When they finally got back to the common area, they were bombarded with questions.
"Where were you?!"
"How did you two fight together so well?"
"Bakugo didn't even explode anybody! He's not actually going to get in trouble!"
"You sound disappointed about that."
"He always gets in trouble for blowing stuff up!"
"Neither of you even got a scratch! How did you do that?!"
"Dude, you were so cool! Team Destruction is going to be so hard to win against!"
Katsuki and Ochaco stared at the rest of their class.
"Huh?"
Kaminari shoved his way to the front of the crowd and stuck his phone in front of them. Both Katsuki and Ochaco stood frozen as the battle they'd fought earlier against the two villains played on the screen. Sometimes, it also showed footage of their fight at the sports festival, overlaid with their attacks. Present Mic's announcing voice went through the fight detail by detail.
"Both of their work study Pro Heros, Gunhead and Best Jeanist, are proud of what these two accomplished today!" Mic said. "They did an incredible job, and we at UA High are proud to call them our students!"
"What the actual fuck." Katsuki said, still staring at the phone. "It's not like they were strong or anything."
Deku pushed forward this time. "They were really high-profile burglars that the police and pro heroes were trying to track down all week!" he said excitedly.
"They literally ran into us though," Ochaco frowned. "They really weren't that strong."
"You saved one of the museum's most prized artifacts! The president of the museum has already put out a statement thanking both of you personally!"
Katsuki scowled. "They were just dumb, weak villains. Any one of you could've taken them on." He pushed past the crowd.
The rest of the class turned to stare at Ochaco, who's face began to turn bright pink.
"Did he just… compliment us?"
"FUCK NO, DIPSHIT!" Katsuki yelled from across the room. "I'LL STILL DESTROY ALL YOU WEAKLINGS!"
"What were you two doing together, anyway?"
Mineta stared up at Ochaco. "Are you two dating?" he frowned.
A book slammed into the side of his head and knocked him over, and everyone looked to see Katsuki's hand smoking, glaring violently at all of them. The class slowly shuffled backward, and Ochaco stepped through them hesitantly.
"Meet me here tomorrow," Katsuki told her through clenched teeth. She nodded and he disappeared into the boys hallway.
She glanced at the rest of her class, who was still staring at her expectantly. She quickly walked to her own dorm.
Tsu had knocked on her door a little later that night.
"Well, that was interesting," she commented. Ochaco sighed and fell backwards on her bed.
"Today was really nice. It's just weird that video is everywhere now. It really didn't feel that special. It's not like we fought the League of Villains or anything."
"But that's what most hero fights are like," Tsu sat next to her. "The League is new, and way scarier. What was Bakugo like?"
Ochaco thought, and grinned as she remembered his challenge at dinner with her mother. "He's always fun to be around."
"Hmmm. What about Deku?"
Ochaco sat up rigidly. Deku. Aoyama had said she had a crush on him, right? And she did, didn't she?
She tried to imagine fighting Deku like she fought Katsuki, but she couldn't. Katsuki's lunatic smile as he fought and his ability to push her and never make her feel weak, even if they both knew she was weaker than he was, would never be able to be something Deku could do.
Deku couldn't look at her while she was crying and say that they needed a rematch.
"Tsu, do you remember at the sports festival, when everyone thought Bakugo was fighting me too harshly?" she asked, looking at her sheets and clenching her fists.
"Yeah. Some people said he was even acting like a villain, but Aizawa-sensei told them they were wrong, and that he was respecting you as a hero."
"It's still like that," Ochaco said. "He treats me like an equal. Not someone who has to be protected. He literally threw me into the middle of the fight today and didn't hesitate once. If Deku was there, he probably would've taken over the fight and not let me do anything at all, and then get hurt or something. Bakugo's quirk and mine work really well together. And, I think we work together well too."
"He works better with you than anyone else in class," Tsu said thoughtfully. "And everyone knows he cares a lot about you, after these past few days. You two are who everyone's strategizing ahead to fight next week now. Even Todoroki and Deku are working hard. After we saw that video, it's not just Bakugo they're planning for, either. Some teams may even team up to take you both down."
Ochaco stared at her friend, who smiled at her. "Ojiro and I are going to work hard to win!" Tsu said.
The next morning, Katsuki found her in the common area and dragged her outside and toward the main building of the school.
"Come on, Ochaco," he said impatiently. Ochaco blushed.
"Ah, K-Katsuki," she said hesitantly. Katsuki faltered in his steps a little, but didn't stop. Ochaco took that as a sign to keep talking. "Tsu told me last night that everyone in class might try and take us down first."
"Tch, of course they fucking are," he growled. "I told you, didn't I? We're the strongest fucking team in the class, and now they know it, too. So we need to be ready."
He stopped in front of the costume design shop and threw the door open. "We need some updates," he said, glaring at Hatsume and Power Loader. He shoved his notebook at them. "How fast can you get these done?"
"Good morning to you too, Bakugo," Power Loader sighed as Hatsume eagerly grabbed the notebook and scanned the pages.
"This is incredible!" she squealed. "You thought of everything! Oh this will make both your quirks work so much better together!"
Power Loader leaned over her shoulder to read, and then glanced back up at Katsuki and Ochaco. Hastume dropped the book on the table and practically flew around the two of them, muttering to herself excitedly.
"I don't know if we can get all the tungsten you want for this, but we might have enough scrap titanium and tungsten alloys to make it work," he said, still looking at the page. "Let's save the tungsten gauntlets for the League of Villains anyways. That makes too much shrapnel for a school setting." Power Loader looked over Ochaco carefully. "Can you handle that much weight?"
"I don't even know what you're talking about," she said, glancing at Katsuki, whose face started to turn red. "She'll be fine, she can float it anyway," Katsuki grumbled.
