Chapter Text
- Saturday Afternoon -
Standing in front of the door to the Bakugou residence, Ochako couldn't help but wonder to herself whether or not she was supposed to ring the doorbell or just let herself in. If it had been any other household, the choice would have been obvious, of course, but knowing Katsuki’s mannerisms…well, no one could blame her for wondering if that was a family thing, or just a general Katsuki habit.
Ochako didn't have to wonder for long however, as the door swung open to what looked like…a female version of Katsuki? What the-
“What are you standing there for, hon? We could see you through the doorbell.” The woman chuckled as she moved aside and motioned for the brunette to enter the house.
“Ah, I see…” Ochako laughed sheepishly and looked at the doorbell as she entered, noting that it was one of the fancy ones with the cameras. “I feel kinda embarrassed now.”
“Oh no need! Uraraka, right? Would you mind helping me with something?”
The brunette opened her mouth to respond, but was pulled the rest of the way through the door before she had the chance to say “I’d love to!”
Ochako stumbled a bit as the woman ( Mitsuki, if I remember correctly, right? ) immediately swept her up and started tugging her towards a table in an adjacent room. As Katsuki’s mother let her go, Ochako took a minute to take in the room and ground herself as she approached the table. Piled high with different fabrics and clippings, there was almost no wood in sight, as the surface was essentially covered .
“Color samples,” Mrs. Bakugou supplied when she noticed Ochako’s slightly furrowed brows. “I’m trying to decide between a warm or neutral palette and I need another opinion.”
“Plus, the boys have that pesky thing with color gradations, so I always prefer to get another girl’s eyes on it,” The woman winked.
Oh, I actually know something about this!
“You mean the thing about women seeing more shades because women are better at distinguishing between subtle distinctions in color? I think that's just the coolest thing!”
It looked like Mrs. Bakugou was about to agree, but a timer or alarm went off suddenly from somewhere else inside the house and both women looked up at the sound.
The two women stood there for a minute in wait, but when the timer wasn't turned off, Mrs. Bakugou’s shoulders fell in exasperation, and she pulled her phone out of her pocket. Muttering something about “ not wearing his fucking aids,” the woman pulled up a messaging app, and Ochako realized she must’ve been texting Katsuki.
A moment later, a thundering of steps could be heard and a moment after that, the alarm finally ceased its annoying beeping.
Ochako smiled as she laughed silently to herself. I guess I’m really starting to dislike timers and microwaves.
Right as she finished her thought, a spiky blonde head popped its head in the doorway. Katsuki’s eyes flashed to Ochako briefly before going to his mother, and matching her disapproving scowl with one of his own. “I’m fucking wearing them now, are you happy, Hag?”
Mrs. Bakugou hummed and Katsuki left the room before she had the chance to scold him.
“Food in ‘10,” His voice could be heard calling out as he made his way back to the kitchen.
“Tch,” Mrs. Bakugou shook her head in disapproval, “no manners in that boy. ‘Didn't even fucking greet our guest.”
“Oh it’s really fine, Mrs. Bakugou, I'm honestly used to it!”
Ochako rushed to reassure her, but the older blonde woman just smiled at her kindly, a smirk with humor in it that was so so close to Katsuki’s. “That's not really much better, hon.”
“Now then. Why don't you go and grab my husband and let him know that dinner will be ready soon,” tucking her phone into her pocket, Mrs. Bakugou looked around at the mess on the table before continuing, “I’ll clean up here and meet you both shortly. Last door down the hall, hon.”
Ochako nodded politely and gave a short bow before turning out the door and in the direction of the end of the hallway. Katsuki said it’d still be a few minutes, so Ochako took the time to wander, passing the stairs and smiling softly at all of the family photos on the wall as she made her way down. He really was such a cute kid. That All Might onesie was ADORABLE!
As she reached her destination, Ochako knocked twice softly on the door, and upon hearing a surprisingly quiet “ come in!” , she let herself in.
