Be my buddy -GFCasserole

by flametornadohd

NOT MY STORY Originally posted on ao3 by GFCasserole

7. 7

Nighttime Conversations

Chapter Summary

A shouting match occurs through the perspective of Katsuki Bakugou. The duo then takes some time apart from each other and are supported by their best friends.

Katsuki yelled in frustration in the hallway.

"Trouble in paradise?" Kirishima asked as poked his head out of his door hesitantly.

"Stay in your lane, Kirishima!" Katsuki shouted. Kirishima went back into his room quickly. Katsuki stomped towards Uraraka's door and knocked loudly on it.

"Leave me alone!" Uraraka shouted from behind the door.

"Aren't we supposed to talk it out when we fight?" Katsuki asked, not hiding his anger very well.

"I'm not really interested in talking right now! Especially if you're gonna be mean."

"I'm mean! You know that!" Katsuki heard footsteps and the door opened swiftly. Uraraka's expression could have been pulled from Katsuki's repertoire.

"I'm serious, Bakugou. Leave-me-alone!" Uraraka even stamped her foot at the end. Unfortunately for Katsuki, a laugh escaped his chest seeing it. He couldn't help it; she was just not intimidating in the slightest. However, Uraraka did not take kindly to his laughter. "I should have never partnered with you. You turned me into this!"

"What?" Katsuki took a step back. "Turned you into what?"

"This high maintenance, self-doubting, co-dependent sidekick! I know you're right! My problem had an easy fix and I could have figured it out on my own. So why did I feel the need to go to you? I hate it!"

Ashido poked her head out of her room but upon seeing both of her friend's faces she retreated immediately.

"Why are you doubting yourself now? You've gotten better." Katsuki was starting to lose it. She'd improved so much since they started training together and now all of the sudden she hates it? "You're twice the hero you were because of me!" he screamed back. He was a great teacher!

"I'm half the hero I used to be! I take your opinion way too seriously. Like it's the end all be all. I used to have my own strategies, my own moves. Now everything revolves around you."

"I just planned out all those moves utilizing you! What more do you want?" Katsuki was at a loss. He thought things were going great until now.

"That's just it. I should have been doing that. I should have been thinking of ways to include you in my fighting too. Not waiting around for you to decide to include me in yours." Uraraka walked out into the hallway and shut her door behind her.

"I-" Katsuki stopped himself. She had a point. "What about Ground Zero?"

"What about it? We both know it's a trainwreck. I didn't think enough about the blast injuring us because I was excited to finally come up with something on my own for us to do."

"It's a good idea!" Katsuki yelled. "Just because it needs work doesn't mean we won't do it."

Ochako crossed her arms and looked away from him. Katsuki clenched his fists and looked away as well. The tension between them was palpable.

"I think we need to train separately for a while. I need to be alone," she said after a few moments.

"But-" Katsuki's eyes snapped towards hers. They had so much work to do.

"I mean it," Uraraka interrupted him.

"We don't have time! This is going to destroy all we worked for!" Katsuki moved closer to her, looking down into her eyes and putting all his rage into his stare. "I thought you promised to not back out on training."

"I'm not going back on my word. I'm still training--just without you. Same time, same intensity."

"No," Katsuki said firmly.

"Honestly, Bakugou, you don't get a say in the matter." Uraraka turned to head toward the elevators and Katsuki grabbed her arm to stop her. "Let go of me," she said softly yet it was scarier than when she'd been yelling. Katsuki had been wrong. Maybe she was a little intimidating. She pulled away and Katsuki let her go.

"Wait! You're overreacting!"

"Yeah? Am I being an idiot?" Uraraka threw back at him. He regretted saying that to her. She'd noticed that he never called her that and it bit him in the ass.

"No, I mean, yes, but-" Katsuki couldn't get the right words. "You're being unreasonable. We're a team!"

"How can you not see it?" Uraraka asked, shaking her head sadly as she waited for the elevator. "I'm just the person that applies their quirk to you, the person you throw around. I'm not Uravity anymore. I'm not Ochako."

Katsuki hesitated.

"I'm not giving up on this." Katsuki's voice betrayed his emotions, going too low and rough. Uraraka looked at him, her eyes watery and maybe even a little hurt.

"If you think that I am then you don't know me very well." Uraraka got into the elevator and Katsuki wanted so badly to follow her but her expression told him not to. "I'll come back when I'm ready."

The doors closed and Katsuki didn't know what to do with himself. She was gone and they hadn't resolved anything. Katsuki turned around to see Tokoyami standing in the boy's bathroom doorway stunned at what he'd witnessed.

"Keep your beak shut, Bird-Brain," Katsuki snarled as he ran into his room, slamming the door behind him. Now he was angry that everyone on their floor had heard how broken their partnership was. He needed to clear his mind.

Katsuki opened up the door to his balcony and jumped over the railing. Using his explosions, he catapulted himself to the top of the building and landed with a bang.

He wanted to scream into the night but if he wasn't already in trouble from the blasts, he was sure screaming at the top of his lungs would get him there. He wasn't supposed to be up here, especially at night. Katsuki sat down on the roof top and exhaled slowly, trying to force the fight out of his mind.

Why hadn't Uraraka just spoken up? It was infuriating to think something was going well only to be told it wasn't. They'd been joking and laughing only a couple hours ago. And what was that about her thinking Ground Zero was a trainwreck? He'd praised her move idea! That move was absolutely devastating, it'd be so cool to break the ground and see rubble falling down on his enemies.

Katsuki looked up at the stars and the moon that still hung as a crescent in the sky. The air was cool and a soft breeze rustled his hair. Last night he'd been too close to Uraraka and now she was leaving him behind. He punched the roof in frustration and then held his head in his hands.

He tried so hard to be the team member Uraraka deserved and instead he had made her feel worthless. He had failed himself and he'd failed her. He wasn't suited for teamwork. Look at all the teams he'd been put in over the past year. His track record wasn't great. Even with all his growth in that area, it wasn't enough.

Katsuki gritted his teeth, shoving the negative self-talk out of his head with an aggressive shake. This wasn't clearing his mind. He got up to start some combat move sets.

"What are you doing, man?" Kirishima asked from afar as he stood up after climbing over the side of the building.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Katsuki retorted as he punched the air.

"I know you told me to stay in my lane but I heard the explosions and I know you only come up here when things are bad."

Katsuki kicked the air and held his leg before spinning and kicking the same spot with his other foot.

"You said you'd tell me if you weren't okay," Kirishima said quietly as he walked over to Katsuki.

"Well, I was. Now I'm not. Forgive me for not calling you immediately like a crybaby," Katsuki said sarcastically as he dropped low for a sweep kick. "Obviously you heard what happened."

"Most of it. You two weren't quiet."

"She left."

"Left?"

"The partnership. She said she needs to be alone."

"I mean, yeah probably. You two have been going hard with training for over a month. Everyone needs time away from each other."

Katsuki glared at him but kept pretend fighting.

"Let me in," Kirishima said. "Fight with me."

"Whatever," Katsuki muttered as Kirishima got into position. He hardened his skin and Katsuki used him as a punching bag. They fought for a bit. After a particularly hard punch from Kirishima, Katsuki lost his footing and wiped the sweat off his forehead. "I don't need that."

"What?" Kirishima asked, confused.

"I don't need time away from her."

Kirishima raised his eyebrows and a small grin spread across his face.

"Don't look at me that way," Katsuki whispered angrily.

"It's just surprising. That's all." Kirishima braced himself for an attack. Katsuki gave a powerful right hook and Kirishima countered. Katsuki dodged, then attacked with a roundhouse kick. "You need to recharge from social interaction more than anybody I've ever met."

Katsuki put all his emotions into his attacks. Words didn't cover how he felt.

"If she says she needs to be alone, you need to listen to her," Kirishima said with heavy breaths. He was good at defending against Katsuki but it still required a lot of effort.

"I know!" Katsuki shouted as he punched Kirishima as hard as he could. Kirishima fell on his butt and exhaled quickly before getting back up.

"It'll help your partnership if she feels like herself again."

"It doesn't help me!" Katsuki continued to attack.

"It's not about you!" Kirishima shouted back, frustrated. Katsuki stopped mid-punch.

"What?" Katsuki asked him with a confused side-ways glance.

"Don't you get it? Uraraka isn't angry at you. She's angry at herself."

Katsuki didn't say anything but dropped his arm slowly. He should have realized.

"Maybe a little angry at you for calling her an idiot but let's be honest that's her being sensitive because you've been too soft on her."

"I haven't!" Katsuki yelled defensively. Kirishima gave him a knowing look.

"Noticeably nicer to her is a better phrase, maybe," Kirishima rephrased with a smirk. Katsuki blushed a little then turned around to hide his face from his friend. Kirishima walked over and patted his back once. "I know. Feelings suck."

Katsuki nodded once, turning his face away so Kirishima couldn't see the redness in his cheeks.

"Hey, maybe with time they'll go away," Kirishima said with a hopeful shrug.

Katsuki laughed hollowly. Not only did he not actually want that, it was unrealistic.

"Have they gone away for you?" Katsuki asked, knowing they hadn't.

"Man, Ashido is my best friend. Feelings make friendship better if you know how to apply them right."

Katsuki turned to look at his friend in disbelief and Kirishima gave him a big smile.

"Treat her how she wants to be treated. Figure out what she likes! Make sure she feels respected, appreciated, and heard. That's what best friends do!" Kirishima gave a thumbs up and Katsuki remained stoic.

"You're an idiot," Katsuki groaned as he sat down. He was done fighting.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Kirishima sat next to him and they looked at the stars together. "I bet the stars are going to look amazing at camp. I have a theory we're going to the mountains."

Katsuki nodded. That sounded like a good theory.

"So when did-?" Kirishima asked slowly but Katsuki shook his head, refusing to acknowledge the question. "No worries. You'll tell me when you want."

Katsuki kept looking at the stars and wondered where Uraraka had gone this late at night. He wished her luck in not getting caught.

Ochako sat on top of a tall tree that overlooked the campus and town below. The lights were like little stars in the distance. She couldn't wait for camp. The night sky would be so beautiful and serene. She'd be able to see all the stars.

"Ochako?" Tsu's voice spoke from below her. Ochako sighed. Of course, Ashido would have texted Tsu. Tsu knew where Ochako liked to go.

"I'm not really interested in being lectured or comforted right now," Ochako said sadly.

"I won't do either, ribbit." Tsu finished climbing up and balanced on a branch next to her. "I thought you'd like an ear to listen."

Ochako stared at the view and they sat in silence for a few minutes.

"I'm not very bright," Ochako finally said.

"What? You're very smart, Ochako," Tsu reassured.

"No, not like that. Do you see the lights of the town? How their radiance blocks out so many of the stars and only the brightest in the sky are seen? I'm not bright enough to push through."

Tsu looked at Ochako and then back at the town, catching on to Ochako's metaphor.

"I don't think Bakugou would have picked you as his partner if you didn't shine brightly."

Ochako shook her head.

"I let his light drown me out."

Tsu moved closer to Ochako and put her arm around her, leaning her head on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry you feel that way, Ochako. I hope you know that no one else thinks that."

Ochako turned her head to look down at Tsu.

"Everyone thinks that you and Bakugou make a great team. You both seem happier and you've both improved so much."

"He's happy because I do everything he tells me." Ochako went back to looking at the stars. "I was so eager to be as good as him I forgot to be me."

