One-shots

Katsuki was invincible. Eijirou smiled, patting him on the back and handing him a towel.

His mood soured when Izuku came to see his boyfriend.

Eijirou was bitter. He was only human.

The door opened again and he should've been happy to see Ochako. She was his own girlfriend, but the way it never bothered Katsuki always stung him where it hurt most. 

She paused for a second, her eyes drifting to the curly-haired boy she was so in love with. She smiled brightly, eyes lighting up.

He wished he could be happy for Katsuki.

But how could he be happy for others, when he couldn't be happy for himself? Don't they always say, put yourself first?

That never stopped the guilt.

She continued walking, pecking him on the cheek and taking the bottle from his hand, turning around to hand it to Izuku.

"You boys working hard?' She teased.

Katsuki scoffed, and his gruff voice sent shivers down his body. How traitorous, he thought, so used to it.

"Well. Eijirou promised me a date," Ochako winked. 

He wanted to stay. He hated this. She gripped his arm, pulling him along. Her grip was tight, palms turning pale but he barely felt it, numb to any pain besides the one that came from the blond-haired boy.

Ochako huffed. "I hate seeing them together so much." 

Eijirou glanced down at her. Huh. She could be selfish. "Me, too."

Ochako gave a chuckle. It didn't come out as light-hearted as he was sure she was hoping it would, sounding slightly strained and hollow and broken. 

Everything she was. Everything they were.

"Where are we going?'

"Is my room okay?' She asked, unsure if he'd like that.

Eijirou shrugged. "It's not like,"

"we're actually dating," she finished, agreeing. "Right. Sometimes, I wonder why we do this to ourselves,"

He'd never heard a statement more true. But, they'd keep the facade up.

Because in the end, they were both people-pleaser. People-pleasers and heartbroken didn't go well together and unless there was some physical proof that they had confessed, gotten rejected, had their hearts broken and moved on, nobody would believe they were okay.

And they weren't. 

This was wrong, but this kind of pain, they had no idea how to deal with.

She opened her dorm room's door as they reached it, flopping onto her bed with a long-suffering sigh.

He plopped down to the beanbag she'd recently brought. Somehow he'd managed to convince her to buy something for herself.

He regretted wanting to sit on the beanbag, because it was by the window and he hadn't wanted to see Katsuki kissing Izuku. Pushing him up against a tree, gripping him tightly and bruising his lips with a violent, passionate kiss.

And then they were making out and he ripped his eyes from the scene, because he didn't need any more reminders that it wasn't Eijirou Katsuki was doing all those things to, but Izuku.

Izuku had never been his rival for Katsuki's love. Katsuki had hated Izuku. It seems Ochako was thinking the same thing, having seen the couple, too.

"Bakugo wasn't my rival," Ochako's voice cut in, she gave a shaky laugh, "God, I was so stupid. How did I miss the signs?'

"I don't know," Eijirou whispered, wondering the same thing. He turned around, and she had the same look in her eyes.

They were both selfish, and it wasn't just the fact that they didn't want others to remind them they were shattered, but also because they needed warmth.

She took a step towards him, and he did the same, meeting her in the middle.

They didn't need to whisper sweet nothings into each other's ears or comfort the other. He wanted to kiss her, and she wanted the same. That was all.

Her lips moved against his. His were rough--maybe a side effect of his quirk because everything about him was rough, hard around the edges--but it was okay because god she wanted someone to not be delicate with her.

Someone else in his place wouldn't have understood, would have stopped her.

"Hey, you're not alright. You're not thinking straight," - they'd have said.

But, fuck, she was fine with thinking sideways or whichever way you think when you're not thinking straight.

His hands gripped her hair, pulling her closer. More, he muttered against her mouth and she melted in his arms the way she'd always wanted to in Deku's.

He separated for air. And then he was crying because so was she.

"What are we doing to ourselves?' She asked again, slamming her fist against the wall. 

"Fuck." Eijirou growled, his eyes blurring. "I-I'm supposed to be stronger."

Ochako laughed so hard she was clutching her sides. The laughter was a pathetic sound, a mix between sobbing and maniac laughter.

"We're supposed to put each other back together, fix what's broken, not..not-" she hiccuped.

She needed to get out of there, it was stifling.

...

"I'll buy you lunch," Eijirou whispered in her ear, his breath tickling her skin.

How long was this act going to last, she wondered. Truthfully, maybe Izuku would marry Katsuki, and they'd do the same to show they were really fucking happy with each other, too.

It'd been months since this had started, and they'd figured it wasn't for show anymore. The thought that maybe he didn't want to let go of her, the same way she didn't want to let go of him, made her heart flutter.

It wasn't the same light, pure flutter Izuku often caused her heart to do, but she'd known for a while now that the feeling was the same. At one point, she'd fallen for the red-haired boy who'd taken care of her when no one even knew she was hurting.

She had a thing for falling for boys who'd never love her. Oh, and boys who loved Katsuki.

She wished she hated Katsuki, but he wasn't cruel.

Not to her.

"Here." He interrupted her thoughts, bringing her mochi. She faked a gasp, 

"I had no idea you could buy mochi at the school cafe,"

He gave her a pointed stare. He couldn't help but admit, though, it was refreshing to see her be playful after all these dark months. "Maybe if you actually ate during break, you'd know."

She poked her tongue out. 

...

They'd teamed up, because that's what everyone was expecting. After all, Izuku and Katsuki had teamed up, Yaomomo had teamed up with Tenya and even Hagakure and Mashirao were together. All the couples.

