Notes: Okay, so this was supposed to be a lot crackier than it came out, but seriously, Shigaraki and Uraraka would not cooperate with me. Granted, they're going through a lot so this was never going to be the case. I guess when I had this in mind originally she was supposed to meet the new members of the League before the attack on the Training Camp, which would've made sense except my mind had other ideas. This is what happens when you write whatever pops into your head: things go off the rails. Nonetheless, I had a lot of fun writing this. Seeing as how Magne is alive, consider this a slight canon divergence in that they haven't met Overhaul just yet. I just pushed that back by a day or two. I would love for them to meet, but I don't see that happening. Maybe.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, not even my ability to write straight crack apparently.

Ochako had fallen into a state of radio silence after their last meeting. There were periods in which their contact was severely limited and full days when Tomura didn't hear from her at all. The longest time they'd gone without any communication had been two weeks. It had driven him up a wall, judging from the way he'd disintegrated more than a handful of glasses. In the end, she'd flounced back into the bar, full of confidence after her first two official weeks at UA.

He could still remember seeing her in her high school uniform for the first time, the normalcy of it making his stomach clench uncomfortably. He couldn't understand why she seemed to enjoy it so much, but then he'd never been to school before, not that he could remember. Sensei and Kurogiri had given him all the education he needed. She lived in a completely different world, something which was more apparent than ever since she had gone undercover in earnest.

Due to the nature of how she'd been raised, Tomura was used to seeing her sporadically, even though she had been a huge part of his life. When she had been too little to own a phone, he'd go almost a full week without talking to her. As she got older, the couple raising her for Sensei supplied her with one, which turned out to be a mistake since she discovered emojis and gifs very quickly. She used them an obnoxious amount, sometimes spamming him with nonsense texts.

He would kill for just one from her right now.

Whenever they had gone through long periods of little to no communication, there had always been a set time for a check in to make sure that things were still on track and her secret was safe. It frustrated him to hell and back, but the hour would come and she would step through Kurogiri's warpgate like clockwork.

The silence that had fallen between now them was different: Tomura didn't know when Ochako was coming back.

As if getting forcibly dragged through a warp gate after miserably failing to complete his goals and leaving Sensei to fight All Might wasn't horrific enough, Tomura couldn't get the sight of Ochako out of his head. Her big brown eyes, begging him to fix everything yet filled with a rage that he hadn't seen in years, but it had been directed towards him this time. The fists she had pounded against his chest. Those furious tears that she'd wiped away but kept coming. He'd screamed back at her in his fury and desperation following Sensei's defeat. In the end, she had turned on her heels and left. He hadn't heard from her since.

The phone call came out of the blue. At first, he snatched his phone so quick that he nearly used all fingers, but then realized that it wasn't his going off. It was Kurogiri's. He answered the phone, much more subdued than he had been two weeks ago when they'd kidnapped Bakugou. Kurogiri was almost impossible to read, but somehow Tomura knew exactly what was going on even if he was murmuring quietly.

"She wants to meet the others," Kurogiri supplied.

Tomura narrowed his eyes. "Why the sudden demand?"

"Who wants to meet us?" Dabi asked as he walked into the room. This was his first time in their new hideout, having been put on recruiting duty and out of contact. So far, he hadn't done that great of a job, but then again, they weren't in the best of positions right now. Tomura knew that they were rebuilding and it was painful to accept, but he had to if they were going to see this through and improve. It was what Sensei wanted and he still believed in Tomura even after he had failed.

(So why couldn't Ochako?)

Toga popped in right behind him. "Oh, we're meeting someone? Is she cute?"

Tomura rolled his eyes. She was kind of adorable when she was angry, which she had been when confronting him over Toga stabbing her on the camping trip. When he looked back to Kurogiri, there was a questioning look in the way he held himself and the phone next to his head, awaiting an answer. Tomura sighed and waved a hand. Bring her on in. If she thought it was time to show her face, then that was on her.

It had nothing to do with the fact that he was antsy to see her again and see how she was handling things. The Hero License Exam had occurred yesterday and he had no idea how things had gone for her. Toga could only tell him so much and what he'd heard about Ochako had made him vaguely uncomfortable. She had to get one so that she could start amassing more information from the pro hero side. If she got one and was able to work more with pro heroes, she'd be infiltrated in hero society even more. Who knew what intel she could get then? Not to mention that her quirk's strength had grown even stronger. At this rate she'd be able to lift buildings one day.

