Bitter

How in the world did this happen? How was it even remotely possible that he was in this situation right now?

He had just come back from a run after leaving Kirishima’s apartment, running his favorite trail while his thoughts rang heavy in his head. He really took the words his two friends had said to heart.

He hated to admit it, but he really did become softer over the years. I mean going over to their place to ask for their help. Gross, barf. It was absolutely disgusting. However, he knew he could not run away from his feelings. Years and years of mandatory therapy taught him that. He ran at a reasonable pace, feeling a bit of jet lag. 

He thought about Sora, he really did like her and he definitely didn’t want to be with anyone else at the moment. Is that love? Katsuki didn’t know. He didn’t know how he felt, if he even thought he was capable of loving someone that way.

When he started high school, he never worried about shit like this. He just wanted to be the Number One Hero, not worry about some stupid girlfriend. But then he met her. Ochako Uraraka. And for some reason he just couldn’t stay away, no matter how hard he tried. And dammit if he didn’t try.

But after almost three years of dating, she broke up with him, leaving him ultimately devastated. 

That was two whole years ago. Now he had a girlfriend, an extremely happy, bubbly one who he was pretty sure was obsessed with him. That’s the dream, isn’t it? 

Did he really want to open himself up to being vulnerable? He sighed, he could do this. He wouldn’t be scared of some little emotions. He was too strong for that, yeah, he could do it.

He decided he was going to tell Sora that he loved her too. His heart fluttered a little, thinking about it. He missed this feeling, to give his all to someone else, someone he knew wouldn’t hurt him. And Sora was the perfect person to give it to, she didn’t seem to have a mean bone in her body. 

He smiled, and jogged the rest of the way home thinking about how happy she would be when she heard him say it.

He got to his apartment, jamming the key in and twisting the doorknob. 

“Where are you, Sora?” He called out, making sure to use her first name, as a sign of sincerity, “We need to talk.” Was she here? There was no response and he didn’t see her car in the lot. Oh didn’t she say she had a class today.

Mentally facepalming, he walked from his foyer to the living room expecting to see it empty and uneventful.

However, what he was met with was quite the opposite. He stopped in his tracks as he took in the scene in front of him. He was shocked. 

Standing right in front of him was the last person he thought he would see. Ochako. She looked rather frantic but carried a hint of irritation in her face. Shocked, he reverted back to his default emotion. Anger. 

“WHAT. THE. FUCK. ARE YOU DOING HERE?”

Ochako opened her mouth to speak, but before she could get any words out, Sora let out a loud sob into a brown paper bag. 

Katsuki’s eyes widened. He walked around the couch over to his girlfriend, putting a reasonable distance between him and Ochako.

“What the fuck did you do to her?”

After a moment in shock, Ochako seemed to find her ground. She grit her teeth, something he remembered her doing right before she would yell at him. It never ended well. “Excuse me!” She spat. “What did I do? No, no I believe this is your doing.”

“My doing? What the fuck do you mean? Why are you even here?”

“I am here because you made her cry. And I had to take care of her and bring her home.” She rolled her eyes, “Guess I should have figured her boyfriend was a giant asshole.”

“Watch your mouth, Cheeks!” He pointed a finger at her. Shit. He cursed to himself as he realized he let her all-to-familiar nickname slip from his mouth. 

Sora’s eyes followed the pair back and forth, slowing her breathing down a little by little. Watching the anger rise, she decides to speak up.

“Katsuki, this...this is the friend I met at the gym yesterday.” She said softly looking at her boyfriend, confused. “I figured you’d know her since you went to school together--”

“Don’t worry, Blondie.” The explosion hero interrupted. “She doesn’t know me at all.”

Ochako scoffed.

“Whaa...why are you mad babe?” Sora furrowed her brows. “I thought you liked Uravity, you are always wa-watching her fights and rescues.”

Ochako smirked, crossing her arms clearly amused.

“Don’t fuckin flatter her,” he responded, choosing not to look at the gravity hero. “I just like watching her get her ass kicked.”

“HAH!” the brunette laughed, “Guess you haven’t been very satisfied watching my recent work then.”

What the actual fuck was her problem? “Why are you still here? Get out.” He yelled. This was too much for him. He growled at her, trying to intimidate her to leave. It didn’t work, he should have known it wouldn’t. It hadn’t since they started dating their 3rd year.

She did decide to leave though, waving goodbye to a very bewildered Sora and sending Katsuki a final death glare before walking out the front door.

It was silent for a few moments before Sora collected her thoughts enough to form words.

“What was that?” She asked.

Katsuki grimaced. Something about Ochako always riled him up. “What was what?” He asked back, trying to sound as natural as possible. He ran his hand through his hair in an attempt to relax himself.

“That tension. I’ve never seen you like that before.” She looked down at her hands. 

