By the time it was Tuesday, Uraraka had just finished dropping off Kiseki at the private daycare Ryukyu the dragon hero had at the same building Uraraka had planned on volunteering every Saturday. She did feel at ease knowing that her precious baby was being well taken care of but a part of her would still worry the way any mother would. Ryukyu had mentioned that they were short staffed there and in need of someone to help teach some of the kids when Uraraka contacted her after her trip back to Japan. Little did she know that that place even included a small, dedicated daycare for pro heroes, away from the press and away from prying eyes. And to top it off it was even reasonably priced.

Since she wasn't as well-known as some of the other heroes that had the time to rise up in Japan given her leaving so soon after graduation, she was still working her way up to play catch up for now. Her time away did give her the opportunity to make a name for herself in Europe and there were still those here that from time to time would recognize her from her years at UA. But regardless, she knew she had some work ahead of her. At least until she could figure out her next move and take down the Ipponmichi organization, then Hawks could manage to find an opening for her in one of his branches elsewhere.

Gripping the steering wheel, she tried to push down her growing anxiety about leaving Kiseki as well as starting her new job at the Todoroki Agency. After a few minutes she was relieved to have found parking and glancing at the time realized she still had some time left to try and pull herself together. Her car wasn't fancy by any means and regardless of the fact that she was able to make more money now, she still had the same habit of trying to make any little bit go a long way while also sending anything she could to her mom even after she reassured her daughter she didn't need to.

The construction business was doing fairly well too, which she was so grateful for and she told herself that whenever she could, she would still try and make time so she and Kiseki could drive down and visit. Just the thought of him being able to see where she grew up made her smile to herself.

Stepping out of the vehicle she took a careful look around already seeing various other cars parked there as well as a black and orange motorcycle that briefly caught her eye. 'I know I'm not late…' Frowning she pulled out her duffle bag along with her phone to check the time again before taking a deep breath and walking over to the front doors of the massive building. 'Everything's going to be fine. You can do this Ochaco…just take a deep breath and just-'

"Oi Watch it-"

"Ow!" Bumping face first into something hard she clumsily fell back on her bottom barely feeling the gloved hands that tried to grab her arms beforehand and failed. 'Not a great start…' she thought as she rubbed her nose and begrudgingly lifted her gaze to see an equally startled Bakugo. 'Not a great start at all…'

"Round face?" He blinked once, twice before quickly shaking his head and extending his hand to help her up with a slow growing smirk. "Still such a damn klutz I see?"

Giving one final rub of her nose she felt herself begin to blush and embarrassed at how true that statement still was. After all these years she still always found herself in these weird situations like the one she was in right now. Out of every person in this frighteningly huge building with so many people…and the first one she came across was the one she hoped not to and not just that, but yet again she found herself crashing into him like she always seemed to do back in school.

When he saw her lifting herself up without his help, he tried not to let his pride get in the way of any outburst that were on the tip of his tongue. Waking up this morning he had thought about texting her but when he realized he didn't have her number he decided to just wait until she made it to work before asking her again about working on the Ipponmichi case. He also decided that he would show her just how nice he could be since she obviously didn't think he was well versed in the art of holding a damn five-minute conversation.

Once she was back on her clumsy feet, she could clearly see that he'd been here for quite some time with the way his hair still looked damp no doubt after probably having taken a shower and already wearing his hero suit. 'Gym probably.' She inwardly smiled but it quickly vanished when she saw him reach for her bag next.

"I got it-" she began to say when another booming voice echoed around the lobby.

"Uravity!"

"Hmm?" Turning their heads to the left they saw an overly chipper Shindo walking up and snatched her bag right from Bakugos grip.

"The fuck-"

"Don't worry man I got it." Shindo grinned in that way that made the blond momentarily forget why he was trying to be nice in the first place and instead slowly glare back. "Was asked to show Uravity around." He turned back to her. "So, I guess it's my lucky day wouldn't you say?"

"Um thank you. I mean if it's not so much trouble I mean." She gave one of her friendly smiles which just made Bakugo roll his eyes.

"Tch whatever." Without another word Bakugo made a beeline for the elevator, but to his disappointment found them enter the elevator right after him as he irately pushed the button to their floor. 'Just my luck.'

With her back towards him she kept her wide eyes straight ahead watching as the buttons began to light up one by one. This must've felt like the most awkward and longest elevator ride in her life. They didn't even have the quiet music in the background like some others did. All there was was the constant small talk Shindo was apparently having with himself since she was too much of a nervous wreck to pay attention to anything being said.

