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When Katsuki Bakugou stumbled into her shop, Ochako knew her life was going to be changed forever.
It wasn’t because of anything specific that he did or said. Just, when a man wearing nothing but trousers and furs around his shoulders, and perhaps a necklace of teeth, stumbled into your shop, there was not much else to think about except that things might not be quite the same .
His face was flushed, panting as he stared at her, eyes wild. “Hide me,” he said, almost on a growl.
Ochako almost flung the potion she had been fixing into his face, but steadied herself just enough so that she didn’t. “Who the hell are you?”
“Not the question to ask, Cheeks.” The barbarian man rolled his eyes and launched over the counter, tackling her down with him so he was sprawled over her, a hand settled over her mouth.
“Don’t scream. I’m not here to fuckin hurt you. There’s some guys after me-”
The sound of indignance was muffled by his palm, and he shushed her again.
“Lemme stay here, in the back. Just for a couple days.” He removed his hand from her mouth and pointed at her. “Don’t scream!”
Ochako opened and closed her mouth a couple of times. “What the hell! Who are you? What do you mean there are guys after you-? What-”
“You ever hear of a man for hire, Cheeks? A goddamn assassin? Listen, I had a guy I was supposed to hit, but I missed, alright, and now I just gotta be hidden until they pass by.”
Ochako’s eyes drifted to the back room without her permission, and suddenly the barbaric man was off of her, flinging the curtains aside and striding into the back. She got to her feet, looking back at where the man had gone. Adjusting her hair with shaking hands, she looked back and forth, wondering where her apprentice had gone off to. How had he not noticed this random man fly through town?
As the town mage, Ochako was responsible for the medicines for the town, as well as any other magic that needed to be done in the town. As the only mage, though, she found herself in need of a little assistance every now and then. Her apprentice, Izuku Midoriya, was easy to depend on, except, apparently, in this exact moment. As she debated on what she was going to do, two men burst into her shop.
“You, mage!” The first man pointed at her. With all dark hair and terrifying scars, Ochako had to stop her heart from freezing in her chest.
She swallowed hard. “Y-yes?”
“Have you seen a barbarian come through here? The townsfolk said he was headed this way.” The way the man spoke was polite enough, but there was a coldness in his voice that frightened Ochako. Reasonably, she should have given the man up right away, but something about this man radiated evil. She laced her fingers together, ignoring the shaking in her hands, and shook her head.
“No sir, I can’t say I have. He must have gone past here.”
The man kissed his teeth, clearly upset, but left the shop, jerking his chin to the other man. Once they left, Ochako sagged against the counter, glancing back to where the barbarian had disappeared to.
“You can come out now. They’re gone.”
The man drew back the curtain, standing in the doorway to the back of her shop and starting at her curiously. “You didn’t give me up.”
She glared at him. “Well… That was the man you were sent to kill? The man that was just here?”
He nodded, brows drawing together. “What, you gonna go fuckin’ get him to come back and kill me?”
Ochako shook her head. “ No. He looked evil. What kind of killing are you doing?”
The man smiled at her, a smile that was decidely not evil, but still one that sent chills through her body. “You don’t wanna ask who I am first?”
“Fine. Who are you?”
“Katsuki Bakugou. International hitman and vigilante.” He crossed his arms over his chest.
“I’ve never heard of you.”
“That means I’m doing a good job, Cheeks.” He leaned forwards a little, staring her down. “You gonna let me stay here?”
She took a step back, sputtering. “What? You want to stay here? In my shop?”
The hitman, Bakugou, rolled his eyes, stepping closer to her. “Yes, I wanna fuckin’ stay here. Just for a couple days. Think you can handle that?”
Ochako swallowed hard. He smelled the spices and the warmth of good wine, and he was way too close, and she knew nothing about him. Right? He was a murderer! She knew that much.
“I live here,” she said bluntly.
“Got that from the bed in the back.”
“I have an apprentice, he’ll need to know the situation-”
“Can he keep his mouth shut?”
“Y-yes, but - you’re a killer! You’re gonna have to do a bit more to convince me to let you stay here!”
Bakugou advanced on her, and for a moment Ochako was afraid, until he had her back against the counter, his hands on either side of her. He tilted his head down, tracing his nose over her ear. “I can think of a payment,” he said, his voice a low purr.
Ochako felt her eyes widen. “ What?” She pulled back, pushing him away by his shoulders. Bakugou smirked down at her, something akin to lust written all over his handsome face. She was almost tempted to give in to what he was asking. It wouldn’t be too bad for her to sleep with him as payment, right? He was so attractive, and he was dangerous, and she had to admit that the thought was appealing.
Still, she barely had time to act on it when the chime charm that she’d set above the door rang out. She jumped back from Bakugou and turned to look towards the door. She smiled at the sight of her apprentice looking at her with wide eyes.
“Hi, Ochako. Who’s this?”
“Um… This is Katsuki Bakugou. He’s going to be staying here for a couple days. Um… Bakugou, this is Izuku Midoriya, he’s my apprentice.”
