AN: Been wanting to write this story for a really long time now but could never settle on, for which fandom or which of my endless otp's. Lmao. In the end, I thought this would fit Kacchako. This is inspired by the movie Just Like Heaven and both the original song by The Cure and Katie Melua's song cover of the same name.
Summary: Draconian red's melt into sun-kissed rubies the first time he sees her. Bitterly, he mentally laughs – what a place to meet an angel. "The hell you doing in limbo?" Katsuki takes a rude approach, not knowing what to do with himself. Not like there was a welcoming committee here anyway. He's suddenly got all the time in the world. Kacchako. Slight Kirimina. No Quirks/College AU.
Happy reading~ :D
Here With Me
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"C'mon, Ochako, pleeeeease, I'm begging you here!" a light toffee toned arm reaches for her across the diner's counter.
"Mina, can't we–" she continuously gets interrupted by customers flagging her down to get their orders taken or asking for refills, "I'm a little busy here!" she apologetically winces at her friend, hurrying to go calm the crowd.
Ding after ding alerts her that more people are entering the small corner diner, making line to get a table. Ochako groans, hating that she's the only one waitressing during the lunch rush.
She's an eighteen-year-old, on most days part-time waitress at a nearby café to her apartment, but a full-time student attending U.A. University. She's aiming to get a degree in astronomy under the guidance of the now retired, famous astronaut Thirteen. Always being fascinated by the stars, the solar system, and outer space ever since she was little growing up in the countryside. There was no better place to study the night sky like in her hometown, some thousands of kilometers away from where she currently resides – the heart of Tokyo.
"You always say that and then switch the subject on me!" Mina frowns, puckering her lips dramatically while crossing her arms over her chest to get her case across.
"Mina, you're my best friend and I love you dearly but…" Ochako rushes to refill an elderly man's cup of coffee, "Uni-mixers aren't really my thing" she's trying to politely reject the offer. For weeks now, Mina has been desperately trying to get her to come out to one of her sorority's speed dating events.
She's too focused on her goal of getting her degree completed as soon as possible to hopefully find a decent paying job in her desired field so she can start sending more money to her parents. Times have hit her folks hard, with their construction company gaining competition in recent years.
Being the family-oriented person that she is, she hopes to ease their burdens as soon as humanly possible. Especially grateful for the fact that they even allowed her to move to the expensive big city in order to pursue her dreams. She wouldn't settle for less, once she graduates she's going to work hard to support herself and her parents. Then in the far-off future, she'll move back home and take over the family business. Dating and the typical college experience weren't really two things she's set aside time for.
Not really much of a drinker except for the occasional sip of dinner wine and even less of a party person. The most she's gone to was one slumber party at Mina's sorority house that ended in disaster with one new pledger being ratted out by a senior sister and getting suspended by the dean for hiding drugs in a teddy bear. It was a dog-eat-dog world and sorority girls were brutal.
She's glad that she opted for renting her own apartment rather than applying and dealing with the drama that comes with the university houses.
Balancing four plates of food on her arms, she grits her teeth at the strain and gets them to their proper tables. Smiling at the customers, she asks them if they need anything else, unaware at what her crazy friend is doing when she didn't reply right away.
Mina leans over the front counter, not caring that everyone young and old is getting a full view of her ass when her pink skirt flies up. Sticking her tongue out, she hums to herself as she reaches for one of the café's black aprons. "Aha!" she softly cheers snatching the waist apron and putting it on. She adjusts her breasts, lifting up her black tank top and goes to meet up with Ochako on the other side of the diner.
Inside the apron's pocket she rummages for a notepad and pencil to start helping out with orders. She's done this so many times now that the owner, Aizawa, can't be bothered anymore. "If I help you with your hectic shift, will you at least humor me by attending for at least an hour?" she asks Ochako, wetting her lips to lick the tip of the pencil, ready to jot down orders.
Ochako silently gets startled by the new presence beside her but quickly recovers from the initial surprise. "I'll go…" she's hesitant, "but not to find a date, just to finally get to meet your mysterious boyfriend" Ochako slowly agrees with her own conditions. She doesn't care for finding love for herself but having been curious for months now about Mina's new beau. It's the first boyfriend Mina's been serious about ever since their middle school days when the two first became friends.
Mina eagerly nods, slipping her things back into the apron's pocket to hold onto Ochako's hands. "I promise I won't push you in the direction of a potential Mr. Hottie! You'll just meet my Eijirou and the three of us will have a blast!" she squeals at the thought of her two loves getting to finally meet.
Ochako giggles and pulls her best friend in for a hug, "you have no idea how much I appreciate you not sales pitching me to every hot guy you see"
Mina rolls her eyes playfully, "I only do it because you're a hidden treasure" she lightly taps the tip of Ochako's nose with a 'boop' noise before bouncing off to go take the load off from her.
Ochako watches her go behind the counter to enter the kitchen, happily shaking her head at her friend's antics. This was going to be one long day, thankfully it was a Friday and she'd have the entire weekend off to sleep in and possibly get ahead on her field trip assignment by going to the local observatory if she's not dragged anywhere else by Mina.
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"Hah?"
"Dude, you heard me. Don't act like you didn't" Eijirou pinches the bridge of his nose. They've had this conversation repetitively for the past month. Him trying to get his best friend to stop requesting extra hours in the lab and his pleas going on deaf ears.
Katsuki scratches his earlobe with his pinky, licking his pearly white teeth with a sour expression. "I have and my answer's still 'no'" he's starting to feel like a broken record with how many times he's declined going to his friend's fraternity mixers. They just weren't his thing. The whole college experience of getting shitfaced-wasted, stupidly daring each other to try new experimental drugs, and finding himself cannonballing off the roof of an enemy's frat house just to land in the pool – no thanks.
He doesn't have time for nonsense. Nineteen-years-old, practically lives in the science and medical buildings of U.A. University, too busy competing for Dr. Yagi's free time, and aiming for a paramedic degree. He's lucky to have the financial backing of his fashion royalty parents but he doesn't mooch off of them other than for school related things. Lately, he's been trying to earn the paid internship position for Dr. Yagi by requesting all the lab hours he's allowed to get per week. Dr. Yagi's not only his professor but possibly his future employer at Musutafu General Hospital.