"So who's this mystery girl?" Dabi asked as Kurogiri turned away to finish the conversation on the phone. "Don't tell me you've had a girlfriend stashed away this whole time."

Even though it was utterly ridiculous, Tomura's face flushed behind the hand he had resting on his face and he barked out a furious, "No!"

"Good," Dabi replied in his typical flat tone, "because I'm pretty sure you only sleep with an anime body pillow."

"That's not-" Tomura snapped his mouth shut and hissed through his teeth. It wouldn't do him any good to let Dabi rile him up further. Maybe he should just send him out before Ochako showed up. She was around enough skeevy boys and heroes as it was. He didn't need to add Dabi to the mix. "Don't you have something to do?"

Dabi folded his arms across his chest. "And miss meeting our mystery guest? I don't think so."

Sighing, Tomura stood up. He trusted these people to help further the League's plans, but Ochako was something different. She'd been a part of this group for as long as he had. Her entire life had lead up to this moment and he wasn't going to have anyone mess that up. The two of them had done their best to make Sensei proud and they would keep doing that even with him in prison.

"This is a very serious matter. She is one of the highest kept secrets of the League. Very few members have ever met her or even know of her existence." Her position in UA was very important and precious to the League. He had to protect that as much as he had to protect her. Ochako could understand that. The older she got, the less people in the League that knew her. Sensei didn't want them to know of his plans for her. Compartmentalizing kept her role safe, but now Ochako wanted to show her face. Maybe she wasn't thinking straight. No, she was in the same boat as him. He had to remember that. "Talk about her outside of here to anyone but us and you can pick out what urn you'd like to be in."

Compress nodded. When the hell had he come into the room? "This is clearly very delicate. We appreciate the vote of confidence."

Kurogiri hung up the phone. "Shigaraki?"

"Yes, yes." Tomura turned back to the others. "Not a word to anyone ."

With everyone in agreement, although Tomura eyed Dabi warily, Kurogiri opened the warp gate. Tomura turned to face it. The seconds that passed in between took ages, but then Ochako walked through the black mist wearing a comically simple outfit of shorts and a t-shirt. He almost turned the chair next to him to ash. She looked so normal with her hair done as it always was, the pastel colors of her outfit, and white sneakers.

The moment was interrupted by a loud, excited squeal behind him. "Ochako!" Toga brushed past him in a flash so that she could jump in Ochako's face, clapping her hands together and beaming brightly. "I knew we were gonna be friends!"

Tomura saw that way that Ochako's lips twitched in a grimace at being referred to by her given name, but she wisely didn't comment on it. No doubt he would hear about this later. She didn't like it when people spoke to her with too much familiarity when she didn't think of them like that. Back when she had been little, a lot of Sensei's colleagues would refer to her as such and she, for however small she was, would always tell them off. It was hard to take her seriously when she was so, well, cute. She made a great spy.

"Yes, great friends," Ochako replied sweetly. Toga clapped in excitement, but he heard that tone for what it was. She was irritated. Whenever she got like that, she hid it behind a syrupy sweet tone that belied the danger beneath.

"Oh!" Compress exclaimed in surprise. "I must be honest: I did not see this coming."

"That's the point of being a spy, isn't it?" Ochako responded dryly. "I wouldn't make a good one if you had figured it out upon seeing me once."

Compress tapped the chin part of his mask. "A remarkable deception. It's very commendable." He sounded quite impressed. Tomura could see the slight way Uraraka straightened up in pride. She did the same thing whenever Sensei had praised her. "You helped those boys catch up with me to save Bakugou and Tokoyami."

"I also once floated Kurogiri and called the cops on Tomura," Ochako added in a challenging yet playful tone. Oh yeah, he'd almost forgotten about that even though it hadn't been that long ago. He might have deserved her rage for the mall incident.

Toga tugged on Dabi's jacket. "This is one of the girls I was telling you about!" She put her hands on her hips and beamed. "And you said she wouldn't be my friend."

Dabi narrowed his eyes. "She's our source in U.A.? Doesn't seem like much."

