Chapter Text
“Ochako Uraraka, Izuku Midoriya and Katsuki Bakugou will be another group for this assignment”
Her head looks up in alarm from the notebook she was writing in, staring at her teacher in shock
“Hah?” Bakugou asks from his place at the front of the classroom, Deku behind him as stiff as a board “I’m not doing shit with the stupid nerd!”
Aizawa rolls his eyes, already expecting this reaction from him “It’s cute that you think you have a vote in the matter” That’s the only thing he tells him before he moves on
Even though her seat is in the back of the room, she can still see Bakugou’s ears as red as a tomato as he holds onto his anger. Deku is shaking his leg so fast she worries he might pull a muscle or something
Uraraka is just wondering who the hell thought that putting those two together in the same assignment would be a good idea, and who the hell made the decision also to put her of all people with them
She already knew that it was going to be hell
Her eyes remain on the desk in front of her, but she can feel Deku’s alarmed gaze and Bakugou’s rage coming from the front of the room, wondering if it was too late to drop out of the hero course and go work in her parents and live a life of counting pennies and working her ass off just to barely pay her bills
She sighs as she sits back on her chair, her eyes going to Mina, and sees her friend looking at her like she’s already dead, her black eyes as wide as the moon
The rest of the class and the announcement of the other groups go by in a blur, but she can’t help but feel like the whole class is holding their breath, as if with just a tiny movement something will snap and that something is Bakugou’s patience
When the bell rings, the blond picks up his stuff in haste and runs out of the classroom, his shoulders tense and flexing his free hand, probably wanting to explode everything in his way
Aizawa watches him go with disinterest, and Ochako wants to shout that this is all a bad idea
Two seconds pass by before Deku stands up and goes after his childhood friend
She freezes in her own seat, her classmates looking back at her, expecting something of her, but she doesn’t know what she can do
“Uraraka, go after them”
Aizawa’s words hit her like a train and she blinked at him, confused
“They’re your responsibility now” she finds that choice of words very odd, but who is she to deny her teacher, who always knows better
The tension in the class grows heavier as she stands up and walks quickly to the door. She passes by the girls and they all throw a confused look, she’s happy to know that she’s not the only one who didn’t understand Aizawa’s words
My responsibility
What the hell does that mean
Reaching the hallway, she catches Deku’s fluffy hair making a turn at the end of it, so she speeds up, hoping to catch them before they do something stupid
“Leave me alone Deku”
Bakugou’s harsh words are not new to her or anyone else who’s around him, but the tone of his voice catches her by surprise. He doesn’t sound angry, but he’s not happy either, it’s like he doesn’t know how to feel about this whole situation yet
“Oh, c’mon Kacchan stop being a brat”
Even she stops in her tracks after those words
She was surprised, she had seen Deku angry, but he sounded downright livid right now. Picking around the corner, she watches as Bakugou slowly turns to Deku, the scowl on his face turning into a sinister gaze
“What the hell did you just say to me?”
She bit her lips in anticipation. What the hell was Aizawa thinking in putting these two together?
Sure, in their first year, they had talked and resolved whatever differences they had that made him rivals, but ever since that conversation and the end of war, they were fine
Well, “fine” is a nice to put it
The second year was normal, or as normal as it could get. After fighting a war and being traumatized for the rest of their life, it took a while for the entire class to get back into a routine and their usual goofiness. Pretty much until the middle of the year. Even so, Deku and Bakugou were cordial to each other. If they found themselves in the same space, none of them would leave, but they weren’t making any effort to spend time together either
Until summer break
Deku told her that he, his mother, and Bakugou’s family were going to spend the summer at his dad’s house in California. It was a reward and compensation for everything they had gone through, and she couldn’t be happier that his dad was at least trying to reconnect with him after all the things that happened to him
He spoke to her while he was there, at least for the first week or two. And then he was gone for a while
At the time, she thought nothing of it and presumed that he was spending time with his father and his mother altogether, but she couldn’t ignore the pain in her chest every time she sent a text and there would be no response
When he did text her back she was working with her parents and nearly dropped a wooden beam on top of one of her company’s workers to get to her phone. The text was simple, a mere hello explaining what he had been up to, and asking her what she had been doing the whole summer
She felt relieved that he was answering her back, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong, especially when summer ended and they went back to school, and his relationship with Bakugou seemed to have gotten worse
They couldn’t even look at each other without starting a fight, which once again disrupted their classes and hero work. Aizawa and All Might tried everything to make them stop, but nothing worked
“I said you are acting like a brat, so stop it”
So she can’t even begin to comprehend how her teachers think that this is the solution
Bakugou glares at Deku with an intensity that makes her cringe in her corner
“Or what?”
Her eyes widen at the threat
“What are you going to do,” he taunts, a sly grin on his face “Izuku?”
