and you say, stay
Chapter 14: It's Not A Bad Thing

Ochako didn't know where she'll end up in the evening. A naive part of her looked forward to the drive back home with Director Todoroki. He'd be just the right mixture of suave and awkward as he was the first time. She'd look up at him at the doorstep, maybe fix his crooked tie for him. She'd ask if he'd like to stay a while longer for coffee, and even though the instant coffee she has is far from the Italian or Turkish coffees he preferred, he wouldn't say no. He'd say something dumb like "3-in-1 coffees have an unacceptable glycemic index. But I'll drink it, since you offered. And I'll enjoy it," and he'd probably burn his tongue trying to drink it all and she'd panic but, wouldn't she love to see him make himself at home again?

Other things can happen, of course-the ending isn't restricted to her little apartment, or to bad coffee. He can take her to his place or Paris or the moon-he's ridiculous enough to attempt something grand like that and act like it's nothing-and even though Ochako would make a fuss about it, she thinks she can accept anything as long as he stayed with her.

But he didn't.

In the end she ends up drinking some bitter cocktail at some pub she can't recall the name of with another man. Not a bad man, by any means, nor an annoying one. Just… not Director Todoroki.

Bakugou Katsuki's got his own drink as he leans against the space next to her. She feels the cut of his sharp gaze on her as she takes a sip of her drink. It was some sort of highball that she doesn't remember ordering. For all she knew, he picked it for her while she tried to keep her head above her own misery.

After a long silence, Bakugou asks, "So were you gonna tell me that I had no chance with you, or was I supposed to crash your date with that Icyhot Bastard myself?"

"It wasn't a date," she mumbles into her highball.

Bakugou clicks his tongue. "So that fancy dress and that pretty hair-those reservations for that fucking Michelin 3-star restaurant uptown? That stupid look on his stupid face when he saw us together? It wasn't because you two were going out?"

Ochako shakes her head. It's much easier to accept that it really wasn't, because this is better in the long run. With her stupid daydreams about the Director, it was easy to forget about the things going on around them-their project, the past, her resignation, how everything's clashing painfully together. Maybe that's why she couldn't say anything when Director Todoroki walked away from her.

She would have spent a wonderful night with the Director, but a wonderful night is so short. They're from two different worlds. It wasn't going to work out.

"Jesus Christ," Bakugou grumbles sourly, taking a sharp swig of his drink. "Y'know, I was half-expecting that bastard to fight me again. I was ready to beat his ass, but he didn't even try this time. Did he suddenly decide you weren't worth it to mess up his stupid three-piece suit?"

She'd rather not know what he was thinking-at least, not right now. "We don't need to talk about him, Bakugou-kun. What about you? What's this about me needing to quit as soon as possible?"

"Yeah," he murmurs, with a sense of foreboding. "Yaoyorozu Momo told me shit that leads me to believe that we're into further shit if I pursue this story any further."

"Yaomomo? How is she involved?" she asks incredulously.

His eyes go all over the small crowd in the pub, making sure nobody can hear them. "She's fucking rich. That's how she's involved."

"Huh? Bakugou-kun, you can't just involve her in something like this!"

Involving Yaoyorozu Momo in a crime that happened years ago will imply, more than anything, that her father is involved, and Yaoyorozu Yoshinori isn't just any old scion whose name you can carelessly invoke. There are rumors that he has connections to organizations in the grey areas and beyond. Those kinds of rumors will always plague people in the higher echelons of society, but it's hard for even Ochako to dismiss them as just harmless rumors.

But Bakugou, who should know better, doesn't back down. "Dunno what you know about that dumpster fire of a relationship between Todoroki and Yaoyorozu, but it's not what you think it is. All of it's arranged. Yaoyorozu met him twenty-four years ago."

At the mention of twenty-four years, Ochako's jaw drops in disbelief.

He scowls at her just to show her how much he isn't kidding. "Believe it. Her old man arranged a fuckin' playdate between her and Icyhot in the fucking hospital. She says that on the day they met, they treated him for a burn injury over his eye." He clicks his tongue restlessly. "If that isn't a big fucking clue that he's the guy you're looking for, then I dont know what the fuck-"

Bakugou cuts himself off when he sees the look on Ochako's face and the somber way she shakes her head. "Oi. Don't tell me you knew something, pink-cheeks?"

Ochako bites her lower lip nervously. "I was gonna call you, I swear I was." She takes a deep breath and braces herself. "But I know now that it wasn't the Director in that house."

Bakugou snarls. "What, 'cause he told you? You know a fucker can lie, right?"

"It's not just that," she answers, although a small part of her mind starts to wonder if the Director would lie about something like this. But more importantly: "Todoroki Touya told me himself that he was there."

A stunned silence. "Fuck," Bakugou says.

Fuck is right. "I don't know how he was kept a secret from me. I've known them-" him, "-for nine whole years, and nobody bothered to tell me that there's another Todoroki," she says with a shaky sigh.

Bakugou, surprisingly, actually looks empathic when he speaks again. "Don't beat yourself up over it, Cheeks. I almost had an aneurysm when I heard it too. Yaoyorozu knew because she was gonna be sold to that guy first, until the fucker got himself disowned."

She hums despondently. "Bakugou-kun, he's probably the one."

Bakugou raises his eyebrows. "The one you've been looking for."

She tells him all about Todoroki Touya-although he's Dabi now, from the League of Villains. Bakugou is all levels of intense as she spills out everything about their unexpected meeting and the display of resentment between him and the Director, as well as for Todoroki Enji.

"Fuck," Bakugou repeats after Ochako finishes. "And he can't remember a damn thing?"

Ochako shakes her head. "I understand why."

"Trauma," he grunts, thoughtfully. "Same as you, right?"

She nods and stares at him levelly. "... I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was there, Bakugou-kun. I probably should have started with that."

He shrugs. "It was pretty obvious anyway, Cheeks. Didn't want you to tell me anything until you were ready."

