Warning: This chapter contains underage drinking.
AN: I'd like to say thank you for your support on this story. Everyone that's Favorited/followed/reviewed - I appreciate it :)
Chapter 8
Uraraka stared at herself in the mirror of the girls' bathroom in a small state of awe.
For the first time since her unfortunate realization that a certain loud-mouthed blonde was in possession of her smutty novel, her brain was actually focused on something other than her undying embarrassment.
After becoming aware of where her book had more than likely ended up, or better with who it ended up, Uraraka had hidden in her room for the remainder of the night. She refused to go outside for fear of running into him. Or Kirishima, for that matter.
She texted the girls-only group chat letting them know that she was more beat than she had originally thought and that she was going to call it in early but she'd meet them tomorrow at the girls' bathroom at the time they all had agreed on.
She awoke the morning of the dance feeling anxious, tired, and above all...hungry. She had spent most of the evening tossing and turning. Nightmares of her secret getting out and being labeled U.A's resident pervert and having to marry Mineta plagued her. Since she had decided to hole up in her room since Friday afternoon, her stomach grumbled and growled at her, begging to be fed anything.
Uraraka turned to see the time. It was still fairly early, 6:30 in the morning. Surely most of Class 1-A would still be asleep. She could sneak into the kitchen and quickly pour herself a bowl of cereal or something and then sneak back into her room.
She had managed to get to her bedroom door when a mortifying thought entered her head.
Bakugo wakes up super early. What if he's up?
Uraraka's hand froze on the doorknob.
She could be wrong...It was in fact the Saturday after final exams, the first day of vacation. But...it's still Bakugo that we're talking about.
Uraraka retreated her hand from the doorknob and began biting at her lower lip. What should I do?
Her stomach growled audibly in response.
She took a deep breath and then quickly let herself out of the room. She stopped in the hallway, feeling exposed.
Okay, Ochako, just be really fast and you'll be fine.
Hurriedly she made her way to the elevator and pressed the ground floor.
She could hear her heart pounding in the silence of the elevator car.
Ding.
The doors opened slowly on the ground floor.
A wave of relief overtook her.
Empty.
Feeling almost giddy, she walked much more confidently into the kitchen.
You still gotta be fast. Just in case. She reminded herself as she reached for the cereal and grabbed a bowl.
Almost done.
Uraraka was about to pour the milk into her cereal when she heard voices coming from outside.
Her heart sunk.
She set the milk down and tried to listen.
"Come on Baku-bro admit it!"
"FUCK OFF!"
Uraraka's throat went dry. Oh no! Shit! Shit!
She quickly ran from the kitchen towards where the elevators were. She was halfway there when she heard the front door open.
Human instinct made her head turn towards the sound.
Brown eyes locked with red ones.
Fuck!
In a split-second decision, Uraraka bolted towards the stairs and began taking them two by two until she made it to her floor, down the hallway, and inside her bedroom.
Once inside her whole body erupted into a deep red blush. Her breathing was coming out ragged. Her heart thundering in her chest. After a couple of minutes, she managed to regain her breath.
Knock. Knock.
"AHHH!" The sound of someone knocking on her door made her scream. Uraraka found herself floating about her room, the sudden shock causing her to accidentally trigger her quirk on herself. After finally orienting herself and settling the unfortunate vertigo associated with zero gravity, she finally managed to calm herself down enough to release her quirk.
Landing with a small thud, she looked at her front door warily.
She approached it cautiously. As silent as she could just in case there was someone on the other side. She strained her ears but heard no noise coming from the hallway.
She very gently opened her door slightly. Just enough to see outside.
Empty.
Confused, she opened her door a little more. She turned from left to right, but no one was in sight.
Just as she was about to go back into her room, her peripheral vision caught onto something laid on the floor, in front of her bedroom door.
It was her forgotten bowl of cereal. Someone had poured the milk and brought it to her.
Uraraka stood there dumbfounded.
Her stomach, once again, made itself known, annoyed at its lack of attention.
With one last glance into the hallway, Uraraka grabbed the bowl of cereal and retreated back into her room.
And that's where she stayed until Mina, Tsu, and Momo came knocking at her door. After managing to finally eat for the first time in almost 24 hours and having a very nice and heartwarming conversation with her parents, she had somehow fallen into a dreamless sleep.
By the time the girls woke her up it was almost 1 pm.
"Chako-chan have you been asleep this whole time!?" Mina asked incredulously.
"Are you feeling well?" Momo asked her, already placing the back of her hand on Uraraka's forehead.
"Huh?" Uraraka was trying to shake off the last remnants of sleep. Her brain was attempting to catch up to the present.
"Well you said you were going to sleep yesterday a little before dinner, and it's almost 1 pm," Momo said, concern lacing her words. She retreated her hand and stared at her warily.
Uraraka let out a loud and long yawn, as she stretched. She turned to walk back towards her bed, leaving the door wide open so that her friends could follow her inside.
She turned and sat on her bed.
"Oh, that." She said through another yawn, "I'm fine." She gave all three girls a lazy smile.
"I woke up around 6 am and went back to sleep an hour or so ago, after hanging up with my parents."
