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Ochako stepped out of the storage closet back into the main room of the gym. It was official—Deku wasn’t waiting for her anywhere in here. She pulled her phone out of her jacket pocket and flipped it open. He hadn’t texted her to say that something had come up either.
Shrugging, Ochako made her way toward the main door. Deku would never leave her hanging on purpose, but he hadn’t been in a great state when they’d dragged him back to Yuuei, and one night of sleep wouldn’t make up for it. He’d probably just forgotten their plans and gone back to the dorm after training with Bakugou.
Scene Break
When Ochako got back to Heights Alliance, Deku wasn’t in the common room eating dinner like she’d been expecting. But Bakugou wasn’t there either, so her theory still held. She walked over to the kitchen and then stopped, aimless. It was past time to eat, but she’d had a late lunch, and she hadn’t thought about what to prepare. She wanted to keep training for now—that’s what she’d planned on.
“Is something the matter?”
Ochako turned—Yaomomo was sitting there at the counter behind her.
“Oh—nothing really,” Ochako said, rocking back on her heels. “I was just planning to hang out with Deku, but I think he forgot and came back with Bakugou.”
Yaomomo’s brow furrowed. “No—Bakugou came back by himself a little while ago. I think he already went to bed.”
Scene Break
“This had better be good!” Bakugou shouted, pulling his door open. His hair was flattened on one side.
“Where did Deku go after you finished training?” Ochako asked, trying to look over Bakugou’s shoulder, “Is he in your room?”
“What, like a slumber party?” Bakugou said. Then his scowl dropped—he must have seen something in her face. “He isn’t here. He stayed back to wait for you.”
Ochako shook her head. “He wasn’t there when I came.”
Bakugou pushed past her, leaving his door open. Ochako followed him down the hall. She didn’t have to ask him what he was thinking—they’d all gone to get Deku together.
They all knew it wouldn’t take much to convince him to leave again.
Scene Break
Yaomomo
Has anyone seen Midoriya since 19:00 this evening?
Hagakure
why does that sound so ominous?
Froppy
I haven’t kero
Kirishima
I think he’s training with bakugou, I’ll text him and check!
bakugou D:<
he’s not
Sero
dude I thought you muted this chat???
Koda
what happened? is he really missing?
You
I was gonna meet him in gym 4 but he wasnt there
Iida
I’ll contact our teachers. If he left Yuuei, Nezu will know about it. Until then, we should confine our search efforts to campus.
Mina
where would he even go?? there’s civilians living everywhere rn??
Kaminari
sero and I can check ground gamma
Bakugou tapped her on the shoulder. “Come check gym four again with me.”
“Do you think I just missed him?” Ochako said, snapping her phone closed.
“Maybe,” Bakugou said, already moving toward the door. “Either way, that’s the last place I saw him. We can start thinking through where he went from there.”
Scene Break
Ochako set her hands on her hips, the better to re-survey the completely empty gym.
“He was floating up there when I left,” Bakugou said, pointing to the back right corner of the ceiling.
Ochako looked—there were windows along the top of the back wall, perfect for lighting the room during the day.
“Maybe he saw something outside,” Ochako said. She ran and jumped, erasing her gravity before she could fall. The momentum carried her forward and up. When she reached the back wall, she kicked her feet up and stepped along it, just enough to keep pushing her in the right direction. Then she looked down again. “Up here?”
“A little to my right,” Bakugou said, stepping forward under her. “See anything?”
Ochako turned—the window looked out toward the training grounds, not the civilian encampments. If there had been something to distract Deku, it wasn’t there anymore. “I don’t think there’s anything,” she shouted down.
“Get right up against it,” Bakugou instructed, “Maybe it was something to the side, something you couldn’t see except at an extreme angle.”
That was easier said than done. Ochako hadn’t brought her cables with her, and it was difficult to maneuver in the air without them. She looked around for something to kick off of. There were a lot of support beams up here, some of them reasonably close.
Suddenly, Ochako’s blood ran cold.
“What?” Bakugou shouted.
Frantically, Ochako placed a finger over her lips. She kicked off the wall, and when she got close enough, reached and grabbed the beam. Pulling her hands apart returned her gravity, but she knew how to do a pull up. And this beam was wide, easy enough to sit on—to lay down on, even.