She smiles at him gratefully. "But weren't you worried that I was just making it up? I wasn't even in the police report. I could be doing this to exploit the Todorokis, you know. I could be that mean."

Bakugou makes an ugly face at her. "Don't think so highly of yourself, Angelface. Ya think I didn't already have my lackeys do a background check on you?"

"Lackeys?!" Ochako sputters. "You are so rude , Bakugou-kun!"

"You know it," he says, not flinching when he gets slapped in the arm for that remark. "There are easier ways for you to exploit money outta the Todorokis if that's what you really wanna do. Even then, a soft hamster-face like you can't scam your way out of a paper bag, so I don't buy it."

"Rude again! You are so mean," she grumbles with a puff of her cheeks.

She feels him stare at her, amusement suddenly dying in his eyes. "Yikes. It's so fucking obvious that you wish it wasn't Todoroki Touya who saved you."

"What do you mean?"

"You really want me to say it?" He bares his teeth in irritation, making it plain just who he's implying. Gosh, those two really hate each other, don't they?

"Just 'cause he says it wasn't him doesn't mean jack shit," Bakugou says. "You expect me to believe that you happened to be involved in that shit with the Todorokis before, and then it's just a fuckin' coincidence that you're working for the Chairman's son years later?"

Ochako shakes her head. "That's impossible. I was the one who went to Endeavor looking for work."

It was a simple matter of earning as much money as she can in the shortest amount of time. Endeavor paid well, even for temp work, and her intention was merely to earn money and nothing else. Her meeting with Director Todoroki happened by chance, and her subsequent selection to be his secretary was said to be a recommendation of the manager she worked with for a week, who was impressed with her. All of it is a result of luck and her own hard work.

Despite her explanations though, Bakugou doesn't appear convinced. "I don't buy it, not for a second," he says. "You're there for a reason, Cheeks, and I'm gonna find out why and how."

Ochako swallows. The story is getting more sinister the deeper they go. With how stubborn Bakugou is, it won't be long before he clashes with someone. Is it really worth it to go through all this trouble for her? "Hey. I know you're not just doing this for me, but you don't really have to. You already found out enough-"

Predictably, Bakugou refuses with vigor. Looking at her right in the eye, he says, "It's not enough. I don't know what's up with you and half-and-half, but I'm still willing to do this for you. Just because it's the right thing to do."

She feels her face heating up. "But Bakugou-kun-"

"And because if it isn't fuckin' obvious yet, I give a fuck about you. But if you don't want me to, that's a different story." He sighs, calloused hands grasping his glass of whiskey a little tighter when he asks, "So am I gonna fuck off now, Uraraka?"

Her heart's a little too fast after listening to his impassioned speech. It's easy to be enamoured by a man like Bakugou Katsuki, and she thinks she might have been a little bit with the way his gaze lingers on her like fire.

But the thought of Todoroki Shouto and everything he is stings at the back of her head like a needle. Coming up with a straightforward answer isn't as simple.

Surprised at how short of breath she is, she answers, "I'm honestly not sure about you, Bakugou-kun." She takes a deep breath. "At least, not yet. I'm sorry, I don't know what to say."

So, she's being unfair. She knows she is. She wouldn't be surprised if Bakugou decides to fuck off now, because she would fuck off if she was told something so indecisive as this.

But Bakugou, as obviously stung he is by her words, stays right by her side. "I get it," he murmurs. "Let me know once you decide. I'll be right here."

He raises his drink at her, and after a beat she raises hers to meet his with a solemn click. They down their glasses in unison and watch the people come and go around them in silence.

The next morning Shouto finds himself intruding once more into the much-smaller reception area outside of Chief Midoriya's much-smaller office. In front of him is Secretary Hagakure, gingerly holding up a chilled juice pack.

"What's this."

"Turmeric ginger root," Hagakure answers. "Chief Midoriya says you need it."

Shouto would rather not drink any more strange liquids, to be honest. He spent the night downing one liquid after the other, the first of them being the bottle of vintage red that he had ordered specifically for his failed meeting with Secretary Uraraka. Since he spent a chunk of the morning trying to keep things down, ingesting another liquid would do him more harm than good.

Still, it's being offered to him urgently, and his mouth is quite dry. He takes it from the expectant girl's hands and takes a tentative sip.

"Well?"

"... bitter." But, the fog in his head clears up a little, so he supposes it isn't bad. "Thank you, Secretary Hagakure."

Hagakure smiles, similar to how a nurse would smile at a howling child who was forced to take medications in exchange for a lollipop. Before he could decide how to feel about this, Midoriya emerges from his office to welcome him in.

Office hours begin at 8, but Chief Midoriya tends to come in early. When it's 6 AM in Japan, it's about 1 PM in California. His work day begins right after a certain important phone call to a certain former classmate of theirs from UA who returned there. Judging by the flush to his freckled cheeks, this phone call went quite well.

"I'm sorry for interrupting. I know you have important things to do."

Midoriya shakes his head, staring at him like he's someone new. Maybe because he didn't just barge in his office, for once. "It's okay. I thought it was urgent when Hagakure-san told me that it looks like you didn't sleep, and that your tie was crooked. Like you had to wear it by yourself today."

Shouto nods quietly.

His green eyes shine with concern. "So… what happened between you and Uraraka-san?"

Shouto takes a deep breath and tells him about all the recent things that have happened-from his visit to her house, the commotion at the lobby, the resolution, the way he asked her out on a date in the most proper way he knew, and the abrupt ending. He skips the parts involving his brother, opting instead to tell Midoriya that they argued over work. Midoriya quietly listens to him the entire time.

"In the end, Uraraka goes there with someone else." He looks up at him sharply. "Your childhood friend, to be precise."

Midoriya goes bug-eyed at this. "Kacchan? That's strange."

Is it so strange? Wasn't it obvious that there was something going on between them? Didn't he show up there to demonstrate that very fact to Shouto?

