Chapter 8: Ochako

Ochako waited patiently for Deku to open his eyes, but it was clear that he had lost consciousness again by the soft rising and falling of his chest, more dramatic than it had been moments before. She leaned back and glanced at Bakugo, who still stood with his face inches away from Deku's. Despite how scared Ochako was feeling on the inside, she felt a small smile stretch across her face as she watched Bakugo watching Deku. He would never admit it, but Deku was a dear friend that he couldn't stand to see in pain.

Bakugo glanced over and caught her staring, then stood and retreated to the windowsill. "What? I couldn't hear what he was saying." He scoffed and rubbed the back of his head, refusing to meet her eyes again.

Ochako nodded without offering a retort, then turned her attention back to Deku. His face seemed serene, as if he was dreaming again, and having a much more pleasant dream than the one he had just had. His eyelids fluttered softly and his lips were parted in the slightest suggestion of a smile. Ochako looked down as she felt his fingers move within her grasp, reaching towards her. She moved her hand slowly forward until her grasp on his cold hand was firm, then propped her other arm on the bed in front of her and rested her head across it, watching Deku breathe in and out as she began to reflect back on the events of the night.

When a nurse had led her and Bakugo into the hospital room in the hours before dawn, after more than five hours sitting in the waiting room biting the nails off of her fingers, Ochako had been paralyzed by the sight of Deku. He had been so much paler than he was even now, signs of his breathing almost nonexistent. She couldn't see any movement in his chest to signal the rise and fall of his breathing and his small breaths had hardly produced any condensation on the oxygen mask they had fitted him with. He had been undergoing a blood transfusion, a large bag of the red liquid hooked up to the IV in his hand. Ochako had stood frozen at the end of his bed while Bakugo had proceeded to perch on the windowsill, and she had even started to feel dizzy before two nurses walked in with chairs. Bakugo had refused his, but Ochako had hauled her chair as close to Deku's bed as she could get it and had sat down determinedly, sure that she would not be leaving that spot or sleeping a wink until Deku was alright.

The nurses had informed them when they first brought them in that Deku was stable at the moment, but there was still a chance that he might not live through the night. When Ochako saw the sunlight begin to stream through the open window and then saw Deku's eyelids flutter open to reveal such a brilliant green, she sighed and felt all of the tension that had built up over the long hours of the night begin to wash away. His sudden springing forward had caught her off-guard, but seeing him moving so rapidly had helped Ochako to believe that he was going to recover quickly and would be more himself again soon.

Arriving at that more positive mindset allowed Ochako to let down some of her mental barriers, and she quickly felt herself losing all of the energy that had propelled her through the night and slipping into some kind of midway point between wakefulness and sleep. She could still process and understand the sounds that were going on around her, like the heart monitor and hospital staff scurrying into and out of the room, but it all sounded sort of far away as her eyes closed and the speed of her breathing began to resemble Deku's.

Suddenly, a hand on her back jolted Ochako out of her sleeplike state and her body shot up into a straight-backed position, her eyes bulging wide.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, young Uraraka! I didn't mean to scare you!"

Uraraka looked up and behind herself to see All Might with one hand still resting on her shoulder, Aizawa-sensei standing next to him. She turned to look back at Deku, still deeply asleep, and noticed that Bakugo had come over to stand on the other side of the bed again.

"It's okay, All Might-sensei," she replied as she stood and smoothed out her disheveled hair. "I suppose I'm just a little jumpy from nerves and lack of sleep." She quickly moved the chair up against the wall and joined Bakugo on the other side of the bed, making room for the two teachers to share the available space.

As Ochako came up behind Bakugo and moved to stand next to him, she pushed her palm into the back of his head and shoved downwards, trapping him in a bow as she also bent over. Bakugo understood immediately, and the two spoke together. "We apologize for disobeying your orders and going out on our own, Aizawa-sensei."

Aizawa folded his arms and waited for both students to stand up straight again. "I'm glad that you did," he finally said, garnering a slight jaw-drop from Ochako. "If you hadn't, Midoriya might not be alive right now." He looked down at Deku sleeping on the bed between them, letting his eyes take in the layers of bandages, wires, and machines. All Might, who Ochako noticed had avoided looking at Deku up to that point, followed his gaze and caught himself from gasping by clearing his throat.