As strong as the urge to throttle Dabi or tell him off, Tomura kept silent. Ochako didn't need him to defend her. She knew her worth and her strength. Besides, Dabi didn't know shit about her. That was what people had said about her at the Sports Festival and he'd seen her fight on tv. She pushed herself to her limits every day and he had no doubt that, without their quirks, she could knock Dabi flat on his face. He'd pay good money to see that.

Ochako tilted her head as she evaluated him. "You're the one that set fire to the forest and kidnapped Bakugou."

"Guilty as charged," Dabi replied, holding out his hands.

"No wonder a witness was able to spot you entering the hideout," Ochako said in an unimpressed tone. "You look like pieces of overcooked meat stitched together. Completely conspicuous and hideous."

Toga burst into giggles while Dabi and Ochako stared at each other. Considering what had happened the last time that someone had insulted him, Tomura was briefly concerned that Dabi would try to attack her, but he stayed in his seat. He had to let Ochako handle this or none of the others would take her seriously. It was important that they do, seeing as how she'd been a part of this much longer than all of them combined. He did not want them to know of her true significance though.

Finally, Dabi jabbed a thumb back at him and Tomura stiffened in his seat. "Have you seen him underneath that hand? He looks like an ashtray."

Tomura scoffed. "Dabi, I swear-"

A smile split across Ochako's face as she looked back at him, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "Oh, I like him. It's good to have someone that can give you lip when I'm not here."

It took everything in Tomura to not go off on her right here in front of everyone, but he couldn't stop from seething in his seat and clenching his hands tightly. "Are you shitting me?" As if he needed anyone to sass him as much as she did, least of all Dabi. He was used to people being afraid of him, even villains, but these latest members were something different. Maybe they were wary of him, but they weren't afraid. It did remind him of Ochako sometimes.

Which honestly wasn't a good thing all the time, considering how frustrating she could be.

"I'm so excited you're here," Toga burst, unable to contain her enthusiasm. "It was so nice seeing you yesterday, but Tomura had me on a mission and I couldn't talk to you properly."

That comment took Ochako back. She blinked, the surprise evident on her face. "A mission?" Slowly she turned her body so that she was completely facing him, Toga forgotten at her side. He had known this would come up sooner than later, but he'd hoped that Toga would keep her mouth shut for a little longer. In his defense, he would have told her had she answered his calls. "Yesterday? The Provisional License Exam…" Her head snapped back to Toga as realization struck her. "The girl that attacked Deku! It was you!"

"And I would have gotten him if not for you," Toga added, not upset in the slightest. She'd been very excited to tell Tomura all the details, especially about the other two U.A. students that had interrupted her.

"It was you!" Ochako's face burned bright red. "You turned into me and then-then you melted and you were-" She couldn't seem to get the word out of her mouth. Any anger that he had felt upon her siding with Dabi faded away, replaced by a smug feeling. Now it was her turn to get embarrassed. He could allow a little of it since she had been the one to bring it up. Plus, it wasn't often that he got to see her blush like this.

"Don't worry, Ochako," Toga said brightly with a wink, "I didn't let the boys see your goods. I wasn't you then."

There was no way she could respond to that, not with the way she looked ready to blow a gasket. That would only end in her trying to float Toga to space and she couldn't do that. Tomura snorted at the look on her face and she reared on him so fast that it was surprising she didn't get whiplash and pointed a finger at him. "Don't start with me, Tomura! I'm not in the mood."

"Should've thought of that before taking Dabi's side," Tomura shot back, unable to stop himself, and she practically snarled in response. He didn't want to give off the air of too close of a relationship with her, lest they start getting any ideas, but that was difficult with him having already used his given name when no one else did. Kurogiri sometimes did, but it was rare these days. Only Sensei and Ochako did on a regular basis.

With her eyes closed, Ochako held her hands out in a gesture that looked like surrender but he knew meant that she needed time to think. Despite that none of the rest knew that, they seemed to pick up on it somehow, judging from the way that they stayed quiet. She took a deep breath, in and out, and her face slowly returned to its normal color, those pink spots on her cheeks standing out again.

