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: WOO! Long weekend = another update! And we finally reached present day plot-wise! Double WOO! So, If I did my math right (which would be a miracle, let's be honest here) then everybody should be around the ages of 22 or 23 because it's been 5 years altogether since graduation-ish times. I think the oldest anyone would be, give or take some months unaccounted for, would probably be like…24ish? Maybe 25 max? Their exact ages aren't extremely pivotal to the plot but I'm just a stickler for these kinds of details so I figure I could grant you the same courtesy lol. Anywho, enjoy already! P.S. there's a little smut in this chapter, but nothing too intense.

Chapter 6: A Pre-Flight Fight

Present Day

Deku sighed at the fawn-tinted head of hair poking out from over the top of the couch. It had been the longest she'd gone without talking to him since…well, since they'd known each other. And it had only been four days, but it had been the longest four days of his life. Yes, he probably shouldn't have waited so long to tell her, but it was only because he'd never been completely 100 percent certain until then himself! If he had lied and said that he'd only been invited to I-Island on such short notice, maybe she wouldn't be so mad. But then again, Deku wasn't much of anything if he wasn't too honest for his own good.

He deposited the last of his luggage into the genkan and closed the door to return to his apartment. He stood by the door looking into the living room where that brunette still sat like a statue, brown eyes glued to the TV that he knew she wasn't actually paying any attention to. She was trying to send him a message that even a blind person could see from space.

"I'm leaving now." He announced, slightly too afraid to approach any closer than this.

Ochako startled. "F-fine." She bit back, annoyed with herself for jumping at the sudden sound of his voice. She was no good at confrontation, but she couldn't figure out another way to show Deku how upset she was with him. Typically carefree and laidback, she was terrified that her concern for him would devolve into a screaming match that would end with him storming out the door. Not that any of their past fights had ever even come close to such an outcome, but that still did nothing to dissuade her irrational fear of it somehow happening.

Even the cat who had begun to hang around lately managed to perk up at Deku's forthcoming departure. He was a fluffy calico with a rhinestone-encrusted purple collar announcing his name was Aki, like the season. Deku still wasn't sure who he belonged to, but apparently Ochako was quite fond of him if he kept mysteriously finding his way back inside. Especially considering that they were on the top floor of the building. He just kept reminding Ochako that Aki obviously belonged to someone else, to which she would typically spin the story to make it seem like it was him leaving the balcony door open instead. When in reality, she was constantly leaving the front door unlocked – but that was an argument for another day…!

In truth, he didn't mind the cat at all. He just didn't want to have to deal with the potential eventuality of missing cat posters lining their street and then coming home one night to Aki suddenly wearing a new collar and going by the name Haru.

"At least Aki will miss me." He teased, hoping it would get some kind of reaction out of her. It wasn't like they'd been living together for the past year and a half because they couldn't wait for the other to leave, after all. "Won't you, little buddy?"

The cat chirped and leapt down from where he was lounging in the sink. His little pink paws pitter-pattered across the hardwood in the excitement of potential pats and Deku crouched down to oblige.

"Make sure you visit Uraraka every day for me, okay?" He smiled, stroking him under the chin as he closed his olive orbs and purred. A knock at the front door startled them all and Deku stepped through the threshold of the genkan to answer it.

With truly terrible timing, the man on the other side of the door was the deliveryman sent to collect Deku's luggage ahead of his flight. And funnily enough, he belonged to the Black Cat Company. After helping him load the bags on his small hand-cart, Deku paid him and returned inside with a newfound resoluteness. It was just the interruption he'd needed to finally clear him of his nerves.

He marched into the living room and stood in front of the TV, staring at Ochako with a stern look that wasn't quite yet a glare. The talk show rerun from last night could wait for all he cared, he wasn't leaving on a sour note with her.

"Is that really how you wanted to say goodbye?" He demanded, still struggling to decide if he was more annoyed or offended. "Because I can't leave without a proper goodbye."

