Other Notes: My KacchakoSecretSanta gift for @lupizora!!! Firstly, I'm sorry this came late. I had worked on your gift, didn't like my first draft(s), and haven't been feeling very well this week. I'm extremely happy with what I came up with though. I hope you like it, and if you don't, I can always make you something else. This is Fantasy AU Kacchako, one that I really like.
There were few things in the world that the Uraraka family did not possess. They have enough wealth to last them and future generations; plenty of land to live on and sell; a reputable social status built decades ago. One of the many content families in the small town where everyone knows everyone else. Either by relation or gossip, the Uraraka is one of the wealthiest families to keep their line clean, yet one young adult feels unsatisfied with all that her family has.
Sitting on the low wall, Ochako stares out across the pond with an ache in her chest. The air is still, having been unmoving she jumped onto the stone wall hours ago. Water lilies float across the water of the pond as she stares, the moon’s reflection giant. When she isn’t staring thoughtfully across the small patch of grass that separates her from the pond, she is staring down at the ring on her finger, frowning. It’s a family heirloom. Orbs and diamonds dotting the silver band with the characters for her family name spelled out in an ornate design. It is one of her most prized possessions. Yet as she studies it in the bright moonlight she can’t fight the feeling of missing out on something just as valuable as her inheritance.
The wind picks up after a long while of studying her ring. Ochako, so deep in thought, would have barely noticed if it weren’t for the proximity of the wind and rise in temperature so suddenly. Turning on her spot on the stone wall, Ochako searches the visible clearing behind around.
“Other side, angel face.”
Jumping in surprise at the rumbling voice, Ochako finds herself face-to-face with a smirking teenage boy. As she jumps back, Ochako at least hopes he is a teenage boy. She looks from his wild blond locks to his crimson eyes, which stare hard at her. As he stands back, her gaze travels down his tilted smirk (is he laughing at her?), down the curve of his neck, down even further--and gasps. “You’re shirtless!!” she yells, averting her gaze immediately.
Seemingly unbothered by this reacting, the boy gives a snort. “Is that how you greet people here? That’s weird.” As he speaks, he moves around the stone wall until he is in front of her. She still refuses to look directly at him after seeing his sculpted--after seeing a part of his body a stranger has no business seeing.
Still, what he says strikes as odd within her mind. Ochako risks a glance in the spot she hopes to be his face and asks him what he means.
As she waits impatiently for an answer, Ochako keeps her eyes on the planes and details of his face. She sucks in a sharp breath, swearing by the stars above her that, just for a second, she saw his eyes literally glow. It vanished before she had a chance to stare any further, which is surprisingly disappointing. For a moment, she struggles to decide whether or not to believe what she saw. She squeezes her hands into fists, feeling as if this is all somehow just a dream. “This obviously isn’t the dragon realm.” His tone sounds curious, a slight confused undertone to it. It catches the her attention. Then his eyes begin to roam up and down her body, lingering on the details of the light dress she wears. He frowns. “I haven’t seen anyone dressed like that since… Oh fuck.”
She bristles. She watches in astonishment the boy with a red cape pace back and forth, cursing unlike anything she has ever heard before. Her fascination grows with the more she watches him. What had he been about to say? Where is he from? What did he mean by the “dragon realm”? How did he get here? Who is he? Why does he still not have a shirt on?
“Round face.” Snapping into attention, Ochako locks gazes with the mysterious boy. “Answer me this,” he makes his way back towards her slowly, watching her carefully. Why are you staring at me like that? Like she is the the only thing he sees; his focus point.
Their stare lingers on to the point of sending an unsettlement in her stomach when he finally breaks it. Eyes up to the sky, Ochako isn’t sure if the wistfulness in his eyes is because the sky may look different for him, or if he misses something.
Ochako clears her throat. The boy blinks. “Where am I?”
Where else would you be, mystery boy? “Earth. You’re on Earth.” The way she says this, matter-of-factly, sends a slight panic through her as the boy’s expression darkens for the first time that night. Part of Ochako wants to back away from it; another--possibly stupid--part of her stands her ground--well, stone, at the moment--and stays where she has been for the past four hours. On the stone wall. Alone, until recently.
Seething, the boy’s stare on Ochako gets to the point to where she feels as if his eyes are stabbing her with one of the hot pokers in her father’s office. She shivers and averts her gaze. “Who is in charge around here? And don’t fucking tell me it’s you, angel face.”
Right. He had called her that earlier. A different kind of heat spreads across her body as she fumbles with an answer. “Uhm--no. It, uh, it isn’t me. But if you’d like I could--”
“Take me. Great. Lead the way.”
“Wh--”
Cutting her off for the second time, the boy looks towards the path that opens up to the clearing they are in. “I haven’t been here in ages and need a guide. So are you going to do it or do I need to go around knocking things down until I find what I need.”
He poses it like a question, but it doesn’t sound like one at all. Still, would rather not risk calling him out on a bluff. Especially when he looks as if he really could destroy her town without much effort. The muscles packing his arms and chest are certainly something she has never seen before; and the glittering bags across his body could contain anything. Potions. Those are dangerous.
Feeling suddenly bare as she jumps from the wall, the boy’s hard and curios gaze on her as she walks up to him. “I don’t know who you are,” she begins a bit shakily. “But whatever happens, you absolutely cannot hurt anyone. Or destroy anything.”
He quirks up an eyebrow. Then he begins walking towards the path that led Ochako to her hiding spot without so much as an answer. Just a raised brow. Not sure how to react, Ochako just stands there for a moment.
“Hey!!” she shouts.
“Oi!!”
Jogging to catch up to his pace, Ochako takes another unconverted look at his face. From the side, she catches the moonlight outlining the sharpness of his chin, touching the curve of his neck.
Just as quickly as she got into the details of his body, Ochako snatches herself out of them. “At least tell me your name. So I can introduce you to Yagi.”
“Bakugo.”
Glancing up at him in confusion, Ochako furrows her brows. They begin to enter the short bit of forest on either side of the path. Ochako is unbothered by it, knowing that she has no reason to be afraid, even with this stranger. Bakugo.
Bakugo meets her confused stare. He sighs. “That’s all you need to know, princess. Now tell me about this version of Earth of yours.”
Other Notes: WOOHOO!!!!! It is finally finished!! The KSS18 gift for @lupizora Not From Around Here has finally ended. An adventure of mutual pining (per @nsart‘s words;) ), discovery, and angst all rolled into one little story. The NFAH series has gathered a total of 9,915 words!! This is such an accomplishment for me, such a prideful time. Thank you everyone who has read, liked, commented, and reblogged. I may not have responded to everything but just know that I love you all and thank you a million times.