"But you said Kacchan was surprised to see you there too, right? She wouldn't bring him there just to show him off. Kacchan wouldn't agree to anything like that. There must have been another reason…"

As he ruminates upon this seriously, Shouto sighs. "It doesn't matter."

Midoriya looks at him quietly. "It doesn't?"

Shouto shakes his head, the memory still strikingly clear. There-at the threshold of his space and hers, where Bakugou Katsuki quite naturally holds onto her shoulder, and she doesn't pull back. He murmurs something in her ear, and her eyes widen, her cheeks flush, her pink mouth gapes with a strong emotion.

He can't deny the primal urge to pull her away. To grab her wrist to the point of breaking, take her in his arms, never let her go. He'd punch a hole through the other man's face if he has to.

He realizes with horror that he hasn't changed at all . He's still the same person who hurt her because he can't stand the idea of someone taking someone who belongs to him. But people don't belong to people. There's still an unhealthy way to his thinking that can't be solved if he keeps her at his side. He can do nothing but hurt Uraraka, being the way he is.

She doesn't deserve someone like him.

Midoriya takes a deep breath. "Maybe so… but you didn't resort to that this time, Todoroki-kun. Doesn't it show that you're trying to be a kind person?"

To add to everything, he had also convinced her that he isn't the one she was looking for. It's probably safer this way too. "She's better off without me."

"This makes me want to cry," Midoriya moans as his eyes become watery. "You're in-love with her right? Isn't that enough?"

Shouto shakes his head. When was a sentiment like that ever enough?

The other man takes a deep breath. "Look. I think you've already figured that forcing people into things won't work, so I get why you're trying to hold yourself back. But with all due respect, you're wrong, Todoroki-kun. I know you are. You didn't give her a chance to say anything!"

"I can accept her reasons for choosing him over me," he says quietly, "But I don't want to hear them."

At least he gets an understanding nod, but all the same Midoriya looks frustrated. "Okay, sure. Kacchan is definitely serious about her. He doesn't waste time on anyone unless he thinks they're worth it. But I also know Uraraka-san. She wouldn't say yes to you if she didn't want to go out on a date with you!"

Shouto sighs. "How are you sure about that? She doesn't seem interested..."

" Are you seriously saying this right now." Midoriya makes a high-pitched whiny noise. He remains composed, but somehow Shouto can sense how dangerously close he is to tearing all his hair out.

Shouto watches as he carefully sorts through what must be a mess of stern reprimands in his head that he can't say out loud because he still works under him and he might get fired. (Not that Shouto would fire him, but he appreciates the concern). After some time, Midoriya exhales slowly over his hands and says, "You weren't the only one blushing in the art center, you know."

At the mention of that incident, Shouto instantly remembers the pink of her cheeks as they caught their breaths against the wall, under the flickering lights. They held hands back then, entirely out of need of course, but Shouto kept coming back to it because it felt correct to hold her that way.

Still, "That doesn't mean anything," he grumbles. "Blushing is an involuntary autonomic reaction."

Midoriya nods. "I agree. So why don't you ask her what she thinks?"

Shouto blinks. Is asking people how they feel about each other something that people do?

"Yes," Midoriya says with a sigh of infinite patience. "People usually call that communication, Todoroki-kun. It's important in all stages of a relationship, you know."

Todoroki hums, looking at Midoriya in awe. "You truly are an expert in this sort of thing, aren't you, Midoriya?"

Predictably, the man flushes and begins mumbling things about look me and her are just friends I'm not as experienced as you or Takami-san say I am please leave me alone. After he composes himself from his rant, Midoriya takes a deep breath and says, "Just promise me you'll talk to her today. There are lots of things you can solve just by hearing each other out, you know."

And so, once he gets out of Midoriya's much smaller office and comes back to his own, Shouto decides to talk to Uraraka: an impossible task, he realizes, right off the bat. This should be easy, in theory-he has the option of speaking with Uraraka in three out of the ten languages he is familiar with, yet the words refused to come.

"Secretary Uraraka," he begins in Japanese. "You must be wondering why I called you here when I have just spoken to you twenty-six minutes ago about or daily agenda. As you know, there is no urgent work to be done, however-"

Speaking in such a formal language, starting off with things about work-Uraraka would assume he's reprimanding her about her secretarial duties. Which he isn't. She's been very diligent about her work recently, for someone who's about to resign. He tries again.

"Secretary Uraraka… seeing Bakugou was an unpleasant experience for me. I acted irrationally because of it."

No. Bakugou must not be mentioned in any way, shape or form. That implies that Shouto is jealous of Bakugou. And as… intensely jealous as he is of that awful character, he must never admit it. He isn't possessive, and he isn't petty . Really, he isn't.

"Secretary Uraraka…" He sighs. "I'm sorry."

I am in-love with you, and I want to marry you, but… I don't know what I'm doing.

"Secretary Uraraka-"

"Director?"

He turns his head to meet her concerned gaze. With the intent to act naturally, he awkwardly puts one arm against the wall and asks, "Yes?"

Secretary Uraraka stares at his unnatural posture oddly, holding a document lacking his signature up to her face. "I knocked, and I thought I heard you calling for me. Did you need me for anything?"

Obviously not, because all of his rehearsed speeches have failed so far. Cornered, all he can do is shake his head awkwardly.

Uraraka makes an apparent effort to ignore his strange behavior and says, "Director. If it's alright with you, can we talk?"

Oh. She can do that too. He nods, perhaps a tad too hastily. She gives him a small smile and locks the door behind them.

After a silence where they fumble quietly for the words to say, Uraraka clears her throat first. "Last night, I didn't expect to meet with Bakugou-kun. He told me it was urgent that he met me, so I agreed. But I wasn't able to give you a heads-up, so it must have looked bad. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding."