Once he graduates, he plans to pay his parents back for all their investment in him. Maybe a little extra than what he owes them since they were supportive of him despite being slightly disappointment that he doesn't intend to take over the family business. He likes clothes and the latest fashion trends but he's not in love with coming up with designs and producing them himself.
They're in an empty science room, Katsuki just getting done with jotting down notes on a training dummy used for performing the heimlich maneuver. To his side, he also had another anatomical hard plastic mannequin with removable organs.
"Don't you wanna find love?" Eijirou asks, sitting on top of the black countertop, holding the red piece of plastic shaped like a realistic heart.
Katsuki snatches the heart, placing it back into its place inside the plastic chest. "Not at some shitty frat-speedster"
"Look, I know you're a prude but," Eijirou can almost cry with how stubborn his best bro is, "live a little! Do it for me! I'm begging you here! We're not some middle-aged grandpas just yet" he reaches over to his side to tug at the soft fleshy training dummy. It's a head with a torso, no arms or lower half. Placing it on his lap, he wraps an arm over the dummy's chest feeling its hollow center and with his free hand, he plays with the flimsy lips.
"Kacchan, Ei-chan is telling you to have a night of fun. He promises he won't drag you like a rag-doll to greet every hot chick there" Eijirou raises the octave of his voice making it squeaky as he hides his face behind the head of the dummy to make it seem like its speaking to him.
Katsuki feels a vein throbbing in his temple, hating that nickname. It was first given to him by his childhood friend slash rival in their shared field – Izuku. Both young men always being the firsts to take advantage of gaining Dr. Yagi's favor and both being top students of his.
"I'm not drinking that piss water your frat brothers think is respectable beer" Katsuki quirks a brow at him, slowly coming to a stalemate.
Eijirou brims with victory tears, throwing the dummy to his side in a loud echoey thud, he wipes his eyes with the back of his red shirt and nods, "I'll throw any beer offered to you out the window! Hell, I'll even make a batch of my special jungle juice just for you!"
Normally, Katsuki doesn't condone drinking. He's going into a medical field for crying out loud but he's gotta admit – he could use a little break too. Feeling burnt out before the real grind once he leaves his university years behind him isn't a good thing. He knows he needs to balance more of a social life if he wants to remain sane throughout this whole thing called life.
"Make it spicy and I'll gladly drink those losers under the table" he grins, "but first, be fuckin' useful for once and give me a hand!" Katsuki places the remaining missing pieces back into the anatomical mannequin like a neat jigsaw puzzle and hangs it back on its stand.
"You got it!" Eijirou picks up the other dummy and goes to place it back into the storage closet. "Hey, now I can finally introduce you to my future wifey" Katsuki hears Eijirou's voice project from inside the closet.
He's shoving his piles of notebooks and textbooks back into his orange backpack when he groans. He's only ever heard of Eijirou's for once, serious relationship but has yet to meet the girlfriend and he's not really looking forward it at all.
A frat party-mixer, promising one drink, meeting his best friend's girl and hopefully getting home to his own apartment at a reasonable hour to get started on a ten-paged paper. Friday night was definitely going to be a long day for him. Thankfully it's still Wednesday and he's got a few more days to regret ever foolishly agreeing to go in the first place. Then once he pleases his nagging friend, he'd have the entire weekend off to nurse a hangover and get real shit done.
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It's just her luck to get stuck in a downpour.
Windshield wipers swishing to a frantic beat, trying to clear a path for her vision. The torrential storm came out of nowhere, misleading cloudy skies tricked her into thinking that it'd be a nice chilly night. Ochako's stuck in traffic, gently massaging the steering wheel of her little discolored rust bucket to give it strength.
Her parents had gifted her a used car as her going-away-to-college present. They were so proud of their only child getting accepted into Tokyo's most prestigious university, having gushed endlessly about her achievements to their small town neighbors. It was embarrassing to be the center of attention but in a strange, foreign way – it felt nice. All her friends had settled for humble retail and farming jobs but that isn't who Ochako is. Her motto: reach for the stars, pass the moon, and shoot for the galaxy.
Switching lanes, she's trying to cautiously move to less congested lanes. It was working for a couple of minutes until she finds herself parked in the middle of the road in where the light just went from yellow to red. The next street over was packed with cars going bumper to bumper to get closer to each other. She's hoping to get further into her lane, not liking that she's holding up traffic for those trying to go in the horizontal direction.
"Move… c'mon, move" she whispers to herself, tapping on the steering wheel. Right foot lightly hitting the accelerator to move forward. Eyes shift to the time on the dashboard, mentally worried that she'll be late for the mixer at the university.
Her apartment and job were near each other but the campus was another story. She's silently cursing to herself, thinking that she should've just taken the shinkansen to her destination. She could've saved gas and only worry about maybe getting a cold if she didn't bundle herself up with this sudden moody storm hitting with a chilling breeze. The bullet train would've been a whole lot easier and safer.
Windshield wipers clink, clink, clink causing her pulse to quicken. She's late, her car isn't the best dealing with rain, and she's stuck in the middle of the road because everyone is trying to be careful.
Seeing her cold breath in front of her, as her car doesn't have a working A/C unit, she's anxiously nibbling on her bottom lip. Tonight was supposed to be fun especially after a grueling ten-hour shift at the café. If it weren't for Mina helping out during the lunch hour and little after that, she would've been ready to pass out and call it a day by now.
Ochako's lost in her thoughts, eyes glued onto the road ahead of her for any chance to make her rust bucket get out of her stuck position. Fingers tapping along to the rhythm of the clinking noise of the wipers. Rain angrily hitting her windows, sliding down the front hood and rearview mirrors. Heart throbbing in her throat as she gulps, the cold air slowly freezing her in her seat.
