Notes

Hello, and happy belated birthday to me! I wanted to get this out yesterday - my actual birthday - but I ended up being really busy all day and didn't have time to write the last bit of this. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy my birthday present to myself! I actually don't know how I feel about this haha, but I had fun writing it, which I suppose is all that really matters.

Title comes from the Dashboard Confessionals song Stolen, while the prompt table was stolen (haha get it) somewhere off of LJ! Thank you for reading and I hope you all enjoy.

i. crush

Ochako wasn't quite sure when it had started. Her heartbeat picking up whenever he was around; always trying to see what he was up to; finding herself staring at him when she was off in another world. She didn't really quite understand where this had all come from.

They weren't even friends, not really. Sure, he called her by her name unlike most of their other classmates; and sure, they would sometimes spar together and occasionally she would send him funny memes on SnapChat that he would occasionally reply to, but, did that count as friends? Ochako wasn't sure if she thought so. They didn't have the late night conversations she'd have with the girls, or the lunch time hang outs with Deku, Iida, and Todoroki. She wasn't even sure he ate lunch in the cafeteria at this point! They didn't talk to each other on the regular, or even help each other with homework that often.

No, they were decidedly Not Friends. So then, she wondered, why did she get so flustered when it came to one Bakugou Katsuki?

ii. heart

"You know, obnoxious as he is," Mina snorted as she spoke, "Bakugou is hot. I would do a lot of things to that boy." She waggled her eyebrows and laughed as Tsuyu and Momo looked positively scandalized.

"Oh, totally," Toru agreed, probably bobbing her head as she spoke. "What do you think Ochako?"

Ochako sputtered as her invisible friend specifically called her out. Mina and Jirou's eyes were immediately on her, Momo and Tsuyu still looking uncomfortable with the idea of thinking about Bakugou like that.

"Me? Why are you asking me?" Ochako feigned a laugh, trying her best to appear casual. "I mean, he's not bad looking, but…"

"But?" Mina and Toru said in sync, closing in on their friend quickly. "But what?"

"Maybe we should-" Momo attempted to placate the girls, but Jirou shushed her with a wave of her hand. She was never as aggressive as Mina and Toru, but she was just as curious most of the time.

"But, but nothing!" Ochako tried laughing again, though her breaths fell short and she sounded more breathless than confident. "I mean, it's Bakugou. When we train together and he's not being so mean, I guess, he can be," she trailed off, looking anywhere but at Mina and Toru. "I guess he can be pretty cute. He's got a lot of heart, and I like that." Her voice had become very small as she spoke, almost breathing out the last words.

Mina and Toru were obviously not expecting this kind of answer, and immediately pulled away from Ochako's face. Jirou threw a smug look to Momo, who rolled her eyes back at her friend. Tsuyu, however, looked concerned, staring at her friend intently.

"Ochako, it sounds like-"

"Don't say it!" Ochako pleaded, cutting Tsuyu off. "Please, don't say it."

Nobody brought it up for the remainder of their girls' night, but it stayed on everyone's mind. They knew exactly what Tsuyu was going to say in that moment, and they knew exactly why Ochako didn't want her to say it.

iii. trace

It had started out as just another one of their spars - Bakugou had been the one to ask, this time, and Ochako agreed without thinking about it. She realized later what a terrible idea this might turn out to be; she had never been good at hiding her feelings when she had liked Deku, after all. It was a wonder her best friend had never caught on (or, he had caught on but had never said anything to be nice, which she dearly hoped wasn't the case). This wound was still fresh, however; it had only been a few days since her startling revelation at the sleepover.

The spar was going well in any case. Ochako had been practicing and training as hard as she could, and it was obviously helping. During their spars she was usually on the losing side of things, but today she had been keeping him on the ropes. She wasn't sure exactly what happened, but by the end of it, she ended up on top of him, the both of them completely out of breath.

All Ochako could hear in the gym was the sound of her heavy breathing, she didn't even register Bakugou's as she stared at him. He stared back, out of breath himself, but looking at her in confusion. Slowly, slowly, she brought a hand up and touched his face, lightly tracing the curve of his lips with her finger.

Everything stopped in that moment. Bakugou stopped breathing, she stopped breathing, and all she was focused on was the pad of her finger touching Bakugou's lips.

Not even a minute after everything had frozen, Ochako stumbled backwards, falling off of him, breaking the moment instantly. Before he could even speak, she shuffled herself back even farther away, quickly looking away from him. Her face burned with heat all over - down her neck, on her ears. Ochako didn't think she'd ever been this embarrassed in her life.

