UPROAR

Summary: Just because you're a Pro doesn't mean you're immune to the shit life throws your way. But that's part of the fun, right? Right…? Ugh, All Might made it all look so easy. Aged-up. Rated T for now. Connected drabble series.

A/N: Remember how I said I love me some grumpy Deku? Yeah, turns out nobody brings him out more efficiently than our old pal Bakugo! Who woulda thunk!? ;) Anyway, there's not much else to say, so let's just get to it! Today's title is brought to you by Goody Grace and Blink-182. I'll leave it up to you to decide who the scumbag is in this chapter…Enjoy!

Chapter 19: Scumbag

One Week Later

Deku slouched on the train and shifted the old duffle bag in his lap now that the rush hour crowd had thankfully dispersed. Luckily, he lived two stations down from the big one, which meant he only had to deal with the tight squeeze for about 10 minutes before most of the riders hopped off to transfer. After that, he had about 15 minutes to stretch out and breathe before his own stop finally arrived.

But today had been an especially grueling commute thanks to the heatwave. There had been a swell of power outages all week, which unfortunately meant that many of the cooling centers the city had opened were forced to either shut down or relocate. Not to mention the emergency rescues from all the stopped elevators and subways. And that was on top of the spike in housefires, of course, thanks to people inadvertently overwhelming their circuit breakers trying to keep cool. So, by now, Deku could identify symptoms of heatstroke before the person even had the chance to pass out first.

But Deku knew that, as a dedicated rescue hero, Ochako had been having an even rougher week than he was. His quirks made him more of a well-rounded Hero, suited for both crime-stopping and rescues, but he'd been relegated to crime-deterrent this week. Local gangs and street punks had begun to take advantage of the rolling blackouts, looting stores and cutting power to affluent homes thinking the authorities wouldn't be able to tell the difference. But they had been relatively harmless, more of a nuisance to the neighborhood he'd been assigned than an actual threat to society, so he really couldn't complain about the boredom of busting up some local small fries.

In fact, it only sought to remind him of how hard Ochako must have had it across town. All week, she had been too exhausted to spend any real time with him at home, forced to order-in because cooking was too much of a chore for either of them. And by the time dinner was done, she'd relax with a cool soak in the tub and go straight to bed, knowing tomorrow would be worse than yesterday.

So, he'd made a split decision tonight. Instead of heading straight home after his shift, he made a pit stop at the big international grocery store to pick up ingredients to make a pizza. He didn't like feeling so distant when they were in the same room together, so he figured a homemade pizza would be a nice substitute for a real date night. Especially since it was too hot to leave their air-conditioned apartment. Not to mention, he was still trying to figure out the right time to finally come clean about everything that happened in I-Island and his desire to go back, and was hoping this small act would give him the opportunity to do so.

When his stop came, he carefully slung his duffel bag over his shoulder, sheepishly smiling at the odd looks thrown his way when the glass jars of pizza sauce clanked together from within. He hadn't realized the international store had eliminated their plastic bags, forcing him to shove everything into the only bag he'd already been carrying – the one he used to carry his work and gym gear every day. But needless to say, he'd been skipping the gym this week, so he was sure it'd be fine. It was only a short walk from the station to his apartment anyway.

When he finally arrived home, Ochako was nowhere in sight, but he knew exactly where to find her. After depositing all the pizza ingredients onto the kitchen counter, he flung his duffel bag to the floor and headed to the bathroom to gently knock on the door. Sure, it was a bit early for her nightly soak but that just meant she was more spent than he originally thought.

"Hm?"

"I'm home." He said, hearing water slosh around as she dragged herself from the tub.

"Welcome back!" She chirped brightly from the opposite side of the door, in direct opposition of her weeklong exhaustion. "I'll be right out!"

"No, don't rush yourself." Deku dismissed. "I picked up stuff to make a pizza, so we have to wait for the oven to preheat, anyway."

"…Okay." She sounded hesitant. "Um, Deku-kun?"

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing!" She answered a little too quickly. "I'm fine – I just…got taken by surprise at work today."

He furrowed his dark brows. "What do you mean by that? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine!" She insisted. "It was my fault for not paying attention – we were evacuating a senior home and it just … looks worse than it is."