"You don't do everything he tells you or you wouldn't be sitting here." Tsu sat up straight and poked Ochako so she'd look at her. "Remember? You used your idea in the sports festival when you were a team, then there was the tennis match where you stood up for yourself, you make sure you're being included even when he doesn't think of you initially."

Ochako sighed.

"That was at the beginning," Ochako said. "Maybe I was too tired or maybe it was how much better he was than me at so many things but I stopped doing things for myself or putting in my own ideas. His ideas and teamwork were mostly great so why should I have to think about it? It wasn't until today that I realized how far gone I was."

"What are you going to do?" Tsu asked.

"I need to be alone. Figure out how him and I fit together. Plus, now he wants to train even after camp. I agreed initially but now I'm unsure."

A breeze blew through the tree that made Ochako and Tsu shiver.

"Do you want any advice?" Tsu asked. Ochako shook her head. "Alright. I'm here if you need me, you know."

"I know." Ochako maneuvered her arm to give Tsu a side hug. "I don't want to go back. Everyone will ask me a bunch of questions and I don't want to deal with it. Can't I sleep up here under the night sky?"

Tsu shook her head. Ochako hung her head in disappointment but she hadn't been serious.

"A girl can dream," Ochako said quietly. "I'll just go to my balcony. Maybe tomorrow everyone will have forgotten."

"That's unlikely," Tsu said and looked down at the ground. "It took a bit to climb up here. Can you maybe use your quirk on me?"

Ochako nodded and made her weightless. She pushed Tsu down gently so she'd slowly drift to the ground. Ochako used her quirk on herself and pushed off a branch to get down to the ground quickly.

"Release," Ochako said half-heartedly when they were close enough to drop unscathed.

"At least there's school tomorrow. If you time it right, people won't have time to ask you a bunch of questions."

"Good thinking." Ochako smiled softly at her best friend. "Thank you for coming tonight. It kept me afloat. I think I would have drowned in self-pity if you hadn't been there."

"I'm good in water," Tsu joked. Ochako laughed a little and gave her friend a big hug.

They walked in silence and made sure to take the long way back to avoid getting caught outside the dorm. The last thing Ochako needed right now was to get in trouble. She and Tsu split up to go to their respective balconies after saying goodnight. Ochako floated up and gracefully caught the railing. When she was over it, she released her quirk and turned around to look at the sky one last time before bed. She found her favorite constellations and admired the moon for a minute or two. She always liked when the moon was a crescent; it reminded her of a smile. Ochako smiled back at it. She stood there for a bit, contemplating the best way to train alone and still make herself and her team better. After a while she knew what she had to do. Even though she still didn't feel great, Ochako had come up with a plan and that would help her feel like herself again.

Stronger Together

Chapter Summary

Ochako works on herself for a few days and comes back to a strangely Nicer Bakugou. Seems like he's taken Kirishima's words of wisdom/idiocy to heart to become better friends with her. The time apart strengthens their teamwork and Ochako brings some badass ideas and moves to the table.

For the next few days, Ochako timed everything for optimal avoidance of her classmates and was even almost late to class a few times trying to not run into anyone. Not that she needed to as, unbeknownst to her, Bakugou had issued a kill threat to anyone who bothered her about the shouting match between them. He didn't answer any questions about it himself but he had been serious enough that their classmates respected Ochako's boundaries.

Ochako trained harder than ever while on her own. In the mornings, she worked on her quirk applications and, after she received her air blasts Tuesday afternoon, worked with her new support item. She got her partial gravity application down to two seconds after a lengthy struggle. When she finally achieved it, Ochako jumped high into the sky in celebration, taking a circle around her practice area with her air blasts and shouting into the wind with jubilation. Ochako learned the basics of her new air blasts and could use them for basic movements while floating. She'd need a bit more practice with them to utilize them to their full potential but she had other things she needed to focus on before next week. She was where she needed to be for the test at least and that was enough for now.

She practiced her special moves more times than she could count, working on how she could incorporate Bakugou into them if necessary. She even developed a couple like Ground Zero that was a good combination of them both, though hopefully more thought out than it.

During lunch, Ochako studied the notebook Bakugou had drawn all his ideas in, seeing if they were feasible, how they'd fit into both of their styles, and if she could improve upon them at all. Deku, Tsu, and Iida often sat with her but they took lunch as a rest period and chatted about things that Ochako didn't care about at the moment. Todoroki had started to sit with Yaomomo during lunch after their study date on Sunday. Deku told the group they weren't together yet but Todoroki was open to the idea. Ochako would probably care more about it when she wasn't so focused on preparing herself for the test.

After classes, she worked on aerial acrobatics in Ground Gamma at the approval of Mr. Iida and at the end of Wednesday she was down to only puking twice during a three hour session of spinning, flipping, and floating through the air.

Every day after the afternoon training, Ochako ate dinner alone then went straight to her room to focus solely on homework. Her goal was to get everything done ahead of time and churn out exceptional work. She didn't want to be a middle of the road student anymore and she needed more time to focus on physical and quirk training.

Friday morning, after a long morning of working on special moves combined with her air blasts and aerial movements, Ochako realized she didn't need to be alone anymore. She felt like herself except stronger, smarter, confident, and more self-reliant. She wanted to work with her teammate again.

Classes that day went by fast as Ochako was consumed by the thoughts of how Bakugou would react when she joined him later. They hadn't spoken or even really looked at each other since Sunday night.

Ochako stood outside the door of their after school, frozen to the floor and anxious to go inside. She stared at the sign up sheet that they'd both signed their names on for every afternoon time slot up until the day of the test. It looked like Bakugou had crossed off her name for each day she had been gone. It wasn't crossed out for today yet. He probably did it after he left so that the sheet was accurate. She looked through the tiny window in the door and could see Bakugou stretching but he hadn't noticed her. Ochako took a deep breath, steadying herself for whatever Bakugou threw at her.

Ochako couldn't waste any more time. She opened the door and Bakugou's head turned at the noise. When he saw her, Bakugou stopped stretching and stared. Ochako couldn't tell what he was thinking. Whatever it was, he was hiding it well.

"I'm ready," Ochako said simply and began to stretch next to him.

"Good," was all that Bakugou said.

"I've got a lot I want to do today," Ochako continued. Bakugou nodded. She was a little surprised he wasn't mad or shouting at her. "And we should probably train all day Sunday too outside of yoga and dance."

"I agree."

"Good."

Ochako had a feeling this would happen. All their hard work at building trust and communication had crumbled. Bakugou wasn't talking to her like she thought he would. It was an awkward stretching session for them and Ochako panicked, thinking that she'd made the wrong move going off on her own for a few days. She didn't get to air her concerns though, as Bakugou did the same thing he always did after they were done stretching. He turned on some music but this time it sounded almost melancholy. Was he sad she was back? Had they been better off apart?

Bakugou grabbed her hand and they danced together slowly.

"Are you okay?" Ochako asked after a minute or so. She'd never seen him act like this before. Bakugou nodded and then pulled her into a dip.

"You took longer than I thought you would," he said as he held her there.

Ochako looked into his eyes and saw that they weren't as intense as they usually were. He pulled her back up and spun out so that their arms were outstretched to their limits, then pulled her back and wrapped her up in his arms.

"I needed it," Ochako said warily, on the defense. She wanted to show him how much she'd improved on her own, to prove it was actually a good thing they separated for some time.

"I know." Bakugou spun her out again and they went back to dancing face to face. Well, face to chest was more accurate. Bakugou had gotten a lot taller since their first year.

"You're surprisingly calm about my return." Ochako looked to the side to avoid his eyes. "I thought you'd be angry."

"Angry that my teammate came back?" Bakugou scoffed at the thought. Ochako looked back at him, curious of his reaction. It was unlike him. "Has being alone all this time emptied that brain of yours?" Bakugou asked as he looked down at her with a faux-concerned expression. Ochako scrunched up her face and stuck out her tongue. Bakugou laughed and spun her again as the song ended. "That's not a no."

"I've got quite a full brain, I'll have you know," Ochako said as the next song started. It was a bit faster than the previous one.

"Good."

They moved in sync, speeding up to match the new tempo and Ochako's fears about their communication and trust crumbling went out the window. She and Bakugou moved as a unit and it felt like the few days apart had actually made them read each other better. Like the absence had made them hyper aware of every movement they made and how their movements affected the other person.

After a couple songs, they were both astounded by how well they were doing together.

"Let's get to work," Bakugou said as he walked away to turn off the music.

"Right!" Ochako braced herself. "Come at me. Boomerang reversed, catch me in the return, end in a dual howitzer without the fire."

Bakugou was taken aback and then a wicked expression spread across his face.

"Hell yeah!"

He sprinted at her and she activated her quirk on him as he grabbed her hand. Ochako spun and threw him behind her. She did a fighting move set utilizing kicks from the spin and by the time Bakugou bounced back to her she had completed it. Ochako used her quirk on herself and Bakugou grabbed her hand, pulling her to his chest and she clung to him like glue. They soared to the wall where Bakugou pushed off and spun them around like they were doing a Howitzer Impact. He hit the spot where Ochako had been just a second ago like there was a villain present. Using the impact as a pushing off point they bounced to the ceiling and pushed back down hitting the area again with a thud.

"Release!" Ochako shouted and they fell to the ground. She'd work on making sure they were in the right position next time to stand upright at release but Ochako didn't care right now. They'd gotten the exchange down first try. Ochako let go of him and rolled over to stare at the ceiling. Both of them couldn't stop smiling.

"You should have left sooner," Bakugou teased. Ochako laughed.

"I agree."

"You memorized the movements in the notebook." Bakugou turned to look at her and Ochako's smile widened.

"Of course I did and I have a ton of ideas."

"Show me," Bakugou said, unable to hide his excitement as he jumped up to a standing position. Ochako stood up, feeding off his energy.

"We can't do everything here but we'll start with the movement sets. Like you said on Sunday, I think those are our greatest advantage. No one moves like us."

"Damn straight."

"I came up with one I think you'll like but we'll have to work on it tomorrow morning. It involves AP Shot and AP Machine Gun."

Bakugou raised his eyebrows, curious at her idea.

"Something to look forward to." Ochako looked at him mischievously. "Now let's work on that decoy move you were talking about where I throw you first, I go in with an attack, and then you attack from behind. I've nicknamed it Roulette Bullet - Heavy Ammunition. It'll be extra confusing to our opponents when we shout it out. They'll think you're the heavy ammunition when I throw you instead of you throwing me."

"That's...good." Bakugou frowned.

"Mad you didn't come up with it?" Ochako asked, seeing his expression. Bakugou nodded and Ochako giggled.

"Let's go!" Ochako shouted and Bakugou sprinted towards her.

It didn't take them long at all to work out the timing with Roulette Bullet - Heavy Ammunition, even switching spots in case it ended up as the only option in battle but both of them preferred it the original way. Then they went back to working on Boomerang.

"Boomerang for when I throw you, Flaming Boomerang for when you throw me!" Bakugou shouted with excitement after another successful run through. Ochako laughed. "I'll leave devastation at my jump off points! We'll practice it tomorrow."

"Sounds good. Let's focus on fast catch and releases for the rest of our time," Ochako suggested. "The faster we are, the better. Our aim has been good for a couple weeks, so let's speed it up."