"Oh, young Midoriya, my boy." All Might knelt down and placed a hand on top of Deku's head, running it slowly through his curls. He froze, closed his eyes, and sighed deeply. He sighed again, his shoulders seeming to sink with an invisible weight. Aizawa pulled the chair away from the wall again and shoved it in All Might's direction. He sat down with no complaints, not even a word. Ochako could tell that if he dared to speak, he might not be able to keep himself from crying. He had never been this vulnerable around students before.

"All Might-sensei, we have some good news!" She felt herself grasping at anything that might make All Might feel better, or maybe it was to make herself feel better, she didn't know. "Just a little while before you arrived, Deku-kun was awake and talked to both of us. I think he's doing a lot better than the doctors were expecting. The first thing he said when he woke up was your name, actually."

All Might covered his face with his hands, but then nodded slowly. He let his head drop until his forehead touched the edge of the bed. It unnerved Ochako greatly to see All Might in this position, when he was always so upbeat and brave in the face of terrible situations. Even yesterday, when Deku had already been missing for hours, he had seemed positive and determined to succeed.

"Well…" Aizawa spoke after a long pause. "You both are probably exhausted, so please go back to the dorms and get some sleep." Ochako opened her mouth to protest, but Aizawa continued. "We need to talk to the hospital staff now about Midoriya's current condition and there'll be a doctor coming in here shortly. Midoriya's mother is also on her way here, and she may be a bit overwhelmed if there are too many people in the room. Seeing her son like this will be enough to process in itself."

Ochako couldn't argue, but also found that she couldn't move. Her legs were rooted to the spot, her hand resting on the bed too far away to reach Deku's fingers, but reaching towards him all the same. She looked back and forth between Aizawa-sensei and Deku, unsure of how to make her legs start working. Before she had to try, however, Bakugo spoke up.

"Did your scouts find anything or anyone at the League's hideout?"

Aizawa sighed and shifted his hands into his pockets. "No," he replied. "They found nothing in the entire building of note. It looked like it had been abandoned for years, which means the League has covered its tracks. The only things left were what I assume you already saw: the chair Midoriya was shackled to, the bolt in the floor, and this." He fished Deku's cell phone out of his pocket, completely smashed and nonfunctional. He leaned over and placed it on the table beside Deku's bed. "Now, please do as I ask," he finished.

"Your classmates are also very concerned," All Might finally spoke, his head still pressed against the bedside, his eyes trained on the floor and not visible to the others in the room. "Asui-san especially is very eager to hear how young Midoriya is doing. We informed her and the others only a few minutes ago, when everyone started waking up for the day, but they only know that Deku was found and hospitalized, nothing more. We didn't want to give them anything else until we had confirmed his condition with our eyes and discussed with his mother what she was comfortable sharing with his classmates. She has given us permission to let you two tell the whole story, if you are able."

Tsu-chan, Ochako thought as a pain sliced through her chest. She knows how badly hurt Deku was when we lost him at first on Friday night. She's probably agonizing over this. I have to reassure her that Deku will be okay.

Thinking of the girl who had quickly become one of her closest friends, in addition to Deku and Iida-kun, Ochako found that the stiffness in her body and the murkiness in her head were quickly fading. She offered a slight bow to the two teachers, reached around Bakugo to give Deku's hand a quick squeeze, and began to slowly tug her feet into motion and proceed out of the room. Bakugo followed her out and shut the door behind him, then quickly pulled her into a side-corridor.

"Uraraka, you probably shouldn't have mentioned Deku saying All Might's name."

"What?" She pulled her arm out of his grip and backed up a few paces. "Why?"

"I… uh… can't really explain it. Essentially, I think that All Might is going to carry the weight of what happened to Deku. That's all I can say."

"You're referring to All Might's 'problem' again, aren't you? What do you, Deku and Shigaraki know about All Might that I don't?"

Bakugo scratched the back of his head and looked anywhere but towards Ochako as she folded her arms and glowered at him. "Listen, it's something that All Might and Deku both made me swear to keep secret. All I'll say is that All Might and Deku have a stronger kind of… uh… bond than just teacher and student, and if All Might knows anything about Deku's suspicion that Shigaraki truly tried to kill him instead of just torturing him for info, All Might will feel like he needs to protect Deku and he could do something drastic. And I don't know if he can handle that without his full strength."

