It was a nice day outside, in contrast to how Ochako felt. It had been a few days since the raid, and she'd managed to relax some. It didn't really matter at the moment though because she was agonizing about what would be happening later tonight.
Tsu had told her to give Izuku a few days to rest and recover, then head to the bar. She'd recommended tonight, and not seeing a reason to do otherwise Ochako had agreed. Now she was a nervous wreck.
It was still the middle of the day and she couldn't stand being cooped up inside any longer. In a burst of restless energy, she decided to go for a walk. Dressed in her casual attire, she left her apartment and started walking to the park.
Walking through the streets she could immediately tell that the life of the city seemed to have sucked out. Relatively few people walked the streets, and the ones that did rarely looked happy. Traffic had also lightened up, everything moving easily and faster than normal. Watching the people move around as she waited at a crosswalk, she flashed back to the handful of times she'd been in cities during the war.
It had been much the same, but far worse. Back then people never went out unless there was a need. You could practically smell the fear in the air, you could never be sure when Shigaraki would fall out of the sky and wipe your city off the map in a matter of minutes.
Now there was the threat that terrorists could materialize out of thin air. It was a step up, and their victories so far had assuaged most people's fears of the worst happening. Nezu and the government also had more experience in handling the public, so while the overall city was dreary and depressed, it was fearful as it had been years past.
Ochako watched as a mother tried to handle her two rowdy children. The two children, twins by the looks of them, stamped their feet and wailed a bit, but the mother gave them a stern look and said something that seemed to mollify them, at least for the moment. As they continued about their day, Ochako saw the mother give herself a tired smile as she looked down at her two children.
Ochako wondered what it had been like for her parents to have a child. Wondered what having a child would be like in general. She couldn't imagine she'd ever make for a good mother, there were so many things wrong with her that it would be a miracle if she ever got married, let alone had a child.
Then her thoughts drifted to her classmates. Assuming they all survived and Zeus was the last great threat they would have to worry about, what would they do when things calmed down? Mina and Kirishima were already married, and it was only a matter of time until Momo and Todoroki got married as well. Same with Jirou and Kaminari, but considering they had been living together for a while already they might as well be married anyways. Tsu had Tokoyami, and while it was a bit difficult to see Tokoyami settling down, Tsu was already so close to being a mother in temperament and maturity that it was harder to believe that she wasn't married, or had kids already.
Then there was Bakugo and Shinso. Shinso kept his life outside of work pretty private, so he could have a significant other already. As for Bakugo, well there were always rumors. Personally, Ochako didn't believe any of them. Bakugo was too much of a workaholic to have managed to find someone and not have Mina sniff it out immediately. The idea of Bakugo being tied down almost made her laugh.
Then her thoughts went to Izuku, and all her anxiety came rushing back. She wasn't even sure he would want to go to dinner anymore since he must know that she knew he was Ex-QSU. Maybe it would be better if she just abandoned the idea of the dinner entirely, save them both some time.
She'd been walking for a while already, and she didn't even notice that she'd gotten to the park. She shook herself and took a deep breath, letting the nice air fill her lungs before letting it all back out in a rush. The park was relatively deserted, she only passed a few people during her walk. She was on her way back when she spotted a familiar head of hair standing at the edge of the large pond.
She walked over, and she noticed he was skipping stones across the water with casual ease.
"Hey," she said by way of greeting as she drew up alongside him.
Bakugo glanced over, scowled, then threw another rock.
"What do you want," he said shortly.
"Nothing, was just taking a walk when I saw you. Do you come here often? You're pretty good at skipping stones." she said, just watching the stones as they skipped across the pond.
"Not often. Just been doing this since I was a kid is all," he said.
"With Izuku?" she asked quietly.
Bakugo paused, then turned to glare at her. "The fuck are you talking about?" he said, anger in his eyes.
Ochako sat down on the stone beach and hugged her legs to her as she rested her chin on them.
"I... I saw you and Izuku in the woods during the raid," she muttered.
There was a long and tense silence. Then Bakugo just sighed and sat down as well, crossing his legs and throwing another stone.
"We used to play in the woods a lot. Throwing stones was just something we did." He finally said.
There was another silence, broken by the noise of Bakugo throwing the occasional stone.
"I'm... going to the bar Izuku works at later tonight. You want to come with me?" She asked eventually.
Bakugo let out a "Tch" of annoyance and threw another stone. "Yeah. All right, I was going to go visit him anyways."
Hours later, Ochako was sitting inside the lobby of the apartment complex Bakugo and the others were staying at. She was early, they still had some time before they were going to leave but she had to move, she just felt restless. She was perusing news feeds on her phone when a door opened and Tsu walked in from the outside. It was fairly late, nearly midnight, and it was strange seeing Tsu out and about at such an hour.
"Tsu? What's happening?" she asked, fairly surprised.
Tsu looked over to Ochako and smiled. "Not much. I'm just seeing Tokoyami off on his scouting mission tonight," she said, walking over and sitting on the arm of a nearby armchair.
Ochako's surprise quickly turned into a frown, "What's wrong?" she asked. She could see Tsu's smile was forced.