"I'll go first," he said, heading toward the middle of the dojo. Ochako waited for him to get into position, then ran at him. Before she was in arms reach, she used her quirk and jumped toward him. Bakugou grabbed her hand and threw her to the left. She bounced around the room, always going back to the middle for Bakugou to throw her again. With each catch and release, Ochako's speed increased. Eventually she was just a blur around the room. Unfortunately for her, she wasn't used to this speed.

"Release!" Ochako yelled suddenly and dropped to the ground, skidding on the mats. It gave her a bad burn rash all down her left arm and the entirety of her leg since she was wearing shorts. She rushed to the garbage can near the door and vomited into it. The heaving was worse than it had been in a while. It was all Ochako could do to keep upright.

Bakugou ran over and pulled her hair back when he saw she couldn't do it herself. She puked for a solid minute. Ochako groaned when it was finally over. Her equilibrium was shot.

"Hold your hair," Bakugou said. Ochako did, thinking he didn't want to do it anymore. Bakugou quickly went over to their stuff and grabbed one of the towels they always brought along and her bottle of water. He wrapped the towel around her neck before he gave her the water bottle. She took a swig then spat it back out into the garbage can. "You good?"

"I need a little break." Ochako wiped her mouth with the towel, sat down, and leaned against the wall next to the garbage can. The coolness of the wall was already helping.

Bakugou went to grab his water and then sat next to her.

"Thanks," Ochako whispered, closing her eyes to try and stop the dizziness.

"Yeah. Do you want me to push those pressure points?"

Ochako opened her eyes slightly to read his expression. He wasn't joking.

"If you want." Ochako breathed out before closing her eyes again. Bakugou picked up her wrists and pushed on the spots. "A little down for the left one."

Bakugou moved his finger and Ochako sighed in relief. They didn't talk and they both appreciated the silence. The only sound was Ochako's slow and deep inhales and exhales. After about ten minutes, Ochako took a final deep breath and opened her eyes.

"I'm good."

"That was bad," Bakugou said, dropping her wrists.

"Yeah, I've been working with the aerial flips and spins and gotten used to those but I've never been at that speed before. Couldn't achieve it alone. Couldn't prepare for it."

"That sucks."

"Yeah, it's not the best." Ochako got up and put the towel down, taking one last drink of water before starting up again. "Especially since I get both space and motion sick. Anyway, my turn to throw you."

Ochako got into position and Bakugou rushed her. It took more time for Ochako to get him to the speed she'd been at since he was stronger than her but when he got there, Bakugou had a blast.

"Fuck yeah! This is great!" Bakugou shouted as he zoomed around the room. Ochako was having trouble keeping tabs on him at this speed but stayed focused. She didn't want to be the one who missed a catch and release. He eventually topped her speed toward the end but then their phone alarms went off to signal their time was up in the dojo.

"Alright, get ready!" Ochako shouted.

"Yeah, yeah."

Ochako caught his hand and instead of throwing him she pulled him to her. He bounced off her and she quickly straightened him out. He was still floating above the ground but at least he wasn't a blur anymore.

"That was fun," Bakugou said, grinning like a maniac. "Imagine how fast I could get if I added explosions to that."

"I doubt I'd be able to see you. Release," Ochako said, putting her fingertips together. Bakugou dropped and he went over to get his stuff. "We doing Recap Dinner?"

"Sure. You can eat after all that?" Bakugou gestured to the trash can.

"Oh yeah. I've got an empty stomach now so I'm starving. Still don't feel great but my stomach is alright."

"Good." Bakugou opened the door for her and they walked to Lunch Rush together.

"I thought that training session went pretty well, don't you?" Ochako asked. Bakugou nodded in agreement. "What did you do when I was training by myself?"

"Ground Zero."

"You were practicing Ground Zero? How? You'd need my quirk."

"Don't need your quirk to see how different types of 'ground' break. Don't need it to know how big of an explosion I'll need or the power required for different sizes of debris or figuring out the potential trajectories of the pieces based on how they break."

"That sounds like math," Ochako groaned. Bakugou laughed.

"Yeah, it's all math. Trial and error and math. Worked on some other stuff too, mostly special moves and aerial combat stuff. Obviously not weightless but still worth doing."

"At least we both got stuff done! We've got five days till the test. We should probably plan each of those out tonight. We need to make sure we're covering what we need to and don't get distracted by new moves we'll learn down the line."

Lunch Rush was packed so Bakugou and Ochako took their meal to go and sat outside.

"So, recap," Ochako said. Bakugou grinned a little. He was glad things were getting back to normal. "Accuracy of throwing is good. Speed needs work. Catch and release is good. Boomerang is good but we've got to practice Flaming Boomerang. Roulette Bullet and RB-HA are good but I think we need to get someone to practice with us as a villain so we can finalize timing."

Bakugou nodded after each sentence, checking off an internal to-do list in his head.

"Tomorrow morning let's work on my surprise special move, Flaming Boomerang, and I'll show you my progress with the air blasts."

"Alright. I'll get Kirishima to play villain for us sometime next week. Let's work on speed again after class."

Ochako grimaced.

"I knew you were going to say that," she said, picking at her food.

"I'll bring you some motion sickness pills," Bakugou said nonchalantly, taking a big bite of his food.

"They don't seem to work for me but I appreciate it, Bakugou." Ochako would plan to skip lunch tomorrow. Hopefully that would help.

"Right, you would have already tried that. Didn't think," Bakugou said to himself. Ochako looked at him. He was acting so strangely. Not angry, dancing slowly, reminding himself out loud that Ochako was a real person who knew herself.

"What's going on?" Ochako stared at him. "You're not a clone or something are you? Replaced with a nicer version of yourself?"

"Ha ha, you're very funny," he deadpanned. "No, it's me. I already explained why I'm not angry. You think this is nicer? I'm just in a good mood. I can be more mean if that'd make you comfortable." Bakugou gave her a wry side glance then flipped her off. Ochako couldn't help but laugh.

"No, that proves it. I'm glad you're in a good mood. Let's keep that for a while."

"I'll try." Bakugou let out a small laugh as he rolled his eyes at her.

"Alright, back to planning. Sunday we should focus on Ground Zero. That needs the most work and we'll have the most time that day."

"Sounds good."

"Monday, aerial acrobatics and maybe combat training in the dojo for good measure. We haven't focused on it for a while. Tuesday, miscellaneous special moves like RB-HA, Dual Howitzer Impact and maybe we can get a dummy for Zero G Explode-A-Pult."

"Why can't we use Kirishima for that?" Bakugou asked earnestly.

"Two days before the test you want to drop your best friend from the sky?"

"He can survive that. He's survived worse."

Ochako stared at him in disbelief but didn't argue.

"If Kirishima wants to then let him. I'm not the boss of him."

"Sure are the boss of me," Bakugou teased.

"Good. Someone needs to be," she teased back. "I like a challenge."

"I know you do." He hurriedly took a bite of his food so he wouldn't have to talk anymore. Ochako raised an eyebrow at him but continued with her tentative schedule albeit less enthusiastically about the next subject.

"Tuesday, let's work on speed again in the dojo. I'll need as much time getting used to it as possible."

"Sucks to suck," Bakugou whispered.

"Sucks to upchuck is more like it," Ochako said. Bakugou covered his mouth to stifle a laugh.

"By that logic, we should do aerial acrobatics again Wednesday morning."

"Yeah, good idea! We'll do that. Let's leave the last two training sessions open for whatever else we deem needs work as we go through the week."

"Works for me."

They continued to eat, talking about their time apart. Even though it had stemmed from something Ochako had hated, it really had done wonders for both of them and seemed to make them even stronger. Apparently, Kaminari and Sero had ambushed Bakugou after class one day to ask what was going on but Bakugou had blasted them both.

"No one ambushed me. It was shocking but welcome. I had time to really sort out myself and get back into the groove of things. Plus, I got so much homework done!"

"You need better time management if we're going to train after camp. Can't have you failing and dropping out."

"Well, we won't be training as hard. Only a couple days a week, right?" Ochako asked. They hadn't discussed it but he couldn't want the same schedule as now. It was crazy.

"Is that what you want?" Bakugou asked hesitantly. Now he was asking her what she wanted. He was being so weird.

"Uh, let's start with that. We can always add more if we want. I kind of want to relax a bit after all this."

Bakugou nodded and finished off his meal.

"You going to Recovery Girl to get that healed up?" he asked, changing the subject and gesturing to her burn rash from earlier.

"Eh, I'll go in the morning. I'm tired and I don't want to impose."

"C'mon, there's no use being in pain for no reason."

"It doesn't hurt that bad." Bakugou gave her a look and she sighed in defeat. "Sure, I'll go now. I'll finish and head over."

"I'll go with you. We can talk about special moves," Bakugou said with an excited glint in his eye.

"Haha, okay." Ochako ate the rest of her meal quickly and they walked to Recovery Girl's office. Bakugou talked exclusively about Ground Zero and all he'd discovered the past few days. Ochako listened carefully and took mental notes for Sunday.

When they got to her office door, Ochako knocked sweetly a couple times. The little old lady walked out, already in her pajamas and smiled up at her.

"Ms. Uraraka, Mr. Bakugou. I heard you two were partners. Did something happen?"

"Just a little burn rash," Ochako explained with a smile. "Thought it'd be better to heal it than suffer through it during the last few days of training."

"No worries. Even the smallest injury can offset training."

"Exactly," Bakugou muttered. He loved people confirming he was right.

Recovery Girl gave Ochako a small kiss and Ochako immediate felt more tired than she thought she should. Ochako thanked her, then bowed appreciatively. Unfortunately when she turned around to leave, she stumbled a little. Both Bakugou and Recovery Girl looked a little concerned.

"Hmm, you shouldn't be that tired after something small like that," Recovery Girl said. "Someone seems to have been overdoing it with training or maybe you haven't been eating enough. Get lots of rest tonight. Please escort her back to her room, Mr. Bakugou."

Bakugou nodded and Ochako dragged her feet along behind him as they headed back to the dorms.

"Weird that you're tired after that," he said. "It wasn't even that bad."

"Yeah, whatever," Ochako mumbled. She just wanted to go to sleep.

Bakugou chuckled and, since Ochako didn't feel like talking, walked with her in silence. She was thankful as she didn't have the brain power to take mental notes on Ground Zero anymore.

The common area was packed full of students all cramming for the written exam on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Ochako groaned and facepalmed.

"I haven't studied at all. I've been focusing on keeping caught up on homework and training. In my head I knew it was soon but it wasn't at the top of my list of things to do."

Bakugou hesitated and then grimaced like he was about to do something he really didn't want to do.

"I can help you study," Bakugou said quietly so no one else could hear him.

"Really!? You'd do that." Ochako could almost cry from happiness.

"Shut your mouth! Obviously not tonight since you're spent," he whispered covertly. "Tomorrow after training. Your room." It was then that Kaminari and Sero rushed over to him, pleading for his help in math. Ochako side-stepped out of the way as Bakugou's expression turned sour. "If you don't know it now, you won't get it by Monday idiots!"

"Can we at least see your notes?" Sero begged.

"No."

"Ugh, let's go to Yaoyorozu. Her handwriting is better anyway and she always wants to help," Kaminari said with a nudge to Sero. Bakugou groaned.

"Fucking vultures." Bakugou shook his head as they walked away.

"I'm going to bed," Ochako said and left him to head to the elevators. She was a little more relaxed about the final exam with Bakugou offering to help her. It was shocking that he'd done it but maybe he secretly wanted a study buddy. After all, teaching makes it clear what you don't know. She shifted her backpack when the elevator door opened wishing it didn't feel so heavy.

