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Ochako had a bit of a reputation among her friends and acquaintances. If asked to describe her, most people would say something like easy-going, laid back, or low maintenance. She was the person her friends all went to when they needed a soft place to land.
She gave excellent head scratches and shoulder rubs and was usually more than willing to crack into her impressive collection of sweets for whoever may come to her in need of the comfort that only sugar and a snuggle could provide.
But all of that softness didn’t mean she wasn’t fierce (if anything, one was a direct result of the other).
And among those who really knew her, those who loved her dearly and were most familiar with her personality, she also had a reputation for something that made them all love her even more… and worried them to know end.
Namely, that she just couldn’t mind her own business.
Not in a busy-body way.
Not in a gossipy way.
That would be preferable in some ways (except not really, because her friends like her just the way she is, but at least an inclination toward being a gossipy busy-body didn’t have as much potential for bodily damage as the kind of busy-body she was).
No, she was a busy-body in the way that if she ever saw anyone in distress, she was incapable of not getting involved.
She was, to her core, a rescuer.
She believed everyone deserved the chance to be safe and secure and out of harm's way. And she was incapable of believe in something and not living into it with her whole being.
Her upperclassman and academic mentor, Iida Tenya, had almost had a heart attack when, while he was driving- in the middle of the road-she had screamed, “Iida pull over!”
He had quickly moved to the shoulder of the road and slammed on the breaks in a way that she was sure had done damage to his fancy car.
“Uraraka, what…”
“I have to save him!” she had declared, throwing the door open and running out into the semi-busy highway, ignoring the honking, and holding out her hands to stop traffic or direct them around her as she knelt to retrieve the turtle attempting to cross the road. Despite having risked life and limb for the turtle, Iida was about to tell her that she couldn’t bring a wild creature into his car. But, seeing Ochako, wide-eyed, petting the back of the turtle's shell sweetly, cooing to him that everything was going to be okay and that he was “safe now”, suddenly the leather of the seats didn’t seem so important.
So he just drove her to the nearest lake as quickly as he could to make sure that the turtle did not poop or pee on his seats.
She was the friend who stayed late at every study group so she could walk any stragglers back to the dorms or to their cars or wait for them until their ride arrived.
Back when she lived in the dorms with her-then roommate Tsu, Tsu had been dealing with a “mild” stalking for a week, but because the boy only followed her and talked to her and left gifts for her at the front desk, campus security said it was fine, in fact they told her that it was “cute.” Ochako had been livid.
And the first night that asshole had managed to sneak in and make it to their floor, Ochako had chased him away with scissors, down the hall, down the stairs, and out into the wet grass. There had been talk of her being expelled, but Mr. Aizawa, the dean of student affairs, had quickly intervened on her behalf.
Hell, it was how she had become best friends with Izuku her freshman year at university. They had both wound up working at the same coffee shop near campus- neither of them as well-off as many of their classmates who made it into the prestigious UA university. She had only been there a couple of months, but it had been Izuku’s first week when some asshole in a suit and just laid into him for getting an order wrong. He screamed, cursed, and threw his coffee back across the counter.
Ochako was the first employee to react, running from the back of the kitchen and from behind the counter, planting herself firmly in front of the man and crossing her arms. Of course, her utter lack of reaction to his screaming only caused him to scream more, to work him up in that way men with tiny egos were want to do in the face of someone they couldn't successfully bully.
Ochako didn’t even do anything but stand there.
But from that day on, she and Izuku were inseparable- both willing to do anything for the other.
She and her best friend, now roommate, had come a long way over the last three years. Izuku had grown in confidence and certainty and now was more than capable of fighting his own battles and Ochako still couldn’t manage to mind her own business.
It didn’t matter that she was 5’1, with cherub cheeks and big doe eyes. It didn’t matter that she actually wasn’t hugely confrontational. It didn’t matter that she preferred when things were peaceful and easy-going, she would always intervene if needed.
It was a confidence gained from growing up tussling with her much larger neighbor boys and learning how to throw a punch from her father’s employees on the construction site, many of whom were tattooed, barrel-chested ex-felons.
She didn’t scare easily.
She had never felt like she needed too.
“You may be short, Sweet Pea,” her Pa used to tell her. “But don’t you dare let anyone make you feel small.”
And she never did.
And maybe, maybe, that gave her an over-inflated sense of her own physical capabilities.
She had once drunkenly declared to Izuku, Shoto, and Tsu that she had a secret and that secret was that she “low-key believed that she could take a bear in a fight.”
They had spent that night showing her increasingly more horrifying photos of bears only for her to stubbornly maintain at each new photo, “I can take him!”
So, maybe, maaaybe, that was a worrisome combination at times.
Like now.
Except, how was she supposed to not get involved?
She had danced for a good 30-minutes with the woman with the pink-hair; it had been flirty and fun and harmless in that way that a dance floor filled with mainly girls could be.
