Chapter Text
Bakugo is patrolling her area.
Uraraka blinks. No, that’s definitely Bakugo Katsuki, giant grenade bracers and all walking- prowling, really- her streets. Huh.
“Ba-” she catches herself. “Ground Zero!” Rookie mistake, Uraraka, she scolds herself in her head.
Bakugo turns. His hearing aids- acquired during his second year at UA- catch the sun for a split second, and then she’s face to face with him for for the first time in a few months. She hasn’t seen him since the quarterly 3-A meetup. She thinks she was drunk and singing some American pop song.
“Uravity,” he greets her, permanent scowl creasing his features. He doesn’t mean it. They’re cool. They don’t hang out or anything, but they’re friends the way only fighting the worst outbreak of villains in decades during your formative teen years can make you.
“I didn’t realize you were on my patrol route now!” she chirps up at him, grinning.
“Not quite,” he says, and falls into step beside her. “I took a look when I got the new assignment, and I only overlap in this neighborhood and in the Eisley area.”
“I’ll keep an eye out for you then,” she says. “What other areas are you covering?”
He goes into a, frankly, way too detailed map of his patrol area, and Uraraka lets her mind wander, just a little bit. Deku said he and Bakugo were desk mates back at their agency, and that he had a tendency to chew pens till they were useless.
That may have been one of the most surprising friendships- if you could call it that- to come out of UA. They were civil, at least. And had a weekly video game tournament. And Bakugo would bring breakfast in for Deku and feed it to him, swearing, if Deku accidentally worked through the night again.
Maybe you could call it friendship.
“...you go, cheeks?”
“Uh, what?” she started, guiltily. She peeked up at him.
He glared down at her. “Where do you train, dickhead. I know you have to go somewhere good.”
Probably because she had joined Gunhead’s agency as a sidekick straight out of UA. She was a full-fledged hero now, but it had taken a lot of work and honing her combat skills to get there. “I go to the one on 8th and Melrose. It’s where most of the agency goes.”
He grunted in response, and they kept moving down the sunny street. It was nice walking next to Bakugo. Deku tended to caterpillar, walking fast as his thoughts forced him forward and then awkwardly slowing down for Uraraka’s shorter stride. Bakugo’s was steady and even, making it easy to keep pace even if it was a tad faster than strictly comfortable.
“What days do you go?”
“Uh, pretty much every other. Do you want-?”
“Tch, hey!” he suddenly barked. “Watch the fucking cars.” The young teenager about to step into traffic went bright red from cheeks to tips of their elongated ears. They waved weakly, embarrassed.
Uraraka offered them a cheerful wave and a grin. “Kids,” she shook her head, turning back to Bakugo.
He had his hand up to his ear, frowning more deeply, communicator pressed to his cheek. “Yeah, I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Duty calls?” Uraraka said, smiling at him.
He scowled heavily at her. “Yeah,” he turned away. Hesitated. “Give me a boost?”
Uraraka lit up at that. Their last year at UA, they had been paired together in a surprise combat match meant to train them to work with whomever was on scene at the time. Uraraka and Bakugo had managed to work out a slingshot maneuver involving them going zero-g while Bakugo blasted off.
“Of course!!” she pressed a hand into his shoulder, ignoring the way his hands twitched. As he slowly floated off the ground, she took a few hasty steps back. There was a sharp grin on his face as his hands suddenly ignited.
Then he was off the ground, sailing into the sky hard and fast. Uraraka watched carefully, waited till he was at the zenith of his arc, and then released his gravity incrementally over the course of thirty seconds.
His laugh- more a cackle, really- echoed, and she turned to go back to her patrol.
“Hi Ochako!” Izuku’s excited voice rang out from phone pressed to her ear. She grinned at the sound of it, stirring her noodles absently.
“Hi sweetheart! Have a good day?”
“Oh, same old. Got a call of some unusual villainous activity in the Hoth district but Kacchan beat me to it,” Izuku said good naturedly.
“Oh, I ran into him today!” Uraraka said. Hmm. Noodles needed a little salt. Uraraka couldn’t eat a lot of heavily spiced food due to her quirk- constant nausea and bile meant stomach ulcers.
“Really? I didn’t know his new route would take him in to your area.”
Uraraka laughed. “He sure did. He gave me the most detailed account of it I could ask for.”
“Sounds like Kacchan,” Izuku snorted. “Anyway, he beat me to the activity but we both didn’t find anything. Just some broken up sidewalk and pockmarks.”
“Hmm,” Uraraka frowned. “Sounds weird. I’ll keep an eye out on patrol, at least. What are you doing later this week?”