"You had Toga infiltrate the Provisional License Exam to what end?" Ochako asked. When she opened her eyes, there was fire in them again. "To attack Deku? Just because-" She snapped her mouth shut when Tomura stood up from his seat warningly. She wasn't afraid of him - wasn't wary in the slightest - but she understood his role here as well. He was the leader. She could berate him all she wanted in private, but in public, even she would have to restrain herself. She could've argued over it more, considering she was Sensei's daughter, but she never did. "Why? Why put her at risk? You had me in there."

"I hadn't heard from you," Tomura pointed out mildly. "We had to act fast."

Ochako stared at him wordlessly. A hundred things passed between them that couldn't be said out loud. She was still grieving. Sensei wasn't dead, but locked in Tartarus was as far away as he could be without being so. It was hurting her greatly, but she was doing her best not to show it. Considering her position in U.A., she was skilled at hiding how she felt and what she thought, but it was different with him. She'd always been something of an open book, just as she could read him when everyone else failed.

Finally, she reigned herself in and sighed. "Of course." It had been her decision to remain out of contact during these past two weeks and she knew it. He'd called her a few times on her disposable cell, but she hadn't answered them. He couldn't decide if she was just ignoring the calls or had thrown the cell out altogether.

She should have known better with the exam right around the corner, but so much had happened. She hadn't even told him that she was moving into the U.A. dorms; he had been forced to find out through Kurogiri that she had moved out of her little apartment. Add on the extra training that she'd no doubt had to do for the exam and the first day of the semester today, it was a surprise that she'd been able to keep her cover straight with all the emotions swirling in her head.

One thing he was certain about: she was strong, much more than people like Dabi expected.

"She's a little thing, isn't she?" Magne asked, leaning forward to peer at her closer. Ochako huffed, but didn't argue about it. She had more pressing concerns on her mind, like why Tomura had ordered Toga to sneak into the license exam and how she had been able to pretend to be two people. He could see her thinking about it even as she eyed Magne with a coldly amused expression that she'd learned from her father. "How do you know we can trust her though? Heroes are all the same: selfish and controlling."

"We can trust her," Tomura said flatly, not bothering to look at her. His focus remained on Ochako.

Magne frowned and put her hands on her hips. "If you say so, but anyone that goes to U.A.-"

"It's not very hero-like to betray the heroes," Spinner pointed out.

"The information on the training camp," Compress added. "I'd assumed it came from a teacher, but a student…"

Ochako untucked her bangs from behind her ears and moved them to frame her face, making her look even more innocent. "You all are free to be who you are, but some of us have to play the long game."

"That's true," Magne said, her face twisting into one of sympathy. "You have to hide who you are every day."

"It's not easy, living a lie and pretending to believe in something you're fighting against," Twice said. "You have to be someone you aren't and someone you are." He put a hand to the side of his head and shook it. "Two people all at once. That's not easy at all."

It was something all of them could understand. They had been smothered by heroes, suffered under society, and had been told that there was no place for them. It was different for Ochako. She could have a place in this world if she wanted one. Tomura had known that she was different since she was little. She lived with one foot in another world, the one he was fighting against, but he hadn't realized how easy it would be for her to lift her other foot and place it in that world if she wanted. She could leave them behind. The society that turned its back on him would accept her with open arms. Sensei had given her that life so it would in order for her to complete their goals, but it would not take much for her to abandon them.

All it would take was for her to ignore his calls and go on living the life she had created. Turn that lie into reality. Become the hero she was pretending to be.

Had he been stressing out over her silence or the idea of what her silence might mean?

Ochako's eyes swept over to his as the League members mulled over her existence and Tomura met them head-on without blinking. There was an impassive look on her face, but try as she might, she couldn't keep everything hidden. She was a better actress than he could've ever expected from a girl who used to cry at those animal shelter commercials and read those teen girl magazines that had articles about empowered female heroes and multiple choice quizzes about crushes. But she was still Chako to him and he could see how tired she was.

Both of them had isolated themselves after Sensei's defeat and imprisonment, becoming volcanic islands in order to become stronger. However, he at least had to League to back him up. She had plenty of friends, but none of them real. Not a single one of them knew of her pain and struggle. He'd always thought that he was the lonely one, destined to walk his path alone, while she was so bubbly and friendly.

She had no one.

Of course she'd come home.