“You’re the damn nerd who works for Cheeks, huh?” Bakugou walked around Ochako to lean on the counter, staring down his nose at Izuku. “You gonna stay out of my way?”
Izuku furrowed his brow. “I plan to do my job. I want to continue to continue my apprenticeship.”
“Does his stupid ass live here too?” Bakugou pointed at Izuku.
“No, he doesn’t,” Ochako sighed. “Thank you, Izuku, you can go for the day.”
“Are you sure you’re going to be… Okay?” Izuku looked to Bakugou warily.
Ochako wasn’t sure how she knew, but she had a feeling that Bakugou wouldn’t actually hurt her. He was a little bit brash, and he was a literal hitman, but if he wanted to kill her, he could have done it by now. He probably would have, actually. Right? But no, the way he was staring at her… She felt heat pool in her gut and she cleared her throat.
“Yeah. The shop is just about to close anyway, and I’ve already done all the prep work for tomorrow. Just come by at opening.” She offered Izuku a smile that she hoped told him that she was alright.
Izuku squinted a little, but if there was anyone who was impossible to control or argue with, it was Ochako. He cleared his throat. “Well. I live two doors down, should you need anything.”
“Thanks, Izuku.”
He left then, though he kept glancing over his shoulder at Ochako and Bakugou. When the door shut behind him, Ochako turned back to Bakugou.
“You could stand to be nicer to him. I thought that I would have to tell him who you were just to get you to stop being an asshole.”
“Cheeks, the first thing that you’re gonna learn about me is that I’m an asshole.” He approached her, cupping her cheeks in his hands and looking down at her. “So, you wanna talk about my payment to you? What do you want?”
“I want to know what you do for a living,” Ochako said softly. Bakugou smiled, bending down to trace his nose along her jaw. His hands slid down to her waist and tugged her, pulling her hips against his.
Ochako gasped. “I- I should lock up the shop.”
“I’m a hit man,” Bakugou said, “Used to be a friend to the king. Still am, when he needs me for something. The guys who came in here today, Tomura Shigaraki and Dabi? Very dangerous. The fact that they didn’t kill you is impressive, to say the least. And you didn’t give me up.”
“I didn’t,” She said softly, tilting her head back as his lips moved closer to her neck. He slid one hand up her back.
“So I owe you.”
“I… No you don’t. It was just… The neighborly thing to do and… Those men seemed dangerous.”
“They are.” he pressed a kiss to the side of her neck. “So how do you think I can repay you?”
“I think you already sort of have an idea of what you’d like to give me,” Ochako snapped. “You haven’t proved to me that you aren’t going to kill me at the next opportunity.”
He pulled back, staring down at her with furrowed brows. “What the fuck do you take me for? I’m not gonna kill you. I don’t want to kill you. I just want to have somewhere to stay the night before I try to succeed in my hit again. I’ll have to track them down and also keep them away from me. Dabi’s my target, but I’ll have to take Shigaraki out too now.” He grinned down at her. “Which means I’ll have to get my strength back.”
Ochako narrowed her eyes at him. She was no stranger to what men wanted, but she had to admit that this was the first time that a stranger had any sort of pull on her. Still, as handsome as he was, he didn’t look to be injured in any way, so she wasn’t sure what exactly he meant by “get his strength back”.
She pulled back from him quite suddenly, a bit pleased when he stumbled into her a bit. She flicked her finger, calling upon the broom that was kept in the corner of the shop and then holding her hand out for it. The second it touched her hand she set about sweeping behind the counter, brushing Bakugou aside.
“Well, I’m sure I don’t know what you mean. You don’t look like you have any cuts or bruises, any of which I could treat easily with the medicine I have here.”
Bakugou scowled at her, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’ve been chased through four villages. I probably have significant muscle fatigue.”
“Poor baby.”
“You got something for muscle fatigue, Cheeks?”
“I might,” she looked up at him carefully. “If you tell me more about your job.”
That was how Ochako found herself sitting across the table in her back room from a hitman, wrapping his sore hand and giving him a concoction of leaves to chew on to soothe his aching muscles from all the running he’d been doing. As they sat there, he told her about the villains he’d taken out, smirking at her the entire time. She had to admit that he was terribly handsome, and the way he spoke about his job, she knew he had a lot of pride in it.
“You must think you’re the good guy in all of this, then,” she said, pressing a deep red salve to the bruises that scattered his knuckles. “Don’t you?”
“Cheeks, I know I’m the hero here. The best one, too. Those assholes that tried to get you to give me up earlier? They’re wanted criminals. They’ve killed people.”
“So have you.”
“No one who hasn’t deserved it.”
“Who says that’s up to you?”
“The law,” Bakugou said firmly, “And the people that the law won’t stand up for. If somebody pays me to kill the person that killed their father, I’ll do it. There’s a lot of stock in what I do, a lot more people than you know are counting on me.”
She wasn’t sure why, wasn’t even sure if she should, but she believed him. His eyes looked more sincere than anyone she’d ever met before. If he saw himself as a type of Robin Hood, defending people who could not defend themselves, then there might be a bit of truth to it.