“I’m uh. Hanging out with Shouto on Friday.”
She let the moment hang for a second, grinning into the phone. “Oh really?” she said finally, drawling the word.
“Shut up.”
“Who asked who?"
“...I did.”
“And I’m very proud of you!” she said, laughing into the speaker.
“Why is this so hard?” Izuku whined into the phone. “I can take down bad guys no problem. I can talk to the press. I’m one of the most popular rookie heroes out there! I’ve known him for literal years!”
“That’s love, baby,” Uraraka cooed into the phone. “Also, I love you but your social- not press skills, your interpersonal ones- are kind of garbage.”
“Stop being mean to me, I’m delicate.”
Uraraka snorted. “Only emotionally, you brick shithouse, you.”
“And now you’re making fun of me for being short! I’m hanging up,” Izuku wailed dramatically.
“Okay Deku, love you!”
“Bye, Chako, love you too.”
There was a beep and Uraraka released the death grip her shoulder had on her phone, and it moved to hover around the ceiling. Humming, she finished plating her noodles.
Uraraka is bathed in sweat, breathing hard. She’s near the end of her workout, and has been sparring with a younger sidekick from Gunhead’s agency. The kid’s pretty good, with a quirk that makes his reaction time unreal. It’s been a challenge to pin him.
“Oi, cheeks!”
Uraraka’s head whips around to see Bakugo stroll into the sparring area, bare feet, tank top and all. She squinted at him. “Bakugo! Wasn’t expecting to see you.” He just scowls at her, but it’s less severe than his resting scowl so she counts that as ‘I’m happy to see you too.’ “What’s up?”
“Just checking out the competition,” he says lazily.
The kid she’s sparring with, Ito? Maybe? Jumps in eagerly. “Uravity is amazing, she really knows her stuff.”
Bakugo scoffs. “I’m sure.”
Uraraka rears back. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He grins. It’s not a very nice grin. “Still doing those same fucking pins, huh angel face?”
She scowls at him, ignoring the way that her face heats up even more. “Beware the man who practices one kick ten thousand times, than one man who practices ten thousand once.”
Bakugo rolls his shoulders, steps into the ring. “Alright, fucking prove it then.”
Ito- it has to be Ito, right?- is nervously looking between them, wide eyed. Can’t be fun to have two top heroes about to get into a fight right on top of you. “Step outta the ring,” she says to him. “We’re gonna have a little match.”
He almost blurs leaving, his quirk helping him out there. He stays at the edge, however, and they’re starting to gather a crowd. Uraraka takes a couple of steps back moving into a corner. Bakugo takes the diagonal. He shifts his weight low, feet shoulder width apart and hands open and low.
Uraraka slides into her opening stance, putting her weight on her back foot and her hands up and near her face. Bakugo grins at her, teeth sharp.
Uraraka grins back, her smile just as sharklike. “Let’s go.”
In the end, it takes less than thirty seconds for her to pin him the first time.
After that, they start sparring together more often. When Bakugo’s not being an over confident asshole, he’s actually an excellent sparring partner. When she thinks about it, he’s not actually an over confident asshole. Ever, really. Just that first time.
Whatever. They start sparring together. He does beat her a lot. He’s got almost ten inches of height on her, and maybe a little less weight than she’d like to admit. She edges him out in win/loss records so far, though. She thinks if she didn’t, Gunhead might demote her back to sidekick.
Eventually, they start working on their quirk together, trying to refine the slingshot move they first made up back in UA. It’s nice. They’re becoming actual, real friends.
That, of course, is when the papers start to pick up on the whole thing.
It’s not like it’s completely unexpected- the press loves heroes. Uraraka does a lot of PR and volunteering on behalf of Gunhead’s agency. It’s just- a lot. Especially when the papers are talking about her breaking Izuku’s heart to go- flooze around with anybody and everybody in the sparring studio.
They haven’t picked up on the fact that it’s Ground Zero she’s sparring with, which is the only silver lining she can find.
Deku calls. “Hi sweetheart.”
“Hi,” she pouts into the phone.
“Where are you?”
“Leaving the gym,” she sighs, walking out the doors. She got fucking pinned by fucking Ino- Ino, not Ito- of all people today. Too caught up thinking about the papers.
“Cheating on me again?” Izuku says innocently.
“Deku!” she yells, laughing despite herself. “Don’t be an asshole.”
“I yield, I yield,” he starts laughing himself. “Sorry, Chako. I know it’s hard.”
She sighs. “Ugh, it’ll blow over as soon as Endeavour says something else dick ish to the press. So I give it four days.” she pauses as Deku’s laughter rolls through the phone. “Speaking of Todorokis…”
“Yeah, yeah,” Izuku said, a smile in his voice. “Yeah. It’s. It’s good.”
