Ochako's fiddled with her keys, the metal cool against her finger tips. The car was turning cold as she sat staring at the parking lot lights. Glancing at her phone, Ochako read the last message Midoriya sent to her just 1 day ago,

"Let me know when you'd like to talk. I'll be waiting."

She stared at the words, her brow furrowing. Placing her phone back into her jacket pocket, she clenched the keys tighter into her hand. Taking a deep breath she opened the car door. It was a quiet night. A few students lingered, walking back from their night classes, not acknowledging her as she walked towards the apartment building. She bristled, wondering if they knew that under the coat, she was wearing nothing but her skin and the shoes that clung to her feet. With that thought, it just made her blood warmer and her heart pound louder in her ears. Her red heels echoed on the pavement as she made it to the sidewalk in front of the entrance. Before she reached the doors, a blonde delivery man was making his exit and made direct eye contact with Ochako. She froze for a breath.

"Does he see? Does he know?" Her mind panicked.

She swallowed hard and pushed forward through the door he held open for her. She smiled towards him, his eyes fixed on her and a light flush spread from his cheeks to his ears. She hadn't noticed till she was closer, a section of his blonde hair was dyed with a black horizontal zig zag across the left side. He held the door open a little wider, standing off to the side as he held the handle.

"Why thank you. I like your hair by the way." she politely commented, passing a tentative smile in his direction. She did not expect his reaction to be as bright as it was. He grinned widely, his eyes squinting as he spoke.

"Thank you!I personally think it just adds more to my overall coolness. Well, I hope you have an awesome night!" he said and walked away.

Ochako smiled to herself as she approached the elevator and pushed the button. Anticipation built in the back of her mind, feeding into an ember that was begging to come alive. She selected floor 2 and started to imagine what expression he might have. Ochako felt the elevator rattle, coming to its complete stop, and the light ding of the bell echoed as the doors opened.

This was it. All the conversations she had played in her head, every anxiety she had voiced with Mina, Momo, and Jiro had finally come to this. She is a storm of demands and desires now. Ochako squared her shoulders, feeling the coat lining shift over her peaked nipples. She hissed a breath, heat pooling throughout her body. She imagined the hands that she hoped would grab her within seconds after she exposed every inch of herself.

Looking down each end of the hallway, she made her way to his door. The silence was a heavy companion to the loud heartbeat in her ears. She could do this - no, she was doing this. She inhaled a deep breath, closing her eyes right as she came to the threshold of the door. She clenched her fist and knocked.

To her surprise, she heard no footsteps. This was strange. Midoriya was always up late into the night analyzing every note he collected on every subject. Glancing away from the door, she quickly monitored the hallway once more. No one was lingering, everyone peacefully unaware in their apartments. She once again knocked, her eyes trained to the neighboring doors, scared one may open with curiosity.

Then she heard it, the shuffling and- did he just swear? She couldn't believe she was doing this- his steps were getting closer. Inhaling one more deep breath, she clamped her eyes shut, fingers fumbling with the trench coat belt, her hands grasping the middle edges. Midoriya's footsteps paused, she heard the locks click out of place, and the door opened.

Ochako flung her jacket open at the last second- on her last exhale. Her exposed skin was caressed by the warm air that escaped his apartment.

Ochako's heart hammered, her chest heaving. A surprised grunt met her ears. She felt it first, the way the air grew heavier, how her body leaned towards his presence, and the seconds that slowly ticked by. But then a low growl emerged from his throat that hit Ochako to her core. Slowly opening her eyes, Ochako's stomach dropped. Standing in front of her was not Midoriya.

"Oh fuck." Ochako screamed in her head, as her eyes connected with the strangers. His hair was blonde, sticking uncontrollably in every direction. His eyes dark and desire edging the corners as it traveled over her very obvious exposure. Ochako flung her coat closed, feeling her body flush with pure horrified embarrassment.

"Door to door sales really changin' up tactics, huh?" the blonde said, leaning against the door frame, a smirk pulling at his lips.

"I - who -" Ochako stammered, "Who are you?" she finished. The blonde slowly pushed off from the door frame and took a step forward. Ochako flinched at the movement, taking a step back clenching her coat tighter. A chuckle rose from him at her reaction, then pointed to a small piece of paper stuck onto the right side of the door:

Katsuki Bakugou

Ochako's eyes grew wide, reading the black letters of his name. None of this made sense. Confusion clouded her flushed features. She had come here multiple times to visit Midoriya and even helped him move in. Where was he? Trying to pull a different type of will from her shoes, Ochako took a deep breath, steeling her nerves by securing the belt around her waist. "Channel your inner Mina, Ochako." she chanted mentally, adjusting her posture. She watched as the slight shift of his gaze casually fell back down towards her waist. Bakugou pulled his obvious stare back up to lock with hers.

