Chapter Text
The winter vacation of third year at UA was likely to be Ochaco Uraraka's last break for a long time, and she had intended to make the most of it. What actually ended up happening was Momo Yaoyorozu setting up an informal cram school at her family mansion where the whole of Class 3-A had filtered in and out to study together for the final exams coming up in the next semester.
Those who had family in Tokyo went home over vacation, but Ochaco had stopped renting her apartment back in first year when they had moved into dorms, and with her family living outside of the city she had remained at UA, along with a few others. In the end she had gone home to see her parents for a total of four days, over the period that Momo (or her parents) had shut down the pseudo-school over Christmas - the rest of the time was almost entirely devoted to training and study. That wasn’t to say that they hadn’t had the odd small party or two, but their days had usually consisted of at least 10 hours of hard exam preparation.
So when Ochaco woke on the first day back at school in January she didn’t feel like she had a restful vacation at all, but she still leapt out of bed with a determination to be the best hero she could be burning more fiercely in her heart than ever before.
By the time she reaches homeroom, she had already gone for a morning run with Momo and Jiro around campus, followed by a three way sparring session that had left the three girls scraped up and bruised, but grinning with the satisfaction of a good session that kicked off their final stage at the best hero academy in the country.
Ochaco slips into her normal seat, and waves as Mina skips past to show Kirishima something on her phone. Ordinarily, the first day back at school was full of gossip and catching up on what people got up to over the break, but seeing as they had all seen each other almost everyday, there was little to discuss and there was a decidedly sober mood in the air.
As the bell rings signalling the beginning of homeroom, the familiar yellow sleeping bag inches out from under the desk at the front of the classroom. Despite his unorthodox behaviour, Aizawa had been a strange, if slightly unpredictable, constant in his students’ lives at UA. He unzips the sleeping bag, emerging from his polyester cocoon like an awkward butterfly and dusts himself off. He looks at the expectant faces before him with a vague look of surprise that there is a room of teenagers staring back at him. He pauses, then, as if he suddenly only just realises he’s supposed to be talking to them, he speaks.
‘Alright, class,’ he says with the energy of a drooping plant that was long overdue a watering ‘Welcome back to UA in your final semester of third year.’ By the state of his appearance and his bloodshot eyes, Aizawa hadn't had much rest over the vacation either. If anything he perhaps sounds more exhausted now than ever. ‘As you know, final exams are coming up which will involve written academic tests and a practical exam,’ he continues. 'The practical exam format changes each year to keep you on your toes, so over the vacation the principal has decided to make the third year final exam a public showcase. It will be a pairs tournament, giving you all one final chance to make an impact on talent scouts working for hero agencies. This will form half of your marks for the practical exam element. The other half will be a solo test. The pairs tournament will be held on Friday 15th February. The solo test will be held the following Wednesday: 21st February. Theory and written exams will take place after this. Any questions?’
'Sir, about the tournament,’ begins Iida, who immediately raises his hand ‘You said it was a pairs tournament.’
'Oh yeah,’ Aizawa says, absentmindedly scratching at the stubble on his chin 'I forgot to mention, you've been allocated partners which were drawn randomly. It’s still part of your exam so you don't get to hear much about the format, but just know you can't win without your partner and you'll have to work as equals.’ He shuffles some papers around on his desk, peering through them lazily until his finds what he's looking for. He clears his throat before reading off the partner allocations in the same manner someone might recite a shopping list. 'The pairs will be as follows: Kaminari and Kirishima, Midoriya and Yaoyorozu, Iida and Todoroki, Bakugou and Uraraka…’
Ochaco stops listening the moment her name is called; a sudden deafness to the world falling over her as she processes the fact that Aizawa just said the words ‘ Bakugou and Uraraka’. Gobsmacked, she turns to look over at boy in question and is met with two glaring red eyes staring back. Goosebumps raise on her skin. Sitting in the seat behind Bakugou is Deku who stares at her with a wide-eyed expression before giving her an encouraging thumbs up.
