Work Text:
The floor shimmered with the reflection of the moonlight as Ochako slid through the halls, eyes scanning and weapons ready. Not that she was really worried. She was a first-class thief and had never been detected by anyone on her missions to rid the wealthy of their needlessly amassed wealth. It shouldn’t matter that she had targeted the castle itself. She knew she had the skills she needed to get in and out without being noticed. In fact, as far as most people were concerned, getting past the guards and into the grounds would be the hardest part, and she was well past that. All she had to do now was grab the prince’s crown and get back out.
If only she could find the damn thing.
Having already checked the throne room and the several rooms around it, she believed that maybe she’d hallucinated the jewel encrusted circlet around the asshole’s head the last time he made a public appearance. If not for the statement she was trying to make, then she would have just grabbed one of the other priceless artifacts in the building. But it wasn’t about money this time. Sure, she could take care of her family for the rest of their lives if she sold the crown but, for once in her career, she couldn’t care less about how well she’d get paid.
This was about revenge.
In all her years in the kingdom, Ochako had believed that despite their extravagant wealth the royal family wasn’t all that bad. They looked after their citizens, kept the country out of war, and did their best to ensure that everyone had somewhere to sleep. Of course, life wasn’t always perfect or anything. In fact, she had faced her own fair share of struggles in the 20 years of life she’d been alive. Her family had barely survived some winters and, in the poor seasons, had to ration their food in order to make sure everyone was fed.
Much to the dismay of most everyone in town, Ochako was the only daughter of her parents, with no brother to take over for her father when he finally stopped working. None of her neighbors seemed particularly keen on her becoming their apprentice, but they seemed even less excited at the prospect of negotiating with her if she took her father’s role as a local peddler.
So she’d taken up stealing things from noble houses that they’d never notice disappeared. She sold her goods to travelling salesmen and took home her profits in small quantities so as not to raise suspicions.
Ochako had spent years honing her craft and raising her family out of the poor living conditions she’d grown up with. Which is exactly why she always looked so proud when people noticed how healthy her parents seemed or how sturdy their clothes were. So, she believed that she was entirely justified when the royal family came to survey the wellbeing of the common folk like her and the prince—that bastard—looked straight at her and her parents and said, “We couldn’t have gone somewhere where the people look cleaner?”
Her blood had boiled as soon as the words left his mouth and she’d vowed that she’d make him feel just as awful as he had made her feel. So she needed to make a big statement. Something that everyone would notice and say something about.
She had to steal his crown.
Everyone who saw him would notice the jewels missing from his head and she would be able to sit back and watch as he tried to explain his way out of the situation. He could always tell the truth, that the crown had been stolen, but what self-respecting royal would readily admit that thieves had open access to their castle?
Except that she couldn’t seem to find the damn thing.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing skulking down the halls like you own the place?”
Her spine immediately went rigid at the sound of the voice behind her. Oh no. She recognized that voice. “Give it up, dumbass. I’m not stupid enough to believe you’re supposed to be in here so start talking before I call for the guards.”
She spun on her heel, coming eye to eye with a sea of vermillion. “The guards?” she snapped, sarcasm dripping off her tongue. “What happened to all those stories of how accomplished our precious prince is at swordsmanship? Just there to bolster your reputation among us pitiful poor people? Can’t take care of yourself as well as you want people to believe, huh?”
His eyes narrowed into an unmistakable rage as Ochako examined his appearance. It was beyond obvious that he had been doing something much more casual than she would’ve expected. His clothes seemed almost normal to her and his boots looked dirty. “Just who do you think you are?”
A puff of air escaped Ochako’s lungs that betrayed the weariness she felt in the depths of her bones. “It’s funny, isn’t it. That you can go around and ruin someone’s day, belittle everything they’ve worked for, and then not even remember them days later? Ridiculous.”
She watched as confusion briefly washed over his face before finally settling back into rage. “Stop talking in riddles and explain what the hell you’re doing here.”