>>Coming soon to Ao3
>>>Links for the other parts will be added later. If you haven’t read the other parts, either ask or search on my blog for #kacchako au
HAPPLY READINGS!!!!
She jumps. Hairs rising all across her body, Ochako turns to the direction of the familiar booming voice. I’m dead.
“That is for you, young Ochako.” Jumping again, the girl faces the old mage. Her heart is in her throat and an old fear of her parents nearly chokes the life out of her. She realizes she is beginning to panic, but she can’t do anything about it. All she has ever tried to do is keep up the facade, act like the ideal daughter they want her to be; to make her mother and father proud. If no one else, their opinion of her has always mattered most. If they find her here--not only having left in the middle of the night again, but with Bakugo and Yagi--They are going to kill her. Or worse, put her on house arrest again. This time, for the rest of her life. Which means she definitely won’t be able to see--
“Ochako.”
Like a warm blanket, Bakugo drapes an arm around Ochako’s shoulder. He pulls her close to his side, immediately dispelling the cloud of panic and anxiety in her mind. She looks up in dazed wonder, dark eyes steady on her.
For a few moments, it’s just the two of them. He is the bubble of safety protecting her from her worldly worries, his arm reassuring as it slides down her arm to wrap around her waist. He is as hot as ever beside her; yet, she doesn’t feel overwhelmed in the slightest. “Are you alright?”
Distantly, Ochako hear her parents, a clamor of their voices growing closer to the tidy house of Yagi. Instead of turning to their calls and walking out the door to the familiarity of her family, Ochako stays beside the boy who hasn’t left her side, and answers both his question and the wavering concern in his eyes. She can only stand to stare into his eyes for so long before a familiar bit of sadness grips her heart, forcing her eyes to look away.
“You’ll be leaving soon,” she whispers back. Ochako hopes this isn’t the part where she cries. She’d hate to do that. Not because it’d be Bakugo bearing witness to the part of her heart no one else has seen before; rather that this would be what he remembers her by. Sobbing her heart out because he is leaving and she just may not be able to follow him home.
When Ochako finally musters enough courage to look back up at him, Bakugo’s eyes are closed, his breaths deep. For a moment, he stays as he is, nose now buried at the top of her head, his fingers tapping rhythmically against her side. She does her best to remain still. Yet the soft taps against her side are a slight tickle. “I wasn’t lying when I said I wanted someone to travel with me.” He says after a long moment, his voice deep and low.
Without missing a beat, Ochako replies. “I know.”
He drops his chin from her head so that his eyes meet hers, the same glow of comfort from before greeting her. She struggles to catch her breath when more than just the careful watch of steady dark eyes find her own.
“...Y--Come with me, Ochako. I thought I was being smart earlier; not telling you more of where I’m from. Who I am. I thought--that I was protecting you somehow. I don’t know how, and I know that I was...wrong.” Bakugo unwraps his arm from Ochako. He takes a small step to fully face her, his head bent to the point that the soft locks of his hair begin to tickle her nose. If she weren’t so captivated by his confession, Ochako would be a giggling mess.
“You don’t need to be protected. And I hate it because--well fuck. Because, Ochako, I--”
“Ochako!!!”
The next moment is a blur of bright clothes, loud noises, and tight, choking hugs. There are words she can’t hear, things she can’t understand. She is aware that it is her parents who are holding onto her; Yagi huddled in a corner, trying to press himself out of sight (though as a mage he can just turn himself invisible or something right?). But what about--
“What are you doing with my daughter?” The dangerous undertone to her father’s tone snaps Ochako back into her situation. Hairs on the back of her neck rise.
“I just need--” He’s still here! With her mother still holding tightly onto Ochako, and her father standing behind his wife, the girl can’t see much past the emerald silk of her father’s robe. She stomps down the threat of letting out a moan of frustration. Where is he?
He had been about to tell her something. After all that has happened tonight--meeting him by the pond, the rooftop, finding Yagi, the kiss on her forehead, holding hands and all the emotion in his eyes, almost about to say something--this is what happens?? Her parents barge in, interrupting something very important. Not even that, but they’re attacking Bakugo as if he has done something wrong--which he hasn’t! She understands that, at first sight, he seems strange. Showing too much skin and wearing odd pouches across his skin like a dark mage ready for the kill. But she has walked beside this boy; she has stared deeply into those eyes and seen things she is positive no one else has ever witnessed before. She trusts him to the ends of the world.
She has only known him for four hours but she will be damned if anyone attacks Bakugo without giving him a chance to defend himself.
Breaking free of her mother’s grasp with a surprising burst of strength, Ochako rounds her father until they are face-to-face. She has never yelled at her parents. Never glared, bad-mouthed, or mocked them. True enough, she has gotten frustrated with them. She has gone out of her way to avoid them when they have their rare bad argument. But this time is different. This time, she has more to defend than herself.
“What’s his name?”
A baffled expression crosses her father’s face. He looks to Ochako’s mother over her head, then back to his daughter. “What?”
“What. Is. His. Name? You always ask a gentleman his name first. Before you ask who his family is, where he is from, or what he does. You shake his hand and ask for his name. Father, did you do that? Or did you assume he was some sort of rogue and deranged man from lands far away?” Which can’t be entirely untrue, from what I’ve heard so far.
The silence following after Ochako’s small portion of a rant is enormous. If she weren’t so angry, the flush on her cheeks would be for a different reason.
The curiosity mixes with shock in her father’s knowing eyes. He stares down at her for what feels like a long time. She bears witness as realization, pride, and amusement fill his eyes, bringing forth a different kind of light in them. Without another word to his daughter, he turns, scanning the boy Ochako has defended so fiercely.
Before her father can get a word out of his mouth, Bakugo raises both hands in mock surrender. “There’s no need.”
The Uraraka’s stare back with identical looks of misunderstanding. At least until realization dawns on Ochako. He is careful to avoid Ochako’s piercing gaze as he continues. “I won’t be here much longer. Right, old man?” Head tilted in Yagi’s direction as an indicator, everyone looks at the old mage, still huddled in the corner.
Yagi nods. Ochako, on the other hand, shakes her head. She takes a step towards him, only to be stopped by his outstretched hand. Let me, his eyes plead.
So she takes a step back. She doesn’t return to her parents, inbetween the only family she has ever had, and her future.
His eyes slide along to meet hers. When they finally do, Ochako isn’t sure the longing in them is something she can bear. “I can’t understand why I feel so connected to you, Ochako. How a single thought brought me to this world--to you. These past couple hours have been exactly what I’ve been missing; what I have been longing for for so long. I...I want to protect you. I want to continue to make you smile and laugh and show you all the amazing things I have seen throughout my lifetime. I want to spend the rest of my time with you. Every single moment.” An indecipherable look flashes across his features before he continues, this time with a renewed passion. “I can’t promise every place I go will be safe; that there are dangers unknown to myself that I can get through alone. I’m strong, the strongest of my realm and many others.