“You are so pretty!” the woman had declared as they swayed and giggled and collapsed against the bar, quickly downing another shot each. “Can I please, please, please squeeze your little cheekies?!”
The woman had held her hands up motioning like a crab at Ochako’s cheeks but holding herself back from making contact until she had permission.
“Oh my gawww! Thank you for asking! Yes!”” exclaimed Ochako, stretching her neck to bring her face to the woman’s beautiful manicured hands. “Sometimes people just do it, and sometimes it’s annoying!”
The woman looked at her in solidarity as she squished Ochako’s pinchable cheeks. “Same!” she agreed, grabbing at her natural, textured curls. “Sometimes people just come up and touch my hair; complete fucking strangers!”
Ochako’s face twisted in disgust but the woman dissipated it immediately, bringing both index fingers in to poke at either of Ochako’s cheek. Ochako stuck her tongue out and blew a little raspberry at the motion and the woman immediately fell into a flurry of giggles, falling against Ochako, clearly barely able to stand.
Ochako was pretty drunk too though not as drunk as her new friend.
And not so drunk that she didn’t notice the vibrations from her phone in her pocket. She opened it and saw Izuku’s name flash on the screen.
“Oh, I have to answer this!” she said.
The woman looked at her teasingly. “A boyfriend?!”
“No,” she answered. “Just my roommate, I’ll be right back!”
“Don’t keep me waiting!” whined pink-hair, but when Ochako looked over her shoulder, she was draped across the bar, head resting on the pillow of her arm- seeming to be half asleep.
Impressive!
When Ochako closed her eyes while drunk, she felt like she was a ship, swaying on her own blood inside her skin…not conducive to quick sleep.
When Ochako was outside the rowdy bar and tucked into the alleyway that led to the back entrance, she answered her phone.
“Hey Zuzu!” she greeted and was met by an immediate groan of recognition.
“You’re drunk, aren’t you?”
“Whhhhaaa?!” she drawled. “Pshhh…noooo. Wh-what do you…what do you…what do ya need?”
She could hear the labored breath- the consideration of whether even attempting to talk to her right now would be worth it.
It could go either way, truly.
“I need help on my physics homework,” he said. “Are you too drunk for that?”
“For physics 101!? Never! Lay it on me.”
“Okay,” he said. “I have a question about rigid bodies.”
Ochako attempted and failed to cover her mouth and hold back the snort of laughter.
“Ochako,” he said with a warning.
“Hmmm?” she grunted, from behind her hand.
“Did you just laugh at rigid bodies?”
“Nope,” she answered hurriedly.
“Yes, you did,” he said. “I’m gonna hang up and call Shoto.”
“Why?” she giggled. “All this talk about rigid bodies got you thinkin’ about Shoto’s rigid…”
“I’m hanging up!
“No,” wailed, the couple walking by her in the alley jumping at her exclamation. “No,” she repeated, quiter. “No, I’ll be good; I promise. What’s the point in being a physics major if I can’t help my bestie out.”
“Fine,” he said, but not sounding as though he trusted her assertion that she would be good. “All right. So I know in physics that a top is known as a rigid body, but I can’t…”
“Hmmm love a rigid-bodied top,” she purred.
”OCHAKO!”
“What!?” she whined, stomping her foot. “You’re the one who wants to talk about rigid bodies and tops when I haven’t been laid in 5 months and you’re getting it on the regular from your rich, hot boyfriend.”
“We aren’t even talking about that, Ochako, we are talking about physics!”
“This isn’t my fault- you’re the one who decided to take physics 101 as a filler class his senior year! What kind of nerd does that?!”
“Because my roommate, when she’s not wasted, is a physics savant,” he shot back, like it was an accusation and not a compliment.
“Awww,” she said, covering her heart with her palm. “That’s really sweet, Izu.”
”Yeah, I’m the sweetest, now please, please harness the power of whatever not drunk brain cells you have and explain this to me.”
Well, Ochako was never one to throw in her towel when her friends needed her, so she spent the next five minutes, drunkenly stumbling over words like “inertia” and “angular velocity”.
But she did find a great deal of it living in the back of her brain, even if she had to stumble around in the dark for it like she forgot the layout of her own home.
It probably managed to sober her up a bit as well; sober her up enough that she actually noticed the pink hair attached to a head that was hanging forward. Sober enough to notice two limp arms thrown over two broad sets of shoulders, the only thing keeping a barely-conscious body upright.
“Ochako?”
“I- I have to go, Izuku,” she said, her eyes tracking them.
“She is out, man,” said the red-head with a laugh. His voice sounded sweet enough, but Ochako had listened to enough true crime documentaries to know that meant absolutely nothing.
“Good,” grunted the other, grouchy and tired- because apparently picking up drunk chicks at a bar was just soooooo tiring- she would give him something to be grouchy about! “She’s a lot easier to get in the car this way.”
NOT TODAY SHE WOULDN’T BE!
