugou threatened the guy but it surprisingly unaffected Todoroki, which concluded with Bakugou’s scowling features etched to one confusion. If Ochako had a death wish, she would have laughed in his face. Tsu had managed to snap a picture of it, which would end up in a class scrapbook if she had anything to say about it.

Though now, it seemed to Ochako, that he was actually making an effort to communicate verbally for once (or communicate at all). Strange, could the rich boy actually turn a new leaf?

Kirishima didn’t appear confused by the boy’s sudden personal question (unlike the rest around him); fidgeting by messing up his scarlet hair and eying Todoroki sheepishly, as if the boy were gifting him some grievous news, “Uh well it’s a…weird story, do you really want to know Todoroki? It’s not one of my manliest moments to display.”

Ochako was surprised to see Kirishima so…awkward? Logically, she knew this question would likely be hard going for anyone answer due to everyone’s’ different backgrounds and personalities. Currently, Uraraka and Tsu were splayed out on the floor against the wall hoping to catch cool air from the windows, Kirishima sat with his leg bouncing anxiously on a chair in front of them, Todoroki stood on Ochako’s side holding himself against the wall like he would fall without its assistance and Bakugou sat on a desk looking out of the window on Tsu’s side, unimpressed with the ‘extras’ conversations. 

“Yes.” Immediately, Todoroki replied which left the group a handful of students hooked onto the conversation: Kirishima, Tsu who sat near her, Iida was half listening in and half on sentry duty as class president, Bakugou, who was interestingly paying the conversation with patience and silence. Ochako herself noticed everyone else had fractured into many other groups (notably Kaminari, Mina and Sero looked to be entertaining Shinsou or torturing him, she wasn’t sure which action was more suitable for the scene). It was for the best, she concluded -since no matter how extroverted Kirishima came off- he would most certainly not be comfortable with sharing this story to all of the class.

“Where do I start…well like most of us here I’m assuming, I was inspired by a hero.” Nodding ensued from all save Todoroki and Ochako. Where exactly would she have found the time to obsess over a hero? Who didn’t even know her name? Yes, she would admit some with an interesting fighting style caught her eye. She hadn’t even thought of heroics as a viable career until researching the average salary. I’m supposed to be more passionate than this, whispered a meek voice from the depths of her mind. She shook her head in a futile attempt to silence it. The aim was to save her family from shattering, that was a reason as good as any.

“But I mean that’s not all to it…I wasn’t the most popular with my classmates in middle school. Naturally, when I tried to stop some bullies from picking on another unpopular kid, they just saw me as a better target. I let them. I knew I shouldn’t of. I just thought, ‘If they keep picking on me, they’re not picking on anyone else. No one but me has to get hurt.’ Considering that and my quirk made me more ideal to take the hits. It was the most logical decision back then.” Kirishima explained with his voice losing that sense of endless enthusiasm and swapped it for a softer tone. He avoided everyone’s’ concerned faces by directing his eyes down to the floor. Ochako wasn’t decided on whether she agreed with the boy’s actions or not; putting yourself at risk for the sake of others was noble in her eyes, it was heroic but must have been draining physically and mentally. At least Kirishima had been useful and actually saved people, the voice continued. It was partially right; her own attempts at saving her family ended inconclusively so far.

“I was about to give my dream up too, at one point. My fear incapacitated me at the worst moments. It was difficult to carry on when my peers stormed forward with such fearlessness that at the time. I never really understood. I still don’t sometimes. Before I did anything too drastic, I reminded myself of the reason I chose this path: to save people. That, I guess, is why I’m sat in this classroom having his conversation.” A self-conscious chuckle escaped as he surveyed the group gauging their reactions. Iida and Tsu were quick to commend Kirishima with compliments, Todoroki was thinking about this along with herself. Can we stop being similar? It’s not helping me dislike him.

It was strange to process. The information she had received was completely contrary to what she had previously known about Kirishima up until this point; he came off as a confident people person who you could come to with any minor grievance. Learning that hadn’t always the case: humanised him. A tad. In Ochako’s eyes, he had a lot of traits that Ochako envied, so it was difficult to comprehend in a few moments. She had never considered that her other classmates were just as complex as herself. Had he truly considered to give up that teaming potential just because of nasty kids?

Ochako wondered how she could ever become a hero when Kirishima was still standing and grew from his unjust experiences. He wasn’t going to be the only one either. Ochako came to the conclusion that she held much more respect for her classmate after his story. Another weight would be added to her rocky mountain of guilt after acting so short sighted.

A red eyed stare caught her contemplative gaze, Ochako’s heart dropped in her chest. Katsuki Bakugou. Ba-ku-gou. She cursed under her breath. Ochako wondered whatever she had done in her past life to deserve the incoming storm. She winced as the explosive boy moved from his brooding position to a slouched one facing the general direction of the group. His eyes shone with fiery fury, directed at her for a few moments but it became clear who his main targets were: Kirishima and Todoroki. His rage filled glare contained an emotional twinge (inwardly she laughed at that, Bakugou emotional? His emotional range was around that of a chihuahua). Then again, she had just recently concluded that Kirishima was more complex than she had ever expected him to be. The same went for Todoroki, showing his converted curious nature rather than hiding underneath his icy persona. So, what is Bakugou actually upset over?

Belatedly, she noticed something had changed during the conversation; Bakugou had been listening. Bakugou was the worst hit by this discovery.

“Why’d you bring this fucking topic up, Icy Hot? Huh? Don’t you know its fucking rude to be prying into other people’s shit? If you don’t apologise right now; you can forget about heroics while I MURD—" Pointed words in Bakugou’s gruff voice was as harsh as a butcher’s blade. Unintentionally or not, they were heavy with emotion. Anger (being the predominant one as per usual) but another laid beneath that was cleverly masked behind the yelling and ferocity. Bakugou now, intended to bore holes into Todoroki’s head until he developed a laser eye quirk to damage him. Ochako was about to let out an amused chuckle, though she was certain that she would come under Bakugou’s terrifying scrutiny for that.

Rage wasn’t an emotion she had directed to her often, she was wont to keep it that way.

“It’s perfectly fine. Bakugou calm down, okay?” Kirishima seemed to have noticed this slight change in attitude by trying to soothe his boiling rage down to its usual simmering heat. He moved to touch Bakugou’s shoulder for reassurance but his classmate flinched away before it could reach him. The red-haired boy added a fleeting chuckle before Bakugou bristled again,

“Don’t you dare tell me what I can or can’t do, Shitty Hair. I swear or I’ll—"Yet again, Bakugou was cut off before he could make another demand or threat (depending how you saw it).

“I didn’t mean to hurt you by questioning you, Kirishima. My apologies.” Visually matching his words, Todoroki slumped down the wall until he was sat down with his knees tucked into his chest. At this angle, Ochako thought if she searched for long enough, she could make out the assortment of cogs turning in his mind. For her minimal interaction with him, she had managed to figure out this expression: On first glance, Ochako surmised it was a survival tactic.  One meant to intimidate all from approaching using his contempt filled face. The conclusion, despite the chance of that being half-true, was dropped for a more logical one on further interactions. He made it far too often to be a tactical move. An easier answer, she had found, that it was a by-product of his introverted nature.

Not too dissimilar to Bakugou.

She let out a lengthy sigh at the mind melting complexity of her classmates, “I hate to admit Bakugou of all people—” Only then did Ochako realise she had cut Bakugou off for third time in conversation, as his headache inducing shout bit through the breezy air,

“THE FUCK? ROUND FACE AGAIN?”

“—but he does have a point. Why did you bring it up?” Ochako winced under Bakugou’s piercing glare as she ploughed her point through his aggressive grumblings. So long for not being on the receiving end his relentless rage Ochako… She opted to fixate on Todoroki as he made ‘the face’ while he failed to avoid her curious eyes. If there is anything I have over this group, it’s my determination. Ochako supressed a small smile as she reminisced being showered in compliments on her hardworking ethic in her younger years. His mismatched eyes did a survey of their surroundings before succumbing to her insistent tones.

“My…friend mentioned something to me about giving up on his heroic ideas. I couldn’t exactly comfort him, so I wanted to ask you since you seemed the most similar to him in your disposition.” And was the rich boy actually embarrassed by this fact? So Shouto Todoroki, had made a friend who was comparable to Kirishima? What alternative universe had she been transported to today?

“Todoroki has a friend, ribbit?” Tsu piped in, always reliable and speaking her mind and (most of the time) Ochako’s too.

“According to him, at least. I’ve never had…had…” Todoroki’s sentence trailed off due to embarrassment at what he was admitting, quite loudly to a group of acquaintances at best.

Luckily, Todoroki had Bakugou to relieve him of the awkward silence (even if Bakugou would never see it as a favour for his rival since he was just butting in), “We get it Icy Hot. You hate the world and the world hates you

—join the fucking club.” Ochako couldn’t help but cackle at that along with the rest of the group at the expense of Bakugou’s embarrassment (his protests of “HEY EXTRAS SHUT IT!” could be heard from miles away).

When Kirishima had found his breath, he wiped his teary eyes between breathy laughs, “Don’t worry Todoroki, it was a good question, if a little bit of a sore point…” He made a note of searching for Todoroki’s eyes and lowing the enthusiastic tone in his voice, “…I hoped it helped. What about you?”

“I don’t get a choice in the matter of my career.” The curt reply came as expected but there were bitter shards hidden between the spaces in that sentence, “I want to help people with my mother’s quirk and honour her legacy rather than waste her quirk just to…”

But not his father’s quirk? There was more to that than Todoroki was letting on. Everyone had understood the words left unsaid. Ochako would not be the one to question or dig any deeper into that mystery, no matter how much she wanted to. Luckily, that’s what Tsu was for,

“You were considering not becoming a hero, ribbit? Especially with your quirk…” Tsu’s monotone voice filled the gap that Todoroki’s had left in the room. A “tsk” left his mouth at the mention of his quirk with an added roll of his eyes spoke louder than his curt responses ever would.

The silence in the group confirmed clear, unspoken, agreement to leave that topic in the dust considering Todoroki’s growing discontentment with the conversation.

“That just leaves you, Uraraka.” Tsu broke the heavy blanket of silence between them by directing attention towards Ochako. All eyes were drawn to her. Red, green, blue and mismatched.

“Huh? Leaves me with what?” She let the words tumble out of her mouth before she could will herself to hold her tongue. Hadn’t they just been grilling Todoroki? Ochako would much prefer testing his temper over answering Tsu’s next question. She didn’t hate her classmate but she would much rather him feel the heat of their stares than herself. Whatever this was it was not going anywhere Ochako would be okay with.

Kirishima stepped in to save her more confusion but mostly to cover Tsu’s bluntness in a way, “She means…well I think everyone else’s reasons for becoming heroes are quite self-explanatory: Iida and Todoroki are from hero families, Tsu wants to protect people and Bakugou wants to be Number One Hero one day. But…”

“I don’t see where this is going.” She lied through her teeth all while avoiding Tsu’s vacant stare. Ochako felt as if she were put under a microscope in that moment. Any careless stare or micro expression was certain to her downfall if Tsu took enough notice.

And those eyes…Those eyes were waiting to pounce at her façade and cling onto every snippet of information she gave away.

Tsu’s wide eyes fluttered for a moment before adapting to a pointed stare akin to that a detective uses in hopes of a clear answer to the crime, “What about you Uraraka? Why did you decide to take a shoot at heroism?”

The question hit like a bullet in her chest.

What would they say if I told them my true reason? How would my classmates react to my shallow intentions? Money, money and more money was all she wanted (wished for) to fix the crack between her and her parents. A crack growing ever wider the longer she took to fix. Could she risk such information? Or would it only form a chip in her relationships with the group? They would look down on her. Call her cowardly. Whispered taunts would occur behind her back. Maybe she could deal with the risk of those happening but she certainly couldn’t deal with melancholic expressions they were bound to give her. She had only met these people fairly recently. She couldn’t lose them to an issue so insignificant as this. The guilt of her disingenuity would weigh down on her however another stone wouldn’t make a huge difference to her growing pile. What they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them…

Right?

“Ah…same as you guys, I guess. I just wanted to save…” She heard her own voice shake with false positivity and a seeping nervousness from her mind. Save what? People? Her friends? Her family? Or herself? Did she even need saving?