The utter confusion that Bakugo was rendering on Ochako was quickly causing a headache to start pounding in her temple. Surely, with Deku in the state that he was now, it wouldn't be preposterous to assume All Might was willing to do something drastic regardless of what he knew about Shigaraki's true intentions towards Deku. All Might had been the number one hero and had always done all he could to protect people, regardless of who they were.

"I think the teachers should know whatever you two were talking about in there," Ochako huffed. "If Shigaraki is going to go after Deku again, they should know and they should be prepared."

Bakugo smacked his palm across his forehead and growled. "It's not that simple, Uraraka! Shigaraki's ultimate goal is to get all traces of All Might off of the planet, right?" Ochako nodded. "Okay! So, that can't happen as long as Deku is around! He'll protect All Might, or he'll carry on his will if he can't! So that makes Deku target number one! And if my guess is right, All Might won't allow that again, no matter if he's retired or not. He'll take up the fight personally."

He'll carry on his will… he'll be target number one… Ochako felt heat rising into her cheeks as realization dawned on her.

"Bakugo-kun… All Might passed on his quirk to Deku, didn't he?"

Bakugo screamed and punched the wall, leaving a small splotch of red blood seeping from his knuckles. "Damn it!"

"Hey! Hey!" Ochako grabbed his arm and yanked it down to his side, then stood and watched as he bit his lip to calm himself down. "I'll… take that as a yes then."

"Shit," Bakugo whispered into his hands as he crouched and rested his elbows on his knees. "I'm such a piece of shit. I can't believe I broke my promise to them."

Uraraka was still reeling from the realization that Bakugo had shared such a profound secret with Deku, a guy he claimed to hate, but she didn't have time to process it all right now. She knelt down next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Bakugo-kun, the secret stays safe with me. And you didn't break your promise, I figured it out myself. I care greatly for Deku and All Might both. I would never tell anyone." Bakugo pulled his hands away from his face as he searched hers for a sign of her honesty. She looked down at her hand resting on his shoulder and sighed. "In fact, I hope that Deku trusts me enough to one day tell me himself."

"So you won't mention it?"

"No," Ochako sighed. "I promise I won't tell either of them that I know, and I won't bring up anything to All Might about what Deku said to you. I just hope that I won't regret that. Now come on, we need to go fill in Tsu-chan and the others, and then we both should get some sleep."

Ochako stood and offered Bakugo a hand up, which she was surprised to see that he actually took. He nodded, a small sign of thanks, and then followed her back into the main hallway and down to the elevator. As the doors opened before them, Ochako and Bakugo were met with a somewhat familiar face.

"Oh, you two!" Midoriya Inko. Her hair was hardly combed and her eyes were ringed with red, but her face lit up at the sight of them. "Bakugo-san and you, you're the girl that Izuku got to know very well when he first started at U.A."

"My name is Uraraka Ochako, ma'am." Ochako smiled and bowed slightly.

"Oh, thank you, thank you!" The older woman rushed forward and enveloped first Ochako, then Bakugo into a hug. Bakugo didn't even try to resist, probably already well-educated on the fact that there was no opposing Midoriya Inko when it came to matters involving her son. She pulled back from Bakugo and began talking wildly again. "The teachers informed me that you two saved my baby! Thank you! Thank you!"

"Midoriya-san," Ochako placed a hand gently on her shoulder. "We appreciate all of the thanks you are offering, but please go and be with Deku-kun. He's just down the hall." She turned and pointed to the door of Deku's hospital room, and Inko raced by with a melancholy smile of thanks.

Ochako followed Bakugo into the elevator and turned just in time to see a doctor in a white coat meeting and stopping Inko at the door of Deku's room. The door opened and All Might grimly stepped into the hallway. The elevator doors shut in Ochako's face just as she saw the barely-formed composure on Inko's face shatter and tears begin to stream down.

The entirety of Class 1-A was waiting in the living room when Ochako followed Bakugo through the front door of the dorm building. They had all been quietly sipping on coffee or munching on fruit, or just staring at random corners of the room. It was eerie to come into a room that was usually full of laughter and deep conversations and find it completely silent.

"Alright," Bakugo shouted as he walked into the room. "I'm gonna give you the story and then I'm gonna sleep, so direct all your questions to Uraraka after I'm out of here."