"Same. I can't be around them right now," Bakugou grumbled and hurried to catch the elevator before the doors closed.

"I don't know why they keep asking you." Ochako yawned, which Bakugou caught. "You'd think they'd catch on."

"Well, they're idiots. So no, they'll ask me until we graduate and probably after that for hero-shit."

Ochako chuckled and the doors opened to their dorm floor.

"Bright and early tomorrow," Ochako called back to him as they split off to go to each other's respective rooms.

"Yep. Get good sleep so we can kill it tomorrow. Don't disappoint me with that surprise."

"Psh, have some faith." Ochako looked back at him and smirked before she went into her room.

It had been such a better day than she expected. She did wonder at the beginning of her break from Bakugou if it would ruin their teamwork or their friendship but she had worried in vain. They were better than ever and she really felt like they were moving in a good direction. With that worry gone, now she could stress full-time over the fact that she'd completely screwed herself over by not studying for the written exam and only focusing on the practical. Thankfully, Nicer Bakugou was willing to help but Ochako even worried if that was a good idea. She'd find out tomorrow.

Facing Their Least Favorite Things

Chapter Summary

Ochako shows Bakugou her new move idea but it doesn't go as well as she hopes. After a day of him acting strangely, is studying with Bakugou even a good idea anymore?

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

Ochako woke up after a very restful sleep, excited to get to work on her surprise special move. She really felt like it was versatile, fun, and, most importantly, would take out a lot of bad guys. Ochako opened her door with a large duffle bag hoisted like a backpack across her shoulders. She was greeted with a sleepy Bakugou standing outside her dorm room. This time he was holding a bag of strawberries and a chocolate protein shake for her in one hand while munching his way through a bag of mixed bell pepper slices that he had stored in his hoodie pocket. Ochako spotted a vanilla protein shake peeking out of there as well.

"Let's go," he yawned as he passed her breakfast to her.

"Thank you! I love strawberries!" Ochako popped one into her mouth. "These are perfect. Nice and sweet!"

Bakugou and her shuffled to Ground Beta drinking their shakes and enjoying the beautiful sunrise. It was peaceful and cool, which was welcome right now since the days were getting hotter and hotter. More than that, she'd missed these early morning walks with Bakugou more than the rest of their training. Even though they almost never talked during them, Ochako had been lonely walking alone during her time away.

Once they were in Ground Beta, Bakugou did something different than normal. He turned on some slow jazz and started doing yoga.

"Yoga? That's new," Ochako commented as she joined him, doing her own poses.

"Thought I'd see what the big deal is since you go with that half and half bastard now."

Ochako frowned.

"It's relaxing, makes you stronger, and increases your flexibility. Surprised you haven't tried every workout under the sun," Ochako said as she leaned over into a wide-legged forward bend.

"It's the relaxing part I really don't give a shit about. Doesn't interest me unless I'm trying to go to sleep."

"Doesn't interest you?" Ochako turned her head to look at him, still in her position.

Bakugou shook his head.

"Wonder what it's like to have that much energy," Ochako yawned and changed to a different stance.

After warming up, Bakugou turned off the music and bounced from foot to foot hyping himself up for whatever Ochako had planned this morning.

Ochako shook herself out and then gave him a big smile as she pulled out her hero boots and cuffs from the duffle bag she brought along.

"It's time to learn Gunship."

Bakugou grinned and his attention was fully on Ochako as she put on her equipment.

"The general idea is, now that I have a reliable way to get around, we can get you into the air and you can rain down explosion bullets with AP Machine Gun. We could even use AP Shot for maximum damage or crowd control, which I've tentatively nicknamed Spaceship cause it's kind of like a laser.

"Alright, so the goal is to figure out the best positioning for you to carry me, optimal height, movement patterns, and transitions into and out of it."

Ochako nodded. She was always reminded how smart he was when they were figuring out moves. It was his element.

Ochako tapped herself on the thigh and lifted off the ground. Bakugou grabbed her hand and pulled her to his back.

"Let's fly a little like this using your explosions. I think we could just transition to Gunship position from here. Instead of me wrapping my legs around you, you wrap your calves around my legs and I'll hold your torso with one or both arms."

"Easy enough," Bakugou acknowledged. "Hit me."

Ochako put all her pads on his chest and it was time for lift off. They flew around at high speeds using his quirk until it was time for the switch.

"Gunship!" Ochako said in his ear. Bakugou did as Ochako had instructed and wrapped his calves around her legs. His explosions had stopped but they were still propelling forward rapidly toward a building.

"Uraraka!" Bakugou yelled, reminding her of the impending collision if she didn't time the blasts right.

She quickly removed her right arm and used her air blasts to send them in a different direction, then sent one right in front of her to slow them down. They were still moving but it was manageable now to work out their holding position.

"If I move my legs side to side will that distract you?" Ochako asked.

"No, but it might shake me loose if you do it too fast. The only reason this position works is because we're both weightless. Not a lot of grip."

"That's good. We'll need to get out of it fast in a battle."

"Right," Bakugou shifted in her arms and got ready to let off AP Machine Gun. "Not going to do full power.

Bakugou let off the move and their altitude increased a little. The individual blasts shook them a bit.

"Full power," Bakugou yelled and let off an intense AP shot. There was an intense pushback from the heat and air pressure change and they soared high and fast.

"Can you bring us down?" Ochako said loudly in his ear as they climbed faster and faster into the sky. The rushing of the wind in her ears made it difficult to hear anything.

They changed positions back to their signature piggyback style and blasted toward the Earth.

"Release!" Ochako put her hands together and they dropped a foot from the ground. "That was about what I expected."

Ochako noticed Bakugou was breathing shallowly.

"Usually the only time I get pushback is when the explosion is really strong and my body is used to absorbing it. Being weightless really screws up everything."

"We'll need to time my air blasts with your explosions to keep level."

"Or I could do Gunship alone," Bakugou offered, not looking at Ochako. "Not a problem for me to get around, ya know."

"Uh, I thought of that. You'd be blown off course with the explosions and it would take you time to get back in the fight. With my air blasts we'll stay together and in the fight."

Bakugou rubbed the palms of his hands with his thumbs, still not making eye contact with her.

"Let's just move on," Bakugou cracked his knuckles. "We need to figure out Flaming Boomerang."

"Do you not like Gunship?" Ochako asked, unsuccessfully hiding her disappointment.

"Why would you think that?" Bakugou turned away from her, jaw clenched.

"You always want to practice till it's perfect. Is everything okay?" Ochako started walking toward him but he stepped away from her.

"It's straightforward. We don't need to practice it anymore."

"You realize how out of character that sounds for you, right? I can't help if I don't know what you're thinking."

"You can't always help!" Bakugou screamed, turning around to unleash all his fury on her. Ochako flinched at the sudden change in demeanor and took a couple steps back from him.

"Let's-let's take a break," Ochako eyed him warily before grabbing her water bottle. Bakugou nodded and took his water bottle to a different section of the training grounds. She could hear him hitting things as she rested.

After about ten minutes, he came back with his knuckles raw and bleeding.

"Bakugou!" Ochako jumped up and ran over to him. "Why!?"

"It's fine, it's nothing," Bakugou shrugged her off.

"It's not nothing! Something is obviously wrong. Is it me? Did I do something?" Ochako was racking her brain trying to figure out why he was acting like this.

"No," Bakugou pushed past her and put his water bottle back with his stuff.

"Is it the move?"

"No!" Bakugou shouted. "Let's just move on and come back to it!"

"I thought we were past this," Ochako whispered sadly, her eyes watering. "I thought you trusted me."

"Aw, fuck," Bakugou grimaced seeing the tears well up in her eyes. "It's me!"

"What?" Ochako wiped her cheeks.

"The move is awesome. I--I don't like being carried, okay?" Bakugou absentmindedly touched his chest where Ochako had been holding him. "But it doesn't matter because that's what we need for the move."

"I thought fighting and training were different," Ochako moved closer to him and he backed away.

"Well, it wasn't this time," Bakugou's face was turning red and he gritted his teeth, turning his face away from her.

"Hey, it's okay," Ochako hesitantly took a step closer and thankfully he stood in one spot.

"It doesn't matter. I need to get over it. I'll just push through. Let's practice then," Bakugou held out his hand for Ochako to tap him with her pads. Ochako stared at his hand then gave him a concerned look.

"I'll do it if you want but you shouldn't push past this. We're a team. We work it out when things aren't right," Ochako walked over to him tentatively and he was so tightly wound that she thought he'd crumble. "Breathe, Bakugou."

Bakugou took a breath and let it out slowly.

"We can try Gunship a different way."

He shook his head.

"That way is the most logical. Let's just--desensitize me."

"Uh, you're kind of freaking out right now. I'm not sure-" Ochako started but stopped when Bakugou glared at her.

"I'm not freaking out!"

Ochako gave him a look and he calmed down a little.

"It's never going to get better if I don't get used to it," he said as he started pacing. Ochako didn't want to argue. He knew himself better than she did. If he wanted to be desensitized, she'd do it. Ochako held out her hand and Bakugou looked at it for a moment before quickly hitting it and becoming weightless. Ochako pulled him into an embrace, wrapping her arms around his torso and lifting him off the ground.

"The height difference is really obvious when I'm holding you like this," Ochako whispered and Bakugou let out a small, anxious laugh.

They stood there for a minute until Bakugou's breath became normal again.

"Okay?" Ochako asked. Bakugou nodded and Ochako set him down. "Release. Let's not overdo it. Next up-Flaming Boomerang."

He didn't say anything but got in position. They worked on that and Bakugou showed her some tips and tricks with flying using her air blasts then headed to class. Ochako could tell he was really disappointed in himself regarding Gunship as he was fuming the entire walk there. She tried to cheer him up by focusing on praising all the things he accomplished today and tell him how awesome he'd been. He seemed to appreciate it but any positive he received couldn't erase the negative he was dealing with.

Mr. Iida sent Bakugou to Recovery Girl for his hand, which led to everyone in the class questioning how it had happened. Fortunately, it was dropped pretty quickly after a small outburst from a furious Bakugou as he left. Ochako was thankful she didn't have to lie to anyone. After that, school and the afternoon training went by quickly and smoothly as Bakugou forced himself to focus on getting better at other things. Ochako didn't want to bring it up again as they were making good work on everything else they had planned to work on but she couldn't figure out why it had upset him so much.

After Recap Dinner, Bakugou told Ochako he needed to shower then he'd be up to help her study. He left before she was done eating and Ochako couldn't quite place why she was put out by that. It wasn't that he didn't want to walk with her; he just had other things to do, right?

The common room was packed with students. The sounds of writing and flipping of papers filled the air and Ochako immediately felt overwhelmed. Even those in study groups weren't talking much outside of the occasional question or asking to see notes. Deku was muttering quietly in a corner to himself, his textbooks spread out around him like a ritual circle.

Ochako went to her room and spread out her study materials across her bed. She quickly changed into more comfortable clothes and just as she finished slipping on her leggings a loud singular knock came from her door.

"C'mon in," she responded and climbed onto her bed, picking up her Japanese to English dictionary.

Bakugou opened the door and Ochako noticed his hair was still wet. He was wearing his Dynamight hoodie and black shorts. He saw the dictionary she was holding and clicked his tongue.

"That's what you want to start with?" Bakugou said a little judgmentally.

