Category: Mild Romantic Fluff

Characters: Katsuki Bakugo, Ochako Uraraka

Thundering howls of laughter rumbled from Katsuki's throat as his gauntleted fist crashed through the solid boulder, sending pebbles and baseball-sized rocks sailing in every direction. Steam billowed from the magma seeping from the ultra-hot stone he had essentially liquified with the power of his explosion; the wispy white smoke kissed his sweaty, flushed face and tickled his tousled blonde locks before disappearing into the air. He yanked his fist from the crumbled rock, flexing his fingers experimentally, and hissed at the stinging pain that bloomed across his palm.

What had been the flame-retardant leather devised by the Support Course was now nothing more than a few tattered scraps barely clinging together. Dammit. Now I'll have to submit for an upgrade. Who knows how long that crap'll take? He scowled and shook his hand in the air. The bright pink skin wailed at the contact with the rushing wind, sending tendrils of fiery pain jolting up his arm and even into the junction of his shoulder. Katsuki ignored the sharp tingle, stepping over the destroyed piles of rocks to pick his way back down the slope to the floor of the gym.

"Wow, Bakugo!" Eijirou's ruby eyes glittered in admiration. "You made short work of those boulders! Even in Unbreakable Mode, it took me a few hits!"

"Of course I did, dumbass," Katsuki snorted and snatched his water bottle from the floor. He winced; in his lack of thought, he had grabbed the plastic container with his dominant hand- the burned one. The condensation littering the cold surface seeped into the singed flesh, making the raw meat there scream in agony. Katsuki only clenched his teeth and sucked down the water, then tossed the now-empty bottle into the garbage can in the corner.

"All right. You all have been at it for two hours," Mr. Aizawa frowned while glancing at the screen of his smartphone. The gym echoed with exhausted gasps and reeked with the stench of exertion. "You're done for the day." Katsuki flexed his hand again, scowling as the pain rocketed through his nerves once more.

"Fuck!" Katsuki exclaimed as the water cascaded down onto his wounded palm. He hadn't anticipated the burn would be so severe. The skin over his fingers and palm bubbled up in several blisters, already filled with fluid though it hadn't been thirty minutes. The water, though only lukewarm, felt like lava streaming over the injured skin. Katsuki fumbled to wash his body and hair with his non-dominant hand, keeping the burning flesh well away from the shower's thundering stream. He didn't even use it to towel himself dry.

"God damn son of a bitch," he grumbled under his breath as he clumsily fumbled into his sweatpants and a tee-shirt. Why couldn't it have been his other hand? "Fuckfuckfuck!" he cried as he lost his balance and began hopping around on one foot, his leg half-caught in the thick fabric of the sweats. An angry roar burst from his throat as he slipped in a small puddle of water and fell hard right on his rump. His tailbone wailed protest, spasming the muscles in his lower back, and he unleashed every curse in the dictionary and then some as he writhed on the damp bathroom floor. The skin of his palm pulsed with its own heartbeat, sending fireworks of pain up his arm with every drum. "Fuck me."

Somehow, he managed to get his clothes on, finally. However, now on top of the burn, his lower back was aching something terrible. He limped into the common room, ignoring the content chattering of his classmates on the sofas to instead hobble into the kitchen. He winced at the stretch as he reached up to begin rifling through cabinets for painkillers and burn cream. He was too invested in his search to see Ochako meander into the kitchen to pour herself a glass of milk.

"Oh, Katsuki!"

"Jesus Christ-! Fuck, shit, fuck, damn it, ahh!" he cursed as he jumped and slammed his burned palm on the underside of the counter. Holding his wrist, he leaned over the granite and wheezed out an exaggerated whine. "What?!" he snarled as the girl scampered over to him.

"Your hand! How did you get such a terrible burn?!" Katsuki ignored the question. Ochako's brown eyebrows knitted together as she inspected the bubbly flesh of his palm and the clear, sticky liquid oozing from the blister that had just burst. Katsuki clicked his tongue at her simpering piteous expression.

"Stop lookin' at me like that. I'm fine," he huffed. He glanced into the cabinet and found that he had been groping around the Silvadene cream the entire time. With a snort, he plucked it from the cabinet and struggled to open it one-handed.

"L-let me!" Ochako insisted and snatched the short, squat bottle of medicine from him. Katsuki turned around to rest his back against the counter, watching with critical red eyes as she quickly removed the lid.

"I didn't ask for your help, Uraraka."

"No, you didn't, but you're getting it anyway," she responded coolly, making the corner of his mouth twitch. She slathered a healthy chunk of the goopy liquid onto her first two fingers before gesturing with her chin. "Open up your hand and spread out your fingers." Though he loathed the fact that he required aid, refusing her now wasn't worth the energy. Silently, he did as bid. His shoulders twinged with the flexion of his burned fingers. Ochako slopped the bright white cream onto the middle of his palm, and he melted into the countertop with a shaky exhale.

"Fuck, that feels good," he breathed. Ochako smiled sweetly and began spreading the paste across his palm and up onto the undersides of his fingers. A cooling numb spread over the inflamed cells, quieting the piercing pain that had been pulsing in his hand since training had ended. He watched her careful motions with lidded eyes.