Tearing her gaze away from him, Ochako sat down in a chair near the wall where Dabi was leaning, as if she was as familiar with this place as she had been the bar. "We've more or less been on lock down since Kamino and being moved into the new dorms. Contacting you was risky when nearly all our moves were being monitored. You were right about them being concerned about a traitor."

"Are they looking into the students?" Tomura asked.

"Not that I'm aware of, but the teachers are being more cautious than ever before." Ochako sighed and rolled her eyes. "Especially since Deku and Bakugou got into that massive fight last night. They destroyed nearly half of Ground Beta."

Tomura tried not to react, but the others weren't as cautious. The casual mention of Katsuki Bakugou was enough to catch everyone's attention. The extraordinary failure of his kidnapping rested heavily on everyone's minds. All of them felt guilty in some way, even Ochako, who hadn't even been aware of it until after the fact. She had been the one to give them the information that allowed them to attack the training camp. They couldn't linger on it though. As furious as it made him, they had to focus on rebuilding. Sensei believed in him to take over. He had to prove his sensei right.

"Everyone is still reeling from what happened," Ochako continued, her voice suddenly devoid of anything as she attempted to keep all emotion out. She apparently didn't want them to know of her true significance either. "Plus we had to do extra training that we didn't do at the camp before our license exam. It was all I could do to get away for a few hours to come here. I'm exhausted."

Toga rocked on her feet. "The license exam was a lot of fun though."

Ochako looked at her for a beat and then slumped in her seat. "That's right. You were that girl from Shiketsu with the quirk to make you look like me. I can't believe you passed." She furrowed her brow. "How did you…?" She sat upright. "My blood. You took my blood at the camp when you attacked me."

"I had to get close to Deku somehow," Toga said. She clasped her hands together and gave a wiggle. "He's so cute! And he thinks very highly of you, Ochako. He didn't think twice before trying to save you."

Not taking it as a compliment, considering that they didn't know the extent of Ochako and Deku's predicament, Ochako folded her arms across her chest and grumbled, "You could've asked for some of my blood instead of attacking me and jamming a giant needle into my leg."

"It wouldn't have been as much fun," Toga insisted with a giggle. "Friends share! If you ever want some of my blood-"

"No thanks," Ochako interrupted tartly. "I'll pass."

Dabi snorted.

It wasn't a perfect meeting by far, but Tomura could feel the tension in the room bleeding away. Of course they had been resistant to the idea that this little girl from U.A. could be one of them, but they didn't know her like he did. They couldn't possibly understand that she been raised for this very role. He might have been chosen and raised to become Sensei's successor, but she was his dream. Their goals could be possible without her, but they would be that much more difficult and harder to grasp. She brought them into reality at a high cost.

"It'll be nice to have another girl around here," Magne hummed.

Ignoring her sense of space, as she did often, Toga snatched Ochako by her hands, pulling on her hard enough to jerk her out of the chair, and exclaimed, "We're going to have so much fun together!"

Tomura witnessed the split second of indignation turned rage on her face before a more appropriate look of excitement settled on her face. Toga hadn't minded her fingers, but Ochako kept her pinky fingers out just in case, always careful even when she didn't want to be. Surely not all of them could be blind to the tension in her arms as she struggled not to pull away.

"Can't wait!" Ochako replied.

This time, Tomura almost snorted. "You needed more girl friends anyway."

Ochako shot him a glare that no one but Toga in her glee seemed to miss. Her two closest companions at school were boys, one of whom was still on the kill list despite her reservations. She could stand to have some bloodthirsty female friends, especially one close to her age. It would do her some good to become colder. He was worried that being around those U.A. idiots all the time was making her soft.

"What's your stake in this anyway?" Spinner asked curiously as Ochako took her hands out of Toga's. "I mean, we all have our reasons for being here, but you, well…"

"I look like every other normal person in society, don't I?" Ochako responded coolly.

Spinner glanced at Magne and Compress, the latter of whom continued, "We aren't questioning Shigaraki or his trust in you, but like I said, you do fit in very well with the others."

"Maybe she just doesn't like how those with stronger quirks squash down everyone else," Dabi put in, having been surprisingly quiet for the most part. He wasn't talkaive by any means, but Tomura had honestly expected him to make more snarky comments than he had. "Did you see the Sports Festival? She put up a hell of a fight, but she nearly got obliterated."