"What? I need to study everything. Do we need to do it in a certain order?" Ochako repositioned herself so she could use the wall as back support.

"Whatever," Bakugou grabbed his own English study materials out of his bag that hung from his shoulder and started to head toward her desk.

"Why don't you sit on the bed with me? Then we can compare notes without having to get up."

Bakugou hesitated then his face went into a slight scowl.

"I mean if you don't want to that's fine," Ochako added awkwardly. There had to be something going on with him.

"No, that works," Bakugou slowly walked over to her bed and sat down next to her like he was unsure that's what he wanted. He set his bag to the left of him and pulled out his phone as a replacement for a physical dictionary.

"Are you good at sentence structure?" Ochako asked him, looking down at her own notes.

Bakugou nodded.

"Can we start there?"

He silently gave her his notes and then worked on his own studying while Ochako read them. She transferred what she didn't have from his notes into her own notebook and then practiced writing prose. Bakugou was working on memorizing his vocab while she did this, only breaking to review her sentences while she reviewed his vocab.

"Good," he grunted, roughly throwing her work back to her.

"Also good," Ochako gave it back to him and he clenched his jaw. Ochako shook her head subtly, wishing she could peek into his brain to see what he was thinking.

They did that for a while then moved onto World Geography.

"I hate this class," Bakugou grumbled.

"It's not my least favorite. It can be interesting," Ochako said as she perused her atlas, running her fingers along the mountain ranges of China.

"It's useless," Bakugou grumbled. He side-eyed her as she wrote down notes. "What's your least favorite class?"

Ochako looked up quickly. He very rarely asked questions about personal information so it was surprising that it was happening during studying which he claimed to hate doing with others. She'd assumed he'd want to just get it over with so could pass the written exam. If she failed he'd be stuck without a buddy at camp.

"Math," Ochako said after a couple seconds. She had thought too long about why Bakugou had asked her that but she didn't have to think long on the answer.

"What? Math is easy. Straightforward." Bakugou looked sincerely confused that she'd think otherwise.

"It doesn't click. Memorizing formulas is harder than memorizing words," Ochako gestured to their finished vocabulary notes. "I have to study twice as long as most people just to understand what's going on. My brain just isn't wired for it, I guess."

Bakugou put his atlas away and got his notes out for math.

"No, let me study this," Ochako groaned, hiding behind her atlas.

"Sounds like you need this more than that," Bakugou pulled her atlas down to see her face. Ochako closed her eyes, pouting. "C'mon, I'm the best in class. Take advantage of my gesture of goodwill."

Ochako almost said that Yaomomo was the best at math but decided against it. He'd just get angry and he was right; she needed to take advantage of his notes while she had them.

"Fine," Ochako grumbled as she looked at them. "This makes no sense to me. What is this?"

"It's math," Bakugou deadpanned.

"Ha ha. You're hilarious."

Bakugou rolled his eyes and pointed at the top of his notes. "It's vectors. We covered this at the beginning of the week."

"Right," Ochako said, still not remembering them. Bakugou sighed, his patience starting to waver.

"Let's start from the beginning of term then work up," Bakugou took those notes and brought out his older notebooks. Ochako looked at them with disgust but got her own notes out to compare.

They spent the following hours going over the terms notes and Bakugou did his very best to not get frustrated with her, though he wasn't perfect. He'd had a small outburst after reading her notes which had been written more to help Ochako learn better and not about the actual material. They were lacking a lot of information from the term. Ochako frantically copied the missing pieces from his notes as he was pressuring her to hurry and learn it.

"By this rate, we'll need to study like this tomorrow too," Bakugou said rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"You don't have to help me," Ochako mumbled quietly.

"Yes I do. You fail, I fail," Bakugou was holding his atlas in his lap as he was adamant he didn't need to study math like Ochako did. He leaned his head back on her wall and closed his eyes.

Ochako yawned and stretched, rubbing her neck as she looked at directional derivatives without soaking anything in. Her brain was shot.

"I'm just gonna take a small break," Ochako said softly as she laid down on her bed.

"No," Bakugou yawned. "We've got to keep going."

"It's gotta be almost curfew anyway," Ochako slurred.

"It's only 8:45," Bakugou said, looking at her manual clock above her desk. "Why do you have that old piece of shit?"

"Cheaper than an electric one and I use my phone for my alarm anyway."

"C'mon," Bakugou grabbed her arms and pulled her back up. "World Geography should wake you up."

"Sure, sure," Ochako stacked up Bakugou's math notes, handing them to him with another yawn. "How much can I even learn right now? I'm so tired."

"Push through it," Bakugou shook his head out and forcibly widened his eyes. Ochako opened up her own atlas, using her legs to prop it up while she leaned her head on the wall and tried to memorize the countries of Africa.

Her eyes were so heavy. She'd just go over the names in her head until Bakugou caught her. Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Ochako repeated to herself in her head. Then she fell asleep.

The light in her room was still on but it was pitch black outside when she awoke groggily. Her atlas had fallen off to the side and a few pages had crumpled underneath her leg.

"Oh no," Ochako breathed out. She tried to sit up but realized that she couldn't. Ochako tensed and looked down at her hip which was acting as a pillow for Bakugou's head. Her legs were trapped by his arm.

A boy in her room after curfew. Bakugou asleep on her hip. Falling asleep while studying for a test she was woefully unprepared for. Ochako was in so much trouble. She started to panic and looked at her clock. 8:45

"Oh no," Ochako said louder. Her clock had stopped. She betted they had gone past curfew before she had fallen asleep. She needed to rectify the situation and fast.

Unfortunately for her case, Bakugou was still sound asleep on her. She was hesitant to wake him up only because she didn't know how he'd react. She'd imagine it would be along the same lines of waking a bear up from hibernation.

"Here goes nothing," Ochako whispered tentatively and poked his shoulder. He didn't move. "C'mon," Ochako hissed. She poked him again and still no reaction.

"I tried," Ochako said as she forcefully rolled herself out from under him and fell to the floor with a thud. His head hit the bed and his eyes snapped open from either that or the noise. He sat up and his eyes darted to the clock, coming to same realization that Ochako had.

"Fuck!" Bakugou shouted quietly. "You fell asleep!"

"So did you!" Ochako whisper-yelled back to him while standing up. "I told you we should have stopped studying when we were getting tired."

Bakugou huffed and then checked his phone.

"Shit, it's 2AM," Bakugou muttered, putting his hand over his mouth. He got off of the bed and opened up her balcony door. "I'll go out this way. Can't risk the others seeing me exit your room."

"If you use your quirk, you'll get caught for sure. Just text me when you're there," Ochako held out her hand and Bakugou stared at it before reaching out for it. Ochako touched his fingers and he pulled himself over the railing when his feet lifted from the ground.

"Hey, wait," Ochako walked back into her room and grabbed his stuff and made it weightless as well. "Can't forget this."

Bakugou grabbed it and slung it over his shoulder.

"If we don't get in trouble, we're studying tomorrow. You need it," he said.

"Low blow," Ochako said, mockingly acting hurt then waved him off. "Get lots of rest. Don't really think you want to fall asleep on me again."

Bakugou hurriedly pushed off the railing to avoid talking about it but Ochako caught him blushing before he disappeared.

Ochako yawned as she went back to her bed. Her hip felt cold now comparatively to before. She grabbed her phone waiting for his text and put her hand to her hip. Maybe he was getting used to her carrying him, even if it was subconsciously. They'd just keep desensitizing him to it and maybe then he'd stop getting worked up about it. Then Gunship would be on the table again.

Bakugou: Drop me

"Release," Ochako breathed out as she pressed her pads together. She closed her eyes and as she fell asleep a little part of her wished that Bakugou was still with her. Her hip missed the warmth and the pressure. Already half-asleep, she wrapped her hip in a spare pillow to mimic it and then went into a deep, restful slumber.

Chapter End Notes

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It's All Fun and Games Until It's Not

Chapter Summary

After their written exams, Class 2-A decides to let loose a little before their practical exams. Good thing too, as what is to come is not what they were expecting.

Sunday was a long day of training including yoga and dance class. Ochako wished she didn't have so much to do since it was Deku's birthday but all his friends promised to make it up to him after all the tests. She couldn't help but make him a present and card that she set by his door before the day began. A person should feel appreciated and noticed on their birthday even if they couldn't fully celebrate until later.

Even though they were focusing on other things, Bakugou insisted that they keep desensitizing him to being carried. They took 'breaks' where they drank water with him on her back or her holding him up with one arm. They continued with these at every training session until they were out of time.

For the first time ever, Ochako was feeling good about math and she owed it all to Bakugou. He wasn't great at explaining it verbally but watching him do it himself and then helping her when she was lost was working wonders.

When she sat down at her desk Monday morning for the first day of tests, she was confident she was going to pass.

Bakugou and her studied every night after training, even on test days. They decided to work in the library to avoid the majority of their classmates but couldn't avoid Yaomomo and Todoroki who were often there sitting very close together. They didn't care much about Ochako and Bakugou but Todoroki sometimes gave Ochako sideways glances that she pretended not to see.

After training on Wednesday night, Ochako and Bakugou no longer had to study so they went straight from training back to the dorm. Rather than the common room being mostly empty like it had been previously in the week, they walked in to find Ashido trying to start a party. Jirou was setting up some speakers, Tsu and Hagakure were setting up snacks on the tables, Sero, Kaminari, and Tokoyami were decorating, and Kirishima was moving the furniture around to make room for dancing.

Ashido ran over once she saw them and squealed.

"Exams are over! We're celebrating!"

Bakugou ignored her and headed toward the elevators, leaving Ochako behind to her own devices.

"C'mon, Ochako! We all deserve a treat after how exhausting this term has been," Ashido clasped her hands together and pleaded to her with her eyes.

"I'm down!" Ochako grinned. "Let me change and put my stuff away."

"Okay! Dress nice!"

Ochako hurried to her room and picked out a nice pink tank top with some jean shorts. When she walked out, Ojiro was waiting for the elevator wearing a short sleeve button up and black pants.

"Hey, Ojiro! I feel like I haven't seen you in forever. You look nice. Excited for the party?" Ochako conversed as she jogged over to catch the elevator.

"Yeah! It's been really busy this term. We all need a break before tomorrow's physical. At least I do," Ojiro grinned sweetly at her as he pushed the button to go down.

"I can't wait for a real day off," Ochako hummed and thought of everything she'd do in the coming days.

"Yeah, my parents planned a weekend getaway so I'll be leaving Thursday right after my test."

"That's exciting! Where are you going?" Ochako said as the elevator doors opened and they were greeted by pop music and colorful lights.

"Oh, just the beach."

"That sounds so nice," Ochako fantasized about her at the beach soaking in the sun without a worry or care in the world.

"Definitely. Anyway, I promised Hagakure I'd help her set up this food game she's got planned. I'll talk to you later!" Ojiro ran over to Hagakure and she jumped in excitement. They then both ran over to a corner that Satou was turning into some sort of baked good area. Ochako would definitely be visiting that later.

She went over to Deku and Iida who were setting up video games on the T.V.

"What are we playing?" Ochako asked excitedly. She really liked co-op party games.

"We've got Mario Kart, Mario Party Centennial Edition, a few JackBoxes, and some fighting games."

"Smash?" Ochako asked, eyeing the stacks of games.

"Yes!" Iida confirmed and pulled it out from the bottom of the pile.