“But I swear on my doragon that I will be nothing without you by my side. Just as you have been this entire night, greeting me as someone you have known for lifetimes rather than hours. Ochako. Omae. Will you come with me back home? Will you be my queen and rule my land beside me?”
Her gaze flickers. Her breathing becomes shallow and the ring passed down in her family for generations begins to slightly burn as she spins it around on her finger.
She opens her mouth, strangled words coming out in an incomprehensible mess. So she shuts her mouth. She stares wide-eyed at Bakugo. He has poured his heart out to her. Forget saying “I love you”; he has said those words and so much more. He has asked her to spend the rest of her life with him, the two of them together. To be more than his queen, more than a partner. He has made more than just a declaration of love. He has done more than just appear out of nowhere in her life. Bakugo has filled a hole Ochako has always felt. He has made her feel a safety and comfort she never believed anyone would be able to provide for her. When she was at her most desolate hour, he was there.
It brings is a better feeling than when they jumped off the bakery’s roof, weightless and free for just a few short seconds. This is something she just told her father off about, a person she may have only just met but has known forever deep in her soul. She continues to stare as the tears well up in her eyes and the boy with blond hair begins to blur. Her heart is a bubble of joy, growing larger by the minute.
“Ba--Bakugo!” It’s all she can say at the moment. Yet the way he perks up seems to be just enough for him.
Not two seconds after calling out for him, Bakugo takes the few long strides across the room to Ochako to close the gap between them. He gathers her in his arms, nearly picking the girl up off her feet. She leans into him. She wraps her arms around his neck and holds on with all her might--not as if this bothers the already muscular boy from another world.
As her tears fall onto his bare skin, Ochako remembers her earlier reservations not to cry. She didn’t want to. But a part of her knew it would happen anyway. Except at the time, she believed it would be because Bakugo would leave her behind, alone yet again. Nothing would change when he left save for the hollow place in her heart he had filled so quickly. Now, she cries out of delight. A strange, bursting sort of happiness. Yet happiness nonetheless.
After a while, she calms down. The soft circles drawn on her back as he holds her up are an added comfort. Her hands slide down from his necks until they grasp his wrists as she pulls back slowly out their embrace to get a good look at his face. If she hadn’t known him, she wouldn’t be able to recognize the shine to his eyes, a wavering glimmer in the peeking light of the moon.
She gives a short laugh, wiping a stray tear. Bakugo wipes her other eye before his warm hand comes to rest at cradling her cheek. She leans into it, closing her eyes briefly. “You are all I ever wanted, Bakugo. I refuse to let you go this easily. You didn’t even need to ask, not when you know that I want to go with you anyway; more than anything in this world. I want to see Batu, meet your doragon, live in the world you love so dearly. Bakugo, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I can’t even begin to explain how long I have been waiting for you, what it has felt like to be so utterly alone all my life.” She stops short. Of course you do. She is hit with the memory of the wonder in his eyes as he stared up at the moon long before they met Yagi; the strange loneliness darkening his beautiful gaze as he stared at her under the silver moon. He had been ethereal then, almost untouchable. Now she can’t stay away from him. Not after being so close and seeing so much.
Her voice drops to a whisper, unaware that even at her quiet tone in the dead of the night, Bakugo won’t be the only one to hear her speak. “You aren’t leaving me behind, Bakugo.” Her eyes search his for a few frantic seconds. “I love you.”
Coughing erupts behind her. Ochako turns in horror. She forgot about her parents. When she looks, her father is pounding on his chest, and her mother is looking back and forth between Ochako and Bakugo, even as she helps her husband.
“Go--where?” her father demands between coughs.
“Fa--”
“Hush.” Giving her father one last hard pat on his back, Ochako’s mother silences him swiftly. She is still looking between Ochako and Bakugo, a look of understanding in her eyes. “How long have you known him, Ocha?” she asks softly.
Ochako, not knowing she had been holding onto Bakugo until he gives her a reassuring squeeze back, sputters out a response. “Four and a half hours? Five? At most? I mean, I just--He just came out of nowhere a couple hours ago tonight. Not that--What?”
“What she means is, I appeared out of nowhere in the dead of the night and asked her to take me to the old man over there.”
Ochako glances up sharply. “You did not “ask” me to take you to Yagi. You demanded!”
The tinge of amusement in his gaze brings forth a grin to her lips. “You did it anyway.”
“Only because you said that you’d go breaking things until you found him.”
“You are such a smartass, angel face.” Taken off-guard by being called a pet name again, Ochako’s retort dies on her lips. There is a victorious smirk on his face she would love to knock off.
Her mother calls her name again. This time, there is more than motherly understanding. There is worry, and another emotion she isn’t sure she is ready to face. She faces her parents, a different kind of sadness wrapping around her heart.
“I had no idea you felt this way,” her father laments. His eyes are shining with unshed tears.
“Neither of us did. We--We always thought you would do something big, Ocha. But this…” Eyes flickering to Bakugo, her mother shakes her head sadly. She takes a shuddering breath and it breaks Ochako’s heart.
Letting go of Bakugo, Ochako runs into her parents. They envelope her in a hug. She hadn’t thought about this part, and feels disgusted with herself. This is the man and woman who have raised her, who have loved and cared for her her entire life.
But as she holds onto them, she knows that this doesn’t mean they would have been able to understand her if she tried to convey the gripping loneliness. They love her but they wouldn’t understand. They would still expect the best from her; a life she can’t provide. Someday the time would come where she would have to accept being another man’s bride. The very same man that she would bear children to, maybe far away from her home. Someone who is not Bakugo.
Cutting off a sharp gasp, Ochako snatches herself from her parent’s grasp. She loves them. Loves them so much. But the life they have planned for her and the things they want her to do have never been something she has desired. Especially not a family with a complete stranger. Her gaze naturally slides back to Bakugo, who had been looking away. He is leaning against one of Yagi’s many bookshelves, arms crossed with a slight frown on his face. When their gazes meet, it’s as if a bit of stubborness is erased from the crease in his forehead. She can’t help but frown as well. What would life be like with him?
Bakugo sighs. His gaze flickekrs around the room. “What if you came with us?”
Ochako stands quickly. Shock freezes her muscles. “Bak--” His dark eyes flit to her. For a brief moment, there is no words between the two of them. Not that she would need to hear him speak to understand what he’s doing. She turns back to her parents, a small smile gracing her lips. She grabs one of their hands, holding onto both of them just as she did as a little girl. “Will you?” she asks.