Despite herself, Ochako's face flushed a little. She hated being reminded of the Sports Festival. It had been an excellent motivator, but also a sore point for her. After getting beat by Bakugou, she'd been forced to call them in order to get a hold of Sensei. Tomura had sensed that she was near tears, but had decided not to mock her for it, not when he'd accidentally disintegrated a bottle of good liquor during her match. Kurogiri had seemed almost as dismayed over that as he had when she had passed out in the arena.

"My reasons for joining the League are my own," Ochako answered in a tone that broke no room for arguing. Her gaze swept around the room, bouncing from Spinner, who frowned, and Magne, who nodded her head. When her eyes landed on Dabi, he didn't move or blink, but there was a sudden tenseness. "I'm sure we all have other reasons that we'd rather not talk about."

Dabi shrugged his shoulders. "I can respect that."

Ochako smiled. "Okay, you're off my shit list again, but you're on thin ice."

That almost made Dabi grin. It made Tomura frown. Shit list? Since when had Ochako started swearing so much? She hadn't done that before U.A., as far as he remembered. Honestly, those foul-mouthed boys… It was probably that fucking Bakugou kid. He had a mouth on him. Tomura did remember teaching her awful sayings for her to repeat in her sweet voice when they were younger that had Kurogiri and other adults panicking. She'd thought it was funny and he couldn't help himself. She must still find vulgar things hilarious.

Now he really had to make sure that she stayed away from Dabi.

With everyone satisfied as they could be, the group began to disperse. Toga clearly did not want to leave Ochako, who most definitely wanted her to leave, but then Compress called her away. Dabi was the last to leave, but then he mumbled about having business to get back to and Kurogiri called up a warp gate for him to disappear through.

After that was done, Kurogiri took his leave as well after giving Ochako a hug as best as someone made of black mist could. She was soft and kind in returning the gesture, the smile on her face genuine, but they all knew that he wasn't the person she wanted to hug her. A daddy's girl through and through. Tomura couldn't tease her about that now, not with the shame fighting to crawl up his throat.

Taking a deep breath, Ochako lifted her gaze from her feet to where he was sitting down again. "Tomura, I..."

"You shouldn't have gone silent like that," Tomura scolded her. "There's a lot riding on the line right now more than ever. We all went our separate ways to take the heat off, but I needed to hear from you."

He winced a little. That last part had come off as a little too needy, something which he couldn't afford to let bleed out. Even if they were alone now, he couldn't discount the idea that some of the others were trying to listen in. Her eyes flickered to the door, telling him that she was thinking the same thing. It stung more than he wanted to admit.

Perhaps it had been too long since they had been completely open with each other. He should've told her about the plan to kidnap Bakugou. He knew that now. He'd thought he was sparring him some pain, but instead he'd missed out on valuable intel. Sensei had taught him to learn from his mistakes, but this one was so brutal. It was time to fly on their own.

Ochako swallowed. "I know. It was foolish of me. I won't do it again."

"We all made mistakes to bring us here," Tomura told her.

"The only thing we can do is learn from them and not make them again," Ochako finished.

They'd been taught well. Neither one of them had wanted to get to this point where they were now. The League crippled, Sensei in prison, on the run with a backup hideout. It wasn't ideal. Moving into the U.A. dorms would possibly allow her to gain further access to get more information, but it put her in the thick of things and she was in more danger than ever. Her apartment had given Kurogiri an easy port of entry to create a warp gate for her to do check ins, but he couldn't do that on U.A.'s campus. Any odd behavior would be noted. They would have to find another way.

Tomura eyed her carefully and, though it pained him a little, he took the hand off his face. Whereas others flinched, she immediately relaxed upon seeing his face. It still confused him sometimes. "Are we good?"

"Yeah," Ochako said, nodding, "we're good."

It wasn't near enough for what they'd lost, but they would have to make do. They always had with the time they were given. Now was not the time to cower and hide. Despite forcing All Might into retirement, the world thought that they were broken and he was still alive. Tomura wanted him dead for what he'd done to Sense, nearly taking his life and then his freedom, and he knew that Ochako felt the same way.

The fire that had been stoked during the Sports Festival had turned into a raging bonfire. He needed it even stronger if they were going to go further. Her situation was precarious more than ever. He couldn't afford her to have any doubts. They had to be stronger.