Life in Pink
Chapter Summary
Time moves quickly when you're dreading something in the future. That's why Katsuki and Uraraka try and find little moments to slow things down. It's these moments that show Katsuki what life could be like if everything goes well at the end of camp.
Chapter Notes
"Give your heart and soul to me and life will always be...la vie en rose."
While My Guitar Gently Weeps - The Beatles
La Vie En Rose - Cristin Milioti version
See the end of the chapter for more notes
Katsuki wouldn't say he was optimistic. Everything always went to shit so optimism wasn't something he thought was worth his time. However, when Ochako wanted to sleep next to him last night, he couldn't deny that he'd felt hopeful. Even if it was only because she had been turned into an icicle. He could work with her wanting to be close to him for any reason.
Of course, as always, optimism brought disappointment. Letting his stupid mind run away with hopeful thoughts had landed him in the Emergency Center.
"Miss Uraraka, good use of first aid under pressure. Use those skills in my class next semester," Recovery Girl said with a smile. She kissed Katsuki's forehead and he felt the cut close. Katsuki touched the spot and it no longer throbbed.
"Thank you!" Ochako said with big, excited eyes. "Coming from you, that's quite the compliment! I wouldn't say it was under pressure though. Bakugou was almost a model patient."
"He lands himself in here enough that he should be." Recovery Girl pulled a lollipop from her jacket and handed it to him. "Try to stay out of trouble."
Katsuki got up from the bed and wordlessly thanked Recovery Girl. He slung his pack back on and gave the lollipop to Uraraka as they left the Emergency Center. The wide smile and gleeful lift of her shoulders was worth all the trouble she gave him.
"Really? Thank you!" She said as she unwrapped the candy and stuck it in her mouth. "You ready to climb a mountain?" Uraraka asked, her words muffled by sugar.
"Let's do this," Katsuki said, his palms sparking in his eagerness.
The hike was easy. It looped around the mountain with little incline so it was much longer than it needed to be. Katsuki didn't care. The view was astounding. Every kilometer took them higher above the campground. Katsuki could only see through the trees but he kept an eye out for somewhere he could oversee everything. Ochako puffed along behind him, chewing on the lollipop stick long after the candy was gone. Based on the signs on the path, they'd hiked over seven kilometers when Katsuki saw a clearing through the trees.
"Follow me," Katsuki said and left the path.
"Bakugou, we've been walking for over a day now. Are you really going to make me walk more than I need to?"
"Stop complaining and get over here! Stay away from the edge."
Uraraka groaned and followed him into the tree line.
"What are you do--oh wow," Uraraka said when she exited the cluster of trees. They were on a cliff that overlooked the campground. Their view expanded for miles. Katsuki could see the road that brought them here in the distance. Plumes of smoke came from campsites around the grounds. It was picturesque.
"Feels different, huh?" Katsuki said quietly. Uraraka nodded.
"Grounded," she muttered. Katsuki sat down against the mountain and looked out. Uraraka sat next to him and wiped her face on her shirt. "It's nice to see this with my feet on the Earth."
"I can get in the air in a second-," Katsuki thought out loud. He stopped. He didn't know how to put into words why he liked this. There was a certain accomplishment in climbing a mountain when you could blast yourself up there in a fraction of the time. It wasn't only the view. It was every step that he took to get there. There was something else too. They sat together and watched the world below in stillness.
"It's quiet," Bakugou realized. "Up in the air the wind is too loud."
"It's loud here too," Uraraka said, tapping her cheekbone close to her eye. "The world spins and moves when you're flying. It's nice to see it stay put."
They sat for a while and breathed in the fresh mountain air. A cool breeze played with their hair as they oversaw the world. Katsuki's mind was clear for the first time in months.
"We should get going," Katsuki said. He started to stand but Uraraka touched his leg.
"Not yet," she whispered. "Take a moment. We don't get that many like this."
"Like what?" Katsuki asked. Her cheeks turned a shade pinker. Uraraka looked away from him back down at the campground.
