A/N: Sorry this took so long to finish... I've moved myself over to AO3 (where this has been complete since September, oops) so I don't really post on FFnet anymore. But I figured I should at least post the remaining chapters of this in case anyone was still interested. If anyone is still around on this fic, thanks for reading! And if, for some reason, anyone still wants to follow my stuff (and you're interested in AO3), my name is the same over there.

Disclaimer: I don't own BNHA or any of its characters. Obviously.

Chapter Thirteen: Hero

[Day Twenty-Four]

[Uraraka]

Mina squealed again. Kirishima's mouth fell open, probably in shock, revealing his pointy, shark-like teeth. Iida choked on some of his rice. From the other end of the table, Uraraka heard Momo gasp. Todoroki just stared straight ahead, sipping his tea, as if he wasn't the least bit surprised. Deku was quiet.

And then everything was horribly quiet for a few heartbeats. The silence stretched on just a bit too long to not be unsettling. But then the room erupted in an avalanche of questions and hollers and congratulations and Uraraka smiled so big that it hurt her cheeks when she looked up at Bakugou and the way he was smirking down at her.

She felt so warm. And she wasn't sure if that was the embarrassment of having her entire class find out about her new—her first—relationship all at once and the with more loud enthusiasm than she expected or because of the way he was looking at her. Like he was warm too. And proud, and happy, and embarrassed, just like she was. No one had looked at her like that before—which was apparently something she'd have to get used to with Katsuki since he seemed to be doing it more and more often—like she was this bright, strong, beautiful force of nature they wanted to get lost in. She hoped that whatever look she was giving him back was similar.

Katsuki just looked… so much more like himself. Confident and crazy. He didn't look tired or haggard from the nightmares. He didn't look like he was suffering. And that made her even happier. She hoped that she'd helped, even if it was just a little.

"Oh my god, look at them!" Mina shouted over the chaos, "They're so cute it's disgusting!"

Uraraka's face flushed and she ripped her eyes from his molten gaze. How long had they just been looking at each other like that? It really had felt like they were the only two people in that room. All the noise had just faded into nothing. She'd wanted to kiss him.

Pull yourself together, Ochako! They weren't alone, for crying out loud! Half their class was sitting right there!

"You assholes are gonna bust my eardrums!" Katsuki roared, ears tinted a darker shade of red than Uraraka had ever seen, "Calm the fuck down!"

After that, Uraraka spent the rest of breakfast with a permanent blush on her face that showed no signs of waning anytime soon, shoveling her food into her mouth before it was time for class, laughing every now and then when Katsuki's temper flared and he told them, for the millionth time, to shut up and stay out of his business.

Even after making their way to class, the excitement didn't subside. It probably didn't help that Katsuki had grabbed her hand at one point and squeezed it when he walked by her desk between lectures.

By the end of the day everyone, literally everyone was talking about her. And Bakugou. And their new relationship. All of 1-A was buzzing and teasing but they were, overall, startlingly supportive. She hadn't expected them to be jerks or anything like that, but everyone seemed to accept it as if they hadn't been messing with her not too long ago about crushing on Deku. Uraraka was grateful no one had brought it up but was generally confused by her class' reaction overall. No one had really questioned it. They all seemed happy for her. It felt like a weight she hadn't known was there had been lifted off her chest.

That evening in the common room Iida had decided that in lieu of congratulations, a long, endearing lecture about balancing her priorities was in order, which was pretty on par for him and he seemed satisfied when Uraraka explained that they always did their homework together.

Todoroki approached her after dinner and in his typical deadpan fashion, simply asked her why. Which had probably ended up in the most honest conversation she'd ever had with him. It had been much too frank and almost too awkward for her liking, but he'd simply listened and asked more variations of why. But, if Uraraka was being lenient, she thought she might have seen a smile on his face somewhere near the end of it. Although, that might have been her imagination.

Yaoyorozu and Asui seemed to be the least surprised of all and later admitted to gossiping with Mina about how torn up she had been about his kidnapping.

"I knew it went further than you two spending time together," Momo had said with a sly yet inexplicitly sweet smile, "We were all worried about him, but you were heartbroken."

