Day 2: Part 1 - The Set Up

Katsuki's parents had pulled a lot of crap through the years; tricking him into running errands for them, daring him to get chores done. They knew that if they ever wanted to get their son to do anything, the easiest way to do it was to tell him he couldn't. Once, however, they had lured him to their design studio by making him think there was an emergency. When he got there, however, the next thing Katsuki knew, he was changing in and out of costumes and getting his picture taken. That was the first and last time that he ever modeled for his parents.

But this... this one took the cake.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me."

His mom jerked a thumb at the closed bathroom door. "Does this sound like a joke to you?"

The sound of his father heaving loudly came from the other side of the door as if on queue, soon followed by a noise similar to that of splashing water. Narrowing his eyes, Katsuki pinched his lips and leered up at his mother. Did she honestly think he was stupid enough to fall for this?

"Looks like pops has a serious case of altitude sickness." Mitsuki quirked her lips in a poor show of concern for her husband.

Katsuki had to clench his hands into fists to keep them from exploding. "You don't get altitude sickness when you go lower in elevation, idiot!"

"Then it's food poisoning! Don't argue with your mother!" She snapped back. "Either way, I need to stay here and take care of him, so you'll have go meet those lovely people for breakfast without us."

This was so incredibly moronic that Katsuki didn't even know what to say. He had been waiting all morning for his parents to wake up and get ready, but when he went to investigate what the hold-up was, this was what he found. Of all the ways for his vacation to start, this was definitely less than desirable.

"Oh for crying out-you know what? Fine. Fine!" Katsuki whirled away from his mom and grabbed his knapsack. Snapping the drawstrings shut, he slung the bag over his shoulder and headed for the door. "You two have seriously lost your minds. And you're insane if you think I'm going to spend one second of my vacation with those losers!"

The door to their hotel room slammed shut, which the neighbors probably didn't appreciate. Sighing, Mitsuki shook her head as the door to the bathroom creaked open behind her. Masaru, face red with embarrassment, peeked out at his wife.

"Do you really think he'll ditch them?" He asked.

A ghost of a smile touched her lips. "Nah. He never likes to disappoint people, no matter how much trouble it's worth." Looking over her shoulder, she said with a large grin. "So, you ready for those massages?"

It seemed that Mitsuki knew her own son better than he did. As the elevator carried him down, Katsuki tapping his foot impatiently, he couldn't stop thinking about Uraraka and her parents. How they would be waiting there for his family while he was off enjoying himself and his parents were messing around doing whatever. He could picture the disheartened looks on their faces when they realized that their new friends had left them high and dry. Scoffing to himself, Katsuki tried to shrug it off. They could get over it. It wasn't his fault his parents were flakes. In fact, if Uraraka had been paying attention, she probably already expected him to be a no-show. And besides, it wasn't like he cared about what Pink Cheeks and her family thought about him and his. Growling to himself, Katsuki slapped a hand over his eyes, because who was he kidding, of course he cared. Knowing that he would lose what little respect he had from the Uraraka's because his parents were idiots was frustrating - probably more frustrating than it should have been.

The elevator doors opened to the bright, sunny lobby. Stepping out of the elevator, Katsuki stopped and looked to the left, where the breakfast buffet had been set up, and then to the right, where the beach waited for him. Both areas were already relatively crowded, despite the early hour. So either way, it was going to be annoying. But he couldn't stand the idea of anybody having a bad opinion of him or his folks when it wasn't even his fault. Only his enemies were supposed to hate him. Uraraka, though she might not have really been his friend, was definitely not an enemy.

"Son of a bitch." Katsuki mumbled as he headed towards the buffet.

This shouldn't have been a hard decision. But Ochaco had been standing in front the large mirror in their bathroom for almost ten minutes now holding up the two bathing suits against her body. One was a cute floral print two-piece that her parents had gotten her solely for this vacation, but might have been a little revealing now that she knew Bakugo was going to see her in it. The other was the school uniform one-piece that she had brought on a whim because she knew that she needed more than one, and it was the only other swimsuit she had. But Ochaco knew that she was going to get at least a little tan, and getting weird tan lines wasn't the ideal souvenir to take home.

Groaning in frustration, Ochaco went with cute over modest. It wasn't like she was going to be spending the entire day with Bakugo and his family, and chances were he was probably going to split the first chance he got. If anything, she would wear her tank top over it. Plus, Ochaco told herself, she didn't really care what Bakugo thought about her. It probably wasn't much, but still. In the end, she was probably going to get the nice vacation with her parents that Ochaco had been hoping for.