Tsu's smile vanished, and an expression of worry overtook her features - a rare sight for the woman. "I'm just worried about him is all. Zeus isn't like Shigaraki, Zeus is actually smart. What if something goes wrong?" she said, twiddling her fingers in agitation.
"Tokoyami knows what he's doing. He's been trained by some of the best, even if he's discovered he has Dark Shadow to bail him out. At this time of night, almost nothing could stop him if he went wild." she said reassuringly.
Tsu smiled again, a real smile this time, and nodded. "You're right, he'll be fine. What about you though, what are you doing sitting in the lobby? I thought you'd be at the bar by now." she said.
"Well, I asked Bakugo if he wanted to join me. He had some stuff to do though so we decided to leave a bit later than I would have liked," she said, waving a hand.
"I see, well I'll leave you to it. Night Ochako." Tsu said, hoping off the arm of the chair.
"Night Tsu," Ochako said back.
Tsu left, heading upstairs to her apartment. Leaving Ochako alone and once again bored while she waited. Fortunately, she didn't have to wait long as the door to the staircase opened and Bakugo walked into the lobby.
Bakugo spotted her and immediately started towards the entrance stuffing his hands into his pockets as he did, with Ochako getting up from her chair and following him.
While they walked through the darkness of the city, she tried to strike up a conversation with him. But he was stubbornly silent, just grunting everyone in a while. She eventually just gave up, clearly, he wasn't going to talk until they got to the bar.
When they finally did get to the bar, he stopped and stared at the sign for a bit. Then he sighed, slouched a bit, and headed towards the doors.
The doors swung silently open, revealing the interior and like everyone else before him, Bakugo paused in surprise.
"Welcome back Ms. Uraraka, and who's this you've brought with you with you this time?" Asked Sasakura, looking over to the door.
"Hi Mr. Sasakura, this is Bakugo Katsuki. We're both here to talk to Izuku if possible." she said.
Mr. Sasakura's easy smile faded somewhat and nodded. "Yes, I was expecting someone would show up about everything eventually. I'll take you to his apartment, he's been expecting something like this ever since he got back from the mission." Sasakura said, coming out from around the bar and gesturing for them to follow.
They followed the man to the back of the bar, where a door led to the foot of a staircase. They went up to the next floor, where two doors were situated along the left and right wall. Sasakura took them to the righthand door and knocked.
"Izuku, your friends are here," he called.
There was silence then the door opened, revealing Izuku, a resigned expression on his face. When he saw who it was that had come to call he froze. His eyes went wide and his mouth opened slightly.
"I will leave you three to get situated. If any of you need anything, just let me know." Said Mr. Sasakura, before heading back down the stairs and into the bar.
Izuku's eyes darted to Mr. Sasakura before standing to one side. "Come in," he said weakly.
Bakugo and Ochako walked into his apartment and took some seats at what Ochako assumed to be the dinner table.
As they made their way into the apartment, Ochako couldn't help but look around in interest. The place was immaculately clean, and fairly spacious having three rooms total including the one they were in. It was also a bit more traditional in design, making it clear that the apartment was likely constructed a few decades ago. As they sat down and Izuku closed the door Ochako noticed a large stack of what appeared to be magazines, but not quite.They weren't manga or light novels, and they were all in English. Everyone in her class could read and speak English to some degree, Momo and Shinso being the best at both. Ochako, however, wasn't sure what they were supposed to be. They were all stacked in seemingly organized piles next to Izuku's couch.
The pile was quickly driven out of her mind however when Izuku pulled out a chair and sat down.
"So... uh... what brings you two here?" he asked.
"She heard us in the woods." Said Bakugo, arms folded and glaring at Ochako.
"Oh... So, I guess you have questions?" said Izuku, wincing.
"Yeah..." Said Ochako awkwardly.
There was a pause as Ochako tried to work out what to say when Bakugo spoke.
"Ahhh fuck it, let's start from the beginning Izuku." Said Bakugo slamming one hand down on the table.
"Got anything to drink? We might be here for a bit," he added.
"Yeah, no alcohol though. Is tea fine?" Izuku asked getting up and heading into the kitchen.
"Tea sounds great." Said Ochako gratefully.
The feeling in the room became much more relaxed after Bakugo's outburst and Ochako took the opportunity to get up from the chair and wander the room.
It wasn't anything special, it resembled your average apartment in most respects, except for of course the more personal touches. The weird magazines that looked more like manga than anything, a few photos, and the combat boots set to one side by the door.
The photo that drew her eye immediately was that of a younger, more youthful Izuku, probably as a teenager dressed in a police academy uniform, standing next to a short stout woman who could only be his mother. They were smiling in the photo and she felt a lance of pain shoot through her heart, memories of her own parents came to mind. She shook her head and dismissed them, glancing at the picture of Izuku's mother again.
She looked so kind and so happy standing next to her son. Proud, Ochako thought, of her quirkless son joining the police force. There were two other photos with Izuku's mother in them, but those were when Izuku was a small child. She smiled as she saw a photo of Izuku in an All Might onesie.