Ochako chuckled menacingly. Deku and Iida both looked at her apprehensively.

"Remind me not to face you in this game," Deku said with a small smile. "When we're finished hooking everything up, I'll let you know."

"Sounds good," Ochako said. She turned around and almost ran into Yaomomo.

"Oh, sorry, Ochako. I was just about to ask you if you'd help me gather the girls. They just announced that the I-Expo is happening again and my parents confirmed we're going to the Early Access Event. I want to hurry and give them the names of the guests I'm taking since it's so soon."

"Oh," Ochako had completely forgotten that that event usually happened around this time of year. "That's still happening even after what happened last year?"

"Yep! They just finalized the schedule of events. They were going back and forth whether or not to have it at all, let alone the Early Access Event. It's happening the week before camp starts."

"Oh, so next weekend," Ochako sighed. If she didn't pull the right straw she doubted she'd be able to swing going, especially with it happening in just a week. She didn't really mind if she couldn't go. She was grateful she even got to go last year.

"Sure, where do you want to meet?" Ochako asked Yaomomo.

"Let's just meet in the girl's bathroom down here. Shouldn't take too long. Thanks, Ochako!"

Ochako nodded and went over to Jirou at her makeshift DJ station. She whispered in her ear what was happening. Jirou then shook her head with a smile.

"Kaminari and his family invited me to go to Disney with them during that weekend. Hope you get that ticket!"

Ochako then went over to Tsu who was munching on some blueberries as she talked to Ashido.

"Hey, Yaomomo wants to meet in the bathroom to decide who's going with her to the I-Expo."

"That's happening?" Tsu asked. "Surprising with all the stuff that's been happening with villains and with what happened last year."

"Yeah but if it's happening I want to go!" Ashido jumped up and ran into the bathroom.

"Guess we better go too, ribbit," Tsu got up, taking a big handful of blueberries with her. Ochako saw Yaomomo talking to Hagakure so she followed Tsu. In less than a minute, Yaomomo walked in with Hagakure who was very excited about the prospect of going to the Expo.

"Jirou's not going so it's just the four of us up for the tickets," Ochako told Yaomomo.

"Alright," she said as she created four straws, two short and two long, from her arm. "Whoever picks the long straws gets to go," she grinned with a wink and held them out to Ashido.

She picked a short straw.

"Darn, not again!" Ashido pouted and left the gathering.

Hagakure picked next and pulled a long straw.

"Yay!" Hagakure jumped up and down as fast as she could.

"Congrats!" Yaomomo cheered and held out the straws to Tsu.

"Good luck!" Hagakure squealed before running out of the bathroom.

Tsu took a big breath and pulled out a long straw.

"Nice," Tsu smiled and then her face fell as she looked at Ochako. "Sorry you didn't get it."

"That's okay! I went last year. I bet you'll have loads of fun!"

Ochako meant it. She wasn't that disappointed that she couldn't go. She'd just rest up and maybe work on some stuff before camp. In fact, she was kind of looking forward to it.

"Great! We'll have such a great time, Tsu. Can't wait to spend time with you and Hagakure! Maybe next year, Ochako," Yaomomo patted Ochako's shoulder and then left the bathroom too. Tsu's face betrayed the fact that she still felt bad that Ochako couldn't go.

"Hey! I'm perfectly fine. Truly. Let's go have fun tonight," Ochako gave her a big smile and then grabbed her hand to drag her to the festivities.

The last minute announcement of the I-Expo event was all anyone was talking about when they exited. Todoroki was in the corner quietly conversing with Deku who looked concerned. Mineta was frantically filling out the job application on his phone at one of the tables muttering to himself about seeing all the new hot chicks. Shouji, Satou, and Ojiro were deciding if they should go to the expo or if they should still go to Universal Studios like they'd originally planned.

Ashido, Kirishima, and Sero were discussing whether or not to apply for jobs to go to the Expo like Mineta was doing. Ochako sat next to them.

"The thought of working with Mineta makes me physically sick," Ashido grumbled. "I had such rotten luck pulling the short straw."

"Hey, at least you had a chance. I had to pay to go last year but it's so last minute this year I doubt my parents can pay for it again," Sero shook his head sadly.

"Well, I think I'm going to skip this year," Ochako interjected. "It's been go, go, go for so long that some relaxing time off sounds irresistible. Plus, I can't afford it so without Yaomomo's ticket there's no way to go."

"Same. It would be nice to chill," Kirishima closed his eyes as if imagining a real break.

"We could chill at I-Island and look at all the cool stuff and eat all the good food!" Ashido gave him a look and crossed her arms.

"We couldn't if we got jobs there," Sero countered.

"Ugh," Ashido groaned. She knew he was right. "Maybe we should just stay here. Working and then camp? Too much."

"Let's just go shopping and maybe hang out a couple times. We could go to the arcade, maybe the beach," Kirishima offered.

"That sounds fun!" Ashido perked up.

"Yeah, I have to get a few things for camping so shopping sounds great," Ochako said, liking the idea of a low key couple of weeks. "We're going downtown for Deku's makeup birthday this weekend. You can all come along if you'd like."

"That sounds good!" Kirishima grinned.

"Fun!" Ashido added. Sero gave an excited thumbs up with a big smile.

At that moment, Deku came over with a controller in his hand.

"Ready to play?" He asked her.

"Definitely!" Ochako stood up quickly. "Talk to you later!" she said hurriedly to the group as they ran to the T.V.

Ochako spent most of the night at that area, wanting to veg out as much as possible. She was a beast at Kirby on Smash but she beat everyone pretty quick and they wanted to move on to something that she couldn't destroy them at. Her, Iida, Deku, Tsu, Aoyama, Koda, Tokoyami, and Todoroki played Mario Party together. It was great to watch her kick butt as Princess Peach but she ended up not getting first because Iida was ruthless when it came to stealing stars and sabotaging players.

"Ha ha! Take that, you princess monstrosity!" Iida yelled in victory as his Bowser avatar laughed on screen. He was very much in character right now and Ochako and Deku laughed at his commitment.

"Good game!" Deku gave him a handshake and then stood up. "Getting some snacks -anyone want some?"

"Yes, thank you," Todoroki said as he placed his controller down on the table.

"Me too!" Tsu and Ochako said unison.

"I'll bring a few things over then," Deku grinned and headed toward the food.

"The darkness calls to me," Tokoyami said quietly as he stood up.

"Goodnight," Tsu waved as he left them. Koda also got up and waved them goodbye.

"What time is it?" Ochako asked aloud.

"Past ten," Todoroki answered, checking his phone.

"Wow, we've been playing a while," Tsu commented. "Maybe we should go to bed too, Aoyama. We still have that thing to work on before the physical."

" Oui , I agree. Good game, monsieur ," Aoyama stood up, bowed toward Iida, then departed with a dramatic turn.

"Tell Deku I'm sorry for bailing out when I requested snacks. Sleep well, Ochako," Tsu waved goodbye then headed toward the elevators with Aoyama.

Deku returned a couple minutes later with a bowl of chips and a bowl of grapes.

"Wow, everyone's gone," Deku said as he placed the bowls on the table.

"Yeah, Tsu said she's sorry. Her and Aoyama needed to get up early to practice. The others were tired."

"Aren't you practicing tomorrow morning as well?" Todoroki inquired.

"Yeah but I'm having fun with my friends. It's been a while since we've all been together."

Todoroki gave a small smile.

"It has been nice," he said as he grabbed some grapes.

"Let's turn on a movie," Deku suggested.

"Not everyone stays up as late as you," Todoroki muttered quietly.

"Yeah, I know but things are calming down."

As if on cue, Jirou turned off the music and Satou and Kaminari picked up her speakers to carry them to her room. It was then that Ochako noticed Yaomomo and Hagakure cleaning up the food game area as Sero, Ashido, and Kirishima cleaned up the decorations. Ojiro and Shouji were just finishing putting away the food on the tables. Apparently Deku had swooped in just in time to get the snacks.

"A short one would probably be fine," Ochako shrugged and leaned into the couch.

"Iida you pick. You're the winner," Deku encouraged.

Iida grabbed the remote and picked the first movie that was less than an hour and half long. It was a kid's movie but it seemed to have good characters in it. The rest of class hadn't wanted to join in, so it was just her and her boys. Ochako watched for a bit but unfortunately she had been more tired than her body had let on and she fell asleep about half-way through.

Ochako was woken up roughly by an angry Bakugou from behind the couch as he flicked her in the back of the head.

"Hey!" Ochako leaned her head back to stare at him upside down. The rest of her friends around her squirmed at the sound and movements.

"What do you think you're doing?" He asked loudly but it didn't wake the others.

"Hanging out with friends," Ochako rubbed her eyes and realized that she was trapped. Deku's head was on her lap and Iida had somehow ended up on the floor, his torso covering her feet. Todoroki's head was resting on her right shoulder. Ochako realized she was sweating a little underneath him. He was so warm on his left side.

"Looks a bit more intimate than that," Bakugou spat at her.

"What time is it?" Ochako asked, ignoring his words.

"Around 4:30," Bakugou huffed as he went to the fridge.

"Oh, wow, okay," Ochako woke herself up faster. They were supposed to train this morning. She still needed to get ready and change. "Deku! Todoroki! Wake up!"

Ochako moved around trying to get the boys off her but they were all kind of heavy. Todoroki groggily sat up and fell to the other side of the couch.

"Get off of her!" Bakugou yelled from the kitchen.

"Ah!" Deku screamed as he shot up from Ochako's lap. He was turning his head every direction to determine what had happened. "Oh no! I'm so sorry, Uraraka! This is all my fault."

"No-," Ochako started but Bakugou interrupted.

"You damn nerd! Who watches a movie at a party?"

Iida then sat up, his glasses askew and his hair messy.

"This isn't where I should be," he whispered.

"No shit, Four-Eyes!" Bakugou said between bites of his bowl of natto. "Uraraka and I have business. Get out of here!"

Deku quickly shook Todoroki awake and helped him to the elevator. Iida got up as well and apologized to Uraraka.

"There isn't a need for screaming at this time in the morning, Bakugou," Iida said curtly as he passed the kitchen to climb into the elevators with the others.

Bakugou glared at Ochako, ignoring Iida's comment, then took out a separate bowl of natto that he'd dished up for her behind his back.

"Eat up," he grunted before going back to his own bowl.

Ochako got up from the couch and ambled toward the kitchen, still slightly sleepy.

"What's up with you? Your cheeks are bright pink," Bakugou gestured to her with his chopsticks.

"Todoroki is very warm," Ochako shivered as she started eating her natto. She was so cold now that she wasn't engulfed in her friend's body heat. She noticed Bakugou's jaw clench and he shoveled a huge bite into his mouth.

"That all?" Bakugou asked after swallowing.

Ochako stared at him, wondering why he would ask her that.

"Yes. That's all." Ochako took a bite without breaking eye contact.

"Just need to know if it's going to get in the way of our training," he shrugged.

"I'm focused on passing," Ochako said simply.

"Good," he looked at her quickly then finished his bowl. "Get changed. I'm heading over."

"Can't you wait for me?" Ochako asked, slightly annoyed at his impatience with little hope that he actually would. Bakugou scowled at her before shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Hurry up," Bakugou walked over to the couch closest to the doors.

Ochako was shocked and surprised in a good way. She quickly finished her breakfast and got ready for their last training session before the test.

Bakugou stood up upon seeing her exit the elevator when she was finally ready.