"Just wait until you see this whole place." Shindo slightly leaned sideways to wink at her. "But don't worry I'll make sure you won't get lost.

This was nauseating to watch since this idiot was obviously trying to flirt with her and not even caring who was there to witness it. He couldn't care less what was going on but still found his foot inpatient tapping against the floor. What moron assigned him to be her tour guide must've been on something. Any of the other people here could do a better job-hell even he could show her where everything was if he cared enough or didn't have better shit to do.

Taking a deep breath through his nose he continued to lean back against the elevator wall with his arms folded and continuously burning a hole in the back of her head.

"Hey how about I treat you to lunch today?"

"Oh, um that's sweet of you, but I already have plans with the girls." Uraraka apologetically smiled.

"That's fine maybe next time." Shindo casually shrugged.

Rubbing his hand over his mouth when he felt the corner of his mouth lifting, finding enjoyment that he was right. There was no way someone like Uraraka would ever go for someone as infuriating and annoying as this guy. No way in hell.

When the elevator finally DINGED Uraraka couldn't get out of there fast enough with Bakugo right behind before he brushed past them and down the hall.

"Alright so you ready?" Shindo asked her.

"I think I am." She confidently nodded allowing him to lead the way. "After you."

X

As far as first days go Uraraka thought it wasn't bad. Granted she had a lot of familiar faces to work with and even thought the beginning was a bit of a surprise. She found her way around easily enough. After exiting her new office she made her way down the hall now fully dressed in her hero suit with her new partner in tow who turned out to be Jirou.

"I can't wait to finally start!" Uraraka happily pumped her fist in the air until something occurred to her. "Wait we are patrolling right?"

"Since it's your first day and all we're getting assigned to another section which usually isn't that busy, but tomorrow I'll show you where we'll usually be patrolling." Jirou said as they made their way down the hall. Sensing Uraraka's shoulders drop Jirou giggled. "Don't worry everyone will start that way, only reason is to also give you time to finish up all of the onboarding paperwork. Even though we're part of Hawks's Agency, we're still technically working with Todorokis team too."

"No I understand." Uraraka smiled at her friend. "I'm glad we got assigned to each other though."

"Same." Jirou playfully nudged her. "I still feel bad about missing out on the trip and I really missed you guys. But…"

"No I get it." Uraraka said understanding why she had turned it down and instead decided to stay behind to help them here in Japan. "It was hard leaving…for all of us."

"Yeah, but now you're back! And you can't tell me you're not happy about it."

"I am." She smiled and stopped next to Jirou who was waving to someone that she could safety assume was Kaminari.

"Hey, is it alright if I meet you downstairs?"

"Go ahead." Uraraka warmly smiled and waved back when she saw Kaminari doing the same to her. 'That's sweet.' She fondly thought when she saw Jirou going over to talk to her boyfriend. She knew her friends deserved a happy ending even if she didn't. The precious moments she did have was something she would always hold onto with all her heart. And that… was something she had to work on rebuilding. After leaving Japan she felt like her heart was as fragile as shattered glass in the beginning, and sometimes she still felt like it was barely hanging on. She would constantly find herself trying to smile along with everyone, trying to reassure them that she was ok and trying her best to cover up that beneath the surface she felt like a cracked porcelain doll. But she couldn't dwell on it, she had to move on, and she had to accept that this was how things had to be now despite the small hole that remained.

Pressing her lips together, she continued on down the hall while twiddling her thumps until she heard someone call out her name. Now fully smiling she continued to wave at the various faces of Sero, Shoji and Tetsutetsu as she passed by. It was, however, comforting knowing she was surrounded by everyone she cared about and knew it would hurt again once she left, so she'd make the most of it and wouldn't let anything nor anyone get in the way of that. 'Now if only I could find…'

"I'm serious man what do you think?" Kirishima continued to stair up at his hair as he continued to ponder whether he should change it or not as they made it out of the elevators and into the hall after coming back from their early patrol. "Should I let it grow out or cut it?" When he didn't get a respond to his question, he curiously glanced sideways to see Bakugo's uninterested expression staring back at him.

"Do I look like a damn hairdresser to you?"

"Um no…"

"Then quite asking me that!"

"But you do look like you haven't gotten any sleep." Kirishima pointed out when he saw Bakugo yawning again. "Which could explain why you're not in the mood to talk. Are you feeling alright man?"

