_a/n: I am so sorry
not your (manic pixie dream) girl
G - Gossip Girl
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Gossip Girl here, your one and only source into the scandalous lives of U.A.'s Hero class elite.
Spotted: a heartbroken, green-haired hero.
Word on the street is that our beloved gravity wielder, Uraraka Ochako, dumped the ever-so-adorable, Midoriya Izuku. Looks like a defeat that even Recovery Girl won't be able to fix. Sorry, Deku.
But why, you might ask?
Perhaps it has to do with wanting something more.
Not getting your needs met, Ochako-chan?
No sparks? No fire?
Well, we know someone with lots of it. But maybe you're already well acquainted.
Xoxo
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"I realized that I just needed to be me," the brunette shrugged, petal pink finger pads sifting through magazine pages she had absolutely zero interest in actually reading. She continued, "—before I could be Deku's girlfriend."
She eyed the cover of the fashion booklet briefly, her mind elsewhere. It was spread on Momo's bed before she had taken it upon herself to lounge in its place instead. She made it a priority to throw herself onto the fluffiness every time she entered this chamber. She didn't even need to try to make herself comfortable. Her satin duvet and velvety sheets made it closest to cloud-like. Momo really slept like a goddess every night.
Can't relate, Ochako thought to herself, hugging a plush to her chest.
Her eyes rolled the instant after hearing an unconvincing Mhmm from the incredibly nosy Mina. She sighed, shoving the magazine to the side before rolling over onto her stomach to face the other girls. The pink, curly haired hero had been fixating her focus on her newly painted toes.
They had all been relaxing in Momo's room (it was the nicest of the house, after all)—bathrobes, face masks, and 11pm snacks sprawled along the floor (with none of that gluten-free shit that Health Freak Hanta Sero stocks up in the kitchen. God forbid they indulge in hot Cheetos and Diet Coke for once), which had gradually become tradition for every Sunday night. It was the girls' end of the week cleanse. Sort of. (If saturated fats and artificial sugar could be deemed a cleanse.)
But it was bonding, nonetheless. A quirkless, pressureless much needed break from the realities of hero training.
Except tonight was different. Ochako would much rather prefer being bombarded by ice, electricity, fists even, than an interrogation regarding her private life by the girls of class 1A. Also known as: the first class bitches for gossip.
That night, in particular, had taken an inconvenient turn for the gravity defier, since the rest of the heroes were keen on intensifying the pressure of the atmosphere. She might be able to manipulate gravity, but their persistent air was something out of her hands. They'd been trying to squeeze out nonexistent information over her breakup for the past hour and a half now. All eyes had rolled and for some incredulous reason, no one believed that she had actually broken off her short lived romance for herself.
"You sure about that?" Tsuyu interjected before crunching on a stick of cheesy goodness.
"That blast on you definitely put you in the spotlight over this," Jirou Kyouka added. She wandered over to the speaker, strategically placed beside the door to keep boneheads (read as: Mineta and Kaminari) from eavesdropping. She grabbed her phone and changed the song to something less cheerful pop. She was never one to bluntly state she hadn't been a fan of anything on Ochako's playlist, but it was painstakingly obvious by the amount of times she wore earbuds during their girls' nights. "Not gonna lie, it straight up threw you under the bus."
"There is no bus," Ochako retaliated quickly, her voice an octave too close to whiney. The room slowly quieted into an awkward hum, hesitant in any more prodding. She knew what they wanted her to admit, but in reality, there really wasn't anything for her to say. She wasn't guilty of any kind of mischievous affair. The current gossip that had surfaced about her insinuated that she had wanted more than Deku (false), that there was someone else (false), and that she probably broke Deku's heart (that one—probably, unfortunately, true.) "Gossip Girl made me look like a complete brat. Why believe in all their posts anyway?"
"Because their accusations have been proven to be 98.9% true," concluded Toru, the towel wrapped firmly on top of her invisible head indicated she'd been facing Momo, who had been spraying rose water along her cheeks. "Ever since it was confirmed that Todoroki-kun was gay, nothing has been the same. Sorry Momo-chan."
"No girl knows tragedy until they find out the boy of her dreams chases boys, too," the raven-haired girl dramatically sighed. Ochako held back a snicker, only to have heard one coming from Jirou, instead. "Anyway, how'd Deku deal with it?"
Ochako could vividly recall the softness of his green eyes melting into hers, mentally acknowledging the fact that that moment would be the last instance she would ever have the pleasure of being something more with him. She remembered her stomach flipping and dropping and feeling a kind of nauseous she should have been used to, especially with her extensive training. This was different, though. It was a nausea induced by heartbreak, guilt, determination, and anxiety. It made her feel weak, and she was done with that. Her hands had been sweating profusely, but with every ounce of courage she could conjure up, she swallowed the fear down.