At that, he shoved the door open to see for himself and froze at the sight of her standing there in her fluffy towel and skin glistening with cool water. On her face was an angry red mark that he knew would begin to purple over the course of its healing period if she didn't ice it properly now. Which explained the early soak in cool water, at least.

"It looks worse than it is." She reiterated to counter his gaping stare.

He stepped into the bathroom and gently cradled her face between his hands to inspect it. She flinched against his touch and he immediately released her.

"Are you alright? What the hell happened?"

She sighed. "We were evacuating a senior home because their emergency generator gave out. But we didn't realize the unit had been intentionally sabotaged until after we started getting them out." She rolled her eyes. "Long story short, I was sweeping a room when I heard someone in the closet … and that's when the burglar popped out and sucker punched me."

He gave her a mirthless chuckle in commiseration and hugged her tightly enough to make up for the lack of intimacy they'd had all week. "I don't think I need to tell you how much I understand what you're going through right now."

She released a tiny laugh and wrapped her arms around him, and the pair stood in their embrace for a long while, comforted by the way they fit so perfectly within the other's arms, before Deku's growling stomach interrupted them. They reluctantly parted after he gave her a tender kiss on the crown of her head, and each headed to their respective duties – Ochako to the bedroom to dress and Deku to the kitchen to prep dinner.

He realized belatedly that he didn't actually have a pizza stone to bake it on, but he figured a regular cookie sheet would work just as well in its stead. The fresh dough was wrapped in a ball of clear wrap and he plopped it onto the counter to roll it out. It was stickier than he expected it to be but no less fun to squeeze between his fingers.

Ochako emerged from the bedroom in her pajamas and fished one of their many ice packs from the freezer, placing it gingerly to her face after wrapping it in her handkerchief. She took a seat on the stool on the other side of the eat-in countertop in order to supervise her amateur pizzaiolo. She advised him to sprinkle flour to roll out the sticky dough and then throw down some cornmeal to give it a nice crunchy crust when it baked. She'd seen it on a cooking show before and was surprised they even had some to use in the first place. But when it came time for the toppings, they argued over whether to mix them all around the pie or to split it down the middle like having a two-in-one pie. She won in the end, and their half-mushroom, half-pepperoni monstrosity was sent to bake with a neat divide down its center.

"I made sure to get mild spice pepperoni…" Deku grumbled from the couch as he surfed through the channels.

"I don't want any kind of spice tonight, Deku-kun. It's too hot." She reiterated, eyes on the TV as she continued to ice her cheek. "You're never gonna eat more than half a pie, anyw–wait go back, I like that show!"

He obliged and placed the remote on the cushion between them, enjoying the serene atmosphere around them. Ochako happily watched her travel show while he slyly checked up on the situation in I-Island on his phone. And while he hadn't exactly expected things to get better overnight, he also didn't expect them to get exponentially worse so soon, either. In the weeks since he'd returned to Tokyo, there had been a strained ceasefire between the protestors and the corporations now that all the fanfare of the Expo had died down. And just because Deku had been lulled into a false sense of security that had granted him the ability to drag his feet in divulging the urgency of his plans to return, the same could not be said for the blonde prodigy he'd left behind.

Melissa had been smack in the middle of lawyering up to finally take back Shield Industries from her greedy shareholders when they had abruptly agreed to relinquish all rights to the company back to her. She was stunned by the immediate nature of their surrender, but figured they had always known it was her who had stolen all that damning evidence from the start. She didn't even need it in the end! So instead of risking her exposing their treachery to the public, they must have decided to retreat with their tail between their legs while they still could.

And of course, Melissa was over the moon at how well her plan had succeeded and kept insisting on repaying Deku for all his help, especially since all his hard work had technically been for naught. But Deku had been a bit more skeptical of just how easy it all had been in the end. The shareholders had gone to all the trouble of covering up the murder of those scientists, just to suddenly turn tail and bail at the last minute? It didn't make any sense. As much as he hated to say so, they were simply too powerful to be swayed by Melissa in the 9th hour. Something was fishy on I-Island. And if there was anything he'd learned in his years as a Pro Hero, it was that the only thing that could scare away a big fish like those shareholders, was an even bigger fish.