"Peachy." He grunted while returning his attention to the front when heard a few voices calling out a name he knew all too well.

"Oh hey look!" Kirishima happily grinned as they saw Uraraka who was busy greeting everyone in the place as she continued walking and sparing a glance at them as she eventually had to pass by.

Uraraka beamed up at the red head as he waved and her smile radiated warmth like the beginning of a sunrise that made Bakugo quickly look away and instead focus on his destination. If she wanted to say hello - which he knew she probably would because that was just the way she was- then she would.

He had pondered over his plan all during his patrol and came to the conclusion that he would still show her how nice he could really be since who the hell was she to make him think otherwise. Forget what his damn PR said and forget what all those other people thought of him. Maybe if he showed them just how professional and sociable he could really be maybe they would lay off his back and forget about that stupid relationship crap. And to top it off he would be so sickeningly nice that in the end Uraraka wouldn't be able to deny him from working that case, so it was a win win all around for him. But first she would have to acknowledge him since he's done nothing but be friendly in his opinion with nothing in return.

When he snuck a peak from the corner of his eyes, he could briefly see her raise her hand to wave.

"Kirishima hi!"

"Hey girl!" Kirishima greeted her but his hand momentarily froze midair when he saw her turn her head and continue to greet others as she passed them by. At the same time he could see his buddy's shoulders suddenly stiffen next to him and shake the way a cat would when aggravated.

"Did she just…?!" Gritting his teeth it took everything not to stop her right there and ask her what her damn problem was. How the hell was she over here greeting every damn person but him?! He slowly turned his head just enough to see her smiling at someone else. 'Is she talking to the damn Janitor too?!'

"Um Bakubro…you alright over there buddy?" Kirishima could visibly saw the blonds' shoulders hunch the more seconds passed by.

"Fine." Bakugo's menacing glare had the red head jolting sideways.

"You sure because it doesn't seem like you are man."

"Hey Kirishima, I hope I'm not interrupting." Uraraka timidly walked up to him making sure to keep her eyes solely on him.

"Um that's to be determined…" Kirishima awkwardly rubbed his head, and he swore he heard Bakugo's teeth grinding louder. "What's up?"

"Do you mind coming with me for a second? There's something I wanna talk to you about." She sweetly smiled which made him uneasily gulp.

'I know that look… I'm dead.' He began to feel himself sweat drop. On one hand he had an overly angry Bakugo standing next to him with his back still turned and a famous short fuse that looked like it was about to blow up the more she continued to wait for Kirishima's reply without giving any regards to the other man. While on the other hand he had sweet little Uraraka who looked like she meant well but he could see the danger lurking deep in her eyes.

"Alright I guess I've lived a good life." Kirishima deeply exhaled before feeling her grab onto his hero suit and pull him to the side. Once they were out of ear shot, she finally released him and was surprised to see him squinting his eyes shut. "Alright just make it quick please."

"What?" She couldn't help but smile when he dared to peek an eye open.

"And may I just point out that in no way am I using this in anyway to hopefully stop you from killing me…but your hair looks lovely today."

Subconsciously touching the ends of her short hair, she couldn't stop her smile from growing at the way her friend was behaving. "Kirishima I'm not going to do anything to you."

"You're not?" Now fully staring at her he tilted his head back to figure out what she was really up to. "Then why did you look like you were about to two seconds ago?"

"Sorry about that. Just have had a lot on my mind lately." She briefly looked over her shoulder to see Bakugo clenching his fists and stomping down the hall and into his office before slamming the door shut and making them both flinch.

"You think?" Kirishima half chuckled before returning his gaze to her. "Alright so what's up?"

"Bakugo." She carefully said making sure they weren't being overheard.

"What about him?"

"Well, he showed up outside my apartment the other day."

"Come again?" He leaned down frowning. "Why?"

Exhaling deeply, she shrugged her shoulders, still frustrated at the fact that he was there. "Apparently he wants to help work the Ipponmichi case."

"Ooh that's…"

"Yeah."

"Hey wait you don't think that that's why I found him playing with my phone the…other…day….?" Upon seeing her expression, the sturdy hero only took that as his que that she had already figured it out. "Woah hold on now!"

"Kirishima."

"Hey look I was busy in the bathroom! I can't watch him every minute. A man has a right to do the things a man has to do ok!" He tried to keep his voice down as he continued to defend himself.

"What you mean like shower?" she frowned.