Or was she even worth the effort?

Chapter Text

A lot changed after the incident at USJ: occurring the same week of their hero chat. A bone-chilling shock to the system. Finding The League of Villains launching a planned attack against her class, which they had all suffered from.

Thirteen and Eraserhead had both been skirted off to hospital, All Might had looked worse for wear and their own explosive Katsuki Bakugou. According to Kirishima, while in combat he had been hit with a quirk that had heightened his senses. This may have been uncomfortable but bearable for most, if you managed to get over the shock of the quirk activating. However, in distress Bakugou had let off a building-levelling explosion against the villains.

Needless to say, he too had been kept in hospital for severe hearing damage.

The rest of the class had managed to accumulate an adequate number of cuts and bruises but would physically recover from it. Mentally though, it took a toll on them. They were a part of the generation that grew up in an era of peace, yet their first excursion as budding heroes resulted in the major injuries of Pro heroes they admired and one classmate of their own. A normal soul would give up and call it quits; well, lucky the rabble of Class 1-A were far from normality at this point.

In some ways it was good: it brought even the most antisocial of the class to open up. The event had forced them to grow closer to each other so that if there was a next time, they would be much more prepared.

Ochako had sincerely hoped there would not be a next time. For her classmate’s sake and her own. Too bad luck was never on her side.

Speaking of her classmates, she had observed the splitting of friend groups (despite them all being amiable with each other) which she was not surprised in the slightest about. The groups consisted of: the aptly named “Chaos & Crew” who contained Yaoyorozu and Jirou who tried to contain the chaos that were Sero, Mina and Kaminari. Shinsou too was a part of their chaotic circle, even though it wasn’t as obvious, he was the mastermind behind their annoying operations. Jirou and Yaoyorozu occasionally spent time with Iida and Ochako for study nights in the U.A library as an escape from their parental roles in the group.

The next group consisted of Aoyoma, Tokoyami, Hagakure, Koda, Shoji, Sato and Ojirou. They had not been assigned a group name (though Bakugou was apt apply the moniker, “extras squared”). Hagakure and Aoyoma provided extroverted energy acting as the troublemakers of that group. Shoji often had to reign them in from doing morally questionable things in the name of fashion. Tokoyami surprisingly endorsed their bad habits even sometimes going so far as to join them on their escapades. Koda and Sato were the groups parents (since every group somehow had them). Ochako enjoyed their company a fair amount but sometimes it would get too overwhelming or underwhelming, knowing the antisocial nature of many in the group.

Then there was her group the “Science experiments personified” which was a fun mess of personalities that she wouldn’t change for the world:

Kirishima is the heart of group; unknowingly to him, the other members had sworn that if he ever got hurt, they’d make sure whoever hurt him would never sleep comfortably again. He held a positive dynamic with everyone in the group: somehow managing to tame Bakugou’s undiagnosed anger issues, discussing classwork with Iida when he didn’t quite understand, becoming the unofficial therapist for Tsuyu after opening up about their problems and he had tried to help Ochako spend more of her free time relaxing than just training and revision. Unfortunately, Ochako was as immovable as a mountain on that front.

Iida is the responsible one who glues them together, always checking they were on top of their homework and somehow had the dedication to collect all of their classmate’s numbers onto his phone (even Aizawa’s and Present Mic’s which Ochako was certain their homeroom teacher wouldn’t have let up without waging mental warfare). He had strange yet endearing way of encouragement that was in a similar vein to Kirishima’s. He was also blessed with basic mechanic and tech skills that, Ochako would swear blind, saved her life on multiple occasions. She took a guess they were the kind of skills you grew up learning when you had a family that prestigious.

Tsuyu is the constant realist of the group. She would tell you how it was, un-sugar coated. In her own ways, she could be surprisingly supportive. Tsuyu had become Ochako’s closet friend from the group; she wasn’t very social so when she had something to say it held importance. Tsu was reliable like Iida but not so much of a glutton for sticking to the rules, she noticed the finer details (which was a thing the rest of the group sorely lacked bar Todoroki) but her insatiable hunger for information grinded Ochako’s mental gears. (They were eerily similar in that regard). She was an all-round lovely presence and that was something Ochako could admire in her peer.

Todoroki and Bakugou were dubbed the most chaotic, personality wise. Ochako would’ve never thought they would rather fight each other to the brink of death rather than help each other with normal advice but…hell was she wrong. Bakugou’s explosive nature contrasted heavily with Todoroki’s frosty glances; though the group knew that wasn’t all to them.

Bakugou could be calm (once in a blue moon) in serious occasions but as they all learnt each other’s habits, they soon picked up that Bakugou was all bark and no bite. He didn’t actually hate them because contrasted with days where he was intentionally spiteful, it was nothing. Kirishima (somehow, a way Ochako would never begin to guess how) could keep him from working himself up over petty grievances (which must have saved the school thousands in property damage, though it wasn’t like they didn’t have the funds to do so), Iida managed to keep him out of unnecessary fights with Shinsou with his threat of parental disappointment (Ochako shivered just thinking about the so-called death glare), Tsuyu gave him flat advice when he needed an unbiased or unafraid opinion and Ochako sparred with him regularly to keep his ego in check.

(For example, after the news of Bakugou’s new condition: in which they had learnt that due to his reckless behaviour he was made to visit anger management therapy and sign language classes while waiting to get his hearing aids. He wasn’t deaf but he had sustained high frequency hearing loss so they wanted to help in any way they could. Iida had organised a group meet up where Tsuyu had proposed they learn some sign language (with the help of Present Mic) to aid Bakugou with his return to school. All of the group agreed to the idea, staying late after classes had long ended with Aizawa and Mic.

After a week or so, they got down enough of the basics to help somewhat in his transition back to school life. Bakugou had rolled up to class the day after he was discharged from hospital early, as per usual before the incident. The group had arrived earlier than him. They stood around his desk, offering an assortment of spicey flavoured chocolate and greeted him back in sign.

Bakugou face contorted into an expression of bewilderment for a few moments while they held a bated breath to find out whether he would be appreciative of the effort or brush it off.

Flustered, he signed back ‘Thanks’ shoving past the group to sit at his chocolate covered desk. No one seemed to be able to hide the large grins plastered over their faces (Todoroki lilted his head in a small smirk (which was the closest to a grin they were going to get from the boy) and Kirishima chuckled in pure happiness.)

All in all, Bakugou had come to need them and they had come to need Bakugou.

Todoroki, after the first encounter, came to slowly open up around them as he grew more comfortable. Though Ochako wasn’t too infused by his readily inclusion, he got along well with Tsuyu and Kirishima so she decided to be selfless and put her own prejudices aside for once. Surprisingly he had fit into the group quite nicely: he had a dark sense of humour (which often came out in short comments out of seemingly nowhere). Begrudgingly, she admitted, he was enjoyable company when you needed a break from loud personalities (like Bakugou or Iida) and Ochako took some joy in finding that he really, really didn’t know how to communicate with other teenagers in class.

(For example, one day out of the blue Todoroki walked up to Kaminari’s desk while himself, Ochako, Tsuyu and Shinsou were studying for a History test.  He spoke with a louder voice than necessary for a classroom, “Kaminari, could you please stop looking at Shinsou like…that. We’re trying to study.”

“Huh-wait looking…Looking at him like what?” Kaminari uttered dumbfoundedly. Sero snorted behind him along with Mina which he gave them a glare for.  

“Like you want to take him out of this room and snog him senseless.”

Needless to say, everyone in the class lost it. Wheezes, belly laughs, chuckles, giggling: the works. The remark caused Kaminari to splutter as his face grew more and more red while Shinsou looked like he wanted to be put out of his misery as he banged his head against the desk. Todoroki was the only person in class unbothered by his statement, looking utterly confused at his friends. In the end, Aizawa had to threaten the class with a Sex-Ed lesson to get them to shut up.)

His relationship with Bakugou made Ochako laugh at the insanity of it all. Likelier than not, they would bicker; Bakugou insulting him and Todoroki throwing back a thinly veiled insult which always manage to rile Bakugou up to some degree. Ochako knew despite their irritation they enjoyed each other’s company. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have found them hanging out in the library after school. They would never dare admit it to her face if she questioned them. It was easy seeing their plethora of shared interests as an answer to why they should become more amiable towards one another. Seemingly, they enjoyed the bickering more than acting like actual friends.

It wasn’t a normal friendship by any means but then again, Ochako thought, who even is normal in this class?

In middle school, she’d had many friends and rivalries alike but they’d never felt like the ones she had at U.A. Everyone here had such an intensity to them expressed in many ways. Even if they weren’t known to have a boisterous personality, there was this extraordinary factor that shone through the cracks of their quiet masks.

…Do I have that?

Even though Ochako knew everyone in Class 1-A were more often than not on the strange side; Todoroki had been pushing that line a little further than the rest. Ever since the USJ incident, he always disappeared halfway through lunch not sighted until their next lesson. Now, Ochako was all for letting people have their privacy but she had thought this was a bit extreme. Just where was he heading off to?

“Anyone know where Half-and-half wanders off to every damn lunch? He’s starting to piss me off with his bitchfaced antics.” Bakugou shouted over the volume of the lunch hall. Tsuyu signed ‘I don’t know’ which Bakugou gave a short nod in understanding. Ochako weirdly admired the fact that something as serious as permanent hearing damage wouldn’t put a damper on his language or temper. She couldn’t decide whether she would be extremely disturbed or thoroughly relieved if he grew to be more accommodating. She suspected she leaned towards the former: creeped out as all hell. Imagining a sweet version of Bakugou was truly cursed

“I was just wondering that too.” Ochako sighed, relief evident in her voice, knowing she wasn’t the only observant one in their group. Todoroki had been sort of different too but she wasn’t sure if her other friends saw that. He was quicker to pay attention, making an effort to respond their mindless wonderings and somehow softer when one of the group would rant to him (where before he made no effort to conceal how bored out of his mind he was).

“Yeah, this is Todoroki we’re talking about. Where could he possibly be going? Not very manly to go sneaking off without letting the gang know.” Kirishima ranted and signed sharing his eye contact between Ochako and Bakugou. It was a very Todoroki thing to do, hiding his personal details that was, though he let on his true meanings without saying it or simply implied it with few words. Maybe it’s a posh person thing?

“Beats me. He’s too secretive about it to be something normal. Though I wouldn’t expect normal from him either. It must be something interesting, right?” Ochako rested her head in her hands after pushing her tray to the centre of the table. Iida was quick to clean it up due to his inability to rest his arms at all times. She glanced over the rest of the table to see her friends in varying degrees of disarray: Tsu was in thought as she brought her hand to her chin, Iida was openly frowning while cleaning, Kirishima wore a slightly crestfallen expression and Bakugou looked, for lack of better words, fucking pissed.

Yet it was Kirishima that announced a decent idea, “Welp. You know what we have to do then.” No, I don’t, Ochako thought as it would have come out too mean for her usual self if she had muttered it. Maybe she was picking up a few unsavoury habits from her classmates.

“Spy work, Ribbit.” Tsuyu nodded which began the gears turning in Ochako’s head.

“Hell yes! Let’s go follow him tomorrow. It’s great hero training and we get to figure out what’s up with our anti-socialite.” Ochako smiled excitedly. Finally, some interesting and real-life spy work (All might’s mission workshops just didn’t cut the mark since the stakes were non-existent) that happened to be completely harmless! At least, she hoped Todoroki wouldn’t freeze them to death on account of their fledgling friendship.

Kirishima slung an arm around Bakugou’s shoulders which caused the blonde to spew forth his bank of curses directed at the red head but made no attempt to physically remove it himself. Ochako let out a giggle as she discreetly knocked shoulder’s with Tsu to show her the scene. Tsu made eye contact and smiled for her before directing her gaze back to Iida. Ochako felt her cheeks heat up considerably and tried to hide her cheeks further in her hands. I really don’t deserve that smile.

She followed Tsu’s glance to Iida: finding him staring the group down and eventually caving, “It doesn’t necessarily violate any class rules so…I would like to join to make sure you won’t commit any misconduct while training your spy skills.” Wild chopping hands and a collective “HELL YES” from all but Tsu. This collected the attention of the other groups of 1-A who decided an eye roll and smirk was a fitting return for the disturbance.