Once more, Ochako reviewed the series of events in her head and suddenly realized. Maybe she was the one being ridiculous. Had she really risked her life and her parents’ financial security on something as silly as revenge over a stupid comment? Still, all she could do at this point was be honest. He was right; he wasn’t stupid enough to believe any lie she’d concoct. “I’m here to steal your crown,” she said, leaving no room to question.
His face went blank, his eyes vacantly blinking. “You’re here to do what?”
She rolled her eyes. “You insulted my family so I’m here to steal your crown.”
A beat of silence passed between the two of them and Ochako braced herself for the booming call for the guards that was probably coming. Instead, a ripple of ugly laughter echoed off the empty hallways. “Good!” he belted. “I hate the damn thing, anyway. Maybe it’ll convince my mother that I don’t have to wear it everywhere!”
This was going differently than Ochako thought it would.
A lot different.
“What?”
He snickered and held out a hand like he wanted a handshake. “You’re bold. I like how you think. You already know who I am, I’m sure, but who the hell are you?”
She eyed his hand, wary of the consequences that might come from taking it. “Uraraka Ochako. I live on the outskirts of town, just before the town turns into the fields where the farmers herd their cattle.”
His eyebrow shot up, a smirk settling on his face. “Weirdly specific but okay.”
Her hands settled on her hips of her own accord. “Listen, we both know that you were gonna ask, eventually. We might as well get the details out of the way now before I have to tell them to you from behind the bars of the lockup.”
“The lockup? What about this whole situation made you think I was going to turn you in? I have no reason to believe that you’re a threat to anything besides the safety of my crown. And we already established that I hate wearing it. Why would I care enough to call for the guards now? Actually…”
The prince’s face scrunched together with thought before he twisted around and walked in the direction Ochako had come from. Back toward the throne room. She watched him go, waiting for him to disappear around a corner so she could stealthily get out of the castle and out of his mind. Instead, just as he seemed to pick a room, he turned back to look at her, arms crossed. “Are you coming or what?”
Her feet immediately started moving toward him of their own accord, but her mind was on a different wavelength. “Coming? Where? Where are you taking me?”
For a moment, she thought his eyes might roll back into his head at how sharply they tilted upwards in annoyance. “You wanted the crown so we’re going to get the crown, dumbass. I don’t know what part of ‘I don’t want this thing’ isn’t processing in whatever’s left of that brain of yours.”
She stopped in her tracks. There was no way he was being serious, right? There was no way he was just going to hand over the artifact that most readily identified him as the prince, was he? Who was this guy? First, he was making derogatory remarks about the cleanliness of her parents, and now he was willingly assisting her in her effort to steal from him. Maybe the country had more problems than she thought it did?
Regardless, he didn’t seem to take her hesitation as an answer. His hand latched onto her wrist with enough force to startle her as he yanked her through the door and into a room that she had already checked for valuables. “It’s over here,” he insisted, but she was pretty sure she knew better. Of course, she could’ve missed something. He’d know the castle better than she would, after all.
Sure enough, he darted behind a long curtain that she hadn’t even noticed and into an entirely new room with no moment’s notice. Oh. Maybe he was being honest then? Was she sure she wasn’t dreaming? That she hadn’t hallucinated a revenge fantasy that ended well just because that’s who she was as a person?
He led her to a pedestal in the middle of the room; the moonlight glistening over what was obviously gold and jewels on the top. Even if he were lying and the crown he’d led her to was fake, there was no way it wasn’t worth something obscene. She could feed her family for years. They’d never have to work again.
The grip on her wrist disappeared as soon as she was within reach of the accessory in front of her. “It’s always kept back here, like someone is actually going to be brave enough to try to take it. I don’t think anyone has ever successfully gotten this far into the castle. Most of the would-be thieves in the world don’t make it into the building. They get stopped at the gate or in the courtyard. But you somehow got so far that you were only a couple of rooms away from the crown. You must be quite the accomplished thief.”