"I'm looking for someone. This is - was- their apartment?" she asked.

"Mmmm, so I'm not the one you're looking for." Ochako felt her face heat instantly, her nerves rising back to the surface. She shifted on her feet as Bakugou just stared.

"What does the lucky bastard look like?" he questioned, his voice low as he crossed his arms over his broad chest.

"Oh, he is - He's about 5'8", green hair, freckles." she stated. To her surprise, his face fell and his arms unwrapped themselves, loosely dangling at his sides. She realized he was terrifyingly calm and Ochacko swallowed.

"What's his name?" he asked, a dark tone coating the question.

"Um- it's Izuku Midoriya?" she quietly said, cautiously staring at him.

"What the -" His face twisted with annoyance and disbelief. He turned back into the apartment's inner hallway striding a few feet away.

"What the fuck! No way, not that idiot… Should've never… Fuckin' organic chem." He angrily muttered to himself. Ochako just stood there, even more confused. She leaned towards the door, peering into the apartment. The main entrance was a small hallway, the kitchen breaking off to the right that opened into the apartment's studio living room. Ochacko knew that beyond the left side of the hallway wall was a crook for where Midoriya had placed his bed, and the adjacent door to the bathroom.

"What are you lookin' at?" Bakugou asked, returning to where she stood, now a foot away from Ochako's face.

"How-" she squeaked in surprise. While she was peering in, she hadn't noticed he encroached right into her space. His eyes quickly glanced at her exposed neck, the only place the jacket wasn't able to fully cover- thus providing an unintentional and teasing view of her breasts. He returned his eyes to her. Ochako felt his warm breath puff between them, and Ochako's head grew fuzzy.

"N-nothing." she stated, turning her head to the side. Knowing she had exposed every inch of herself to him minutes earlier, her stomach was now churning with nausea.

"Are you wanting to come inside to check?" Bakugou almost whispered. She whipped her head back to meet his now heated stare. He was enjoying this. Every reaction he has pulled out of her- it annoyed her. She was tired from building up her confidence to get here, to face Midoriya, and now it had fallen to complete shit. She's had enough with Katsuki Bakugou.

"I think we've both seen enough already." she sarcastically spat and Bakugou's eyebrows rose. She knew she just challenged him, edged him, since that's exactly what he's been doing with her.

"Are you sure about that Cheeks?" he said, leaning a bit closer. But Ochako held her ground. Or at least she thought she was.

Bakugou held her eyes, burning and solely focused on her. She looked back into his and they were a rich tuscan red. Ochako could feel the thickness of the air- felt the heat radiating from his body. Her stomach clenched, her mind racing, 'This isn't good.' She took a faltering step backward. She needed to leave. She needed to find Midoriya.

"My friends - I need to -" She paused, swallowing hard. "I need to leave." she whispered. Ochako turned away quickly, leaving Bakugou standing in the doorway. She didn't bother with the elevator and headed straight for the stairwell. She felt his hungry eyes following her and his scent of mexican chocolate, incense, and musk lingered on her nose.


Halfway down the stairs, Ochako removed her heels. Her feet hurt, her head ached, and her body still warm from Bakugou's stare. An involuntary shiver went down her spine. But she pushed on, reaching the bottom and bolted out of the stairwell into the chilled summer night. The sidewalk was pleasantly cold under her feet, but each step she took was filled with exhaustion. Ochako pulled out her phone sending a quick text to Mina, simply stating she was on her way home.

"Are you okay? How'd it go?" Mina texted back.

"I'll let you know later."

Ochako didn't wait to see Mina's response and slipped her phone back into her pocket. Her head was in a fog, anxiety slowly sinking its claws into every thought. Why wasn't Midoriya there? Did he actually move out? Surely he would have told her. But her mind caught the last question and slipped it right into her heart with a painful weight. No, he wouldn't have.

"Oh god, I'm such an idiot." she silently cried to the air. The tears and hurt she had tried to replace with confidence the past few days finally fell. It wasn't graceful. She vigorously wiped her mouth trying to remove the lipstick. It didn't budge. She pictured Momo, sitting quietly with a sweet smile on her face, "You look beautiful." she had told Ochako. She whimpered and her heart sank even further. What was she going to tell the girls? And in that split second, Bakugou's face flashed into her mind.

"Oh god." she sobbed, dropping to the sidewalk, her shoes falling onto the ground as she held her head in her hands. What was she going to tell them? Especially about him? Still holding her tear streaked face, she looked up and tried to take a deep breath through her nose.

