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: Hello again! I hope the timeline I'm using doesn't get too confusing because I actually managed to get lost in it myself. So last chapter was 5 years before the "present day" that we'll be seeing in a few chapters, so this chapter is 2 years before the "present day." I'm just using the 3 years later tag below because it's technically 3 years after the last chapter/graduation. So everybody should be about 20 or 21 here if I did my math right. And I think I did my math right. Eh, I just hope it makes sense the way I explained it because I wound up breaking this chapter up into 2 or 3 pieces. It was just getting too long for my liking, hence the double-chapter update tonight. Personally, I enjoy reading fics that are only about 2000 words in length if they're multi-chapter, so I usually try to stick to that limit in my own writing. But of course, once I get on a roll I can't stop, so I wind up breaking them up. Anywho, without any further rambling, enjoy! We're still with Ochako in this chapter and we'll see more of the same format with the italics for TV, underline for phone calls, and underline-italics for the Line messages. Hopefully that's not too jarring to read, either! Gah! Enough! Enjoy already!

Chapter 2: Plus Ultra Living Space

Three Years Later (AKA Two Years Ago/Before Present Day)

Ochako nearly tripped up the stairs in her haste to get through the door. She narrowly avoided colliding into one of Deku's neighbors leaving their apartment, but luckily the reflexes she'd honed as a hero prevented her from slamming into their door as they came out. She gave the old lady an apologetic smile, which lessened their frown to a forced look of disapproval. They knew she was also a hero, but more importantly than that, she was a very good friend of the sweet and diligent boy next door. So, she was willing to tolerate her rude behavior just this once if it meant avoiding upsetting the Pro Hero Deku.

"Be more careful." She admonished, closing their door calmly and locking it behind her. She waited for Ochako to move out of the way. "You could have hurt someone."

"Yes!" Ochako squeaked, eagerly stepping aside to let the old woman by. "I'm so sorry! I'll try to be more careful next time!"

She gave her a terse smile in return before heading for the elevator down the hall. "You know…Midoriya-san isn't home."

"I know." Ochako grinned. "I'm heading over to watch him on TV right now!"

Satisfied with leaving the woman in the hallway in astonishment, Ochako quickly fished Deku's key out of her purse and trotted over to his door. She unlocked it and all but leapt inside. She impatiently cast her shoes off, letting them land wherever gravity chose before finally pushing herself through the door of the foyer and into the apartment.

Skill and talent had gotten Deku far, but all-too-often Ochako realized that he was just lucky. Thanks to all the connections he'd made over the years, he was able to rise remarkably quickly through the hero rankings. He was nowhere near Top 10 status yet, but the notoriously penny-pinching girl would easily take that bet without a second thought. It wasn't so much a matter of whether or not he would ever break the Top 10, but more a matter of how long it would take him to do so. He'd managed to maintain his status as #32 for about a year and a half now, so the Top Ten wasn't such an unrealistic goal after all.

But even without such a high rank, Deku's agency was big and successful enough to house him luxuriously. His apartment was a suite that used to belong to a hero who retired in order enjoy the quiet of the countryside. Deku was again lucky in his timing since his arrival happened to coincide with the departure, so he was housed immediately.

Ochako wasn't sure of the exact square footage, but the entire apartment felt bigger than her parents' whole house. It was grandiose and very Western-style. Coming from such a meager background, she couldn't help but jump at the opportunity whenever Deku invited her over. She loved the luxury of it all, but she could tell Deku wasn't comfortable with it. She felt that it overwhelmed him in the sense that he would never own enough things to be able to decorate the place in the way that it deserved. All Might memorabilia excluded, of course.

The suite had all the basics, plus a lot of extra. She often jokingly called his place the "Plus Ultra" of apartments, which she hoped made him feel less self-conscious about it.

Dark hardwood floors ran throughout all of the rooms, except the bathroom and balconies (yes, there was more than one), and all the walls were painted a basic whitish color. "Whitish" because the shade seemed to change depending on the lighting of the room. The foyer was a separate room that led to the outside, with a single step that separated the "outside" from the "inside" door. Deku had a set of shelves for his shoes on the left and a closet for his coats and whatever else to the right. Stepping up through the foyer door, he had placed a small throw rug on the floor at her insistence since he didn't have one outside.

To the front-left was the toilet and bathroom, which boasted a floor-length mirror and a deep soaking tub with jacuzzi jets in addition to a multi-angle showerhead that Ochako took full advantage of whenever she could. To the right of the foyer door was the kitchen. The same dark colored wood that made up his floors also covered his cabinets. He had all stainless-steel appliances and some kind of black countertops, but Ochako didn't care to know if they were marble or granite. It was one of those eat-in kitchens that had a large "step-down" countertop at the end with tall barstools so people could eat casually next to each other.