Uraraka was almost embarrassed that she'd been transparent enough for her to get that reading from her but… both Momo and Tsu were too clever. With hindsight, they had probably noticed how she felt before she even realized it.

Even 1-B had caught onto the gossip and Uraraka had been approached by several students she didn't know the name of asking about how it happened at lunch that day. It was a little uncomfortable but probably not entirely unfounded—most of these people had only ever seen the two of them interact at the sports festival when she tried dropping a ton of concrete on his head and he'd been hurling explosions her way. From an outside perspective, their relationship probably seemed unorthodox. Everyone seemed interested to know if the brash, vulgar personality he showed them was just a façade or an intimidation tactic. They seemed disappointed when she admitted that he was definitely just like that all the time and then confused when she'd informed them that she didn't mind it.

Deku had been the most difficult to read. Uraraka had worked out how she felt about Deku over the past few weeks, but his side of things had never been all that certain. Some of their classmates had insisted that they both liked each other even if she had her own doubts about that conclusion. But if that was the case and their classmates were right, the news about dating Bakugou didn't seem to affect him in one way or the other. Not visibly, anyway. Deku had offered one of his signature genuine smiles, that not too long ago would have sent her heart into a frenzy, and just said, "I'm so happy for you, Uraraka! You look really happy." Regardless though, he was uncharacteristically quiet for the rest of the day, and Uraraka wasn't sure how to interpret that.

Uraraka went to bed that night with a warm, fuzzy feeling buzzing under chest. She was grateful.

But, even if everyone had been wary, Uraraka would have defended it, and Bakugou, to her last breath. She'd never felt this way about anyone before. She loved her friends and the devotion she felt was similar but not quite the same. Luckily though, that hadn't been necessary. But just because people weren't wary didn't mean they would leave her alone about it.

If she thought she'd been getting a lot of slack for dating Bakugou, he was probably getting triple just from his friends. All playful in nature, she'd noted, and therefore unbearably funny. Kaminari, Kirishima, and Sero had all taken it upon themselves to tease him to the ends of the earth, always cooing Katsuki at him whenever they got the chance. Uraraka hadn't thought Bakugou would take the teasing very well, and a part of her had even been worried he might regret telling everyone after it became clear that it wasn't waning by the end of the day. But if he did, he didn't say anything, and she got the feeling that he really didn't mind all that much. His slew of death threats and obscenities he threw their way were lacking the bite that indicated it might really be bothering him.

Uraraka guessed that the gossip would be overshadowed eventually, especially with the end of their month-long assignment in sight.

[Day Thirty]

The fabric of Uraraka's hero costume felt even more constricting than usual as she pressed her fingertips into her skin and scaled the building in front of her. She was hoping for a vantage point so that she could get high enough into the air, find Katsuki, and then, hopefully, figure out what they needed to do. She was nervous. More nervous than she thought she'd be. Obviously, this was just an assignment and there were no real life and death stakes, but this was also their chance to show how much they'd grown and how far they'd come this past month. Failing wasn't an option for her or for Katsuki.

Everything was in full swing now and so far, she hadn't run into anyone on the empty streets her and her classmates had been dropped into. It was almost eerie. The arena couldn't have been that big. There were twenty of them crammed into it and a lot of them had loud or flashy quirks that could be seen or heard from a mile away.

Uraraka took a deep breath and tried to settle her nerves. It was fine. All they had to do was navigate the area, complete their objective, defeat any 'villains' that they encountered, escape in their pro/sidekick duo, and pass. Easy. It would be easy.

But… she was still nervous. She couldn't help it. Her hands were clammy and it was so hard to focus while she waited for Katsuki to get to their meeting point. I just need to stay focused, she repeated it over and over again like a mantra and thought back to that morning.

Before the buzzer rang and the assignment began, their homeroom teacher had stood in front of class 1-A and explained, much too sleepily, what their goal would be.

"After you graduate, you may be called upon to assist in any mission either as a pro hero, or as a sidekick, without any preparation. That mission could be as simple as acting as a bodyguard, participating in a sting, or assisting in rescue efforts after a villain attack." Aizawa had sounded as bored as ever and his eyes looked even more tired than usual.