"Sorry," she managed to mutter out, mortified with what she had just done. "I'm sorry, I-" Ochako abruptly cut herself off, flinging herself to her feet. She ran out of the gym without another word, completely out of her mind with what she had just done, leaving Bakugou to stare dumbfounded at the ceiling from his position on the floor where she had left.

iv. steal

Every time Ochako saw him after that, she felt her breath was forcibly taken from her lungs. Even just spotting him in class, getting up to grab something, she would feel like she couldn't breathe. Her whole world would narrow, and suddenly, it was just him in her line of sight.

She whined into her pillow, desperately wanting to pretend she didn't have to get up and face that day. Yesterday, even Deku had noticed her pathetic staring, and Ochako really did not want to go through that mortification again. How many excuses could she come up with if she were to be caught again? Probably not many.

It's only been a week, she reminded herself miserably as she finally pushed herself out of bed. But it had also been a week since he had even so much as glanced her way, to her knowledge. What she had done was completely inappropriate, she knew, but did he have to avoid her like the plague? She huffed, putting her pajamas into her hamper.

She knew she shouldn't be this aggravated with him avoiding her - she really should've even expected that, considering they didn't exactly talk often. Despite understanding him, she couldn't help her annoyance. In the week they hadn't spoken, she realized how much they actually did interact, and Ochako found herself missing it every day. It wasn't like they were close, but usually there would at least be a passing nod, or maybe even a response to her hellos in the morning.

She couldn't help it. She sighed as she threw on her uniform. How frustrating.

v. deep

She would get over this, she decided, nodding to herself on her way into class. She got over Deku, she could get over Bakugou. It's not like she had a chance with him anyway, she reasoned. Not only had he not spoken to her since it happened, but he was even more focused than Deku. Which only made her like him more -

She cut herself off with a sigh as she plopped into her desk, not at all ready to start her day. She was resolved to get over Bakugou, though. It wasn't fair to him, it wasn't fair to her, to hold him down with feelings when he was trying to be the best hero he could be. The same could be said about herself. It's why she had put these thoughts of Deku to rest, and they hadn't really come up after she decided that she would get over it. She had nipped it in the bud, so to speak, and she could do that here, too.

Ochako was just beginning to convince herself of such when Bakugou strode into the classroom and met her eyes, for the first time since their sparring session. Instantly, he looked away, but she could've sworn the tips of his ears turned a light pink when he saw her.

She blew out a harsh breath at the sight. No, she realized, I can't get over this like with Deku.

vi. sorrow

Since her realization about her feelings for a certain blonde boy, Ochako had been different. She knew she had been - all her close friends had already asked if she were alright, multiple times - but she couldn't do anything, it seemed. When she woke up in the morning, she tried her hardest to put on the smile that she was so used to putting on, to powering through for the day, but it seemed like it fell short quickly throughout the day. The amount of time she was able to force herself to be bubbly seemed to become shorter and shorter with each passing day.

Ochako had heard before that love could be painful, but she never knew it would be like this. He hadn't looked at her again since they met eyes a few days back, and now all she could dream about was touching his lips again, watching his ears turn dusty pink.

Groaning, she put her face into her arms on her desk, not even caring who was watching at the moment. Class hadn't started yet, anyway, she reasoned.

"Are you okay, Ochako?" Tsuyu asked softly, leaning down to talk to her. "You've seemed really stressed lately. We're all worried for you."

Her friends' concern for her was touching, and she forced herself to pick her head back up to look at Tsuyu. Tsuyu hovered over her, dark eyes searching her face for anything that could clue her into what was going on. Ochako was determined not to let any of her friends know exactly what had her so depressed, so she did her best to smile for Tsuyu while she thought of a decent excuse.

"I haven't slept well lately, that's all," she told her friend, which wasn't at all a lie. Ochako was just hoping that she'd believe it was because of Nighteye instead of because of a certain blonde boy.

She thought she had convinced her, but her eyes betrayed her anyway. When Bakugou walked into the room, she couldn't help but flick her eyes over to him, though she immediately caught her mistake.

Tsuyu followed the quick flick of her eyes, zeroing in on the explosive boy. "Ochako-"

"Don't worry about it," Ochako sighed, waving her hand in an attempt to be nonchalant. "It's really nothing, Tsu, I'm sure I'll be back to regular old Ochako before you know it!" The words sounded forced even to her, but it would have to do.

Looking worriedly between Ochako and Bakugou, Tsuyu finally gave up. "I'm here if you need me," she gently reminded her friend before heading back to her own seat. Ochako nodded, rubbing her tired eyes.