While her classmates ask excitedly about the tournament and the great exposure they could gain from it, Ochaco considers her new teammate while resting her chin on her hands folded on the desk, determinedly avoiding looking in the direction of the short-fused blond explosion of a person in question. On the one hand, Bakugou is a formidable opponent and she knows from first hand experience what facing that in combat felt like - terrifying and exhilarating at the same time - and one of the times she had felt most alive. On the other hand, whether or not he would cooperate with her is another matter entirely. Despite mellowing out a little over the past few years, she knows he's still very much a solo player.
She frowns a little. Their final grades, and ultimately their entire careers, relied on a good result from these next few months. Aside from exams and the tournament coming up, they also had to make a decision about the first step in their careers as heroes: choosing an agency, and a specialism. There was a lot to think about, assuming that they got offers in the first place. There was no way Bakugou would jeopardise that for the sake of his pride… would he?
Her train of thought is interrupted by Deku as he slides over to Ochaco’s desk the moment Aizawa retreats back to the safety of his sleeping bag under the desk.
‘Hey, Uraraka. Um, are you gonna be okay with Kacchan?’ Deku asks sheepishly. He had grown taller and broader over the course of his years at UA, but still has some of the endearing awkwardness he had always had as long as Ochaco had known him. She lifts her head and gives him a wide smile, nodding confidently.
'Of course!’ she says brightly, hiding her mild feelings of unease 'I’ve been paired with one of the most physically strong people in the class. With our quirks, if we work together, we’ll definitely win!’
Personalities aside, it was true that if you looked at their abilities, there was no reason they couldn’t do well in a tournament setting. Deku beams at her and she feels a tinge of sadness that he always just accepted her little lies so easily. He was so keen to see happiness in others that he never saw her heartache - not that it mattered anymore, or so she told herself. She had locked away her heart now, and she’d stay focused on being a hero. Love could come later.
'You guys will be great!’ Deku chirps, nodding enthusiastically 'I actually have some ideas on techniques and tactics that would work for your quirks! I’ve always thought there could be a lot of great possibilities in pairing you two. Let me see, I think I wrote it down in notebook seventeen...’ He starts rambling as he hunts through his backpack for one of his notebooks filled with endless scribbles and notes on other people's quirks. Across the classroom, Bakugou had picked up in the mention of his name and glares at them with eyes narrowed until he can't seem to keep quiet any longer.
'Oi, Deku!’ he yells, the room falling silent at his minor explosion. 'You shut your damn mouth.’ At this point he has the full attention of the class as he strides over to Ochaco’s desk and points at his green-haired rival menacingly. Both boys had grown taller over the years and they now stood at similar heights; Bakugou couldn’t just physically look down on Deku anymore. 'I don't need any of your help to win this thing, so you can keep your shitty-ass ideas to yourself. You got that?’
Deku, used to years of this kind of treatment, only slightly flinches. Bakugou meanwhile turns to face the rest of the class, jabbing a thumb at his puffed chest.
'You lot may as well give up now. We all know I'm the best student here. I'm definitely going to win the tournament and sweep up all the best agency offers,’ he declares with the arrogance of a peacock spreading its tail feathers in full display. 'The best you lot can hope for is that I don't embarrass you too much in front of your future second-rate bosses.’
‘Don’t forget that it’s a team assessment, Kacchan,’ Deku mumbles.
'Maybe you should focus on your own damn team,’ he snarls back immediately, explosions flaring in the palm of his hand.
Snapping him from his rage, the bell rings, signalling the beginning of classes.
‘Uraraka,’ he grunts in her direction ‘Meet me at Ground Beta after classes.’ It was a command, not a request. She blinks, confused that he had even finally acknowledged her presence.
‘You already had a training space booked?’ she says, with surprise in her voice.
‘Of course I did,’ he snaps, rolling his eyes. ‘I’ve had a space booked every day since the day I got here.’
Without another word he grabs his bag and is out of the door, leaving the room in stunned silence.