Katsuki POV

Katsuki felt like he was in the middle of a fever dream listening to the discussion of Uraraka's blind date. Sometime between her agreement to the date and his world shattering around him, his body mindlessly found its way onto the couch seat next to Eijirou.

When everybody spoke, it was muffled, like his mind summoned imaginary earmuffs over his ears to protect him from the words he didn't want to hear. He watched Denki call whoever the hell he intended to be Uraraka's date. When they answered, Katsuki wanted to set the apartment on fire. He shouldn't be here for this discussion, but his body wouldn't move.

Uraraka blushed while Denki spoke into the phone. He loved it when she blushed. It accentuated those round cheeks of hers that he loved so much. There were many reasons Katsuki loved Uraraka, and those damn cheeks were high up on the list.

The date was planned for tomorrow evening.

Katsuki found himself missing the days when Denki was unreliable.

"Eeep! I'm nervous now that it's actually happening," Uraraka groaned and buried her face in her hands.

He had a solution to her problem: don't go.

Around his frustration, he felt his chest warm. He was fond of those cute expressive sounds she made. She would eek or eep whenever she had a strong emotion, and it was just fucking adorable. He'd fight anybody who said otherwise.

"You gotta start somewhere, babe. You haven't been on a first date in a while. It'll get less nerve-wracking the more you do it," Denki reassured her. "Who knows, maybe this will be your last first date."

The more she did it.

Her last first date.

What would be the lesser of two evils? Watching Uraraka go on countless dates that went nowhere or having her get into a relationship right away. Blah, blah fucking blah. This conversation would be the death of him. He hated Denki for his advice, knowing damn well it was the same advice Katsuki would give Uraraka if she were to ask for help him; the same advice his online identity as Unknown would give Gravity Girl.

Because Katsuki would always put her feelings above his own.

"Denki's right! And you can always text us if the date is horrific or if the guy's a total dud. We'll call with an emergency that'll give you an easy out," Mina added.

An escape plan seemed to ease her nerves.

"Even if this friend of Denki's isn't the one, it'll be nice to ya know again. It's been too long," Uraraka sighed.

Oh, Katsuki knew. He knew very well. He could confidently narrow down the time frame on her dry spell to the exact month. Around the same time, he started to abstain from his bout of one-night stands after his last relationship.

He had two somewhat serious relationships after high school. The first girl he dated was Camie, and that was nothing but sex. There were never any real feelings there. His relationship with Camie lasted 6 months before they both got bored.

Katsuki's last girlfriend was a year-long relationship with a hero named Hina. She was sweet, but something was always missing from their relationship. He wasn't stupid (or maybe he was very much so). He attributed a lot of the problems he had with Hina to him spending most of his nights at home by himself.

He'd tell her he needed to be home because he had to get up early for work, which was 90% heinous lie, 10% truth. He did have to wake up early for work, but he could have done that from her place. Since Hina was also a hero, she understood the crappy hours.

He really wanted to be home alone so he could talk freely online with Uraraka without being questioned. He hated himself for it. He hated keeping secrets. Katsuki was a man that valued being upfront. His friendship with Uraraka wasn't a secret. Camie and Hina knew he was close with Uraraka; however, his unrequited love for Uraraka was a secret.

Katsuki realized keeping his online conversations with Gravity Girl a secret from his relationships was wrong. He didn't have a choice. They wouldn't understand. He wouldn't have understood if he was in their place, but he was never unfaithful in his relationships. He was only friends with Uraraka, whether it was in real life or online, and that was all they'd ever be.

Katsuki looked out for Uraraka as a friend. He was there for her as a friend. He chatted with her as a friend. Katsuki never acted on his feelings for her. Any conversation he had with her, in person or through messenger, was never flirty. But nobody would see the interaction as platonic regardless of the nature of their online chats, so his only choice was to keep it a secret.

Uraraka needed the online friendship they shared, and so did he.

When Uraraka broke things off with Sen, Katsuki's relationship with Hina lasted for a month until she finally got fed up with him and left. He didn't blame her, because he was horrible. His priority should have been Hina, and it wasn't. Not when Uraraka needed him. It would always be Uraraka.