Ochako couldn't help the way her round cheeks began to heat up, but she couldn't figure out the sensation behind it. Nerves? Anger? Frustration?

Deku all but collapsed onto the table in front of the sofa in his exasperation. "Y'know my mom even mentioned something was off about you last night at dinner. She said you were rude to her."

"I would never be rude to your mother!" She snapped, disgusted by the very idea.

Deku grinned. "Ah-hah! Got you talking!"

"That was low!" Ochako puffed out her cheeks and turned away from him, irritated with how easy she was to trick.

"What's going on with you?" He couldn't help the way his impatience was starting to affect his tone. But, dammit, he couldn't figure her out – he'd never seen her so frosty before in all the years he'd known her. He'd seen the cute way her jealousy would get her all flustered and petulant whenever another girl looked at him, but this wasn't that. He'd seen that fierce look in her eye when she was in those determined throes of battle, but this was thankfully not that either. This wasn't the kind of anger he was used to when it came to Ochako. It was subdued and sedate, rarely ever aspects he'd naturally associate with her.

"Are you mad that it was Melissa who called?" He ventured. "Because I already said she's only interested in helping me figure out the rest of my quirks."

There was the slightest of twitches in Ochako's eye at the mention of the young prodigy's name, but that was it.

Realizing how hard Deku was trying to understand her and how utterly oblivious he could be, Ochako relented. She heaved a sigh so hard her shoulders lifted and fell back down.

"I don't like the fact that you're going alone." She finally spoke, voice deceptively even-toned in spite of how worried she actually felt.

Deku seemed surprised. "It's only two weeks."

"And we were barely there a day last time and look what happened back then!" She insisted. "Imagine how much trouble you can get yourself into in fourteen days!"

He chuckled but wiped the smile off his face at the look she threw him for it. "I'll be careful. I promise."

"Trouble always finds you whether you're looking for it or not, Deku-kun." She sighed. "I'm worried you're going to get caught up in something again and I won't have any idea if you're in trouble."

"Alright, alright." He relented, reaching out to grasp her hand. "I promise to be extra careful while I'm there. I won't stay out past dark, and how about I call you every night to prove it?" He stood, still holding her hand, and gave her a pleading look. "Deal?"

It took her a minute, but she finally stood up from her perch on the couch and nodded in agreement. The alarm on his phone went off, signaling that it was officially time to leave, and he was quick to silence it.

"So, I guess we should finally say our proper goodbyes…"

"It's not goodbye!" She scowled. "It's see you later."

"Right." He agreed, depositing the hand he held onto his shoulder in order to wrap his own arm around her waist. He pulled her in close. "Even though it'll be the longest two weeks of my life."

Even though she was still mad, Ochako couldn't help the way his breathy words made her swoon a bit. He cupped her face and bent down to kiss her, dipping her back onto the couch and eagerly following. From the kitchen counter, Aki stretched and mewled, blinking his unfazed gaze at the young lovers struggling to imprint the other onto their skin as much as they could in the short amount of time they knew they couldn't spare. Urgency sent Deku's scarred hands tugging at the straps of Ochako's tank top and desperation forced eager kisses to the supple breasts he'd exposed.

Suddenly, Ochako struggled to sit up, planting her fingers firmly onto his shoulders to push him away. She brushed her messy hair behind her ears and hastily fixed her shirt before the sight proved too much to resist.

"We don't have time!" She insisted. "As much as I'd love for you to miss your flight, I couldn't stand it if I was the reason why."

A second alarm rang out from Deku's pants pocket as though taking her side. He fished his phone out and silenced it with a resigned sigh.

"I guess you're right." He pocketed it again. "Why don't you come with me, then? I can buy your ticket! Just throw everything in a bag and we can figure it out when we get there!"

"I won't take your money, Deku-kun!" She shook her head negatively. "Besides, I can't afford to take two weeks off work at this point in my career – I'm still considered a newbie there."