Succinct, direct, and earnest. An explanation that Shouto easily understood. Even with this sort of problem, Uraraka proves herself to be a pragmatic person. He supposed he owed her the same transparency.

"You shouldn't apologize," he says. "I had doubts about myself, which is why I left. I thought I was doing it for you."

Uraraka blinks. "Doubts, sir?"

Shouto sighs. Time to get to the point of all this. It's now or never. "Uraraka. Am I wrong in assuming that there's something between us?"

Ochako's eyelashes flutter prettily, adding to his own confusion. Shouto wills himself to power through his embarrassment to get his sentiments out.

"I only assumed without really confirming what you felt. When I saw you with Bakugou, I thought that I was mistaken. I thought I needed to give you space."

Space , huh. The irony of him insisting upon it doesn't escape him. Once upon a time, Midoriya was insistent on Shouto giving Uraraka space. As a response, Shouto proposed to her outside of her house and then subsequently endured one of the most frustrating rejections in his life.

"That said," he says, in the face of Ochako's stunned silence, "No consequences. No tricks. I'll accept your answer, whatever it is."

Even if it means giving you up to Bakugou Katsuki.

Ochako stares up at him, ruminating. He expects some confirmation from her, perhaps a thank you for his gracious offer of space, an acknowledgment of his mistakes, an acceptance of his reasoning. Maybe she'll bow, and smile in the cheerful way that made her deserving of the title Angel Secretary , and never speak of this again. Maybe she'll resume her duties until they're over in the next week, where all she has to do is to quietly pull herself from the mold she's carved in his life, like a knife out of a stab wound.

He hates it, but… it's her. He'll do anything if she asked it from him. She only needs to say the word.

But she doesn't do any of that. Instead, Shouto gets a good look at the chocolate brown of her eyes and the pinks of her cheeks when she steps closer to him.

"Director," she says. "I think it was a mistake to cancel the date."

It takes him a beat realize what she's saying. Another, to feel the curling of her small fingers around the obviously crooked tie. She fixes it silently, not giving him a clue when she tugs on it more insistently than usual.

It's all instinct, he supposes, when he follows her quiet directions and leans in close-so dangerously close that he feels the heat of her cheeks, making his heart rate go haywire. Her mouth parts with a word, and he strains with all sense of rationality left in him to understand what she's saying:

"You're not wrong in assuming that there's something between us," she mutters. "Because I-"

Something clicks from afar-a soft sound, really, nothing that would warrant either of them to react as violently as they do. But in the shock of the intrusion, their foreheads collide with a loud sound. Next thing anyone knows they're jumping five feet apart and rubbing their foreheads while trying to keep their composure.

"Shouto-kun! Good morning!" Takami Keigo says as he springs from the door, pausing to make a show of shifting his gaze from him to Uraraka with mild shock. "Oh, Uraraka-chan is here too! Am I interrupting something?"

Shouto doesn't believe in curses or bad fortunes but he is this close to hiring a Feng Shui expert to cleanse his aura or whatever it is that they do.

"No," they answer in unison. Past the threshold of the door, Shouto can make out the silhouette of Secretary Utsushimi, a look of frustration on her face as if she did everything to keep Hawks away from this room and failed in the most spectacular way.

"Really? I can come back after a minute so you two can finish things~"

"It's fine, Takami-san!" Uraraka chirps a little too sharply for someone who has just recovered from a blow to her head. With a hurried bow to Shouto, she says, "I'll be outside if you need me, Director."

He manages what he thinks is a dignified nod until Takami interrupts with a frantic wave of his hands. "Wait, don't go~ You're actually the person I need to see, Uraraka-chan! I have a message for you from up high, you know?"

Uraraka looks at Shouto nervously, and he returns the look at her. "Do you mean… the Chairman?"

"Yep! Who else?"

Most employees would be terrified of receiving such an ominous message, but being under his employ for the last nine years provided Uraraka with some resistance against the Chairman. She knew how to answer calmly to any of Enji's inquiries without breaking a sweat, and even made him choke on his kuzumochi without an ounce of remorse weeks ago.

But today, Uraraka reacts differently-that is, the same as everyone else, with pallor and obvious fear in her features. Shouto's senses are suddenly on high alert.

"What does the Chairman want from her?" Shouto snaps before Uraraka can ask.

"Calm down, Shouto-kun~ Nothing to worry about! It's good news, I promise!"

Despite the flimsy promise, Uraraka's chilled look remains when Takami claps his hand over her shoulder. Maybe Shouto is just imagining it, but she looks like someone who's caught red-handed. Thankfully, she keeps her composure, and Takami doesn't notice.

"So the Chairman knows you've got a week to go before you leave us for good, right? You still have time to change your mind and all, buuuut from today onwards, he says you should take it easy~ isn't that neat?"

"Take it easy?"

"Yup!" Takami spreads his arms wide and says, "You get today off~!"

Uraraka gapes at him. "Today off? B-but we have to-"

"Nope~! Utsushimi-chan's gonna take over for today, okay?"

"Camie-chan? But-"

Takami doesn't give her a chance to protest. "I mean it's about time, right? After the team building thing tomorrow, the art center opening and Victoria's last physical next next Saturday, your nine-year employment with Shouto-kun will finally be over!"

Uraraka tries again. "But… since I don't have much time left at the office, I should use it to-"

"-relax, reflect, think about the next steps you want to do in your career and beyond," Takami finishes for her gently. "You have a lot of things you want to do once you're out of Endeavor, right? I think now's a good a time as any to start them!"

"... oh," she squeaks, shifting her conflicted gaze to Shouto.

Shouto wished they'd stop talking about this. The closer the week closes, the realer the imminent changes feel. He's running out of time. And everything around him seems intent on wasting what little time he has left for Uraraka.

Still… Takami isn't wrong. Uraraka's about to begin a new chapter in her life. Regardless of what she was about to say about whatever was between them, she should use her time for herself. Shouto isn't so possessive that he'd keep her at his side until the very last moment.

