Bakugo absentmindedly chopped up a few carrots, losing himself in the cooking and doing his best to drown out the rowdy noises of his class in the common room.

While he could tolerate his fellow hero students, there was no denying that they got on his nerves more often than not.

The noise was something he could handle.

Their strange attachment to one another was something he could also endure, especially since it managed to bail him out of the kidnapping situation with those shitty villains.

But Jesus fucking Christ - it pissed him off to no end that the majority of them were abysmal chefs.

Were they incapable of simply following a recipe and producing some edible food? Outside of Racoon eyes and Pikachu's unique brand of idiocy, the rest of the class should've been more than smart enough to do so, but that evidently wasn't the case, otherwise he wouldn't be stuck here teaching two of them how to make a simple meal.

"Kacchan, I think I messed something up."

Bakugo looked to his left, catching sight of Izuku with a knife in his hand and—

Holy fucking shit, was that blood?

"You fucking idiot!" He grabbed a washcloth, soaking it in cold water and applying pressure to the cut on the back of his hand. "Don't bleed over the food!"

"Hey, don't shout at him!" Ochako scolded from beside the green haired teen. "He's trying his best, and that's what matters."

Bakugo watched as Ochako discretely removed the knife from Izuku's other hand, tossing it in the sink.

Thank fucking Christ she had the foresight to get that weapon out of Deku's possession before he accidentally lobbed off a finger.

"It's just a little cut, it's not gonna kill me or anything." Izuku pouted as Ochako searched his body for further injuries.

"Blood loss." Ochako replied simply.

"Infection." Bakugo added, perusing the drawers for a plaster with his unoccupied hand as the other kept applying force to the wound.

"Oh! Well Recovery Girl always said my immune system was relatively—"

He opted for simply drowning out the nerd's rambling with a practiced ease as he tore off a strip of gauze, affirming that the washcloth managed to clear away the blood smeared on his hand before firmly tying the medical fabric around the appendage.

"New rules." Bakugo interrupted the muttering teenager. "No knives, no fire and no forks."

"Forks?" Ochako scrunched her nose in confusion.

Bakugo did his best to ignore how damn cute it looked.

"Do you seriously trust him with anything capable of causing more bleeding?"

"Hey!" The boy whined.

"…He's right." She relented, patting Izuku on the shoulder. "Sorry Deku."

"Well what am I meant to do now?" Izuku uncharacteristically scowled, crossing his arms over his chest. "Cut vegetables with my teeth and spit them back onto the counter?"

"Sure—"

"Fucking hell, no!" Bakugo interrupted her. "Do you know how many damn germs are in the human mouth?"

"Deku's never uttered a swear in his life, so his mouth's probably clean." She waved off before smirking lightly. "Yours is probably filthy though."

He watched blankly as the two best friends began laughing at his expense.

He couldn't even muster the courage to shout in protest as he usually would, especially when Ochako looked goddamn adorable when snorting out her chuckles—

Bakugo sighed.

This was what his life devolved to. Unable to shout at a girl simply because he thought she was cute.

And kind. And determined. And altogether perfect—

Goddamn it. He had a fucking crush on Ochako.

It took another week of an inability to focus in lessons, getting his ass kicked by Deku during spars and being unable to make eye contact with Ochako before he finally decided to nip the issue in the bud.

He was a goddamn man, and there was no way in hell he was going to prance about like a middle school girl while shyly gushing about a crush.

Once making his way to Ochako's room in the dorms, he knocked a couple of times on her door before it opened, revealing the girl clad in a casual crop top and shorts.

Christ almighty - did she always have abs that solid?

His were better, obviously, and while hers were covered by a small layer of fat he could still clearly see the definition—

"Bakugo? Do you need something?"

Fucking hypnotic abs.

He snapped his eyes back up to hers, silently praying that she didn't catch him ogling her.

It was showtime.

He practiced this shit dozens of times over in the mirror, and he was confident there wasn't a chance in hell this wouldn't work out.

"Wanna go on a date Pink Cheeks?" He asked, sporting a feral grin that was supposed to be a disarming smile.

He observed her face as it shifted through expressions.

Eyebrows raised? Likely some surprise at how confident he appeared.

Eyes slightly widened? Clearly adoration of some form.

Eyebrows furrowing in addition to her eyes squinting slightly? That must be—

Wait.

That wasn't a positive expression.

Just as he was about to press for an answer, the door was unceremoniously slammed in his face.

This wasn't what he envisioned when he reenacted this scene in his room.

Over the course of yet another week, Bakugo was trying to piece together the mistake he made.

Was it the smile?

Bakugo inwardly chuckled, dismissing the notion entirely. His mother once said that his smile was the most beautiful thing she ever witnessed, and the old bitch was never wrong.

In that case, it must've been something he said.

Was the question too casual? Ochako's kansai accent meant that informality was essentially her default setting, so it couldn't have been that.

He considered the prospect of the nickname being the issue, but tossed it aside swiftly. Pink cheeks was his cute nickname for her, as opposed to the gruffer 'Roundface' nickname he goaded her with during spars.

Hell, he didn't even swear! Didn't that earn him any points in her books?

Unless…

That was the issue.

She could've been so shocked by his change of tone that she couldn't bring herself to accept his date proposal.

…or it was the nickname.

Bakugo tore at his hair in frustration before coming to a conclusion:

He just had to kill two birds with one stone - changing both the nickname he used and his lack of vulgar language.

Heading back once more to Ochako's room, he rapped his knuckles on her door and watched as she opened it, this time wearing very fitting booty shorts coupled with a casual t-shirt.

He knew exactly what nickname to use for the occasion.

"Hey fat-ass, tryna date or what?"

