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A rather audible sigh ended up escaping as she collapsed into the fluffy pink comforter covering her mattress.. It had been 6 months since things had quite literally exploded between the two of them. The discourse of their relationship having proven evidence across her apartment. Dishes were piled up, what few there were from the take out and mochi containers spewed among her furniture. Part of her found comfort in the discourse. She deserved this, didn’t she? It was her fault they were both so fucked up emotionally right now.
His apartment was the exact opposite. It had accumulated dust because he was never home anymore. Nights were either spent out on assignment or in hotel rooms with strangers. Sometimes, they were spent out with friends to drink and forget about her. Kirishima knew better than to bring her up even when he saw his friend get slapped for calling a girl her name from the intoxication.
Hero duty had been taxing on her lately and through partnership with Deku, she was able to avoid the constant hounding from the media on her break up. Usually whenever she was questioned, Deku would make a comment on his relationship with the youngest Todoroki to draw the attention away from his heartbroken friend. The Number One Hero was often an advocate against media probing into Heroes relationships unless they offered up. They were people too.
Uraraka would be forever grateful to her friend. After the taxing interview, her and Izuku ended up at a hot pot place with Todoroki, Mina, and Kirishima after a hard day of media influence. Todoroki had been a quiet comfort in all of this, always offering her a shoulder to hide her face in whenever the other 3 brought up her “ex.” Kirishima carefully danced around the fact that Bakugou was doing awful. Just the night before, he ended up found in an alley with someone who looked like her. Thankfully, none of the arrangements he had gone through ended up on the news. The two friends had ended up in a huge fight and Kirishima was ready to distance himself from his best friend if he continued down this self destructive path. He had tried his hardest to get through the ash blonde explosion and it was starting to affect his own relationship with Mina.
Over dinner and knowing what he did about the two heartbroken individuals, he knew he had to do something. Their lives couldn’t continue like this. His friend from America had often been someone he vented to about his friends as she wasn’t here and caught up in the stress or drama. It helped she had become friends with the two being affected when they were back in UA. Sometimes, Melissa sent songs to help him clear his head and today was no different. The situation between Katsuki and Ochako needed to be cleared up. Either they talked and were honest or moved on. Their health was the most important thing and hurt to see his high school best friend and childhood companion tear their lives apart all for what happened from a misunderstanding.
6 months before they were in such pitiful states, the two had been having an amazing day together. It had been about 5 months since their arrangement had begun. Their agencies had encouraged them to fake date for press after their partnership had received popularity among the masses. Relationships between heroes were often used these days for public morale with the world having gone to shit after the League of Villains and corruption of the government being brought to light. They had suggested it as it was the way royalty tried to distract people from depression so long ago.
Zero Gravity had quickly taken over the media by storm once they agreed to it. Public morale was important to her and the boost it would give his hero ranking had sold him. The idea of being a good partner in a bond helped sell the fact heroes were there to protect the masses and raise the trust they had in those that were superhuman.
The two had even fooled their friends with the way they had been with each other. Instahero and Tweeter had been filled with pictures and comments about each other. “Had a tough day at work and he surprised me with a box of mochi!!” “I may be in rotation for the Number One Hero but as long as I’m her first, nothing else matters.” Her round face had softened him to the point that when Kaminari pointed it out, he didn’t receive any ill intent besides a deadly glare from behind her shoulder when class 1-A had it’s routine reunion every month.
Then the fight happened when they should have been celebrating for their “relationship.” They were at his place, curled around each other on his bed having bared themselves through words. What originally started as a relationship for the public became one they had depended on each other for. From basically platonic, to long talks on the phone and sleepovers after hard days at work. Words and cuddles turned to finding physical release from every now and then. It had all started with the rule of not catching feelings for each other and if they ever did, this would all end to preserve their duo and friendship. What each other hadn’t confessed in that moment is that feelings were already seedlings in their hearts from their high school days.
How many times had he stared at the bottom of his glass remembering her? The way his heart nearly leaped out of his chest when he saw her collapse during their fight during the first School Festival. He had nearly run to her but was frozen. What would it say about him if he ran over to the girl he just defeated? An internal struggle he told himself he would never hold back on if he ever had the chance to do things over. He could have sworn to this day that her quirk had touched his heart because she had it since that day.