Well. At least he's trying his best not to be. He suppresses a sigh. "It's fine. I need to see if Utsushimi is capable of doing things without you. Do as he says."

Her lip trembles-a movement she hides by the forced stretch of the corners of her mouth into a polite smile. "Okay. Thank you… Director."

With a dazed bow she leaves the office. As soon as the door closes, Shouto glares at Takami.

The older man grins at him. "The Chairman isn't up to anything, if you're worried."

"I didn't ask." All the same, he doesn't stop glaring. Takami raises his arms up in faux surrender.

"It's simple, Shouto. The secretarial service wants to see if Utsushimi-chan can handle things without her, as you said. We need to know because if she can't, then you can't do your job well, and the entire company suffers. We don't want that, do we?"

Shouto scowls. "And this is the Chairman's orders."

Takami laughs. "You got it! Anyone who really knows how things work around here knows that you and Uraraka-chan are partners, rather than Director and Secretary! So he wants to see if… well…"

The man shrugs, and it's clear to Shouto what he doesn't say-that the old man wants to make sure that Shouto won't mess up without her. Truth be told, even though he knows Utsushimi is capable of carrying on her responsibilities, he isn't sure either.

"I'm sure she'll be doing well," Takami says reassuringly. "And it'll probably be just for today. Good thing you aren't that busy today, huh?"

Shouto narrows his eyes at him. "You already browsed through my agenda?"

"Are you surprised?" Takami asks, a sharp look in his eyes.

Of course Shouto isn't surprised. Takami needs to know everything, because Enji needs to know everything-hovering above Shouto to make sure that he's giving his all for the company and nothing less. He should be used to the feeling of restriction by now, but it's always annoying to be reminded of it.

"You don't have to worry," Takami repeats with a smile. "If Utsushimi-chan is as good as you and Uraraka-chan reported, she won't get in the way of you doing what you have to do."

With those strange parting words, Takami leaves the brooding Shouto alone in his office, waving cheerily on his way out.

Ochako trudges back home, mind oddly blank.

"A day off… all to myself," she tells Victoria II as soon as she changed out of her work clothes and into shorts and a shirt. "Been a while. For once, I won't see your owner today. I guess that's neat…"

Right. This is the first time in a long time that she isn't spending the day with the Director. While the past her would have been elated, it had to happen just when she was about to settle things with the Director. Gosh, she was so close to him, who knows what could have happened if Takami-san didn't interrupt them. She should be relieved, but she's stupidly disappointed over it.

Anyway, this is good. A day off is good. Space… space is good. The Director was rambling about giving her space like she needs it. Maybe she does need it. Her world has revolved around the Director for so long being told that she doesn't have to do that today got her disoriented. Sounds unhealthy.

Thing is, it's a weekday. Yui's at work, Reiko's at a mountain somewhere for a shoot. Tsuyu-chan and Tooru and all her other friends are at Endeavor, where she should be but now she can't. Bakugou-kun-

Hm. Maybe she shouldn't contact Bakugou. His suspicions about the Chairman had done nothing but bother her the entire time. He said that they should limit seeing each other while she insists on working with Endeavor. Maybe she should pay attention to what he says now.

Besides, maybe it's a good idea to spend this day for herself, just as Takami-san said she should. This should be a good day to start spoiling herself.

… maybe after she cleans up the mess in her apartment. She whines, rolls up her sleeves, and gets to work.

"Yo, Directoroki… slow down!"

Shouto stops mid-step, causing his team to step on the brakes abruptly and to bump one after the other-Utsushimi first, then Ashido, Kirishima, Monoma, and then Iida who almost causes everyone to crash with the force of his last interrupted step.

"Director! Where are we going and are we going to die if we don't get there soon?!" Monoma snaps from within the uncomfortably small space between Kirishima and Iida.

"Meeting at the Chairman's Office with the Yaoyorozu Group," he answers flatly. It's a priority event; they had this set over a month ago. Why isn't Monoma aware of this?

Kirishima steps aside to help Monoma breathe. As the smaller man prissily fixes himself up with Iida's assistance, he says, "We know, Directoroki-I mean, Director-but why are we running? We're way ahead of schedule as it is!"

"Yeah! We've been zooming everywhere like we're in a marathon!" Ashido whines while fanning herself with a folder and making a show of exhaustion. Although it might be genuine-she does appear pinker than usual from the exertion.

As a response, Shouto scowls at them just enough to instill a sense of urgency.

Iida sputters and faces everyone else with a mimic of the stern look on Shouto's face. "Of course the Director wants to uphold the values of punctuality and speedy precision work, given the importance of today's tasks! Why, at the rate we are going, we must be running late for our meeting with the esteemed Chairman, which is scheduled-"

"-in, like, an hour."

"-right! In an hour!" Iida answers, before doing a double take at Utsushimi, who's coolly looking over Shouto's agenda. Sputtering again, he asks, "... an hour?"

"Yuh," Utsushimi answers, showing off the time on her phone. "Actually, an hour ten? We totally parkoured over our sched today, it's cray. " Turning to Shouto, she says, "I'm waitin' on boss-man Hawks' text if we can meet with Daddyroki and Yaopapa, like, RN, but I know they're cruisin' through a chill lunch before our meeting, so I doubt~"

After some effort decoding what Utsushimi meant and watching the rest of the team panic over her usage of Daddyroki and Yaopapa in front of Shouto (but he doesn't care, really), Ashido whines again. "You serious?! We're an hour early?! Since when are we an hour early for anything?! "

Iida and Monoma take the schedule from Utsushimi just to double check. "Well, I'll be! We truly are early!" Iida says in astonishment.

" Hideously early," Monoma confirms with disgust. "I don't think the other offices will be ready for us if we push it at this pace."

"They should be able to accommodate us," Shouto answers bluntly.