Deku was sitting on the end of it, slumped back against the wall. At first she had thought he might be hurt or dead, but after a moment she’d seen the gentle rise and fall of his chest, and she realized he’d just fallen asleep.
Carefully, Ochako crawled toward him, reached over, and erased his gravity. Now at least he wouldn’t startle awake and fall. Then she looked over and down at the floor.
Bakugou was staring up at her, obediently silent. But she could see the question in his face.
Ochako bit her lip. If she shouted, she might wake Deku up, and he needed all the sleep he could get. After a bit of thought, she pointed over at Deku. Then set her palms together, careful not to let her fingers touch, and held them under her tilted head to mime a pillow.
It worked. Bakugou’s face morphed from open concern to something between bafflement and annoyance.
Next, Ochako held up one forearm and spun her other fist around it, like she was winding up rope. It probably wasn’t good for Deku to stay up here—they needed some way to pull him down to the ground.
Bakugou turned on his heel and walked away. At first Ochako thought he might be abandoning them—but then he walked into the storage closet instead of out the door.
For a moment, she just had to wait there. She didn’t remember seeing any rope when she searched the closet, but she had been looking for Deku then, and could have missed it. Actually though, she wasn’t sure Bakugou had understood what she was telling him to do. They hadn’t had the unit on field hand signals yet.
Something clattered from the closet, and Ochako heard the bouncing of a basket of balls overturned. Bakugou said something, but it wasn’t as loud as it could have been. She couldn’t quite make it out.
Suddenly, Ochako realized there was something she’d forgotten.
You
found him
Yaomomo
Oh, that’s excellent!
You
asleep in gym 4 rafters
Mina
???????
Froppy
how kero
Kaminari
honestly thats kind of impressive
Ochako heard the footsteps as Bakugou emerged from the closet, and she closed her phone again, stuffing it back in her jacket pocket. Bakugou had what looked like a tennis net, and he was tying up something on one end.
Holding up her hands, Ochako let her palms fall flat and drew her shoulders up. She had no idea what he was doing.
In answer, Bakugou drew his arm back and chucked the net corner at her.
Reflexively, Ochako grabbed it when it came, barely keeping her balance. After she had it in her hands, she realized the net hadn’t moved through the air the way rope should, saw the ball Bakugou had tied into the side. That was smart.
Feeling along the net, Ochako found one of the strings that would normally be used to attach the net to a pole on the end. Then she tied it to Deku’s belt. When she was sure it was secure, she double checked that Deku was floating, then pushed him over the side of the beam. The net fell down flat below him—still a good ways off of the ground.
Bakugou took a few steps back. Then he ran forward, jumped and grabbed the end of the hanging rope. Deku jerked in the air, but didn’t wake. After a moment, he slowly started to sink toward the ground as Bakugou reeled him in.
When Deku got close enough, Bakugou grabbed him, pushed him down to lay flat against the ground. Then he looked up. Ochako moved to set her fingers together, but Bakugou shook his head. He mimed something at her—fists clasped at his collar, moving away and over his shoulders.
Ochako nodded. She pulled her phone out of her jacket pocket and stuffed it into her sock just behind her ankle. Then she pulled her jacket off and dropped it. It fluttered in the air.
Bakugou caught it and rolled it into a wad against the ground. He stuck it under Deku’s head, looked back up and her, and gave her a thumbs up.
Ochako set her fingers together, returning Deku’s gravity. Then she stood and ran along the beam, jumped off the other side of it. Her stomach flipped—the ground rushed toward her. Just before it hit, Ochako removed her own gravity. The movement canceled out, and she landed lightly. She took a moment to steady herself, then walked over and sat down by Deku and Bakugou.
Deku was still sleeping. Bakugou was crouched nearby, looking like he hadn’t decided if he was gonna strangle Deku or not.
“You know,” Ochako whispered, “Deku did always say that studying here was like a beautiful dream.”
Bakugou sat down, rolled back to lay on the ground, and crossed his arms. He didn’t look at her.
Ochako had the sudden realization that no matter what she did, Bakugou couldn’t yell at her until later. So she thought for a moment, finger on her chin, and then said, “Slumber party?”
“Shut up,” Bakugou hissed.