“What are you talking about? I’m always like that.” He stated matter-of-factly. It was true, he thought. It was pretty on brand for him to be mad, even just in the presence of some people.

She sighed. “Sure I guess, but I didn’t think you would be like that with Uravity.”

“Trust me, you don’t know her like I do.”

“And I didn't know she could be so ruthless.” She stared up at him. Blue eyes meeting red. “She really looked like she hated you.”

Katsuki clicked his tongue. “Yeah she’s a real bitch. We didn’t get along in school, okay?” He lied, “Just drop it.” It took her a second, but she nodded slightly satisfied with his answer.

“Oh well, that conversation was very interesting.” Sora laughed slightly, her lighthearted personality starting to come back. “It did get me to stop crying though so I should be grateful.” Katsuki’s chest pinched. He didn’t want to think that he was the reason why she had just been crying.

“Sorry I brought her here,” She continued. “I’m sure I made your job a lot harder now that she knows about you and me. But I wouldn’t be worried she doesn’t seem like the type to go to the press.”

He nodded in agreement. “Don’t worry. I never see her, you didn’t make it awkward.” He leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Besides, how could it get more awkward than it just was?”

She laughed. A big genuine laugh. “Ahhh I love you Katsuki.” She caught herself right after, face turning a little pink from embarrassment. 

“I love you, too.” He responded quietly. He watched as Sora’s face froze a moment, before a big smile spread across her face. She pulled him in for a passionate kiss. 

“You mean it?”

“Tch. Course I do ya idiot.”

Did he really mean it? He hoped so. Otherwise Ochako was right and he really was a giant asshole.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as the opportunity presented itself, Ochako bolted from the apartment. She got a little caught up yelling at Katsuki, that she forgot that she really shouldn’t have been there.

She fled out the door towards the elevator, hitting the button to open the doors. Standing inside, she let the quiet music play in the background of her thoughts. That really just happened. After not seeing her ex-boyfriend for the past two years, she was thrown into a situation where she was not only stuck in his new apartment, but also with his girlfriend who was entirely in love with him. 

She was in love with him. Ochako ran her hand through her hair as the elevator traveled down. Through all the chaos, she had forgotten that her new friend Sora, was completely, head-over-heels, in love with Katsuki. 

The doors dinged and she stepped out and walked into the street, waving down a cab. After a few tries, she successfully flagged one down, got in, gave her address, and sat quietly while the driver’s music played. 

She tried to stop the wild emotions that started bubbling up as the adrenaline was wearing off. It was definitely an uneasy feeling seeing her previous flame so domestic with another woman. Especially when that woman was so pretty and cheerful. Why did he have to find the woman who practically radiates sunshine and flowers? 

Ochako couldn’t dislike the girl. In the short time she knew her, it was hard not to be charmed by her outgoing personality and goofy mannerisms. It kind of reminded Ochako of how she acted during their first two years at UA. Ya know, before shit got crazy.

But as shit hit the fan, Ochako changed. She was no longer some helpless girl afraid to show off to her classmates exactly what she was capable of. Much to her surprise, it caught the attention of none other than Katsuki Bakugou. 

One day out of the blue, he asked her if she wanted to spar sometime. She gave a confusing okay? before returning to her conversation with Deku, Iida, Tsu, and Todoroki. They all just stared at her like she grew a second head. 

“What?” she asked, taking a bite of her rice in the cafeteria.

“Kachaan just asked you to spar with him?” Deku asked with his mouth wide open. “He never asks anyone to spar with him.”

“Yeah, ribbit. Not even Kirishima gets asked, he forces Bakugou to spar with him.” 

“Yes it is very odd that Bakugou has asked you to spar. However, I believe he is finally coming around to teamwork to better himself and UA.”

“I don’t think so Iida,” Todoroki said after swallowing his bite of cold soba. “He probably has a crush on her. I’m sure it’s very common.” He took another bite before finally looking up from his bowl. 

Ochako laughed. “Haha yeah right.” Todoroki really could be funny sometimes.

The car stopped at a sudden halt. Throwing down the cash on the console, she said a quick thanks and fled the car. She walked up the stairs to enter her apartment, taking in the sweet smell her air freshener gave off. Placing her keys on the hook, she walked towards the bathroom, shedding her clothes. She turned the shower handle to Hot. Jumping in the shower her memories continued to run.

Sparring had become a regular thing between the two. She could confidently say she had gotten a lot closer to him. They were comfortable acquaintances, friends maybe? Every day after class they would meet at the gym to attempt to beat each other up. Except one day during their third year, she told him she couldn’t because she had to study for the upcoming exam. She expected him to be mad, learning enough about him to know that changes in his routine made him angry. 