“Hey, it’ll be like that ancient tv show that my grandma showed me: Look out Todoroki the…Mystery Gang is on the job!” Kirishima proclaimed then paused to figure out how to sign what he had just said. It took him a few tries but after his 4^th attempt Bakugou barked out a thunderous laugh.

“Cheesy, fucking nerd, Shitty hair. You’re a shitty nerd.” Shouts of objection from the red head filtered back into their normal discussions and bickering for the rest of lunch.

The next day was where the fun really began.

Ochako sometimes wondered at times like these how detrimental to hero society it would be if their group had turned to villainy instead: they all managed to act as if nothing was amiss and successfully lured the half and half boy into a false sense of security. When the clock stuck halfway through lunch, Todoroki slinked away, wandering down the hall out of the cafeteria with such speed that Ochako contemplated whether he was trying to re-enact the Cinderella tale. All they needed now was for him to lose an icy heel for them to follow.

They gave it a few moments until he was out of sight before they jump started The Plan which was the simplest: follow the guy and see where he goes from a distance. However, knowing their group, if they barged into their mission with a vague outline, it would end horrendously. Most likely with Todoroki capturing them with ice.

Iida and Tsuyu took up the rear to catch any classmates that may decide to snitch on their plan. Tsuyu’s bluntness and Iida’s strict rule following should dismiss any doubts of there being any misconduct. Then in the front, her and Kirishima (with Bakugou following closely behind) followed the icy boy through corridors of UA.

As the gang followed, Todoroki’s quickened footsteps lead them on a meandering journey outside of the Heroic course block, which they weren’t familiar with as they tended not to share classes with other courses.

None of them had expected this route when Todoroki skipped lunch, Ochako’s own theory was that he was getting more practice at the gym with his quirk (or some other activity that wealthy kids did) but they had passed the path to the gym ages ago. Maybe Todoroki had known they were following since he was leading them out into uncharted territory? It was a thought easily disregarded: he would have changed his body language or turned around by now.

Ochako could say with 100% certainty that none of them had bet the following events would occur:

Their journey took them to the Support course building which made Ochako envy Bakugou for a few horrid minutes: loud screeching of saws, whirling of drills and miscellaneous genres of music played over each other to create a horrid mash up that would be the cause of a horrific headache when she recollected on the incident later. Her and Kirishima hung their head in their hands, complaining about not having a muting quirk while Bakugou had the downright nerve to shoot a shit-eating smirk at them. Enjoying their pain.

“Be careful or I’ll be meeting you outside school for a beat down, explodo-boy.” She murmured which he couldn’t have caught otherwise there would have been a slew of screeches from not only the running saws this time. He gave her a dubious look as Kirishima signed ‘Let’s go.’

The three of them hid behind the turn to another corridor when Todoroki paused outside one of the studios (which surprisingly wasn’t one of the ear-bleedingly loud ones) as they were able to pick out the sound of knocks on metal.

“What the hell is Icyhot doing here?”

“Maybe he’s getting his hero costume altered, bro.”

“Icyhot conveniently leaving at the same fucking time every single lunch. Just to fix a baggy crotch or a hole in the leg? I doubt that asshole would even bother dragging his rich ass here to get that shit done.” Agreed.

“Hell yeah, Bakubro! You’re onto something I’m sure of it.”

“Of course, I am. Who the fuck do you take me for, Shitty hair? Also, don’t think I didn’t notice that you said more than you signed. I have no fucking idea what that third word was but I know you said ‘Baku’ something or other. If I find out you’ve been pulling shit over my eyes and humiliating me—"

“Shut up. Look.” She nudged the two of them as she saw the studio door open. Bakugou stared at her confused but begrudgingly followed her order. Even though she hadn’t signed it, she had noticed an increase in his ability to lipread Kirishima (if not perfect it was better than it had been before the incident) but he had harder difficulty with her voice it seemed due to the high frequencies of it.

She ushered the two to keep back as she poked her head around the corner. There in the flesh, Todoroki stood patiently as an electronic metal door opened outwards causing a painfully high screech. She scrunched her face in discomfort as her red headed companion softly yelped at the sound which must have made Bakugou believe that the two were verging on insanity. He mumbled threats that mentioned something along the lines of shutting up because nothing was wrong.

She titled her head in attempt at gauging better view but to her dismay the metal door was blocking most of the mystery person’s appearance. If only I could get closer… Despite this, she could see Todoroki clearly as she watched him backup to engage in conversation with the figure. It was at times like these where she envied others’ quirks: if Jirou was around she would have been perfect for this mission as they could have followed the conversation effortlessly using her quirk. Instead, she was stuck with her friends who had battle orientated quirks (not to mention they were both so, so loud) and her own. Her own could be useful but she wasn’t certain of how to apply it to her current situation.

“Who’s he talking to? Can you see who?” Kirishima whispered excitedly to one side of her which gave her a small fright. She drew her eyes away from spying on Todoroki to inspect what her friends were up to. Bakugou shook Kirishima indicating him to ‘explain’ and Kirishima repeated his questions to Ochako in sign with muttered apologies for being ditzy.

Bakugou ‘tsked’ while considering his questions, “What does it matter who Icyhot’s talking to? Probably just another extra which conceals his ulterior motive. Round face, keep watching his actions not the dumb small talk he’s having.” His crimson gaze met her own indicating she had little options but to continue observing the scene under his instructions.

However, she wasn’t so sure Bakugou was correct on his theory. She picked up scraps of their conversation, “Sorry about the uh noise…I hope I’m not wasting….unfortunately…...we could always….” The mystery person’s voice was unusual, sounding unsure but generally positive. Todoroki’s replies were as blunt as ever however not once did he use his signature ‘look’, which had to have been a record. If the person that he was speaking to wasn’t annoying him (despite their apologies and rambling) that was enough evidence for Ochako that whoever this person was wasn’t unimportant at all.

She relayed some snippets back to the duo without tearing her eyes away from the conversation. A gasp left Kirishima who had apparently come across an idea, Ochako was debating internally whether it would be a useful one or not, “Well what if he has girlfriend? It is a possibility, right?”

“Ehhh? Icyhot? Girlfriend? Right. Very fucking likely,” Bakugou muttered sarcastically from behind her, “You checked if your quirk damages your brain recently, Shitty hair? Do we know the same prick? That’s the only solution for you spouting such bullshit.” He grumbled mean-spiritedly while this time remembering to keep his voice low. However, since this was Bakugou, even his whispers were loud which defied the whole point of whispering. Ochako rolled her eyes, I should have brought Tsu instead. At least she can keep quiet.

“Hey! I was just saying it could be likely because of how popular he is with the girls in our class and around school. No need to be jealous.” She guessed Kirishima didn’t sign out the last bit but had forgotten that Bakugou could in fact lipread now. The next seconds resulted in a bout of cursing and shushing on her part; trying to keep the both of them from blowing their cover.

When she eventually sorted out the mild dispute, she turned back to find their targets in the same position as before but…

…did he just smile?

It was a blink and you’ll miss it type situation but Ochako knew she saw an upwards lilt to Todoroki’s mouth and a dare say pleased look on his usually neutral face. This was groundbreaking. She hastily nudged her companions to have a look which led them to be similarly dumbfounded.

“Uhh…right. Regarding the girlfriend hypothesis, there’s a slight problem. That door is blocking my view of the person so I can’t exactly figure out their gender…” She left her sentence hanging as she pushed her hair into a low ponytail. She had an idea but it was slightly questionable in all senses of the word. Simply, a hypothesis of something her quirk could do. It was the only one she had so she might as well try it, “I have a great idea: Hold my leg.” The duo looked at her like she had gone insane (Bakugou gave her another dubious glance) but Kirishima followed her orders.

She took a deep breath and activated her quirk on herself. She floated higher until she had reached the limit due to being anchored by Kirishima so she wouldn’t float into the ceiling. From her height, she could easily see over her door to the studio which gratefully gave her more pieces of the puzzle to solve.

“Looks like they’re just talking at the door. From above, it looks like they have green hair and the person’s wearing a support course boilersuit so it’s difficult to tell if they are a girl since the uniform for the tech labs is unisex. They’re shorter than Todoroki,” she muttered down to Kirishima who passed the information along to Bakugou.

Fortunately, as she was swaying to get a better look, the two moved to a spot where Ochako could see them without the robust metal door looming in the way of them. The support course student was male presenting: unruly natural green curls messily framed his face which was spattered with freckles all over. His boilersuit was smattered with paint, soot and oil and he held a type of handsaw like it was harmless. All in all, his appearance was endearing and in Ochako’s opinion, he was cute. Maybe she just had a thing for green haired individuals…

“Oh look! They’re a boy, green hair, grey boilersuit and I think green eyes. Definitely a support course student judging by how messy he is. That’s all I can tell.” She relayed her observations down and brought her concentration back to her friends. Kirishima nodded along with the information though it was clear he hadn’t come into contact with a student that matched those features.

Defeated, he sighed, “Looks like I was wrong Bakugou. You okay there, dude?” His change in tone drew their attention towards Bakugou who looked…well. His eyes held a panicked realisation, shocked would be too mellow of a word to describe how horrified of an expression his face shifted into. It was nothing like the Bakugou they had grown accustomed to.

She looked to the blonde then the redhead uncertain how to proceed with Bakugou essentially being frozen. She would have guessed it was the by-product of a quirk though nothing had significantly changed to indicate this being a quirks fault. Why then? Does he know the person? If he did, then whatever happened?

Maybe she was just being too presumptuous but it was an abnormal reaction to an acquaintance. She wasn’t about to find out in a situation where they could easily be caught by passing students. Never mind the fact that Bakugou could explode her into smithereens for having the guts to ask. Kirishima seemed to be signing to him while trying to rile an action or movement out of their usually short-tempered friend. 

“I think Todoroki is giving him bento and they’re going back into the studio together. Damn, I wish we got a better look but at least that’s something!” She sighed in frustration. Ochako would have loved to grasp just an ounce more information on Todoroki’s secret friendship. Maybe she could have figured out how Bakugou was involved with him too. The yarn of the mystery was beginning to unravel and like a fish to bait on a line: she was hooked.

Her desire to continue the mission burned but she had to remind herself to place it on the back burner to her friends’ issues. The fact that she even had to remind herself to do that was a worry but…

If I get blasted at least I tried.

She released herself from her quirk. Falling to the floor, she resisted the urge to keel over and vomit, “B-Bakugou? Are you okay? I noticed your reaction to—"She began to sign out her words (with little finesse) but even the vague mummering of her voice in Bakugou’s ears must have aggravated him.

“I’m fine, Round face. Positively fucking fine. I don’t need your shitty help.” Crimson eyes bore into the ground avoiding her eyes, in clear contemplation and not befitting of his awful personality at all. Ochako hoped this was temporary. Some serious action would have to be taken if it wasn’t because…god she couldn’t deal with another friend turning out more complex than they seemed. She had enough on her plate already.

“Whatever you say.”

Chapter Text

I’m not meddling, I’m not meddling, I’m not meddling, a mantra repeated over and over again like a popular pop song until the words sounded foreign even when echoing in her own mind. She kept in time with her words: drowning out the background noise of her feet tapping on the concrete path towards the Support block.

She paused outside of the entrance, giving herself a well-earned breather from the running she had done. Oh, who was she trying to kid? Of course, she was meddling. Purposely visiting Todoroki’s mystery friend, the one he was so desperately trying to hide. She blamed it on the desire for knowledge: seeping into her veins, white hot determination that couldn’t be quenched.

She really had tried to supress it. Tried and horrendously failed. Sounds like everything else I attempt.

The mystery is afoot so it’s only natural I attempt to connect all the points on the corkboard, right? , her treacherous mind whispered back in retaliation.

Bakugou was in some way connected to the green haired mystery judging by the abnormal rection, of which could be the reason Todoroki was hiding his interactions in the first place. More information was necessary for her pseudo investigation to continue.

After she had informed the rest of the gang about their findings at the Support course block that day, they all collectively decided to cease investigation for a plethora of reasons:

1. Todoroki would eventually catch on to their antics. None of them were all too willing to lose their limbs to frostbite just yet.
2. Bakugou’s demeanour had changed post-mission, if only for a day. It was as if he were in some unshakable state of mourning, grieving or what Ochako named “un-Bakugou behaviour”. Eventually, he had reverted back to his normal self (after a session with his therapist) but witnessing a key member of their group off-kilter had disrupted their precarious balance ever so slightly.
3. Kirishima, Tsuyu and Iida were satisfied by the information they had found out about their friend’s rendezvous with a support student. Consequently, they had left the topic content with what little knowledge they had, especially after Bakugou’s sulking.