However, when she left the bathroom, the room was still dark. Her parents were still fast asleep. Checking the clock on the bedside table, Ochaco quirked an eyebrow as she approached her parent's bed. It wasn't very early in the morning, and they had all gone straight to bed after dinner last night. With a little more than the usual eight hours of sleep that the Uraraka's usually got, she had awoken easily and was raring to go. Ochaco had thought that she had seen her parents stirring when she went into the bathroom, but maybe she was mistaken.

"Hey," she spoke softly, bending over towards her father's face. "Are you guys gonna get up? We promised we'd meet Bakugo and his parents for breakfast."

Her dad's eyes fluttered open unevenly. Lifting his head slightly from the pillow, her father blinked blearily at the clock. With a sharp intake of breath and a groan, he flopped his head back down on the pillow.

"Sorry sweety, we totally forgot." His words were still blurred with sleep. "I guess jet-lag hits you a lot harder when you get older." Turning his head to peek at his daughter with one eye, he continued. "But you look like you're all ready to go. So how about you go ahead and head down there, and we'll meet up with you later, okay? Mommy and I just need a little while longer, I promise."

Standing up straight, Ochaco looked over at her mother, who continued sleeping peacefully. Normally, her parents were early risers, up at the break of dawn and out the door before the sun came up. They worked late nights as well, sometimes all through the night getting projects done and finishing estimates for clients and the like. They never complained about a lack of sleep. In fact, even on their days off, they still got up early - almost like they were incapable of sleeping late. It made sense, Ochaco thought, that a new room in a new place after a long day of traveling would wear them out so much. If sleeping a little while longer was part of their vacation, then she wasn't going to say otherwise.

"Okay," she said as she turned and grabbed the small wallet she had brought and her sunglasses. "You promise you'll catch up?"

Her father smiled up at her. "I promise. But don't feel like you need to wait for us. I'm sure the Bakugos will understand. And they seem like a lot of fun, so you probably won't even notice that we're gone."

Ochaco's only thought was that she and her her father seemed to have two very different definitions of "fun". But as she watched her fathers eyes slip closed again, any protest she might have voiced got caught in her throat. Bending over, Ochaco planted a kiss to her fathers head, which made him smile.

"Just don't take too long, okay?" Ochaco didn't mean to sound whiny, but a part of her was a little bummed. This was their first big family vacation, and she was starting it off with the wrong family.

As she was headed out the door, she heard her mother softly call her name. "Remember your manners, okay honey?"

With a promise that she would, Ochaco gently closed the door to their hotel room and headed for the elevator. With a sigh, Ochaco stepped into the shiny compartment and pressed the button for the ground floor. At least, she hoped it was the ground floor. The button said LΘϐBY, and she didn't know what that meant. But it had a little star next to it, so she was pretty sure it was the right one. After a moment of weightlessness as the carriage began to descend, Ochaco slumped against the skinny handrail. Okay, so maybe this vacation wasn't really going how she had pictured it. Granted, she hadn't taken into account the idea that Bakugo would be here, too. Biting her lip, Ochaco allowed herself a moment of mild anger, her grip tightening on the rail. Why did it have to be him? Practically anybody else in her class would have been better - gosh, even Mineta, though the thought sent a shiver down her spine.

Why couldn't it have been Deku?

Releasing her grip on the railing, Ochaco took a deep breath and stood straight. Shaking off her dark thoughts, the elevator dinged and the golden doors opened to the bright lobby and a new day. As she stepped out of the elevator, Ochaco felt a rising determination to have fun with the Bakugo's rising in her chest. If she stayed positive, kept an open mind, and genuinely got to know Bakugo's parents, then maybe - just maybe - she could still end up having a good time. Bakugo's mom actually seemed like a wonderful woman, even if she looked like and older, female version of her son. If she could start up a conversation with her, then perhaps she wouldn't even have to talk to the boy. He might not like it, but it was only until her parents caught up with her.

Yeah, she could to that, Ochaco decided.

Following the smell of waffles and coffee, Ochaco headed for the small covered patio where she could see the silver trays of food. All the tables seemed full, and the bright light of the sun turned everybody into silhouettes. Presenting her card to the hostess at the seating stand, the girl smiled and said something in English that Ochaco couldn't quite catch, but she smiled and nodded and made her way into the dining area. Squinting her eyes against the bright light, Ochaco looked around for the loudest three people sharing a table.