He assumed she rejected him again based on the fact that he was stuck floating in the corridors with a bright red handprint across his cheek.

God fucking dammit.

After the failed attempts (and eventually being released from Zero Gravity 2 hours later) he decided to seek out some…ugh—help on the matter.

Which led him straight to Deku's door.

Him and Ochako were undoubtedly the closest friends he'd ever witnessed in his life, so if anyone was going to provide some good advice it'd be the nerd.

Banging his fist on the door twice, he heard the lock click before the door was opened a couple of seconds later.

…

Hold on a fucking minute - when did Deku grow tits?

"You're not Deku."

"And you're very astute." The girl replied stoically.

Fucking brilliant; not-Deku was a snarky shit too.

The door swung open even further to reveal Deku behind the strangely expressionless girl.

"Oh, hey Kacchan!" Izuku's eyes widened in brief panic. "Woah - what happened to your cheek?"

Bakugo lightly slapped away the hand that reached for his cheek and scowled. "Roundface happened."

He heard the girl scoff lightly as she looked to the side. "I don't blame her."

"The fuck is wrong with you—!"

"Kacchan."

The blond's eyebrows raised in shock, turning to his childhood friend to find Deku with an expressionless face.

"Tch." He crossed his arms over his chest, averting his eyes. "Can we talk somewhere else?"

"Sure."

Bakugo stomped off, but not before peripherally catching the girl exchange a few words with Deku before drawing him into a kiss.

The blond silently led them towards the roof, taking a seat on the ledge as the greenette mirrored his actions.

The two sat in silence for a solid minute before Bakugo decided to break it.

"Who was she?" He inquired. "A girlfriend or something?"

"Mhm." Izuku nodded as he responded with a wistful smile. "Yui, she's from Class B."

Bakugo twiddled his thumbs, trying to distract himself from the awkward situation. "I'm…sorry for snapping at her."

However, much to his disbelief, he received a chuckle in response.

"Don't worry, I was a bit on edge too." Izuku rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't exactly want you two to meet so soon after I told her about…well, you and me."

Bakugo understood instantly.

"Right." He replied simply, doing his best to find the right words. "Look Deku, I'm sor—"

"I forgave you ages ago, quit apologising." Izuku lightly scolded. "I just wanted Yui to know everything about me since we've been going out for a good few months, and I'm really serious about her, y'know?"

"Yeah, I guess…" He trailed off, before running a hand through his hair and backtracking. "No, not really." He sighed. "What's it like? All this lovely shit."

"It's just nice, I guess."

"No fucking shit Sherlock." He snorted. "Got any more words of wisdom?"

"I dunno, it's kinda weird to explain." Izuku halfheartedly chuckled. "It's like finally finding a piece of you that you didn't know you were missing."

Bakugo's mind instantly snapped to Ochako.

Bubbliness to counteract his brashness.

Kindness to temper his rage.

Competitiveness to match his own.

Everything clicked into place - he knew exactly what to say to her.

"Thanks nerd - I'm out." Bakugo swung his legs back off the ledge, allowing his feet to land on the ground.

"Wait." Izuku called out. "What'd you do to make Ochako angry anyway?"

Had Bakugo been thinking more clearly, he might've worded his response differently.

"Called her 'fatass'." He called out from over his shoulder.

And that was how he ended up with a purple bruise to compliment the smack mark on the opposite cheek.

Wasting no time, Bakugo headed straight for Ochako's dorm room and knocked gently.

The door swung open and the girl evidently wasn't keen on wasting time either.

"Here to get your ass kicked again?" She challenged with narrowed eyes.

"Hold on." He held both hands up in surrender. "The fatass thing wasn't meant to insult you. I was tryna say that your ass was fat."

Uraraka simply blinked.

"Like, in a good way." He clarified.

"Oh." Ochako blushed lightly, folding her arms over her chest and relaxing her posture. "Well, thanks, but is that all you came here for?

"No, there's some other shit I've gotta say." Bakugo inhaled slowly in preparation, training his eyes on the ground. "You're real fuckin' nice. And warm. And kind. And I'm like 70% sure that I don't deserve to even be friends with somebody as good as you, but I like you a lot." He exhaled the excess air before snapping his eyes back up to hers. "Do you wanna go out with me sometime?"

He observed as her mouth fell open and closed shut repeatedly.

Even if she wasn't interested, he could take solace in the fact that he managed to leave her speechless.

"You don't gotta answer now - just let me know whenever you make your mind up."

Bakugo turned around, prepared to retire to his room and scream expletives into his pillow when a hand tugged at his sleeve.

"Wait!"

He turned to face her.

"Do you know why I didn't say yes the first time?" She asked.

Bakugo, after a few seconds of consideration, responded. "Was my smile creepy or something?"

"It's because you didn't use my name." She chuckled, releasing his sleeve and punching him lightly in the chest. "Dummy."

…

He supposed he was at least half right earlier with the nickname being the issue.

At least he could have that weight off his che—

Fuck!

"Shit, I didn't use your name this time either." Bakugo facepalmed.

"Don't be stupid." Ochako scoffed. "All the stuff you said was more than enough."

Bakugo's eyes widened. "Does that mean…"

"Yep." She beamed a radiant smile up at him. "I'm all yours!"

Bakugo couldn't help but draw her into a hug. Partly out of adoration, but mostly in an attempt to hide the goofy grin he was sporting.

Hope you enjoyed!

Kacchako's not really one of my favourite ships, but the idea came to me and when I come up with something I can't write anything else until I get the idea down on paper. But truth be told, writing this one-shot really shot up my enjoyment for this pairing, so I might write more of the ship in the future!

Feel free to drop any thoughts in the reviews!