She shrugged, but felt a lurching sensation in her chest at his words. What was he getting at? “I wouldn’t say that. No one really knows who I am or anything.”
He stepped in between her and the crown. “That’s the point, isn’t it. A thief who is well known isn’t very good at being a thief, are they?”
“I suppose.”
He crossed his arm and scanned her body, suddenly exuding an extremely serious aura. “So, let’s make a deal.”
She blinked, her eyes darting to his and looking for any signs that she should be on guard. “A deal?”
He nodded and positioned himself so she could see the light reflecting off the jewels of his crown again. “Yes. I’ll give you one of the gems off the crown every time I see you.”
“Every time?”
“Let me finish. Like I said, one gem every time. But in return, you have to teach me how to get in and out of these walls unnoticed.”
Ochako waited for an explanation, but one didn’t seem to be coming. “You want me to teach you how to escape your own castle? Why? You’ve got everything you could ever want up here. People to wait on your every need. What in the world do you need to do outside that you can’t do here?”
“Breathe.”
She tilted her head to the side in consideration.
“I can’t move without someone monitoring me. It’s a miracle no one has figured out I’m not in my bedroom yet. There’s no room to breathe up here. So, you want the crown and I want out of the castle. We have a deal. And before you’re stupid enough to pass this up just know that this is the one and only time I’m going to admit that I need help to do something; so, if you walk away now forget the deal entirely. I won’t help you with the jewels.”
For a brief second, she considered the possible consequences of sneaking the prince out of the castle. She could end up in the dungeons or dead. Her family would be ruined through affiliation to her if they got caught.
But she’d never really been caught before.
And if she really trained him to help himself, then she wouldn’t have to deal with him long or be associated with his new skills. She could simply disappear after he learned to take care of himself. She didn’t have to take care of him forever. A cloud blocked the moonlight from the window and Ochako’s eyes lingered on the faintly shimmering crystals and gems inlaid in the crown. The benefits outweighed the consequences, didn’t they?
This would be worth it, wouldn’t it?
“Alright,” she found herself saying, “when am I taking you out of the castle then?”
A brilliant grin spread across his face and Ochako wondered what trouble she’d just signed up for. “Right now seems like a perfect time, don’t you think?”
He picked up his crown and pulled a knife out of his boot. Oh, it made so much more sense why he’d been unafraid to be alone with her now. He shoved the tip of the blade under one of the smaller gems on the crown and popped it out of its socket. “Here,” he said, “your first payment.”
She eyed the glimmering rock in her hands. “That came off way too easily. Is your crown really that badly manufactured?”
He shrugged. “I pull the gems out myself sometimes so I won’t have to wear it.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, now let’s get going! We don't have all night. At some point someone is going to notice I’m not where I’m supposed to be.”
Ochako put on her best brave face and smiled. “Okay, let’s start with lesson number 1. Being quiet and moving slowly. You won’t make it to the outside walls if you get noticed inside the halls.”
He rolled his eyes. “It can’t be that difficult.”
A series of moments where someone nearly caught her stealing from them flashed across her mind and her smile turned into something that she hoped he took as a challenge. One of her hands floated up toward her chest like a vow as she bent at the waist and bowed. “Why don’t we find out, your highness?”
He scoffed and pushed past her and into the halls with the confidence of a raging bull. “Just call me Bakugou.”
Twenty minutes later, she found herself hiding behind one of the many ornate pillars of the courtyard and listening as the guards dragged him back inside after the long series of curses he let out when he rammed his knee into the fountain. She tried not to laugh, but she couldn’t help but think that this was a more entertaining way to get revenge in the long run, anyway.
As she scaled the outer wall and ran back toward her home with her first jewel in hand, she thought she might learn to really enjoy their arrangement. Ochako made a mental note to save the gem somewhere special when she got home. She’d never believe she’d actually experienced any of it without the reminder.
Maybe one day it would be more than a simple reminder of the insanity she’d gotten herself into.