Suddenly there's a white light illuminating her seated figure, highlighting her face while shrouding everything surrounding her into pitch darkness. She's not given a chance to turn her head when in an instant there's a high impact crashing against her car. It drags her away like a piece of trash getting swept up. A truck's horn goes off, echoing into the distance.
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Katsuki buckles up his black helmet and hops onto his motorcycle. Checking the time on his smartwatch before closing the visor of his helmet, he deeply sighs.
He spent what should've been plenty of time to get ready for this stupid party he promised to go to by getting started on his paper. The assignment wasn't due for another week but he wasn't one to procrastinate on heavy research papers. If he could get high marks and praised by Dr. Yagi – all his hours of blood shot eyes, stiff fingers, and consuming unhealthy amounts of caffeine would be all worth it.
"Shit, I'm late" he curses under his breath, kicking the stand on his bike.
He revs up the engine, leans forward and sets off to the campus. Living in a ritzy area had its perks – nicer, tech advanced, modern apartments but it also meant the commute to school took longer. It wasn't really his decision to live so far away but it wasn't up to debate with his parents. They, more his mom, insisted that he get an expensive apartment which he hated for the fact that it made him seem like a spoiled asshole.
Can't a guy be ambitious without being deemed an asshole? He's got a temper, sure, but he's more than just a rich spoiled kid with a golden spoon in his mouth.
He's speeding along the heavy downpour, never fearing whatever weather came his way. In fact, he's a bit of a thrill seeker and actually enjoys what would normally freak someone else out.
Wiping at his closed helmet with his leather gloved hand, he's straining to see through the darkness in front of him. The road he chose to take was empty, the ideal type for someone speeding with a motorcycle.
He feels his back tingle from the rain drops prickling at his zipped up green leather jacket. If this chill and speed of rain continued, it'd be more like hail coming down on his exposed person. Gripping the handles tighter when he swerves on a puddle of diluted oil, it causes him to place his foot down to regain his balance.
Grunting at the slight set back that interrupted his steady pace, he revs up again and zooms past the single car he sees ahead of him with their high beams on. Flipping the person off when the car honks at him, he wipes at his helmet again and speeds off.
Checking his smartwatch again, he's glad that he paid that extra yen for it to be waterproof. It's well past the time he would've liked to have arrived but with this angry storm causing him to take it down a peg – he'll just have to make do.
The road ahead seemed like it was shrouded in an abyss of the unknow. No more cars in sight, until he suddenly sees himself get highlighted by a ghostly white light. Hearing a halting screech of wobbly tires trying to get their traction back; everything gets jumbled in an instant.
A single bump. That's all it took to send him flying into that unknown abyss. His bike circles with smoke swirling around it, landing somewhere a smidge off the road and nearly into bushes. Katsuki roughly tumbles on the asphalt, feeling something within him crack several times like a snap of twigs. Head madly spinning that he has no idea what's going on as the high velocity causes his helmet to detach and roll off of him.
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"WHAT?! What do you mean there's been an accident?!" Mina's voice quivers, heart dropping as her hands grow cold. She's deathly gripping onto her phone with shaky hands, clutching the device to her ear to make sure she's heard every single word correctly.
"We need you to come identify the body, ma'am" she hears a male officer calmly explain to her and then goes on to tell her how they somehow found her number in a damaged phone. A young adult female had been in a car crash, being T-boned when a commercial truck's tires lost their grip. Skidding into the side of the woman's car and railing her into suspended traffic. Luckily, the airbag had kicked in and the hit was on the backside of the car. The first responders had to pry the doors, further destroying the little rust bucket of a car. "T-T-The b-body?" she croaks, body convulsing, heart sinking even lower into the pit of her stomach. "Is she… is she…" she can't even bring herself to ask.
The officer on the line assures her that the situation hasn't reached that level and apologized for making it seem that way but they needed her to come down to the hospital. Mina sobs into the phone, barely able to confirm that she'd be there as soon as possible. Her best friend is still alive! By miracle, Ochako's still fighting for her life and she needs to get the hell away from this party.
She's about to ditch her boyfriend who she came here with and rush to her car when she watches Eijirou's face pale at his own phone conversion. Dropping her car keys with a jingle to the floor, she watches as his brows furrow, nodding as he's clinging onto every word being said to him. Tears begin to roll down his cheeks, hearing him sniffling while he paces around a small part of the empty hallway.
"There's been an accident, sir, a motorcyclist has been found unresponsive" a female officer informs him with a somber tone. She explains that they found his number on a card placed inside the young adult male's jacket. Eijirou busted into tears at the thought of that idiot, his best friend keeping his number as an emergency contact on the inside of his riding jacket. "Is he… alive?" his lips form the words but he doesn't process the fact that he asked.
The officer eases his troubled mind by telling him that the victim is in a coma, that they need him to come down to the hospital, and that by miracle Katsuki only suffered a few cracked ribs and scrapes. Eijirou profusely thanks the officer who tells him that a doctor will be waiting for him to fill him in on other details.
He hangs up and wipes at his hot tears. "We need to go" he hears Mina softly speak up, gently taking him by the hand and leading him towards her car. He's grateful to have her there with him but he knows it's not just about his friend. On their way to Musutafu General Hospital, she finally breaks down in the parking lot. Already having told him about her own friend who was just admitted.
Her knuckles nearly turn white on her toffee skin when she grips her steering wheel afraid of letting go and lets her loud sobs take over her body. Mascara running down the apples of her cheeks as she bawls. Eijirou unbuckles his seatbelt to lean over and tightly pull her into his strong arms.
She scratches at his back, lips trembling, open-mouthed wails escaping her, long eyelashes sticking to her skin, and mucus running down her nostrils. It's not a pretty sight but it's the physical representation of her current emotional state.
Eijirou gently shushes her, massaging at her back, lightly kissing her cheeks, temples, forehead. He can taste the salty saline of her tears on his wetted lips. "Shh, shh. Everything's gonna be alright, Babe" he tries to reassure her, staying in the car until she's able to will herself to enter the hospital.