“Ochako!” came Izuku’s concerned voice. “Is everything okay?”
”I’ll call you right back,” she said, already half-sprinting toward the car just as the men opened the back seat, the red head moved to the other side as the blonde held her legs. She was giggling, Ochako could definitely hear giggling, but she was so drunk that it didn't matter.
Ochako was sprinting- or as close to sprinting as she could when she certainly couldn’t walk a straight line right now. None of which were doing any favors for the vodka shot she had downed not 15 minutes ago.
Cardio and alcohol, it turned out, were not a great combo for Ochako Uraraka.
“All right, in you go, Pinky,” grumbled the spiky-headed blonde, bent at the waist to “help” her beautiful new bar friend into the car. “Just don’t throw up in…WHAT THE FUCK?!”
Ochako flew through the air and jumped on his back, slapping him over the head with her purse.
“You-” SMACK. “Perverts-.” SMACK. “Aren’t-.” SMACK. “Taking her anywhere!” SMACK. SMACK.SMACK.
“OI! Get off of me!” he barked, reaching back to bat her hand away.
The red- head was rushing around to the side of the car. “Bakugo!” he scolded. “What are you doing?!”
Ochako wasn’t sure how she was gonna win this, because the blonde- Bakugo, apparently- was standing upright now, not having to compensate in the least, in fact, taking her feet well off the ground, as she dangled from him like a koala. That did not bode well for her ability to take him in a physical altercation.
But she would do her damndest.
“ME?!” he asked, looking at his friend incredulously. “Me!? A feral bar gremlin attacks me and you want to know what I did?”
The red-head shrugged and peaked past his partner's shoulder to look at Ochako. She glared at him furiously, still clinging to the blonde.
“Miss, I’m sure my friend deserves whatever it is you’re doing to him, but it’s his car and…”
She let go of Bakugo and hurried to the car, almost tripping over her own feet in her drunken haste, but a pair of strong hands around her waist kept her upright. She reared on the blonde and smacked his hands away.
“Would you stop hitting me?!” he barked, holding up his hands in surrender. “You were gonna fall and crack your head on my car and I ain’t cleanin’ blood and vomit tonight.”
Ochako planted herself on the curb, widening her stance as one hand grabbed the top of the open door and the other gripped the frame of the car, making herself as big as she could so they couldn’t close the door- her gaze jumping between the two men, her brain spinning, and she was sure the woman was making some kind of noises from inside the car- talking to herself maybe…something about how it was too loud and she wanted to cuddle with her “e”- whatever that meant.
It was all very difficult to keep track of, honestly.
Her stomach was also churning from the adrenaline and spike in activity.
“She’s drunk!” Ochako shouted accusingly at the two men.
“She’s not the only one,” muttered the blonde, squeezing his eyes shut and pinching the bridge of his nose. “Kiri,” he said. “You said this errand would be five minutes max and now…”
“Picking up drunk girls at a bar is not an errand!” she growled. “She’s practically unconscious and she can’t consent. So you aren’t taking her anywhere as long as I’m here!”
Nevermind that she was actively keeping herself from upchucking at the moment.
No worries.
It was fine.
The red-head’s eyes widened, a look of realization dawning on his face, while the blonde stared at her dumb-founded.
“Ooooh…” The red-head’s, Kiri his partner had called him, head fell back between his shoulders before fixing her with an odd look, a look that did not match a predator. There was a little bit of amusement, but mostly he looked…he looked sad. Like he knew now what was happening in the moment and it made him sad. “You…okay…you know, there’s been a huge misunderstanding here.”
Her eyes narrowed as she looked between them, not moving from her perch in the open door. “Y-yeah?” she asked shakily, attempting at snarky but failing. “All I know is that she was there by herself for the last hour; neither of you were in there. Trust me, I haven’t been laid in 5 months, I would have noticed you…” Beside her, the blonde let out an amused snort. “And now, you’re carting her away in your car and…W-what are you doing?”
The red-head pulled out his phone. She heard the clatter of the keyboard, the woosh of sending, and then the ding of a received text message. And then the blonde moved toward the car, to reach past her toward where her bar friend was passed out.
“Hey!” warned Ochako, her fists going up in front of her, ready to clock him in his very very pretty face. “Don’t touch her!”
“Okay…fine, easy, Cheeks,” he said, backing away, the beginnings of an amused smirk making its way onto his lips. “Just reach inside and get her purse then..” Ochako kept her fists raised. She could actually throw a pretty good punch if needed, her aim may be off right now, but she could break a nose or two.
”Why?” she said. “So if I turn around you can just shove me inside too?”
“No,” said the-redhead. “So that you can see her boyfriend…” he pointed at himself, “who loves her dearly and is devoted to her every want and need, just texted her.”
Oh…oh…Ochako blinked and shook her head slightly.
She supposed that was a possibility.
Her brain was a little slow.
