Young Bakugou, you will play the part of the civilian," All Might instructed. Bakugou's expression became furious. "We've decided that both of your arms will be tied behind your back. You'll need to take your gauntlets off."

Ochako noticed that the students that were civilians were the ones that had multiple limbs restricted. Mr. Iida began tying Bakugou's arms and Ochako had to look away or she would burst out laughing from the look on her partner's face.

"Young Uraraka, you will play the injured hero. We've decided you will be blindfolded."

Ochako nodded, trying to hide how much she hated that. She removed her helmet and handed it to All Might. The rocks in the river were hard to navigate on their own. If they couldn't figure out a way to get across without swimming, Ochako would have to be extra careful.

Mr. Iida wrapped the black fabric she had spotted earlier around her eyes multiple times. The world went dark. There were no changes in light, no hint of where she might be going as Mr. Iida turned her around to tie the blindfold tightly to her head.

"You're good to go," Mr. Iida said and tapped Ochako's shoulder.

"Bakugou," Ochako reached out and she felt his bicep meet her palm. He walked slowly several feet until she felt him kneel down. She got on her knees next to him, touching him with her thighs so she knew where he was.

"Dump it out," Bakugou said. He didn't sound happy. Ochako shook out the contents of the purse and tried to sift through them, feeling all different textures in her hands. "We have a phone, wallet, keys, some random paper shit, hand sanitizer," he listed off harshly.

Ochako heard Bakugou shuffle on the ground and growl in frustration.

"There's pockets but I can't open them!" Bakugou grunted and Ochako felt the purse hit her knee. "Open them up."

Ochako felt around the purse for pockets and managed to empty a couple. Bakugou clicked his tongue angrily at a few of her findings but didn't tell her what they were.

"What is this?" Ochako asked, holding up something metal and oblong in her hands.

"Bottle opener."

"Who carries a bottle opener like this?" Ochako asked and Bakugou exhaled in frustration.

"Uraraka," Bakugou said. He sounded like he was saying it through gritted teeth. "Others have rope, flashlights, flares."

"We can cut your rope with the keys," Ochako said. She patted the ground and lifted up the keys with a victorious smile.

"Is that allowed?" Bakugou asked, his voice was directed elsewhere. Ochako heard someone walk over. There was some whispering near her but she couldn't make out the words. "Easy."

"What?" Ochako leaned closer to Bakugou and he whispered in her ear.

"I'm not injured and-," Bakugou breathed out excitedly. "I can use my quirk."

"Who said that?"

"All Might. He repeated the instructions."

"It's illegal for civilians to use their quirks."

"Not in the case of emergencies. This qualifies."

"You're technically rescued."

"Uraraka, can we argue about this while you're cutting me free?"

Ochako huffed and scooted her knees to position herself behind Bakugou. She found the rope and began sawing.

"Your time starts now," Mr. Iida said in the distance.

"Hurry up!" Bakugou snapped.

"This isn't exactly easy!" Uraraka whisper-yelled. "I can't see what I'm doing."

" Tch ."

Bakugou shifted underneath her fingers. Ochako could tell he wanted to get moving.

"Others are already in the water," he said in a low, annoyed tone.

Ochako thought frantically as she cut through Bakugou's rope. She didn't think that was the right way to do things. It would be risky to take a civilian who couldn't swim into the water, especially if the hero was injured. If they were separated, the hero might not be able to save the civilian before they drowned.

She felt the rope snap in her fingers and Bakugou shook it off. Ochako heard rustling on the ground as Bakugou got up.

"Is there a small, dry log around?" Ochako asked.

"Why?"

"If you can't swim, we need a backup plan in case we get separated. I can't see. I can't risk going in the water without knowing that you'd be safe without me."

"Uraraka, there is a villain on the way. This is stupid."

"But-"

"There isn't time!"

Bakugou lifted Uraraka up and over his shoulder.

"Bakugou!" She shouted but at that point they were already in the air. The sound of explosions echoed throughout camp and before she could begin to argue they had landed on the opposite side of the river.

"Hey!"

"That's cheating!"

"Not cool, man."

Their classmates made it clear that they didn't appreciate Bakugou blowing through the exercise yet their teachers said nothing. Bakugou set Ochako on the ground.

"I know I'm right," Bakugou said and grabbed her arm. He led her forward and the crunch of the river bank gravel was all they heard for a few minutes. Ochako didn't feel right about how they went about the exercise. If she was the hero in the situation, she certainly didn't feel like it.

"How would you feel if you got saved by someone you were supposed to protect?" Ochako asked quietly.

"It's a training exercise," Bakugou said with exasperation. "Your plan would have worked but-"

"We're supposed to take this seriously."