Her heart speeds up in her chest and she feels goosebumps on her skin. Bakugou said his name and somehow she was the one who was shaking
Because his back is turned to her, she can’t see her best friend’s face, but she hears a little dark chuckle coming out of his mouth
Suddenly she feels her lips dry and has the urge to lick them, so she does, at the same time Deku takes one step closer to Bakugou
“Or I’ll make you,” his arms start to glow green “Katsuki”
For some reason, she rubs he thighs together. Seeing them so close and taunting each other so intimately is making her feel all kinds of wrong things
Should she put a stop to this?
Instead of angrily yelling at him to never speak his name again, Bakugou’s smile only grows as he looks at Deku in challenge
“You’ve tried it once before,” she frowns at that, but keeps listening “Are you sure you want to do it again?”
He stretches his hand, and she sees the sweat drops running down his palm. Smoke starts to come out of his fingers, and the smell of caramel fills the hallway with the sweet scent
“Yes” Deku’s voice full of venom snaps her out of whatever trance she was under, and she quickly rounds the corner and waves at them
“Hey guys!”
Bakugou looks over Deku’s shoulder at her with a scowl, but when he realizes it’s her, his face relaxes into a neutral expression as he watches her approach them
When Deku turns around, she’s momentarily put off by his glowing green eyes and arms. The moment he sees her, his eyes turn back to normal, as well as his arms, and he gives her a soft smile
“Hey Ocha” he greets her, and her first name coming out of his lips makes her feel all giddy. It had taken her the whole second school year to convince him to call her by her first name, and it pleases her to know that she’s still the only one he does that to
Well, her and Bakugou, appararentely
“Deku,” she nods at him, and then playfully bows at Bakugou “Dynamight”
He rolls his eyes, but doesn’t shout at her for using his hero name instead of his family name. In fact, after all of their sparing sessions over the past two years, instead of thinking of her as a nuisance he now just thinks that she’s tolerable, and that’s a compliment coming from him
Her relationship with him also changed as they started to spend more time together, and even Mina would make fun of her because she swears that Bakugou treats her differently than everyone else
As in, he actually listens to her and doesn’t tell her to fuck off as much as he does the others
To Ochako, that’s barely a reason to think that Bakugou treats her differently but that’s not important right now
“Soo,” she starts, not knowing what to say after watching that intense encounter “What’s up partners?!” the excitement in her voice feels forced as she punches them both in their shoulders, but luckily they don’t comment on it
But she knows that they noticed it
Bakugou scoffs and briefly glares at Deku before looking away
“Been better” his answer and dismissive tone make her pout and he glances at her lips before saying “But I suppose we have to do this shit”
She beams at him “That’s the attitude Bakugou! We have to do this shit!”
He deadpans at her for cursing, but doesn’t say anything because he knows damn well that the reason why she’s so comfortable with speaking like that is because of his dirty mouth
“Right Deku?” she looks at her best friend, who’s shaking his head in amusement
“Yeah, right, Deku?” Bakugou asks him, imitating her cheeriness, and the image is almost too good to be true. His red eyes sparkle with mischief as he stares at Deku and waits for his answer
The grennete narrows his eyes at him, trying to understand Bakugou’s game, but ends up turning to her with an excited smile on his face
“Let’s do this then,” he shrugs his shoulders “How hard can it be working with you two? You’re both just so nice” he says the last word while pointedly looking at Bakugou, who just glares at him
“Great!” she says to distract them “My room after class then?”
They turn their eyes on her simultaneously, and she feels small under their intense gazes and towering frames. Unlike the two of them, who are almost as tall as 6’5 of height, she only grew to stand at 5´3, and that’s a battle all of its own
She realizes that this is the first time she has stood before both of them at the same time. Even though she spends a lot of time alone with either of them, the three of them have never hung out together
But that’s about to change, apparently
“Sure, Ocha”
“Whatever you say Cheeks”
She’s surprised by the lack of arguing and fighting, so she takes advantage of the fact that they’re calmer to get them to the cafeteria to eat lunch
“Cool,” she says as she puts her hands on their backs and pushes them “Now let’s eat! I’m starving”
They let her drag them to the end of the hallway that has a door to the outside, but she feels a presence behind her so she looks over her shoulder with curiosity
On the other end of the hallway stands All Might, who winks at her and gives her a thumb-up
Confused, but happy to be noticed, she waves at him before stepping outside
She steals glances at her new group partners as they make their way to the cafeteria, almost chocking with the tension looming over them
Judging by this singular encounter, she can already tell that these next few weeks are going to be exhausting
Still, she can’t help but feel proud of herself. Her teachers must think that she’s among the best in their class if they’re putting her at the same level as Bakugou and Deku, the strongest in their school
With that knowledge, she feels even more determined to make sure these two stay in line
Because that’s her job as their equal