At the desk, she was greeted with the slightly surprising view of Mr. Bakugou and his office. Much more organized than his wife’s space, Ochako noted with familiarity (and a little bit of humor), the bookshelf organized by color, and just the general cleanliness of it. Mr. Bakugou himself wasn't actually at his desk, instead facing a well-loved whiteboard with a contemplative stance. It seemed like the only thing messy about the room had to be the board.
As the man turned around, Ochako was surprised to see chocolate brown hair, darker than her own, but still a stark difference to his wife and son's blonde locks, and a soft, kind face. Her eyes darted to the whiteboard behind him, and curiosity overcame her as she saw all of the equations and numbers littering the white space in various colors. “Do you mind if I ask what you’re working on?”
Mr. Bakugou smiled warmly at her, and Ochako couldn't help but smile back in response. Just some boring math,” the man replied. “I got twisted around somewhere, so unfortunately I’m going to have to scrap the whole thing, but it was fun while it lasted.”
Ochako hummed in thought as her eyes went back to the board. I think I recognize some of these equations…
“Mind if I give it a try?”
The brunette had expected some hesitation, especially knowing how particular Katsuki could be about his work, but to her surprise and delight the man smiled warmly, and with some air of curiosity, stepped aside. As he gestured silently for her to go ahead, Ochako approached the board, eyes scanning over the equations and notes sprawled all over the surface.
“My apologies for the mess, I'm afraid it might not make much sense.”
“Oh, no worries!” Ochako waved her hand absentmindedly as she continued to “It’s not that difficult to understand, I have a similar thought process when solving equations like this.”
“Actually…” She trailed off, but not even a moment later, was excitedly grabbing a marker and the eraser. “I think I found the problem, Mr. Bakugou!”
With a muttering stream of consciousness worthy of Deku, Ochako devolved into her work, verbally walking herself through the process and tracing over the equations as she erased and filled things in.
“It might be more productive to look at variable 4…”
“Oh wait, this number is actually off by 1- Oh and then this one is off by 3, actually, oops-”
“Move this here, and this here , and…yep!”
“Oh and can’t forget about carrying this variable, that's my bad-”
As Ochako stepped back to look at it for a moment more, she surveyed her work and nodded once firmly, smiling at the completion. “Okay! I think I found a few points where you could fix it and still save most of your work, and-”
Ochako turned back to face the man and gasped as she took in his wide eyes and stunned face. Oh my god, I just wrote and erased things from ALL OVER his board!
“Oh no I’m sorry, I didn't even ask and I just ruined all of your work and I'm so sorry-”
Mr. Bakugou went to open his mouth, but both of the brunettes were interrupted.
“What’s all the commotion?” Mrs. Bakugou popped her head in the doorway and Ochako deflated slightly, but as the Bakugou matriarch’s gaze flipped from Ochako, to her husband, to the board and back to Ochako again, she groaned loudly, sagging against the doorframe exasperatedly. “Oh my god, now there’s two of you.”
“Wha-”
“Dear-”
The brunettes moved to protest simultaneously, but Mrs. Bakugou’s laughter was interrupted by a familiar teasing voice, originating from beside her in the doorway.
“Wow Cheeks, I didn't realize you were such a nerd.”
(Wow, it’s almost like a “battle of the hair colors”.)
“Hey.” she protested, smiling wryly. “Just because I get good marks in Ectoplasm’s class doesn't make me a nerd.”
Bakugou rolled his eyes and Ochako realized exactly how that sounded, rushing to cover up her blunder.
“Listen, I just think math is interesting!”
Mr. Bakugou’s eyebrow raised with curiosity. “Oh? How high are we talking?”
“Huh?” Ochako said eloquently.
“How high are ‘high marks’?” Mrs. Bakugou asked with humor, and Mr. Bakugou nodded alongside her.
Ochako shot a look at Katsuki, and he nodded, all but giving her permission to brag.
“Well, my quirk requires a lot of physics knowledge haha…” Ochako rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, trying to play it off. “It just helps to know equations to predict the trajectory of the things I float and stuff like that.”