Katsuki never intended to fall into the dry spell along with her. It kind of just happened. After Uraraka gave up on dating, her nights and weekends were free, and he wanted to spend them with her. He didn't want to waste his time on subpar sex with some random girl when he could spend his time with Uraraka and their friends.

In retrospect, it wasn't the smartest decision on his part. Recently he'd become so touched starved the simplest of touches from Uraraka gave him a hard-on. The other day she almost tripped, and he instinctively grabbed her hand to steady her. Her tiny hand gripped onto his for dear life, pressing those tiny, padded fingertips into his palm.

His mind immediately reeled with the possibility of what those fingertips would feel like trailing over his body. Then he had to hide in the bathroom until his desire for her wasn't visible anymore. He'd been reduced to getting a boner from holding her like he was fifteen again.

Now her dry spell was about to end, and the idea of some unworthy guy being the one to take care of her needs was devasting to Katsuki. An inferno raged inside him.

Eijirou loudly cleared his throat, bringing Katsuki's attention to the smoke rising from his hands.

Fuck. He had to get outta there.

He pulled the good ol' Irish goodbye and left Eijirou's apartment without speaking to anybody.

His agency had both a gym and a quirk training center that he utilized regularly. The following evening found Katsuki beating the ever-loving hell out of himself at the training center. Growing up showed him there was more to life than being the number 1 hero, and his goals changed.

He no longer wished to be number 1, but that didn't mean he didn't strive to be his best. There was always room for improvement; he trained every day to be his best.

The goal of today's training session was not an improvement, though. Uraraka was currently on her date, and he needed a safe outlet to release all the repressed emotions that threatened to explode him from the inside out.

Images from yesterday of Uraraka's excited smile about her date fueled his training. He fired off long-range blast after long-range blast with no tactical purpose other than exhausting himself. His forearms were on fire, and he welcomed the painful distraction.

This was fine.

BOOM.

Everything was fine.

BANG .

Katsuki was happy for Uraraka.

KAAABOOOOM .

He was super duper fucking happy for her.

BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM .

He dropped to the floor in complete exhaustion after firing off that last round of explosions. Laying on the ground in a pool of his sweat, he finally conceded that her dating again was a good thing.

Uraraka deserved to be happy, and being single for the rest of her life wouldn't make her happy. Katsuki understood that the day would come when she'd start dating again. He foolishly thought he would be ready for it when it came. Obviously, he was not prepared.

The last person he wanted to witness him wallowing on the floor in a public space like a loser was Deku, and yet who appeared in the doorway of the training center? Deku. After Katsuki apologized for being such an asshole, their relationship had come a long way, but Izuku's presence still reminded Katsuki of all his shortcomings.

Seeing Izuku brought up images of an upset Uraraka from back in high school whenever Katsuki mistreated the greenette. His stomach soured at the memories. The person who could treat her close friend that way didn't deserve her. And wasn't that the cherry on top of the shit sundae that had been his day.

"Whatcha doing here?" Katsuki grumbled.

Izuku crouched to offer him a hand and said, "Let's go get Ochako."

Katsuki needed no further explanation.

Ochako POV

Ochako listened to Seiji Shishikura's incessant rambling with disdain. She barely got a word in since he picked her up from her apartment an hour ago for their date. By the time they made it to the restaurant, it was clear the man thought very highly of himself, of whom, Ochako knew way too much about for having only spent sixty minutes with him.

She knew every one of Shishikura's hobbies: how his quirk worked, how he came to be a shareholder at his agency, why he thought Shiketsu was superior to U.A., his five-year plan to advance his hero ranking, and the name of his childhood cat.

All he knew about her was that she was Ochako Uraraka, a friend of Denki. That was literally it.

He would pause between stories, staring at her expectedly for approval, and she'd surrender a forced "oh wow" or "that's interesting" to appease him. The only interesting thing about the date was the food. If she hadn't seen mochi on the dessert menu, there would have been an Ochako-shaped outline in her seat from how quickly she made her escape.

At least her bad luck with men was a constant that she could rely on.