Uraraka beams fondly as she makes her way down the street. “I’m so happy for you Izuku. You deserve it. Wanna come over and tell me about it over a beer?”
He sighs. “Can’t, Chako. I’m working till midnight and I uh. I promised Shouto I’d come over afterwards.”
“Ooh, I see,” Uraraka teases. “Leaving me for your new sex friend.”
“It’s not like that!” Izuku squawks. “It’s-”
“It’s pure and beautiful and you deserve it, again, I know Deku,” she says warmly. “I’ll call Tsu up, I haven’t hung out with her in a minute, she’ll listen to me complain.”
“I’ll listen to you complain any day, Chako.”
“Except when you might get laid.” She laughs and bids her goodbye over his parting protests.
She will call Tsu. Tsuyu always has the best advice.
Tsuyu does not have the best advice, Uraraka decides. Tsu is the worst, because Tsu makes her talk about her feelings.
“Ochako, you can’t say that the press doesn’t negatively affect you at all,” Tsu took a long pull from the bottle. “We wouldn’t be drinking this garbage if it didn’t.”
“It’s not garbage,” Uraraka protested “It’s what we drank when we were sidekicks and it’s sentimental.”
“It’s cheap garbage,” Tsu deadpanned. But Uraraka noted she was halfway done with her second.
There was a pause. “It’s hard,” Uraraka admitted, rolling the empty bottle between her palms. “Deku’s perfect on paper but we just don’t-” she growled in frustration. “It’s not-”
Tsuyu nodded in understanding. “Sometimes,” she said, hesitating in an uncharacteristic manner, ”you’re just not meant to work out.”
Uraraka let the back of her head thump against the couch. “Don’t get me wrong, we both wanted it to work out but I also think we knew it wouldn’t?” she said. “Like, we only did it because our friends were like, ‘you guys are so great and love each other so much you should be together.’” She let out a sigh.
“And we are great, and we do love each other so much and I do think he’s my soulmate, I just think he’s my soulmate, like, platonically. It was so weird kissing him Tsuyu. So weird. But the papers picked up on the fact that we tried for like, three days, and I don’t even know how-”
“Probably Mineta.”
“God, fuck that guy. Anyway, it was literally like three days like two and a half years ago and the papers have never ever given it up and it sucks for both me and Izuku.” Uraraka drained the rest of her beer. “Also, I think he’s finally coming to terms with the fact he’s in love with Todoroki,” she said, staring at the ceiling.
There was a choking sound from next to her. “Kero?”
Uraraka turned her head to look lazily at Tsuyu. “You didn’t know? I think they’ve officially started dating.”
“So many things make sense now,” Tsuyu said.
“I love Deku, I do, but he’s…”
“Kind of an idiot when it comes to interacting with real life people?” Tsuyu asked dryly.
“Bless his heart, yes, that.” Uraraka laughed.
“No worse than Bakugo,”
“Oh, c’mon,” Uraraka said, letting the beer bottle in her hands float lazily in front of her. “He’s gotten better.”
Tsuyu raised an eyebrow. “You two have been hanging out lately?” It wasn’t really a question. Damn the shockingly accurate U.A. gossip grapevine.
“He just moved to a new patrol area, so we go to the same quirk gym now. Sometimes we train together.”
“You train with Bakugo?”
Uraraka frowned at the incredulous tone of her voice. As incredulous as Tsuyu’s deadpan got, anyway. “Yeah, just some sparring and some quirk work. Nothing crazy. You must have wondered who the press thought I was cheating on Deku with."
“He really must have changed. Last time Kaminari asked to work with him he near bit his head off.”
The beer bottle shot a little higher with Uraraka’s surprise. “Release,” she called, and neatly caught it when it dropped. “Really? He’s the one who asked me.”
“And how did he do it?”
“Uh, rudely. It’s Bakugo.” Tsuyu said nothing, just stared at Uraraka with those big dark eyes. “Ugh, fine. He said something along the lines of ‘Still doing those same fucking pins huh cheeks,’ and I just-”
“You got angry?” Tsuyu placed a finger against her mouth thoughtfully.
“Of course I got angry!” Uraraka exclaimed. “It’s insulting!”
“Is it?” said Tsuyu thoughtfully.
“I mean,” stammered Uraraka. “Isn’t it?”
“I guess generally,” Tsuyu tapped her finger against her mouth again. “But that’s almost...friendly for Bakugo.”
Uraraka stared down at the beer bottle, still clutched in her hand from where she caught it. “...huh.”