Which was the exact reason he'd finally bought his ticket back to I-Island. He was flying out this very weekend, but he fully intended to be back before Monday morning. He just needed to see for himself that there was no bigger fish lurking in those tropical waters, that's all.

But there was still one person he had to tell.

"Hey, Uraraka? Can we talk about…" His phone began to go off in his hand, forcing him to trail off.

Oi!

Look alive!

Fuckin' nerdddddd

He titled his head at the text messages in curiosity, at a genuine loss for their meaning.

"About what?" Ochako questioned, half-listening as she watched her show.

"I just got the strangest message fr–"

Suddenly, the door to the genkan swung open with a slam and sent the cozy pair to the ceiling. One of them quite literally, activating her quirk out of fright.

"What the hell, Kacchan?!" Deku demanded, angrily leaping over the couch to accost the blond as he swaggered into the apartment. He was just about to have the I-Island talk, for crying out loud! "You can't just barge in here –"

Bakugo shoved a large bottle of expensive saké in his face and unceremoniously dropped its bag, forcing Deku to catch it before it shattered on the floor. "Then start lockin' your door, idiot." Before Deku could respond, he waltzed into the kitchen like he owned the place. "What's cookin'? Smells good."

By now, Ochako had returned to the couch from midair and plucked her ice pack off the floor.

"What's going on, Bakugo-kun? We weren't expecting guests tonight."

"Why…am I interruptin' somethin'?" He gave Deku a pointed look over the top of her head.

She narrowed her eyes at him in suspicion. "Are you coming in drunk again?"

"Again?" Deku closed-in on the damning keyword, but his curiosity was succinctly ignored.

Instead, Bakugo grinned wolfishly, watching him as he placed the saké bottle on the dining room table with a peeved look on his face.

"What, a guy can't celebrate?" He teased, pearly whites on full display.

"Celebrate what?" Deku demanded, patience growing thinner at the idea of entertaining a surprise visit from Bakugo after he'd already been drinking. Especially after their fight last week – their poor balcony door had become such an eyesore with that stretch of duct tape they'd had to seal it with, that they'd been forced to draw the curtains for the first time since moving in.

Bakugo threw his arms wide in a rare showing of excitement that wasn't amidst the throes of battle.

"I signed the contract! You're lookin' at the founder and owner of the greatest hero agency in history!" He boasted, signature cockiness returning with a vengeance. "That number one spot is finally mine! I'm gonna be bigger than All Might ever was!"

Ochako turned to Deku with worry, watching his expression darken just the slightest bit before turning into a forced smile.

"Congratulations. That's great, Kacchan." His tone told a different story, though.

"You bet your ass it is, ya damn nerd." He pointed at him to make sure he was paying proper attention. "Just don't expect me to hire you out of pity."

"I wouldn't have asked…" He dismissed.

"Well, good!" He snapped. "'Cuz it's not gonna happen – if I wanna be the best, I gotta hire the best." He suddenly stuck his nose in the air and inhaled deeply, turning to Ochako again. "What's cookin'?"

She eyed Deku, who just shrugged and headed back to the couch, clearly washing his hands of whatever Bakugo was trying to accomplish in coming here. As far as he was concerned, the night was officially ruined. His peaceful dinner of homemade pizza and the hope of finally telling Uraraka about the tickets he'd bought for I-Island had gone the way many things in Bakugo's hands went – up in smoke.

"We made pizza." Uraraka stated, placing her icepack down on the countertop to mediate once again. "It should be ready soon." She was careful not to extend an official invitation to him, lest she coax more ire out of Deku.

But Bakugo's sharp eyes looked at the icepack and roamed across every flash of skin he could see on her until he finally located the reason behind it.

"What happened there?" He pointed to his cheek.

"Sucker punch." She rolled her eyes. "Go ahead and laugh. I deserve it for not seeing him."

"Nah." He shook his head. "Happens to the best of us…right, Deku?" He shouted at the disgruntled Deku on the couch, trying to ignore his unwelcome guest as conspicuously as he could.