Uraraka saw all three girls visibly relax. She smiled warmly at her friends. Their genuine concern was always so deeply reassuring. It made her feel like she had really found a home away from home.
"So what's up? I thought we were supposed to meet closer to 3-ish?" She said stretching her arms behind her.
"We wanted to see if you needed any help picking shoes and accessories that would go best with your dress," Mina said already rummaging through Uraraka's scarce closet. Mina pulled out the dress Uraraka had chosen a couple of weeks back and took it out of the bag. She raised her arm up so that all four girls could examine it.
Uraraka shifted uncomfortably. She had been so busy with exams and being a closeted perv (her words not mine) that she had forgotten that she still needed to figure that part out.
Tsu sat down next to Uraraka and held her hand in a reassuring grasp.
"I have the perfect shoes that would go with it!" Momo beamed. Her eyes twinkling with excitement.
"Uhm...Momo-chan." Uraraka started to protest.
"What size are you?" She asked Uraraka, cutting her off. Mina was turning her dress this way and that, face in deep concentration.
"Mmm, Momo-chan, it's really not that big of a...I can...Uhm...I have shoes." Uraraka managed to stumble out.
Momo smiled at Uraraka. "You sure?"
Uraraka nodded as she shimmied down to the foot of her bed, kneeling and peeing under the cover. She dragged out a box of shoes. Her mom had purchased them for her over the summer. Uraraka had protested but her mom insisted. They were nice and on super sale which made it just a little bit easier to accept. She had yet to wear them and if she was being honest she really didn't want to. They were new and she didn't want to dirty them.
Uraraka pulled out one of the silver, ankle strapped heels and lifted it up to show her friends.
"See."
"Oh, they are really pretty Chako-chan!" Tsu complimented her. Uraraka smiled up at her friend.
"Yes, they are much better than the ones I had in mind." Momo smiled, sitting down at Uraraka's desk chair.
Mina walked over to Uraraka and extended her hand towards the shoe. Uraraka gave it to her and sat back up on the bed, bringing the box with the other heel with her.
"Ah-ha!" Mina exclaimed suddenly and she bolted out of Uraraka's room with the dress in one hand and shoe in the other.
The three girls gave each other confused looks, but before anyone could speak Mina had shuffled back in the room, a huge smile on her face.
"I have the perfect earrings!" She said as a manner of explanation. She held up two small, diamond, studs.
"Mina…" Uraraka was starting to protest. They looked crazy expensive. Mina held up her hand.
"No, stop." She said closing her eyes, "I won't take no for an answer. I'm not giving them to you, I'm letting you borrow them. I fully expect them to be returned at the end of the night." She opened her eyes, giving Uraraka a satisfied smile.
Uraraka looked at Momo and Tsu, both girls giving her a wary but encouraging smile. She looked at Mina, her pink friends' enthusiasm drawing her in.
"Okay." She sighed in slight defeat. "Thank you."
Mina gave one curt nod to seal the deal.
"Now that that's settled, grab your stuff and meet us downstairs. We're taking a girls' lunch trip and then heading back to get dressed."
Thankfully, the rest of the day had gone by without one sign of her explosive classmate. As the hours passed, she let the anxiety of having to eventually see him fall into the recesses of her mind.
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-
Music blared from Jiro's speaker as the girls were in various stages of getting ready. Uraraka was just going to wear her short hair as she always did but Hagakure had insisted on doing everyone's hair. She had just purchased a curling iron, which made no sense to the girls but no one protested.
Uraraka sat with her back towards the mirror as she could feel Hagakure doing this and that to her hair.
"More wine Chako?" Mina asked her.
Mina had managed to sneak in two bottles of wine for their little girl's time. "Not enough to get drunk, just to loosen up a bit." She had said to the girls, mostly in Momo's direction.
Momo began protesting, "We are all underage Mina."
"Oh come on!" Mina whined, "Look we are all sixteen and most sixteen-year-olds in Europe are allowed to drink wine."
"We aren't in Europe." Tsu chimed in as she examined one of the wine bottles.
Momo chewed on her lip. It seemed to be a habit all the girls in 1-A had picked up.
"Well…" She started, Momo and Hagakure started cheering. "I mean…" Momo turned to Tsu and Uraraka who were both staring at her in disbelief. "My parents allow me a cup of wine every now and then with dinner so...one cup can't hurt right?" She said raising her shoulders slightly.
"I'm okay," Tsu said handing the bottle back to Mina. "I tried it once with my parents and didn't like it." She said as she headed towards the showers.
"I'll take some." Jiro said, "I'll go get some glasses from the kitchen." She said already starting to head out. "How many?" She turned to ask the group of girls.
"One." She pointed at Mina who nodded enthusiastically.
"Two?" She said in Hagakure's direction. "Yes, please!" The invisible girl said as she began to empty the contents of her bag on the countertop near the mirrors.
"Momo?" She turned to the girl who was starting to undo her trademark ponytail. "Uhm...yes, please." She said in a small voice, blushing slightly.
"Chako-chan?"