He's terrified himself of entering but he knows Katsuki. He's a fighter. Too damn stubborn to kick the bucket just yet. That thought alone makes a chuckle escape his own quivering lips as his heart rapidly pulses within his throat.
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"Mmm" Ochako closes her eyes, deeply inhaling a sweet light fragrance in the air. She finds herself wearing a simple white dress with thin spaghetti straps and white flats adorned with lacey white lilies.
Placing her hands behind her back, she slowly follows a trail in the serene garden. A gentle stream flows through the entire garden with white and gold patterned koi fishes swimming along the gentle current.
Crossing a bridge, she finds herself being drawn to a gazebo in the center.
There, she catches a faint sight of someone with ash blond hair from her distance. The closer she gets, the more this person's image starts to become clearer. Briefly blinded by a light, she shields her eyes away from it momentarily with her left arm bending to cover her sight. The light dissipates to reveal a tall male perched on top of the white wooden boards of the gazebo armrest. He's looking far out into the distance wearing a simple white button-down shirt, snug enough to express the hard muscles hiding beneath, white ankle pants and slip-on's.
"Hello" she softly greets.
She's unsure of where she's currently at but the polite thing to do was to introduce herself to a stranger.
A click of his tongue echoes in the silence, a sharp 'tch' escapes his throat as he turns to look at who just arrived to disturb his solitude of thinking.
Katsuki is pissed. Completely and utterly pissed. He woke up in a bed of white roses with a ringing headache. Distant noises of a car honking, tire screeching, and his helmet clinking against hard asphalt as if his head was a ping-pong ball – but he doesn't remember what the hell happened to land him here.
Draconian red's melt into sun-kissed rubies the first time he sees her. Bitterly, he mentally laughs – what a place to meet an angel. "The hell you doing in limbo?" Katsuki takes a rude approach, not knowing what to do with himself. Not like there was a welcoming committee here anyway. He's suddenly got all the time in the world.
He watches as she tilts her head, long side bangs swaying to her right. She stares at him with the most beautiful shade of brown topaz eyes he's ever seen. Wide, curious, bashful like an innocent owl. She apparently doesn't understand his question and he doesn't understand why his heart's fluttering like a hummingbird.
"Limbo?" she questions as she winces, rubbing her hands against her abdomen and moving up towards her neck. Faint traces of downpouring rain, a long horn honking, and the impact of her body flying ahead and hitting the steering wheel while her seatbelt recoils her back try to resurface from deep within her memories but they can't.
He doesn't immediately reply back, gnawing at his inner cheek to bite his tongue back. He's not going to get annoyed, remembering how long it took him to piece everything together.
It doesn't take a genius to realize the severity of his words to her. She blinks back the tears, moving her trembling lips to ask, "did we die?" It's a valid question that took him some time to cope with but for her, for her it was anxious anticipation waiting for him to confirm. She's urgent in her need to know but at the same time, she'd rather not. Sniffling, Ochako strains her face to not let the somber tears fall. She was young with so much life left in her. She wanted to make a name for herself in the science field, support her parents, and then maybe find love and settle down.
Katsuki shakes his head with a shrug, "no, or at least I'd like to fuckin' believe that" he tells her. She lets out a shuddered breath, clasping her hands against her mouth to let out mumbled relieved noises. Once she let those suppressed tears freely fall down her face, he then explains how, when he first woke up in this strange place – the first thing he did was to look for a way out. An exit, escape chute, a hole in the wall – whatever to get the hell out. The most he's come to discover is that there's a door. A divider between this realm and whatever's in the next. He can't open the door and guesses that neither can she.
Ochako scoffs at his declaration of giving up so easily. He silently admires her will to try, having given up on his optimism long ago. "It ain't gonna work, Angel" he grunts, guiding her towards the door.
"Maybe you just didn't put enough elbow grease into it!" she furrows her small oval-shaped brows, scrunches up her cute nose, and sticks out her tongue in tough concentration.
He finds her focused face adorable – which is a dangerous thought. What shitty luck he has – he finally meets a girl, whom he still doesn't know the name of, and it's when he's a ghost or something stuck in limbo. It's not like he was hoping to meet someone here. Far too focused on his ambitions when he was alive, but now, now what did it matter? Time works differently here and if he's going to be damned here for all eternity, it's nice knowing that he'll be stuck with someone interesting. He doesn't know much about her yet but this is a start.
Katsuki would like to believe that he hadn't been that much of an asshole in his life to get sorted here. He aspired to become a paramedic, to save others, and now he's the one needing saving. Maybe he wasn't kicking his own ass enough, working harder, fighting to strive for more that he just wasn't good enough for the pearly gates of heaven. It could be a lot worse he reasons, he could've ended up in hell.
"It's not… budging" she frowns, blinking back fresh tears. Ochako had been so sure that she could get it opened for the both of them. She's a good person: volunteering at homeless shelters, hosting charity events, paying her rent on time, taking up others shifts at the café, studying nonstop to get her degree and tutoring those who need it. She's a good person who just learned that she may have or have not died in some freak accident that she can barely recall.
He hates the sound of her hope dying from her voice that grew smaller with each time she chants to herself that the door's not opening.
"I've tried," he closes his eyes, bracing himself to tell her, "multiple times, day in and day out but nothing fuckin' works"
"How long?" she keeps her gaze on him, eyes never leaving his.
He lets out a shallow breath, opening his eyes to look at her, "a few days"
Limbo's time didn't follow the same rules as earth. A few hours in their old world meant a few days in limbo. Days in limbo were equivalent to weeks, and weeks meant months that months turned into years.
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"Please come back to me, Ochako!" Mina tearfully pleads, gently holding onto an unresponsive soft hand. "You're my best friend" she strokes her friend's hand with the pad of her thumb.
Ochako was plugged into multiple machines, wires all over her bed, tubes connected to her entire body. A steady robotic beeping signaling Mina that the vitals on the screen were steady. The doctor had informed her that since Ochako had suffered broken ribs, a broken leg, and a severe concussion – they had to medically induce a coma in order to get the swelling on her brain down. Her poor friend had been rushed to emergency surgery to take shards of glass out of her skin, used the deliberator twice to get her heart pumping again and is now being cared for in the ICU.