"Yeah, but-" Kirishima looks at the harried team and tries, "All due respect, Director, but we haven't slowed down since this morning. You haven't hydrated even a little bit since we started moving, y'know? You can't forget to hydrate!"

Kirishima waves his Hydroflask around to make a point. It makes him aware of the dryness of his mouth, but he remains unconvinced of his point.

"I'm fine," Shouto says. He's about to tell them to get moving, before a loud growl interrupts them. He'd reprimand them for not having the foresight to eat their meals before the workday started, but he stops when the team stares at him in shock instead.

The next complaining growl is accompanied with a pang in his stomach. With much annoyance, he finally accepts that the noises are from him.

Despite the awkward silence from his team, he ignores this. "Secretary Utsushimi, what did Takami-san say?"

"He sent me a pizza emoji," she says, showing off her phone screen to prove her point. A glimpse of the rest of the thread also shows that the two of them have been solely communicating through emojis and acronyms the entire time. "It's a no-go, Directoroki."

Shouto huffs. That old man is probably purposefully making things harder for them. "It's fine. Contact Marketing instead. If Midoriya is available-"

"No can do~ Tooru-babes tells me they're coming back from a meeting downtown," Utsushimi replies. She side-eyes the rest of the team, who look at her meaningfully, and then she responds with a nod. "Directoroki, y'think I can talk to you a li'l bit 'bout something?"

He nods, waiting for her to talk. To his surprise though, she takes him by the arm and drags him some ways away from the rest of the team until they're out of sight and earshot. As soon as they are, Utsushimi takes a deep breath, makes a motion with her fingers that she does when she's 'cleansing her aura,' and spins to face Shouto, suddenly transformed into a different, serious person.

Shouto's terrified, in a word.

"Director Todoroki," she says with a grave tone and a look that's so out of character it makes Shouto feel actual fear, "There's a problem here that you're not telling me."

With a nervous swallow, he replies with the most even tone he can manage, "There's nothing wrong. We are ahead of schedule, as you said."

"But we aren't slowing down, and you haven't stopped harassing us," she says, arms crossed. "You got something important on your agenda that you aren't telling me?"

He frowns. "Utsushimi, contrary to what you might have learned from Secretary Uraraka, I am not required to tell you of my business outside of office hours."

"So it's got something to do with Ocha-babes, huh."

She smirks victoriously, her deadly aura dying down, and Shouto realizes too late that he faltered.

"Riiiiight. She's got a day off. You got work. You wanna see her so you're rushin'. 'kay, gotcha~"

How did she get all that from what little Shouto has said?

As a response to his befuddlement, Utsushimi winks. "It's my job to know what you're thinking! Plus, you're more expressive than you think, Directoroki~ Especially when it comes to…"

" Utsushimi, " he says warningly.

She trails off, putting a finger to her full lips. "Fine, I'm shuttin' up about that now. But seriously, boss-man, you gotta take it a li'l slow, okay? Never mind that it's my first day goin' solo. Kirishimans is right, you haven't hydrated for shit the entire day!"

He shakes his head. "I told you, I'm fine-"

Again, his infernal stomach growls. Why does he have to get hungry now? To think his system refused to take anything this morning. He should tell Uraraka to book an appointment with his gastroenterologist-

-and there he goes, thinking about Uraraka again. His bodily malfunctions seem suspiciously related to her forced absence today.

Utsushimi sighs theatrically and taps on her phone expertly. "I gotcha. I'mma call Riki-chan to make you somethin' nice, 'kay? Shoji'll have it for ya in a jif."

"But-"

"I got it all figured out, Directoroki," she says confidently, flipping through their schedule with ease. "After the meeting with Daddyroki and Yaopapa, we just need to meet with Chief Mido and Tsu, right? After that we're gonna work on the seats and logistics stuff, and then the rest of us are gonna have a meeting for the team-building tomorrow which you aren't gonna be going to anyway. You wanna stick with me 'cause it's my first day and all, but technically you don't have to. So, I'm kickin' you out after that-"

Shouto stares at her incredulously. "You're… kicking me out?"

"Ya," she says, face transforming again that Shouto stiffens reflexively. "Got a problem with that?"

He thinks about this seriously. Objectively speaking, she isn't wrong regarding their agenda. He isn't needed urgently for the latter half of the day. But for Utsushimi to have the sheer audacity to kick her own boss out, well. Truth be told, Shouto's impressed.

She smirks. "If I got a problem that Tenya or Mono-boss can't handle, I'mma call you, 'kay? So if you're cool with it, you'll be outta here by, say… 4-ish?"

Still, it's unheard of to take his leave at that hour. Enji has a lot of infuriating things to say about going home early, so whenever he had extra time he'd brainstorm new projects with Uraraka ahead of schedule. But Utsushimi will be busy, and Uraraka isn't here, so…

"It should be okay to get out of work early today," he relents.

"Yah, totes fine~" Utsushimi coos. "It's just for today anyways. We gotcha covered, boss-man~"

She winks again, twirls around and goes back to the rest of the team to tell them that "Directoroki says we can chill for now, y'all"; to his surprise, even though Iida in particular is particularly skeptical, they follow her lead, bow to the Director with a thank you, and go about their way. Any worries that Shouto had with their productivity doesn't last when they're able to finish their work by 4 PM, as promised by Utsushimi.

He's still uneasy right before he leaves, even after reassurances from both Iida and Monoma that they'll handle themselves well enough without him. As his new secretary leads him out of the office with a secretive smile, he asks, "Is this really a good idea, Utsushimi?"

"You know it is. Won't tell anyone what you're up to if you promise not to mess this up, Directoroki," she says, before pushing him in the elevator, giving him no room to complain or change his mind.

It's five in the afternoon, and Ochako can't believe she made it this far without losing her mind.

She thought that cleaning the apartment would take up all of her time, but she's done by lunch. After debating with herself whether to make food at home or to treat herself for once, she takes the train downtown to eat fluffy pancakes and a parfait at a cafe that Tooru-chan was raving about in their groupchat. She ate as slowly as she could, but to her dismay she still had an entire afternoon to waste after that.