Power Loader handed her the notebook.
Ochaco stared at it. There were six drawings, three each of their Hero costumes. A back, side, and front view. Katsuki had remembered every detail.
There were various notes in oddly neat, tiny handwriting about what should be changed and updated. The biggest change was the titanium structures on both their costumes that supported their feet and hands. Hers was a lot thicker than his though. It reminded her of Deku's costume. He'd also added small earpieces and a black eye mask to her costume, to protect her from his explosions. His costume updates made his earpieces smaller and added what looked like vents into his gauntlets and boots, and made his pants a little more form-fitting, while hers looked looser than before. The tungsten gauntlets Power Loader had mentioned looked like thick fingerless gloves. There were a whole page of notes on them Ochaco couldn't understand, other than something to handle explosions.
There were also notes everywhere that pointed to various ways to increase weight. Some of it including making her boots and gloves out of a solid tungsten and titanium alloy, and adding back and chest plates.
"You want to add over a thousand pounds to my costume," Ochaco stared at the boy standing next to her, who just crossed his arms and looked at her seriously.
"You can make it float, and the supports will help on impact so you don't break yourself like fucking Deku when you quit floating. If you can manage this right, one of your normal punches or kicks could be just as strong as his max, and with my explosions behind you you'd be practically unstoppable." His face broke into the insane grin she was beginning to know so well. "Total and utter destruction."
Ochaco thought Katsuki's smirk was probably contagious, because she could feel it on her own face.
She turned back to Power Loader. "I'll try it. But I need to be able to take off weight easily if I have to, and I have to be able to stand up and move around a little without my quirk too."
Hatsume turned a few pages in the notebook in front of her, where she saw detailed drawings of each weight and how it would attach to both her and the support structure. Katsuki really had thought of everything.
"I can have both costumes done by tomorrow," Hatsume's eyes sparkled.
"We can have it done by tonight," Power Loader said with a grin. Hatsume squealed and started pushing them out of the room. "I saw your video, you two, well done. And you'll both need all the help you can get next week. Come back at 8pm. Hatsume, we have work to do."
Katsuki and Ochaco stood in front of the costume design room. They looked at each other and then Ochaco punched him in the arm. He immediately began to float.
"Are you kidding me?!" she shrieked as he started cursing, trying to control his position with tiny sparks from his fingertips. "KATSUKI!"
"What, bitch?" he snarled. "You can handle it, so quit complaining and put me the fuck down!"
"This is payback for not asking me!" she told him, eyes flashing. Katsuki felt hip lips turn upward at the corners.
"Why the fuck would I need to ask you anything? I know you can do it."
Ochaco felt herself blush, and his smirk turned smug.
Right up until she walked off.
"OI!" he yelled, propelling himself after her. "Put me down Ochaco!"
She laughed as she jumped off the ground and made herself weightless to fly forward too.
They raced back to the common area.
The whole class was staring at them as they exploded - literally - through the door. Deku saw them and frowned. Kacchan had never shown any interest in girls and Uraraka was the last girl Deku ever wanted him to hurt.
PBut she was laughing, even though he was calling her a stupid bitch and blasting her.
And then Deku realized that Kacchan's feet didn't quite stay on the floor like they should, even when he wasn't exploding.
"Uraraka," he said quietly, then turned back to Sero. "We can't let her touch us," he said. "But we need to have a plan in case she does."
Gunhead had called her around lunchtime and congratulated her on their fight.
"You fought incredibly well together!" he said. "Have you managed to beat him yet?" he asked conspiratorily. Ochaco looked at Katsuki and grinned. He glared back.
"Yup!" she said proudly. "I dunked him in a lake!"
"OI!" Katsuki yelled, but she could still hear Gunhead's laughter over the phone.
"I wish I could've seen it!"
"Oh, Gunhead? I um, wanted to ask you about an idea Bakugo has."
"Sure, what is it?"
Ochaco explained the updates to their costumes to him, and what Katsuki planned on doing with them. Gunhead was quiet for a moment.
"It's actually a really good idea for you, especially if you want to be a battle hero," he said seriously. "However, you need to train with it, a lot. Do your drills, stretch, and exercise, particularly with weights, and if you feel anything crack in the support frame you need to disengage with the plates immediately. The Midoryia boy won't be able to punch through it unless he wants to break something, but he is strong enough to do it, and that means there are other people out there who can break it too. In a pinch, you can also throw the plates while in midair to propel yourself in the opposite direction. So be careful, and never completely trust it or your quirk."
"Okay, thank you," she said. "For everything."
"Of course, Uraraka!" he replied happily. "And when you get a chance, try to stop by sometime so I can see you and Bakugo in action in your new costumes."
"Definitely!" she smiled.
Ochaco couldn't even lift one of the plates for her uniform without using her quirk. Katsuki tried and he could carry them for a little bit, but not for very long.
His smug look grew the longer he looked at their costumes.
Ochaco floated the plates and support structure, and carefully stepped into it.
"It fits you perfectly!" Hatsume squealed as she raced around, locking each plate in place. Ochaco moved around in it, and it was surprisingly easy. She took a deep breath and canceled her quirk.
Metal grated against metal and she felt the support structure compress, but it held up. She could still move her arms, but it felt like moving through mud. She couldn't move her feet at all. She tried twisting her leg to unlock them. The boots came off easily, so she put them back on. She touched her fingers together, this time making her entire body float.
"Um," Power Loader said, looking below her. The tiles had cracked. "Could you land on the workbench, so I don't need to replace the floor again?"
Katsuki cackled as he blasted every one of the vents in his costume at once. "This is exactly what I wanted." He turned to face her, and she knew they had matching smirks.
"We're going to destroy them."