"I love you" Mina gets up to lean over Ochako's body, sweeping her bangs to the side to kiss her forehead. Her lips linger there for another moment as she closes her eyes, "C'mon, Ochako, fight this!" she chants, hoping that wherever Ochako is, she can hear this.
She straightens up and leaves the room for a bit to get fresh air, heading towards the elevators. She's barely had anything to eat let alone a wink of sleep the whole week she's been staying at the hospital.
Eijirou would scold her for doing this but she'd scold him back for doing the same thing. Not wanting to deal with a nagging stomach, she goes to find something to eat at the cafeteria downstairs.
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Five floors above them in a general wing, Eijirou scooted the leather navy blue recliner he's sitting on closer to his best friend's side. He leans over to place his hand on top of his, hoping that wherever Katsuki is, he can feel his presence there.
Katsuki had monitors connected to himself but not nearly as many as Ochako did. When Eijirou had first arrived into the room, a group of nurses were in the room preparing to put an intubation tube down his friend's throat to help with his breathing. It's been a week since then.
Eijirou watched as Katsuki's skin deep scratches and bruising were slowly starting to heal. Scratches forming dried scabs, bruises turning from a rich purple to a paler shade. He had been informed on the progress of the broken ribs every now and then whenever a nurse would come to check on the IV drip and administer new medicines. Katsuki has been in a natural coma ever since his accident, doctors encouraged Eijirou to speak to him as he normally would but not to be overly loud either as this was a sensitive state of consciousness for the blond lying there unresponsive. Eijirou's only hope was when he had felt Katsuki's finger give him the barest of twitches from his left index finger strapped with a pulse oximeter clip.
"C'mon! Dude! I know you can get over this hurdle!" Eijirou squeezes Katsuki's left hand that had given him a signal a few hours ago. He hasn't moved since then; only steady breathing and beeping of machines filled the white noise of the room.
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"You know… I always thought that if I died young, it'd be because of a mugging" Ochako vocalizes lingering thoughts, looking at the distance in front of her. They're sitting on the white porch swing of a house they built together by the beach.
Once they had gotten accustomed to the rules of their new home – they realized that there was no such thing as rules in this plane of existence. The world was crafted as one giant white board – whatever they willed would be.
They had all the time in the world. Starting off with each other's names, what they were previously doing, and finding out that they both had been attending U.A. University.
"You? You don't look fragile to me, Angel" he tells her with a small smirk.
She rolls her eyes, praying that a blush wouldn't appear. Ever since they've met, he's gotten into the habit of calling her Angel. If he were a sleazy guy, she would've kicked him where the sun don't shine for the pet name. But for some reason, she feels at ease with him. Free of worries, able to be her true self, and not worry about a single thing. He feels safe. He feels like home. And they've got an eternity to continue getting comfortable around each other.
When he hears her scoff, Katsuki lightly bumps her shoulder with his own, "I could teach you" he offers. They both know that it's a useless art form when they're the only two here but it would be entertaining for a least a while. Besides, it was a way to allow pent-up frustrations over their premature deaths out.
"I'd love that" she tells him, taking his offered hand into hers when he stands up to get started.
A surge of electricity courses through their contact with faint whispers of: Fight, Fight, C'mon, FIGHT!
Another's voice echoes in their heads but the voice is too distorted to identify.
He shows her basic maneuvers that would go easy on her untrained muscles, letting her know that he'll build up her stamina as she gets used to sparring with him. Her heart flutters anytime their hands touch, hearing the patience in his tone, and the way he compliments her.
It's during one particular sparring session in the months – according to limbo's time – that he's dodging her carefully planned attacks. Her countering his moves to try and get one on her and him playing the defensive role when he can't. Seeing that she clearly has the upper hand here, they somehow end up getting tangled up. Limbs knotting them into each other like a fine-tuned puzzle with perfect fitting shapes.
"Katsuki…" she breathlessly exhales. This being the closest they've ever been in proximity.
"Ochako…" he inhales, breathing in her scent of roses. She has him pinned down in a creek.
He suggested that the best place to get a feel for training would be a woodsy setting. She agreed with him wondering what his mind's eye could create with their endless freedom of the realm. Paint splatters appeared throughout the field, peaks forming, white blobs started taking shapes, others splitting and dividing, colors traveled to every corner of the land. Eventually he had accomplished in creating the woods of his childhood, fondly remembering how he'd take camping trips with his dad.
Ochako always enjoys getting tiny glimpses into his personal life – of the boy he used to be and the man that he is now. His own stories helped to distract her from dwelling too long on her own memories. She had a loving upbringing just as he but when she thinks of their reality, of hers, she starts to loom on the negative side. Her parents had lost their child and instead of being at peace in this serene limbo – she's feeling guilty. Guilty because for an itty-bitty fragment of time, she forgot all about her past life and her parents. She's happy, truly happy, being immensely grateful for the unexpected surprise that was Katsuki.
There's so much she wants to tell him, thank him for, but the words are difficult to form. Instead she tucks a strand of chestnut brown hair behind her ear, leans down and kisses him. He's half submerged into the shallow creek's water and plunges deeper into the water when her lips meets his. He doesn't care that he's getting wet as the water starts to transform into a sea of light blue butterflies. That was entirely all Ochako's imagination kicking in and he won't admit out loud that he loves it. Loves her small sprinkles into his personal realms of creativity.
That same electric shock courses through their entire bodies, moving to the tips of the cupid's bow of their lips.
The distorted voice yells at them again: Fight, Fight, C'mon, FIGHT!
Ignoring it, they savor the bliss of their first official kiss.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
"Why couldn't I have met you when I was alive?" Ochako whispers into his side, head resting on the bend of his shoulder blade. Lithe fingers run up and down his chest as if trying to embed the shape of his body into her very soul. He told her to create a place and she chose the clouds. White, fluffy, cotton-like clouds in a starry night sky. They're laying above everything; the void being filled with the chirps of nature to make things feel a bit more real.