She looked at clothes and shoes, trying in vain to convince herself that she owed it to herself to buy something nice, but she just couldn't . Meandering by herself without anyone to talk to got boring sooner than later, and she finds herself walking home earlier than intended.

She's worried, because she's quitting soon with a 100% chance of facing aimless days like this. Is it really this hard to find something to do?

Besides, it's really weird going through the day without seeing the Director. Call it conditioning or a sick form of yearning, but the shock in her system from doing a lot of nothing might just be enough for her to hallucinate the haughty red-and-white form that she's so used to in the next corner she turns.

"You can do it, Five Pee-Pee Man! You can do it!"

"Don't call him Five Pee-Pee Man, Kota! It's Demon Director!"

True enough-she almost trips over herself seeing just that: a red-and-white haired man in a suit, fumbling awkwardly with a UFO Catcher on the sidewalk as two elementary-aged children cheer him on.

"My name isn't Five Pee-Pee Man or Demon Director, it's Todoroki Shouto," the man says, and Ochako wonders about if this is really just a hallucination, because no-one in the world can craft such a deadpan reply to a couple of school children like the Director can.

Ochako carefully approaches the group, mindful of the passers-by giving them odd looks. Much to her dismay, the closer she gets, the surer she is that who she's seeing is definitely Todoroki Shouto, Executive Director of Endeavor Inc, putting all his efforts in winning a NecoConeco doll from an arcade.

As she subtly steps behind him, a high-pitched victory tune sounds along with the excited screams of the school kids next to him.

"You did it, Demon Director! You did it!" Ochako only realizes that it's Shinsou Eri who was cheering him on when they meet eyes by accident. The younger girl smiles brighter than ever before and practically squeals, "Director! The Angel Secretary! She's here!"

Ochako falters just as the other kid and the Director himself turns to face her.

"Secretary Uraraka?" Shouto asks, the embarrassed shock on his face a sharp contrast to the blank smiles of the ridiculously cute doll he's holding.

"Good evening Director," Ochako says with an awkward nod.

"What? She doesn't look like an angel! She looks like a hamster," the boy called Kota comments from the side, earning him a sharp nudge from Eri. "It's true!"

"You're so mean, Kota-kun!" Eri says, with a puff of her cheeks. "You can't just call grown-ups hamsters or pee-pee!"

Shouto has a look on his face that tells Ochako plainly that even he is unsure of how he ended up in this absurd situation. "I'm sure you have questions," he says above the noise of the kids' argument beside him.

Ochako isn't sure either if she's in a complicated dream sequence, but it's so comical that she gives in to the urge to laugh. "You guessed right, Director."

Eri interrupts her argument versus Kota and explains, "I saw the Demon Director after I visited Toshi-nii in his office, so I said hi! He said he was gonna go and see you, but he didn't have a present or anything, so I said I knew where we can get you one~"

"And I helped," Kota deadpans with a look of disbelief at the Director's direction. "This dumb guy doesn't know how arcades work. Are ya sure you wanna date him, Hamster- nee ?"

Boy, where to begin with that question. Thankfully, Todoroki doesn't seem that offended. Or at least, not as offended as Eri, who squeaks and nudges Kota painfully again. "I'm gonna tell Auntie Shino that you're being mean again!"

"Oh yeah? Well I'll tell Toshi- nii that you're messing with Five Pee-Pee Man again. He's gonna make you eat nothing but green peppers for lunch for a week!"

Once again the children have another livid argument. "They've been doing that for a while now," the tired Todoroki explains to Ochako with the detachment one expects of a nature documentary commentator. "Are children allowed to be out this late, Secretary Uraraka?"

"Maybe, but it's definitely safer to send them home," Ochako answers, trying to keep her composure.

With a sense of relief, he tells the kids just that. Calls are made to Shinsou and Kota's 'Auntie Shino,' and soon the children are chauffeured home by Shoji-kun despite their protests, leaving Ochako alone on the street with Director Todoroki.

He quietly hands the doll over to her. "Here. It's six thousand yen worth of effort."

Ah. So he's been at it for a while. Ochako takes it gratefully, hugging it close to her. "Thanks, Director. You really didn't have to, though."

"The children told me that ordinary men try to win toys for women. To impress them," he says, eyes flashing expectantly.

She tries to control the smile from breaking her face in two, relishing in the brief look of confusion on his face. "What are you doing here, Director?" she asks instead.

"I was capturing that toy for you," he says. "Then I was going to call you to ask where you were. It seems that you have beaten me to it, though."

"Really? You were going to see me?"

He nods. "I wanted to spend time with you. If it's alright with you." And then he blinks, as if just realizing something. "However, this is all spontaneous. I didn't make reservations or anything like that."

He genuinely looks troubled by this. Ochako can't stop her smile this time. "It'll be okay, Director. Spontaneous is good, too!"

He blinks. "It is?"

Ochako nods brightly. "You know what? Since you don't have plans, do you mind if I take the lead this time? I think I know where to take you."

She asks as if she didn't flounder all day trying to think of things to do the entire day. Todoroki, to his credit, looks more interested than apprehensive. "Is it far? I don't think it will be convenient to wait for Shouji to bring the children home."

"We don't need Shouji-kun," Ochako says, taking his arm boldly, making him raise his eyebrows in surprise.

"Director, have you ever taken the subway before?"

Uraraka must have known that Shouto has never taken public transport before apart from overseas. He supposed it was just a rhetorical question that served as a warning before she took him down a flight of stairs and into the crowded station that made Shouto do more than wrinkle his nose in distaste.

"We don't have to take the train if you don't want to," she says, taking out her commuter card from her bag.

Shouto really doesn't want to, but he knows that for Uraraka, he has to. Whether she's consciously challenging him or not, he has to prove that he's serious about pursuing her. If he has to rub shoulders with the mass of ordinary commuters during rush hour to prove it, so be it.