It was actually his hair that caught her attention first. The sun tinted his already pale hair to a silvery sheen that would have made most American girls jealous. Bakugo was sitting at a table on the edge of the patio, one leg propped on the other as he swirled a mug of coffee in front of him. He had those same red aviators on his head, and was wearing a black tank top over his swim shorts. A knapsack with a skull on it rested on the table. He seemed bored, his flip-flopped foot jumping impatiently on top of his knee. He didn't have any food on the table either.

And it was him. Just him. Alone.

Where were his parents? They weren't in line to get food, they weren't sitting at a different table. Ochaco's heart jumped with shock as she realized that, like her own parents, his were absent as well. It was just going to be the two of them for the morning, or for however long it took for her mom and dad to catch up. Suddenly, she was very conscious of the bathing suit she had picked. Flustered, Ochaco turned away from Bakugo and toward the juice bar, grabbed a glass and pretended to be considering her options while her mind raced. What was she going to do? She knew she couldn't just walk away, leave Bakugo all alone and go back upstairs and tell her parents that they didn't show - even though she really wanted to. But she also couldn't just stand there staring at juice labels she couldn't read all morning, either. With a small moan, Ochaco stuck her glass under the spout that said GΓΔϑΞFRΨΠT and filled her glass. Taking a deep breath, Ochaco turned and walked toward Bakugo, officially starting her vacation in Hawaii.

"Hey."

He looked up at her, and Ochaco tried her best to smile brightly, but not too brightly. She knew he didn't like that. This was going to be tough. How did Kirishima keep this up all the time?

"Where the hell are your folks?" He asked briskly, looking over her shoulders.

Sitting down at the table across from him, Ochaco shrugged. "They're sleeping off some really bad jet-lag. What about you?"

Bakugo stared at her for a few seconds, thoughts swimming in his eyes that she couldn't decipher. He was either shocked, angry, or relieved. But who wasn't to say it was all three. Looking back to the coffee in his mug, Bakugo quirked his lips.

"Altitude sickness, food poisoning, or chronic stupidity. Take your pick." He took a long draw from the mug and set the empty cup down on the table.

A lull overtook the short conversation. Ochaco bit her lip, trying to think of something to say.

"Cool, so I guess it'll just be us." Her cheerful tone sounded fake even to her. "Won't have to hang around with stupid adults all day, right?"

Bakugo huffed a laugh at that. "I wouldn't really consider this much better."

"Oh come on, don't be like that." It was getting harder and harder for Ochaco to keep her cool. "I'm sure there's lots of fun stuff we can do here. And hey!" She held up her small wallet for him to see. "I get discounts on everything and free drinks. I'll share it with you. Won't that be nice, for once?"

"Yeah, we'll just see about that." Bakugo grumbled. He cocked an eyebrow at her. "Πώς είναι σου English, εμ ιπτ όνω?"

Ochaco didn't know what that meant, but it didn't sound very nice. Giving a small, awkward laugh, she raised her juice glass to her lips and took a sip.

With a jerk, Ochaco slammed her glass down and blew out the liquid in her mouth. Bakugo leapt to his feet with a shout as the spray hit him, then turned on Ochaco with fire in his eyes. The girl was too busy smacking her tongue around in her mouth to notice his rage, trying to get the bittery tartness that had assaulted her taste buds out. Wrinkling her nose, Ochaco coughed, completely caught off-guard by the sour juice.

"What the hell was that?!" Bakugo growled at her. A few other people were already watching them.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! But-" Ochaco pointed to the glass of juice, afraid to touch it. "I think their juice has gone bad."

With a grunt, Bakugo stepped forward and snatched up the glass. With a quick taste, he sneered down at Ochaco. "This is grapefruit juice, you idiot! It's supposed to taste like that!"

Looking to the glass in his hand, Ochaco couldn't help but wonder why anybody would drink something that tasted so terrible. Americans are weird.

Ochaco blinked up at him as he drained the glass of juice, slapped the glass down on the table, then snatched up his knapsack and turned to walk away. Mumbling as he brushed off the droplets of juice on the bag, Bakugo headed out of the breakfast area. Shooting to her feet, Ochaco quickly followed after him. This was looking to be a great start.

"Wait, Bakugo, we haven't had breakfast yet." She lightly laid her hand on his arm, feeling his warm bare skin. He glared at her over his shoulder, face still slightly damp.

"You should have thought of that before you spit on me!"

"But didn't you pay to get in here?"

"Yeah, but I didn't pay to have a backwash shower, so get your hand off of me!"

Recoiling her hand, Ochaco's smiley facade finally fell and she spoke her mind before she could stop herself.

"You don't have to treat me like Deku, Bakugo," she bit. "And this isn't exactly how I pictured this holiday going either."