She turned around, looking anxiously over her shoulder as she reached inside. She tried to stay on her feet but when her bar friend grabbed her and pulled her on top of her Ochako stumbled forward into the backseat of the car, her knees on the seat between the more inebriated woman’s legs, ass up in a skirt that was not designed for ass up. Ochako was about to let out a scream of panic but then her bar friend started patting her on her head.
“You comin’ home with us?” she asked, her eyes drifting open briefly and then closing. “Y-you can come home with me…Eiji is suuch a good cu-cuddler.” She giggled and hugged Ochako tight.
“Yeah, sorry about that,” said the red-head, who she was beginning to think was, in fact, Eijiro. “Mina gets reeeallly clingy when she’s drunk.”
Ochako reached for the purse that had been discarded on the floorboard, shifting slightly so that her cheek came right up against her friend’s (Mina, maybe? She supposed there was still a microscopic chance this guy was playing her) mouth and she immediately started gumming at Ochako’s cheek.
“Yum…yum…yum…” she muttered. Ochako squealed and struggled to her feet like a damn beached well. When she turned around, the blonde was looking pointedly away from her, eyes upward with his ears red and mouth tight.
His friend- Eijiro or Kiri- was looking at him, utterly pleased at something that Ochako couldn’t guess. Then he turned his attention back to Ochako.
“Okay, take her phone out.”
Ochako nodded and did as she instructed, blinking across the screen was a notification from “Rock Hard Tasty Abs.”
She snorted, but then collected herself. “Is that you?”
“Yup!” he said proudly, while his friend gagged beside him. “You can even open the phone up and confirm. The code is 1610, which…for the record…” he said waggling his eyebrows excitedly. “Is my birthday.”
“Jeez, why don’t you give her your tax information and identification number?!” said…Bakugo? His friend had called him Bakugo, right?
“Oh, don’t be so paranoid,” said Eijiro. “She’s not gonna rob me.”
Ochako opened the phone and the first thing she saw was a picture of her friend, Mina, and her sweet, happy-go-lucky boyfriend grinning at her.
Fuck.
“If you’re scrolling through our text messages, I wouldn’t go tooo far unless you want an eyeful of my…”
“Okkkkay!” she interrupted clicking it off and letting her head fall forward shamefully as she held the phone and purse out to Eijiro. “I’m…I’m just…I’m so so sorry!” She shook her head and stumbled back into the gap between the curb and the car, this time when both men surged forward to keep her on her feet she didn’t smack at them. She stepped out of the gap and away from the car- their car- the car she had thrown herself into like an idiot- and then for some reason, perhaps the adrenaline, perhaps the alcohol, when she looked back up, she felt hot, embarrassed tears prickle the back of her eyes
Eijiro looked horrified and Bakugo looked confused.
“Hey!” said Eijiro, stepping closer. “You don’t gotta cry about it…”
“I just…I just…she was so sweet to me inside,” she gestured toward the bar. “We were bar friends, and she liked my cheeks, and then I just saw both of you and you were dragging her to a car and she was almost unconscious and…”
“Oi!” She turned toward Bakugo, his brows drawn together intensely as he looked down at her. Oh my god, he was the hottest man she had seen in…well, a long time…and she had just acted like a complete and total idiot- the biggest of morons- the absolute dummiest of the dumbs. She just…she wanted to float away into the atmosphere like a human balloon and never be seen from again. “Here.” he reached through the front window of his car, letting her get a full view of just how good he looked in the tight jeans he was wearing and she further wanted to die.
Especially when she heard a sharp inhale to the right of her. Ochako snapped her eyes away quickly and back toward Eijiro and the ridiculous smile on his face made her feel like she was Squidward, currently being accused of harboring a secret love for Krabby patties.
Before she could make any kind of non-verbal denial, Bakugo was straightened in front of her, holding a packet of tissue.
She stared at it for a moment, almost like she wasn’t entirely sure what it was.
“Go on, snotty!” he said, shaking it at her- the nickname shaking her out of her frozen state as she snatched it away.
”Thank you,” she said, her voice pitiful. “I am…I am really sorry for hitting you,” she said, blowing her nose in what she was sure was about the most unattractive sound she could make. But why did she care? One was involved and the other…well, she had attacked him, manhandled his car, and now was sobbing into his tissue. She was sure every possible ship had sailed on that one. “And for accusing you both of being predators, I really sh-should have handled it better, I just panicked…”
“Hey!” said Eijiro, stepping closer to her, still smiling but face slightly more serious. “You don’t have to apologize to us for anything.” She could see the slight nod of agreement from Bakugo in her peripheral.
“Really?” she asked, a wave of nausea sweeping over her.
“Really,” he said. “I mean…” he raked his hands through his hair. “Sure, you maybe should ask for proof first next time…”
“For your sake more than anything,” said Bakugo, his tone surprising her. He had been so surly all night, but he actually sounded…concerned…thinking about what would have happened to her if they had been bad dudes.