Giving up was not an option for Ochako, it was the most detestable action to take. Never in her life had she willingly given up on something she knew had merit; she wasn’t about to now either.

If there’s anything I can be proud of its my determination.

Technically, she was in fact, meddling BIG time but what her friends didn’t know couldn’t hurt them. It wasn’t like she was up to anything remotely nefarious. Just some snooping. I’ll ask a few questions and leave. Then I’ll be satisfied.

After the bell had rung signalling the end of the school day, she had made a sprint for it, trying not to drop her costume briefcase along the way. Though now, she was trying not to lose herself in the practically endless support block hallways. Seriously, why did UA spend money into making these hallways so mindbogglingly complex? They could have used it for something more beneficial than this.

Ochako sighed, all she had to do was find the studio they had visited last week. It should have been a simple task but only then did she remember she had no foggy idea the name of the student she was searching for. I’m really regretting not gathering the courage to ask Bakugou what his name was…

Wandering down the halls, she peeked through the windows to each studio searching for a glimpse of the viridian hair. The support course (much like the hero course) was highly regarded as difficult to earn a spot into. The whole scarcity of places was stupid in her opinion, UA being the prestigious school it was, housed more than enough resources to allow more students in. Allowing more students in meant more chances of shaping people into heroes that could save people. She’d read they had in the past so why the different stance now? They were swimming in money so that clearly wasn’t the answer. Maybe it was specifically so I can have an easier time finding the boy. The support course didn’t house a tonne of students either so at most she would have to check forty rooms. Which, as she was repeating it over in her head, was a large task.Ochako resisted the urge to groan. At least it wouldn’t be as busy as lunch period since the students are prepping to leave.

Just when she was running out of what little patience she owned, she spied a glimpse of messy green curls through the window on a studio room. The plasticky plaque on the door said “Izuku Midoryia” in large scratchy handwriting. She felt her lips pull into a smile as cheesy J-pop played from inside, imagining how Todoroki ever found common ground with such a person.

She walked past the ajar high-tech door into the room, forgetting all manners, “Hey! I’m looking to fix the issues with my—”

She collided into her target, who had been carrying a box of mechanical parts which were scattered across the floor due the impact. Wide, shocked eyes met hers.

“SORRY! I’m so sorry, oh my god. Let me clean this—oh my god.” He spluttered and stuttered in a voice too loud for the thin walls of UA. Ochako felt a dull pang of guilt, she had interrupted his work without warning and he was avoiding direct eye contact like the plague. She joined the student, while he crouched down to assess the damage, please trust me, don’t hate me, please trust me.

“It's fine don’t worry about it. I’ll help you clean these up. It's the least I can do. Are you okay though? You look a little—" She tilted her head in consideration towards his gloved hands - which were shaking ever so slightly, - trying to mask her worry with a momentary smile.

“Well- no, I was just- just thinking a bit too much, I guess?” Apprehension filtered through his unsure voice as he attempted to run a hand through his unkempt hair only to realise it was held back under a black headband, ”It’s so…so stupid of me. I need to be more aware of my surroundings in here but since it’s my workshop I assumed no one would be in here. I should have accounted for the likelihood of someone…” He began to mutter unintelligibly with his hand scratching his temple, unconsciously getting soot all over his freckled forehead. Ochako snorted a laugh at his bizarre nature. It's almost endearing. He took it the wrong way, however. Pity washed over her, seeing his closed off body language. He thought I was making fun of him. Oh god. Great job, Ochako, already becoming disliked by a mutual friend after five seconds. New record.

“Hey, I’m sorry! The mumbling was fine! I wasn’t laughing at you, I swear. It was rude of me to enter without knocking, I’m so sorry. That was my fault. I can bet I’m probably clumsier than you on average. Having a quirk like this tends to mean I make stuff float on accident, including myself.” She swiftly demonstrated by touching a component, then her finger pads to make it float effortlessly. She chuckled self-consciously, “Ochako Uraraka, by the way.” Her quirk…It wasn’t exactly a flashy one by any means: not too destructive, not villainous, not powerful, not awe inspiring in the slightest. She had never really adored her quirk as a child like others had; instead wishing for one that created money (though her younger self never realised money creating quirks were 1) impossible and 2) would be useless as inflation existed). Eventually, she rediscovered her love for it only after learning it was sort of a perfect quirk for rescue heroes.

“Oh, that’s amazing! Extraordinary, even! Do you remove the gravity of the objects or do you reverse their gravity, or do you pick a new point of gravity? Assuming it’s a gravity centred quirk and not the telekinesis kind, that is. Oh, there’s just so many possibilities with a quirk like that. I bet you’ve only thought about the rescue side of it -and yeah, I get it but that’s just too obvious. Your quirk is so much better than just rescue work or ‘clean-up’.” The messy haired mystery rambled as he picked up the piece affected by Ochako’s quirk and examining it, not just for damage this time. His electric green eyes switched between the component and her as he analysed her quirk’s control on the object.

Ochako was bewildered. Her face scrunching in confusion as she tried to process what had just happened. Someone had told her quirk was useful besides her rescuing capabilities. They hadn’t swept it aside they had actually acknowledged it and gave her advice. Who was this guy and where did he come from? There’s no way he can be genuine. No way in hell.

Noticing that his company was in contemplation, the student let out a self-conscious chuckle, “Aha, I went a bit overboard, didn’t I? You don’t even know my name—OH, you don’t even know my name! Sorry! Izuku Midoryia Class 1-H of the Support Course. I’m assuming you knew that I’m support due to my studio though.” He tilted his head to the studio surrounding them: the futuristic high spec workspaces and tools were telling of U.A’s wealth juxtaposed with chaotic half-finished inventions scattered haphazardly. Notebooks, post-it notes and papers cluttered the surfaces like a second skin. A modified speaker, judging by its aesthetics matching Midoriya’s modified boiler suit, sat in the corner of the chaos -now blaring classical music instead of J-pop. Despite the spacious room, Midoriya had managed to add touches of his interesting personality to the studio to create a cosy atmosphere. It almost made Ochako envious he had so easily adapted a workspace into a second home.

“Ah yes, you got me! And about my quirk- well I hadn’t really thought about it like that before.” Ochako stood from her crouching position, dropping Midoriya’s parts on the workspace, “Actually, I came here to ask for help on fixing my outfit? My um—teacher told me I was granted access to take my queries up with a member of the support department.” She gestured to the briefcase resting on the floor. Hopefully he accepts the lie…it’s not like I haven’t lied before.

“Oh, that’s alright, I was actually done finishing up one of my projects, so you’ve come at a right time. Though I’m confused to why you didn’t ask a third year to help you with it. I’m much less skilled than them but, depending on what you need doing, I may be able to help you.” Midoriya explained animatedly as he moved to face Ochako on the opposite side of the workbench. His attempts to sort out clutter only ended up revealing even more mess which she got a giggle out of.

The more she learnt about Midoriya the more questions were raised. The biggest one being: how the hell does he get on with Todoroki? The rich boy prodigy from a famous family. Todoroki who enjoyed classical Japanese culture. Todoroki who detested all types of clutter and mess. Todoroki who most enjoyed conversations that lasted around the five second mark.

Maybe opposites truly did attract, that would be a wishful thought. That or Ochako was just worse friend than she thought. Most likely the latter, a pessimistic voice affimed. It's not like she had been eager in earning Todoroki’s friendship.

Ochako cleared her throat, opening the briefcase, “Yes, I’m glad you’re willing to help me on this! I’m really uncomfortable with some of the elements on my design. Me being an idiot, I uh may of forgot to specify parts of my design or draw my design at all so I need to sort that out.” Well, she hadn’t exactly forgot to send her design in but she hadn’t thought it would have been a big deal leaving it up to the designers. Unfortunately, luck had never been on Ochako’s side, resulting with her being left with a suit that rendered her uncomfortable rather than empowering her. She bothered to mention anything since she was uncertain if UA would pay for a redesign. God knows her parents couldn’t afford wasting their money on that.

Why did they have to make it so skin-tight? It's not my aim to become an R-rated hero so what spurred on the design choice? Ochako wasn’t sure why it was such a usual feature of female hero costumes in pro hero society. All it did was garner pervy fans, that she would admit could gain some extra money but she detested the notion of a fanbase consisting of rich creeps only invested in cosmetics than a woman’s heroic acts.

“Oh, that’s fine but you should have taken some time to draw a design, the things those companies can create are awesome! I don’t support some of the designers that make an effort to overly sexualise outfits in general because support items and suits aren’t made for that purpose. You need a suit that saves you from being bludgeoned to death, not increase that chance. I know if I sent my design in and they gave me a tight body suit in return? I wouldn’t have been happy to say the least! Hopefully, I can sort out some of the problems you’re having with it and I have some support items you could test out with it too!” Midoryia continued his ecstatic rambling as he turned his back to Ochako.

[[She noticed his ink black boilersuit splotched with multicoloured spray paint and his soot covered white gloves creating marks across the bench tops as he scavenged for spare paper and a pen.]]

“That sounds amazing actually.” Words left her lips before she could think about what topic to intrude on next. She cursed herself for sounding so fake when she was forced to view Midoriya’s expectant expression.

I have to ask him about Todoroki one way or another so it may as well be now… Pretending as though it were an investigation, if she did choose to breech the subject Midoryia was likely to tell Todoroki of her unexpectant visit. That spelt bad news for her but unusually, the thirst for information had her fears silenced. Her head was buzzing, trying to connect pieces of the mystery to create a vague picture of what was going on inside Todoroki’s head with all that secrecy. Just a few bits more, then I can go before anything goes wrong.

Ochako pushed a lock of hair out of her face, sighing, the lies came easier to her after spouting so many, “About why I asked for your help specifically…you have to promise not to tell him but a friend recommended you to me. He said you were skilled and that you wouldn’t mind me visiting you with this issue.”

“Oh, who?”

“Shouto Todoroki. You know with the two-toned hair and the famous dad. He visits you a lot.” When she dropped his name Midoriya’s eyes grew wide with realisation. He turned his freckled face away from view and scratched his neck in anxiousness,

“Uh…yes. Yes- Yeah. I know him but…uh I wasn’t…aware he told his friends about me. I- well I didn’t expect that from him.” Midoryia mumbled his words into his hands as he his face into them. Another point rose—Midoriya knows Todoroki well enough to see that he wouldn’t tell us about him.

“Why not? Is there something going on between you two?” She teased in a lighter tone just to test a couple theories playing around in her mind. Maybe he knows him better than we do for this reason.

Midoriya’s face flushed crimson, his mouth fell agape stuttering a string of consonants trying to process Ochako’s tease. Finally getting his bearings, using an unnecessarily loud voice he was quick to dispel the statement, “WHAT. NO. Absolutely not! T-that’s not exactly what I meant. Me and him aren’t anything but…friends, I think? I’m assuming he doesn’t hate me since he still visits me every day, which is too kind of him, and I've told him countless times to spend more time with his actual friends. Then he gets all dismissive and—ahhh! God, I’m sorry for tearing his time away from you and others. It's selfish of me but he won’t even listen to me on the topic.” An aptly timed a love ballad began in the background layering over his groans of embarrassment. They’re not together but something is still amiss. I really shouldn’t be getting involved, any more than I already am but…Ochako directed a smirk towards him which Midoryia (somehow) grew to an even deeper shade of red to the one he was wearing before.

Graciously, she put him out of his embarrassment filled misery, “No, no don’t worry, Midoryia. We’re fine with him visiting you. I think you’ve actually had a positive influence on him -don’t tell him that- before he was brooding and well icy. Now he’s opened up to us more which may be down to your machinations. Keep it up, by the way.” Ochako leaned on the desk and couldn’t hide her grin as Midoryia returned a shaky smile. She was getting somewhere! He calmed with the compliment and crumpled his alert posture to that of a teen who spends countless hours wasting away at their surplus schoolwork. Midoryia finally lowering his guard just a tad meant more information for her and she could get a grasp on his personality. He’s similar to me, maybe in more ways than one?