"For this assignment, you and your partner will be put into the arena separately. It would be in your best interest to find them as soon as possible, but even if you can't, you'll both be connected via earpiece. Separate channels for each team. Take your time getting your bearings when the buzzer sounds.

"Throughout the hour I will be radioing each team to inform them what their specific mission is. Some of you will be asked to target a specific team, others will have to find certain items located throughout the area. If a team becomes incapacitated, another team may be assigned to get them out.

"Lastly, should you encounter any other duo at any time, whether you've received your specific mission or not, you are to engage them as if they were a villain standing in the way of your objective."

Uraraka peeked over the ledge, making sure the coast was clear, then pulled herself on top of the building and released her quirk. This entire assignment was far too convoluted for her tastes, but she had worked it out as simply as she could manage.

One: find Katsuki.

Two: avoid the other teams at all costs.

Three: get the thing they needed to get, fight the team they had to fight, or rescue whoever needed rescuing.

And four: treat anyone other than Katsuki as a villain that would try and stand in their way.

Easy, she tried to tell herself again. This'll be easy.

She could see the entire make-shift city from this vantage point. It was a little bigger than she'd expected but, she guessed that with Cementoss able to construct just about anything and everything within a few hours for them, she shouldn't be surprised. All their test locations were usually wildly intricate, this was nothing new.

"I'm on the building with the water tower," Uraraka said into her earpiece, "Have you seen anyone yet?"

"I heard Ponytail and Icyhot," Katsuki's voice crackled in her ear, "But they were running off somewhere else. Probably got their shit from Eraser Head."

The exam had started almost ten minutes ago, and everything was still pretty quiet. Uraraka assumed that everyone was going to try to take the same cautious approach she'd decided on. Katsuki hadn't put up much of a fight when she'd suggested it over the earpiece after the buzzer had sounded. Which had been a little surprising. He'd just muttered about how he didn't need to hide, but from the sound of it, he was doing what she instructed. They'd gotten pretty good at working together during their training sessions but Uraraka was still a little wary about the whole idea of the pro/sidekick thing when it came to putting it into practice him. He didn't like being told what to do. She wasn't all too comfortable giving orders in stressful situations. It made sense why they'd been assigned the roles they had been but… this entire assignment was weird. Complicated. There were a lot of uncertainties with it and it was a safe bet to assume that once everyone got their specific mission, everything would go to hell. They only had an hour, after all.

"You should seriously duck down or something," He hissed into her ear, "I can see your pink from here."

Uraraka dropped to the ground and scolded herself. He was right. The landscape was all dull and dreary concrete, just a mess of grey and beige. Her fluorescent pink suit wasn't exactly covert. Her brain itched to apologize but she kept her mouth clamped shut. Apologizing for mistakes wouldn't do them any good right now.

"You're close, then?"

"Few blocks away. Five minutes if I've gotta fucking sneak around."

She frowned. He was that far and he saw her? She couldn't mess this up. She was supposed to be the pro here, the one figuring out the right course of action and making the right calls. But here she was, standing on top of a building in her embarrassing, bright suit, gawking at the scenery. Get it together, she grumbled inwardly, get it together!

But she wasn't even really sure what to do. Uraraka knew that was part of the test, dealing with the uncertainty, overcoming it, emerging on top, rolling with the punches, but knowing didn't make it any easier. It didn't make the blood stop rushing in her ears or stop her heart from rattling her ribcage. It didn't make her suddenly know how to lead or give orders. Instead, it just made the panic prickle at her skin until she was frantically rubbing at her arms in her suit in a sad attempt to relieve it.

"Uravity. Bakugou."

Aizawa's voice cut through the quiet static in her earpiece and she froze.

This was it. This was it.

"Your objective is to take the briefcase from Creati and Shouto."

Her blood ran cold. Take the briefcase. From… Momo and Todoroki. The class rep and the son of the new Number One hero. She had to take their objective from them which meant there was no getting around it. She was going to have to fight them. How the heck was she supposed to do that? Uraraka wasn't a strategist. She wasn't like Deku—she understood her classmates quirks, sure, but she'd never sat around and thought about how she would apply her quirk to fighting them. She'd been training with Katsuki every single day, and she knew she'd gotten better at fighting and learning how to use her quirk more offensively, but she wasn't strong like that. She couldn't fight Momo's brain or Todoroki's strength. They were basically a powerhouse. Momo was so smart and Todoroki was capable of overwhelming anyone in an instant. Remembering his fight with Deku from the sports festival still gave her chills and that was months ago now.

