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Yuu Uraraka likes her partner Katsuki Bakugou.
She thinks he's crazy though.
When they first start working together, she's immediately exhausted by his positive attitude. It's like he embodies the sun and his endless energy and constant smiling grat on Yuu's nerves. For someone with such a lethal quirk, his attitude doesn't match it at all.
Yuu likes to think she's pretty laid back. She's been called pessimistic and negative but she prefers the term 'realistic'. Heroism is a job that pays and she won't let anyone lecture her on how she doesn't fit the common celebrity or righteous molds most heroes take.
She's in it for the money.
Katsuki says he's in it to become the best.
But he does it with a smile on his face, vermilion eyes blazing as his grin quirks into something more like a smirk. It's such a slight shift Yuu thinks maybe she's just seeing things.
Her zero gravity and his explosion quirk work well together so Yuu downs energy drinks and coffee and follows him on patrols and missions.
It's only when she sees him battle that she decides that maybe there's more to him than meets the eye.
Because the only time Katsuki doesn't look like he wants to befriend every breathing creature around him is when he's in a fight he might lose. He makes this feral expression, pupils dilated, a manic grin of sharp teeth.
He looks crazy and he laughs like a madman.
Yuu starts to observe him after that.
She realizes he’s not all sunshine and rainbows.
He's competitive. And no amount of joking and smiling changes the fact that anytime there's a competition, he wants to win. He'll pretend to be a good sport but anytime he loses, his eyes go dark and his smile turns sharp.
Yuu gives him the run around for kicks. She makes dumb bets with him just to see how much she can get him to do for a silly win.
Until one day he beats her to it.
"I bet 25,000 yen I could win in a fight against you."
Yuu chokes on her red bull and Katsuki's smile widens.
"Come one Uravity! It'll be fun!"
"Yeah, no. I'm not paying you 25,000 yen to send me to the hospital."
"I'll pay you 25,000 yen if you win. You don't have to give me anything if I win. But you better give it your all. Make it fun."
Yuu gives him a look over. He's watching her, head propped up on his hand to watch her, mask pushed back to keep his hair out of his face.
She probably won't win. But 25,000 yen is not a bad bet to make when she has nothing to lose. Getting beat up is in her job description anyway.
"Make it 30,000."
She sees that slight smirk before he's beaming at her again.
"Deal!"
She thinks maybe she might be crazy too.
They tear up the gym.
Katsuki laughs his insane laugh, spits out the blood in his mouth and makes a 'come here' motion with his hand.
Yuu blows her bangs out of her face and throws her fits up. Her heart pounds, her skin stings from where he's burned her, she feels more energized than she ever has.
She loses.
Katsuki helps her up, smiling all the while.
Miruko chews them out for wrecking the gym. They stand outside her office, sore and bruised. Katsuki flashes her a smirk, cocky look undeterred by his busted lip.
Yuu laughs for the first time in a long time.
She likes Katsuki Bakugou. Even if he's crazy.
She learns a lot about him. His parents are fashion designers and he picked up how to dress from them. He's a great chef because of course he is. He makes her bentos, leaves them on her desk and does his stupid half smirk when she raises an eyebrow at him for the silly shapes he cuts the food into.
They start to meet off-duty. They play co-op games on Thursday night, see new movies together— his commentary is hilarious but she won't admit it— he indulges her love for american rock and listens to old CDs with her.
He has an opinion about how to make everything better and if he likes you, he'll share it.
And apparently, Katsuki likes her enough to pick her up from the airport after a week-long rescue mission.
It's then she learns he curses like a sailor in traffic. That smile slips and Yuu's shocked at how vulgar his language can get. He grumbles the whole time and Yuu laughs.
The smile he gives her when he drops her off is softer and one she's never seen before.
Yuu meets Katsuki's friends.
She instantly likes Jirou and Mina. For two completely contrasting women they both take no shit from anyone and Yuu respects that.
Kaminari is a basket case with more energy than Katsuki. The nonsense that comes out of his mouth is entertaining enough though.
Kirishima is a sweetheart, his aesthetic is misleading, he dresses like a bad boy, with his long black hair and ripped leather and ripped jeans. He's a perfect gentleman though.