“Oh. okay. That’s good. The reason I thought he wouldn’t tell people was because of my quirklessness. People usually discount me for it…or worse. He surprised me when he didn’t care about it. I for sure thought he would cut me off because of it because I know some of the hero course students are not the most welcoming to…” Emotion embedded itself though the bouts of silence woven into his painful phrases. It took her a few moments to register the information.

Quirkless? I’d never even considered the fact that he could be… White hot determination was quickly switched for regret which flickered like a broken lightbulb in the centre of her mind. Oh god you were insensitive. You need to fix this, Ochako.

“If anything, your lack of a quirk just makes your skills more impressive, Midoryia! I wasn’t aware that any of my class had certain prejudices against people without quirks but I can tell you for a certain, my friends and I don’t.” She gestured around with her hands trying to dispel the panic her thoughts were causing for her. Oh god…

God, she had barely even gotten to know the guy and she was ready to throw hands the next time someone ever thought about discriminating against him. Ochako couldn’t comprehend why people would actively go out of their way to hurt someone based on quirks alone? It was the actions of people that mattered, not something they were born with or without. She could understand the actions of people who hurt for revenge somewhat (having a sense of justice was far better than none) but there was no logic in hurting a person based on something they couldn’t change. This aspect endeared her to Midoriya: through the titbits she had learnt about him during this conversation she was beginning to understand why Todoroki was friends with him. You couldn’t find one detestable aspect within his personality, even if you tried.

“That’s good…but may I ask something of you, Uraraka? Before I get to work on your outfit, I well…I need to know something.” Midoriya slowed his speech and held eye contact, awaiting approval or rejection. I’m the one being interrogated now.

“What is it?”

“Has Todoroki told Kach- I mean Bakugou about me? I heard about the hearing damage from USJ. Can’t say I didn’t see something like that happening eventually.” Midoriya’s tone took on a bitter turn though scrunching his face upon uttering Bakugou’s name, like it didn’t completely sit right with him. She perked up at the name, ecstatic; it was like a puzzle place had slotted with another after an eternity of searching for a match. Quirk discrimination, then Bakugou. This was certainly connected to Bakugou’s weird behaviour on seeing Midoriya last week.

Regret flickered like a warning light in her mind. She tried to ignore it.

Ochako shook her head as her head attempted to theorise about the connection, “No. He’s only told you about me. Does he know you, Midoryia?”

“Well…I would advise you avoid talking about me around Kacchan. He’s…well its complicated.” Midoriya’s eyes wandered around the room avoiding Ochako’s curiosity, signalling the end of the discussion about Quirks.

Ochako made the connection as Midoriya hummed along to a song while inspecting her current suit design. Quirk discrimination. Bakugou. The nickname. Bakugou’s regretful atmosphere. Bakugou had certainly known and hurt Midoriya in some way or another, of what she didn’t even want to imagine given his previously god-awful personality.

The dots were connecting and yet the feeling of pride, she had expected herself to feel, was lacking due to all the complicated implications this brought on. She didn’t blame Midoriya for being suspicious around her after she claimed her friends couldn’t hold prejudiced views because she had been wrong. She understood now why Todoroki hadn’t told any of them: especially Bakugou. Midoriya’s anxious nature was most likely linked towards the discrimination, so it wasn’t so far of a stretch to see that Bakugou likely had a hand in it.

Unwillingly, her mind supplied her with the all-encompassing question- if I was in his shoes, I would have vowed for justice against those who hurt me. I would have never been able to keep it together speaking about a tormenter. I would bring justice upon them.

…Does that make me horrid?

Extra dialogue scene w/Todoroki:

“Uraraka, we need to talk. Now.”

“Aha, what’s up Icyhot?”

“How the hell did you meet Izuku?”

“Izuku?”

“Midoryia. Don’t deny it- you’ve encountered each other. What do you want with him?”

“Ahhh! Look, calm down Todoroki! I just met him by…accident.”

“Bullshit.”

“I needed to get my suit redone a-and he is a support student and all.”

“Bullshit, Uraraka.”

“No, I really did! Ask him I swear! Don’t turn me into ice yet before fact checking your assumptions, rich boy. I didn’t threaten him I just had a conversation with him. If it’s any consolation, I would defend his honour but I think you might have that covered.”

“I’ve just come back from asking him. If you really had a problem with him, you should have come for me.” A frosty sigh escaped him, “Midoryia has become a…close friend of mine. I was purposely trying to avoid my classmates from fussing about him. He doesn’t need the stress of a whole different group of people questioning him just because he’s decided to associate with me.”

“Todoroki, I didn’t try to meet him out of malice or in an attempt to blackmail you. All I wanted for was to figure out why you were missing lunch so often and since we figured out it was a person. Well, I got a bit curious—”

“We?”

“Uhm…I meant I.”

Todoroki shot her a disbelieving look.

“He said you were kind enough, so I’ll let you off the hook. If I find that he’s protecting some of your actions I will not be so kind- despite the fact that we are friends.”

“I understand, Todoroki, I would never hurt anyone intentionally. You must know that, surely?”

She was offered silence in response.

“Well why are you so protective of him then?”

“That’s- I don’t see…I don’t…really know?”

“Yet I do. Think about it, Todoroki.” With a smirk, Ochako wandered down the hall to the tune of the fire alarms obnoxious blaring.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Time flew away from Ochako :the class uneasily settled down after the shock of the attack at USJ and the investigation into Todoroki’s social life. Most classes ran smoothly, or as smoothly as possible considering All Might and Present Mic ran a majority of their classes, both known for their overwhelming eccentric personalities. Ochako herself had an outwardly bubbly persona, even she struggled to meet their enthusiasm some days. Maybe that was the sleep deprived teenager in her talking. She hadn’t been sleeping as easy since USJ; spending her bouts of sleeplessness practicing simple sparring moves. Not to mention her nervousness over her friendships.

Things between Todoroki and her had become slightly awkward after the incident with the fire alarms: she had difficulty catching his eyes and most conversations between the two ended with a prolonged awkward silence. It would have to be sorted out one day or another, leaving it to fester would only spell issues for their friendship moving forward. She never wanted to lose Todoroki over her being a downright shitty friend; for going behind his back to talk to a close friend without his knowledge. That was on her and her alone.

It was so, so wrong but that determination…The determination and the curiosity lit a fire that was irresistible. It wasn’t a beneficial emotion: it clouded her judgement, rendering her more irritable and forced her to adapt to a one-track mindset. She hadn’t been herself…she hadn’t felt guilty nor cripplingly insecure at the moment in time. In a sick sense, she had felt so much lighter than usual.

(I want to feel it again- again and again…I don’t have to worry about friends, family or the like. I can just be. The pessimistic voice returned from the far-flung corners of her mind dripped, oozed with lethal amounts self-loathing.)

Her pencil snapped.

Pressure amounted in her ,adding to her growing anxiety, curling, slithering in the base of her stomach like a jungle snake. Awaiting the moment to constrict, wrap its cold aura around her throat so she could barely breathe. No, no, no I— She recoiled, cursing under her breath as she tried to regain her regular breathing patterns, to little avail.

Why, why, why, why, why, why, why,

I don’t want to feel it again. I don’t. I don’t. I really—

The sound of rain clattering filtered in from an open window along with the general chatter of her classmates. Her hand jittered on the table tapping in an attempt to ground herself and just calm. She focused on the blurred rain shower create puddles on the school’s roof. Rain was calming. It meant the world was still turning. It meant Ochako Uraraka was still alive and kicking. She could do this. She could keep herself in check. Breathing slowly…she could try that.

“Are you alright, Ochako?” Tsu called over to her from her desk seeing the distress evident in her body language. She tilted her head and stared back at her with those wide, mossy green eyes. Unexpectedly, Tsu’s lips twitched upwards in a sympathetic smirk as her eyes ravaged Ochako’s dishevelled form.

It should have been uncomfortable but…

There was just something so soothing about Tsu’s presence to her. It was one of the main reasons she enjoyed her company so much; whereas Bakugou would create chaos for her, Kirishima would supply positivity, Iida the realism and Todoroki the pessimism. Tsu was a soothing force that Ochako didn’t know what she had done to deserve.

Today was different- not just because she had been on the verge of a breakdown (though she wished that had been the only cause). It was near impossible to feel calm when your heartbeat doubled upon seeing something as simple as a smile. Oh god no…please don’t let this be what I think it is. I need to concentrate on breathing normally, not lose it while staring at my friend.

“Ochako?” The use of her first name paired with her inquisitive tone did nothing to help the building flush spreading across her face. This isn’t good in the slightest. When had she began noticing the little parts about Tsu? Her affection for the frog-like girl obviously hadn’t been a penny drop like in the movies.  No, it was much worse. This -feeling- was like a parasite; now that she was aware of it would only grow. God what had she gotten herself into- first the adrenaline high and now butterflies. My heart really has it out for me, damn bastard.

“IMFINETSU—THANKSFORASKING!” Her mind was moving a mile a minute, turning around from Tsu to prevent any more embarrassing moments. Half of her wished if she looked away the warming feeling battling the weight of anxiety resting within her would just leave her alone. The other (traitorous half) was content to bask in it; allowing it to ward off her anxiety.

“I didn’t get that, ribbit. Could you repeat it?” Ochako knew if she were to look back into those concern filled eyes, she would be so screwed. So, so screwed

“I SAID—"

Aizawa’s glare, even though unassuming on first impression, caused Ochako to shiver and fidget due to the numerous implications resting behind the unimpressed look, “Uraraka, keep your voice down. As I was saying before I was interrupted, after postponing the Sport’s Festival, which was a decision made after the attack at USJ: where countless students were injured and UA’s safety was compromised. The board has now decided it fit to continue the festival with heightened security two months after the previously agreed date rather than cancel the whole affair.” The class burst into a din of chatter; most expressing their excitement in being seen on the world stage. To finally show the world that their spirit couldn’t be broken so easily. Others discussed tactics in lower, hushed voices, considering how best to defeat their peers. Oh, we won’t be working as a class that day but before…could we even work together then or would it be too risky? Would a week be enough training? What sort of training type should I aim for? I can’t afford myself to be overtaken by any of my stupid feelings- that under no circumstances is happening.

Ochako paused herself from continuing down that dangerous line of thinking. Wait…why does it matter? The sports festival was usually an event for an aspiring rescue hero to become giddy over. So why did she care? Logically speaking, it would be best for her to drop out early in the competition and focus on herself for the time being. God knows her mental state needed it. Finding a rescue hero internship would be a piece of cake considering how many contacts U.A had to offer. She could lay low and watch her friends rise to the top…

…leaving me behind.

That was it wasn’t it? Determination seeped through her trickle by trickle. If she didn’t compete to her fullest potential, she would get left behind in the dust. Her classmates would accomplish their dreams of becoming honourable heroes and she would be the one barely scraping by. She would be the one scraping by for money if she couldn’t cut it out as a hero like her friends could.

She had to prove herself. Not because she wanted to become a pariah or the No.1 hero. It was because she could not dare to be weak. For herself and her family.

“You have a week to train. Make it count.” Aizawa, ever blunt, finished the announcement by retreating away in his yellow sleeping bag away leaving the asshole teenagers with superpowers to scheme about the upcoming event.

I will prove myself. One way or another.

The rain continued its downpour onto UA throughout the school day and spitefully continued after classes had run their course.

Today had been considerably more light-hearted than previous; fake threats and roasting broke out between the ‘Chaos squad’ and their group with the ‘Antisocial anarchists’ playing mediators. All in all, the mental warfare was waged between Bakugou and Shinsou in the form of snarky insults. Todoroki played the K.O card whenever a member of the squad even attempted to insult him. All were shot down brutally with no remorse. It was downright impossible to make Todoroki fluster or react negatively at all. Kaminari cheered his boyfriend on and Kirishima attempted to damage control his friends’ simmering rage. Uraraka had managed to get a few good hits on Mina’s ego which she was rewarded with a laugh from Tsu! A goddamn laugh! Tsu never laughed often and that one was for her and her only. Her heart soared just thinking about it; taking in every positive emotion she could squeeze out of it.