"I wouldn't say that, Kacchan – your face healed up just fine." He barked back, eyes glued to the evening news and none-too-eager to finish what he started last week.

Satisfied, Bakugo smirked before turning back to Ochako. "I just hope you got 'em back for it."

She pursed her lips noncommittally until the urge to grin overwhelmed the pain it caused her.

"The guy cut the line to the building's generator, but you should have seen his face when I caught him!"

"What building?" Bakugo was suddenly enraptured as Deku turned up the TV's volume in the other room.

"A senior home across town." She answered. "They figured they would be easy targets since the 'rescue-only' crew was deployed, I guess."

"Tch." He smirked, loving a good war story. "So, how'd ya get the guy?"

Ochako couldn't help but match the ferocity in Bakugo's gaze as she relived the events of that afternoon. He didn't bother asking if she was alright like Deku had, but a part of her just wanted to brag about her scuffle and how she wound up victorious in the end. Sure, her jaw hurt, but she got the bad guy in the end and that more than made up for it. She just wanted someone to share in her excitement. As a rescue-hero it was rare for her to face down villains nowadays anyway, so it had been an electrifying day for her.

"His quirk was something like a cricket or grasshopper, so he thought he could crawl onto the ceiling to get away." She rattled on.

"Fucker picked the wrong hero."

Ochako's grin grew with his enthusiasm. "I caught him off guard and made him too heavy to hop around just when he started to take flight." She chuckled at the memory of the guy's startled face when the realization of Uravity's quirk finally hit him. "We crashed to the ground and he kept complaining that I tricked him because I didn't have on my helmet!"

"Whatta dumbass!" Bakugo snorted. "I'd know Uravity a mile away with that hot catsuit 'a yours."

Deku suddenly stood from the couch and the two boys' eyes met for one long, frightening moment. Ochako held her breath and prayed she wouldn't be forced to break up the continuation of last week without Kirishima around to rein-in Bakugo. But mercifully, Deku made his way into the kitchen without another word about it. Bakugo's comment had caught Ochako off guard as well, but she was able to blame it on whatever he'd been drinking. Deku must have weighed his options and reluctantly come to the same conclusion, choosing to check on the pizza instead.

"Food's done." He announced in a short tone. The crust was perfectly golden, and the cheese was bubbling up around the rest of the toppings, so he placed it on the cooling rack and ambled back to the drunk blond sitting in his dining room.

"I'd ask you to join us, but I bought mild pepperoni." He stated, abandoning all sense of manner by now.

"S'okay." Bakugo shrugged. "Ya got red pepper flakes?"

Deku disappeared with a roll of his eyes and reappeared to toss the shaker at him. Bakugo caught it as it slammed into his chest with a bit more force than necessary, but he'd had one too many drinks to catch the hints Deku had literally thrown his way. Then again, Ochako supposed he would have just fed into his oldest friend's irritation if he'd been sober anyway, so it was a more or less moot point to deliberate.

Normally, she would have offered to set the table since Deku had done the cooking, but she had a feeling his mood had soured enough that he wanted to spend as little time as he could around Bakugo. She couldn't blame him. Dealing with a drunk Bakugo was like staring down an agitated bull – it was in your best interest to watch your step and mind your manners lest you set him off and trigger a charge.

"So, Bakugo-kun…" Ochako sat at the dining room table while Deku sliced the pie in the kitchen. "Did you tell anyone else about your new agency yet?"

He nodded. "Yeah, and I'm waitin' for that Shitty Hair and the rest of 'em to get their asses over here."

"Over where?" Deku demanded, just an irritated and disembodied voice to them.

"What, you didn't think I came here jus' to tell you, didja?"

Ochako ran her fingers through her hair, struggling to keep the peace between the two eternal rivals. It would clearly never end between them, would it? Deep down, they would never stop trying to surpass each other, even if it meant alienating those around them.

"Are you and Kirishima-kun going out to celebrate?" She winced when her hand accidentally brushed against her cheek.

"We all are, Pink Cheeks." His crimson gaze seemed fixated on her bruise, but he thankfully didn't say anything more about it. "So you might want to get changed outta your 'jammies."

