Chapter 9

Ochako sighed, what was she going to do? He had refused her time and time again, was she truly going to lose her job over something like this? "Ow!" Wearing heels the day after spraining her ankle was probably not the smartest thing to do. Making it to the office doorway, Yagi-kaichou approached.

"How did it go yesterday? Is your ankle feeling better, Uraraka-san?"

"It's fine, Kaichou, I'm okay."

Yagi-kaichou smiled in relief; she paced as she continued to voice her thoughts."Uraraka-san, I know you've been working really hard on the Mr. Popular event, but you know what? This agency is essentially like a good luck crystal." Tsuyu and Aoyama joined Ochako. "We are here to help people find true love and their significant others. If the crystal's color fades and loses its power, would you still want to wear it?" While their leader's facial features revealed a calm sweet smile, the aura emanating from her person was anything but.

"Yagi-Kaichou, I understand. I'll try to convince him again." Ochako could feel her boss's gaze boring a hole into her.

She stopped short infront Ochako's coworkers. "And you two, if you have time to stand around, then you should spend it trying to recruit new members and be effective crystals. Can you do that? Can you? Can you?"

They both stammered out their replies, Yagi-kaichou smiled, her aura tamped down and walked away. He leaned into Tsu whispering, "She said it three times again."

"Yeah." Ochako laid her head on her desk and sighed loudly.

"Hey, do you know what she was talking about?"

Tsuyu slapped Aoyama's shoulder, "You didn't get it?"

"She basically said that if I can't get Mr, Popular to participate, we'll all be fired."

"Nothing good ever comes of you both being in the same room, do you guys have conflicting energies?"

"Not just that. I think they're just not compatible."Tsuyu nodded at his conclusion.

"Come on, it's not that bad. At least this time, it was him who got hurt and not me."

"Yeah, that's right." Tsuyu raised her fist, "Otherwise I'd run right over there and rip him a new one. His looks are wasted on his soulless self. That man is so cold, like a frozen porkchop."

"The kind that's buy-one-get-one-free and almost expired."

"Exactly!" Her friend's high fived each other for a job well done, she would have joined in, if not for the existential dread that washed over her person.

"I did that because-" He sighed again. "I know how difficult it is to heal a broken heart alone... That's why I was trying to be empathetic and help those whose marriages have failed."

"...You guys... he's not as horrible as you guys think. Maybe it's cause he's been hurt, that's why he tries to hide who he really is."

"Ochako-chan, are you alright? You're defending a guy who's been treating you like shit. Don't forget that we got in trouble with Yagi-kaichou because of him. You need to pick a side already."

She sighed, "Fine..."

Aoyama's face lit up, "Uraraka-san, Bakugo Katsuki-san owes you a huge favor for helping him the other day. We can use this opportunity to ask him to return the favor."

"That's right!", her chipper friend sat down beside her. "You can treat him with your Dr. Love expertise. Make this frozen pork chop thaw, lower his guard, embrace people and give back to society. You'd be doing a good deed."

The smile that had been sitting pretty on Tsuyu's face melted away in horror, after all, speak of the devil and he shall appear. There stood in their office, none other than the devlishly handsome grump. Awkward as always he shifted his feet scanning the room for his target not knowing how to alert them to his presence, Bakugo brought his right hand to his mouth and cleared his throat.

Ochako stood, unsure about how to continue, Bakugo took a step forward, unable to look her or her coworkers in the eye. "You... Come outside with me." without another word, he walked away, a large red box held behind his back. Her blonde friend took a step towards the exit, "Not you, her!" Tsu chastised.

"Why do you want to see me?"

"Hmm?" He turned around guarding the mysterious box behind his back. Bakugo cleared his throat again, suddenly extending the box to her, "Here.."

"What is this?"

"Uhhh... This is..." 'C'mon... c'mon..' "This is from Linda!"

"What?"

"Tch... The client who tried to kill herself. Sh-She felt bad for causing you so much trouble. So, she asked me to give you this." He extended to box out to her again, Adorned with a big glittery red bow on top. "Take it."

Ochako hesitantly took the gift into her hands, it was heavier than she expected. She reached for the lid, and Bakugo panicked , he placed his hand on hers stopping her from opening her own gift. "What now?"

"I just realized I'm not done yet." He removed his hand from ontop of her and pointed at the gift. "I want to emphasize again, that the contents in this box are from Linda. From Linda, not me. So, open it." He rested his hands behind his back looking off over her shoulder down the street, she probably thought that he was mental.

Inside said gift, was a large brown envelope, but the true treasure was underneath. Creme colored pumps, with a white lace overlay, the brand was unknown to her, but she could tell from the look and feel of the shoe that they were rather pricey. "Wow... So, what's this?" She smiled down at the shoes causing a small but fleeting smile on Bakugo's face as well.

"Uhh.. That's... It's a gift from me. Figured since she got you one, might as well get you one too."

"'Might as well'? Then I might as well open it." Inside of the large envelope was a plain, brown card in big bold writing across the card was written three words. "'I say yes'?" He honestly look extremely proud of himself, thinking that he was extremely clever for his little note. Yet, the look of confusion on Ochako's face was proving otherwise. "What the heck are you talking about? Yes to what?"

He was taken a back, "Aren't you a psychologist? Must I spell out everything? Figure it out."

"I'm a psychologist, not a damn mind reader. How am I supposed to know what you mean, with such a vague message?"

"I mean it's a yes." He shifted his weight and placed his hands at his waist, speaking under his breath. "I'll do the stupid meet-and-greet. Alright?"

"Uraraka Ochako-san, I say yes... " Aoyama held her hand as he knelt before her dramatically hamming it up as if proposing, her bestie on the other right holding her hand and repeating what he had said earlier.

"I now pronouce you man and wife."

"You shall never be apart."

"C'mon guys, stop it." She ripped her hands from the two jokesters. "Quit messing around."

"Ochako-chan, where did he get the courage to propose to you infront of the office? Tell me honestly, when did you get the chance to warm up the frozen porkchop's heart?" Instead of answering, she decided to stuff her face with a forkful of pasta.

"Look," Aoyama held up the card openfaced, "This is such an old fashioned way to send a love letter. What century is this guy from?"

Ochako snatched the card from his hand and placed it beside her, "That's beside the point. And the point is, that he's finally agreed to do it. Now we can tell Yagi-kaichou, that we succeeded in our mission." she pushed her pasta around the plate. "Do you thin we should thank him?"

"Yeah, now I'm reluctantly feeling a little better about that porkchop."

"Oh, yeah, he also mentioned that he has one condition. He says that this has to be low-key and confidential. We finally snagged Mr. Popular, you guys can't tell anyone. If anything goes wrong, you know how terrible it'll be for us."

"Have you gotten around to securing a venue?"

"I haven't, actually, but after getting Mr. Popular on board, everything else should be a piece of cake. I actually have a just the place in mind."

Sorry for the huge break, i hope to be able to post a little more semi regularly soon, so bear with me