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"Choose me," Ochako whispered to herself. "Choose me, c'mon."
Bakugou looked over his class standing in the gym, analyzing his potential opponents. "It's been a while. I'll fight Uraraka," he told their teacher.
"Yes!" Ochako shouted, raising her fist in victory. "You're going down!"
Bakugou's eyes lit up as Ochako hyped herself up.
"Show me what you got!" Bakugou goaded as he entered the center of the mat. He lowered his stance in preparation for a fight, flashing a wicked grin in her direction.
"Don't go too hard, Bakugou," Iida said as he got in position to referee. Bakugou scowled at him.
"Tell her that!" he countered. Iida ignored him.
"Keep it clean. No quirks. If you get pinned or pushed out of the area, you lose.” Iida readjusted his glasses and stood up straighter as he looked over them, taking his role very seriously.
"Easy.”
"We'll see," Ochako taunted. "I've got a few tricks”
"I know.”
"Start!" Iida shouted.
Ochako and Bakugou charged each other, closing the small distance between them in a heartbeat. Bakugou threw his signature punch and Ochako used her Gunhead Martial Arts to grab his forearm and throw him off balance. It barely phased him. He pivoted, caught her arm, and pulled her to him. She tumbled out of his grasp and barely missed another attack.
"Nice one, Uraraka!" Hagakure shouted from the sidelines.
Ochako jumped to her feet just in time to avoid Bakugou's grapple attempt. He stood up and brushed himself off as Ochako caught her breath.
"Tired already?" Bakugou asked in disbelief. Ochako ignored the question and ran at him again. Bakugou blocked her attack and tried to sweep her feet out from under her. He missed and Ochako used the opportunity to kick him in the side of the knee.
"Fuck!" Bakugou yelled as he dropped to the ground. Ochako crawled on top of him and pinned his arms.
"Language!" Iida scolded, then got back into his referee character. "One-"
Bakugou ripped his arms from her grasp and pushed Ochako off of him. Ochako pushed back, forcing his back into the mat with a thud, and pinned his arms to his side with her thighs.
"Tired already?" Ochako asked sweetly.
Bakugou thrashed underneath her but Ochako was stronger now. She'd trained hard for years, working towards the moment when he'd be pinned underneath her. This was a dream of hers ever since she lost their First Year Sports Festival. Ochako suddenly remembered another dream of the exact scenario she was in but it wasn't because they’d been fighting.
Ochako’s face felt like it’d burst into flames. She must have let up slightly as a result because Bakugou broke free and shoved her to the side. Before Ochako could think about fighting back, he had tackled her and pinned her face down with his elbow in her back.
"Something distracted you," he whispered almost inaudibly. It almost sounded like a growl deep in his chest. Ochako tried to fight back but Bakugou pinned her arms together with his thighs. "You fucking had me and you choked?"
"One-" Iida called.
"Meet me after class-," Bakugou said angrily, still likely unable to be heard by their classmates.
"Two-"
"-to explain."
"Three! Bakugou wins!"
Bakugou cursed under his breath, pushing his elbow deeper into her back as he got off her, and then stomped off.
"That was close, Ochako!" Hagakure encouraged. "He's just so strong!"
"Yeah, don't beat yourself up over not winning. I mean, it's Bakugou," Jirou said. "He plays rough."
Those comments only made her feel worse. Ochako couldn't lie to herself and say she was just as strong as Bakugou but she could play rough too.
Rather than pout about it, Ochako worked on getting stronger. That was all she could do right now.
She trained so intensely during the remainder of the class that it took her a second to remember that Bakugou wanted to talk. He leaned against the wall of the gym waiting for her, staring directly at Ochako until she was close enough to confront verbally.
"So what the fuck was that?" Bakugou asked loudly. Their class was used to his behavior and volume and kept walking back towards the school.
"It's exactly what you said,” Ochako said firmly. Any feelings she'd developed for anyone during high school had been successfully squashed. It had just been a dream that she remembered at an inopportune moment. Nothing more than that. “I got distracted. We'll have a rematch another time. I won't lose.”
She kept walking, thinking the conversation was done but Bakugou grabbed her forearm and pulled her to a stop. Another scene from the dream flashed in her mind and she gulped trying to expel it. She could not let a silly little dream affect her like this. It certainly didn't help the situation that Bakugou had pinned her in a way that reminded her of the dream too.
"Getting distracted is the same as giving up,” Bakugou told her as they walked back together. “I didn't think you were that type of person.”
"I'm still human."
"So what distracted you? You seem to tune out the extras well enough."
They were far enough back from the rest of the group that Ochako wasn’t worried about being overheard. That wasn’t the issue. She was not going to give Bakugou anything that would play into his ego.
"Leave it alone, Bakugou.”.
Bakugou jumped in front of her and smirked. "So I did something."
"No. I remembered something," Ochako admitted, hoping that would be satisfactory for him.
"Are you kidding me? I could see you muttering to yourself in the line-up and you blew the fight because you 'remembered something'? Fuck, Uraraka, it better have been good."
Ochako sighed in frustration and moved around him to keep walking.
"It better not happen next time," Bakugou said when he caught up with her. "Because that wasn’t a win. You choked. I think I deserve to know why you didn't give me your all."
"You don't,” she said tightly.
"C'mon. I'll never let it go."
Ochako knew he wouldn't let it go but he might eventually stop pestering her. It wasn’t worth the embarrassment.
"Whatever," Bakugou finished. "If you're gonna be like that, I won't fight you again."
"What? That's not fair!" Ochako protested.
"It's completely fair. Why would I waste my time fighting you if you're so easily distracted? I could fight Half-and-Half and get something out of it."
"I tell you and you fight me tomorrow," Ochako bargained. Any care she had regarding potential embarrassment was thrown out immediately. She needed to kick his ass.
"Done," Bakugou said with a smug look. Ochako took a deep breath and looked him straight in the eye. That’s what you did when you had to feign confidence.
"I remembered a dream I had about you where I was in a very similar position to the one I was using to pin you,” Ochako rushed out. Bakugou tilted his head, trying to figure out what she said. The longer they stood there, the more Ochako’s face felt like it had in their match. Bakugou's eyes widened once he realized what she was talking about and he burst out laughing. Ochako went from self-conscious to angry quickly.
"Oh, shut up," Ochako snapped and stalked off.
"That's it?" Bakugou called out. He ran up to her, still laughing. "If I choked every time I got distracted thinking of you, I'd be in General Studies by now. I'd be willing to show you how to stay focused. Consider it training."
Ochako took in his words and the warmth from her cheeks spread to her entire body. Those feelings she thought she had squashed were definitely back, possibly made worse by suppressing them. Bakugou leaned down with a smug expression.
"Maybe I did win," he whispered in her ear. "See ya at our rematch tomorrow."