"Took you long enough," he said as he started walking out the door. She ran to catch up with him.

"Looks like you manifested a second quirk. Getting guys to fall asleep on you," Bakugou nonchalantly teased as they passed the dorms.

"Shut up," Ochako blushed. "How is it my fault? I'm always the one who falls asleep first. You guys need to pay more attention."

"Fair," Bakugou replied, his face still stoic.

They walked in silence the rest of the way there until Bakugou stopped just before the gate to Ground Beta.

"Something wrong?" Ochako wondered, looking around.

"Ashido texted me that you didn't get Ponytail's ticket."

"Uh, yes that's true. It's okay, though! I don't need to go. I went last year."

"So if you had a chance to go you wouldn't?" Bakugou asked, his eyes staring deep into hers.

"Yeah, sure I'd go. It's just not going to happen," Ochako chuckled, wanting to drop the subject, and began to turn around to finish walking into the training area.

"It can if you go with me," he said calmly as if it was a perfectly normal thing to say at 5 in the morning with no prior conversation about it.

"What?" Ochako blurted out. Of course; Ochako hadn't even thought about the fact that he got to go for free and pick a plus one since he had won the Sports Festival.

Bakugou gritted his teeth, obviously not wanting to repeat himself.

"What about Kirishima?" Ochako asked.

"What about him?" Bakugou looked away from her.

"Doesn't he want to go?"

"Didn't ask."

Ochako couldn't believe what was happening. She was racking her brain wondering why on Earth he'd choose her over any of his other friends. Then she realized why.

"I don't want to do any extra training there, Bakugou. I need a break after this."

Bakugou gave her a long look then took a shallow breath.

"Right. No training then."

"You mean it?" Ochako asked hopefully.

Bakugou nodded once.

"Alright then! That sounds great! Thanks!"

"Don't make a big deal out of it. Thought you might have been thinking about the stupid event and how you couldn't go," Bakugou said as he walked by her. "And we need to focus on the test. Better to just get it over with before we start this morning."

"Right, yeah," Ochako said with a determined nod and followed him. Focus on the training and the test, not that Bakugou wanted to spend more time with her or that he hadn't fought her on not training while they were there.

They utilized every second of their final training session and when they left they were confident and in good spirits, conveniently avoiding the subject of them travelling together in a week.

Later that morning, dressed in their hero costumes, Class 2-A boarded the bus that would take them to the predesigned testing area where their practical exams would take place.

Mr. Iida stood at the front of the bus before it departed looking very distraught.

"I need to give you a fair warning. The Hero Public Safety Commission has had a hand in setting your finals this term. I have to say they have devised an incredibly difficult test today. One which has divided the teachers and required permission from your guardians prior to being set."

"What?" Half the class asked in unison.

Mr. Iida hesitated, his foot tapping in anxiety.

"You will not be facing the teachers like last year. You'll be facing villains."

"What?!" The whole class exclaimed.

"Now, both the teachers and your guardians have been assured that this is safe and proper steps have been taken for any possible instances afterward. Principal Nezu has asked that you be mentally prepared to see some familiar faces. In his words, he's talked with each of the school therapists and they said no student currently seeing them expressed any signs of being severely affected by this decision. If you have questions, please talk to me on the way there. Driver, let's get going."

The class erupted into panicked conversations around the bus as Mr. Iida sat down.

Ochako turned to look at Todoroki and Deku who were sitting behind her and Tsu. Todoroki was wide-eyed and frozen in his seat and Deku was about the same.

"They can't mean what I think they mean," Tsu whispered, worrying like Ochako that real-life villains might be there.

"They wouldn't do that," Ochako muttered.

Deku started shaking and Todoroki was still frozen. Ochako got out of her seat and grabbed Deku by the shoulders.

"Look at me Deku," she said as she leaned over him. Deku looked at her but wasn't focused. "There is no way they would physically bring back anyone from this spring. This has to be something that just makes them look like them."

Deku nodded, still unfocused. Todoroki turned his head slightly to look at Ochako.

"He can't-" Todoroki started but his voice caught.

Tsu turned around to help her friend.

"Dabi won't be there, Todoroki," Tsu comforted him. "Not for real. If they even use his face at all."

Todoroki looked at her and took a deep breath.

"He's dead," he said, as if trying to convince himself. "He won't be there."

Tsu nodded. Ochako rubbed Deku's shoulders and tried to bring him back. He was deep in his brain right now.

"Todoroki," Ochako nodded her head toward Deku. Todoroki sighed and covered his right hand in frost. He gently touched Deku's cheek and Deku flinched, breaking the state he was in.

"Why would they bring them back?" Deku said as tears welled up in his eyes.

"You're all more afraid of some fake villains than failure," Bakugou said loudly and the bus stopped talking.

"We shouldn't have to relive our nightmares," Kirishima said next to him, angrily.

"That's the job," Bakugou shrugged. "We all signed up for it. Refuse to participate if you're too scared. See how that works out for you in real life."

"I didn't sign up to be traumatized intentionally," Kirishima stood up and Bakugou mirrored him. "I'm here to help people. What about you?"

"I'm here to be the best. You can't help people if you're frozen in front of a villain. You should know," Bakugou snarled. Kirishima shoved him and Bakugou screamed profanities at him.

"Bakugou--Kirishima--stop!" Ashido shouted with tears in her eyes. They didn't listen.

"Calm down," Mr. Iida said authoritatively as he ran to the back of the bus to break them up.

"I can't believe you're defending this," Kirishima shouted at him from behind Mr. Iida.

"There's nothing we can do about it!" Bakugou yelled, setting off mini explosions in his hands. "It's happening. Deal with it."

"I'm sorry, Kirishima," Mr. Iida tried to comfort Kirishima but Kirishima backed away from him. "I was against this as well but Principal Nezu couldn't fight the commission on their decision."

"It hasn't even been half a year! We're not ready to face this yet!" Kirishima cried out.

"Says you!" Bakugou yelled back at him. Mr. Iida was trying to lead Bakugou away from this area of the bus.

Ochako couldn't bear to see them fighting.

"We're going to see a lot of things that we won't want to see," Ochako said loud enough for them to listen to her. "This isn't just a test of our physical strength or our partnerships. It's a test of our emotional and mental strength as well."

"You too, Uraraka?" Kirishima grimaced in disgust in her direction. "Bakugou's worn off on you."

"Back off," Bakugou glared daggers at Kirishima, his voice laced with unbridled rage.

"We'll never be heroes if we can't deal with the aftermath of the events we're a part of," Ochako whispered, remembering her own nightmares.

"We're just children, Ochako," Ashido cried. "How could they do this to us?"

"They're preparing us to be pros," Bakugou turned to Ashido who shrunk at his gaze as he was led to the front of the bus.

"This is wrong and you know it!" Kirishima projected down the bus. He then sat down, averting his gaze from the rest of his classmates.

Bakugou looked back at his friend with teeth bared, his eyes betraying the fact that he wanted to throttle Kirishima. Mr. Iida took him further up and sat him down to have a conversation with him. Ochako couldn't hear anything they were saying. She was breathing heavily and it was Deku's turn to comfort her.

"You're right in a way. This isn't just a normal final. They need to see that we're not going to be irreparably scarred by the events from last Spring," Deku whispered.

"Or at least unable to fight because of it," Todoroki clarified, now looking out the window.

"Why are you crying, Ochako?" Tsu asked gently. Ochako hadn't realized she was.

"I don't know," Ochako said, wiping her tears. She could feel her chest tightening. Flashbacks of her unwanted familiar faces swarmed in her head.

"Uraraka?" Deku asked, concerned, but his voice was muffled.

"Get her back to her seat, Midoriya," Todoroki said, seemingly far away.

Deku led her back and Ochako sat down. Tsu wrapped her arms around her.

"It's okay, Ochako. Are you scared?" Tsu whispered.

Ochako shook her head.

"We should be more scared of failure than villains," Ochako brushed off the question. She was trying to push the faces out of her mind; the faces of those she hadn't been able to save. It was then that Bakugou returned to the back of the bus.

"Uraraka," he said loud enough to break through her episode. Ochako looked up at him, eyes still watery. "You're tougher than this."

Ochako nodded and wiped her cheeks hurriedly. Her friends looked at each other bewildered that that was the phrase that had helped her.

Bakugou sat behind Kirishima who refused to acknowledge him.

"Mr. Iida doesn't know which faces Principal Nezu is referring to. Prepare yourselves for anything," he reported. A few of the classmates nodded. Bakugou stared at the back of his best friend's head. "Kirishima."

Kirishima tensed and refused to look back at him.

"You won't freeze," Bakugou muttered and then leaned his back against the window taking the whole seat to himself.

"Whatever, man," Kirishima whispered, annoyed, but his face softened slightly. Ochako knew that it was Bakugou's way of apologizing for some of the harsher things he'd said and so did Kirishima.

Ochako looked around and saw a lot of people comforting others. Looking at how her class was reacting, Ochako could tell some of her friends were genuinely scared of whatever was coming next. She was eased by the fact that all their parents had signed off on this, meaning that it couldn't possibly be as bad as they were making it out to be. Whatever happened, it would never be as terrifying as the real thing. That was what Ochako kept telling herself as the bus got closer and closer to its destination.

Final Tests: Part 1

Chapter Summary

Even with the warning from Mr. Iida, Class 2-A couldn't have predicted what they'd actually face. Ochako and Bakugou see firsthand how the rest of the teams have improved or how they fail in the arena as they try to prepare for their own final test.

Chapter Notes

This chapter has some injuries to characters but I promise they will all make it out okay in the end.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

The bus pulled up to the test area and Bakugou immediately got off as soon as it fully stopped. Kirishima gave a frustrated look toward his friend but got up to follow him.

"You know, sometimes I think he likes to argue just because he gets to shout," Ashido said to Kirishima as he passed her. Kirishima stopped and shook his head, looking down at the ground.

"He believed what he said. That's what makes me so angry," Kirishima said quietly. "He doesn't care about how we feel. Not if it gets in the way."

Ashido stood up and they exited together. The rest of the class drifted out after them.

Ochako, Tsu, Deku, and Todoroki all got up and left the bus once everyone was gone since they were at the back. When they got outside, a member of the commission was waiting to make an announcement to the class.

"What you will see today will likely bring up unwanted memories. After your test, we have psychiatrists and medics standing by for assistance. Please know that we don't do this maliciously. It's better you know now if the past events were too damaging than after all your schooling."

Kirishima refused to look at the commission member. His arms were crossed tightly as he stood next to Ashido who was holding onto one of his arms for comfort.

"Don't you think we'd know if it was too damaging? Why set this test? Or do you not actually trust the mandatory therapists we're all seeing?" Bakugou shouted over the crowd.

The member gulped.

"As you know, Tomura Shigaraki has not yet been captured. The commission believes he's up to something, possibly gathering forces again for another attack. With the trend of heroes retiring, we can't risk losing anymore of our heroes when Shigaraki returns. Which is why we need to test if you're capable of fighting in the face of traumatic danger."

Ochako looked around at her friends to find Deku staring intensely at the commission member. She wondered what he was thinking now that his observations had been confirmed.

"Sounds a little like you wanna watch children relive their worst nightmares," Bakugou taunted.

"Now, that's enough out of you, young man! The commission believes this is for the best. Tame your students, Ingenium," the member spat at Mr. Iida before walking away from the class.