After the roasting session at lunch, Todoroki had taken her, Tsuyu and Iida aside to plan an after-school hangout in Midoriya’s studio. It seemed the half and half boy had finally decided to come clean about his rendezvous to visit his support course friend. With the catch that they couldn’t under any circumstances tell Bakugou yet. That being the key word. Yet. Of course, they all agreed, since they could keep a secret. If Todoroki made a friend, they would obviously extend that hospitality to them. Kirishima had been told separately from the rest of them to assure nothing would slip to Bakugou for the time being.

Under the shelter of Midoriya’s workshop, the five of them sat around a table looking at Midoriya’s notes and catching up on homework that Aizawa had set them (which Ochako thought was particularly harsh since they were supposed to be spending their free time training, not algebra and iteration). Midoryia, instead of working on homework or anything normal in nature, was currently building what looked to be a rocket launcher. Inwardly, she breathed a sigh of relief that nothing absurdly dangerous like it would be allowed for the event (the school board had cracked down on those rules- which Midoryia had already ranted strenuously about unfairness and the like).

Midoryia yelped as he burnt himself with the soldering iron for the umpteenth time, “Ow…actually that brings me onto another point! I was thinking about how you could combat your classmate Kaminari’s quirk with both of your quirks. I already have my solution but Uraraka you can—”

The door slammed open, or it would of; if it had hinges, instead it just made an awful creaking noise. In walked in their resident red haired disaster, practically exothermically releasing happiness, “Hey, hey, hey! Todobro? You said you would be over here, right? I desperately need advice on my quirk but after lunch none of the other squad—” Kirishima’s eyes wandered the room. Ochako pinpointed the moment when realisation hit; that he was meeting the support student for the first time. She absently wondered if Kirishima held any resentment for Midoriya considering how Bakugou reacted after seeing him but alas she already figured it out.

This was Kirishima they were talking about. Of course not. She doubted he’d even begin to think of hating someone, even if they betrayed him. He’d probably say something like ‘Not very manly of you but it’s all water under the bridge!’

“Oh. You’re the guy Todoroki’s visiting?” Kirishima tentatively shut the creaking door all while procuring a suggestive look on his face. One that Kaminari himself would have been proud of. Ochako giggled to herself over Todoroki and Midoriya’s expressions; that of unfiltered embarrassment judging by the matching blushes they both wore.

“H-hi, do I know you?” Midoryia tentatively replied eying Todoroki with a hint of confusion. She watched them exchange a few nods, shakes and micro expressions. She sighed into her hands. Iida was busy with his homework (which she would have to grovel in order to copy later) but looked up once Ochako’s head came into contact with the desk.

“Psst…You seeing this, Iida?” She mumbled, uncovering a finger so she could see his face. He glanced back and forth before chuckling under his breath at the pair’s stupidity. She has suspected something was going on between the two but after the horrid shiver-inducing grilling Todoroki had given her- her new hypothesis was that there was only something blooming there. Nothing concrete, from her knowledge. Oh, how glad she was that she didn’t wear her emotions (or rather baggage at this point) on her sleeves. Most of her thoughts stayed far away from ever being uttered. She was keeping it together, for now. I’m not this bad with Tsu…I hope…

It was Kirishima who dared break the sharing of their secret language, “Uh actually, I don’t think you do! I’m Ejirou Kirishima, Class 1-A. Friends with the human candy cane, frog princess, floaty gravity girl and engine mcsplode. Bakubro ain’t here since he’s currently getting his ass whooped by therapy and actually talking ‘bout his feelings.”

Midoryia flinched a tad while handling the rocket launcher’s circuits at the mention of Bakugou. Interested, she sat up and lifted her hands from her face, watching him fumble with his words, “Pfft… I’m Izuku Midoryia, Class 1-H and…I don’t think I have a nickname yet?”

“No, because it would just consist of two words ‘cinnamon-roll boy’.” Ochako grinned ear to ear when Iida, Tsu and Todoroki collectively groaned at the ancient meme she had found recircling the internet lately. What could she say? Three am lead you down some strange rabbit holes. Midoryia was blissfully unaware and Kirishima matched his confusion.

“I hate to inform you but that’s three words, Uraraka.” Iida sniggered under his breath as Ochako bristled. Smartass. Traitor. Point still stands though.

Midoryia cleared his voice, “I’m a what? I uh, I’ve never heard of that one before…even in middle school. What does it mean?”

Ochako perked up, shining her practically villainous grin. This is too fun an opportunity to drop,“Well, it means that you’re—”

“Wrong. Don’t trust him he’s an evil mastermind under layers of innocence.” Todoroki cut her off catching the group off guard: Todoroki was actually smiling. Well, it was more of a self-satisfied smirk than anything but they would take what they could get! It was plain as day how much of an impact the Quirkless student from the support course had left on their mismatched classmate. If their group had melted Todoroki’s icy wall surrounding his heart, in comparison, Midoryia had taken a flamethrower to it.

Whether they both knew of that yet was to be questioned.

“Todoroki! You can’t just tell them my secret!” Midoryia squawked through giggles as he tapped Todoroki on the head with the Rocket launcher. From the way he was carrying it around, you would have thought it wasn’t heavy or lethal when the opposite was true.

The whole scene reminded her of a thought long ago; who the hell was this guy? Izuku Midoryia, shorter in height, a mullet of curly green hair pushed back by a headband, tired viridian eyes, splattered over in freckles and splotches of paint covering his skin. This guy, who was holding a rocket launcher like it was a children’s’ toy.

Though, as she reflected, were any of her friends in the hero course relatively normal? The answer would be a resounding no. It only made sense for the support course to be similar.

“Wait hold up…this guy, scary? I know Uraraka exists,” Kirishima pointed between Midoryia and herself: she raised her eyebrows with mocked offence written over her face. Tsu smiled while giving her a well-intentioned shove. In contrast, Midoriya’s face showed a twinge of real offence. Does he want us to fear him or like him? He’s doing a horrid job if it’s the former.

Kirishima continued, face knit with confusion and voice dripping with uncertainty, “Todoroki you must be out of your mind…I know you like conspiracies but—”

Todoroki sighed breaking out of his usual poker face, “First, Midoryia is a terrifying individual who could explain how easily you could maim someone with your quirk and owns too many flamethrowers to be anywhere near normal levels of sanity—"

“Todorokiiii—” Laughing ensued throughout as Midoriya tugged at his friend’s blazer sleeve.

“—also, he is completely forcing my participation of helping test out said flamethrowers. I’m sorry I’ve dragged you here but I fallen too deep into his trap. It’s over for me.” Todoroki explained deadpan though when Kirishima played an 80’s power ballade on the speakers, after his monologue, they all lost the last of their composition. The five of them challenging the song blaring through the speaker and the ongoing storm raging outside with the sheer volume of their laughter. Present Mic would have been proud. Todoroki chuckled, Tsu giggled, Ochako collapsed in on herself with manic laughs, Iida cackled like a hyena, Kirishima howled and Midoryia was struggling to breathe through wheezes.

Attempts were made at speech but even that eventually led to more laughter. Ochako knew from this moment onwards that Midoryia was certainly qualified into their friend group.

Eventually, after Ochako wiped unsprang tears from her eyes and finally, the song switched Todoroki spoke up, “Second, I will die on the hill that Shinsou is Aizawa’s lovechild. There are too many coincidences for it to be false. All we have to do is the DNA test…Midoryia?”

“Absolutely! I uh actually have the equipment for it! Now—”

“Absolutely not! That would be going against Shinsou’s consent and completely against UA’s rules.” Iida protested against it in which Tsuyu nodded in agreement. She was sitting beside Ochako with her head resting on her hands on the workbench, lap dazedly smiling and wide eyes following the insanity before her. While Iida and Midoriya debated about the ethics of his experiments, their arguing dispersed into the background as Ochako spared a touch too long enjoying a soft blooming heat in the centre of her chest, so different to that of determination. Different to that of anxiety even. That heat transferred to her rosy cheeks when she was caught staring by Kirishima, who didn’t notice the jargon of emotions clumped in Ochako’s head.

“Oh my god—dudes as awesome as cool flamethrowers and sciencey stuff is…I have to agree with Iida that it’s probably too dangerous? Manly as hell, though.” Kirishima’s overly jovial voice cut through.

“You have my support! I reckon there’s a connection there and we get to see Midoryia in action.” Ochako added, simply to annoy Iida just a tad. He looked down at her through his glasses and gave a parental sigh of pure disappointment. She beamed back at him.

“What got you into inventing and robotics in the first place, Midoryia? ‘Sciencey’ topics as Kiri calls it. You fit in well and you’re obviously talented. I’m interested.” Tsu croaked as she lifted her head up from the desk. Her curious gaze was too strong, judging by Midoriya fidgeting with his hair while under it. Todoroki reacted at the question too but he placed aside his discomfort to comfort the support student; resting a hand on Midoriya’s shoulder.

“It’s well—it’s a long story. Long, long…long and uh well, I’m sure you’d all be bored by the end of it!” He murmured a tad louder than the rain clashing down outside. I learnt last time that the topic is far from a good one. Todoroki knows it too. Tsu hasn’t.

“Nah, I’m sure it’ll be fun. If I were just a bit smarter, I would’ve loved to blow up random crap in the name of science!” Kirishima piped up.

“It's not like we have much to do. We have a while before the rain lets up. More analysis won’t help us, ribbit.” Tsu added while casting a forlorn look to the door. Ochako herself agreed with Tsu but she didn’t want to press a sore point again with Midoryia. She’d learnt her lesson from last time.

Todoroki paid no attention to the rest of the group as he coaxed Midoriya, who was currently mumbling to himself under his breath, “You don’t have to tell them if you don’t want to.”

Sheepishly, Midoriya met his concerned gaze and took a few moments to remind himself of his surroundings, “No…I think they deserve to know. If they’ve made the effort to open up to me of all people, I think I owe them something…”

“You don’t owe them anything.” The bluntness back in his voice startled Ochako. The two of them began muttering to one another over whether or not they could trust them. True but harsh Todoroki. They certainly shouldn’t trust me with the amount of baggage I’m hiding.

“I do, Todoroki…”

“They’re being nice because that’s what is expected of them. You don’t have to repay them for human decency…”

The support student sighed clutching the bridge of his nose before meeting the three pairs of eyes trained on him, “Look I’ll be…honest with you, guys. Just um—don’t repeat this outside of this room,” Midoryia removed Todoroki’s hand and turned back towards them signalling the end of their disagreement. That was that.

Heads nodded along with mutters of agreement. They huddled around the notebook covered workbench to listen in. Ochako was half-gleeful this was the outcome: surely more pieces would be added to the puzzle and then she would be done with this mad triste into…whatever it was.

“Being an inventor, a support student and all that wasn’t really my first choice of career. Not that I don’t adore what I’m doing now! It's just, it was never the career my heart was fully set on. That was Heroism…”

He began talking about his childhood dreams of heroism, discrimination he met at his middle school. He mentioned briefly that his relationship with Bakugou was strenuous at best, abusive at worst; being childhood friend turned bully throughout his school years. His vagueness over the whole affair assured Ochako that it was a far from a happy time in his life. Midoryia seemed overeager to leave the topic of Bakugou eyes flashing with a twinge of pain. Kirishima took on a vacant expression after the mention Bakugou’s time as a bully. He got bullied in middle school too, didn’t he?

Ochako’s mouth dried up. Any words on the tip of her tongue sunk, twisted leaving a disgusting taste in her mouth. It was trouble enough to remember how to breathe never mind mumble condolences.

How…just how…could he have kept going on with all of that? Her situation paled in comparison to things Midoriya implied he was forced to endure; yet here he was opening up about all of it. Ochako sat across from him hording every little petty occurrence inside her brain overthinking everything. Hell, he deserved her spot in heroics more than she had. He held leagues more adoration for heroes similar to her fellow friends unlike herself. He had committed his life to heroism from a young age despite being quirkless. There was no excuse to complain anymore considering she had met someone with a comparatively far worse childhood to hers.

Am I just a horrid person innately? Was my soul sculpted of a different material? A weaker one, with no high morals to speak of? What had higher powers had in mind when I was created?

What right was it for me to have a quirk and not hero adoring Midoryia?