She stared at him with a blank expression, as though waiting for him to declare he was just joking around. But it never came.

"Do I gotta spell it out for you two?" He demanded impatiently. "You're comin' with me to an appearance where I'm gonna make the announcement!"

"What announcement, Bakugo-kun?" Ochako could feel her own mood begin to deteriorate as her patience with him began to wear thin.

"My new agency!" How many times did he have to say it, for crying out loud!?

"We're really happy for you, Bakugo-kun, really." Her voice was almost pleading. "But it's been such a long day…"

"Yeah, let's do dinner tomorrow instead." Came Deku's counter-offer as he finally appeared with the pizza. "I'll buy."

"Once a nerd always a nerd, huh?"

Deku took his seat without a word and took Ochako's plate to serve her first. He knew the blond was just trying to get a rise out of him again, so he refused to engage. Yes, he was already in a bad mood, but he'd have to do better than that to get him as riled up as he was last week. And with the news he still had yet to share with Uraraka, he'd be damned if he got on her bad side again.

Bakugo shook his head like they'd just rejected a ride on his private jet.

"Christ, you're like an old married couple!"

Deku shot him a warning look. "You can't just barge in here like you own the place and start bossing us around, Kacchan." He snapped. "We're tired. We've been working all week and we've got a lot to talk about."

Bakugo's eyebrow twitched in irritation, foggy brain completely missing the blatant hints glaring him in the face. Deku had just struck a very touchy nerve within him, simultaneously reminding him of his suspension and implying that he'd been lazy with his time off.

"Well, maybe I'm just practicing bossing sidekicks like you around, fuckin' nerd." He fired back, voice a low growl.

Green eyes met crimson and the air in the room went completely stale. They were like two beasts who had crossed paths, just waiting for the other to make the first move to give the other a rightful excuse to fight back.

"Oh, for the love of – would you two just knock it off already?!" Ochako suddenly asked, hoping to diffuse the situation with her outburst. This wasn't her first time in the middle of such a standoff, especially as of late.

With Bakugo spending so much time brainstorming with Deku these past few weeks, it was like they had become tired of the other now that their work was technically complete. As though their limit for playing nice had expired. Oftentimes, Kirishima-kun would join when his schedule permitted him to, and he would help Ochako keep the peace between the two when the bickering began.

On the rare occasions it had just been Ochako stuck with the prickly pair, she often considered using her quirk to sequester them to opposite sides of the ceiling like children in timeout. But then she'd just be thwarted by Bakugo's ability to propel himself with his Turbo, and by Deku's own airborne mobility with Black Whip. So, it really had become futile after a certain point, but they hadn't quite reached that exact point yet. Deku hadn't been drinking, for starters.

But at the very least, they'd all become much closer in the recent weeks thanks to Bakugo's latest venture. They'd eaten many meals together, shared both good and ridiculous conversations with each other, and even got each other hooked on new shows during the rare breaks that Bakugo-kun had "allowed" them to have. So, she couldn't really say things had been all bad. They'd each even had a dedicated cushion on the couch by now, where they'd always sit regardless of who was around to watch alongside them. Kirishima-kun had also downloaded a bunch of games to Ochako's phone, and she still couldn't figure out how to uninstall them, thusly becoming addicted, which was likely his plan the entire time.

They'd even fallen asleep on that couch before, pulling many an all-nighter pouring through prime real estate listings and meticulously combing through the Hero rankings. It was all much more complicated than Ochako could have ever predicted. The agency couldn't be right in the center of town because the rent would rise too quickly for Bakugo to keep up. But if it was too far away, he would put himself in an "out of sight, out of mind" situation where he'd be replaced as quickly as he could open his doors. He didn't care about ruffling any feathers by setting up shop next to an established agency either, especially if it meant sending a massive fuck-you to his previous office. But thankfully, they'd all been able to talk him off that particular ledge before it could come back to bite him in the ass.

"When do you think you'll have your agency open?" Ochako questioned, seemingly satisfied that she'd been able to keep the peace. For now. "And have you decided on a name yet?"