To the back of this was the living room, knowingly arranged so that the 100" smart-TV was visible from both the eat-in kitchen area and the formal dining area. Other than the bathroom, this was her favorite room. The television was an ostentatious monstrosity and she was wholeheartedly in love with it. It was big enough to justify calling it a theater room and just "smart" enough to stump her more often than not. In fact, she'd asked Deku to keep the TV set to the channel that his interview would be hosted on, just to be safe. Tonight was not the night to figure out which input channel the cable news was on.

Just beyond the living room was the main balcony with curtained sliding glass doors that Ochako hated. She'd seen enough movies to know better than to go out there when she was alone. In a quiet corner just past the balcony was Deku's library, furnished with a single worn-in armchair and standing lamp. As the years had passed, the more the bookshelves had filled with both his notebooks and regular books. Though the latter would probably always outnumber the former, if she was going to be honest.

And finally, next to the library and right across from the bathroom was the bedroom. Unsurprisingly, Deku's bed was a king – only because the former tenant had already left that size box spring behind and the agency figured it would just be easier to replace it with the same sized mattress. Or so went the story he'd been told when he vented his frustrations with the unnecessary luxury of it all. The second smaller balcony was in this room, attached to a single sliding glass door even though it was still connected to the main one by the living room. He had a walk-in closet that boasted a floor-length vanity mirror with those old-Hollywood lightbulbs encircling it. The TV in Deku's bedroom was much more modest and was a gift from his mother, which Ochako was much more adept at using.

But tonight was a special night that demanded the grandeur of the 100" screen in the living room. So, after grabbing a quick snack from the pantry in the kitchen, Ochako settled herself into the plush sofa and hunkered down for the night. Deku was away for the night because of this interview, so he'd asked Ochako to stay over to housesit. It was a pretty regular occurrence that she didn't mind at all since the pair didn't live too far away from each other anyway. It would take her about the same commute time to get to work in the evening, just in the opposite direction.

She'd made it back with a few minutes to spare before the interview began, worry beginning to set in since she hadn't heard from him all day. On the opposite end, their U.A. group chat had seemingly risen from the dead for the first time in nearly a year as their old classmates began to chime in with their thoughts on the interview.

Comments ranged from general well-wishes to mild jealousy to playful jabs wondering how such a plain-looking guy managed to score a primetime interview with Hinata Teodasu. The theme of the night would be, of course, U.A.'s hero courses and how the academy was able to consistently pump out Pro Hero after Pro Hero. Deku had been asked a few weeks ago if he'd be willing to participate since their class had become a bit of a local legend thanks to all the excitement they'd experienced since their first year began. He hadn't thought to ask who else would be joining him in the interview, which surprised Ochako since that was the very first thing she'd wondered.

As the minutes wound down, the group chat came alive, and before she knew it, there was Hinata Teodasu in a deep mauve pantsuit with a satin champagne-colored pussycat bow beneath. She wore a pair of severe-looking glasses with thin square frames and had the stiletto of her nude pointed-toe heels securely hooked into the bottom of her chair. She looked every part the regal interviewer, and it only made Ochako just that much more nervous for Deku.

"Welcome to Helping Hands with Hinata." She greeted with too much severity. "I'm your host, Hinata Teodasu, and I'm sitting here tonight with three young and exceptional Pro Heroes."

The camera left her to pan over to her guests.

"Tonight, our guests start with the hero known simply as Deku."

The young man in question gave a stiff wave and a freckled smile that sought to conceal his nerves but in fact did just the opposite.

"Next to him is the Jet-Black Hero: Tsukuyomi." Fumikage Tokoyami closed his sharp eyes before giving the host a deep nod in greeting, arms pensively crossed over his chest.

"And, last but certainly not least, the explosive hero Ground Zero."

Bakugo visibly flinched as the camera seized the moment and zoomed in on him. His lip curled in annoyance and he clenched the arms of his chair to keep the sparks at bay.

"That's not my name!" He barked, as Deku attempted to dissipate some tension with a friendly smile.

"Oh, that's right." Hinata peered down at the notes she had been provided at some point before the broadcast began. "My apologies, but you have to admit that is how you're most widely known. Why not just change it? It would spare a lot of trouble in the future." She gave a tiny chuckle. "It packs more of a punch, I think."

"If two syllables confuse you, you're dumber than you look, Pantsuit." He growled. "It's Kacchan. Kaaaaaaa-chaaaaaaaan." He dragged it out to drive his point home.

Hinata was clutching her notes a little tighter than before and she adjusted her glasses a bit mechanically. "Again. My apologies." She cleared her throat. "My final guest, the explosion hero Kacchan."