Everything was spinning and her stomach was churning.

She was right back at the start. She was a child again, trying too hard to push her quirk and nauseating herself. She was on the edge of vomiting again. She could feel it rising in the back of throat, burning her esophagus. She wasn't strong enough for something like this—she made things float, for crying out loud! How was she supposed to compete with the best students in the class?

Seriously. What the heck. If Uraraka had to take something from them—didn't that mean if her and Katsuki succeeded, the other team would fail? And seriously, if their mission was to take the briefcase from Momo and Todoroki, didn't that mean they'd already found each other and found what they were supposed to find? How was that even fair? It hadn't even been twenty minutes!

"Ochako." Katsuki's voice broke through her thoughts and her turmoil and suddenly, everything stilled.

She'd almost forgotten. How had she almost forgotten?

It wasn't just her. It was her and Katsuki. They were a team. She wasn't a fragile doll. She could fight. She'd bested Katsuki in the ring when they sparred and left him gasping for breath, even landed hits that had knocked him off his feet; she'd gone toe to toe with him at the sports festival and lifted an arenas worth of freaking concrete above his head and withstood his attacks! She'd made him see her for what she was. And he had. Bakugou Katsuki, the pig-headed, arrogant guy that he was most of the time, believed she was strong and worthy of being taken seriously even when everyone else booed at him from the stands about beating up on a girl.

"Right… time to get serious then, Uraraka!"

Jokes on them, she decided, I'm gonna be a hero.

Uraraka shook her head and scoffed at herself, unable to stop the grin that pulled her face.

This was fine. There was no reason for it not to be.

"You said you heard them earlier," Uraraka finally said, standing back up and gazing out over the urban landscape, "Do you know which way they went?"

"South east. Probably toward the fucking exit gate."

She nodded even though he probably couldn't see her, "They'll be slower than you on foot because of Creati," Uraraka turned her head in the direction her partner indicated, "You're closer to them, you've got to stall them, make sure they can't get to the gate. Let me know when you find them. I'll be right behind you."

Uraraka thought she heard something like a laugh through the static as she began running toward the exit gate. Somehow, she knew Katsuki was already doing what she said and for some reason that just made her run faster.

"Ochako," Katsuki said through huffs of breath; she could hear that wild, sideways grin in his voice, "It's fucking hot… when you take charge."

She nearly stumbled as she leapt from the rooftop and pressed her fingertips to her palms, letting the momentum from her jump carry her gently onto the next building before releasing it again, "K-Katsuki!"

Good god, her boyfriend apparently had no shame! Putting aside the fact that the comment left her with an entirely new fluttering sensation in her chest, it was so… forward. The teachers hadn't explicitly said so, but she assumed they were listening to what they were saying or at the very least, recording, their conversations for grading purposes. Having their classmates know they were dating was one thing, but having their teachers figure it out by hearing an embarrassing compliment was something else entirely.

Her face was on fire. Thank goodness for the cold wind whipping against her cheeks.

Shoving her embarrassment to the side for now, Uraraka broke back into a sprint and considered her classmates. With their quirks, it was likely Todoroki would have the briefcase they were after. It would be more difficult to get close to him than it would be to get to Momo with his ice. But Momo's quirk was a wildcard—she'd likely have some trap devised to slow them down or trick them. Luckily though, if her and Katsuki could get past the initial attack, they'd have time before Momo could make anything else.

"Found 'em," Her partner's voice came through the earpiece just before the sound of an explosion ripped through the air, sending a quick plume of smoke into the air before it evaporated.

Uraraka adjusted her momentum and leapt once more, narrowly missing the ledge of the next building. She was close now, just a few blocks away. Closer to them than they were to the exit gate. Thank goodness for Katsuki's speed.

"Two cases!" His voice snarled in her ear, "They both got—" he cut out and Uraraka could see three large spikes of Todoroki's ice as it rose up between the buildings, followed by the signature crackling and loud boom of Katsuki's quirk, "They've both got a fucking case!"