Her words forced him to remember a night he didn't like remembering. Her parents had sworn Deku to secrecy after he'd unintentionally overheard a conversation that he clearly had no business overhearing. They had come to town last year to surprise Ochako for her birthday, not knowing that she had relinquished her old apartment in favor of moving in with Deku. After the initial awkwardness of getting that sorted, they had ended up spending the weekend in his apartment regardless. Naturally, they insisted on staying on the pull-out couch since they were the ones who surprised them with a visit and refused to put the pair out for it. So as usual, Deku had awoken in his chair after falling asleep in the library, only this time it was to their voices instead of Ochako sleepily beckoning him to bed. He was fully intending to announce himself as he walked out, but when he'd heard Ochako's name bounce between their lips, he couldn't help but pause.

It was no secret that Ochako had been sending significant chunks of her paychecks back home to help her parents settle their debts and reap some much needed R&R. But the truth of it was that after paying off their debts, her parents had been taking all the money she'd been sending and putting it into a savings account that they'd kept open since her birth. The reason they had been talking about it on Deku's pull-out couch that night was because they were debating if they should tell her about it or not. Learning of her moving in with a boyfriend made them worry about whether she would be able to continue supporting herself if she wasn't keeping her paychecks for herself. There was no way she could afford to live in a place as nice as this, even if the young couple was splitting the rent down the middle. At that point, Deku had no choice but to reveal himself and explain that they had divided up the rent relative to their respective earnings. Since Deku's salary was larger than Ochako's for the time being, "half" was subject to their own income. They didn't need to know the details about what the percentages actually worked out to in reality, but he had done enough to assuage their concerns over it. And since they hadn't revealed that secret savings account to her, he'd been forced to keep it secret from her all this time as well.

So there really was no point for Ochako to keep sending money her parent's way, which meant she probably could afford to take two weeks off work with him. But he understood her too well to argue. If Ochako wasn't working, she wasn't happy. She would never accept a handout and she would never ask for one, anyway. She had always been that way and Deku doubted even winning the lottery would change that about her.

"I guess you're right." He said for the second time. "I'm sure these two weeks will fly by, anyway."

"I hope so." She assured him. "Just hurry back as soon as you can."

He nodded. "I will."

She watched him with her big brown eyes as he collected his carry-on and slung it over his shoulder. When he turned around a final time before opening the door to the genkan, she couldn't help herself. She leapt off the couch and cleared the living room in a second flat. His reflexes forced the carry-on to the floor as he caught her in his arms and fell back into the door, frantic lips planting frenzied kisses all over the other. She raked her fingernails throughout his hair, and he squeezed her just a bit too tightly around her waist, hooking his hand behind her knee to pull her in even closer. She moaned when the cold metal of his belt brushed against her inner thigh, clenching his hair between her fingers.

"Mrrowwlllll…!" Aki the calico suddenly appeared on the little table that held their keys and sent the ceramic dish crashing to the hardwood below.

The sweethearts parted like an electric shock had split them and blushed like they were teens stealing kisses all over again. Deku slowly retrieved his bag from the floor as Ochako sheepishly fixed her hair.

"Well, I guess I'll be off." He chuckled, still visibly flustered.

"Take care." She nodded her head. "I'll be waiting." She whirled on the cat as soon as the door was shut. "Seriously, Aki!? What the hell was that for?!"

A/N: Okay so apparently, I've been using the term 'foyer' to mean that part of the house that I finally realized is called a genkan. Deku's place is so fancy that the genkan where shoes are usually kept is sectioned off by a door. I'm sorry if that was ever confusing when I called it a foyer, but I was actually trying to explain a genkan. And I couldn't come up with a better title for this chapter, but try saying Pre-Flight Fight three times fast, eh? It's not as hard as saying "Unique New York" or "Toy Boat" really fast, but I think I made my own tongue-twister here! Anyway, as for the next chapter, we'll be headed back to Bakugo's side of town so get ready for some A-C-T-I-O-N, y'all! …probably of the smut variety because I pulled the rug out from under the two that nearly happened in this chapter, which I fully intend to make up for later ;)