Chapter 1: Let it Burn

"Good morning, Yao-Momo!" the girls of Class 1 from UA were excited to see Yaoyorozu's face, even if it was just from a computer screen. They've been so busy with their lives after UA, so moments like these were rare.

"Good morning, everyone," Yaoyorozu waved back, "How are you all?"

"Ughhh, busy as usual," Kyoka groaned, sinking in her seat, "With the criminal rate going up, it's hard to have fun nowadays."

This was true – times have changed since UA. The growth in criminals has increased ever since their graduation for UA. With the growth in criminals came the growth in heroes. However, with this inflation of heroes and villains came a more systematic hero process. Each agency was assigned a district and agencies were not allowed to complete assignments in other districts unless there were agency partnerships, or other specific circumstances. Regardless of the situation, the girls always tried to stay in contact, even if it was just a video chat.

"Not for Ochako," Mina snickered, lightening the mood and keeping her cheeky grin

"Mina!" Ochako blushed, and tried to hide her face in her hands.

Tsuyu croaked, "Midoriya was about the faint. But he's so happy to be with Ochako.

"Not you too Tsuyu!" Ochako's face was flustered, even if she was hiding in her hands. Her and Midoriya started dating a few weeks ago. Ochako explained on that same day that Midoriya gathered up his courage to ask her to be his girlfriend. He was trembling in his knees and sweating bullets, but after 10 hours of frozen fear, Midoriya shakily let the words fall out of his mouth.

"Ahhh it must be so nice to have a boyfriend," it was hard to see, but Toru seemed to be in a dreamy state.

"So, Ochako, did you kiss him yet?" the pink-skinned beauty grinned evilly.

"Ahhhhh!" Ochako got so red that she ran off, leaving her screen on. The girls giggled at her embarrassment.

"Speaking of boyfriends," Mina moved her face up to the screen, making sure to eye the camera, "When is Todoroki going to ask YOU out, Yao-Momo?"

Yaoyorozu's cheeks turned red. She averted her eyes away from the camera, "What? What do you mean?"

All the girls sighed in frustration. She did not know it yet, but her feelings for Todoroki increased through their years at UA.

"It's so obvious, Yao-Momo," Kyoza crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, "Whenever you're near each other, you guys just….glow."

"You're meant to be together!" Ochako yelled, popping out of nowhere, "You and Todoroki work so well together! You guys are practically a couple already!"

The thought of her and Todoroki together did not cross her mind. She always considered him as a good friend. She thought about all the things Todoroki has said to her and what they've done together. Suddenly, she remembered that moment that changed her life.

"When we were voting for class rep, you got two votes right?" his eyes were serious and he did not break out of her gaze, "One of those votes was mine because I thought you'd be good at it!"

The words replayed in her heard and all the time they've spent together flashed before her eyes. He was always just there – beside her - and she did not realize it until now. It all made sense. Why didn't I see this before?

"Yoo hoo? Yao-Momo?" Mina waved her hand in front of the webcam, "I think we broke her."

Yaoyorozu blinked and snapped back to reality, "Huh?"

"You've been out of it for a while, Yao-Momo" Tsuyu explained, "Thinking about Todoroki?"

Yaoyorozu did the same movement as Ochako when they mentioned Midoriya and buried her face in her hands, "Ahhhhhhh…nooooo. Todoroki is just Todoroki."

"Ohhh! Yao-Momo! You can't hide it! When was the last time you saw Todoroki?" Toru squealed.

She thought about that time they bumped into each other at the mall. After she was done shopping, she saw Todoroki blankly staring at a display of shoes. He could not decide which one to get and she helped him shop. In return, he treated her to lunch at their usual café. Thinking about it now, it seemed like a date. Her face became redder.

"I haven't seen Todoroki in a while or everyone else! I can't wait until our class reunion! It will be so nice to hang out with everybody!" Ochako stated.

"Maybe Todoroki will ask her out before then," Mina giggled with her fingers over her mouth, "Maybe even on her birthday."

"Ohhh! That's right! Yao-Momo's birthday is coming up!" Ochako unknowingly changed the subject.

"What should we do? What should we do?" Toru seemed more excited than Yaoyorozu.

Kyoza was quick to respond, "Let's do karaoke!"

"That sounds like fun," Tsuyu smiled, "What do you think, Yao-Momo?"

Yaoyorozu turned to the Diamond Concert pamphlet on top of her nightstand. She made sure to call off from work so she could attend. Her friends were not really into that sort of thing, but she made reservations just in case. Thinking about it, it would be strange for her to go by herself. It would be more fun to hang out with the girls instead.