Uraraka frowned but pushed forward anyway, jumping over the last alleyway before her destination. Aizawa had specifically said briefcase. Singular. Which probably meant one of them was a fake Momo had created with her quirk. Getting the correct briefcase from them and getting through the exit gate was going to be important but determining which was real and fake probably wouldn't be possible. Even if they knew what the thing looked like, Momo had probably created an exact duplicate, at least in appearance.

"So, let's take them both!" Uraraka huffed back, finally stopping on the roof above.

Katsuki grunted, seemingly in affirmation, and she could hear the fighting just below. Todoroki was sending barrage after barrage of ice at her partner, and from the sound of it, Katsuki was also taking Momo's quirk into account as he dodged them. Uraraka could hear her friend yelp every now and again and the sound of explosions echoing against something metal. Probably a shield. Avoiding Todoroki and distracting Momo at the same time couldn't be easy.

"I'm here," Uraraka whispered, although she wasn't sure that was necessary with how loud the fighting was, "I'm just above, on the roof to your right. When you have an opening, switch with me."

Katsuki didn't respond but she braced herself anyway. As soon as he made it over the ledge, she'd have to touch him and take over. Hopefully, he understood what she was aiming for, although even if he didn't, he'd probably get it pretty quick when he started floating upward. This was their chance to use the move they'd practiced—all Uraraka had to do was distract them long enough for Katsuki to get high enough into the air. Maybe she'd even be able to get her hands on one of the cases before she let him drop.

Adrenaline pulsed through her veins. She was probably grinning like a maniac. Actually, in this scenario, maybe that was appropriate. But she was excited. Her skin was prickling again, but in anticipation this time. Uraraka had never really itched for a fight before; challenging Katsuki to a sparring match was the closest she'd ever come to that, and back then, she'd only done it to get him to listen to her. Now though, she wanted it. She wanted the fight. She wanted to go down there and win and let herself be blinded by the rush of it all.

Katsuki was definitely rubbing off on her.

After a particularly loud boom, she tensed, tapped her left palm, waited, watched, and then finally met the wild crimson eyes as Katsuki blew himself over the ledge with his arm outstretched toward her. The angle was a little off for the position she was in, but he'd taken off one of his gloves and she jumped, pressed the pads of her fingers into his exposed skin, and launched herself over the edge.

It had taken some practice to learn how to only release her quirk on certain things without letting gravity come back to everything all at once, and she wasn't always successful. Luckily though, as she let herself plummet towards Creati, she could still feel Katsuki's weightlessness.

Thank goodness, she heard herself thinking, taking far too much pleasure in the way Momo's eyes widened at her assault.

"Go get 'em, Angel-face."

Uraraka knocked her friend to the ground with a thud and swatted at the briefcase in her right hand before she could scramble away. She wrapped the restraint tape around Momo's arm as the case went up into the sky along with Katsuki and for a moment the panic on Momo's face made her think she must have gotten the correct case on her first try, but her relief was short lived.

Todoroki's ice was barreling toward her.

Uraraka looked up, clicked her tongue when she saw Katsuki wasn't quite high enough yet, and pushed herself back into the air once more with her quirk, narrowly missing the spikes as they erupted from the ground to freeze her in place. She could see the other case in Todoroki's right hand, encased in ice from its hinges all the way to his elbow.

She tapped the ice, flinching at the cold, before kicking off of it and launching herself to the other side of the street. At that, Todoroki lifted his left hand and sent a spiraling flame in her direction that she ducked under with a yelp. The smell of burnt hair scrunched her nose. Great, she was probably gonna need a haircut now.

The same barrage happened two more times. Rushing ice, activating her quick, touching the ice, pushing off of it, a shot of fire, deactivating her quirk, dodging the flames. She was sweating. Her face felt sunburnt. It was impossible to get any closer to Todoroki, though. She'd only lasted this long because of he still wasn't quite quick enough to use both his ice and his fire at the same time. At least she didn't have to deal with Momo too. But her stamina was waning.

"Whenever you're ready, Uravity." Katsuki buzzed in her ear and she felt herself grinning again despite the exhaustion. She could hear the excitement and anticipation in his voice—he was ready to fall.