Bakugo rolled his eyes, somehow still unsatisfied even though he'd gotten his way.

Ochako's phone was going wild with notifications, but she ignored them as Hinata started things off.

"Now that we're done with introductions, let's move on. I thank you all for being here tonight. As I'm sure the audience is well-aware, it isn't easy for Pro Heroes to take time off. That being said, we were originally supposed to have the top three finalists from your class' Sports Festival here tonight, but the son of the #1 Top Hero Endeavor, the Half-Hot Half-Cold Hero Shouto couldn't make it tonight due to a schedule conflict." She paused, turning to Midoriya. "So, we're glad that you were available, Deku-kun. May I call you that?"

He nodded enthusiastically, red in the face and struggling to form proper words.

"Right." Hinata shuffled her notes. "Then, shall we get started? U.A. High School has held the number one spot as the top school for aspiring heroes, year after year. In your experiences, what reasons can you think of to explain why it manages to be so consistently successful in creating long-lasting heroes?" She paused. "Tsukuyomi, why don't you start us off? You're the former protégé of the #2 Winged Hero: Hawks, after all, who is the highest ranking hero that did not actually attend U.A. I'm sure your opinion will be the most interesting because of this."

"Well." Tokoyami began, shifting in his seat even though he never unfolded his arms. "While I personally believe that nothing can replace the value of a good education, I also believe that nothing can beat good old-fashioned experience. I think we were lucky to be able to have had both before and after we were officially licensed. It was truly a one of a kind time in our lives."

Hinata nodded in agreement. "That is certainly one way of putting it, I suppose…considering your graduating class has become something of a local legend thanks to all of the tragedies that occurred during your first year. From villain encounters to kidnappings to the retirement of the former #1 Pro Hero All Might, it's no wonder the school started boarding students at their Heights Alliance that same year. I'm curious what your take is on all of that, Ground—I mean, Kacchan. You were the one at the center of many of these events, were you not?"

Bakugo's mouth tensed into a thin line, but that was thankfully the extent of his reaction before Deku swiftly interrupted his answer.

"I think it's the diversity at U.A. that really makes it such a great place to learn!" He happily chirped, thankfully taking the heat off his oldest friend. "It's not just a school for aspiring Top Heroes. There's also the General Ed Department, the Department of Management, and of course the Support Department. We're much more than just the Hero Department, which I think gets most of the public's attention."

"Indeed." Hinata nodded, not caring to give him a proper response since her attempt at getting another rise out of Bakugo had been thwarted by him. "Tsukuyomi mentioned your experiences before and after your hero licensing exam. Can you bring us back to that time for all the viewers out there who may be studying for that exact exam?" She peered down at her notes again. "Kacchan, my notes indicate that you and Shouto were the only two in your class to fail the exam initially. Would you care to explain what happened?"

He scoffed in response, giving Deku a lethal side-eye before he tried to rescue him again. "Sure. We didn't fail the exam. We passed it six months later after taking a training course that qualified us even more for the license."

Hinata's eyes flashed like a bloodhound. "So, you think that failing initially makes you more qualified than those who passed on the first try? That's quite fascinating – I wonder what your peers think about that declaration?"

The screen flashed to photos from their first Sports Festival and the various press conferences from that same year. When the feed focused on the medal ceremony from their infamous Sports Fest, Ochako frowned. She could see where things were going and resented them for taking such a screeching U-turn off the high road. They panned over the podium, showing Tokoyami in 3rd, Todoroki in 2nd, and pausing over the image of a bound and gagged Bakugo in 1st place. Deku's keen green eyes seemed to catch onto this when, on the screen behind their seats, a muted clip showing a K.O.'d Ochako laying before a looming Bakugo in the destroyed ring was played next.

"I don't think that's the point Kacchan was trying to make." Deku declared, brows a bit furrowed in disappointment after seeing through their host's intentions.

"Likewise." Tokoyami agreed with a solemn nod. "The heroes Kacchan and Shouto placed first and second, respectively, at our Sports Festival, as shown. So, I find it shameful that you choose to bring up their scores on the initial hero licensing exam instead of the commendations on the growth and knowledge they experienced after passing."

Bakugo eyed Tokoyami with a scowl, but the latter didn't bother to officially acknowledge him.

"Furthermore, I do not believe in judging a hero's capabilities in just one aspect of their lives as you've apparently chosen to do. And that is all I wish to say about that."

A/N: Like I said, I'm breaking this chapter up into shorter parts just so it's easier to read. So, even though we ended kind of right in the middle of the interview here, it isn't over yet. Which is good because I'm not done tormenting Bakugo yet either!