It wasn't as if she didn't love him. She did. Purely, naively, and ridiculously so, for the first two years at the academy. It was something sweet, and grew gradually every day with a friendship that only naturally transcended into something more. It had consisted of sweet beginnings: from contagious blushing, nervous laughter, awkward first dates, to even more awkward (but ever so charming) first kisses.
She loved Deku. She loved everything about him.
So it wasn't as if her decision to end their relationship had been abrupt, nor had it come with any ill intent. She would never purposefully try to hurt him, despite what the misinformed rumor mill suggested. And Deku already knew that, too. She had spilled her entire heart to him during their closure, so she'd been sure she would have nothing to worry about in regards to the aftermath.
Ochako was obviously mistaken. It was her fault for not regarding for how the rest of their class would see it. She didn't even think they'd care. However, the airy stares and sudden quieting of the atmosphere whenever she'd enter a room was enough indication that there'd been some talk about her.
How could she be so stupid?
Of course people chose sides.
She groaned aloud, feeling awful. But her decision was her own, and she would stand by it with full confidence. Deku modeled that by example.
Heaving a breath of resignation, she decided to open up in order to clear up that stupid rumor. It would be the best thing to do at this point.
So, she worded it exactly how she had grown to feel.
Although she cherished their relationship, which had been filled with constant support —
He'd just been so confident, so radiant, and so successful. He had come from nothing, yet here he was: accomplishing everything. And it was inspiring, surely, but also pressuring. Although he'd claimed to be beside her, it never felt like it. It had always felt like he had been levels beyond her, surpassed her ever since day one. And it wasn't his success that ever bothered her—it was her inability to catch up to his pace. It was feeling like she was a burdensome weight on his shoulders. The simple idea of him needing to stop in his tracks to wait for her killed her.
He was doing so well, in every area she had been troubled in, and it stung whenever she could not possibly be the one to share his victories with, yet alone relate to any of them. She was proud of him, every day, always. But it was growing difficult for her to be proud of herself.
She couldn't grow sufficiently with him by her side. She couldn't focus on herself. She always always always compared. And she hated it.
She didn't want to live in his shadow. She didn't want to solely be known as Deku's girlfriend. She wanted to make her mark. Be herself. Be her best self.
She remembered harsh words that burned and stung and driven her to stand back up during an intense sparring match.
You're Uravity for fuck's sake.
And she loved the sound of that.
So she decided.
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"Congratulations," a low voice uttered from somewhere in front her, resulting in a sheepish, alert eep! from the brunette. She'd crept quietly to the first floor for a good two or three cups of water in hopes to feel better after that sinful, caloric "cleanse."
A shudder of relief fell over her when she recognized who it belonged to from an exposed glimpse of the ashy blonde hair catching the refrigerator light. She told herself it wasn't the familiar, broad shoulders she'd first noticed.
"On my breakup?" she asked, annoyed. "I bet you're glad that I broke Deku's heart. He and I are still going to be best friends, you know. He knows I'll always love him like that." The last thing she needed was this Hot Shot's commentary. She folded her arms above her firmly secured bathrobe. She took note of the recently washed cutting board and pot beside the stove. So this was when he cooked his pre-scheduled food, she almost thought aloud, at a time where he'd be less likely to have to deal with unwanted commentary or run-ins. (Like so.)
"I could care less about what you did to that loser," Katsuki clarified, sounding bored. He killed a water bottle in less than four seconds all the while busying his gaze to anywhere but the girl with nightly side braids and chestnuts for eyes. He most certainly did not notice either of those things.
"Then why else would you congratulate me?" Ochako asked with sudden curiosity. Her lip quivered when she loosened her grip on herself. He didn't notice that either. Really. He shouldn't have.
He shoved his newly finished meal prep into the fridge before finally letting his red eyes sink into hers. She pretended she didn't feel a jolt of electricity in her chest. His inching closer to her worked to temporarily freeze her, only to have the moment ruined as soon as he kept walking, pushing abruptly past her shoulder with absolutely no hesitation. Before she could retort on his lack of mannerisms and straight up rudeness, he gave her an answer.
"'Cause you did something for yourself for once."
Admittedly thrown off, she took a moment to realize that he hadn't even cared to torment her on the stupid Gossip Girl rumor. He surprisingly didn't give her any attitude, nor even care to ask about her decision. He'd already known.
Once she had turned back around to acknowledge the fact that Bakugou Katsuki could, indeed, be a decent human being, he had already disappeared, leaving her to think that maybe, possibly, Gossip Girl could have been onto something both of them might have been too blind to see.
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fin.
_a/n: This was inspired by the scene where Blair tells chuck she needed to make a name for herself before being his girlfriend, since she felt like she could never shine or be her best self while beside him/since she needed a lot of growing to do away from him. I remember when someone mentioned how Brad and Angelina thrived together, she snapped back about how that was only possible since Angelina won an Oscar first. lmao. true!
anyways Dan/Blair should have happened since they were always equals. fight me