Uraraka dipped under Todoroki's flames once more and pressed her sweaty fingertips together before diving headfirst into the alley off the street.

The explosion Katsuki created was louder than any she'd ever heard before. She guessed that he'd pulled the pin on his gauntlet this time around rather than just using the sweat from his palm like he'd done during practice. The ground shook at the impact. It sent ice flying in every direction. Even with her eyes closed and ears covered, Uraraka could hear the wet shatter and feel the sting of sharp, cold shrapnel as it whipped into her back.

"Fuck!"

Uraraka heard the roar through her earpiece and from somewhere behind her and she spun around to see Katsuki tangling with Todoroki again. There was a bit of blood running down the scarred part of his face and nearly half of her classmates' uniform had been singed and torn from the explosion, but the briefcase was still solidly encased in ice on his right side.

Of course, Todoroki wouldn't make this easy.

"Time for plan B," Uraraka said suddenly, not bothering to pay attention to the wide-eyed scowl her boyfriend shot her from across the street, "Watch your head."

A beautiful, disgustingly cold nausea spread from her stomach to her each of her limbs at the weight of the ice that hovered above the buildings. Uraraka wasn't sure why something that used to make her so uncomfortable now had her bubbling with satisfaction. She'd have to thank Katsuki for this later. If he hadn't broken all the ice she'd touched earlier apart during his fall, she wouldn't have had a plan C.

She pushed herself forward into a quick sprint and pressed her fingertips together one last time.

Ice cascaded around them like an avalanche. A particularly large chunk snapped so close to her opponent that Uraraka almost felt guilty at the surprise that shot across his face. Almost. It cracked at the barrier he'd made on his arm and around the briefcase, and as if on cue, Katsuki was there to shatter it, grab his wrist, twist the case from his grasp, and toss it to her.

She grabbed it, ignoring the blistering cold of the metal on her skin, and retrieved the first one that had landed on the ground a few yards away that she'd let fall with her meteor shower.

Her chest was heaving as she looked over the devastation the two of them had caused. For the most part, the buildings were unscathed, but the street was rippled outward in a wide circle, deeper in the middle and shallow on the sides, chunks of ice littered the ground. Momo and Todoroki were both staring at them—at her—their faces stuck in some permanent state of shock.

He was standing there, an impressed look on his face as he stared at the crater. He looked just as ragged as she felt.

"It's like ground zero for some disaster," She breathed.

After a silent second of contemplation, Katsuki looked up with one of those mischievous, wicked grins that pulled at her heart in a way that reminded her she was just as crazy as he was for seeing that sort of face and loving it, "Yeah. It sure as fuck is."

Uraraka barely remembered Katsuki tying the restraint tape on to Todoroki's wrists or the short run out of the escape gate with both briefcases in her arms. She was too busy looking at the ridiculously huge, surprisingly goofy smile pulling at his face. She was too enthralled in just how happy he looked, how proud he looked, at the way his red eyes burned and sparkled in unspoken amusement when he looked back at her.

She loved him.

And she'd won.

They'd won.

She wasn't sure if they'd actually pass—Aizawa's grading was always difficult to understand and she was sure they'd made some mistakes along the way, but she felt so giddy at their victory and so impressed with herself that, for now, she didn't care what their grade would be. Other groups were making their way through the escape gate now, different items in their hands, different injuries on their bodies. From the way some of them were staring, she guessed they'd seen the tail-end of their fight.

"Thanks for believing in me," Uraraka said suddenly, trying to blink away the tears she felt prickling at the back of her eyes.

"Don't thank me for that shit," He huffed, wrapping his arm protectively around her shoulder and tugging her against his chest with no regard for the audience they had, "It's literally the least I could do."

"I'm serious, Katsuki," Uraraka huffed back, tilting her head upward to give him a sharp glare that was probably undermined by the smile on her face.

"Yeah, well, me fucking too," He hissed as if trying to make a point and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead, like he didn't care that she was a sweaty—and probably bloody—mess. And then he said, so simply, like it wasn't the greatest praise he could hand out to anyone, like there wasn't a doubt in his mind, "But I believe in heroes."