“Still...it seems you've got an extensive amount of knowledge for someone your age. You must have a very math-tuned brain to find the issues so quickly.”
Ocha tried to protest about how it wasn’t that impressive, and Katsuki seemed to go to say something, but Mrs. Bakugou beat both of them to it. “Don’t downplay yourself, hon. I may not understand a word of it, but I say if you're smart enough to understand all that gibberish, then you should most certainly be proud.”
Ochako’s jaw dropped at the familiar compliment and turned to Katsuki, who was wearing a satisfied smirk.
“Oh gee,” he deadpanned. “If only someone had told you that a while ago.”
Ochako rolled her eyes and made a face at him, but as the group made their ways to the dinner table, her heart was light and her face was warm.
(Probably something to do with all the times Mrs. Bakugou has called her hon. It definitely couldn't be because of Katsuki…right?)
Dinner was AMAZING. Between the great food and how funny it was to watch Mrs. Bakugou and Katsuki fight over the smallest things, it was safe to say that Ochako was having a blast. Mr. Bakugou was definitely just as entertained as she was throughout the whole thing, the soft spoken man only stepping in when it got too crazy, but for the most part, Ochako felt a connection with the Bakugou patriarch.
Apparently Katsuki hadn’t inherited his skill in the kitchen, it was all attributed to his own talent and all the practice he had making food for himself and his tired parents as a kid.
“The brat had the house to himself a lot of the time as he was growing up, it’s only natural that his over-achieving restless ass would find something to occupy himself with.” Mrs. Bakugou told the story with an exasperated tone, but Ochako could hear the fondness lying beneath her words. “When he was really young, he wanted nothing more than to be helpful, and we often worked late hours.”
“So much has changed now of course,” The blonde woman scoffed good-naturedly. “More likely to complain or correct us than to voluntarily help out.”
Mr. Bakugou nodded in affirmation as he ignored Katsuki’s shouts of anger, and continued explaining from where his wife had left off.
“Katsuki wasn't ever completely without supervision of course, the neighbors must have checked on him almost every hour until he threw a hissy fit one day, insisting he wasn't a child and that he didn't need to be babysat.”
Mrs. Bakugou cackled loudly at the story, and Katsuki fumed silently in his chair with his arms crossed. Ochako snorted and he shot her a look, causing her to giggle even harder at the image of a middle school-aged Katsuki stomping his feet and waving his fist at some nice old lady.
The group continued eating, but eventually, Ochako found her mind wandering, and she couldn't help but be curious about something. “I have a question, Mr. and Mrs. Bakugou…”
“Oh, call us Mitsuki and Masaru,” Mr Bakugou insisted, “please.”
“Oh no, I could never-”
“It feels like I'm being so disrespectful!”
“Uraraka, don’t worry,” Masaru reassured. “I promise you, it's not disrespectful. We just prefer it.”
Mitsuki snorted loudly. “God, yes please. ‘Mrs. Bakugou’ makes me feel so old.”
“That’s because you are old, hag”
“KATSUKI, I SWEAR TO GOD”
“I THOUGHT SWEARING WAS BAD,” Katsuki mocked, grinning wickedly.
“WELL THAT CERTAINLY NEVER STOPPED YOU”
“KETTLE SAYS WHAT??”
“I WILL PULL OUT THE BABY PHOTOS, DON'T TEST ME BRAT.”
Masaru turned to her, addressing her only as he mock-whispered: “Before you ask, yes , this is normal.”
“SHUT IT OLD MAN”
“KATSUKI BAKUGOU, YOU WILL NOT TELL YOUR FATHER TO ‘SHUT IT’”
“I'LL DO WHATEVER I DAMN PLEASE, HAG”
“MAYBE I’LL HAVE TO SEND YOU TO BOARDING SCHOOL THEN. THEY’D WHACK THAT BAD ATTITUDE OUT OF YOU!”
“CONGRATS! YOU JUST WON OUR GAME: ‘WHOS GOING TO THE RETIREMENT HOME!”