Truthfully, much of the reason Ochako was so depressed by the situation was because she felt she had lost a friend. Even though she had never really thought of him that way, since they weren't friends in the traditional sense, she had enjoyed the spars they had and his presence in general. Losing someone over something so silly like a crush - despite how much she knew it wasn't just a crush - seemed so awful.

She held back a groan. This was never supposed to be so painful.

vii. water

"Here," he shoved a water bottle into her face. "You look like you need it."

Ochako looked up from where she sat at her desk, confused. Bakugou hadn't talked to her in two weeks, now, and she still hadn't slept well. Maybe she was dreaming?

Bakugou huffed angrily, shoving the water bottle closer, so it was now touching her nose. "Take it," he breathed out, and she noticed the way his ears turned pink when he spoke. She found she rather liked that.

Still figuring she was dreaming, she gingerly took the water bottle out of his hands, bringing it up to her lips. "Thanks, Bakugou," she smiled, glad he hadn't left yet.

Dreams about Bakugou weren't uncommon - in fact, they were very common for her - but usually even in her dreams he wouldn't stay for long. And if he did, they were usually so outrageous that she knew she was dreaming quickly.

He looked away from her, but didn't move from his spot in front of her desk. "If you're not sleeping well, try drinking tea before bed," he told her, voice rough with something Ochako couldn't quite place.

Nodding slowly, Ochako took another long sip of the water. This really was a nice dream; he as giving her things, and helping her get back on her feet. If only this could be real life.

But then, Aizawa came into the room, snapping at the class to get to their seats so they could start the day. Bakugou went off to his own seat without complaint, but Ochako was startled. She looked down at the water bottle still in her hands, and then looked back up to her teacher.

It took everything in her power to not yelp in surprise at her startling realization - this was not a dream. Bakugou really did give her water, and had noticed how tired she had been looking these days.

Ochako didn't stop smiling for the rest of the day.

viii. hug

After that initial talk about water and sleep habits, Bakugou seemed much more willing to talk to Ochako again, and she was glad for it. She had missed him, even if just his company, and she could already feel herself slowly slipping back to normal. No more of this moping, she had told herself that day, and she had held strong.

There was just one problem, now.

She really wanted to hug Bakugou.

She hadn't really known where the urge had come from, but it had persisted. It had popped up briefly - briefly - when he had handed her the water bottle and she still thought she was dreaming, but she had squashed it down then, especially once she realized she was not, in fact, dreaming. But now that it seemed like he was more willing to talk to her than he was even before The Incident, Ochako found the idea very hard to shake.

Saying hello to Bakugou in the morning: she wanted to hug him. Saying goodbye to him in the afternoon: she wanted to hug him. Seeing him in the kitchen, seeing him working on homework, seeing him do practically anything; she wanted to hug him.

The last thing Ochako wanted was a repeat of what had happened after their spar; they had only just become friends-not-friends - whatever they were, again. She really didn't want to lose him so soon after they had started interacting again.

She was so lost in thought about it that when he came into the common room, he nearly yelped.

"Keep it down!" Bakugou shushed her, sending her a withering glare.

Ochako apologized, sipping her tea almost nervously. He noticed, and nodded.

"Couldn't sleep again?" He asked, his voice oddly soft. Her stupid heart jumped to conclusions, but she decided that it was likely because he was trying to be quiet. It was really late, after all.

Ochako nodded, taking another sip of her tea. "The tea helps, though," she smiled at him. "Thank you, Bakugou."

Looking at him, though, in his pajamas and digging through the kitchen cupboards for some tea of his own, it was really hard for her to resist the urge that she'd been feeling all week. Ochako knew, logically, that Bakugou would hate this a lot more than he would hate whatever she did during their spar, so she tried not to say anything, she really did, but -

"Can I hug you?" The words were out of her mouth before she really knew what was happening. Instantly, his digging through the cupboards stopped, and instantly, her face turned bright red.

After a moment of panicked silence, Ochako tried to fix it: "Ah, no, please forget I said anything, that was-" She continued sputtering, not even aware that Bakugou was now standing right in front of her, looking…

What was that look?

"Okay," he said, a bit strangled.

Ochako looked at him, bewildered. "Okay?"

He could only nod. The tips of his ears were pink, and he was looking everywhere but at her - staring at her mug, staring at the couch cushion next to her.

Slowly, slowly, Ochako stood up next to him, and before she had time to really process what she was doing or what was going on, she put her arms around him. He was so warm, and she found herself pulling him closer.

Bakugou didn't really know how to respond, not that it surprised her at all, but he did lightly pat her hair for a moment, before wriggling out of her hold. They stared at each other for a long moment, before he turned away and went back to digging for tea.