"Ones that stop time," Uraraka replied. She took a heavy breath and leaned forward, placing her arms on her knees. "It moves so fast."
Katsuki agreed. Every minute was a minute closer to the end of camp. He hadn't wanted to tell Uraraka anything but then she said she was keeping something from him until the end of camp. At that moment, he realized that he needed to tell her. Whatever the outcome ended up being, he needed to set things right. She'd lied to him to get away. That meant that, in some aspect, she didn't trust him. That was something he couldn't live with. Secrets were fucking over their friendship on both ends.
Uraraka had been awkward around him until they danced. It didn't help that all of his idiot classmates were bugging her about their relationship. If she was going to find out, Katsuki was going to be the one who told her.
As he stared at the trees swaying below him, Katsuki grumbled internally that he should have threatened a few people to leave her alone. With a huff, he determined that that would have been too obvious. People only suspected that he liked her because he treated her well. They didn't have any proof.
"Do you think that this is what it's like to be a pro?" Ochako asked. "Constantly yearning for quiet moments."
Katsuki shrugged.
"It's probably just our luck that shit keeps blowing up in our faces," he said.
Uraraka pursed her lips.
"Obviously. Otherwise heroes wouldn't be leaving. They'd be used to it," she noted.
"Cowards."
"Maybe. Not everyone is like you."
"Like us," Katsuki muttered. He hated when she did that. It was annoying that she didn't see herself the way everyone else did. Uraraka glanced at him.
"Like us," Uraraka repeated, looking back at the view. Katsuki watched her hair get carried by the wind and her face was slowly going back to its normal tone. In a moment of weakness, he pictured them doing this in the future. Pros looking for peace, so they climb up a mountain and stare down at the world they've sworn to protect. There won't be any villains trying to destroy everything or civilians screaming for them. It'll just be Katsuki and Uraraka, alone together.
His confession better not fuck that up.
"We should probably go now. However much I want to stay here," Uraraka said. She stood up, and repositioned her pack. "Ready?"
Katsuki followed Uraraka back to the path and he scowled at the extra pair of voices he heard.
"Uraraka! Your journey through the caves must have gone well for you to be this far ahead," Iida said, his voice booming and breaking Katsuki's little slice of heaven.
"Yeah! It was nice," Uraraka said with a sweet smile. "After the cave collapsed it was smooth sailing."
"Yes, we had some trouble with that as well but luckily no one was hurt. It was an exercise in keeping calm!"
"It was so scary," Hagakure whimpered. "I was so nervous I held on to Shouji's arm the whole time."
"At least we couldn't lose you that way," Shouji said quietly.
"Let's keep moving," Jirou said roughly. "That bath is calling my name."
"Same," Uraraka said.
Katsuki felt like someone had popped his happy bubble. Irritation spread across his skin and he bristled like the voices rubbed him the wrong way. He was about to lose it when Uraraka nudged him with her elbow.
"Want to race to the changing stations? Winner gets to throw a snowball at the other. No flinching or defense."
"You could've just asked me to throw a snowball at you," Katsuki smirked. Uraraka started running uphill and Katsuki chased after her.
Katsuki won easily. Uraraka was too short to stand a chance. After they changed at the booths located at the ten kilometer mark, Katsuki prepared a snowball and weighed it in his hand. Uraraka stood firm in her position and outstretched her arms.
"Hit me!" Uraraka yelled. Katsuki reeled his arm back and threw the ball straight into her stomach. "Oof!"
Uraraka fell back into the snow, giggling as she rolled around on the ground. Katsuki stood over her and crossed his arms.
"When's the last time you made a snow angel?" Uraraka asked giddily. Katsuki thought about it for a few seconds.
"I was four."
"What!? That's too long!" Uraraka sat up, grabbed his arm, and pulled him down next to her. Katsuki fell face first into the snow and heard Uraraka erupt in roarous laughter. "I'm sorry!"