So he follows her. She tells him how to buy a ticket, which gate to go through, which line and station they were on and where they were going. The entire time he sticks to her closely, irrationally anxious of the suspicious people walking all around them who might have had ill intentions towards her. He isn't even conscious of the fact that he's standing too close to her until he feels the warmth of her cheeks against him.

"No, it's fine, Director," she says, pinker than she normally is when he apologizes for his brazenness. "At least this way, we won't get separated."

Well, as long as she says it's fine. He puts an arm around her and sends a deadly glare at the men around them, who look up at him with fear. She clears her throat coolly and tells him that it's time to hop on board.

The ride to their stop was not pleasant. There were so many people, all shapes, sizes, ages and smells, stuffed like sardines. People bump into him freely without the usual fear that comes with knowing who he is. Even if he didn't purposefully want to stick close to Uraraka, he had no choice due to the lack of space and inertia of the moving train. It takes a lot of focus to keep himself upright, and a lot of breathholding to keep his composure while he shields Uraraka from the crowds with his arm against the steel door she leans against.

Yes, it's unpleasant, objectively speaking, but he can't say the same for the experience of being so close to her that he sees how her face progress from bright pink to beet red. It's so that he's surprised that it's over by the time she murmurs that it's time for them to hop off the train.

"That wasn't so bad, right?" Uraraka says, her voice wavering slightly as the space between them grows when they go above ground.

"It was," Shouto answers flatly. "It's unthinkable you refused the car I offered to you before."

She laughs and points to a bright restaurant nearby, with gaudy lettering and more people standing in line. "Well, you're about to experience more unthinkable things. You ready, Director?"

Shouto bravely follows her lead. She takes them to a curry place, where they had to buy meal tickets and eat salty curry while sitting on stuffy seats at a bar. Then she takes him out and buys soft-serve ice cream, convenience store chocolates, and then taiyaki. And while it's astonishing watching her ingest so much cheap unhealthy food within a short span of time, Shouto is more astonished that he finishes everything without feeling terrible.

They eat all this while taking a walk through the lit-up city, with ordinary people bustling about them, not giving them a second look. She tells him about how worried she was missing work, and he tells her about how efficient and terrifying Utsushimi was, so she had nothing to worry about. She has a good laugh at this, which he enjoys hearing, and they carry on their conversation at a pace that feels surprisingly natural, much different from the serious conversations they've been having recently.

And while these ordinary things were unexpectedly entertaining, he couldn't care much. All through the night, his thoughts circle endlessly around an indisputable fact that he accepts without much choice-

"Isn't this fun?" she asks, cheeks stuffed to the full with custard taiyaki.

-Uraraka Ochako is beautiful, isn't she?

"Yes," he says. He feels the corners of his mouth tug upwards involuntarily, which she reciprocates.

"That's great! I wasn't sure that you're enjoying yourself, since I don't think you've done anything like this before," she says happily. "I'm sorry if I forced you into doing what I liked, though. I might have gotten carried away."

"I'm honored that you showed me the things you like," he answers, with a bite of his own taiyaki. "At least this time, you can't deny the fact that I spent time with you the way an ordinary person would."

She grins. "I guess not. But no matter what I do, Director, I can't see you as an ordinary person."

He stares at her incredulously. "You must be joking."

She laughs, walks ahead of him, playfully looking back at him with a mischievous glint in her eye. "That's not a bad thing."

A warm feeling blooms at the back of his mind, like he won something other than the doll she cradles closely in front of her.

The ride home is less crowded and more comfortable, and in no time Shouto is walking Uraraka back to her apartment. He doesn't realize that he's expertly navigating through the small streets and quiet neighborhoods until they're already in front of the familiar building. Has he been here so often that he knows the way to her?

"You have been visiting me pretty often," Uraraka agrees. "I'm not even surprised to see you around here anymore."

"Is that also not a bad thing?"

She giggles, and Shouto guesses that it isn't. He allows himself to smile again.

"You should do that more often, Director," she says teasingly.

"What?" he asks, instantly freezing in place when she tiptoes close to him, small hand with pink points curling around his face in slow motion, her face close, close, close-

… her finger pokes his right cheek and she stops, eyes creasing and mouth grinning so uncontrollably that he has to keep his chest from bursting from the cuteness of it.

"Smile, like that! See, you don't look like a demon at all!" she says, stepping back with a giggle. "Promise me you'll do that more, 'kay?"

Stunned, and a little sorry for the loss of proximity between them, all he can say is "'Kay."

She smiles again, bright and beautiful as she steps up to her door. With a quiet wave, she says good night, and he finds himself watching her pink cheeks disappear with the slow closure of the door. When the door shuts, he feels… disconcertingly alone, like the night isn't enough, like nothing is enough unless he had her by his side most of the time.

It wasn't a bad feeling, strangely enough.

This is probably what people called missing someone- an ordinary reaction, after an ordinary date with an extraordinary woman. Was it possible for Shouto to feel things, as an ordinary person would?

Throughout the ride home, when Shouto forces his mouth to do anything else but smile and Shouji gives him odd looks through the rearview mirror, he concludes that maybe striving for the ordinary wasn't so unthinkable, after all.

AN: To be honest, I am not very happy with how this chapter turned out, but rather than editing this forever I decided to publish this already =_=' I apologize. Focusing has been difficult for the past few weeks for a number of reasons, January 2020 being one of the most challenging months in the world being at the foremost of them. Natural disasters, epidemics, and the threat of war and all that.

I hope all of you are doing well and safe! Keep healthy, hydrate, cover your cough, wear your face masks (N95 or otherwise) properly, be mindful when you travel, vote for the right person, fight for the poor, protect Mother Earth. Thank you for all your comments, kudos, and sweet messages! They help in keeping positive despite all the serious things happening in the world! See you in the next update!