"I am! If I was a civilian and a hero needed my quirk, I'd do what was needed. You heard Teach. A villain was on the way."

"I'm just saying, if it was the other way around, you'd be furious right now."

"So what!? I'm angry all the time. We needed to get shit done." Bakugou exhaled sharply. "Why are you upset about this?" He asked.

"I'm not! I'm just making a point that you would not have let a civilian save you. Plus, it feels too easy."

"That's because we're fucking great. Contrary to what Dunce-Face thinks, we didn't cheat--and we're not the same. You wouldn't be angry that a civilian saved you. You'd be thankful and probably buy them mochi or something when you were both safe. So where's my mochi?"

Ochako gave a small laugh and Bakugou squeezed her arm lightly. It reassured her that this wasn't a real argument.

"We didn't fuck up. I'm sure of it," Bakugou said. "You did your part. I did mine."

Ochako inhaled slowly and nodded. He had quelled the anxiety that had been bubbling in her stomach about her role. Also, now that they were alone, the electricity that she had felt last night at the campfire was gone. It was replaced by the warmth of his hand where he grasped her arm.

"I guess we'll find out soon enough if we did the right thing," Ochako said. She tilted her head in thought. "If you could have used your quirk the whole time, you could have gotten out of your restriction by yourself. I might not have been needed at all." she said with a sly smile. "Eh, you probably would have burned yourself."

"Is that a challenge?!"

When everyone finished the training exercise, the class was shocked to hear that Bak ugou and Ochako received no deductions for quirk usage.

"What?!" Several classmates shouted.

"The instructions were clear," All Might said. "After taking my class you should know that civilians can use their quirks in life or death situations to save themselves if a hero is unable to."

"But--Uraraka could have saved him," Sero argued.

"Yeah and it isn't life or death if the villain isn't around," Mineta added.

"Think carefully about the situation," Yaomomo said. "Wasting time when you know a villain is on the way is dangerous. You have to make hard decisions in an instant."

"So--this whole thing was to show us we can rely on civilians?" Kaminari asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"No. It's about the choices we make. Bakugou, even as a civilian in this circumstance, understood that Uraraka could not help him like she could prior to her 'injury'. Yes, he could have risked going with her plan but when a villain is on the way civilians tend to panic. He felt like he could do something so he did. This is why the only deduction they will receive is that Uraraka did not calm her civilian down in the face of danger."

"What?" Bakugou snapped. "I didn't give her a chance!"

Mr. Iida gave him a firm look and Bakugou backed down, his jaw clenched as he held in what Ochako assumed was a string of curse words.

"You make life or death choices every day to be heroes. You deal with people who are in a heightened state of emotion and you have to incorporate or compensate for their decisions on a whim," Mr. Iida explained. "Everything is a variable you have to take into account when you're on duty. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," the class responded.

"Reset," Mr. Iida said. "We're going again. Don't think it'll be easier now that you know more. Try harder to get into the mindset of your roles."

"I will embody a scared civilian! Earphone Jack, please assist me!" Iida said loudly and Jirou closed her eyes with a sigh.

After a day of soaked hero suits, waterlogged gadgets, restriction after restriction, and some small injuries to boot, all Ochako wanted to do was rest. When Mr. Iida announced there was a camp game tonight, Ochako almost cried. She was not alone in this sentiment.

"Can't we opt out?" Hagakure whined.

"Cooking dinner was hard enough," Satou grumbled.

"It could be fun," Ashido shrugged, picking at her rice.

"What did you call it, Mr. Iida?" Ojiro asked with a stretch.

"It's called Hero Hunt. Every group is participating, so no, I don't think it'd be wise to opt out. Unless you want to deal with the aftermath of being the only group that doesn't play," Mr. Iida said before getting up and grabbing a nearby lantern. "We're meeting at the Emergency Center."

"We already have targets on our back," Kirishima muttered. His sunshine personality was gone due to exhaustion.

"Yeah, if we don't play it'll make them think we think we're above them," Ojiro said. "Ready to play, Kouda?"

His camp buddy nodded and gave a thumbs up.

"Everyone clean up dinner then head out," Mr. Iida said. "I suggest wearing shoes you can run in."

"Great," Mineta muttered, flicking a leftover piece of pepper into the fire.

Class 2-A made it to the center as Principal Nezu began to explain the activity. Hero Hunt was apparently a game of finding fourteen teachers all over the camp (minus the two campsites in the mountains) to collect items. They would have thirty minutes to play. If a team found all of them, they would get an extra thirty minutes to sleep in during any day of camp they wanted. For the second time today, she was forcibly paired with her camp buddy. Ochako's theory on the universe putting them together was starting to seem more and more plausible each day.