He spoke about his melancholic memory of meeting All Might, finally speaking to his childhood hero, for him to assure that no he could not be a hero due to the dangers and risks on account of being quirkless. Midoryia swiftly stepped over the topic to a lighter one: reminiscing over his time visiting a robotics studio apart of a school trip helping him to rekindle his inspiration. He gleefully mentioned his journey in researching support businesses, teaching himself how to code and collecting scrapped equipment while cleaning Dagobah beach to start creating gadgets. When he had applied to the support course, he had passed the entrance exam with flying colours.

He seemed much happier when discussing his classes with other eccentric characters, his bump in with Todoroki (which had Ochako giggling at the absurdity of it) and their unlikely friendship.

“…choosing to turn down this path was eventually good for me. Who knows what would have happened if I hadn’t? I can’t say I'm over what happened because I- I’m obviously not. In a twisted way, it was Kacchan that lead me down this career. I couldn’t be happier in the position that I’m in right now. With Todoroki and you guys. Hopefully, I’ll be able to show people that quirkless people can pull a punch or two in the Sports Festival. Get ready for your asses to be handed to you.” Midoryia ended his story with a friendly threat flexing his gloved hand which Todoroki rolled his eyes at.

Ochako opened her mouth to ask one of the million questions floating around in the expanse her mind, yet fate certainly had different plans, “Midoryia—"

Bakugou wandered through the ajar door, explosive mood aflame, “SHITTY HAIR? You in here, asshat? I’ve got to test this stupid hearing aids on someone.” He growled while messing behind his ears, pausing to fiddle with them which fixed his face in a scowl.

He really picks his moments, Ochako and judging by the expressions of her friends, were all thinking along the same lines: Iida frowning, Tsu knit her eyebrows in concern, Kirishima frantically failing to catch Bakugou’s attention and Todoroki wore an expression that was somehow far worse than the ‘look’. Their new green haired acquaintance stilled silently. Eyes glazed over, shoulders tight, face morphed to show little of his regular demeanour.

Tense was an all too perfect word to describe the atmosphere around them growing electric by the moment. A collective sense of worry. Dread.

Nothing good will come from this.

“Bakugou! This is not a classroom it is a support studio!” Iida protested, the only one remotely concerned about the politeness of barging into the classroom rather than the connotations that accompanied it.

“Hah? Why would you think I give a shit?” The blonde sneered still with a hand behind his ears and yet to notice the support course student who sent him into a tizzy not long ago. His rage filled gaze caught Kirishima’s belligerent one, who for once was rendered speechless, turned to sign, ‘Dude, stop. Please’

“God, you don’t have to grovel in sign, Kirishima. I’ll fucking shut up, alright?”

“Bakugou, I think it’s best that you leave.” Todoroki’s voice took on an indiscernible tone moving in front of Midoryia shielding him from the explosive boy’s view, for everyone’s sake.

Bakugou rolled his eyes, “I’ll leave when you grow the balls to drag me out yourself, Icyhot. You all throwing a tea party over here? What’s so important that you all have to meet in secre—” His mouth lay agape. Scornful gaze brimming with rage swiftly melted to guilt. Ochako’s past experiences had equipped her well. Truly she could read him like a picture book. This expression so unbefitting of his features.

One of pure, saturated guilt.

Neither of them made eye contact- looking in opposite directions to the others presence.

Silence spread across the studio, growing louder leaving them subject to the rain’s clattering.

“Hi, Kacchan.” His words were rough but meek sounding matching his dulled eyes. His expression was that of someone worn down and…those eyes: unresponsive, no glimmer of mischief, no lingering pain just…hollow emptiness.

This boy, who she knew to be such a creative personality, who almost never managed to stay silent—was now all statuesque: Features lax as if they had meticulously been carved into polished marble.

Ochako felt much a stranger amongst such contempt. You’ve got your answer now. Look what you caused. Your fault for investigating and sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong. It’s all your fault.

“Deku.”

Sensing the heightening tension, Todoroki cut in to try level the situation before it escalated, “Leave, Bakugou. You and Midoryia know better—”

“Quit it, you candy cane haired fuck.” He gritted out staring at Midoriya who was promptly ignoring him, instead finding interest in the storm raging outside. If Todoroki was offended by the insult, he returned no scorn.

“He’s…he’s right, Kacchan. You don’t want to be around me, any more than I do you.” Midoryia gritted his teeth. Stationary in his position to ignore Bakugou’s presence absolutely. Admittedly, that was tough considering how large a personality (or ego) he carried.

The blonde tsked instead turning the tail end of his wrath towards his friends, “Shitty hair. Round face.  Frog face. Four eyes. You didn’t tell me that Icyhot and all you pathetic pieces of shit are saddling up with Deku now?” His daggerlike gaze hit each one of them consequently. Iida and Tsu looked displeased at best. Ochako felt a small twang of guilt for the concealment, though it was nothing. Anything that small paled in comparison to the truckload of secrets she already kept from the rest of her friends. It like it was something she hadn’t delt with.

Kirishima was the first one to crack (ironic considering his quirk). Ochako had expected it since he was the closest to him, “Look, I didn’t know for long, Bakugou. Todoroki was going to tell you at a later date. Well…we know your relationship with Midoryia…vaguely now.”

Bakugou nodded weakly taking in everything. Finally, his voice rough, gravely and dripping with a sense of self-loathing. Something Ochako never thought that was an emotion he even had, “Deku, can we talk outside?”

“I’m not sure Kacchan…”

Bakugou scrunched his face up, “Look- It's not like I’m gonna beat you up, am I? Maybe, only then, Icyhot would murder me but I’m not going to try it. I’m just not. You know that right?”

“So…so you’re not going to beat me up? Just because your friends are here?!” Midoriya’s voice had taken on a serious quality. Crimson met viridian in contention. The roles were reversed just like that. Bakugou was brimming with vulnerability and Midoryia was biting back a scream.

Now they were all subject to watch the ensuing storm.

You got what you wanted, Ochako. Well done.

“No. I was just fucking joking. God, can’t you take—”

Midoryia scoffed, pinching the bridge of his nose, “That’s the thing though. I honestly can’t tell if you’re joking or not. How can I—”

“Guys!” Ochako called out. She didn’t like where this was going at all. Bakugou would snap and they’d both do something regrettable. Something damaging like breaking up the group. Never mind breaking, how about demolishing the group we made. Far more applicable.

“—tell if you will or won’t? Who’s to say it won’t be a repeat of…”

Kirishima attempted but it was too late, “Bakugou. Midoriya. Guys.”

“No. Look- listen- let fucking me explain.” He stepped closer, raising his voice again, fumbling around with his words.

He stood, not backing down, “Why should I?”

“Look. I want to talk to you about…shit you know I’m not good at this. I just…I need to fix this. I can’t leave it like this. Just- meet me outside.” Slowly and stubbornly, he plead his argument. Ochako watched in horror as her friend- her hot headed, intelligent and emotionally constipated friend- managed to stumble over half begging, half arguing with himself.

“Please.” A pathetic whisper escaped the blonde’s mouth.

Wind howled.

Rain lashed out its fury on the earth.

They held a collective breath.

Silently, Izuku Midoriya begrudgingly followed Bakugou out of his studio. Ochako watched his back uncomprehendingly,

Higher powers, if they even existed, were assuring her that no she would not be able to be at ease. Why fix the unfixable?  

Chapter Text

All the training in the world couldn’t have prepared her for what the Sport’s festival entailed for Ochako on that day. A crucial crux for her future all contained in the span of a few hours.

Let me ask you…how long do you believe it takes to turn someone to villainy? Does it begin from birth? Were they naturally predisposed to turn towards villainy an easy way to enact cruelty on others? Or was it a gradual slow parasitic idea which grew until it couldn’t be silenced? Some would argue all villains were destined to be villains. Heroes were always destined to be Heroes. That was final.

My answer is more complex than that. Humans are innately complex beings. Nothing will ever be cut and dry with mere mortals. Depending on the threshold for pain, trauma and anguish there are different results.

Those with the lowest are the least justified: Pests, weak willed individuals lower than a common house spider. Those who let their emotions control them completely. Flippant with morals and those who stand for nothing. Only useful for giving up their lives to a cause and causing minor unrest.

Utterly detestable.

Higher tolerance individuals: villains who could have been destined for good but due to too many unfortunate events, in desperation took the law into their own hands and rewrote aspects of society. Mortals such as these were of mild interest, the Hero Killer had been a prime example, yet some struck a chord with other tormented souls which made them far more useful than the first type.

My favourite had to be the rare few; souls that were untouched at first glance but were forced due to horrific circumstances to become what they were never meant to be. The ugliness of their world pressuring them with more and more lacerating heat until they morphed from the society’s coal to a crystal-clear diamond of anarchial chaos. So tainted and pungent in their moral code…those rare few had such potential for chaos. His students always consisted of these rarities even if they were still morphing, like young Tomura.

I had many regrets in my long reign in Japan. My most lamented had to be the dismissal of young Ochako. Comparatively, she didn’t fit this mould…yet. I hadn’t noticed her, yet she still twisted into my diamond in the rough. A symbol of chaos even after my time among mortals had expired. Not a misfit successor like Tomura, who was brought up to always play the long game. No, something highly lethal. All without my direct help.

Still, I always found it amusing that a hero celebrating event managed to sow the first seed of Villainy into Pandora’s mind.

Impressive yet oh so tragic.

The Sports Festival felt like a fever dream.

Every second spent under the scrutiny of thousands all around with such a hubbub of noise. The sky was sickly blue, the stadiums floor too beige, heat weighed her down through her gym uniform—everything felt too much. People screamed, cried and hooted as the first years entered. A section of her mind screamed at her to go, go hide away, you don’t need to do this you can sit it out—

But Ochako had never been privy to following what her mind ordered. She wanted to be here. She had been preparing for weeks on end: just for this chance to prove herself. To her classmates, who she had to match, to her parents and to the wider world watching her every movement. My parents…I have to prove to them that I can save them. I can and I will. There’s no option for failure.

For if I fail, I will become one.

Tentatively, she allowed her determination drip into her psyche. After she had become consumed by it last time, she was more than wary to lean into the mindset it gave her. Her nerves eased, ever so slightly, but the pit in her stomach was likely to stay.

She glanced to her friends in front of her. They weren’t her allies anymore. Not for the time being; Todoroki had previously made a declaration to the class that he would beat them all, Bakugou spoke similarly though with more anger and swearing than Todoroki would ever dare use, Tsuyu became silent and completive, Iida declaring good naturedly that their friendships would not affect the events of the festival and Midoriya was grinning ear to ear when he had prepared all of his support items to show off- to potential companies and the heroics course.

“ It doesn’t matter what your past or personal issues are, we all will exceed

what you damn extras think of us. We’ve survived villains

so there’s no point in slacking now.

Don’t think I won’t win though.”

Bakugou’s tinny voice reverberated from the speakers in the stadium as the crowd muttered but eventually gave way into cheers as the first round was announced.

She clenched and unclenched her fist watching the sweat on her palm disperse as the world screamed around her.

…somehow, I’ll make the world remember me.

The obstacle course had been tough for most students, Ochako included. She had managed to place within the top forty, which was a relief off of her shoulders. Her breaths came through quickened and tough throughout the five-minute break they were given.

Her friends, Iida, Tsu and Kirishima had placed similarly to her with Iida being the highest- due to his quirk naturally. Unsurprisingly, Bakugou and Todoroki were placed second and third respectively. First place, from the dark horse of the race: Izuku Midoryia. The six of them all knew- or in Bakugou’s case tried to misremember so he wouldn’t have to congratulate him- he had deserved it due to his quick-thinking actions on the mine field with that shield he equipped being used as a sled on the explosions of the mines.

She kept her fiery determination under wraps partially because even her instincts told her she was never destined to win that obstacle course race due to the nature of her quirk. Yet when has that stopped you before? Your quirk is terribly suited for combat but here you are at UA looking to win the Sports Festival.

She swallowed and shut her eyes willing the pessimism to bugger off.

Cheers rang out as the top forty students walked back into the stadium ready to face what Midnight had in store for them.

She spared a glance at the spectators surrounding them; her parents not being there of course. They had too much on their plates with the business slowly failing and buying tickets to come see her was clearly far out of their monetary range.

Beneath her skin, her body simmered with a hateful feeling: one so selfish and one so narcissistic. She wished with her whole heart that her parents were here. To see her bloom. To see her win, like she knew she could.