"I would've ruined you, Angel" he lowly chuckles when he looks down to catch her curious doe-like eyes staring back up at him. "I would've been your first and last boyfriend" he clarifies a bit smug about his own qualities.
Ochako giggles, "you've got quite the ego there, Mister"
He stops her admiration of his body, gently taking her soft smaller hand into his larger callous one. Katsuki weaves their fingers together, turning their held hand so that hers faces him. He kisses the top of her hand, lips brushing against her skin. "You would've ruined me, Ochako, that's for damn sure" he confesses, glad that he's caught her rosy cheeks turning a tint darker at his words.
Truth be told, he's never known how to woo the ladies. They usually flocked to him and if he saw that they were worth his time, he'd consider fooling around on rare occasions. But he knows for sure that if he had ever met this spitfire snuggled up to his side when he was alive – that would've been endgame to his bachelor lifestyle. Not like he really had much of a social reputation, mainly hitting the books and getting all the lab hours he possibly could. Ochako would've been his own first and last girlfriend.
When Katsuki is sweet and honest like this, Ochako can't help but frown.
They were wasted youth with so much potential. They completed each other, feeling like two halves of a whole person. Destiny sure had a funny way of finding their soulmate – in limbo of all places.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Ochako's in the kitchen of their home, cutting the long stems of a bouquet of red roses that Katsuki had gifted her that morning. By now, they've lost count of how long they've been in limbo but it felt like it was nearing on a full year. Thanks to Katsuki's mathematical calculations and her own understanding of astrology – they were able to somewhat track and make a pattern of how time flows here.
She's fitting the bunch of roses into a clear glass vase when she swings her arm over the counter and accidentally knocks the glass vase over, shattering it on the floor. Technically she can't bleed but because of her mind's perception of what should happen kicks in, she starts to bleed and drip all over the place.
Katsuki had been outside chopping firewood for their chimney when he hears the commotion. Firmly hacking the axe into the round log on the ground, he rushes inside the house. Finding Ochako clutching onto her bleeding arm, he leads her towards the kitchen sink to get the excess blood cleaned. He knows that it's not real but her imagination makes it so.
Ochako lets out a pained scream, forgetting all about her bleeding arm when she hunches over. "What's wrong?!" Katsuki frantically asks, letting go of her in fear that, that'd cause her more pain.
"Ka… Katsuki… haa… I… haa…" she's barely able to speak, "I don't feel so good" tears run down her face, keeping her eyes locked onto his worried ones.
He doesn't know what the hell's going on. Just when everything is starting to somewhat make sense to him – it all goes to shit. He cups her face in his palms and softly kisses her, "whatever happens, promise me that we'll find each other!" he winces at his words, hating how he's not making any sense and scaring her in the process. The words felt like they needed to be said, having a dreadful feeling form in the pit of his stomach.
Ochako shakes her head, wishing to be selfish for once in her life, "I… d-don't want t-t-to le-leave you!" she pleas, tightly gripping the front of his white shirt, staining it in her blood. "This… argh…" she howls in pain, "this isn't fair! I just met you!" she's a blubbering mess, shaking her head as loose strands of hair stick to her chubby cheeks.
Katsuki's eyes widened, heart sinking when he sees her become staticky. She's slipping from his hands that are desperately trying to hold her arms. He's not given enough time to tell her how he feels the same way nor how genuinely happy she's made him.
He hasn't even gotten the chance to tell her that he loves her, dammit!
"Promise me, Ochako!" he yells, seeing her image blurring in front of him, "I'LL FIND YOU!" he shouts louder, unable to hear her promise that she would too.
For the first time in forever, Katsuki feels the sting of tears. Scarlet eyes drown in an ocean as he breaks down. He clenches and unclenches fisted hands until his body convulses into a shuddering mess. He lets out an audible whimper, covering his face in the palms of his hands. He suspects that they must have only known each other for a few weeks on earth but here in limbo, it was nearing a year.
He just lost the love of his life, leaving him to spend an eternity in solitude.
Katsuki drops to his knees, pretending as if he couldn't see the glass shards from the broken vase surrounding him or her blood disappearing from his shirt. He thinks he's fucked until he feels the same pang in his chest sending him back to where he rightfully belongs.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Katsuki nearly chokes on the tube shoved down his throat.
Eijirou had left the room on a coffee run and when he got back, he drops his cup when he sees his best friend freaking the hell out. "Katsuki, relax! Relax!" he holds his hands mid-air, chest level, gesturing for him to calm down as he backs out of the room and yells out towards the hallway, "Can I get a nurse in here, please?!"
While Eijirou is urgently getting someone's attention, Katsuki takes off the clip on his finger and tries to take the tube out himself. Right away, a group of nurses run in to stop him, telling him that they'll make him comfortable if he just patiently waits. He groans in pain from his chest, ribs still healing from his accident. He stops resisting the aid, allowing the nurses to do their job. As this is going on, Eijirou stands a close distance away with tears brimming from bloodshot baggy eyes.
Once they leave him, Eijirou wants to run to Katsuki and lecture him for scaring him to death. He's not given the chance to let out what he's feeling when he watches as his friend takes out the IV needle out of his arm. "What the hell are you doing?!" he asks trying to stop the needle from further leaving the entrance of his skin.
Katsuki swats his hand away, "I need," he gasps for air, "I need to," he gulps, trying to wet his sore dry throat, "to find her!" he finishes a second later.
Eijirou fills a pink plastic cup with water from his bedside table's pitcher of water. Handing him the cup, he urges for Katsuki to take a drink. Greedily, Katsuki hurriedly finishes the given cup, letting excess water stream down his chin. "I don't have time for this bullshit! Eijirou, I need to find her!" Katsuki throws the cup against the wall. He pushes his covers away to try and get out of the bed.
This is where Eijirou draws the line. He forcefully pushes Katsuki back down on the bed, hearing as he groans and writhes in pain from his chest, clutching onto his body to stop the pain. Leaning over his bed, Eijirou pushes the call button to get a nurse in here to sedate a distraught Katuski.