Shishikura was curious about one specific aspect of her life: if she was still friends with Izuku. Her friend was well onto his way to the number 1 hero spot. Others in the hero profession believed being close to Izuku would improve their own image.

Ochako liked to think her rank in the top 20 had to do with her own ability as a hero and not because one of her best friends was in the top 5 and was predicted to make the top spot within the next few years. She guessed she'd be ranked higher if she was interested in marketing herself, but she wasn't. She didn't care for the hoopla.

She took this opportunity to tell Shishikura a funny story about when she, Izuku, Shouto, and Tsu went on a road trip together. Izuku drove. When he saw a memorial marking the place where one of All Might's less well-known rescues occurred, Izuku quickly pulled off to the side of the road to get a selfie. In his excitement, he lost the car keys down the mountain. They spent hours searching for it.

It was a cute anecdote of Izuku. People usually gobbled it up, but Shishikura just seemed confused.

"I thought Kaminari said the two of you were best friends?" he asked, referring to how she kept calling Izuku her best friend during the story.

"A girl can't have more than one best friend?" she teased lightheartedly.

"I guess, but it's kind of strange. People normally only have one best friend. It makes you seem indecisive."

I've decided that you're a pretentious asshat; how about that for being decisive? She snapped to herself but didn't express her annoyance out loud because Shishikura was Denki's friend.

Denki was going to get an earful for thinking this was a smart match.

Ochako considered all her close friends to be her best friend. If that was strange, then she didn't want to be normal. She didn't need this man's judgment. She didn't need a relationship. She wasn't lonely. She had all her friends, making her feel like the luckiest girl in the universe.

This blind date was a mistake. She checked the time on her phone for the tenth time since they sat down. The fact that Shishikura hadn't caught onto it showed how self-involved he was.

"You know, I don't think I have room for dessert. I'm just going to head out. Here's my half of the bill. It was nice to meet you," Ochako announced, being firm to get her point across without being too rude. She didn't express seeing him again, and the message was received by the look on his face.

They parted ways with little to say to each other, and Ochako was relieved by the silence.

When she was alone, she sent Izuku a text asking him if he was free to hang out. He knew about her date and would no doubt be eager to talk about it. The text of a puking emoji and a thumbs down she sent to Mina was simple and required no clarification.

Izuku told her he was on his way.

Mina responded with a raunchy GIF that did actually make her feel better.

No, she did not need to be in a relationship, but she did want to be in one. Those were two very different things. She wanted a relationship, not because something was missing from her life but because she wanted to add to it. Ochako wished for the kind of companionship that could only come from a real connection, the type of relationship she saw the couples in her life share.

She wouldn't get that dating another asshat like Sen or Shishikura.

It wasn't long before she saw the soft waves of Izuku's green hair in the distance. What she wasn't expecting to find next to her best friend was the unruly spikey blonde locks belonging to Bakugou. Those two weren't known to hang out alone. The scene turned her horrendous night right around.

And what a glorious sight it was to see the two of them side by side. She was years beyond her crush on Izuku, but she wasn't blind. He was beautiful. His childhood rival turned friend next to him was equally as beautiful, if not more. She always found Bakugou attractive, but age changed the explosive teenager he once was into a sinfully sexy man.

Something she would never act on because their friendship meant too much to her, but she could appreciate the view as a friend.

"Some of my two favorite people together, at last!"

"Shut up," Bakugou mumbled with no real heat.

"How was your date?" Izuku asked after embracing her in a big bear hug that completely engulfed her.

Saying her friends were two big-ass dudes was putting it lightly. The top of Ochako's head barely came to their shoulders. Izuku took after All Might, whereas Bakugou's was less bulky—no less impressive, though. He had the kind of physique she really appreciated.

Apparently, Ochako was feeling very appreciative of her friend Bakugou lately.

"I wouldn't call it a date. It was more like my own personal rendition of the wonderful life story of Shishikura."

Izuku was intrigued, ready to hear all the juicy details of her date, but Bakugou wasn't having it.

"Shishikura?! That moron set you up with Shishikura?! First, what a fucking mouthful to say, and second, that guy is a twat."

She agreed with Bakugou on this. What was Denki thinking?