Bakugo's snarl softened into a frown, eyebrows scrunching together in puzzlement. Huffing, Ochaco steeled her features to match his. She knew that the only way he would listen to her was if she proved herself. Just like she had for the sports festival.

"Look, I can't keep micromanaging my every action to try to keep you from getting mad. But," she took a deep breath. "I'm willing to try to make this work and have fun with you, Bakugo. But only if you're willing to do the same."

For a long while he simply stared at her, his red eyes dark with thought. Ochaco lifted an eyebrow at him, unsure if he was ever going to respond. Honestly, if he told her to get lost, then that would have been just fine with her. But a part of her really wished that he wouldn't. The same part of her that had wanted to beat him during their match.

With a heavy sigh, Bakugo adjusted the straps over his shoulders and looked away. "The breakfasts here aren't very good." His tone was still rough, but definitely gentler. "So grab a yogurt or something and let's go. We're burning daylight."

Having said that, Bakugo took off again, this time at a slower pace. His words took a moment for Ochaco to resgister. Spinning on her heel, Ochaco rushed back to the breakfast counter and grabbed a little plastic cup with strawberries on it. Hurrying to follow Bakugo, Ochaco couldn't help the wide smile on her face, unabashed glee sparking in her chest.

The two walked out into the sunlight together. Shielding her eyes from the bright light, Ochaco faltered for a second. When the ache behind her eyes had faded, she dropped her hand. Her jaw dropped as well.

The beach was beautiful. Spread out to either side were white sand shores dotted with towering palm trees. The palms swayed in the soft breeze that carried the faint smell of salt and water. A rock retaining wall separated the hotel from the sand, with pergolas and picnic tables set out on the grass above the beach. Plastic lounge chairs rested on the sand itself, and Ochaco could even spy a few hammocks tied up between the trunks of the palm trees. Rolling waves crashed into white sea foam, then withdrew back to the crystal clear blue that stretched to the horizon. Ochaco had only ever seen anything like it in videos and pictures, but none of that compared to the real thing.

"Are you just going to stand there gawking all day or what?"

Ochaco snapped her jaw shut and looked over to Bakugo. He had his aviators resting on his face, one eyebrow cocked up above the red lenses. Somehow, with his eyes covered up, he didn't look near as frightening. Bakugo spun away from her and trudged toward the sand. Placing her own sunglasses on her face - cheap ray bands she had gotten as a handout - she followed after the boy as he dropped down off the retaining wall and started making his way down the beach.

"Hey, Bakugo," Uraraka piped up, remembering something from earlier. "What did you say to me before? Right before I..."

Bakugo made a tch sound, not even looking at Ochaco as he answered. "I said, 'how's your English, by the way' in English. Don't worry, I figured out the answer pretty quick. Now shut up and help me look for a spot."

That was something that Ochaco had overlooked; the beach was absolutely teeming with people. Families were forced to share spaces with others, and it seemed that every last chair and lounger had been claimed by a purse or a towel. There didn't seem to be that many people in the water, though. Wherever all these people were, it didn't seem fair that they would just leave their stuff lying around, taking up chairs that they weren't even using. As they walked farther down the beach, chances of finding their own spot didn't seem to be getting better.

But this was also a good opportunity for Ochaco to see all the other activities that The Sea Cliffs had to offer. A pair of Jetski Wave Runners jumped over the water out in the distance, and there were also a couple of people rowing a rental kayak as well. But what caught Ochaco's attention was the large parasail gliding through the air high above the waves, being pulled by a boat at a leisurely speed. People were hanging under the colorful parachute, and Ochaco immediately knew that that was something that she wanted to do.

"Bakugo!" She cried with a slap to his arm. He leered at her, but she was too excited to care. "Can we do that? That looks like so much fun!"

Bakugo looked to where she was pointing. "Hell no. That's really expensive."

"Yeah, but I get a discount on everything, remember?" Ochaco waved her little wallet in the air. "So it won't cost as much."

"How much of a discount?" Bakugo sounded bored, like this was another waste of his time.

But Ochaco didn't have an answer. She hadn't been listening when Jason had told her family the specifics of the cards and their stay. "I don't know..." she admitted dejectedly. She couldn't see them, but Ochaco imagined that Bakugo was rolling his eyes at her under his aviators.

"Maybe you should ask your folks instead of me, Pink Cheeks." He turned away from her and continued over the sand. "Let's go."

Disappointed and embarrassed, Ochaco dipped her chin and followed after him. If it really was as expensive as Bakugo said, then her parents probably couldn't afford it either. As they walked farther down the beach, Ochaco was beginning to think that they weren't going to be able to find chairs for themselves. She had no idea that it would be this crowded.