Uraraka had never drunk before. Well, she had a sip of a hot beer once when she was eleven. Her father had left it out and she had gotten curious. It tasted like crap. She had seen plenty of shows online where girls got together for "wine nights" and they seemed to have an amazing time.
The last two weeks had been brutal. And not just academically. Not to mention, she would have to face Bakugo soon. She knew he wasn't very social but she can't imagine him being able to stave off the full force of his Baku-squad who had all been varying degrees of excitement for this dance.
I could use a little liquid courage. She thought to herself as she lightly nodded her response to Jiro.
"Okay, 5 cups it is," Jiro said before heading out of the bathroom.
"Uhm...sure. Why not?" Uraraka responded to Mina, as the acid-quirk user approached her and dipped more wine into her cup. She was already feeling the effects of her first glass.
"Finished!" Hagakure said suddenly.
The girls all Oooh and Aaahh'd her. Uraraka wasn't sure if it was the wine, but she felt her face heat up. She turned to look at herself in the mirror and was a little taken aback by her reflection.
Hagakure had taken her two long strands of hair that typically framed her face, and braided them and clipped them behind her head. The rest of her hair fell in small waves. Uraraka loved her hair as it lay naturally, but…
This looks really good too. She thought, a small satisfied smile breaking on her face. It was different. A good, different.
"Thank you! I love it!" She beamed at her invisible friend through the mirror.
"Of course you do! I'm amazing." Uraraka felt a pat on her shoulders. "Now, off you go to make up with Mina. Tsu! Come over here!"
She heard Tsu protest as she walked in the direction of Mina and Momo. Jiro was next to them playing DJ on her phone.
"Aaaaaand Done!" Mina said as she sprayed setting mist on Momo's face. "Your turn!" She said looking at Uraraka.
"Okay...but Mina, please. Not too much." She said as she sat nervously onto the chair.
"Relax, will you. I know my client." Mina said laughing. She took another sip of her wine and settled in.
"We have about 30 minutes, girls." Momo said over the music, "Tsu, can you help me zip."
"We need to be a little late. You know, to make an entrance." Hagakure said as she bent down to tie her heel strap.
"Okay, then 35 minutes left. Thank you Tsu-chan!"
The girls giggled. They each had two glasses of wine and all were feeling warm and bubbly. Uraraka finished clipping Mina's earrings and turned to see herself in the mirror.
What she saw reflected was a beautiful, happy girl. Woman? The dress she had found was a beautiful shimmering blue open back dress, that flared out her waist. Although she would've preferred to pair it with her black leggings the girls had protested significantly. It may be a little shorter now that she saw her bare legs, but it looked good.
She looked good.
She looked at her legs and felt a familiar warmth pool in her stomach. Flashback to the first time she had truly looked at her body coming to her with force.
"You look beautiful!" Mina beamed. "We all do!" She turned to the other girls. And they did. They all looked amazing.
"I propose a toast, she said raising her almost empty wine glass. The rest of the girls did the same. Tsu grabbed Hagakure's hair spray bottle and raised it. Uraraka chuckled along with the rest of them.
"I am very happy that we got to know each other and become as close as we did this year. It was hard and scary at times," The girls' humor faltered a bit. They really had had a crazy first year at U.A. More villain encounters than some pro-heroes! But they had made it. "But look at us. Strong and amazing pro-heroes in the making, getting ready to welcome our second year." Mina smiled at each girl. "So before the craziness that I'm sure 2-A will be, let's enjoy this dance to the fullest!"
The girls erupted into cheers and then devolved into a fit of laughter.
They each downed the remaining remnants of their drinks and headed towards the kitchen to rinse off their cups before heading to the school's auditorium which had been converted for the dance.
Uraraka was so warm from the wine and her friends' laughter, that for a brief moment, thoughts of villains or exams or smutty novels or loud-mouthed blondes or especially loud-mouth blondes having possession of said smutty novel and possibly, maybe, discovering that she is a pervert (again her words not mine), was the furthest thing from her mind.
She walked hand in hand with Tsu, talking and laughing freely. Feeling more her genuine, bubbly self than she had in a while.
They made it to the auditorium and could hear the loud noise of students and music blending.
As they entered the room, Uraraka took in the decorations, the people, everything.
So pretty! Her eyes beamed with excitement. As her eyes scanned the room they fell onto Deku's first. He was drinking from a cup and standing next to him were Iida and Todoroki. She waved enthusiastically.
She saw Deku turn beet red but waved back. She and Tsu began walking towards the boys. Uraraka kept scanning, trying to take everything in.
She could feel a lightness take over her. Happy. Content. Seeing all the carefree faces warmed her.
That is until her eyes landed on a pair of piercing red eyes.
He was across the auditorium.
Staring in her direction.
No.
Staring at her.
Their eyes locked onto one another.
Uraraka felt a chill course through her body.
Shit.
She quickly turned away, her face erupting into a maddening blush.
She tried to focus on saying hello to her friends.
But she could feel his eyes weighing heavy on her back.
Is he still staring?
Curiosity, like always, won her over.
She slowly, very slowly, turned her head to look over her shoulder.
For a beat, they stared at one another.
Then she saw him turn away, face as red as hers had been.
Is he...is Bakugo...was he...blushing?