Masaru ignored the blondes, continuing to smile calmly, if not with fond exasperation. “Trust me Uraraka, you could never be more disrespectful than my own wife and child.”
That caught the attention of both blondes, causing the two of them to whip their attention away from each other.
“Excuse me?”
“What the fuck?”
“Language, ” Masaru reminded, and Katsuki
Masaru winked knowingly at her from across the table and silently mouthed “I’ve picked up a few tricks,” causing Ochako to smile widely before she continued.
“Okay, right, my question.” She took a breath.
“I thought…well, I was under the impression that the two of you were fashion designers?”
“No, that’s correct.” Masaru nodded patiently.
“Okay so…”
A tired sigh from Katsuki interrupted her train of thought. “Spit it out Cheeks.”
Ochako rolled her eyes and glared at Katsuki, “I’m getting there!”
“Where does all of the math come in, Miste- Masaru ?” She said, turning back to the Bakugou’s.
“They’re not JUST fashion designers-” Katsuki started, but Masaru cut him off by raising his hand.
“Officially,” he smiled at Ochako, “We work with support companies to design fashion that is compatible with quirks.”
“And the brat’s right, we’re not just designers,” Mitsuki grinned widely as she crossed her arms, “I’m the lead designer for the PR team, and Masaru is the Executive Chief of Technological Design. We RUN the design department.”
Ochako felt her jaw drop but was too busy attempting to make her eyes fit back into her skull to care. “You..you run the whole department?”
“Suddenly gone deaf, Cheeks?” Bakugou scoffed.
She flipped around and turned to glare at him. “Oh hush, you. Why didn't you tell me? Did you let the whole class think they were just designers?”
“‘Don't want anyone asking for shit. Or worse, tryna give me shit for free. ‘Pisses me off.”
That…actually makes a lot of sense. Considering Katsuki’s views on winning, and his constant urge to push himself to be the best he can be, it actually made a lot of sense that he wouldn't want to be handed things if he felt he hadn’t earned them.
When they’re finished with the meal and everything, Ochako tried to help with the dishes, but was shooed away by Masauru and Mitsuki.
“You wouldn’t rob us of the single chore that we’re allowed to do, would you?” Masaru joked, earning a snarl from Katsuki and a hearty laugh from Ochako as she followed Katsuki to head up to his room.
As they get up there, and as Ocha looks around, a shout from the floor below startles the both of them
“KEEP THE DOOR OPEN”
Ochako snorts into her hand, and Katsuki stalks over to his door, shouting loudly down the stairs before slamming it loudly. “SHUT THE FUCK UP HAG, WE’RE NOT GOING TO DO ANYTHING”
Katsuki seemed to withdraw as he turned his attention away from his mother and back to her, and Ochako panicked.
“Oh HELL no,” she blurted. “I am not doing any more silences!”
The brunette took a deep breath and moved to grab her packet from beside her on the floor. “Let's just get to work on the project, okay?”
When she didn’t receive a response the brunette paused and looked up to see Katsuki staring at her. “...what?”
The blonde raised an eyebrow and Ochako rolled her eyes as she realized his reaction was directed towards her use of language.
“Oh don’t give me that,” she snorted. “I may not drop an f-bomb every other word, but I like cursing, and it's not like you’ve never heard me do it before.”
Katsuki chuckled at her forwardness.
“Look at that, I guess you can be genuine,” he teased.
Ochako shot him an unimpressed look, with exasperated eyes and a pinched mouth, but her annoyance only seemed to amuse him.
Ochako rolled her eyes again. “You’re an asshole, you know that?”
Katsuki grinned right back. “And you’re a bitch .”
He raised an eyebrow, daring her to argue against it, and Ochako stuck her tongue out in response.“‘Takes one to know one.”
A scoff from Katsuki.
“What are you, a fucking child?”
A giggle from her.
“At least I'm not an angry little pomeranian”
“AGAIN WITH THE DOG THING?!?!”