"Among other things." He nodded before realization edged its way into her face and he found himself blushing profusely. "My hair Uraraka! I was doing my hair!"

"What else would you be doing?" She was clearly confused now by the odd shade of red currently displayed on his face.

"Nothing! Let's just focus on the more important things please. Like you trying to kill me."

Deciding it was best to just leave it as that she quickly nodded. "Right, so anyways I had to tell him no."

"Makes sense. But why did he come to you? I thought he was going to go talk to Hawks first."

"You knew he was going to?!"

"Um…no…" Jolting back with his arm protectivity over his head Kirishima could see her slowly gaping at him. "Maybe…?"

"Kirishima!"

"I'm sorry! But how was I supposed to know that it'll end in your apartment!"

"It's Kats-Bakugo." She momentarily pressed her lips together before meeting his equally saddened expression. "You know better than anyone that once he sets his mind on something…"

"He'll do whatever he can to get it yeah I know." Kirishima finished off looking down the hall. "So, I'm guessing Hawks told him to talk to you since he knows the whole situation."

"Probably but I'm not sure. I was trying to find him earlier to get some answers but seems he's nowhere around." She huffed while crossing her arms over her chest.

'Smart move Hawks…' Kirishima inwardly applauded the pro hero. "So, what are you going to do?"

"Doesn't matter. I can't have him get closer to this anymore than he already is."

"And you think that by completely shutting him down and avoiding the person you love is not going to agitated our angry friend further?"

"Is it that obvious?" she cringed, feeling the gnawing worm of guilt burying itself deeper into her stomach at the thought.

"You could say that." He quietly said trying to keep the sarcasm from his tone, but she still caught it.

"It's the only thing I can do. At least for now." When she felt the familiar lump in her throat, she forced it down before smiling up at him. Now that it was just the two of them, she could finally ask him what she'd been wanting to know for so long. "How's he been Kirishima?"

"Good. Or as good as anyone can be in his situation." He gave her a small smile.

Nodding she felt her eyes beginning to brim with tears of happiness and ignoring the sadness within. "So, he's happy?"

"Are you?" He carefully watched her avert her eyes. "Listen Uraraka, I understand the messed-up position you're in. I do. But don't forget that we're all friends here. And we're all here for you including Bakugo. What he remembers is that you were one of the people in his life that he considered as a friend. So, when he sees you suddenly give him the cold shoulder out of nowhere and without so much as a word when you were gone…how do you think that'll make anyone feel?" When he saw her silently staring down, he put a comforting hand on her shoulder only imagining how hard it still is for her to see someone you imagined your life with just to have it taken away and now having to see them everyday as if nothing's happened. "All I'm saying is that if you want to know how he's doing, then maybe you should ask him that. Because whether you like it or not you can't avoid him forever."

She knew it and she knew he was right. But regardless a big part of her didn't want to ruin what he had obviously worked so hard to achieve. She remembered the way he used to speak about the day they would all graduate and about all of his plans which included her. But things were different now. He didn't remember any of that, so he was able to move on and make a life for himself. A life she was no longer a part of. And she felt like she had no right to take that from him. Not now. Not when he finally got everything he ever wanted and was happy.

So, if it meant having to sacrifice her own happiness then she would do it all over again and force what remained of her heart shut.

Recognizing that determined look in her eyes Kirishima gave her a knowing smile. "Just promise me you'll think about what I said yeah?"

Nodding she watched him turn to leave. "You're a good friend Kirishima."

"That's what I've been told." He smirked back. "Although not in those exact words per se."

Giggling, she shook her head as she began heading downstairs to meet Jirou.

X

After patrolling Uraraka let herself fall down on her chair in her office as she pulled off her helmet and set it on her desk. It had been a long somewhat uneventful shift, so Jirou wasn't kidding when she had said that it would be like that, but she rather it be uneventful than overrun with villains left and right.

On the bright side they didn't have a lot of paperwork to fill out because of that but in spite of that, she still couldn't help but let out a long tired sigh at the pile of papers already on her desk that still needed to be filled out. She thought back on how lucky Kenzo was for not having to do any type of paperwork, which was part of his condition when joining the team. Since he wasn't technically a hero, he made sure to tell Hawks he didn't want to be involved in anything Hero related unless it came to shutting down Hana and the Ipponmichi.

With a small pout she tried to suppress a yawn deciding to just get this onboarding paperwork over and done with.