"Or we could just use the game to sleep," Kaminari yawned.

"If anyone catches us sleeping, we'll have dicks drawn on our faces," Mineta said.

"You have never said a truer statement," Sero said with wide eyes.

"That would be despicable," Iida added, adjusting his glasses.

"That's teenage boys for you," Jirou sighed.

"I would like to win," Tokoyami stated. "We should fly," he said to Kaminari.

"Yeah! We'll move around faster than Bakugou and Uraraka!" Kaminari pumped his fist in the air and Tokoyami nodded.

"You're gonna die, Sparky," Bakugou said with a scary grin, then looked down at Ochako. "Get on."

Ochako was thankful he had a plan because she was too exhausted to think. She wanted that extra bit of sleep but they'd have to play to get it. As she activated her quirk on herself, she yawned.

"Let's win this so that I can go to bed," Ochako mumbled into his shoulder. She touched his arm and they began floating.

"Begin!" Principal Nezu shouted happily.

Bakugou blasted through the trees, narrowly avoiding a trunk as he flew through the forest to find their teachers. He found Aizawa immediately sitting in the middle of a clearing on a rock.

"Take it," Aizawa said lazily and held out a popsicle stick that was painted to look like him. Ochako took it and examined it. Googly eyes were glued on and string was wrapped around the stick as a replacement for his scarf. "You can thank Eri for the arts and crafts."

"Aww," Ochako managed to get out before Bakugou activated his quirk and they were flying through the air again.

Next was Present Mic. He was shaking with excitement when he showed off his sticks.

"Here, kids! Didn't Eri do a bang up job? She got my smile and everything!"

"She did!" Ochako agreed. The smile was on point.

Bakugou shot up into the sky and both of them surveyed the area, scanning for groups of students going to one area, signs of their teachers, or anything that could lead them in the right direction.

"I say we do a perimeter check around each campsite. We might be able to hear something if we get closer," Ochako suggested. "A few sites will probably have more than two since the teachers from the mountain are down here."

Bakugou exploded in the direction of the Refresh Station where they had stayed for the first couple days. It wasn't hard to find the next teacher.

"Get back and form an orderly line!" Hound Dog's yells pierced the night air.

"If there's a line, maybe we should come back?" Ochako asked. Bakugou nodded and flew past him. They found Cementoss sitting in a chair reading a book by firelight.

"It was wise to move on," Cementoss said as he handed them his painted token.

"We'll fly by and grab Hound Dog's," Bakugou said. Ochako took the popsicle stick from their teacher.

"Good luck with that. Might make some temporary enemies," Cementoss chuckled.

"I don't care."

Bakugou flew back to Hound Dog and saw a long line of camp buddies waiting for their stick.

"Hey, Hound Dog!" Bakugou yelled as he closed the distance between them.

"What?" Hound Dog snarled.

"Sticks up!"

Hound Dog growled but held up a stick that Bakugou grabbed as they soared past him. Ochako heard the sounds of disgruntled students but they were moving fast. The sounds were behind them and gone in an instant.

"You're in charge of the stuff," Bakugou said, handing the Hound Dog stick to Ochako. "Need my hands."

"Works for me," Ochako said as she analyzed Hound Dog's token. Eri had done a spectacular job with his teeth.

They zipped around the camp finding teacher after teacher until Ochako counted fourteen. It only took them twenty minutes.

"We're done," Ochako said into Bakugou's ear. He used an explosion to switch directions then flew back towards the Emergency Center. To Ochako's surprise, he dropped from the sky about half a mile from the site. "You okay?"

"We've got ten minutes to rest and I'd rather not do it in front of everyone," Bakugou said. He leaned against a tree and closed his eyes.

Ochako sat at a different, more lonely tree and leaned her head on the bark.

"Something is up with you," Bakugou said. Ochako looked at him and saw red eyes glaring at her through the darkness.

"Yeah?" Ochako said softly.

Bakugou was silent. .

"I grabbed your hand the other night. You mad about that?"

"No. Confused but not mad. Why would I be mad about that?"

"I don't know!"

Bakugou closed his eyes and exhaled slowly. He opened them only to look at the ground.

"It wanted to make sure you didn't walk into Mr. Iida," Bakugou mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. "I know you don't like it when I do it out of the blue. Didn't think you'd want a door to the face."

"Oh, that makes sense. Thank you." It had been out of character for him at the moment but with that explanation, Ochako knew her feelings had warped everything. That seemed to be happening a lot the last couple days. Why was this so much harder than before? With Deku, her friendship had been easy even with the crush.