Ochako’s parents look at one another. They share a familiar silence conversation, heads tilting just the slightest as in indication to one thing or another. When they both shake their head at the same time, a hope Ochako didn’t know she was holding onto drops in her stomach. She lets go of them.
Her father wraps an arm around her mother. He smiles, lines of tiredness more visible than before. “We have what we need here, Ocha.”
“Go with him. Live your life.” Her mother continues. She touches Ochako’s cheek, an insurmountable warmth in the one touch alone. “This was going to happen anyway, my love. All we ever wanted--was for you to be happy.”
Don’t cry, Ochako pleads. Don’t cry mom. Don’t be sad. Please.
Ochako pulls her parents into a hug one last time. She commits the loving look in their eyes one last time, memorizes the slight tilt at a corner of her father’s smile before it happens, her mother’s bright eyes shining with happiness. “M--” Before she can finish her sentences, she is hushed by both her parents. A hand of each side of her face, her parents stare, eyes flickering across her face as if committing the same details to their own minds.
Without another word, her parents let her go. They make their way to the door, though not before her father gives Bakugo a hard look. Bakugo stares on, nodding almost too small to notice.
Then they’re gone.
---
Yagi reappears in the room, both teenagers having forgotten about him. He prepares for them to leave. All the while, Ochako remains at the window, watching as the moon makes a creeping descent in the sky.
“Is there anyone you want to say goodbye to? Friends? Classmates?”
Ochako shakes her head. She gives Katsuki a small glance in the corner of her eye. She likes the ring to his first name. Ever since he told her after her parents left and he kissed away her tears, she has stopped calling him Bakugo. Katsuki is much better. He likes hearing her call him that anyway. “I was never really close to anyone here. My parents will tell them I left early this morning to start a life somewhere far away.”
Katsuki stays silent beside her. He stays with her by the window until Yagi calls them over to the center of the room. He begins to walk over to Yagi, until he notices Ochako lingering. “Oi,” he calls softly.
She shakes her head. She can’t understand why she can’t move away from the window. She has been waiting for this her entire life. She has already said goodbye to her mother and father. There is no one else in town that she had gotten close enough to in order to really care about whether they would be saddened by her leaving. Yet and still. This will be the last time she will be here, home, in this realm--Yagi told them this. The rest of her days will be spent with Katsuki and his adventures; she will be travelling through his world and meeting those close to him. She couldn’t be happier.
Releasing a breath as if it has been weighing her down for a long time, Ochako nods once, and holds tight to Katsuki’s hand as they step through the mirage of a new world, leaving her own familiar place behind for good.
Other Notes: Links for the other parts can be found at the bottom. Part 4 of an unexpected series for the wonderful @lupizora! She has been amazing and I can’t tell you how happy I am to read her comments. I hope everyone enjoys Part 4 as well!! Happy readings!
“Yagi!?” Ochako and Bakugo both call out his name in unison, though with different reactions to the reveal. Ochako grins, relief swelling in her chest. It’s been years since she has actually seen the old mage. No one really knows where he has been or why, but there has always been a permanent residence for him at the center of her hometown. The little home has always looked pristine and well-taken care of on the rare occasion Ochako has been allowed to roam around the town.
Bakugo, on the other hand, says the mage’s name as if it were sour and distasteful; full of disdain and skepticism. Ochako takes advantage of his loose grip to move to his side. True enough, the Yagi she remembers from her childhood is standing there, just out of arms reach. He is thinner than she remembers, bony wrists poking from beneath a grand robe the shade of plum. His golden hair is brighter under the moon, and when he sees her, his formerly-grim expression softens into a bright smile.
“Long time no see, young Uraraka.” His voice is as booming and melodic as ever. How had she not recognized it was him before?
“Um… Just Ochako, Yagi.” She looks away, just a bit of shock registering in her mind. Of course she would rather be called her first name rather than her last. Not out of spite. Not because she hates her family. It’s because she feels out of place when people address her by her family name; almost detached from the name--as horrible as it sounds. She doesn’t hate her family. But she would give all her wealth to be in a place where she can be recognized by who she is rather than by her last name.
Yagi nods. He turns knowing eyes to Bakugo, who starts at the shift of attention. He examines the boy for a moment, expression completely unreadable to her. Then he glances around them to the few homes and businesses. “You two should come with me.” He says firmly before he pivots on one heel and starts walking before Ochako can ask him where, even if it’s obvious.
As they walk through the familiar town that Ochako has grown up in, the three of them are quiet. There is much to discuss and plan--no doubt. Yet they say nothing. At least not to Yagi.
“Why didn’t you--”
“Why didn’t you--”
They avert their eyes. Ochako’s cheeks burn, and she prays to the stars above he can’t see them. “You can go first,” she whispers after a few long moments of awkward silence. She had tried stealing peeks of Bakugo every so often (maybe too often) and upon catching the red flush on his neck, she felt even more awkward. Even though awkward isn’t the exact word she’d use, it’s the only one she can think of at the moment.
Bakugo clears his throat. He straightens his posture, standing as tall as he had when they first began this little journey together. He stops walking, drawing Ochako to a stop as well. “W-Why--fuck. Why weren’t you...repulsed...by my--by me?”
“Because I have no reason to.” Ochako is blunt, but she doesn’t find herself feeling apologetic for it. She is only speaking her mind. Which she rarely ever gets the chance to do with anyone else. She likes it. “Look. I--You have done nothing to earn my distrust or heartlessness, Bakugo. You have helped me; protected me; made me laugh and let me speak my mind around you.” She shrugs, now feeling faintly embarrassed. “Everyone has scars. Yours just show more than others.”
Bakugo says nothing. He is outright staring at her. No amused look in his eye or mischief to his smile. In fact, he isn’t smiling. His dark eyes aren’t as intensely focused on her as they were before. They are softer, a wonder in them that says more words than Bakugo could ever say.
And she’s staring right back him. Maybe her eyes are searching his to determine whether she is reading him right or not. Maybe there are butterflies making a ruckus in her stomach and she doesn’t know how to get them to stop. Maybe she takes a step closer to Bakugo because it feels right; as if it is only the two of them in the world, moon shining down on them in the still of the night. There is a familiar tug in her chest that pulls her closer to him. A sense of comfort encircles her as if it has always been just the two of them. Despite not ever knowing of Bakugo before, she can’t pull away.
She prays this isn’t some spell casted on her while her guard was down at some point.