Ochako didn't exactly want to answer everyone's questions by herself, but she didn't want to have to be responsible for the initial explanation either, so she kept quiet. She supposed she should be thankful that Bakugo had volunteered to explain.

Bakugo did explain it all as it had happened, anyway. He included every minute detail, from their observations about the building before even going in, to talking to Deku after he had woken up that morning. He shared all of this, however, without mentioning anything about All Might or Shigaraki's reasoning for messing with Deku in the first place. Before he dragged his weary body up the stairs to bed, he gave a pointed look to Ochako, as if saying "not a word about All Might," but she didn't need the reminder. She would keep her word.

Of course, that meant that she really couldn't answer many questions at all. Todoroki rephrased the same question again and again, asking if there had been any clues as to the League's motive or their current whereabouts, and was left with no real answer in return. Ochako couldn't imagine what sort of explanation the teachers would give to Deku's mom or the rest of the public for what had taken place, but being in this similar situation made her heart ache for all the times Aizawa had to address the public after the U.A. disasters of the past.

"What are the extent of Deku-kun's injuries and how long will he be in the hospital for?" Tsuyu asked as she cleared a space for Ochako to sit next to her on the couch. This was one question Ochako could answer confidently-at least, more confidently.

"Well, I can't really answer the part about how long he will be in the hospital," Ochako explained to looks of anguish from Todoroki, Kirishima, Iida, and many of her classmates. "But since he woke up this morning for a little bit, I personally think he's doing pretty well. As for his injuries, well, you all know what Shigaraki's quirk can do. He used it on Deku's legs, one arm, and parts of his chest, so he's pretty heavily bandaged right now and I'm not sure how recovery will go." Ochako noticed the distressed faces of her classmates deepen and scrambled to reassure them. "Aizawa-sensei dealt with Shigraki's quirk before, so I know Deku can push through it too!"

Ochako listed off some of the injuries that Deku had sustained in his initial fall into the hole on Friday night and noted the damage Shigaraki had inflicted to his head as well, before her own head began swimming. She leaned over and began rubbing her eyes.

"I think Ochako-chan had had enough questions, kero." Tsuyu said while rubbing her back. "Why don't you go to bed?"

Ochako was grateful for the chance to have some breathing room and began climbing the stairs almost immediately. The moment she entered her room, she stripped off the torn pieces of her hero costume, threw on a loose t-shirt, and fell into a deep sleep almost immediately after hitting the pillow.

When Ochako awoke several hours later, it was already dark outside her window. She had slept almost the entire day. She still felt groggy, sweaty, and gross, so she grabbed some supplies and headed out to take a shower.

When Ochako opened the door to her room, she found both Bakugo and Tsuyu sitting on the floor in the hallway, chatting quietly. Bakugo was in his pajamas and looked just about as groggy as she felt.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay, kero." Tsuyu smiled up at her. Ochako smiled back, then turned and looked at Bakugo, waiting for his explanation.

"I, uh… heard from Aizawa-sensei. Deku was awake again about thirty minutes ago, but only for a few minutes. He was able to talk to his mom and they switched out his oxygen mask for a less intense kind so he's breathing more on his own. I let everyone else know, and I thought you should know."

Ochako felt herself beaming from ear to ear. "That's great news! Thank you, Bakugo-kun!"

"Yeah, no problem." Bakugo stood and shuffled back towards his room. "Just gonna go back to bed, then. I'll see you guys in class tomorrow."

Tsuyu hopped to her feet and peered around the corner, waiting until Bakugo had reached his bedroom door and gone inside before returning to Ochako's side. "He came straight here after he got that call from Aizawa and has been sitting up here. He wouldn't leave to go tell everyone else, so I brought them all up here. He wanted you to be the first to know, I guess, kero."

"How sweet of him," Ochako stifled a laugh. There was so much that she still didn't know about Bakugo. He wasn't just an aggressive guy. There were so many more aspects to him, lurking under his rough exterior.

Tsuyu offered to make Ochako dinner after she bathed and prepared herself to feel like a normal human being again, and Ochako gulped down every morsel ravenously. Momo-chan, Tsu-chan, and some of the other 1-A girls offered to help her catch up on homework, and the group worked quickly to make sure Ochako could get in a few more hours of extra sleep. She returned to bed feeling well-cared-for and hoped that Deku was being treated the same way in that cold, lonely hospital room. It wasn't quite as easy to fall asleep this time, with thoughts of him swirling around in her mind, but she slept soundly once she did.

