Chapter Text
Despite what one Bakugo Katsuki would tell you, there was no one in this world who truly had zero fears or worries. Everyone had something that they regretted, or was afraid of, or were ashamed about.
The girls of Class 1-A were no exception. The seven of them were all hero students together, and had been a collective polycule for a few weeks at this point, having slowly absorbed each girl of the class one by one, until Izumi, Ochako, Tsuyu, Momo, Kyouka, Mina, and Tooru were all living their perfect slice of life dating between each other and spoiling their partners rotten.
Being a group of seven powerful heroes in training, most would assume that they didn’t have many issues that didn’t involve combat training or villain attacks, but that was wrong. They were all still a group of teenagers finding their place in the world, and every single one of them had issues that would need to be overcome with time.
Today, it appears that the focus of the Yuri-cule was Uraraka Ochako, one of the founders of the polycule, and the top contender alongside Izumi for the title of “most adorable cinnamon roll”.
This particular story begins during a simple shopping trip to pick up food for the 1-A dorms.
Ochako eyed the box of strawberry mochi at the supermarket with jealousy. There was only one box left, and it looked so tasty! She wanted it so badly, but it’d be selfish to spend 1-A’s food budget on mochi for herself, there wasn’t enough in the box to even share with all of her girlfriends, let alone the whole class. She needed to be able to afford enough for everybody, she couldn’t just get what she wanted without thinking about anyone else.
Kyouka, who had elected to join Ochako on the shopping trip, pushed their cart down the aisle, eventually catching up to her round-cheeked partner. Noticing the brunette staring at the sweet treats, the punk girl just absentmindedly grabbed the box of mochi and dropped it in the cart.
“H-Hey!” Ochako yelped, snatching the mochi out of the cart with a distressed look on her face. “W-We don’t need that!”
“...But you want it.” Kyouka said, more a statement than a question, taking the box gently from Ochako’s hands and sticking it back in the cart, looking confused.
Ochako huffed. “That doesn’t mean we should get it, we have a budget for getting food for everyone, not spending on frivolities.”
Kyouka stared at Ochako like she had grown a second head. “And yet you’ve gone out of your way to include the favorite snacks and treats of every other student in 1-A, including Bakugo. Who you don’t even like.”
“I- Grr- That’s different!” Ochako felt tears prick her eyes. She didn’t really understand why, but apparently this was a big enough deal that she was going to cry about it in the supermarket in front of her super badass emotionally stable girlfriend who was totally silently judging her.
But instead of any judgement, Ochako just found worry on Kyouka’s face. “Are you alright, Cha-Cha?”
Ochako stomped her foot, feeling childish at how she was handling the situation. At least Kyouka seemed to take the hint, putting the mochi back on the shelf, though the look in her eyes told Ochako that this conversation wasn’t over.
A few minutes later, as the pair were collecting raw meats to be used for meals, Kyouka spoke up again. “May I ask why it’s ‘different’ when it's something for you?”
Ochako’s mind flashed back to her childhood. To the times when her parents would skip eating dinner so that she could have food for the night. To the birthdays and Christmases where she’d open her one present, and always be delighted by the thoughtful gift, only to slowly come to notice how her classmates always seemed to have so many more exciting gifts. Ochako always noticed that some years, her parents didn't get anything for each other on holidays, simply so that she could get the best possible present.
One year, she had gotten sick for most of December, and hadn’t been able to shovel snow to get any funds to buy something for her parents, and she felt so greedy and useless as she stared at the singular gift under the Christmas tree, addressed to her.
The gravity heroine shook her head, escaping her reverie as she sighed. “I… You know how we all agreed to put some of our own money into the grocery budget, instead of bringing our own food?” When Kyouka nodded, Ochako continued. “I d-didn’t put any in this time, or any other times. I never have. I-” She sniffled, feeling humiliated. “I don’t have anything to put in, and I know it's not very heroic of me to be making you all pay for my food, so I try not to buy things for myself when I’m on grocery duty, and I try to stretch out my meals, so that I can mooch as little as possible, it’s not like I really need the food anyways, I’m chubby enough as is-”
The spiraling session was interrupted by Ochako’s cheeks being poked by one of Kyouka’s earphone jacks. “That’s enough out of you, Cha-Cha. Everyone knows that Momo puts in 90% of the food budget anyways. I know I’ve seen Kaminari skimp out on the budget too, and he’s one of the only ones of us with a job!”
Pulling Ochako in for a hug, Kyouka gave her girlfriend a kiss. “You aren’t a ‘mooch’, or a sponge, or whatever else you think you are, Ochako. You deserve to eat as much as the rest of us do, and you deserve good things as well. We’re not going to look down on you just because you grew up poor. And-!” Kyouka lifted her pointer finger in tandem with one of her jacks, to emphasize the point. “-You shouldn’t be body shaming yourself, dude. You’ve got a totally healthy body type that’s beyond anyone’s control. No amount of starving yourself is going to change the fact that your body burns calories slower thanks to gravity affecting you less. You aren’t overweight or unhealthy by any means.”
“Doesn’t mean I don’t look silly compared to all of you,” Ochako grumbled to herself, not really expecting a response, but forgetting about Kyouka’s enhanced hearing. “The rest of you are slim, badass heroines with toned muscles for days, and there I am, the big marshmallow girl in the middle.”
That statement got Ochako another jab from Kyouka’s jack. “Okay ‘marshmallow girl’, we’re ending this self-hate train early, because I’ve decided that you need a little convincing.” Kyouka pulled out her phone, and sent a text message to the Yuri-cule group chat. Ochako’s own phone buzzed in her pocket to signify the message had gone through, but she didn’t bother checking it, knowing she’d get an explanation soon enough.
“For the next week, we are going to spoil you absolutely rotten, and treat you like the princess you obviously are. You’re going to see just how much we all love you, Cha-Cha, and you’re going to like it! We’re starting now, for the record. You’re getting that mochi, and you’re getting whatever else you want as well. Kaminari can get his shitty chips another day, you’ve earned a treat from the budget way more than he does.”
Ochako wanted to refute it, she didn’t need some silly week long shopping spree or whatever to make her feel loved. She knew she was plenty loved! She just… didn’t know why she deserved any of it, or why any of her wonderful partners needed someone like her around to be the support while they went out and did incredible things all by themselves.
But the look in Kyouka’s eyes told Ochako that trying to fight back would likely turn a week of spoiling into a month, and she didn’t know if she’d be able to handle that.
Ochako’s phone buzzed again, and seeing as Kyouka hadn’t done any more typing on her phone, it was seemingly from someone else, so the brunette took out her boxy little hand-me-down cell phone and blushed profusely as she realized it was a notification for Izumi changing her nickname in the group chat.
Uravity’s username was changed to: “Sugar Baby”
By the time Ochako had left the embarrassed haze of blushing and stammering at the term she was assigned, she realized that the strawberry mochi was already in the cart, and Kyouka was leading Ochako to the pastry section. “C-C’mon, J…” Ochako mumbled out, evidently not as finished stammering as she thought. “Can we at least wait until we get back to the dorms before we do all this?”
“Nope!” Kyouka chirped, smiling coolly back at Ochako. “You’re going to pick out your favorite flavor of cookies, cupcakes and-or donuts, and we’re buying them, and that’s final!”