Katsuki sat up and wiped the snow off to show a deep scowl.
"You don't like snow?" Uraraka asked, her happiness slowly deflating.
"It's frozen water," Katsuki grumbled.
"But it's beautiful!"
"So is a fire but I'm not going to play in it," Katsuki said. Uraraka acknowledged that he had a point but stuck out her tongue to catch snowflakes anyway. When she caught one, she cheered. Katsuki was glad she had regained some of her joy after he'd been a shithead.
"Got one!" She looked at him and sighed. "I can't convince you to try to have fun, can I?"
"We could ambush the others," Katsuki suggested. That would be a good use of the frozen water.
Uraraka considered it for a moment then nodded vigorously. They gathered their ammunition and waited a couple minutes for them to trudge up the path to the changing stations.
"These should really be lower down the mountain," Iida commented with a shiver. Shouji was carrying Hagakure in his arms while Jirou blew into her hands for warmth.
"Now," Uraraka said, her eyes locked onto Hagakure.
The ambush was successful but they didn't anticipate retaliation. Snowballs rained down upon their hiding spot, made worse by Shouji growing multiple sets of arms to fight back.
"Abort!" Uraraka yelled and applied her quirk to herself. She hopped into Katsuki's arms and he decided not to argue that they could take them two versus four. Katsuki exploded into the air as a snowball smacked him in the side of the head. Uraraka wiped the snow off his face and out of his hair, then unbuttoned the tops of her mittens. Her fingers touched his cheek as she activated her quirk on him. They were like ice but Katsuki felt very warm from the act. She hurriedly touched their packs and Katsuki was free to move like a rocket. The snow obstructed his vision but he could see a plume of smoke in the distance. He blasted up the mountain and landed in front of the Refresh Station within the next few seconds.
Uraraka clung to his body before she released her quirk and they fell onto the ground in a pile. She was laughing uncontrollably.
"Did you see Iida's face!?" Uraraka got out.
"You betrayed him. He was bound to feel something eventually," Katsuki said breathily. The cold made his face numb as stared into the white sky. It was ridiculous but the only parts that weren't numb were where Uraraka's fingers had met his skin.
"Flying was so much faster. It sucks that it was kind of cheating," Uraraka sighed. She sat up awkwardly and looked down at him. "We're supposed to hike."
"They couldn't see where we went in all that snow. Unless you want me to fly us back down."
Katsuki watched Uraraka shake her head and smile at him. He felt like an invisible weight had been lifted. The distance he'd felt the past couple weeks was gone. It was like being together in the cave had reset everything. He blamed the weather for his pink cheeks, not whatever his heart was doing.
Like it always was for Katsuki, when things are too good, the next day things are terrible. Katsuki didn't think he was that bad at public relations. He said things like they were. The majority of his classmates were bland or adopted a generic way of talking that made Katsuki drowsy. At least he had a personality.
By far the best of class 2-A was Uraraka. Katsuki wasn't even biased. She sounded smart, sweet, relatable, and she seemed like someone you could trust.
"Good job, Uraraka," Mr. Iida said with a smile after conducting his mock interview. "You're free to move on to the second group."
Uraraka gave a small wave to Katsuki, who poop was stuck in the first group which so far consisted of Deku and Todoroki.
"She's very affluent in conversing with people. You could learn from her," Todoroki said to Katsuki.
"Shut your damn mouth, you half-and-half bastard."
"I mean, she's learned a lot from you. Why not ask her for help?" Deku asked. "You guys are buddies after all. I might do it myself. I get so nervous!"
"Uraraka is my partner! Use your own."
"Haha yeah. Todoroki is definitely calm under pressure," Deku muttered anxiously.
"Too calm apparently," Todoroki deadpanned.
"Why the fuck I'm stuck with you two, I'll never know," Katsuki said tightly.
"You said the F-Word six times for a single question," Deku reminded him.
"Oh, shut the fuck up, nerd. At least I said words. You barely spoke two."