Only one person knew about her irrational fear of zombies. Only one! And that person betrayed her tonight.

Izuku invited Ochako and Bakugou for a movie night at his and Shouto's place. They were extremely well off, so they had a fancy movie room with a gigantic screen, killer surround sound, and a big comfy sectional. She had been excited before the betrayal.

Ochako hated everything about zombies. The way they looked. The noises they made. The way they moved. All of it gave her the hibigeebies. And what movie does Izuku suggest they watch? World War Z.

Did she oppose it? No. Because what hero was afraid of make-believe monsters.

Izuku pointedly avoided her gaze as he got everything set up and took his spot on the opposite side of Shouto, using his husband as a barrier between him and Ochako's petrified expression. From her right, Shouto passed her a fuzzy blanket. She covered herself up to the neck with it, prepared to use it as a shield for her eyes.

"Are ya okay? Your eyes are buggin' out," Bakugou whispered from the spot on her left, where he was sprawled on the sectional. His cushion was the one with the extended footrest. He forcefully tossed the blanket Shouto passed him to the floor as if he was offended by the gesture. He ran hot.

The opening credits started, and she wordlessly nodded a response to his worry, too focused on her breathing to answer. She'd breathe her way through this movie. An irrational fear was just that. Irrational. The zombies in the movie weren't real.

Except with the combination of the large screen and the surround system, it surely felt real, and when the first scene featuring the hideous monsters came on, she lost all composure.

"WAAAAH!"

Ochako managed to tuck herself into Bakugou's side in panic, flinging the blanket over both of their heads. His reaction to being under the blanket with her made her think he was as terrified as she felt. Realization tempered his features as he took in her trembling form. He smirked when he asked in a low voice, "Are you scared of zombies?"

The quiver to her lips as she nodded did nothing for her dignity.

"Awwh is da wittle baby scared of the munchy zombies?" Bakugou teased her in a baby voice because, well, she was acting like a baby. Still, she didn't find it funny and pinched the arm closest to her.

"Ow! You little shit," he laughed. Only Bakugou could make those words sound affectionate.

The blanket covering their heads concealed the pair from prying green eyes across the couch. Without taking his eyes off the movie, Shouto pressed his husband's face forward toward the screen.

"I'll do it again if you make me move," Ochako warned.

She figured threats would get her further than pleading in terms of seeking shelter with Bakugou.

"I wouldn't dream of it," he murmured so quietly she almost missed it.

A large warm arm settled over her shoulders, and she instantly felt safer.

"I'm heading out. Are ya coming?" he asked, and they both blushed at the innuendo. "Shit. Ya know, what I meant to say was…fuck, are you staying under the blanket or not?"

Ochako tugged the blanket off them, and the gruesome scene on the screen made her instantly regret the decision. She covered only her face this time and pressed into Bakugou's side further. His hand sprawled across her shoulder as he rubbed soothing circles on her arm.

She heard him groan and blanched. If the scene made Bakugou groan, it had to be horrible. She was glad her face was covered. Bakugou's weight shifted, and she peeped an eye out to find him grabbing the blanket he discarded on the floor. He bunched it up and placed it on his lap. Weird. If he was cold, she would have shared her blanket.

Ochako spent the rest of the movie cowering into her friend.

Bakugou scrambled away from her as soon as the movie was over. He fled in such a hurry; Ochako tipped over onto her side now that his body was no longer supporting her own. The movie must have been unsettling for him too. That was the only explanation for his squirrely behavior that she could arrive at.

The agitated blonde muttered something to Izuku about making sure Ochako got home safely before he bolted out of the house. Three sets of wide eyes stared at the empty space where Bakugou once stood. As Ochako was about to ask what the heck just happened, her phone dinged with a text message notification.

It was Shindou.

She never thought he'd actually contact her.

9:30 PM [Text from Shindou]: u wanna watch our series? i'll video chat u when i get home

Ochako reread the message once more, not knowing what to think about the text or what had just happened with her friend.

A/N: Oh, sweet baby boy Deku. I can just imagine the inner turmoil he was in knowing how much Ochako hated zombie movies and forcing her to watch one in his attempt at playing matchmaker.

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