"Fuck you, Ei!" Katsuki groans out, the new medicine injected directly into his fixed IV line immediately starts working. With heavy eye lids, he fights for a second longer, letting out a slurred, "I need to… find… Ochako…" slipping from wobbly lips, falling asleep with thoughts of the girl he fell in love with in a faraway place.
"Ochako?" Eijirou quirks a brow.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Ochako woke up panicked.
Eyes flutter open to bright fluorescent lights. She momentarily got scared when she looked down to see her nose and throat covered by the breathing system of the intubation tube. Her arms lay straight to her sides feeling like they're made of lead. Her legs begin to shake, testing to see if she's still able to move them despite one being in a cast.
When she can feel her fingers and toes tingle from the sudden movement, she lets out a relieved breath. Mina had left the room to go make her daily phone call to Ochako's parents to report to them about their daughter's condition. Her parents were trying everything in their power to get there as soon as possible now that they knew about the accident.
Mina profusely apologized to them for not having informed them a week earlier. It's been three weeks since the car crash and Ochako was progressing rather than declining in health. That news alone caused Mina to break down and cry into her boyfriend's arms for a couple of hours. Also being there to comfort him when Eijirou told her that the doctors said that his friend was bound to wake up any day now.
Comas were unpredictable things. And miracles were miracles for a reason.
Returning into the room, Mina finds a confused Ochako turning her head in all directions to piece together where she's at. Immediately, she doesn't think, running out the room to the nurse's station to get someone.
The nurses take a while to disconnect the unneeded monitors, leaving Ochako feeling ten times better now that she's able to speak. Mina peppers her face in kisses, cupping her face and crying about how relieved she is to have her best friend back.
"I…" Ochako tries forming words, "I'm sorry" she croaks out.
Mina shakes her head, "no, it's not your fault, Sweetie!" she reminds her that this was a freak accident caused by one truck losing control during a heavy rain. Ochako wasn't at fault here, she was the victim.
"I thought I was in heaven this whole time" Ochako softly speaks up, silently thanking Mina for the cup of water.
"You were in a coma for three weeks… do you remember anything at all?" Mina scoots her chair over to listen.
Ochako frowns, feeling a surge of an incoming headache, "it was… peaceful" she stops herself from straining to remember anything else, anyone else. The memories are hazy in her head, both from the crash and from the time spent in limbo. "It felt like a blissful eternity" she feels the tears stinging her eyes, threatening to fall. She wants to justify her tears for the fact that she's glad to be alive but there's something else there. Something she can't quite recall and a faint promise that she can no longer remember what it even was.
Mina doesn't push her to say anymore, instead she goes on to update Ochako in what she's missed for the past three weeks. Telling her about her parents who were planning to arrive sometime during the weekend and how she's been taking up Ochako's shifts at the café. Aizawa had been more than understanding, even surprising Mina by having a bouquet of beautiful flowers sent to Ochako's hospital room with a 'get well soon' card attached.
Ochako smiles at that news, never expecting her aloof narcoleptic boss to care that deeply about her.
They continue to chat for a few hours until Ochako's main doctor comes in to check up on her. The bruising and swelling on her body had considerably reduced but she's still sore and broken on the inside. A nurse comes in to administer new medicines into her IV drip and lets her naturally fall asleep.
"We'll continue that conversation once you get some sleep" Mina winks at her. They had been conversing about all the secret admirers that Ochako apparently had from the university. Confessing when they came to Mina to hand over gifts for the bedridden coma induced young woman.
Ochako thought it was sweet but completely surprising. She was nice to everyone, never suspecting any of her fellow male classmates to think of her in such high regards.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
"Don't you dare stop me from leaving this prison" Katsuki glares at Eijirou, too tired to curse him out as he did last night once he had woken up from the sedation.
"I'm not but I'm not letting you escape just to sneak around a hospital either" he tells him, walking out the room to get a wheelchair he had parked right outside. "In fact, I'm going to help you" Eijirou perks up, patting the leather seat of the navy blue wheelchair. "Now sit your ass in this thing!" he grins, helping Katsuki to transfer from his bed to the new chair.
Katsuki doesn't say anything, allowing himself to be catered to. Eijirou bends down to tuck his friend's stiff legs on the wheelchairs pedals and stands up. He hums a tune to himself as they finally set out of the stuffy room.
"Ei… stop" Katsuki speaks up halfway towards the elevators.
Eijirou does exactly as he's told, parking the wheelchair to the side so they don't cause a traffic jam. "What's up? You in pain?" he's about to suggest that they go back to the room and get a nurse to give him morphine for his pain or something.
Katsuki shakes his head and deeply sighs. "What the hell was I thinking? I was so fuckin' consumed by finding this… Angel" he hates sounding defeated but he's never had a chance in the first place. He'd just sound like a crazy person if he told his best friend how he met and fell in love with someone during his time in limbo. It sounded too much like a fairytale to be real or make a lick of sense.
"You're serious about her, right?" Eijirou unlocks the wheelchair's brake to continue making his way to the elevators.
Katsuki couldn't even verbally say it, only nodding a response. It was the first time that he was feeling vulnerable. He could conquer the entire world but not his own heart. His heart had failed him for once, giving him the person of his dreams only for it to be exactly that – just a dream.
"I've never seen you like this so I know it's real" Eijirou backs up into the empty elevator and presses the button panel to go down. Arriving in a new wing, he takes Katsuki to someone's room.
"Where're we going?" Katsuki crosses his arms over his chest, not in the visiting mood. He doesn't care if Eijirou had befriended another sick person and wanted him to act all buddy-buddy with a stranger.
"Just wait" Eijirou can no longer hide his amused smile, gently knocking on the door to enter it first before backing the wheelchair in.
"Look who's back to his normal grumpy self!" he whispers to a new feminine voice. Mina lowly laughs, moving chairs and a table away to make room for the wheelchair.
Of course, Eijirou's girlfriend would be here too. The girlfriend that Katsuki was supposed to meet on the night of the accident. He's being turned around when Eijirou speaks up, "Katsuki, I'd like you to meet my girl, Mina and her sleeping friend…" he's interrupted, "Ochako" Katsuki's eyes widened.