"Here."

Bakugo had stopped in front of a set of chairs that were parked beneath a batch of palm trees. They were on the far end of the beach reserved for guests, where the chairs were few and isolated. But they all had some other person's stuff on them. Confused, Ochaco watched as Bakugo walked up to the chairs. Her confusion quickly turned to shock as he took the bags, towels, and other items off of two of the chairs and threw them onto another one. Ochaco gaped at the boy.

"You can't do that!"

Bakugo didn't stop in his proceedings as he cocked an eyebrow at Ochaco. "Says who?"

"Says basic human decency!" Ochaco glanced around, afraid they would be caught and get into some sort of trouble. "This is like trespassing!"

"It's not trespassing. We're on a public beach. Calm your tits, Pink Cheeks."

"But what if they come back?"

"Then it's their loss for not being here like they should have. Not my problem." There was no swaying him, it seemed.

Ochaco helplessly watched as Bakugo finished clearing the two chairs, then removed the knapsack from his shoulders. Loosening the strings, Bakugo held out the bag towards Ochaco. Unsure what to make of the gesture, she simply stared at him. The boy sighed heavily, and probably rolled his eyes again.

"You're gonna loose that puny wallet of yours in no time, or it's gonna get stolen. Do you want to put it in here or not?"

"Oh, okay!" Ochaco dropped her wallet into Bakugo's bag, touched that he was considerate enough to keep her possessions safe. "Thanks, Bakugo. I think some of Deku's niceness is starting to rub off on you."

She had meant it purely as a joke, something to try to get him to relax. But the very mention of his rival had the complete opposite effect. His grip on the draw strings tightened and his lips pulled back into a snarl. She could only imagine what his eyes were doing. But Bakugo only huffed, turned away from Ochaco, threw his bag down on the chair, and removed his shirt.

Oh. Oh my.

Honestly, Bakugo's hero costume didn't leave much to the imagination to begin with. Everybody knew he had arms as thick as tree trunks and a lean torso. But Ochaco had no idea just exactly how chiseled the boy was. There wasn't a single ounce of fat on his body, and his muscles bunched and relaxed under his skin. Ochaco was suddenly glad that she was also wearing her sunglasses, so that Bakugo would not see her ogling him so. Too late, she realized that he had asked her a question.

"What?"

Bakugo's eyebrow twitched and he gritted his teeth, beginning to lose his patience. "I asked if you were gonna take your clothes off or not. Not like I give a shit."

Ochaco jerked, her face heating up. Remembering her decision earlier that morning, she was uncomfortably aware of the swim suit she was wearing under her shirt, and exactly how much skin she would be revealing if she removed it. There was also the things about her physique that she wasn't too proud of - how her belly and hips spilled out a little over the bathing suit, how the insides of her thighs would rub together, stuff like that. Sure there were some people on the beach that were wearing far more scandalous outfits than hers, but none of them were in the same company as hers. It wasn't that she was wearing a bikini or anything, but it was definitely questionable whether or not it was appropriate for this situation. She was a budding young woman, after all, and Ochaco didn't think she was ready for Bakugo to know that about her.

"I... uh... well..."

"Do whatever you want." Bakugo sat down on his chair and leaned back, kicking his feet up and stretching out in the sun. "I'm gonna try to relax for a bit."

Hesitating, Ochaco reluctantly lifted the shirt up over her head and removed her shorts. The boy didn't react, just simply laid there. Putting her clothes in Bakugo's bag, she sat down on the other chair and assumed a position similar to his. A sense of guilt followed her as she laid back, knowing full well that she was in someone else's chair. But no one showed up to challenge them, and the island was starting to work its magic on Ochaco's mind.

After a while, her worries seemed to fade away as the sun warmed her skin and her ears were filled with the sound of waves, sea birds, and rustling palm trees. With due time, she had forgotten what she had been so worried about in the first place. This was nice, Uraraka mused. She sighed in contentment.

They were off to a rocky start. But Bakugo hadn't ditched her just yet, so there was still hope. A very small hope, that things would go well for the rest of the day.

A/N: I really didn't want to stop it right here, but if I hadn't then this would have been a really long chapter. So I decided to split the day into two parts. This probably isn't the last time that it'll happen. And yes, that is the Greek alphabet that I'm using to portray something that Ochaco doesn't understand, but it's not actual Greek words, so I'm sorry to any of my Greek readers if you thought I was butchering your language hah.

As always, read, review, and enjoy!