Though like all wishes it was just that…a wish.

(Her mind mercilessly screeched the contrary to her determined thoughts- at least they won’t see me fail-, she attempted to block it out like she would her mother’s wails.)

Were her parents cheering for her at home? Were they crying tears of joy just knowing that their daughter was capable of the bare minimum? Did they even expect her to do any good? Did they have to skip it because of the business?

Ochako tried to convince herself that she would be grateful that they did but it just wasn’t working.

She settled on contemplating what team she should join for the calvary round. Some teams off the bat had ran for each other; Shinsou’s team being the first one to have a complete team before the five-minute mark of their time to group up. So that was off the table.

She had the option of teaming up with some unknowns from Class 1-B or other classes but that was far too much of a risk. Tsuyu had already teamed up with Shoji and Koda so that called her off the table too.

Really, the two viable choices were with her friends; Midoryia having the highest points was made a target by a majority of the people surrounding him, being from the support department wasn’t making his opportunities any better. Luckily, Todoroki decided to join him rather than fight against him. That was understandable- if they joined forces, they would have a greater chance of making it to the next round with their combined attack power. Ochako couldn’t help but think Todoroki may have been better going head-to-head to gain first place. However, factoring in Todoroki’s soft spot for the green haired mess, it was clear to see which option he had favoured.

She nudged Iida, who was clearly in the same boat as her, who looked down at her before fiddling with his glasses. She knew he had been training just as hard for this event (likely more than her). This whole decision would decide if their training had been useful or for nought.

He sighed and Ochako caught a glance of his determined gaze behind his glasses, “I might join forces with Todoroki and Midoriya. What about you Uraraka?”

She hummed non-committally, “While joining them might seem to be an advantage…”

“Yes, I know. They’ll get hounded at the start but if you can keep the team safe from the others it’s a safe bet. If I were to join, we would have three high pointers which isn’t risky by any means if we manage to keep two out of the three.” Iida mused out loud as they both watched the two contrasting boys begin to talk strategy and, assumably, who they wanted on their team. Midoriya bubbling with boundless energy, like he hadn’t run a marathon minutes ago joined by Todoroki nodding to his suggestions.

“Stressful, though! It’s gonna be tough to stand out in a group like that. With Midoryia being the mysterious, unknown underdog and Todoroki the famous recommendation kid.” Ochako exclaimed gesturing to them and back to Iida and herself. If she were to join that group, they likely wouldn’t acknowledge her and her power set. Press and the audience would almost certainly favour watching a wacky support kid and the number two hero’s son to a nobody with a dumb quirk.

“You care about that?”

He’s never had to worry about it, unlike me. So yes, of course I do! Not like I can even tell you…  If Ochako had another pencil to hand she would have almost certainly snaped it in half due to the amount of anger that question erupted within her.

Iida waved her off when she didn’t answer, not sensing the shift in her mood, walking in the direction of the contrasting duo. She’d have to just channel her excess anger into the next task. It’ll be fine. Completely fine. Breathe in. Breathe out. Bre—

Kirishima slapped her shoulders, thankfully without using the effects of his quirk, “Hey Uraraka! Wanna be a part of our team? I’ve got the grump under control and I got Mina to join us too.” He explained gesturing behind him where Bakugou’s crimson eyes met hers with intrigue. Mina waved eustatically at her behind the blonde.

Joining Bakugou’s team seemed like a good idea; Bakugou having his quirk for great offensive power, Kirishima being extraordinary at defence and Mina’s quirk would help ward off any teams that even attempted to come after them. They wouldn’t have to worry about the disadvantages of being first place while still reaping the benefits of placing high. It was an ideal situation where she could have the opportunity to show her worth without being overshadowed.

“Yeah, if explodo and Mina are okay with it?”

“Actually, it was Bakugou who suggested it. You know how he is.” He glanced back laughing as the look of intrigue was replaced by his trademark scowl in believing he was the butt of some joke. Ochako smiled a genuine smile in return, laughing along. Bakugou actually acknowledges me? It managed to win over her feelings of anger over Iida’s dismissal, easily. She was half surprised at this revelation but she preferred to bask in the positive feeling rather than overthink it right now.

“Yeah, I think we all know too well by now.” She joked as they approached

“Hey Uraraka!” Mina greeted her with a grin on her face, waving.

“Talking shit, Round face?” Crimson eyes looked her up and down before ‘tsk’-ing. Mina pulled on his arms

“No, nothing like that! I promise.” She reassured, not wanting to waste their time. Judging by the looks of it, a majority of teams were sectioned off huddled into groups chatting while the fans in the stadium took a break from watching.

“Anyway, if you shitheads were quicker, I could have explained it by now. Shut it while I explain my master plan so we can beat Icyhot and De—Midoryia.” Bakugou explained the details in a simplistic manner-

Firstly, they would be going after Midoriya’s team. In the end, Iida and Tokoyami joined the two frontrunners. This matchup would be a difficult one. Well, she had expected that. She agreed with the notion that they couldn’t just lie low in the background racking up points because that was too easy. They needed people to know they were a threat. Winning the cavalry battle was a good way of securing attention from heroes.

Secondly, Bakugou would be their main offensive weapon, Kirishima would be on the defence, Mina would be trapping off their enemies and Ochako was their enhancer and exit strategy.

Third, any teams that tried fucking with them were going to wish they were dead after they were done with them (in Bakugou’s words). This meant they had to look out for shifty characters (Shinsou’s team according to Mina; who knew first-hand how devious the combination of him, Kaminari and Sero were).

All in all, Ochako left their discussion solid in her confidence with their team. It seemed full proof. She had no doubts that they had a sizeable chance of winning the whole task.

The girl observed the cavalry battle from a standard seat in the stands. She lamented the fact that she under strict orders to pick a normal seat, since she was just itching to sit right next to heroes without the consequences of being arrested. Better yet she could have chosen a hero student and joined in on their dumb festival! It was such a shame. There was no point if she couldn’t at least have a little fun on this mission.

She sighed grumpily as her shaggy black bangs partly covered her eyes. Long hair was such high maintenance but at least people would be highly unlikely to try speaking to her. It wasn’t much different from being back in high school anyway: keep your head down, blend in, don’t stare, don’t fight back. She slouched in her seat and took out her work notebook (which she had tastefully covered in shimmering crimson ink, not blood just glittery gel pen). The task was to get a grasp on the quirks and personalities of the first years, not espionage.

She glued her attention to the screen to see the birds eye view, occasionally using binoculars to try make out the figures for herself. ‘Oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ echoed around her amongst mindless chatter, causing the girl to fidget under the unsettling pressure of being surrounded by people. Certainly, like high school. Currently, the green haired cutie’s team were still in the lead; due in partly to the movement enhancing support items and the stability of their team. It was built overall defensively, as you expected if you were to be targeted off the bat: with the bird guy swatting off incoming opponents, the tall well-built one using his quirk to speed around the arena and the pretty boy with two toned hair making paths with his ice to mauver them quickly away from danger.

She hummed scribbling down some doodles of the students to accompany her notes. Most teams were making attempts for the 10,000,000 pointer only to be thoroughly shut down. One team, led by a boy with indigo hair, were somehow snatching points off lower teams with seemingly no resistance when they cornered their target teams.

Fine…she had to secede that the match was an interesting one if you were watching the first-place team. Just how long could they keep their antics up until they had to stop evading and attack.

From where the girl was sitting, it seemed as though the team with the explosive blonde was giving the team in the lead the most trouble. Those explosions hurt the bird guy’s quirk somehow and paired with the acid: the first place team were forced to increasingly dodge and weave. The red head smashed through any ice walls the other team attempted to use to slow them down. The brunette cutie had yet to do anything other than running which was strange. She had to find out what her quirk was somehow unless Shigaraki would whine and complain and just generally be moodier than he usually was.  

When five minutes were left on the clock, the explosive team had the front runners cornered. It was a battle to the death! Well, that’s what she would have opted for but nope, hero society just had to be terribly boring like that. She was of the opinion that little blood made anything a hundred times more thrilling.

Fans hollered and cheered, split on who to root for. An annoying hero’s voice spouted useless commentary on the situation stating the obvious. Of course, it was tense! What did they expect putting privileged, talented kids up against each other?

Team Explosion made the first move, with the blonde fighting and aiming his explosions towards the bird quirk to nullify him. Ice shot from the two-toned boy creating walls just in time to shield them. The navy haired boy used a special move to escape the corner they had been blocked into, which would have worked if it weren’t for his movements being restricted by the acid laid across the grounds.

Their team movement stuttered. They were stuck. It was only a matter of time before the other team closed in on them. The two-toned boy and the support kid seemed to remember this as they signalled to each other.

With no explanation other than the logic that it must have been the brunette’s quirk, team explosion floated into the air to pass the heavily fortified ice wall separating the two teams. Using explosions as momentum they rushed a full force attack with the element of surprise. The blonde made a grab for the band on the support boy’s neck. Audiences sat at the edges of their seat staring at the scene. Even the commentary had briefly cut off.

Many events took place in the span of a couple of seconds.

Fire exploded from the left side of two-toned. Mysteriously it disappeared upwards just before the teams interacted. Blondie caught the band in one hand and in the other meant to fire off an explosion. As the explosion erupted, the support kid’s Bō staff made contact with his hand with searing determination. Instead of it having no effect, like you would expect if metal collided with an explosion, it completely nullified the explosion. This threw the blonde’s team off balance, teetering on thin air.

She squealed in excitement. Who would emerge victorious now that the attacking team were having to switch for defence in the last minutes of the battle? Oohhh Shigaraki was not going to like how strong these brats where already.

The team previously in lead recovered from their momentum brake down caused by the tall boy. They speeded towards their opponents with all of their teammates at optimum condition. The explosive boy’s team were still floating above them though shakily trying to hold together their balance. Using a hastily constructed ice ramp, the burst of speed and bird boy’s quirk: they launched into the air.

Rapidly approaching the blonde’s team, the green haired boy jumped off from his teammates for the band around the explosion boy’s neck. She blinked and an explosion erupted from the green haired’s Bō staff targeting the teammates responsible for movement. They toppled as the greenette reached for his band only to be far out of reach. The brunette must have released her quirk as the team fell out of reach from his hand. This looked to be the end as the seconds were passing by closer to the end.

However, it was not out of reach for the boy’s staff as it hooked the band and tore from the blondes falling form. Before the trickster too made his descent to the ground, the bird quirk caught him and placed him back atop his teammates.

An alarm blared to signal the end of the cavalry battle. She crossed her arms and leant back in her seat as an ear damaging cheer commenced from the crowd around her. She had enjoyed that more than she had expected to do (because a fight without sheading some blood was nearly always a boring fight in her books). The quirks of the teens were certainly miles more interesting than those of her usual opponents. Though ,she supposed, it was to be expected of a school like UA.

Although she was supposed to keep out the way of the students…it couldn’t hurt to try observing them from…somewhere closer. Despite appearances, she in fact was the most experienced and capable of analysing in the league: none of the other Villains had shit on her notes. Even so she still wasn’t gifted at it like a professional would be (it was strange they hadn’t recruited one yet) and due to her general hyperactivity, focusing on fantasies about fighting the people she was supposed to be observing, she missed a lot of the finer details.

They would have no way of knowing it was me…and I could learn some extra information. Shigaraki wouldn’t be as moody with me like he usually is! Maybe then I could steal some of his blood and…I’m getting ahead of myself. Being closer up would help, she was certain of it. Anyhow, she was becoming too restless in her seat which caused some strangers to glare at her weirdly, likely thinking she was a basket case teenager and not undercover. Oh, how she wanted to cackle and screech about their shortcomings and misjudgement.

People always underestimated her talents until the moment she plunged a knife through their stomach. Watching the realisation and fear fill their eyes, she had perfected how to pinpoint the moment they saw her for what she was: a fully-fledged villain not a girl playing dress up. She revelled in that moment.

When she noticed her mind was getting a little too side-tracked, she had to pull herself out of it and bend herself back into shape. Fantasies aside, she wondered what sort of characters led the prospecting hero generation. Were they pure or broken? Free of burden or crushed by it? Did they weaponize their turmoil or hide it beneath their skin? Were they confident in their ideals or clinging onto them like a lifeline?

She had the pleasure of figuring it all out.