That night in his bed, she had been talking about her hopes to eventually open her agency that would not only help the general public but help her parents and her community. The utter selflessness she had about her quirk was always something he admired most about her. How couldn’t he? The way her chocolate eyes lit up and her strawberry mochi cheeks grew even pinker because she ran out of air from talking too quickly.
Ochako had left her heart vulnerable and open on the black comforter. Her words had become the satin stitching that left the emotions there for him to keep and protect. It certainly wasn’t found in the bottom of a take out box that had been filled with white rice. She could talk about this stuff with other friends, sure. With him, it had been different. The way he kept his full attention on her as she spoke. As if every word was her last and he never wanted to forget her. Turning to where he would usually sleep when he stayed after their long talks. She remembered a fact where a single tear could tell if it was unconsciously positive or negative depending on which cheek it fell.
It had ended in a fight neither of them expected. He had simply been asking questions about her future goals when “What about your future partner” passed from his lips before he even realized what he said. Her being her, she honestly answered that she wouldn’t mind having another hero help her head the agency. He opened a can of worms when he corrected himself and cleared up that he meant romantically. It took her a moment before she commented that if a romantic interest came into her life, she would talk to them and have their life plans line up the best they could.
Things took a turn for the worst when he sat up and the comfortable casual atmosphere took a turn for the worst. “What about me?” She laughed for about a solid minute and nearly fell off the bed. If it wasn’t for his strength and the bruising grip on her hip to stop her from dropping on her head, she would of. His ego had been bruised but they had been doing this long enough that he waited for her to calm down despite his silent fuming to talk about it.
The conversation went round and round with escalating voices and near constant miscommunication as she actively avoided talking about her feelings out of fear while he laid himself out for her. He exclaimed his love and how his teasing was his affection, how it had been for years before they were even heroes. He was brutally honest about his love and it scared her. She had started putting her clothes back on as they exchanged verbal blows and started moving towards the door. Her repeated comment had only gotten louder as time dragged on and ruined what should of been an amazing day between the two of them. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
The next day, the news had been blasting about their break up which he had talked to his manager about without her consent. Figuring their relationship was over given that her comment had been taken negatively, he wanted out of her life to prevent hurting her further.
Miscommunication had lead them both to refusing to be in the same building, let alone team for missions despite them being a legendary powerhouse before. Now, the two were on opposite sides of the town getting the same text message from Izuku about a song Melissa sent them. A song about wanting to forget someone so badly when they are no longer in your life and the anger that comes along with knowing you can’t.
Listening to the song had provoked different responses from the two. Uraraka listened to it for the first time while brushing her teeth only to start dancing around her apartment only to accidentally crush a fortune cookie under her foot. Bakugou got the emotional release he finally needed. He cried and screamed over the hurt he had experienced for the past few months. How much he missed her, how he had messed up friendships important to him.
The next week had been a turning point. Him and Kirishima had made up when he had opened up about the entire situation and been vulnerable with his shitty-haired friend from high school. When they went out, he didn’t drink and he didn’t seek the company of others. Soon, it wasn’t only Kirishima that joined them after work. The Bakusquad slowly came back together and celebrated their friend being himself again. Mina had even joined them after her apprehension on what it had done to Eijirou.
Uraraka cleaned up her apartment and even had friends over. Izuku, Tsu, and Todoroki came over for movie nights like they had done before and over someone’s homemade cooking that wasn’t hers, she opened up and confided that she regretted that night as she should of told Bakugou that she had loved him since high school but fear of things changing prevented her from doing so.
It took a few more weeks but Zero Gravity would finally be interviewed together after not having been seen in public with each other for half a year. It wasn’t told to either of them until she had accidentally walked into his green room with red eyes shot up to meet brown the second the door opened. Earphones were locked securely in her ears with the song Izuku had sent to her. It gave her strength and become her anthem for a few weeks by now. Voice caught in her throat as he stood up, she squeaked out a tiny, “Heya..”