“Right,” said Eijiro. “But…honestly, Mina’s my girl, so it’s hard for me to be anything but grateful that you were willing to go so hard for her, so…yeah, you don’t need to…”
He didn’t even finish and Ochako was just so very lucky that she still had enough hold on her senses to know to turn away from them both as she fell to her knees and vomited, right next to the wheel of the car.
“Oh god,” said Eijiro, jumping back away from any potential splash as it hit the concrete.
“Ahh fuck, there she goes,” said Bakugo, not sounding the least bit surprised. “It ain’t getting on my car is it?”
“Oh your damn car is fine,” said Eijiro.
“Just because you don’t care about your shit doesn’t mean I don’t, dumbass!”
“I’m gonna go get some napkins and water from that gas station, be right back!”
Ochako wanted to yell at him that he didn’t need to bother, that he should leave her to die of embarrassment in a pool of her own vomit….the only acceptable way for this story to end, she decided.
“All right,” said Bakugo, crouching beside her, his hand coming to rest on her back, stiff and awkward, like he had seen people do it in the movies but didn’t know if he should. “Feel better?”
She looked up at him, at his perfect face, at his sculpted-by-the-gods jaw, she reeking of vomit and shame, with red eyes and a snotty nose, and she almost threw up again just at the sheer unfairness of it all.
“You know what,” she said, moving to stand, he grabbed hold of her elbow as she clasped his forearm, his thick, nice, forearm that she could almost lay her whole palm against and barely reach the width of it. “I’m just gonna go…”
“Like hell you are!” he said, helping her stand.
“No please, please, please,” she said. “Let me slink away in embarrassment like a wounded animal.”
His brow furrowed again and he regarded her with a frustrated scowl. “The fuck do you have to be embarassed about, Cheeks?”
Her eyes widened in disbelief. “Well,” she said. “Would you like them listed in order of occurrence or the depth of their shame? Because…”
”Oh, knock it off,” he said dismissively. “So what, you got a little drunk and threw up, we’ve all been there.”
“We have?” she asked, giving him the once over, wondering how much a man his size would have to drink to get drunk enough to athrow up.
“Of course,” he said. “I can’t hold my fuckin’ liquor to save my life.”
“‘Isss true…” slurred Mina, her legs still dangling out the car and content to stay there it seemed.
“No one asked you, Pinky!” he shot back.
“Boo! Soo mean to me!” she sang back.
“Look, all I’m saying is that Kiri was right. It was stupid what you did,” he said, with a pointed glare, putting her in mind of a mother hen. “We could have been armed, we could have been drunk, there are about a million things that made your decision stupid, but…” His grin widened, into a feral, toothy thing that was somehow hideously ugly but absolutely worked for him, despite almost entirely changing his face, “don’t mean it wasn’t badass as fuck, Cheeks, that you were ready to square off with two guys mine and Ei’s size to protect a stranger.”
She sniffed again, just how gross she felt settling over her along with the soon-to-be-forgotten promise to never drink again. “Why do you keep calling me cheeks?” she asked, her voice rough from exhaustion, tears, and the vomit.
Suddenly Kirishim appeared at his side, a shit-eating grin on his face. “Because when you were on the car he couldn’t take his eyes off …”
“Because of your cheeks!” interrupted Bakugo, louder than necessary to cut off Eijiro, wtih both his words and a murderous gaze. “Obviously! Big ol’ chipmunk lookin’ things!” He rubbed the back of his neck as he snatched the water bottle and napkins from Eijiro and handed them to her. “Drink this,” he demanded after opening for her. She groaned and tried to push it away but he brought it back to her lips. “Don’t be a fuckin’ brat!” She whined but accepted the bottle the second time he tried to push it into her hands, her fingers briefly brushing his. He jerked away, like it had burned…
Fair.
As they had established she was snotty and vomity. She wouldn’t want to touch her either.
But he was right, as soon as the water hit her parched lips she drank it down gratefully- again adding to the image of the beach whale that no doubt she had conveyed while trying to get in and out of the car.
When she was done, she let out a satisfied sigh and found him staring at her, an eyebrow raised. “See?” he said.
She rolled her eyes, but nodded. “Yeah, thanks guys, I really really appreciate it.” She dabbed at her mouth with the napkins and tried to straighten her brawl-strewn clothes, as if there was any dignity left to hold onto.
“Well,” she said, clapping her hands together. “Again, so sorry!” She waved awkwardly at both of them as she backed away, while both were looking at her as if this was the most ridiculous thing that she had done all night. She patted Mina’s knee. “Mina, I hope you feel better in the morning.”
“Uh…where are you going?” asked Eijiro with a scrutinizing squint of his eyes.
Ochako looked down the dark street. “Well, home? Unless y’all are really predators and…”
“Tch…get in the car, Cheeks,” said Bakugo. “We’ll drive you home.”
“Oh nononono,” she said, gesticulating wildly and backing away from them. “I would like to leave with some amount of…”
“I don’t give a fuck what you want, Cheeks,” he interuptted. “You think after all that, we’re just letting you walk home at 1 am in your condition.”