Finally asked the one question he'd been dying to answer all night, Bakugo's lips curved into a wicked smirk that was enough to give even an irritated Deku pause.

"'Bout time you asked…" His look intensified as he held her gaze. "You're lookin' at the owner of the Explosion Murder Agency!"

Ochako froze with her slice of pizza drooping in front of her face and Deku was too stunned to begin pouring out the saké bottle.

"What?" Bakugo demanded curtly, reaching over his plate to help himself to a slice of pepperoni. "It's good, ain't it?"

"NO!"

His offended reaction was interrupted by his phone ringing, which he placed to his ear to loudly invite whoever was on the other line into the apartment.

"Yeah, it's always unlocked." He dismissed. "Jus' come in."

"Who's this now?" Deku demanded, knowing better than to bother asking. He'd find out in a second, anyway.

The door to the genkan opened again to reveal its latest guest, but this time the group was at least expecting them.

"Bakugooooooo!" Kirishima appeared in a flash of red hair and all but tackled the blond to the ground like an overexcited puppy. "You actually did it! Congrats, you sonuvabitch!"

"Yeah, yeah." He shoved him away. "Get off already."

"So? When do I start?" He grinned. "I'll be the first one to apply!"

"And the first to be rejected!" Bakugo bit back.

"Aw, man…why?"

Ochako cleared her throat, as though to remind the pair of her existence. "Don't take it personally, Kirishima-kun, he won't hire Deku either."

"Let's see you say that when Sero and Kaminari get here." He winked at Ochako before his jovial expression suddenly faded. "Whoa! What happened to your face?!"

Deku rolled his eyes, conceding the idea of spending the rest of the night relaxing with Ochako. He'd have to find another time to tell her about I-Island, he supposed. Even if it meant making another pizza.

"A burglar surprised me." She answered for what felt like the hundredth time. "But I got him, don't worry."

Bakugo smacked Kirishima on the arm in order to regain his attention, and Ochako was silently relieved.

"What the hell are those morons s'posed to do, hah?" Bakugo challenged, meaning Sero and Kaminari. "They ain't gettin' hired neither!"

"So, who the hell are ya hirin', then?!" Kirishima demanded, grabbing his own bicep to flex, as if seeing how big his muscles were would change his friend's mind. "At this rate you're gonna be your only employee!"

"The hell's wrong with that?!"

"Actually." Deku interrupted, fingers to his chin in thought. "That's not necessarily unheard of. An agency may run more like a corporate office when it's big enough, but many of the smaller ones are more like gathering places for heroes and sidekicks to meet and organize themselves."

Ochako thought back to her own agency, working with Sayaka of Gaia's Rescue Group. They were a small office on the third floor of their building and had recently taken on a new sidekick in the form of Gummy, whose civilian name Ochako had recently learned was Nagai Hari. They weren't nearly as big as Deku's agency, (which had its own gym with showers and a sauna), but Gaia had an office area for their paperwork and a quiet lounge to spend time between shifts.

Could Bakugo really afford to furnish his own agency? The idea was beginning to blow Ochako's mind, and she felt sorry for misjudging her former classmate. Clearly, he had a decent head on his shoulders if he'd been able to get himself this far in his career at such a young age. He would always be one of the older ones in their graduating class, but none of them had even reached thirty yet. She really should be giving the blond a bit more credit, but it was a hard sell as she sat across from him, watching him drunkenly argue with his friends like he was in some dingey pub.

The pizza had been devoured by the time Sero and Kaminari arrived with more booze, and Deku had long-since given up his bad mood in order to finally join in the celebration. Even though Bakugo had pissed him off today, he still respected his oldest friend enough to appreciate all the effort he'd put in to achieving his latest goal. Besides, he'd known him long enough to understand that this was as close to an actual thank you that they could ever hope to get out of him. And beating his ass in a drunken arm-wrestling match was just icing on the cake.

A/N: Ending it on a sappy one-liner because it was already 9 (NINE!) pages long! But like I said before, I have a thing for grumpy Deku so I just had to have him win the arm wrestling contest okay? He was having a bad day! And how are we feeling about the Explosion Murder Agency, because you can bet your ass that name is on the official lease! XD