And despite being covered in piercings with several tattoos he doesn't remember getting, Sero is somehow the most chill person in the room.
They "adopt" her.
Their words. not hers.
She learns they know he's crazy too.
Sero beckons her closer while Katsuki tries to drink more shots than Kaminari— a futile quest, he's a lightweight and no amount of determination will change that.
"He's a little psycho but he's our psycho ya know?" Sero nods at him. "Don't let him scare you."
"If I was scared I wouldn't be here." Yuu shrugs, "Besides, I kind of like it. It makes things interesting."
"Huh." Sero raises an eyebrow at her and says nothing else.
Yuu meets Katsuki's childhood best friend Akatani Mikumo. Or "Yamikumo" as Katsuki calls him.
He goes by Deku.
He's also a quirkless vigilante with an incredible skill to analyze quirks.
The two seem like opposites and watching them interact gives Yuu a headache. They meet on rooftops or abandoned alleys and when Yuu's had it with their awkward meeting spots she throws Mikumo a baseball cap, sunglasses, and drags him to a normal cafe.
Katsuki smirks when Mikumo grumbles and slumps in his seat. He winks at Yuu and recounts their childhood adventures together.
He's a sadist, she thinks when orders the spiciest thing on the menu and offers her a bite. Mikumo watches the interaction in silence.
Yuu likes Katsuki and she thinks maybe he might like her too.
Or maybe he just finds her entertaining.
What they have is good though. She enjoys it. It’s not often she lets people close to her. She went through most of her schooling with a wall between her and others. Yuu was aiming to support her parents, not get attached.
Recently, she’s built a door in that wall.
Katsuki stole the key and she’s yet to see if that’s a good or bad thing.
It’s probably bad.
She starts trending.
It happens because of an interview with Red Riot. The interviewer says what they all usually say: Kirishima's such a heartthrob, he's the best of both worlds, the bad boy style plus the heart of gold.
This interviewer says "I bet you could even charm an ice queen like Uravity!"
Kirishima's smile strains.
The media eats it up.
Suddenly Uravity's love life is a topic of every other hero article. People speculate who would look good with her. She's heartless after all, so impassive and selfish in her motives. Who could melt her heart of stone?
Her rank drops but everyone's eyes are suddenly on her.
Miruko never pushes her to fake date for a publicity stunt. It's why Yuu likes her agency. She decided long ago she would never mix her heart with her work. Her parents did and so many took advantage of their compassion.
She states this to the reporters who corner her on her way to work.
It doesn’t help. They’re even more eager to see her paired off. PR helps her soften her image. She guest stars on kid shows, goes to comedic interviews, and visits hospital patients.
All the while heroes she’s never had more than a few words exchanged with are talking to her. She feels like a game, where whoever dates her first wins, and the prize is the title of conqueror of her heart. They ask her out and she turns them down, no matter how charming they are or how high they’re ranked.
She rejects a fan-favorite hero and he laughs and calls her a bitch in an interview. The video goes viral.
That’s fine.
She doesn’t care.
Katsuki seems to though.
She’s not sure of the ‘why’ yet but she can tell he does. Vermillion eyes follow her when she goes in to work the next day. She’s barely sat down when he’s crowding into her space. He looms over her at her desk, his arms boxing her in while he grins, all sharp and dangerous.
“Date me.”
“Hell no.” Yuu snorts, “You’re crazy.”
His smile is softer this time. “You like it.”
“Yeah well, I’m not playing this game with you. I’m not a stepping stone for your quest to be number one. And I don’t date coworkers.”
“Is that a challenge?”
If Yuu really was sane, she’d say no. She wouldn’t take his bait to turn this into a thing.
She wouldn’t bet her heart if she truly was normal.
Not after guarding it for so long. Not after closing off to everyone and everything. Not when she knew Katsuki wasn’t someone she should trust with something so fragile.
So she must be crazy.
“Sure.”
His eyes blaze and his smirk is a threat.
Like everything else he does, he’s the best.