"You should be careful, you know," she chastised him gently. "Even you have your limits. I know you want to get stronger, but nothing will come of pushing yourself to the point that it's destructive." Katsuki clicked his teeth at her, cocking his head to the side in a vain gesture. Ochako only smiled and applied a second layer of burn cream to his hand.

"You're one to talk, Cheeks. What was that whole business with tryin' to drop the stadium on my head, ah?" The Sports Festival had been months ago, but Katsuki still remembered their fight vividly. The way her body wobbled and sagged to the side, how she struggled with trembling arms to even bear her own weight, the glaze in her chestnut eyes as she struggled to keep her consciousness… His eyelashes fluttered to banish the illusion of the scene as she spoke.

"I have the authority to speak on it because I've been there," she sighed. She stopped her ministrations to hold Katsuki's hand up with both her own, Silvadene-coated fingertips smearing the medicine over the top of his hand. "Sometimes… everyone else just seems so great in comparison that it feels like I'll never catch up. In that fight, I was so desperate to prove that I belong here… but it was destructive. I will grow stronger, but with time and effort, not with leaps and bounds born from destroying my body." Katsuki's eyes widened as he looked at her. The truth rang hollowly in him. Begrudged as he was to admit it, she was totally right. She smiled warmly up at him and then flicked him in the forehead.

"Hey," he warned, and she giggled cutely.

"I don't need another Deku on my hands! It's bad enough that he's broken half the bones in his body before the age of sixteen!" She exhaled deeply and retrieved a swathe of bandages. She unpinned the tan, thick fabric, then gently began rolling it around the palm of his hand. "You'll get stronger, and I will too. We just both need time." Katsuki frowned and looked away from her, debating whether or not to acknowledge the fact that she was right out loud.

"… All right, all right, I get your point," Katsuki admitted after several seconds of silence. Ochako pinned the bandages with a small safety clasp and lowered her hands. The fabric was cumbersome around his hand and wrist, and he couldn't even close his fist entirely. Still, the pain had been reduced to a dull ache that he could easily ignore with distraction. "Hey," he said as she turned to retrieve her glass of milk, which still lay untouched on the countertop. When she looked back at him with an inquiring look, he blushed and pawed at his gym shorts, not really sure why he had stopped her.

"I, ugh… Thanks," Katsuki fumbled and raised his bandaged hand. Ochako blinked at him, taking a moment to realize his gesture of gratitude, before smiling sweetly. Before she could respond, he abruptly grabbed her by the head and pulled her into his chest. She squeaked his name with her hands flapping about, not sure where she should place them.

"Hey," he said softly. Ochako relaxed, and her hands drifted down to rest on his biceps. "You be careful, too. You think I'm stupid? I see you walking home every day wobbling like a drunk, and you threw up four fucking times at training today." He felt heat bloom across his pectorals as her face heated up. He dropped his mouth against her hair, inhaling her scent of vanilla shampoo. "You be careful, too, dumbass. Who else is gonna take care of me when I go too far?"

"Hehe, okay," she acknowledged with an eager nod. She pulled away from Katsuki to beam up at him with those big brown eyes that made his heart melt. Snorting at his sappiness, he lightly pushed her away, but the gesture was laced with affection. "Drink your milk, Cheeks. I'm goin' to bed."

"Aw! But we're playing charades tonight!"

"Now I'm definitely goin' to bed." As he whirled on his heel, Ochako scampered up to hug his arm and bat her eyelashes pleadingly at him. Katsuki grimaced, but she grinned victoriously as a rosy haze spread over his cheeks.

"Please, Bakugo? Just a few rounds! You should see Kaminari's impression of a crab; it's too funny!"

"Agh, whatever, as long as you stop climbin' all over me like a spider monkey!" he cried and shook his arm emphatically. She stubbornly clung to him like glue, cackling mischievously. "Come on! Let go!" he whined and pushed on her head. Finally, she relented, releasing him from her grip. "Bah, what am I going to do with you?" he growled and ran a hand through his ash-blond hair.

"Aw, Bakugo, don't pretend you don't like me!" she said coyly and stuck out her tongue. She gasped in dismay when he snatched up her glass of milk and drained it to the last drop. "Hey! That was mine!" she pouted and snatched the empty glass from him. Katsuki sneered and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, eyes glittering playfully.

"That's what you get for messin' with me, Cheeks."

"Ya big meanie!" she snorted, then smiled and nudged him in the ribs. She retrieved the gallon jug from the refrigerator and poured herself another, then skipped to the entryway. "Come on, let's go!" she insisted and tugged the band of his watch. He allowed her to pull him along by jerking on the device. She smiled radiantly when they entered the common room, greeting their classmates and excitedly scampering over to the sofas to begin the game of charades. Bakugo leaned against the back of the couch, watching her with a tiny smile.

In his mind, Ochako really didn't need to get stronger. She was plenty strong, but it was not the strength of a physical kind. It was a quiet strength of care and passion. Plenty strong for a reckless dumbass like me, he smirked in amusement. As she clapped happily to Eijirou's comical rendition of a koala, she caught his eye and smiled warmly.

Plenty strong. Nothin' frail about her.