With shaky hands, he braces himself to get up from the wheelchair by gripping the handles and stands up on his own. Eijirou gives him a hand, wrapping his arm around his shoulder and holds him above the chest, making sure not to touch Katsuki's broken ribs. Limping towards the hospital bed on tingling legs, he holds himself up on the railing of Ochako's bed.
Ochako's eyes flutter open, blinking back her sleep when she hears more people in her room. She looks up to stare at the blond. "Hello," she softly greets with a smile, "have we met before?" she tilts her head, causing her hair to create a halo around her.
Katsuki licks his chapped lips, heart racing, tears forming. He leans down to cup her face in his palm. She flinches at his touch. Wanting to mentally punch himself, he backs away. "You don't remember me, do you?" he asks the question that demolishes his heart.
She apologetically frowns, "I'm sorry, everything's a big blur to me right now. Were you a customer at Aizawa's café?"
He wants to chuckle at her adorable innocence. It stings him. Shaking his head, he calls for Eijirou to help him return to the wheelchair. At this point, he shouldn't even be surprised at what shitty luck he has. He finds her and she looks at him with the eyes of a stranger. He starts to feel like he's had it right all along – love wasn't for him. Romantic love clearly didn't want him. He should just go back to his own hospital room, listen to his doctors that would be his future colleagues, and wait until he's discharged.
He'd go back to working on his paramedic degree and forget all about this ordeal.
It'd be as if he's never met her and as much as that seemed criminally unfair to him – that's just life.
Eijirou shoots Mina a silent apology as he quickly takes Katsuki out. As they're leaving, Katsuki hears Ochako speak up. "It was nice meeting you!" she calls out.
She doesn't see the way Katsuki breaks down once he's out in the hallway.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Two months later, Katsuki's transporting a skeleton on a stand towards a storage closet along with other light boxes in a cart. He's grumbling at the fact that Izuku had tricked him into moving all the anatomical figures by himself. The nerd had the gall to come to him during his reserved lab hours to ask for the favor, saying how he had promised his mom and boyfriend a vacation and was leaving school early.
Katsuki knew a thing or two about promises.
His broken ribs had healed up nicely but he's still feeling aftershocks of his accident. Forced to taking it easy when he was dying on the inside to hit the gym and return to his regular daily routine. The only upside to his newfound extra free time was that he could beat Izuku with his lab hours record.
"'You're the best, Kacchan! I'll never forget this! I owe you big time!'" Katsuki mocked Izuku's dweeby voice as he shot death glares at anyone who dared look his way. He was pissed but also free with nothing else planned for the day. He knew he could do this for Izuku and he hated how soft he's become towards his frenemy.
He's nearly to his destination when someone comes hurdling his way out of nowhere. Stacks of papers topped with a microscope covering their face. "What the fuck!" Katsuki roared, being knocked over as the person fell on top of him with a thud. His cart and skeleton go sliding away, papers flying everywhere, and the microscope makes a loud bang onto the floor.
He groans in pain at the new pressure on top of him. Healed but still sore from his chest.
"Ack! I'm so sorry! I'm such a klutz!" a feminine voice apologizes with a small giggle.
He's growing even more pissed off by the second. This chick was laughing at their tumble!
Katsuki's about to give her a piece of his mind when he looks down at the young woman fixing her disheveled hair away from her face. His heart thumps erratically against his chest and freezes in place.
"Ochako…" he sharply exhales.
"Oh! Hey, you're the wheelchair guy!" she gasps.
He rolls his eyes at the title, "the name's Katsuki, Angel"
She stills for a moment, headache pounding against her skull at the endearing nickname. He sits up first, sliding from underneath her. She sits across from him as he watches her chocolate brown eyes stare at him as if she's seen a ghost.
"You okay?" he worriedly asks, medical student side of him kicking in.
"Katsuki…" she breaths his name, clasping her hands against her mouth as he watches the tears roll down her face. "Katsuki!" she gasps louder, leaning over to reach for his callous hands.
"I can feel you!" she's elated by the discovery, "you're real!" she squeezes his hand, feeling him twitch.
His throat feels tight at her words not wanting to be filled with false hope.
"Oh my gosh, you're real and you're here!" she crawls over to him, not caring for personal space as her fingers glide over his sharp jaw, chiseled features, and finally his lips. "You love spicy foods, rock climbing, martial arts movies, and aspire to be as great as your mentor Dr. Yagi someday" she lists facts that suddenly sprout in her head. They're things that no one else could ever know about him.
"You remember me?" he cautiously asks, feeling his heart get caught in his throat.
She continues to touch him all over, slim fingers running through his spiky ash blond hair. "Yes" she says with trembling lips. "I promised you that we'd find each other, Silly" Ochako freely cries, kicking the guilt away from having forgotten him for some time. She knows that he wouldn't hold that against her.
With shaky hands, Katsuki pulls her by the waist closer to him to close the gap between them in a heartfelt kiss. They promised each other that they'd look for one another and it really happened. Their connection formed in limbo was genuine and one hell of a story to tell if anyone asked.
"I love you, Ochako" he wipes away at her hot cascading tears.
She wraps her arms around his neck and smiles. "Ditto"
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Done!
Ahh! This is finally complete! Took me a couple of days to write. I honestly don't have much to say other than this has been an idea that I've had for ages now but could never settle on how to go about it. As much as I love the movie Just Like Heaven, I didn't want to exactly copy it. I'm really happy with the way this story came out in the end.
Now I must tumble away to update other Kacchako fics~
I don't own Ochako Uraraka or Katsuki Bakugou and all other characters used in this fic – Boku No Hero Academia is owned by Kohei Horikoshi.
I just own the idea/plot/story/whatever you want to call it~ lol :P
Please remember to R&R! If anyone is afraid to leave reviews due to language difference - please don't be! I can fluently read Spanish and partial French! :) And hey, that's why Google translate was invented after all! LOL.