"Quiet," Iida shushed. "You're louder than Kouda."
Kouda stared at the trio and shook in his shoes.
"There's someone who needs a backbone," Katsuki whispered angrily to Deku. "At least you're better than him."
"Am I?" Deku asked uneasily. Kouda, while soft spoken, moved onto the second round.
"What the fuck!?" Katsuki raged. Uraraka glanced at him and Katsuki took a deep breath. "Let's just fucking pass."
"Maybe don't say fuck," Todoroki said. Deku looked at his partner like he was crazy. Katsuki laughed.
"If you say it, I won't," he offered. Todoroki considered it for a moment.
"What happens if you do on accident?"
"I'll let you throw a snowball in my face." That was an easy bet. Katsuki had already won once with that wager. He could do it again.
"No. I could do that at any time," Todoroki muttered. Katsuki bristled and Deku was still looking at Todoroki like he had lost his mind. "What do you think, Midoriya?"
"Leave me out of this," Deku pleaded.
"You have to participate in truth or dare," Todoroki decided. "Yaoyorozu is planning it for sometime during camp and she wants everyone to participate."
"That's such bullshit."
"That's the deal."
Katsuki groaned but it was a risk he was willing to take to see Todoroki get marked down. He held out his hand and Todoroki grabbed it, shook it once, then went back to watching the mock interviews.
The second group moved onto civilian relations. Mineta and Kaminari had joined the leftover group but they didn't care that they had failed when Todoroki started muttering 'fuck' over and over again to prepare himself. Todoroki was called to the mock interview again and did not disappoint.
Mr. Iida asked the first question and Todoroki blurted out the word first thing.
"Sorry, it appears I've been spending too much time with Dynamight," Todoroki said, smiling slightly and shrugging. Katsuki felt a deep rage build within him. All of a sudden Todoroki had a personality?
Even with the word, Todoroki moved onto the next group. Deku scooted away from Katsuki to get out of the blast zone.
"Bakugou, you're next," Mr. Iida called. Katsuki sat on the stool in front of Mr. Iida. "Before we get started, I'd advise you to not curse. Relax a bit."
Katsuki took a breath. He wasn't going to say 'fuck' at least. Katsuki stared daggers at Todoroki who was now paired with Uraraka in an exercise on dealing with high emotions during a rescue. A pang of jealousy hit his stomach.
"Okay," Mr. Iida started. Katsuki's scowl deepened as he waited for the first stupid question. "Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight," Mr. Iida said with a strained look.
Katsuki rolled his eyes. Everyone under the sun made that face when they said his full hero name. It was part of the reason Katsuki stopped giving a shit if they only called him Dynamight.
"You're noted as a stellar fighter but some want to know what's underneath that brash exterior."
"Why?" Katsuki asked.
"Oh," Mr. Iida stopped reading the cards and looked up at Katsuki. "A real question. Well, people want to know the heroes that are saving them. Pros know which parts of themselves to share and which to keep hidden."
"All people need to know about me is that I win. They don't need to rely on anybody else but me when I'm around," Katsuki said roughly.
"You're good friends with Red Riot, is that right?" Mr. Iida asked, going back to the cards.
"So?"
"Do you think Red Riot and you would ever team up in a fight?"
"What kind of f--question is that? If the fight called for it, I'd do what needed to be done."
Mr. Iida wrote something down and went back to his cards.
"If you could be anything other than a hero, what would you be?"
"There's nothing besides being a hero. Next question."
If the other interviews were an indicator, Katsuki only had two more questions. He could speed through them easily. Not swearing was a piece of cake.
"You're the son of-," Mr. Iida started but stopped when a purple ball flew past him and stuck to the wall. "Mineta, what are you doing?"
Mineta and Kaminari grinned awkwardly at their teacher, hiding their hands behind their backs.
"Nothing," they said in unison.
Mr. Iida looked back at Katsuki but didn't have time to start the next question. Another purple ball flew in their direction. This time it landed on Katsuki's shoulder.