"Whatever. If that's not it, was it then?"

"Nothing! Really."

"If it's about this morning--Pink-Ass interrupted me. I'm not hiding anything. Wasn't important." Bakugou picked up a rock and threw it.

"I want to know. If that's okay. Your thoughts are important to me," Ochako said quietly. Bakugou's eyes shifted in her direction for a second before moving back to the dirt.

"I felt like shit," Bakugou said, like it had been eating at him all day. "Deku got hurt. Then I hurt you and-" Bakugou stopped. He shifted his position against the tree and knocked his head into the bark. "And it occurred to me how easy it is for me to hurt people. It's fucked up."

"Give yourself some grace," Ochako said as she crawled over to his tree and sat next to him. This was not the time to worry about the amount of time she spent with him or how physically close they were. He needed her.

"I've hurt him enough to last a lifetime. I don't need to add anything else."

"I don't mean to belittle your feelings but he hit a rock. You didn't throw it at him."

"Pushed him into the water."

"Yeah but he was going in anyway." Ochako gulped before continuing. She hated how much her next words applied to herself. "You can't control everything. However much you want to."

Bakugou nodded then exhaled sharply through his nose.

"You said you weren't mad at me that night so my tired as shit brain has been fucking seeing all the shit I do as problematic. It's such bullshit." Bakugou shook his head in disappointment. "I'm working on not holding things in but...I'm trying not to screw this up. Kirishima tries his best but he says it's like pulling teeth," he said through a tight grimace. Her conversation with Deku popped into her head.

"Am I...easier to talk to?" Ochako asked.

Bakugou met her eyes. They were surprisingly vulnerable and unsurprisingly drained. He nodded slowly.

"I don't know why," he admitted quietly. Bakugou rubbed his eyes and Ochako felt her inhibitions she'd acquired since the dreams started melt away. She was still scared but Bakugou was her friend. He wouldn't ditch her for finding out about her dreams or that she found him attractive.

"Well, you can tell me whatever you want. I'm not going anywhere," Ochako said with a tired smile.

While she wasn't concerned about losing his friendship anymore, they were two buddies who trained and danced together. She still needed that to stay the same. At least for now.

"I'm done talking tonight. It's time to rest," Bakugou whispered.

"Hmm," Ochako hummed as she closed her eyes. She leaned against the tree and their arms brushed against each other. There was no electricity this time.

"BRING IT BACK STUDENTS!" Present Mic's voice filled the campsite. Ochako groaned and Bakugou clicked his tongue.

"I guess a minute of rest is better than nothing," Ochako mumbled as she stood up, brushing the dirt off of her.

Bakugou stretched before getting up and turning his back towards her. Ochako shook off the grogginess then activated her quirk on the both of them. They were back to the Emergency Center in seconds to hand in their items.

"Congrats, you two! I'll note that you both have an extra thirty minutes of sleep to use whenever you want," Mr. Iida said with a wide smile. "Head back to camp and sleep well. All Might should be there already."

They made it back to the river before anyone else. All Might was sitting by a small campfire watching the river flow. Bakugou dropped from the sky next to Ochako's sleeping bag.

"Release," Ochako said with a yawn as she pressed her pads together.

"Get some sleep," Bakugou whispered as Ochako slid off his back. "I didn't figure it out tonight but I know something is up with you. You lied to me last night. If you don't want to talk about it, fine. Just--don't fucking lie unless you're good at it. Night."

Bakugou shoved his hands in his pockets and turned away from her.

"Wait-," Ochako ran in front of him. He stopped before he reached her. "I am not ready to talk about it but it's not you."

Bakugou watched her carefully.

"I promise that by the end of camp, I will tell you," Ochako continued. She held out her hand and extended her pinky. Her stomach clenched when he didn't immediately take it. He stared at her hand for too long. Ochako was beginning to think he had fallen asleep with his eyes open.

"Me too," he finally said.

"What?"

Bakugou wrapped his pinky around hers and left her standing there. Ochako turned around to stare at his back but he didn't turn around. It was like he hadn't said something cryptic and everything was fine.

"What's up, lady?" Ashido asked. Ochako jumped. "You okay?"

"Yeah, totally."

Ashido tilted her head and smirked.

"You're not very good at lying. I know people are talking but don't listen. You do you. If they're getting to you, you send them my way. I'll set 'em straight."

Ashido patted Ochako's shoulder and left Ochako to have a crisis in the middle of their campsite. Screw her plan of spending time with other people. Her brain was more awake than it had been all day. He'd been open with her from the start and now there was something he was keeping from her. Ochako needed to know what Bakugou was going to tell her.

Chapter End Notes

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