She crossed her arm, annoyance hedging into her voice. “What do you mean my condition?! I’m fine!”
“You just threw up all over the pavement!” countered Bakugo.
“Uh yeah,” she said. “Which means I got all the alcohol out and now I’m good to go.”
“Seriously,” said Eijiro. “We would really appreciate it if you let us take you home.”
“But, it’s only like a 10 minute walk!” she countered, really just wanting to get away from two of the hottest men in the world while she was channeling the energy of an alley cat goblin.
“Which means it’s only a 4 minutes drive, so…” His voice dropped an octave, hard and firm and summoning a whole host of unholy pants feelings. “Get your ass in the car!”
She huffed and moved away but even that slight motion caught even her tiny heels in a crack on the sidewalk, almost sending her sprawling forward again. When she recovered she looked up at both men now standing in front of her, a solid wall of muscle and command.
“Fine,” she conceded, moving around to the other side of the car. “You can take me home.”
“Thank god,” muttered Bakugo, as Kirishima helped Mina the rest of the way into the car.
It was fine.
Ochako really hadn’t wanted to walk home anway.
And Bakugo’s car was nice and warm and soft, and as soon as she was sat down, Mina cuddled up beside her, her head resting in Ochako’s lap.
“Like I said…” Eijiro was turned around in his seat, fond eyes fixed on his girlfriend. “She gets clingy when she drinks.”
Ochako smiled down at her and pet the back of her head, practically drawing a purr out of Mina, which Ochako took as permission to continue.
When she settled her temple against the cool glass of the window, her eyes briefly flicked up to the rearview mirror to find Bakugo’s intense, focused eyes there, looking right at her. He quickly looked away and adjusted the mirror this way and that, only for it to arrive back where it had started.
Weird.
She wanted to tell him that she wouldn’t vomit in his car. He didn’t need to watch her like a hawk. She actually did feel a little better.
“I live at the Musutafu apartments near UA,” Bakugo nodded and pushed on the gas. “If you go up here and take a…”
“I know how to get there,” he said, cutting her off, though not unkindly. “Do you go to UA?”
She nodded.
“Yeah.”
“What year?” he asked tentatively, as though he wasn’t just casually interested in the answer.
She wondered that he was so curious. He didn’t seem like a “make conversation” type.
“Senior,” she answered, and she could have sworn she caught some relief in the reflection of his eyes, but that was probably the streetlights playing on the mirror. “Are you…do you go there?”
“We graduated last year,” he said, nodding toward Eijiro.
“Oh, that’s cool. What did you study?”
“Chemistry,” he answered.
“Oh, that’s cool,” she said. “It’s been a while since I took a chemistry class, but I really liked it.”
“What are you studying?”
“Physics,” she answered, carefully weighing his response. Usually, when she told new people that was her field she was met with either surprise or condescension, honestly given her massively stupid behavior tonight, she may overlook it if he was surprised. To his credit he looked intrigued and curious more than anything else, like he hadn’t seen it coming but was pleasantly surprised by it.
“Impressive Cheeks…”
She didn’t want to deny it, especially when she was starting at a substantial deficit when it came to impressiveness right now.
And before much else could be said about the topic, he was turning into the apartment complex and, for some reason, she was sad, suddenly wishing the drive was a little longer. Because Bakugo’s car was nice and warm, and Mina was nice and warm, and Kiri was nice and warm, and Bakugo well…he kept looking at her like she was a puzzle and she wanted to know why exactly.
But, ultimately, she supposed that what transpired tonight was not the best foundation of a lasting friendship, given all the accusations she made.
“Thank you,” she told them both, as she moved to get out of the car.
“Do you need help getting to your apartment?” asked Bakugo, his tone unreadable.
“No,” she said. “It’s right there.” She pointed in front of them, just three doors down from the most direct door. “I think I can make it.”
Eijiro was looking expectantly at Bakugo, for what she didn’t know, like he knew something that no one else knew, while Bakugo was staring forward, his grip tight around the steering wheel.
“Thank you,” she said again. “Really for…everything…”
”Thank you,” said Eijiro, turning around in his seat. “I feel a lot better knowing there’s a hero like you out on the streets.” He threw her a wink that made her laugh and made Bakugo roll his eyes and scoff.
She gathered her purse and gently laid the slumbering Mina’s head back down on the seat before she went to her door. She fumbled with her keys for a moment, not because she was drunk, but because she could feel the light from his headlight on her, and she didn’t want him to go.
Or maybe she did want him to go, but she wanted to see him again, when she was…not quite the disaster she was now.
She turned once more and waved, but neither of them noticed because Eijiro seemed to be chewing him out over something in the front seat.
She wondered what it was.
When she opened the door, Izuku was waiting for her, fully clothed, jacket and shoes on, his phone in hand. As soon as she was in his line of sight, his face went from distressed to scolding.