There are flowers waiting on her desk, he’s smiling at her, waiting with her favorite bubble tea order in hand. He’s cheeky with his compliments and Yuu rolls her eyes every time but can’t help the blush on her face.
He asks her out every day, sometimes casually, sometimes over the top. He serenades her after a villain take down and Yuu laughs at his need to be so extra.
“Come on Yuu, date me.” He says. Katsuki doesn’t ask. “Just one night, promise, I’ll treat you like a queen.”
“Is that all you got?” She taunts.
The media loves it.
The clip of him singing to her and her laughing at his antics goes viral and the public coos over them.
He waves a magazine at her from his desk, the front cover about their spectacle. The biggest story in there is about their relationship.
“Let’s give them a real story.” Still not a question.
“Then I guess you’ll have to up your game.” She fires back and flips her hair over her shoulder. His eyes blaze with each challenge.
They trend on almost every platform. Their ranks rise and other heroes stop asking her out. The internet stops calling her heartless and it feels like everything’s gotten better.
But one-day Katsuki asks Yuu out and she almost says yes.
It scares her.
When she stumbles over her words, Katsuki’s eyes flash and she knows he saw how close she was to folding.
He gets that manic look on his face and suddenly Yuu doesn’t want to play this game anymore. The stakes are too high and she likes Katsuki but she doesn’t trust him— shouldn’t trust him.
He’s crazy.
And that’s dangerous.
She has no idea what he’d do to her heart.
“I’m done with this,” Yuu tells him. She waits until after work to tell him. When she’s still in her hero costume. So she can remind herself she’s the badass Uravity and not the Yuu who lets Katsuki paint her nails horrible neon colors.
“Don’t ask me to date you anymore. It’s not gonna happen.”
Katsuki smiles at her, “We’re already dating.”
“No, we’re not. I’m done with this game.”
“Yeah, we are. I make your lunches. We go out to eat all the time, I pay.” When he stands up from his desk, Yuu’s heart pounds. “I’m your emergency contact and you always have your location shared with me.”
He stalks forward, posture relaxed, expression friendly.
Dangerous.
“You have a key to my place and 3 jackets of mine I have yet to get back. I send you flowers, peonies are your favorite. You accept all my gifts— that’s the gym bag I got you. You get flustered every time I compliment you. We share a Netflix account and your parents love me.”
He backs her into the wall and Yuu would run if she didn’t already know he was faster than her.
“I’m not playing any games with you Yuu.”
Katsuki brushes his thumb along her collarbone and Yuu wonders if he can feel how fast her heart beats.
“There’s no playing if I’ve already won.”
He smirks at her, “You’ve just gotta admit defeat pretty lady.”
Her hands fist in his collar and she drags him close enough that they trade breaths.
“You’re crazy.”
“You like it.” He looks feral but he doesn’t close the space between their lips.
Sadist, she thinks and presses their lips together.
His kiss is far more gentle than she expected. But his grip is desperate and Yuu’s not sure if she’s breathless from the kiss or how he shoves her roughly against the wall. She feels like she breaks for him.
Yuu melts under his touch and winds trembling arms around his neck. She’s a mess with his lips against hers and she knows that’s probably exactly what he wants. He hikes her up against the wall and swallows her gasp.
When she has to lean away to breathe, his mouth is on her neck and he trails kisses along the curve of her shoulder. He doesn’t bite like she thought he would. But he takes the time to suck marks onto her neck as holds her up by her thighs.
When she whines and tugs at his hair he meets her lips again and the way he kisses her doesn’t match the bruising grip he has on her legs.
“Come on baby,” He whispers when he breaks away. “Come home with me. I’m the best for you and you know it.” His pupils are dilated and his hair is messy from her fingers pulling on his locks.
He doesn’t ask.
He never asks.
Yuu ought to say no. She shouldn’t date coworkers. And she especially shouldn’t date Katsuki Bakugou.
She digs her nails into his back and the smile that spreads across his face lets her know he already knows her answer.
This smile is soft and warm. Where his smirk burns in the pit of her stomach and makes her want to bite his lips; this expression makes her want to hide her face as heat blooms in her chest. She wonders if he always meant for this to happen.
He may be insane but what does it say about her that she pulls him back in?