Much to her surprise, he wasn’t mad and even offered to help her study since Kirishima was studying with Mina and Kaminari that night. Ochako was ecstatic, having the number 3 in the class tutor her was definitely going to improve her grades. 

That night they met in her room with schoolwork scattered all over her floor. He walked into her room with a disgusted look on his face. 

“How will you ever have a clear mind if you can even have a clear room?” He practically groaned, sitting down on the one patch of floor not covered by paper.

“I’m sorry. I just really want to do well this time, I almost failed the last test”

“Tch” 

With that, they got to work. The subject she struggled most in was definitely math. The numbers really didn’t make sense with the stupid formulas and weird looking signs. Katsuki helped her, pointing out her mistakes and giving her practice problems to try to improve her math skills. Ughh she really hated math.

However, she was extremely helpless. No matter what she always forgot a step or messed up simple math. The two worked for hours on her bedroom floor, working in comfortable silence with the occasional, “Is this right?” followed by a “Not even close, Cheeks.”

After another 30 minutes of utter confusion, something finally clicked. She started getting some of the questions right and before she knew it, she handed Katsuki her finished page for him to check. She sat on her knees right in front of him, feeling suddenly giddy waiting for his positive reaction.

He grabbed the paper from her hand and quickly looked over her work with an overall serious demeanor. It quickly changed when he realized that her work no longer looked like a bunch of random numbers and symbols roughly mirroring hieroglyphics. 

He smiled. A smile that made Ochako’s heart skip. “Fuckin-A, Cheeks. You finally figured it out.”

She grinned, feeling so accomplished that her hours and hours of hard work had paid off. Without thinking, she grabbed Katsuki, hugging him tightly exclaiming her gratitude for his help. At first, the hug was awkward, only going one way since Katsuki rarely let anyone touch him ever. But after a few moments, his arms wrapped around Ochako, pulling her in closer.

She finally came to her senses and realized he may be uncomfortable with the sudden physical contact, so she pulled back slightly so they were face to face.

He didn’t let her go too far, holding her in place so their noses were practically touching. She felt her face get hot. She was blushing widely at their close proximity.

“I really mean it. Thanks Bakugou.” She said, staring deeply into his eyes, a small smile crept onto her face. Katuki’s eyes darted down to her lips before he started to lean in. His lips met hers, soft and plump kissing her tenderly.

“Call me Katsuki.”

She laughed, before meeting his mouth in a rather passionate kiss, much more eager than the first.

“Okay, Katsuki.” She remembered thinking maybe math wasn’t so bad after all.

She turned off the water, wrapping the towel around her body. She walked out of her bathroom into her room and changed into her pajamas. She decided to have a quick stretch to soothe her sore muscles from her hard shift. She sat in her bed, touching her toes as her brain continued to run.  

Graduation had come for the infamous class of Hero students, and a record number of students from their class had been signed with agencies right out of high school. Some had been signed as sidekicks, while others were immediately scouted for to start hero work in the field. Some even decided to travel abroad, like Tokoyami who was continuing to be mentored by Hawks and Koda who was needed in the Amazon RainForest. 

Ochako had decided to stick in Japan, becoming Gunhead’s sidekick since she had previously learned a lot from him during her internship. She felt that he could really help her become the hero she wanted to be. 

Katsuki, on the other hand, managed to sign with Miruko’s agency right away. The pair being so similar in personality, that Miruko felt she didn’t need to monitor him every day as long as he promised to keep property and collateral damage to a minimum.

Ochako couldn’t be more proud. By graduation they had been dating for about a year, and they decided that they wanted to move in together. The news took their classmates by surprise, her more reasonable friends like Tsu and Iida continuously asked her if it was a good idea. Deku and Mina shared their excitement for the pair, while Todoroki gave a small nod of approval. Although the decision felt hasty, Ochako thought for sure she wouldn’t regret it. 

It also took a little while to get her parents on board with the idea, but after meeting Katsuki, they realized she really truly loved him and gave the couple their support. He made her happy. 

They were entirely in love with their whole future in front of them.

So yeah, Ochako guessed that she could say it bothered her that he was allegedly in love with someone else. Was he though? Sora said that he didn’t say it back. Ochako’s heart leaped a little bit as she realized, but she quickly shoved it down. 

What am I thinking? She didn’t still feel that way about him, she was the one who broke up with him two years ago. She was the one who had spent five minutes screaming back and forth at him the second she saw him again.

But she was also the one who had just spent the last hour reminiscing about the way they fell in love. Stupid, crazy teenage love. She pulled the covers over her body, physically shaking her head trying to get the traitorous thoughts to leave. 

She didn’t want him and she liked Sora. She should be happy for them. She came to the conclusion that she was. Closing her eyes, she hoped for a dreamless sleep or maybe one about her hot cycling instructor.