"I'd love to!" Yaoyorozu nodded her head in delight. It would be the first time

Bzzzztt! Her phone vibrated on the desk. She picked it up and saw a message from her work. It had the location of a villain assignment in her district. After opening the message, it read: ACCEPT and DECLINE.

It would be her third assignment for today. Completing more assignments for her agency would help her progress into becoming a full-fledged hero. She was quick to accept before anyone else in her agency could.

"Sorry ladies. Gotta go!" Yaoyorozu waved goodbye to her friends, "Keep in touch everyone!"

"Bye, Yao-Momo!" they responded. She logged off her computer and slipped into her uniform.

I wonder what it's going to be like today…

It was chaotic enough to leave everyone in a panic. When she arrived at the scene, sidekicks from her agency were evacuating citizens. Those heroes were lower ranking from her – not ready to handle a villain.

"Creati is here everyone!" the sidekicks gawked and roared upon her arrival. Yaoyorozu stayed humble and gave a respectable bow. She, then, proceeded to the location of the villain. It was hard to miss. She just had to follow the sound of thrashing and the sight of tentacles flying about. It was easy for her to determine that the villain was Tentos.

He was a 10-tentacled villain that stood a good ten feet. He was a low rank criminal, but – like all villains – must be handled with caution. She kept her distance and stayed out of his sight. Yaoyorozu just needed time to come up with a plan.

In one simple minute, she executed one in her head. She sprung into action and was about to pull out a weapon from her body when a blonde flash crashed into the side of Tentos' head and exploded. He was wearing a simple black tank top with beige pants and brown shoes.

"Eh?" she blankly paused in her tracks and centered her focus on the blonde beast. He landed gracefully in front of her. It was none other than Katsuki Bakugo, and he wasn't even in his hero uniform.

"Ba-Bakugo?" Yaoyorozu was surprised to see him there. Her agency was assigned to this district, but it just so happens that Bakugo was in the same area.

Bakugo barely acknowledged her and went back to attacking Tentos, "Die! Die! Die!"

Yaoyorozu watched in amazement as her former classmate handled the situation with ease. Even if he was a heroic, aggressive genius, he still must comply to the rules, "Bakugo, this isn't your district, you could be in serious trouble!"

"Fuck the district!" Bakugo quickly responded, not even turning his head to her.

Yaoyorozu sighed. She knew that once he was in this state, there was no stopping him. Although he was handling the situation brilliantly and keeping damage control, her boss would not be happy with her abandoning her assignment – especially if another hero agency took the assignment."

"I don't want you to get in trouble, Bakugo," she explained, "Let me handle it."

"Shut up, Ponytail!" and with that last burst, Tentos fell to the ground. Bakugo finished the job hastily without a single scratch on him. He made sure to avoid Tentos' tentacles.

Quite the genius alright. Yaoyorozu smirked and shook her head.

Bakugo took one ahold of one of Tentos' shirt and dragged him as he walked towards the police to turn him in, "Tch, this one was weak."

Yaoyorozu caught up to him and walked by his side, "If your agency find out about this-"

"-Take him," Bakugo interrupted, throwing the tentacle to her chest.

She was confused, "What?"

"This one was weak," he repeated with disappointment in his voice. He turned in the opposite direction of her and started on his way.

He didn't even give her time to thank him. Yaoyorozu released the tentacle and caught up to him again, "Wait!"

Bakugo didn't stop walking. Yaoyorozu caught up to him and placed her hand on his shoulder. He was surprised by her touch and spun around, "What do you want, Ponytail?"

She let go of him and did a polite bow, "I just want to say thank you."

He paused for a moment, and then said, "You…bastard!"

Yaoyorozu couldn't believe what she was hearing. She looked up at him and was about to scold him when she felt a hard slap across her back. The momentum threw her body forward. Bakugo wrapped his arms around Yaoyorozu to lighten the impact of her fall. She fell on Bakugo's body.

Tentos is conscious. She attempted to lift herself up, but winced at the pain. Bakugo placed her to his side and yelled at Tentos, "Want some more, fucker?!"

Yaoyorozu attempted to get up again, but her body was not responding. She was starting to get numb. Numbing secretions on his tentacles. How could I forget? That's why Bakugo avoided touching them.

Her eyelids were dropping and her mind went foggy. The last thing she saw was Bakugo pulsing his explosions' towards Tentos.

"Wake up, Ponytail!" Bakugo yelled, "I said wake the fuck up!"