Because she really l--
“If the two of you had managed to keep up we would be there already.” Ochako looks at Yagi, having completely forgotten about him. “Now come on you two. We have work to get to.” In a fashion that Ochako is getting used to, Yagi pivots on his heel and begins walking back to where he had been expecting them to be. At the end of the road to the direct entrance to Yagi’s yard.
Ochako starts after him. She gives Bakugo a glance, a sadness creeping into her chest at what following Yagi means. Three hours into meeting Bakugo and she can’t bear to think of what will greet her in the morning sun.
“Hey--Wait.” Bakugo grabs her wrist. Ochako turns to look over her shoulder, hope swelling in her chest. Confliction battles across his face until Ochako fully turns to face him. Distantly, she is aware of the fact that Yagi is waiting for them. She doesn’t care.
“Ochako.” One emotion freezes on his face, his eyes meeting hers. Ochako giggles. “Call me Ochako. I forgot to introduce myself ear--”
When Bakugo leans forward, Ochako’s previously steady heart stammers into overdrive. She closes her mouth and lifts her head just a fraction, anticipation and slight panic crushing fiercely in her stomach. Bakugo gets too close too slowly. She swallows, not realizing she had twisted her wrist out of his grasp to hold onto his hand until she squeezes it. Bakugo freezes for just a second.
He kisses her forehead. His lips are warm and soft against her skin; an unexpected sensation. She shivers from her head down to her toes. Bakugo pulls back, a shy lift to his smile. Even though she had been expecting--hoping--for something different, it only brightens her light of hope. Hope that he really is feeling the same things for her as she is for him.
For now, that is enough.
Wordlessly, they begin to walk to the end of the road they have been walking for a long time. His hand is hot in hers, and every so often, Ochako catches him glancing at her from the corner of his eye. He smiles at her; the kind of smile that feels like a joke only the two of them get. He steps to the side to let her through Yagi’s gate first, as well as through the mage’s still-open door. Once both of them are inside, Bakugo closes the door. Though not before finding her hand again and giving it a small squeeze.
“How long have you been here?”
“Three hours and twenty-seven minutes.”
“Do you know how you got here? Did anything happen before you left your realm?” Racing from one side of his home to the other, Yagi sends question after question at Bakugo. Unlike in their first encounter, Bakugo responds calmly. He tells Yagi that he had been with his doragon. (Ochako notices the softness in his tone as he says the name. As if whoever he had been with means more to him than just what the name suggests.) Afterwards, he had set something up to visit one of the other worlds he liked to visit. Everything had been fine.
“Until the very end. I remember seeing a change in the mirror before I was sent through it. As if the location had been switched. But it was already too late; I had one foot in and was making my way through it.”
Ochako looks up in concern. She squeezes his hand and steps just a little closer. “What was on your mind?”
Bakugo, for the first time that night, looks uncomfortable. Yagi looks up from the pages of his book, staring expectantly. They stare at one another, some kind of silent conversation between them that Ochako isn’t apart of.
He heaves a deep breath after a moment. “...It was just a thought. But I was thinking, “What if I had someone to come with me on these kind of trips?”” He looks down at Ochako, as if feeling her disbelief. He shrugs in return, defending himself. “Batu is a beautiful place, okay? There are springs and fields of color everywhere. Plus--”
“So you broke concentration.”
“I--”
Yagi cuts Bakugo off before he has a chance to retaliate. He snaps his book shut. His tone changes from the stern lightness Ochako found comforting to a tone of almost disbelief.“You know how dangerous that can be, Dragon King. Especially with such a vague and unconventional thought.”
How can I be vague and unconventional?
The thought pops into Ochako’s mind quickly. She nearly says it aloud before she can stop herself. Unfortunately, this swings Yagi’s attention to her. “Young Ochako. Can you recall what your thoughts were before you met the Dragon King? Precisely a moment or two before? Did anything happen to alert you of his presence?”
Now their eyes are on her. She should be used to this kind of attention, especially in more conventional and larger spaces. She isn’t--doubts that she ever will. “I….I….I had a feeling. A feeling that I was missing something; that I was alone. And I...wanted to fill it. Somehow. And the wind had picked up a lot; not just that, but kind of hot too. I almost missed it.”
Ochako keeps her eyes trained carefully on Yagi. His frail body and long, ornate robe that is actually a deep blue. She watches intently as he works to process her added information, surely already having found the similarities to the teens’ stories. She keeps her eyes on Yagi because if she looks at Bakugo she just may lose herself.
“Well this is great.”
“What?” Once again in unison, Ochako and Bakugo.
“You two are just made for each other.”
Ochako waits for the punchline. The joke that is sure to follow, or be somehow hidden in that one sentence to make her feel humiliation. Something to shame her. She waits for what must be a long time yet Yagi’s azure eyes steady as ever.
“You’re not joking,” she whispers. The feeling of having the breath knocked from her chest returns. Ochako releases Bakugo’s hand, both of her own running through her hair. The declaration--normally--wouldn’t be met with such a silence. If it had been delivered under different circumstances; if she weren’t standing in the small home of an often-disappearing mage next to a shirtless king from a different realm in the dead of the night, Ochako wouldn’t be feeling as she does. She’s happy. She’s been the happiest with Bakugo the past almost fours that in her entire life. Yet she can’t describe why this feels...wrong.
Other Notes: If you didn’t catch parts 1 and 2, you can catch them here and here. This is Part 3 of an unnexpectedly long gift for @lupizora! I can’t stop writing this story. And from what I’ve seen, some of you can’t stop reading it either. So, no, this is not the final part. Enjoy!
There have always been things Ochako has desired. Unlike her parents, uncles and aunts, fellow heirs, and townsfolk, Ochako has held a special kind of wish close to her heart. It was a secret; the kind of thing that had her daydreaming, staying wide awake into the early hours of the morning. She has always been afraid of what others would think of her because of this. Always hoping that one day, someone would come along and let her follow her wishes.
She dreamt of flying. Floating, soaring through the skies. All she would need to do is close her eyes and--just like that. Ochako would fly. She would leave her family and their plans for her future behind. She would forget the rigid structure of the town she lives in where gossip trumps truth. She would find a place, somewhere new, and be happy there. She would search to the ends of the earth to find the one thing to complete her; to drive out that familiar hole of loneliness in her chest.
As she and Bakugo descend towards the ground and weightlessness threatens to take her away, this is what Ochako thinks of. She glances up at him, grinning above her, she knows that he is what she has been missing. As sure as the pure joy lighting his eyes, making them brighter and happier.
The fall isn’t long. Bakugo’s landing much more gentle than Ochako thought it would be. He sets her on her feet, but doesn’t let go of her. “Are you alright?” Did I imagine concern in his voice? Or was that real?