When Ochako and Tsu-chan walked into class the next morning, Bakugo was asleep with his head sprawled across his desk. Ochako's heart sank for him, but then absolutely plunged to her feet when she looked behind Bakugo's head to see Deku's empty desk. There had been no new reports on Deku's condition since Bakugo's news last night, and Uraraka was eager to be kept in the loop.

She quickly took her seat and began to attempt small-talk with Iida and Tsu, but it was hard even for the others to think of anything to talk about. They were all thankful when Aizawa-sensei walked into class with his sleeping bag rolled up under one arm, looking more disheveled than usual, and called class to order. Iida's hand shot into the air before he had a chance to say anything else, so Aizawa shut him down before he could ask anything.

"Yes, yes, you're all wondering how Midoriya is doing." Aizawa placed the sleeping bag down on his desk and sat on the corner of it, folding his arms as he adjusted his perch. "I have some good news. As Bakugo probably told you last night, he was awake and was able to talk with some of us who were visiting at the time. However, he is in incredible pain and since last night the doctors have been keeping him sedated for his own comfort. With luck, he will be off of sedation by the end of the day today and perhaps will be allowed visitors tomorrow. I cannot give you any sort of timeline for when he will be out of the hospital or when he will return to classes, but please keep wishes for Midoriya's speedy recovery in your thoughts.

"One more quick announcement before we begin," Aizawa-sensei stood up as he continued. "Your scheduled training time with All Might and Midnight for later this afternoon has been cancelled. All Might is at the hospital dealing with some business in relation to this weekend's events and Midnight is off-campus working with the police, the details of which are private. All Might has also requested your presence at the hospital, Bakugo, after classes end today. He did not state why. Uraraka, Principal Nezu has also requested that you stop by his office after classes end. Now, no more questions, please. Let's begin."

Uraraka felt a chill creep up her spine and she shot a glance towards Bakugo at the other end of the classroom. He was looking right back at her, an aura of anxiety seeming to radiate off of him. She shook her head vigorously, trying to say without words that she hadn't said anything to anyone, that, of course, she would never. She didn't want to risk getting caught by Aizawa-sensei, but she couldn't let this go without making sure Bakugo was certain of her honesty, so she quietly, carefully, reached one hand into her bag, hanging off the side of her desk, and pulled out her cell phone.

I didn't say anything to All Might or anyone after we left the hospital room yesterday. I swear. She quickly sent the message to Bakugo and slipped her phone back into her bag. Then she cringed as she heard the loud ping! of Bakugo's phone receiving the message.

"Whose phone was that?" Aizawa growled as he turned away from what he had been discussing at the blackboard. His eye caught Bakugo pulling the phone out of his pocket, and a shimmer of anxiety seemed to pass over his face. "Just this once, I'll let you look at that during class. It could be pressing news." He paused with his arm raised, chalk hovering inches from the blackboard, and waited as Bakugo read the message.

"Oh, um… it was just a text from All Might. He asked me to come to the hospital, just like you said."

"Alright then," Aizawa turned back to the blackboard. "And Bakugo, I don't think I need to remind you to at least put your cell phone on vibrate when in class."

"Yes sir." Bakugo shoved the phone back into his pocket and turned to meet Ochako's eyes again. His lips moved without sound in response to her message, but from so far across the classroom, Ochako couldn't figure out what he was saying.

Bakugo turned to face the front of the classroom again, and Ochako found herself staring at Deku's empty desk behind him. By the end of class, she was still staring at it, having missed absolutely every aspect of Aizawa's lesson for the day, which was something so uncharacteristic of her that she immediately jumped and started sweating when the students around her began milling about again.

She stood up and returned her gaze to Deku's desk, and to Bakugo chatting quietly with Kirishima. She watched his lips moving again, then watched as he placed one hand carefully on Deku's desk to hoist himself out of his chair. He looked up and noticed Ochako's gaze, following it to his hand still resting on Deku's desk. He slowly moved his fingers across the surface of the desk and lifted his hand up, offering a gentle smile and a small peace sign to her. It was then that she knew the words he had said.

You made me a promise. I never doubted you.