She found herself wishing to have known that younger Izuku. In a different world, maybe she could have. A world that hadn't been torn apart by war and death.She turned away from the photos, not able to bear looking at them anymore. They reminded her too much of a time and a world long since past.
She went back and took her seat as Izuku came over holding three mugs of tea. Izuku placed them down, then took his own seat. They all took a moment to take a sip of the tea and collect themselves.
"Well, starting from the beginning... Bakugo and I have known each other since grade school. Our mothers were friends from before that, and when my mother moved to Mufustafu, it became kind of a given that I and Bakugo would meet." Izuku started
"We were both enraptured by All Might, and we would talk endlessly about heroes, and pretend to be one. We... wanted to get our quirks as soon as possible. Bakugo got his, and I... never got one. The doctor explained that I was quirkless, that I had a rare mutation that could occur among couples who both had quirks. The primary tells is that of an extra toe joint revealed during an x-ray. That's where the divide first started to emerge between us." Said Izuku.
"You know how much of an ass I was back during our first year. Take it up a couple of notches and you get a good idea of what I was like for a long time when I was a kid. When it came to Izuku though, it was an entirely different level. I went out of my way to show him how weak and pathetic he was. The school never did anything about it since they'd get a tidy sum of prestige if I got into U.A. so they never actually did anything to stop me." Said Bakugo.
"Shortly before the entrance exams to U.A. took place I met All Might. When I asked him if I could be a hero without a quirk, he said no. You might think it a cruel thing to say to a kid, but he was right. They would have tossed out my application without a second thought. But he made up for it by sending Detective Naomasa to my home. All Might recommend me to the police academy, and Bakugo got into U.A." Said Izuku.
I was good a good student, or so I would like to think. Everything had been going pretty well until the day All Might died. I felt powerless and weak, so I dropped out of high school, quit the academy, and joined the QSU. All Might's death caused them to start a round of emergency recruitments across the country. The bar was lowered for exceptional individuals, and I guess I fit their standards for exceptional. I got in, met Ahmya and I trained relentlessly. I pushed myself to extremes when the League started to emerge. Then the Three Day War for Liberation happened." Said Izuku darkly.
"I killed a man within the first hour of our deployment. Our objective was to secure the hospital, but as you know there were no civilians to rescue. Everyone in that cursed city was against us, and all the other trainees I had been training with died. Only Ahmya and I remained by the time it was over. It took a few months to recover, and right as we were cleared for duty, Mufustafu was attacked. We were at the shelter when Zeus struck, and everyone died. Our teammates, the heroes, the civilians, and... my mother." Izuku trailed off, hunched over the table and staring into his tea.
"That was when I met Bakugo again, during the funeral. We didn't talk, whatever friendship had existed when we were kids had long since died. With my mother's death, I was left with nothing. So I quit the QSU and left the city. I did odd jobs, helped some people, witnessed battles between villains and heroes firsthand, and watched from a distance as the final battle against Shigaraki was waged. I saw the mountain get blown apart by two of the angels self-destructing, taking Shigaraki with them. When the war was declared over, and the mopping up action began, I went back home. I met Mr. Sasakura when I helped him fight off members of a street gang looking to extort local shop owners. He offered me a job, I found I enjoyed the work, so I stayed. I haven't been to my old apartment since my mother died so Mr. Sasakura lets me live here." Said Izuku.
"I... owe him a lot. I was a wreck of a human being when he took me in, but he helped me. He... He's been more a father to me than anyone else I've met. I don't think I can ever repay him for that. After that, well, that's when our paths crossed." Said Izuku looking to Ochako.
Silence fell over them, as Bakugo and Ochako absorbed all the information.
"Thank you Izuku. You didn't have to tell me everything, but thank you." Ochako said.
"You asked, and I don't mind saying everything if it's you." Said Izuku taking a sip from his tea.
In a different scenario, she might have been embarrassed by that statement, but at the moment she could only think of how similar, yet different they were. She understood what Izuku meant by that statement, and she found she felt similarly. She also knew it was getting late, and she wanted to leave Izuku and Bakugo alone. They had a lot to talk about as well, and she'd just be in the way.
She got up from where she was sitting and stretched. "I should get going, things to do tomorrow and all."
"All right, thanks for listening." Said Izuku getting up as well and opening the door for her.
"Oh right, about dinner, um... did you still want to...?" she said, trailing off and letting the question linger.
"Oh! uh, sure!" said Izuku hastily.
"Cool! When did you..." she started to say.
"Ummmm... How about tomorrow night?" Izuku said after giving it some thought.
"Sure! Sounds good!" she said, smiling.
"Great, want to meet here or...?" Izuku trailed off.
"In front of my place, I'll text you the address," she said.
"Ah ok, see you tomorrow then I guess," he said.
"Yeah, see you tomorrow," Ochako said, finally leaving the apartment.
Izuku turned back into his apartment, a smile on his face, and froze when he saw Bakugo still sitting in his seat and staring daggers at Izuku.
"You're going out to dinner with round face?" he asked incredulously.
"Uhhhhh... yeah..." Izuku said quietly.
Bakugo stared at him a moment longer before massaging his temples. "You've got a lot more to talk about haven't you?" he asked.
Izuku could only laugh nervously in response.