“Ochako Uraraka!”
“What?” she groaned, kicking off her shoes and going toward him.
“You can’t just hang up on me, say you’ll call me back and then…” she moved to lay her head on his shoulder but he stepped away and out reach. “Not with vomit in your hair young lady!” he said without skipping a beat before continuing. “I was in my car and heading toward you when…”
”How did you know where I was?” She asked.
“The find your friend app,” he answered again, without breaking stride. That boy was always a talker. “But then it showed you were on the move and if you drove past this apartment, I swear to God, I was gonna bring One-For-All out of retirement and come find you.”
“Aww your little league bat?” she said, her mouth pursing at the sweetness. “Izuku,” she moved back toward him. “I’m touched!”
He stepped away and pointed her toward the kitchen sink. “Not until the vomit is gone, little missy!”
She whined pathetically and marched over to the sink, and grabbing at her hair where there was indeed the tiniest amount of vomit, but certainly enough that she was sure Bakugo had seen it.
Not that she cared.
That would be stupid.
She wrapped a kitchen towel around her neck and grabbed the chunk of hair, splashing water onto it.
“So, what exactly happened?” asked Izuku.
“It’s…a long story,” she sighed. “One that involved me not minding my own business and making a monumental ass of myself in front of the most beautiful man I have ever met.”
“More beautiful than Shoto?” he asked, eyes wide in disbelief.
Ochako considered it for a moment before she nodded. “Yes, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say yes, more beautiful than Shoto!”
“Wow,” said Izuku. “Did you get his number?”
She scoffed. “Oh no…no no no,” she said. “Because that would have been smart; no, you see, what I did was accuse him of being a predator and slap him over the head with my…”
Before she could finish her story, a loud, aggressive knock shook their door.
Izuku looked over his shoulder and back at her. “Who would be here at 1 am?” he asked, going over to the door.
“Did I leave my purse?” she wondered, her eyes scanning the kitchen, only to find her purse sitting on the table. When she looked up, Izuku’s face went from shocked, surprised, and then to utterly pleased and baffled. “Kacchan!” he declared, opening the door.
Ochako turned off the sink, still working the vomit out of her hair.
“Deku?!”
Her eyes widened at the incredulous voice of their late-night visitor.
Why was he back?
She turned and walked toward the door.
“Are you here to see me?” asked Izuku, clearly confused.
“Tch…no, why the fuck would I be here to see you?”
“Well, you’re at my apartment,” said Izuku with a shrug.
“Your apartment?” Bakugo looked at Ochako and back to Deku, suddenly looking deeply deeply mortified. “Wait are you two…” he pointed between them. Izuku immediately burst into laughter and Ochako jumped forward and shoved him out of the way.
“NO!” she all but shouted, shouldering Izuku out of the way. “He’s uh…is gay. Izuku is very gay. That gayest, you might say.”
”Yeah,”said Bakugo. “That’s what I thought, but…”
”How do y’all know each other?” she asked.
”And is…is Kacchan your first name?”
“Tch…no,” he said. “It’s a nickname the dumb nerd has called me since we were kids.”
“Kacchan and I went to school together as kids and we played together at UA for a year.”
Ochako looked at him. “You played baseball with Izuku?”
“For a year,” he muttered. “Ruined my fuckin’ shoulder freshman year.” He jutted his chin to his right arm.
“Oh…” Ochako looked at it briefly. “I’m…I’m sorry…”
He waved his hand. “Ain’t here for your pity over my sob story.”
“Yeah?” she said, looking past him and into the parking lot to find his car still there. “Why are you here?”
“Apparently not to reconnect with his childhood best friend,” said Izuku. Bakugo reached past Ochako and shoved Izuku hard.
“Get lost, nerd!”
“It’s my apartment,” he said.
“Don’t care,” he bit out. Ochako looked over her shoulder, eyes wide and pleading at Izuku and nodding her head back at Bakugo. For a moment, Izuku looked confused and then a sudden look of realization dawned on him and, for the second time, he bust out laughing.
“Oh my god!” he sobbed. “Kacchan?!” he questioned. “Kacchan is the hottest guy you’ve ever seen? The guy you think is hotter than Shoto?!”
“IZUKU!!!” she scolded, her voice going up several more octaves than she thought it was capable of.
Izuku cackled wildly.
Cinnamon roll, her ass!
“I’m sorry, Ochako, I love you, but you must have beer goggles on if you think-...” Ochako shoved Bakugo out into the night and slammed the door shut to her apartment, blocking them both off from Izuku’s guffaws.
“Ugh I’m sorry,” she groaned, and when she looked up at him she was pretty sure she had never seen anyone look quite as pleased with himself as he did right there- puffed out like a damn peacock.
“The hottest guy you’ve ever seen, huh?” he asked, leaning up against the doorframe, and dammit if it didn’t immediately draw her eyes to the long the line of his body.