She groggily opened her eyes to Bakugo's face. He held her by the head and forced her to sit up. He stood up and shoved his hands in his pockets, "The effect should be over already."

She sat up, but felt a slight pain climb up her back. She reached back to touch the spot that was damaged to find out that she was already bandaged up. Bakugo started walking once seeing that she was able to sit up. Did he do this? I have to properly thank him…again.

Yaoyorozu couldn't get up, but was fast enough to grab his wrist before he could leave, "Why don't you ever wait? Don't you know you're being rude?"

"Bite me," he growled, releasing himself from her grip and continued walking away.

"I'm just trying to say 'Thank you!" she said angrily.

He didn't stop for her. She was doing her best to be polite, but couldn't hold it in. All she wanted to do was give him a proper thank you, "This could've been avoided if you stayed in your district!"

Bakugo stopped in his tracks. He tilted his head so that half of his face was visible to her. His intense red eyes glared into hers. She suddenly felt a chill down her spine out of intimidation. He kept his voice low, but was loud enough for her to hear, "Bite…me."

He averted his gaze away and continued on his way. It took some time for Yaoyorozu to collect herself from his glare. That image was difficult for her to get out of his head. What was that all about?"

Yaoyorozu threw herself to her bed. She was happy to finally arrive back at her condo. What a long day…

She didn't have the energy to get out of bed and cook herself dinner. She groaned at the thought of getting up from her soft sheets and turned to her side. Her eyes focused on the Diamond Concert pamphlet, remembering how badly she wanted to go.

I can always book the reservation on another day…Maybe I can even…get a date by then, Todoroki's face flashed into her head. She remembered what Mina said about him. Curse you, Mina.

She carefully sat up, being careful not to further injure herself and reached for her phone. To her surprise, the home screen of her cellphone was flooded with messages and missed calls. She forgot that she left her phone on silent during the assignment.

What's all this about? She moved her thumb to the first message on her screen. It was from Ochako.

"HAVE YOU SEEN THIS?!" it read in bold letters. There were several photos under it, waiting to be downloaded. Yaoyorozu downloaded the first picture that appeared on her screen.

Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped. It was a picture of Bakugo holding her on the ground. The captions read "NEW ARISING HERO COUPLE PUTS TENTOS BEHIND BARS"

This can't be happening! She panicked. It seemed to be from a popular news website. She did not have to go deep into research to find out that other pictures were posted all over the internet, praising this new hero couple. Nooooooo! We became viral!

Yaoyorozu took the nearest pillow and screamed into it. Why did this happen?

There was no way her and Bakugo would become an item. He was her opposite: violent, crazy, arrogant. We just don't click.

Thinking about Bakugo made her remember his serious face again, Bite me.

Bite me, he says. Psh. She poked out her tongue, imagining she was facing Bakugo. Then, she thought of the bandages wrapped around her body and the time he caught her. She eased her grip on the pillow. He was not very friendly, but he made sure that she was safe, which is the duty of a true hero. A true hero, huh…

The vibration of her phone made her jump. She sat up and pulled the phone to her face to see that Todoroki was calling.

Her heart skipped a beat. Wha-What if he saw the picture?

She screamed internally and banged her head on the bed's headrest. No, no Todoroki, it was blown out of proportion!

Realizing that she was keeping the phone ringing too long, she quickly gathered up her composure.

"Yo, Todoroki," her voice cracked. You idiot. She slapped her forehead.

"Yaoyorozu, good evening," Todoroki said calmly, not acknowledging the strangeness in her voice, "I hope I am not bothering you."

His voice made her heart flutter. She's heard it so many times before, but this was the first time she really noticed how deep his voice was.

"No, not at all," Yaoyorozu responded while keeping her cool, "What can I help you with?"

It took him a few seconds to answer. He seemed to be in thought.

"Todoroki?" she asked worryingly, forgetting about her nervousness.

"I need to discuss something with you," he answered, "Will you be able to meet me at our cafe?"

Our café…They claimed that café to be theirs as it was their regular hangout area. Often they arrived alone at the café, but encountered each other there on multiple occasions. The image of her and Todoroki sitting together at the café left her flushed. Why am I being this way?

"N-No problem," she stated, her voice shaking.

"Thank you, I will be there in 15 minutes. I will see you then."

"Okay, see you there," she hung up the phone and groaned, throwing herself back onto bed. I wonder what he wants to talk about.

She imagined Todoroki's handsome face. His eyes were unlike any others, stern and beautiful. Why didn't I notice it before? He's such a gentle man – a better one compared to Bakugo.

Her eye twitched at the thought of him. Why am I even thinking about him?!