“You look like you don’t fuckin’ believe me.”
“I’m a bit skeptical. You can’t blame me.”
“I can.”
“You wouldn’t.” She looked up at him, eyes boring into his. “You’re too curious about me. I can see it in your face. You’re watching my every move.”
“I’m making sure you don’t kill me, witch.”
“If I wanted to kill you, I would’ve given you up to the men who came looking for you, and you know that,” Ochako responded. “You’re smarter than that, I wouldn’t. I can tell.” She looked back down at his hand, stroking her thumb over a part that wasn’t bruised. “So what will you do, when you leave tomorrow?”
He scoffed, leaning back in his seat and examining her work. “First of all, I’m gonna hunt those fuckers down, and kill them. Immediately. Fuckin’ post haste. They torture people across the kingdom, terrrorize people that don’t deserve it. They kill people. I’m surprised they didn’t kill you.”
“I was innocent.”
“That usually doesn’t matter to people like them,” he said coldly.
Ochako blinked. “Well… Then thank you, I suppose, for protecting the kingdom from the shadows.”
He blinked, his eyebrows raised as he regarded her carefully. “No need to thank me, Cheeks.”
She wrinkled her nose at the nickname and took a step back. “Well. I can make you something to eat, or-”
“I’m not hungry.”
Ochako tucked her hair behind her ears, clearing her throat. “Well, then, I guess I could just prepare for the day tomorrow and you can-”
He advanced upon her again, backing her against the wall next to the doorway to her bedroom. He reached up a hand and cupped her cheek. “Or we can…”
She knew she should say no. This man was a stranger, he was a little uncouth, and he was a murderer, but Ochako felt drawn to him in ways that she couldn’t exactly explain. She tilted her chin up, inviting him, knowing in the pounding of her heart that it wasn’t necessarily a good idea, but God, was it thrilling. At her permission he grinned before swooping down and kissing her, tilting her chin up with one finger. Ochako fell into him, finding herself wrapping her arms around him and tugging him closer to her.
He smiled against her lips, sliding his hands down to her waist and tugging her against him in a way that sent shockwaves through her body. Ochako found herself falling into him, letting him hoist her back into her bedroom. She allowed him to lay her out on her bed, pulling his lips from hers to kiss along her neck, down towards her chest.
“I don’t usually do this sort of thing.”
“Mm-hm,” he grumbled against her collarbone.
“I really don’t - I run this shop, I’m a professional.”
His fingers skimmed up her side, touching her so lightly that she jerked against him, completely against her own will. He chuckled against her collarbone.
“Yeah, I was poking around in your shit while you were talking to those two assholes. You have some impressive stuff back here.”
“Thank you,” she said primly, throwing one leg over his hips to drag him down against her. Bakugou muffled a sound of surprise against her collarbone, hips rutting against her. He pulled off of her to glare down at her, eyes biting into her.
“Hey.”
“What, can’t handle it?” Ochako asked, tilting her chin up. “I thought you were meant to be thanking me.”
“Cheeks, you better watch your mouth, I’ll be thanking you for the next few hours.”
*****
Ochako had expected that after the (admittedly very long) roll in the hay that she’d experienced with a literal hitman, she would wake up alone. She was surprised to find the barbaric man pressed up against her, arm tossed over her waist, when she woke up.
“You’re finally awake,” he grumbled into her hair.
She jolted. “How long have you been awake??”
“Couple hours. Was waiting for you to wake up.”
“Why?” She pulled back from him a little bit to look him in the face. His eyes were half lidded, like he was still half asleep, staring at her with a soft gaze that almost made me think that he liked her.
“Because I wanted to fuckin’ say goodbye,” He said, propping himself up on his elbow. “I’m headed out to catch those two fuckers.”
“Polite of you to say goodbye,” she said, staring up at him. “What will you do?”
“I’ll go and stab them, and dump their bodies in the river. The world’s gotta get rid of these losers, I’m just helping out.” He sat up all the way, tilting his head to the side, wincing at the cracking sound it made.
“So-”
“And what do you do here, hah? Fuckin… Make potions and shit?”
Ochako blinked. “Um. Yes.”
He nodded, grunting. “So I’ll come back here after I kill those fuckers.”
“Why would you come back here?”
He lifted a shoulder. “Do you not want me to?”
“I just don’t know why you want to.”
“You’re interesting. Tough. This could be a good place to come back to, minus your dorky ass apprentice.”
She blinked. “Alright.”
He got to his feet, redressing himself as Ochako watched, almost in awe. She sat up, holding her sheets to herself. She cleared her throat, and he looked back at her.
“Will you tell me more, then? When you come back?”
He leaned over, grasping her chin in his hand and polling her into a rough kiss that made her squeak against his lips. When he pulled back, it was with a smug grin that made her go between kissing him again and smacking him across the face.
“I’ll tell you more when I get back, Cheeks. Sure.”
He disappeared then, before she could say anything back. She fell back into her bed, against her pillows.
He’d be back. More of a murderer, sure, but…
Maybe that could be interesting.