"Ochako?" she heard someone ask. She turned her head toward the parking lot and standing there with a worried expression was Midoriya. He looked exhausted, wearing his very worn-out UA University sweatshirt, jeans, and a crossbody bag that hung across his chest.

"What- what are you doing here?" he questioned softly. The tone he used for the question made Ochako's heart roar with hurt. Ochako's hands fell from her face and she grabbed her shoes from the ground. She didn't care about the further tears that fell from her eyes as she stood. All she was starting to feel with him in front of her was numbness. Midoriya stepped just a bit closer and Ochako quietly watched as his eyes widened, roaming over her outfit, her dirtied feet, then back up to her face.

"What-" he started to question, but Ochako cut him off.

"Why?" she breathed, the question was heavy on her tongue.

Recognition flashed in his eyes and he looked away towards the parking lot.

"Maybe we should go to my apartment or somewhere else to talk Ochako. You look cold." he said. Ochako didn't feel cold but in that moment the breeze tickled her legs and at the column of her throat. She didn't know or care if he knew what she was hiding beneath her coat. Ochako also didn't want to go into his apartment- wherever that was - and be surrounded with more of him. Her car was just a couple yards away, allowing a swift escape that she felt her anxiety beg for. But Ochako knew she needed answers now.

"No, Midoriya. Answer me."

He looked back at her, his eyes tentative.

"Please." she pushed. Midoriya took a deep breath, his shoulders sagging.

"Before- before we even applied for college, we both agreed our lives were going to be busy. We both know how rigorous our schedules would become… I thought about it a lot, Ochako. We weren't giving this relationship the attention it deserved."

She scoffed. She looked away from him and crossed her arms over her chest.

"You do know how unfair that is?" she told him, the hurt rising into her eyes.

Midoriya opened his mouth again but Ochako reached her hand out, palm facing him and forced him to pause.

"You know what - you don't need to tell me your reasoning any further." Anger rose into her throat.

"Right? Cause 3 years is nothing." She said, shrugging her shoulders. "It's so easy apparently to just say, 'Let's take a break!" She continued, her voice rising.

"Ochako-" Midoriya said, stepping closer towards her. She hated how his eyes filled with sorrow and concern.

"No Midoriya! We're taking a fucking 'break' remember? The worst part, you left me out! You should've included me when you made that decision!" she yelled.

"I tried!" he yelled right back. Ochako froze. He rarely raised his voice. But he continued. "I tried to call the past few days! You didn't answer me! I know of all the things I should've done first! Don't you know that's why I kept calling and texting you? Don't you know I knew what I did was a mistake?"

His voice cracked on the last words he spoke. She watched as his own tears matched her own.

"You should've reached out to me, Ochako. And now assuming how you were walking out of my old apartment building, you came to see me. Without reaching out to me first. All of this-" he said, gesturing toward her outfit, "This isn't you."

"Not like me?" she whispered back. Every tear that hit her cheeks was hot, her body shivering.

"Well, I'm sorry that I went outside of my 'normal' behavior Izuku. Maybe it has to do with something that happened recently." she snapped.

"That's not-" Midoriya started.

"Izuku- please." Ochako said, hanging her head and rubbing her throbbing temples.

"No more." She said, exhaustion filling every syllable. All their pain of miscommunication hung between them but Midoriya nodded. He knew what she meant. They needed to breathe and have space. It was finally mutual and painfully so. Ochako looked away and took a few steps towards her car but looked behind her once more.

"Izuku… You're not a bad person. You know that right?"

He looked at her, tears still glistening in his eyes.

"I know… But I've hurt you."

"Yes…Yes, you have." With that, Ochako walked away. Every connection with the person behind her began snapping excruciatingly, one by one.


Ochako made it safely back to her apartment. On the couch waiting for her was Mina, Momo, and Jiro. They all were quiet as she stood there, her heels dangling within her grasp. They patiently waited for Ochako to come to them. But she was ripped apart. All that occurred left her utterly empty. Mina's eyes grew soft seeing the pure weariness weighing on Ochakos face. She lightly whispered to Momo and Jiro that they'll see them in the morning. They both agreed and went to their rooms asking no questions. Mina returned her attention to Ochako. Gently taking her hand, Mina squeezed and said, "Let's get you cleaned up."

Even after her shower, tucked warmly in bed and Mina soundly sleeping on her floor, she stared at the dim blue light of her phone. Looking at Midoriya's name one last time, she turned it off. She curled into herself and begged for sleep to find her quickly. She tossed and turned, finding no position able to keep her comfortable. Once she finally reached the dark cusp of sleep, a vision of tuscan red eyes was brought to her. And with a deep breath she was swiftly pulled under.