“No!” she sputtered. “I didn’t say that! Izuku misheard. Now…” she gestured at him. “Tell me why you followed me to my apartment like a weirdo?”
He chuckled, a throaty, smoky, pany-dropping sound if there ever was one. “I wanted to see if you wanted to get brunch tomorrow?”
“B-brunch?”
“Well,” he said, looking her up and down. “I’m assuming that breakfast is gonna come way too early for you.”
She laughed nervously, instinctively going to her self-soothing gesture of touching her hair only to be reminded of the vomit currently drying there.
“Uh…with you?” she asked. “L-like a date?”
She regretted immediately because she had never seen anyone go from cool to flustered so fast…which meant she had completely understood him.
Dammit.
“Well,” he said. “Mina and Kiri would be there too…”
“Oh, gosh, yes of course.” Her laughter was painfully awkward now as she stumbled face-first into yet one more embarrassment, because she was just that talented. “Uh…I…”
“I mean if you want it to be a date, it can be a date,” he said hurriedly, cutting off her spiral. “I just…you just hit it off with Mina and Kiri really likes you, but fuck those guys, if you want to go on a date with-.”
”That’s okay,” called Izuku’s voice from the other side of the door, interrupting him and making both her and Bakugo’s eyes twitch. “I didn’t want a brunch invitation anyway. I’m far too busy!”
“Shut up, nerd!” he called back, hitting his palm against the door above her head, probably to annoy Izuku, but it definitely played the wonderful dual purpose of caging her in against her door, bringing his body even closer to her. Then he cast his gaze downward, the knee-knocking smirt returning with a vengeance. “So, you wanna go on a date with me?”
She breathed in.
“I- uh…I have vomit in my hair,” she said, and she had no idea why, of all the things she could say, that was what she chose.
He seemed equally confused. “Uh…is that a yes?”
She laughed, covering her eyes with her hands and shaking her head. “Gah, yes,” she said. “I’m just…I’m just surprised is all. You’re, uh…” she gestured at him.
”The hottest guy you’ve ever seen?” he offered casually.
“Yes,” she answered frankly, dropping her hand just to get a look at the way he blushed at her honest words, not nearly as unaffected as he wanted to be. “Yes, exactly.”
“Gotta say, Cheeks,” he said, leaning into his arm, bringing his face closer to her. “I wanted to ask you out the minute you wacked me over the head.”
Her face was burning, her heart was pounding, and he was so damn close that she could feel the heat radiating off of his body. And all she could think about was how good it would feel to have that body pressed up against her.
“Oh, well, that’s good to know,” she said, her eyes dropping down to his lips and back to his eyes. “You like messy women who try and kick your ass?”
He snorted, now inches away from her lips. “Exclusively.”
He dipped forward, ready to close the space between them when she suddenly panicked and brought her fingers up to press against his lips, keeping him at bay. He opened his eyes.
“What?”
“I’m sorry,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m not kissing you right now when I taste like vomit.”
His nose scrunched up in distaste and he nodded. “Yeah,” he said, backing away. “That’s a good call.”
“But you can kiss me tomorrow!” she said. “At brunch! When I taste like bacon!”
He laughed, a deep rumbling thing in his chest that just made her all kinds of happy. “Looking forward to it,” he said, backing away from her and turning to go back to his car.
Ochako watched him leave, grinning like an idiot and it looked like he was desperately trying to keep his own smile in check. When he drove away, Ochako let out a squeal of delight and turned to go back into the apartment, her whole body humming with excitement.
Izuku was, of course, waiting for her, arms crossed and shaking his head at her.
“Bacon, Ochako?” he said. “Really?”
“Yes!” she said. “Bacon flavored kisses are everyone’s favorite and don’t even pretend it’s not true.”
“Amazing every boy at UA isn’t falling head over heels for you,” he teased, kicking off his shoes and taking off his jacket.
“Seriously, Izuku,” she said, doing a little hop. “I’m so excited!”
Izuku smiled at her warmly. “I actually am excited for you. I think you and Kacchan will be a good match. I know I teased you but…” His phone started ringing and he immediately answered it.
“Hey, Tsu!” he said. Ochako looked at him, confused, and mouthed “everything all right?” Izuku nodded, closing his mouth in a tight line like he was trying to contain his laugh. “Did you get it?”
Ochako couldn’t hear the answer from her friend, but Izuku started laughing out loud. “Right?! Hotter than Shoto?! The madness!”
“Oh screw you!” she said, shoving him playfully, as she went to the bathroom. “I’m gonna go shower!”
“And maybe check your eyes while you’re there if you think Kacchan is as pretty as Shoto!”
She shut the door and went over to the mirror, unable to stop smiling, even as she washed her hair, even as she looked at the mess that was her reflection.
“You may be short, Sweet Pea,” her Pa had said. “But don’t let anyone make you feel small.”
And she didn’t quite know why, but she knew, despite how gross she felt, she didn’t feel small at all.