Even when she should have said yes, Ochako shakes her head, struggling to catch her breath. Of course Bakugo thinks her weak knees and speechlessness is about jumping down two floors because in the next instant she is back up in his arms, cradled against his chest. “You could've told me you were afraid of heights,” he grumbles. Ochako nearly jumps out of his arms in surprise. He begins walking. Again, she never told him which way to go, yet he seems to know exactly where to go.
A little distracted by the fact he has an uncanny sense of direction, Ochako lets out a strangled, “I’m not!!”
He huffs and rolls his eyes. Breathing out a short laugh, the previous look in his expression fades. She is extremely close, but Ochako has difficulty deciphering his new expression. It’s soft, that much she can tell. “You looked pretty scared to me.”
“Oh.” Bakugo looks down at her and Ochako sets to amending herself. “I--I mean… I wasn’t scared. It was actually a lot of fun. I just…,uh, I have some things to figure out, Bakugo.”
Bakugo gives a thoughtful click of his tongue. “Sounds like a personal problem.”
“That’s because it is.”
“...Does it have anything to do with...me?”
He slows to a stop. Unlike any other time, Bakugo actually seems to not want to meet her gaze. Added to the sudden boyish tilt of his tone, it doesn’t seem all that impossible. Strange. Coming from Bakugo, it strikes her as very strange.
Reclaiming one of her arms from around his neck, Ochako gently places her hand on his jaw. Her touch is light, still, Bakugo shivers. It does what she had wanted: bring his eyes back to her.
Whatever she had been planning to say is washed away by the luminous glow of Bakugo’s eyes. Ochako gasps for what must be the dozenth time that night. She hadn’t been hallucinating earlier either. Hand trembling, Ochako draws her fingers up the side of Bakugo’s face, curving up across his brow. She traces the entire shape of his face with her fingers. She notices that he has become very still under her, hardly even breathing. She stops at the side of his face again, holding his cheek as she brushes her thumb across his surprisingly soft skin.
She lifts her eyes to his. Her gaze is drawn back down once his lips part, a breathless gasp released between them. “I don’t think you want me to answer that without sounding crazy, Bakugo.”
“I think--I think I do.” His voice is raspy and rough.
Despite her precarious situation, Ochako laughs. As she laughs, her hands drops to his chest. She draws her hand back as her fingers brush across something jagged and uneven. She looks down and her brows furrow in confusion.
There is a mark on his chest, over his heart. Ochako feels curiosity burn in her chest. Curiosity and worry. She peers closer, finding that the mark is nearly the size of her thumb. It’s a dark mark. Why hadn’t she noticed it before? Bakugo beats her chance to ask him what happened by setting her on the ground. She expects him to let her go, maybe even put some distance between the two of them. Instead, he keeps his hands on her, arms encircling her body. His eyes have become brighter, a feverish dance in them as he searches between her eyes. He remains as steady as ever as he stares down at her.
Ochako doesn’t look away. She wants answers. She wants--him. The realization isn’t even a smack in the face. It feels natural as she rests a hand on his chest, directly over the mark. It feels as second-nature as breathing to take a step closer until they are chest-to-chest. It warms her heart when he gives her a shaky half-smile under the brightest moon she has ever seen in her life.
“How long were you waiting to come visit me, Dragon King?”
As quickly as when they had appeared on the roof of the Sato’s bakery earlier, Ochako is behind Bakgo, face-to-face with his bare back. She blinks in a daze, disoriented from the sudden change of moods. She stares.
The moon has remained as bright as ever over the past couple hours. In its brilliance Ochako has been able to see more of her town than she ever could in the daytime. Some of his credit to Bakugo; from jumping onto and from the roof of a bakery and home to a beautiful change of her town she has never seen before. Stones shining like gems in silver moonlight. Grass and gardens twinkling like the stars above. A still beauty to everything. But this is entirely different. It snatches the breath from her lungs with a startling suddenness so profound that Ochako nearly stumbles into Bakugo. She stares between his back to where his face had been a second ago, emotions flickering quickly in and out of her heart.
He has scars.
Some are long. Others are short, nothing but nicks and dips across his skin. They are fleshed up, crisscrossed across his skin. None of them are like the one on his chest, and she gets the feeling that there is nothing that will or could ever be like the mark on his chest.
“Who the hell are you?” Ochako jumps.
“How long--”
His grip on her arm behind him tightens. There is a tension about him that raises the hairs on Ochako’s neck and arms. Her chest tightens in anticipation. Despite the obvious questions of this newfound situation, Ochako doesn’t feel the need to break away or question it. She trusts him. His sudden edge puts her on-edge too. If he feels threatened, there is no reason she shouldn’t feel threatened either.
“How long have you been here, Dragon King?”
“Dragon King?” Ochako whispers. Right! The person had called Bakugo by that name just few minutes ago. She looks up to catch the corner of Bakugo’s eye glancing back at her before turning back to the voice ahead of them.
“Who are you?” Bakugo asks again. This time, she swears that can hear a small shift of uncertainty in his tone. He’s unsure now.
Of course he is, Ochako reasons. From the way he reacted, apparently this person knows more about him than he had been willing to tell. Which begs the question: Friend or foe?
Shaking her head, Ochako pats down a low grunt of frustration. She focuses on the conversation, hoping the voice she is hearing is one she can recognize before anything bad happens.
“Why do you have her with you?”
“What business of this is yours? Quit dodging my questions and answer me. You’re standing in the shadows so I can’t see you. Which means either you have something to hide, or you are one ugly fucker.”
There is a pause. Ochako stifles a giggle, barely shaking from the effort. In front of her, Bakugo gives a short huff of what sounds like amusement. She lifts her head, staring up at his blond locks as if he will turn at any given moment. He does, to her surprise. Just a quick scan of her face before turning his eyes back to whoever is--or was--before them. She catches a glint in them she had only seen once--earlier when he thought she had been afraid of heights.
Footsteps echo. A pit in Ochako’s stomach grows with each step to the point of plain worry. She worries for Bakugo. She worries for her parents if they wake up in the morning to find her still missing. She worries for Bakugo still, a buzzing of concern she can’t discern from herself or him. She wants him to not have to worry about things like this. She wants that amusement to stay in his eyes and to see the joy light up his face again and the scars across his body to never happen again and for him to stay with him longer than this night.
When the person stops not too far in front of Bakugo, the boy gives a surprised grunt. “My name is Yagi Toshinori. I’m here to help.”
Other Notes: If you missed Part 1, read it here. This is the second part of a (?) part series for @lupizora! Kacchako is my jam and this AU has littereally swept me off my feet. I would have come out with this yesterday, but I had to get some sleep. Hope you enjoy this one as much as the first part!!