Ochako slept very well, that night.

ix. sleep

It had become common for the two of them to see each other in the common room when they both should be sleeping, now. Ochako felt like she couldn't win with her sleep issues - her nightmares about Nighteye had come back with a vengeance, leaving her restless at night again - but she was glad that at least she got some company. She had an idea of what was keeping Bakugou up at night (one doesn't get kidnapped without having some lingering issues, after all), so she never asked, but she hoped that her company was helpful for him all the same.

It had been about two weeks since she hugged him, and they had met up in the common room unplanned almost every night since. They had something of a routine, now - they would sit, drink tea, maybe talk a little bit about whatever was on their minds, and before they went back to their dorms, Ochako would look at him longingly.

The routine that they had going made Ochako feel light; lighter than she had in weeks, really. She was focusing more on her hero training again, and worrying less about her feelings for one Bakugou Katsuki. Now, she had finally come to peace with whatever they were.

It's too bad sleep still didn't come easy for the two of them.

It was another night of sleeplessness, during the "maybe talk a little bit" part of their routine, when Bakugou for once was the one that broke the comfortable silence.

"I hate beating around the bush," he said firmly, his red eyes boring into hers. "So please be honest with me."

Ochako nodded, not sure what he was talking about. "I'm always honest with you."

He nodded back, appreciatively. "Do you like me?"

At the question, Ochako froze. She wasn't really sure how one was supposed to act in this situation - she was sure she had been fairly obvious, despite not knowing how he felt about her. Was this a rejection, then? Since it had been awhile since her feelings became clear. She took a deep breath, trying to stop her face from burning so hot.

"Yes," she told him, proud that her voice didn't waver. A month ago, she would've dreaded this, assured that this meant the end of their tentative friendship. Now, though, Ochako was only a little afraid of stating her feelings aloud. She knew that she wouldn't lose whatever they had going for them.

Whatever reaction Ochako had expected after her confession, it was not what he gave. "Spar with me tomorrow after class," Katsuki said, standing up to put his tea cup in the dishwasher. "I'll meet you at the old spot."

She watched as he left the common room, not even realizing that she had started floating. She had a feeling sleep would not find her tonight.

x. under

Ochako practically ran all the way to the gym to meet him after class the next day. Like she had thought, she hadn't slept a wink the night before, but her curiosity and excitement for why he had asked to spar with her that day had fueled her throughout class.

He was already there when she arrived, which wasn't at all a surprise. Bakugou had a penchant for being on time.

"Yo," he greeted her casually, already stretching on the floor.

"Hello." If Bakugou noticed how breathless her greeting was, he kept it to himself.

It didn't take long for the two of them to be ready to go, and before Ochako knew it, Bakugou was coming at her hard. She lost herself to the spar, not holding back, and letting her instincts take over. Dodging his right hook, following up with a kick, it was all second nature to her at this point. Fighting with Bakugou had always felt amazing; he had never held back against her once, allowing her to actually get some real training in.

She swept her legs under him, finally knocking him off balance. She pushed up from her crouch and pinned him down to the ground, putting as much of her weight into it as she could.

Snapping out of the trance that she fell into while she fought, Ochako realized with a start that she was again the victor of their spar. It wasn't common for her to win against Bakugou, especially not twice in a row. And just like the last time they had sparred, this spar ended with him under her, staring at her with wide eyes as she breathed heavily onto him.

This time, however, she wasn't the one doing the unnecessary touching.

Bakugou had wrestled a hand free from her grip, which had fallen limp at the realization minutes earlier, and lightly brought his hand up to her face. Ochako's breath hitched as he dragged his finger down her nose and over her lips. She wasn't quite sure she was breathing anymore. She wasn't quite sure this was real.

"I'm not gonna say it, so don't make me," Bakugou's voice has oddly light, his breath fanning her cheeks. "Do you understand?"

Nodding, Ochako couldn't bring herself to talk. She had never heard Bakugou sound so soft, and she didn't trust herself to speak anyway. She had never assumed he would reciprocate her feelings, never assumed that even if by some miracle he did he'd be comfortable talking about it much.

Gently, she brought her own finger to trace his lips again, like she had done so long ago. This time, though, she didn't flinch backwards, or run away. Just let herself enjoy how soft his lips were underneath the pads of her fingers, careful not to make him float.

Never had she expected this, when she had been wallowing over her feelings. Never had she expected that her accidental loss of control would lead to some kind of confession out of Bakugou. Things rarely went as planned for Ochako. This time, though, she found she didn't mind, as Bakugou let her stay on top of him, comfortable in each other's space for the time being.