Mr. Iida looked after the commission member but gave Bakugou a firm nod and a subtle wink when they were out of sight. Bakugou turned to look behind him at Kirishima who raised the arm not being held by Ashido to bump it against Bakugou's arm. Ochako understood. Bakugou stood up for Kirishima's ideals because he had no fear of being singled out. Even though they might disagree on the severity of this test, Bakugou still had his back.

"First up, Aoyama and Asui," Mr. Iida looked at his chart. "You have 15 minutes to either capture your enemies, incapacitate them, or escape. If at any time it's too much, the safe word is 'Turnip'."

Tsu nodded and Aoyama was visibly shaking.

"I'm sorry," Mr. Iida said before they entered their test arena. "Everyone else, please come with me."

The rest of the class followed him to the presentation room where a large T.V. was set up.

"You may either watch or there's another room down the hall without a monitor where you can stay until you're called. I'll be in a different room with the other teachers who are grading you today if any of you need me." Mr. Iida then exited through a door to the right.

Kirishima and Ashido immediately left as did Hagakure and Shouji. Bakugou stayed behind as did Ochako.

"Not afraid?" Bakugou asked when she stood next to him, still staring at the screen watching Tsu and Aoyama walk towards their test which was taking place in a huge field. Ochako shook her head. "Right, villains don't scare you. Heard that on the bus."

"That's not what I said," Ochako said firmly.

"Whatever we face, you and I both know they're not real. They can't mess with our heads."

Ochako nodded but almost changed her mind when she saw what Tsu and Aoyama were up against.

"Oh my...," Satou whimpered to Ochako's left. A giant robot with a very lifelike, only somewhat transparent hologram of Gigantomachia surrounding it came onto the screen and yelled in anger, shaking the camera. It was slightly tainted by robotic static but it was unmistakably his voice.

"There's no way," Ojiro muttered, his eyes glued to the screen.

Jirou and Kaminari hurried out of the room together as Kaminari was overcome with bad memories. Iida and Tokoyami followed their partners.

"So, robots with holograms," Todoroki noted. "Manageable."

"That's a good way to look at it," Deku said uneasily, carefully watching his friend for any signs of distress.

"Easy," Bakugou grinned but as Tsu and Aoyama ran around dodging the giant robot's attacks, Aoyama was caught by one of them and crumpled to the ground. As Robot Gigantomachia threw down another attack to take out Aoyama, Tsu jumped in to throw him away. Mid-flight, Aoyama used his laser to blast higher into the sky. Tsu quickly dodged the robot's next attack and she wrapped her tongue around the flying Aoyama to get away. Then, unexpectedly, the robot tilted his head, engulfing Tsu in blue flames as they flew away. She fell to the ground and Aoyama rushed to get to her but it wasn't enough. With a loud boom, Tsu hit the field hard and, combined with the burns she'd sustained, she passed out.

"Tsu!" Yaomomo and Ochako shrieked.

Todoroki regretted his words and stared at the screen as the blue light of the fire illuminated the presentation room.

"They have different abilities," Deku stared in horror at the screen as Aoyama was desperately trying to protect and carry Tsu to the exit but even using his laser to move around was proving difficult as he was also dodging the robot's attacks.

"To throw us off," Ojiro murmured.

"Abilities that would also bring back memories," Yaomomo looked back at Todoroki with concern but Todoroki couldn't look at anything else but the blue flames.

Robot Gigantomachia was closing in on Tsu and Aoyama. Tsu was still unconscious and Aoyama was limping from the first attack. He tripped over something and fell under the weight of his partner. Looking up, Aoyama realized that the robot was lifting its hands up in order to smash on them.

"Turnip!" Aoyama shouted in fear.

The robot powered down and medics swarmed the arena. The screen went black.

"They failed," Mineta sniveled.

"It was too much," Ojiro shook his head.

"They failed because they underestimated the enemy," Bakugou said simply. "Not because it was too much. Both of them could have quickly got past it since it was slow moving."

"You didn't have to fight him back then," Yaomomo whispered.

"This isn't the same fight, Ponytail," Bakugou looked at her annoyed. "That's the whole point."

"He's right," Deku said softly. Everyone looked at him. Bakugou glared at Deku.

"It's just another villain. They're not here," Todoroki turned away from the screen and headed toward the room down the hall.

"Can't handle it, Icy-Hot?" Bakugou shouted at him.

"On the contrary. I'm telling the others what to expect. Hopefully they'll join us and come to the same conclusions we have," he said before he entered the other room.

"I don't know about you guys but I'm still pretty scared. Maybe a long hug from Yaoyorozu will calm me down," Mineta eyed her, licking his lips. Yaomomo looked down at him in disgust.

"One day you're gonna lose your teeth," Ojiro commented.

"Or your balls," Sero added.

Mineta grabbed his head in confusion.

"Not those ones," Sero clarified with a sly grin. Mineta paled.

Mr. Iida's voice rang over the intercom.

"Next is Ojiro and Koda, please exit the building and follow the signs."

"See you later," Ojiro distractedly waved at the group as he and Koda left.

The group waited in silence until the screen flickered back on showing a park amphitheater and the students watched as Ojiro and Koda got ready to fight robot-hologram Spinner and a familiar, huge Nomu.

"Two enemies?" Iida asked as he entered the presentation room.

"Tsu and Aoyama only got one enemy but it was big. I guess they're switching it up every time," Satou answered.

Koda immediately called upon a swarm of birds and Ojiro used the movement distraction of their wings to move closer to the enemies and take them out. What he didn't expect is that Spinner would have an electric-type ability and he was electrocuted as his tail hit the robot. Koda started crying as he called upon the bugs to carry Ojiro to the exit. Ojiro had managed to knock off the arm of the Nomu before he went down which allowed Koda to weave and dodge its attack enough to run toward the escape gate. The bugs had carried Ojiro most of the way but Koda picked him up and escaped with him on his back.

"That's certainly a strategy," Deku observed. "Get out quickly and don't even bother learning their abilities to figure out a fight."

"Idiots," Bakugou said under his breath. Mr. Iida announced the next team: Sero and Mineta.

"Gonna rock it," Sero gave a confident thumbs up. Mineta was reluctant to go but Sero shot his tape out and caught his wrist. "Let's go Grape Juice."

Mineta groaned and they headed toward their test.

"Hopefully Sero does better this year," Ashido said quietly as she walked into the presentation room, just barely missing Sero before he left. It looked like Todoroki had convinced everyone to leave the other room.

"He will. He's been practicing a lot," Kirishima looked up at the screen, waiting for it to show the next test.

In a couple minutes, it turned on and Sero and Mineta were in a construction area looking at a robotic Mr. Compress.

"Just him?" Mineta laughed and immediately threw his balls at him to trap him.

"Just me," Robot Mr. Compress said as it dodged them with ease.

"The voices are eerie," Hagakure said behind Ochako. Ochako nodded in agreement as she continued to watch the fight. Robot Mr. Compress touched the ground and the earth opened up. Hundreds of small robots erupted from the split and charged toward Mineta and Sero.

"That's not a quirk-replication I recognize," Iida commented. Todoroki must have told them everything about Tsu and Aoyama's test.

"It doesn't have to be, I guess," Deku muttered, still staring at the screen.

Mineta used a ball to grab onto Sero and Sero shot his tape out to get out of the stampede path.

"Trap 'em!" Sero screamed and Mineta threw balls as fast as he could to the ground.

"Aren't you forgetting about someone?" Robot Mr. Compress laughed.

"I'd never forget you," Sero grinned and shot his tape out to capture him. Robot Mr. Compress tried to get away but the robot was caught up in some of the balls Mineta had managed to throw at his feet.

Sero did a fancy turn movement and his tape wrapped around the robot with ease. A buzzer sounded off and the robot shut down.

"Yeah!" Sero pumped his fist and Mineta did a funky dance. Mr. Iida announced the next one with a crack in his voice.

"Next up is Jirou and Iida. Please exit the building and follow the signs."

"Good luck, Iida," Ochako gave a small smile to him as he left. "You too, Jirou."

They both nodded and Kaminari reluctantly let go of Jirou's hand.

"I'm not worried. It'll be okay," Jirou said with a comforting smile and then she and Iida left.

"What will they throw at her?" Kaminari asked himself.

"She can take whatever it is. Stop being stupid," Bakugou said, frustrated.

"Right," Kaminari nodded but Kirishima still walked over to him for support.

"She's tough as nails. Nothing's gonna get her down," Kirishima grinned at him as he wrapped him up in a side hug. Kaminari grinned back but he still seemed worried.

In a few moments, the screen turned on to show an abandoned city street. A few members of the class gasped at their villain.

"Stain," Deku glared at the screen and could see Iida's face contorted in rage. Only this Stain didn't have a blade for a weapon. It had two for its arms.

Todoroki and Deku were both staring at the screen with bated breath.

"Don't do anything rash, Iida," Ochako whispered to herself.

"You must be related to Ingenium. You look the same," Robot Stain said quietly. "I didn't finish him, but I'll finish you."

Iida exhaled quickly and prepared himself for a fight.

"Iida," Jirou warned.

"It's not him, I know, but we're taking him down," Iida instructed. Robot Stain started walking toward them, the hologram licking its fake lips. "If this was a real situation we couldn't let this villain leave."

Jirou nodded hesitantly.

"If it starts going south, you need to listen to me. We need to pass." Jirou was bracing herself to run and moved her earphone jack to her leg amps.

"We're going to pass," Iida shouted confidently as he charged the robot. "Rock and Roll!"

Jirou let off a huge sound wave that blasted Robot Stain back, giving Iida an opening for an attack.

Iida kicked its head with all his might, apparently hoping to knock it clean off. He didn't achieve that but that didn't stop him from attacking relentlessly afterward. Robot Stain was slashing quickly, but Iida was faster. He weaved and dodged, incorporating punches and kicks whenever he could get a chance. Jirou was circling them, sending off sound blasts at the fight to incapacitate Robot Stain every few seconds.

"Iida must have built up some resistance to them," Deku noted.

"Wait, do you see that?" Ochako pointed at the screen. There was something moving behind Jirou but it hid behind a parked car as soon as she called it out.

The class looked where she was pointing and suddenly it ran towards Jirou with incredible speed.

Jirou screamed as a blade pierced her thigh. Apparently, Ochako had seen another Robot Stain.

Kaminari immediately tried to run to the exit but Kirishima scooped him up in a gridlock hug.

"We're not watching this," Kirishima said to him as he forcibly carried the squirming Kaminari to the other room.

"Let me go, Kirishima, I'll shock you!" Kaminari yelled as the door to the other room shut.

"They were so focused on the one target they didn't realize another one had entered," Deku whispered. Jirou clutched her leg but managed to use a sound blast to knock the second Robot Stain away from her.

"Iida!" Jirou screamed at him but Iida was already on his way from her initial scream. He immediately picked her up and she positioned herself so she could still send sound blasts off her legs toward the enemy. "Get us out of here!"

Iida nodded but noticed another Robot Stain was blocking the escape exit.

"A true hero would fight," all three Robot Stains said in unison.

Iida gritted his teeth.

"We should've run when we had the chance," he said to Jirou, who was trying to stop the bleeding. She shook her head.

"We should've been more aware. We didn't have to run at the beginning; the one we could handle. Now we need help. It's fine."

The two Robot Stains not guarding the exit were closing in and Jirou let off a sound blast to knock them back.

"Hold on," Iida told her and then screamed ricepro BURST!!