The walk from her hiding spot to her parent’s backyard has never been a long walk; not even on the longest days. But as Ochako plunges into the details of “her” world and the fence to the yard slowly comes into view, Ochako wishes that, just for once, it was. Steady dark eyes stay on her as she talks. Every so often they lift to the sky, or trees around them in the break of her words or when she points to them. Bakugo asks questions. Some seem normal; a few don’t. Either way, Ochako answers all of them as best she can.
It isn’t until Ochako jumps over the high iron gate of her parent’s backyard that the reality of this situation hits her. She teeters on her feet, having just landed. She blinks in a daze. Here she is in the dead of the night with a shirtless stranger. It won’t matter why they are together if anyone catches her. The simple fact of them being together will be enough to bring a black spot to her family name. And that means an endless pit of shame and disappointment. A pit. Blinking quickly, Ochako reminds herself to breath. No one will find them together. No one except Yagi--and she has no doubt that the two of them alone will be number one on his list of things to worry about once he meets Bakugou.
Whispering a comforting “Right.” under her breath. Ochako sets off across the edges of the garden. She doesn’t need to look behind her to check that Bakugo is behind her because--Ochako stops.
Standing in the clear view of her home, Bakugo stands. His back is to her, head tilted back to the sky above. She struggles to keep a steady breath as she gapes wide-eyed at his calm stance, something about him in this moment--body dipped in silver as the moon shines down on him--is too ethereal. Too beautiful and breathtaking to be real.
He turns to face her a moment later. She can’t tell what it is or why, but his demeanor is calmer. Ochako finds it too hard to meet his gaze as she stares at across the many feet that separate them. There is an urge in her chest that grows the longer they stare at one another; an urge she cannot understand. “This must be your place. Since I assume you don’t normally hop over giant fences.”
“You’re being sarcastic,” Ochako accuses. Her words sound far away. She feels far away, yet close all the same when she catches Bakugo’s features flash. There is an open honesty to his eyes as she looks into them, frozen in the still silence between the two of them.
A bird caws above them, starting them both into action. Ochako continues informing Bakugou about “this version” of Earth once he catches up to her in the shadows of the iron fence. She explains their customs. The people. The century. She hushes as she they near her home. She prays that her parents haven’t woken up to find her missing again, especially at a time like this. She glances at Bakugou as he straightens from his crouch, and sends up an extra prayer that, even if they did--for some reason--they definitely wouldn’t find her anywhere near him. Shirtless still.
“Is there something about me that’s been bothering you? ‘Cause you keep staring at me as if you’ve never seen a half-naked guy before.”
That’s because I haven’t, you jerk! And you know it too, don’t you?! Instead, what comes out of Ochako’s mouth is, “I just think you’re really breathtaking.”
They both still at this. Heart going into overdrive as the weight of her words slowly begin to sink in, Ochako searches Bakugo’s expression with a frantic panic. She silently kicks herself over and over again for it--complementing this almost-but-not-quiet stranger about his strangeness. How can being so strange be a compliment!? Since when does complimenting strangers--Oh god. She doesn’t even know a whole lot about him. Other than his name. And that he’s lost. Very lost. If there is anything to remember Bakugou by--besides his shirtlessness--is that she senses an incredible loneliness in the air around him. Is that the emotion behind his gaze as he stared up at the sky a moments ago?
Toothy smile spreading like butter across his face, Bakugo gives a short laugh. “Let’s get to wherever your leader is while the moon is still in the sky, angel face.” Then he begins to walk in the exact direct Yagi’s house is despite not knowing where he is or Ochako telling him. Still, she follows after him, wondering why there was a shadow behind the look he was giving her a moment ago.
---
“For a small town there sure is a lot of walking.”
Ochako nods, unbothered by this fact. “It's small in population, not size. I told you that.”
“You didn't tell me about Yagi. All you said was that he ”sort of runs things”; and he's a good man.” Bakugou throws another rock into the air. He catches it without looking, his focus trained on the girl walking beside him. The more time she spends with him (which adds up to about an hour and a half at this point?), the more familiar she becomes with the scrutiny in his gaze. She can only imagine why.
Candles blown out for the night, there is only the moon to guide the two as they weave between house and businesses. She begins mulling over an answer that won’t seem vague, all the while keeping eyes on the stone and brick walls increasing around them. Ochako doesn’t mind. She wonders if Bakugou does, as he swings his gaze around constantly, eyes narrowed as he studies everything around him.
The calmness between the two of them doesn’t last long. Hard as she might, Ochako can’t get her own words out of her mind, speaking her mind to Bakugou. About Bakugou. She can’t get him out of her mind either. Sure, it would be one thing since they are travelling together. But this--this feeling she has--is an entirely different thing. Does that make her strange? Odd? Before she can kick herselef any further, next she is crouched behind one of the many chimney’s nearby. She looks around her, baffled. One moment Ochako is walking pass the Sato bakery; the next she just isn’t. “Bak--” His hand covers her mouth, cutting her off before she can finish her question. She finally notices the warm arm around her torso, keeping her pressed to a stiflingly hot body. She goes still, but doesn’t panic--as she expected herself to.
Everything about him is hot. Before, she thought it was just because he was warm, feverish, sick--anything. But the longer they stay in the shadow of the chimney, two floors from the ground, Ochako is increasingly sure that it has to do with much more than that. When he opens his mouth to speak, warm breath fans across her cheek. “I don’t know who the hell it is, but someone has been following us.”
Ochako goes cold, despite being so hot.
“How long?” she whispers.
When he doesn’t give an immediate answer, Ochako turns her head intent on checking on him only to catch his eyes on her with the same intense focus she has gotten used to. This time, the lines around his eyes are softened. He’s looking at her differently. It could be the shadows playing in his eyes again, or that she is just that much closer to him than ever before, but she can’t fight the pull in them. As if some kind of magic is pulling them closer than just pressing against one another could do. As if he is the thing she has been missing all this time.
With a rasping gasp, Ochako pulls herself out of Bagugo’s reach. To her surprise, he lets her go. Instead of looking at him she turns her entire attention to the moon bathed horizon before her. She doesn’t remember there ever being a breeze, but shivers anyway. “We aren’t too far from Yagi’s house now,” Ochako tells Bakugo once is finally beside her again. She looks over at him, wondering when did she get so used to his presence.
They stand on the roof side-by-side, watching the town at its quietest moments. Ochako allows the serenity of the scene wash over her. There has been something stirring in her stomach since she laid eyes on Bakugou; shirtless, pouches across his body, hot and muscular body, eyes that are always watching her. Whether it could be excitement, nerves, or something else entirely, she has yet been able to decipher what it is.