"You fucking idiots are gonna die!" Katsuki yelled. He took off his shirt to get rid of the ball, threw it to the ground, and blasted toward them.
"Ah, it wasn't worth it!" Kaminari screamed. Mineta and Kaminari ran in opposite directions so Katsuki decided to go after the purple runt.
Todoroki blankly stared at the chaos in confusion until Jirou waved her ear jack in front of him. She pointed to her phone and winked.
"Heard your arrangement. He ambushed us earlier in the snow. Had to get him back," she said matter-of-factly. "Don't tell him."
"I don't have a death wish like your boyfriend," Todoroki said quietly. Uraraka came back to Todoroki after helping Kouda with something. She saw Jirou's face and watched Katsuki with crossed arms.
"If you two are behind this, I don't want to know," Uraraka told them. "He'll get it out of me."
"Wise," Jirou noted.
Katsuki, Kaminari, and Mineta were placed in detention for the remainder of the day and the next. They each had to sit through grueling lectures about proper media etiquette and practice with All Might while the rest of class got to train with Mr. Iida and play Ultimate Snow Tag. Katsuki didn't care that he was missing out on that. It was just a quirked out snowball fight. He cared that he was missing out on time with Uraraka before the end of camp.
In the middle of writing an essay about reporter deflection techniques, Katsuki looked up at the sound of a knock on the door. Mr. Iida came in and let All Might know that the rest of class was beginning the hike up the mountain to the next campsite.
"We'll finish up and meet you there in a bit," All Might said, going back to his notes. Mr. Iida glanced at the boys.
"I need you boys on your best behavior," Mr. Iida told them. "The next site is dangerous. A single indication of troublemaking and I will send all of you home."
"Yes, sir," the boys responded. Katsuki's pencil cracked from the pressure of his grip. If he got sent home, he'd make sure Kaminari and Mineta never knew peace again.
"See you there," Mr. Iida told All Might.
"We'll leave when you all turn your essays in," All Might said without looking up from his notes.
Katsuki furiously wrote and handed in his paper within twenty minutes.
"Pack your things and stay in the sleeping area until we get you," All Might instructed.
Katsuki grumbled to himself as he walked back to pack but stopped mid-curse when he saw Uraraka sitting against the wall.
"Oh, you're done! I knew you'd be done first," she said. She stood up and handed Katsuki his fully packed bag. "I think it's kind of mean that Mineta did that during your interview."
Katsuki took the pack and threw it on his back.
"Why did you stay?" Katsuki asked. Uraraka shifted her weight back and forth on her feet.
"I wanted to hike with you. Mr. Iida said it would be okay if I waited, so I did," Uraraka said cheerfully. "Let's get started. Unless you have more people you need to yell at before you go."
"Tch," Katsuki said. "Not interested in getting sent home early."
"Yikes, yeah, I don't want that either. I'd be buddy-less."
Uraraka ran back to tell All Might that Katsuki was leaving with her then they headed out.. The hike was somehow more beautiful than the first. Late afternoon turned into a sunset which sent sparkling colors throughout the frost covered mountain. With each footstep, the crunch of the snow provided a backbeat for their conversation. They were alone again and the world, though currently freezing, melted away. Katsuki was disappointed when they spied the rest of the class at the top of the mountain.
"We're sleeping outside?" Uraraka asked with a shiver when she didn't see any buildings. "I'm gonna die."
When it was time to sleep, Mr. Iida had the class split into three rows and create a sleeping block. Fires were placed at each side so the outside sleepers wouldn't freeze. Katsuki picked the outside because he didn't want to be trapped. Uraraka didn't look too happy about being on the outside but she hadn't said anything when the other girls were picking spots in their row.
The night wasn't that bad. The fires were a saving grace for those sleeping on the outside. None of Uraraka's sleeping scenarios came true as Katsuki faced his back to Kirishima who was cuddling with Kaminari.