By the time she finally glanced up to check the time she saw it was well past her time to head on over to pick up Kiseki, so she quickly packed up everything and began heading towards her door to turn off the light. The place was almost empty except for the few heroes who had the night shift and began making their way inside as they greeted her.

"Uraraka?"

"Hey you're still here Tokoyami?" She saw him exiting the elevators wearing casual clothes.

"Forgot something on my desk. Are you leaving now?"

"Afraid so. Was working on the onboarding paperwork." She sheepishly admitted.

Shivering at the thought that he still had to finish up his he quickly returned his attention back to her. "Well allow me to walk you out once I'm done." His expression held no room for arguments as he walked down another corridor. During their time together they had formed a strong friendship, and he became almost like a little brother to her regardless of the same age.

Giggling, she slung her duffel bag over her shoulder intending to hurry on to the locker rooms to shower and change. She had thought about what Kirishima had said the rest of the day during her patrol with Jirou like she said she would, and came to the conclusion that she would try and at least be on friendly terms with Bakugo since he had made an effort to talk to her a few times already and she could at least do the same in return.

Halting in her steps she curiously turned to see his office light still on through the side glass door panels wondering if by any chance he was still here.

Taking a deep calm breath, she let her feet lead her towards the door before hesitantly letting her knuckles knock against the hard surface.

"The fuck?" He looked up from the work on his desk and let his eyes bounce between the clock on the wall and the door. "Go home dumbass!" he shouted before returning to glare down at his work.

"If you're looking for Kirishima or Kaminari, I'm pretty sure they already went home."

Briefly hovering his pen over the paper, he quickly glanced up to see the person whose soft voice it belonged to.

She nervously kept her grip on the doorknob unsure whether she was allowed in or not. When she saw him continue working, she pressed her lips together telling herself she probably deserved that. She had prepared herself for him being mad and possibly telling her a thing or two, but to see him just silently keeping his eyes on his work she figured this was well beyond that. So, she tried again. "Shouldn't be surprised you're still here." She gave a nervous smile.

Inhaling deeply through his nose he began to lightly tap his pen against the paper before finally looking up and meeting her gaze. He tried not to let his anger and frustration out but remembering the way she'd been ignoring him after everything their whole class had gone through and constantly vanishing really pissed him off. They were close for a bit there back in the day and now they don't even talk, acting like complete strangers.

When he still didn't respond and instead continued to stare at her with an unreadable expression, she decided she might as well get this over with and say what she wanted to say when she came in here. "Bakugo, I just wanted to apologize for how I've been behaving. I guess…I guess I'm still just getting used to being back is all."

'Bullshit.' His grip on his pen tightened as he continued to hear whatever nonsense she decided to blurt out. This wasn't like her; this wasn't like the Ochaco Uraraka he knew. The Ochaco Uraraka he knew was fierce, smart and didn't feel the need to hold anything back from him or anyone when she felt the need to, like back in school when she- dare he say it- put him in his damn spot when it came to Deku. Now what he saw in front of him was this person who seemed even uncomfortable just to be here with him. He wasn't stupid he could see that whenever she was surrounded by the rest of their old classmates now she was her smiling bubbly self even though he could see something hidden in her eyes, but when he was around she made it her outmost duty to avoid him.

"I'm sorry if I-"

"Alright so I got your coffee Dynamight-oh hey!" Ms. Shigeta smiled down at her as she slid inside the door carrying two coffee mugs. "Didn't know you had company."

"Oh no it's fine." Uraraka quickly forced her usual friendly smile as she watched the beautiful woman dressed in a nice and expensive pants suit sit herself down in the chair directly across from him. "I-I was just on my way out anyways."

"Wait you're Uravity right?" Ms. Shigeta piped up upon seeing the familiar face. "It's a real pleasure to meet you." Ms. Shigeta got to her feet and extended her hand to shake.

"Oh um-"

"Uraraka are you ready?" Tokoyami asked from behind her before pivoting sideways and giving a curt nod to the blond who was so close to telling everyone to get the hell out of his office.

"Y-yeah." She quickly blinked giving one final look inside before following Tokoyami down the hall. "Pleasure to meet you too."

Sitting herself back down his PR could hardly contain her excitement upon seeing two heroes she's heard so much about. "Wow so that was Uravity huh? Didn't know she was back."

"Yeah, that's her." He mumbled to himself as he continued to let his eyes linger on the door. Or at least he was hoping to see the real Uravity again, and if not now then hopefully sometime soon.