She swallows. She picks her gaze up from the road before them. It looks like a much longer travel above than it ever did below. “So. How are we going to get down?”
Not for the first time that night since meeting him, mirth spreads across the teen’s features as he turns his face to her. In one quick and smooth motion, Bakugo sweeps Ochako off her feet until she is cradled against his chest. Head tucked under his chin and body secure against his, Ochako feels the breath leave her lungs. Whatever she can hold onto, she does. His touch is burning through the thin material of her dress. Ochako squeezes her eyes shut. Bakugo’s breath rumbles against her body as he laughs. Then, “We’re jumping down, of course.”
Other Notes: For @mosssara for the KacchakoSecretSanta18!! I’m sorry that this is late; much later than I originally planned to send it to you. Added to being busy over my winter break, I’ve been sick too!! I hope this is something you like, if not, I can always make something new.
The sun was setting on the day as two UA students walked hand-in-hand through a park, ending their fun day in the city. Both of them remain silent as they walk, a comfortable silence filling the space between them. Every so often, one of them would begin swinging their joined hands. The other would smile, just a bit. It was nice. This is every bit of good they had ever dreamed of.
“I...Is--Is it strange that I...don’t want to go back?”
Curious, crimson eyes rise to meet a warm brown pair. An eyebrow lifts in faint amusement as he stares. “Enjoying my company, round face?” he only half-jokes.
Sighing a small laugh, she breaks their locked gazes. She turns her face to the side in hopeless vain that he wouldn’t catch her blush. “Of course I am,” she mumbles. “I like you.” The last part became little more than a soft whisper. Yet with a nearly deserted park and the obvious color to her cheeks, Bakugo could at least venture a guess to what she said. In fact, as soon as the realization hits him, he has to fight the heat creeping up his own neck.
So there they stood, hand in hand, without looking at one another in what was surely the beginning of young love.
When a few more moments of racing hearts and sweaty palms passed, one of the teens took a venture to break the now-awkward silence between them. He turns his head to look at her, his face still very warm as he tightens his hand around her own, offering what he hopes to be a reassuring squeeze. “You know,” he begins. The feeling of being open is strange, and so is actually admitting it--to himself, at least. “You aren’t bad, round-face. Not that you’re all that good at everything, either.” Brown eyes narrow. He rolls his eyes. “You know it’s true. But...you’re still one of the--fucking hell. Why the hell am I cheering you up? YOU ARE CAPABLE AND I REALLY LIKE YOU, YEAH??”
Talk about awkward.
The moments following such a surprising outburst, Bakugo’s neck and face is a bright red. The kind of red that brings a wide grin to Ochako’s face, and only brightens his face more because he adores that smile.
The park has gotten darker as they near the end of the park following his outburst. They dawdle the closer they come to the gates, slower still as the large iron gates loom above, glinting in the final rays of sunlight. There is a different air around them; new and strong. Not complicated, but something just more than simple understanding. There is a need. It isn’t until Uraraka turns her head up to him, eyes shining bright as ever and lips stretched into a smile that he realizes what it is.
He wants to kiss her.
The urge to kiss those soft lips of hers grips him so suddenly that Bakugou can do nothing more than stare in a daze. What a great idea.
“I’m glad I came,” she’s saying once he snaps back into attention. She is no longer looking at him, rather at the park gate before them. If he didn’t know any better, Bakugou could swear he saw sadness in her expression.
Once she notices that her date has made no comment, Uraraka looks up at him. Her head is tilted, strands on brown hair angling across her curious face. Her eyebrows aren’t drawn, but there is a familiar quizzical look to her gaze. As if she is trying to figure him out. She is always trying to figure him out.
That’s the frustrating part: her looks. As if she always find him amusing or curious. She doesn’t get angry at him, but irritated. When she laughs around him, it’s never at him, but because of him. She isn’t afraid to call him out, or invite him out with her friends. She always has something to say back to him like the smartass she is. Her determination inspires him to move forward even when he doesn’t want to; it reminds him that, for just a moment, there is someone who may just actually be there for him--whether she knows it or not.
Damn love. Damn everything. If he could just know what’s going on in her mind when she’s thinking of him--it’d save him a lot of guessing and future embarrassment.
Brown eyes become increasingly close as they peer into his own. Surprised, Bakugo takes a stumble backwards. “What’s on your mind, Bakugo?”
You. Caught off guard, the teen coughs to cover his sudden sputtering. He’s thinking it, but the words are becoming that much more difficult to enunciate. Like someone is using a quirk that won’t let him speak what’s on his mind. Which is a bitch of a thing to do when he usually spews whatever trash is on his mind without a second though. Or consideration.
Carefully avoiding looking at her entirely for the moment, Bakugo dodges her question with one of his own. “What did you mean that you were glad you came? Did you expect this date to be awful or something?”
“No. I just didn’t think that I’d get to see this side of you. That you even had a romantic side--what little of it you let me see today.”
Her bluntness has him blinking. That is something he has never gotten over; maybe never will. Uraraka speaking her mind so clearly; which seems to only happen either during training, or when she’s talking to him. “Talk about a different side,” he mumbles.
“Okay.” Ochako turns until she is directly in front of Bakugo. Their fingers are holding loosely onto one another, and he can’t help but look down at them as she puts her other hand on her hip and stare at him. “What are you talking about?”
He rolls his eyes out of habit. “You’re not usually so sharp-tongued, round face. Seems like your mouth never has a filter around me.”
“Ha! I can’t be the one with no mouth-to-brain filter, Katsuki Bakugou--”
Two things he never knew could make him want to kiss a girl: One who will match his arrogance and honesty; and one to make him want to ask her to never stop talking. Especially when she says--not just his last name--but his first too. As if she had an entire speech prepared was going to show him no mercy as she destroyed his ego for the umpteeth time before the second date. If there is one.
Because what he refused to hope was that Uraraka would kiss him back so fiercely. So it takes a fair amount of restraint and fear of accidentally activating his quirk for him to pull away from this girl.
“Because you talk too much. I was going to say ‘because you talk too much.’” Uraraka breathes, just barely leaning into him as she looks up at him.
Not able to just laugh or feign annoyance, Bakugo stands motionless. He--They had--She--They KISSED. He has no idea how, or even if it was good but--Shit.
“I’ve never kissed anyone before,” he hears himself saying. Why does he sound so fucking dumb right now? Why is she laughing at him? “Oh fuck off.” This, of course, entices more laughter from her. She drops her head to his chest, holding onto his shirt as she laughs. What a nice sound.
“I’m your first kiss.”
“Pretty much.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah yeah. Wipe that smirk off your face, pink cheeks.”