Ochako cackled wildly in response and they grinned at each other, the teasing welcomed after their long period of distance.
I missed this…
She smiled softly at him, and this time, as she saw his reaction, she was 100% sure. Yep! That is most definitely a blushing pomeranian right there .
The realization made her break out into a full-on grin, causing the blonde to avert his eyes, but Ochako still felt as if she had won a great prize.
As Ocha looked at him, she realized they were both blushing and looked away. Katsuki must've had the same thought.
“We should ah…probably work on the project, huh?
The blonde scoffed good-naturedly. “Yeah no shit.”
“What are some things you think you need to work on?”
“Ehhhh?”
“The questions, Blasty.”
Katsuki grumbled something about anything concerning his personality and the possibility of his becoming a villain and Ochako blinked silently. Well. That’s something we’ll have to unpack later.
Even so, she writes it down, and makes a mental note to revisit it. They keep working on questions, going back and forth for a few hours. By the time Ochako notices that they should be heading back, her face aches from smiling so wide, her sides hurt from all the laughing they did, and she is more determined than ever to kick this project in the ass!
She even tells Katsuki so, to which he replies with one of his signature grins and a low “Fuck yeah.”
Ochako almost doesn't want to leave, but she knows that's unreasonable if they want to make it back to UA before curfew, so she picks up her stuff and migrates downstairs while Katsuki stays in his room (Making sure he has all his stuff, probably.)
She said her goodbyes to his parents, and as Mitsuki walks her to the door, she talks about how Ochako is making an impact on Katsuki and how he's working on being more considerate, and Ochako’s heart flutters again with all the praise.
I guess we both had an impact on each other
“You’re welcome back anytime, hon, I hope you know that.”
Ochako hugs the blonde woman before she leaves with a muttered: “Thank you,” and Mitsuki squeezes her tightly in return.
(Something about how nice it was to regain a sense of normalcy. When you flip your entire outward personality on its head, people tend to treat her like she was a ticking time bomb, and it was nice to go a whole evening without any of that)
Ochako smiled and waved lightly as she started walking, figuring Katsuki would catch up to her soon. Right as she finished her thought, Ochako heard light blasts on the path behind her and she turned to face them to see Katsuki blasting himself towards her. Called it. As she smiled at him, Ochako noticed that he didn't have any sort of bag with him, not even extra toiletries.
“Are you coming?” she called out, but as he landed in front of her, he shook his head causing her to frown.
“The hag got permission for me to stay over this weekend, so I won’t be back at the dorms till monday,” Katsuki explained, and she relaxed. “some kind of family bonding trip or some bullshit like that. You know how it is.”
He shrugged and Ochako smiled and nodded knowingly.
“Well I’m sure you'll have a great time!”
“You could have a great time with me if you wanted.”
“What?” Ochako snorted at his bizarre wording.
“Fuck that came out weird.” Katsuki shook his head and she had to hold back her giggles at his difficulty (especially after a whole evening of shouting out literally whatever came to his mind.) “What if we went to the mall or some shit?” He tried again.
“Oh, like to practice our interviews?” Ochako asked, but as she watched his face contort in frustration, the actual meaning of his question hit her like a brick wall.
“No wait!” she rushed to cover her mistake before he had the chance to continue. “Like a date…right?”
She says the last part tentatively, just in case she misread the situation, but Katsuki’s slow, cautious nod has her heart swelling and her stomach filling with butterflies.
“That… that sounds really great actually. We should also probably talk…I’ll- I’ll text you, okay?”
Katsuki nods again, more firmly this time, and she can’t see his face very well as he moves out of the light of the streetlamp, but Ochako thinks she can see a smile.
When she gets back to the dorms, she flops on her bed with a huge smile on her face and a feeling of excitement that she hasn't felt in such a huge amount in a very long time. She hated that she had to wait the rest of the weekend to see him again, Monday couldn't come soon enough.
I guess I really can’t deny that I like him anymore
She laughs aloud to herself in her empty room.
I really can't.