It should've been obvious. Not to mention the fact that it felt weird for him to not be with her anymore.

They'd been so invested in making it look like they were in love that it should've been obvious.

He was deeply smitten with her while she loved another man.

His crushes always had a thing for Izuku, he thought bitterly, even while knowing he'd never hate the emerald-eyed boy himself because...

Izuku didn't know.

Of course, he didn't,

He didn't think he was exactly everything Eijirou wanted to be.

...

Ochako clenched and unclenched her fist, the weight of love was too much. 

Eijirou knew that. She knew what was coming when she'd walked in and saw Eijirou seeming really serious.

His text last night was pretty clear.

"Ocha-Uraraka,"

she cringed internally. 

Their classmates stopped their conversations to stare, confused at the way they talked to each other, so formally--the first name thing was a no-go, now. The way that it'd bring their attention back to everything they'd been would only hurt them more and honestly, weren't they already too depressed for that?

"Let's break up," He smiled. Oh, wow. She felt her own lips twist into something similar. Tears stung her eyes so she curled her toes and focused on that.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What the fuck?' Ashido butted in, unable to process that one of, perhaps the most, lovey-dovey couple, who'd been dating all of the second and third year suddenly, and in a painfully casual manner, wanted to break up.

Eijirou shrugged, and she saw him hide his hand because he couldn't stop their shaking.

And she noticed though no one else did because she was used to this and she remembered exactly why neither of them were yelling or crying or begging for sorry like they should be, like they wanted to be.

Because they hadn't spent two years dating; no they'd spent two years faking and they were pros now.

"I guess we tried but never fell in love," she choked back the ironic laughter bubbling in her throat, "we're better off as friends."

"Don't you think so?' she asked Eijirou. She thought he'd be smiling, pretending more because why stop now?

He was serious. "No. I love you more than anything but you love him."

She whipped her head between him and the even more confused class. This wasn't normal, this wasn't part of the plan.

This wasn't something she was used to.

"Wait," Hagakure paused. "You mean..."

"Deku?' Katsuki grunted. "I should've known from the beginning. Of-fucking-course you spend two years pulling shit like this. Stupid shitty hair's too nice to say no, I bet,"

Ochako slumped. Maybe they weren't pros just yet. Deku furrowed his eyebrows, opening his mouth to

what? apologise when it wasn't his fault she fell into such an obsessive--toxic--adoration--the kind that was agonising and left her with an aching heart twenty-four-seven--for him. 

"So? You wouldn't understand," Eijirou interrupted. "Even if--even if you'd lost Izuku, you'd move on because you're-you're fucking perfect. You're beautiful and strong and smart and we're not. Without you, we've got nothing so what did you want us to do? We're just..."

The class gasped, collectively. 

"What?' Katsuki questioned, puzzled for the first time. 

"You didn't know," Ochako chuckled--was she pouring salt in her wounds (it stung) was it Eijirou? Maybe Katsuki, or Deku. Worse, maybe it wasn't salt but the sting just never faded. "That's funny."

"What?' Katsuki barked, agitated already.

"That Eijirou," she sniffled. Her heart throbbed in raw pain, because there was no hiding it now. "has loved you since the day he saw you, just like I've loved Deku,"

"And neither of you would understand. You--" Eijirou shuddered. "You aren't afraid of being alone the way we are."

Ochako knew exactly what he was talking about. They'd talked about their unrequited love, but they'd both always been too afraid to dig deeper, to cut open old scars.

But she knew because she felt the same. So though this wasn't anything she'd ever heard him talk about, she knew exactly what to say.

"If you were in our place, you'd go with your daily lives. You don't know how worthless it makes us feel. You know, Deku, what it's like to not be enough when it comes to being a hero, but you could never understand that for people like us, who try their best to make others like them, to please all the wrong people every time, to put on a show when we're not okay, what kind of doubts or insecurities we deal with. We could never understand your pain, but for all your heroism, you could never understand ours, either!' Ochako snarled. 

This had been a long time coming.

Huh.

....

After their confession, they'd parted ways. Eijirou with Denki and Ashido, and she with Tsu and Tenya. That's how they spent their next few weeks. Unable to really talk to their best friends--that was mutual, at least--and unable to face each other, either. 

Though Ochako should've known Deku would eventually try and work things out. That was fine, though, since now her heart didn't hurt because of him.

Wow. She only loved someone when she was going to lose them.

Though they'd admitted being in love with each other, how could they be together when they'd fucked each other up just as bad as their previous flames did?

The class understood, tiptoeing around them sometimes even near the end of their final year. But, with their old friends and no more secrets between them, the distance they'd created had evaporated.

Maybe they'd been wrong. Seeing Izuku and Katsuki both make a conscious effort to not be lovey-dovey was funny, even when the emotion itself made her feel empty and malicious.

...

"Pro hero Uravity has been called for backup!' A woman panted into her earpiece.

Eijirou's confidence vanished almost instantly. The pro-hero (sidekick) froze in surprised.

It'd been two years, after all, and they'd both been hard at work to become pro-heroes. He'd run into her sometimes and they'd be polite and formal, but he always left quickly knowing it was a sore spot for both of them.

And the fact that she looked more beautiful and incredible each time he saw her and his heart couldn't take that.

A crime scene wasn't one of those times. He couldn't just go, "oh, nevermind, my ex is here so I need to go to the bathroom"

One of the slug-like villains shot...mud?, at him. He pulled his arm up, using his elbow to block it and instead of running away, run towards the villain.

Whatever liquid-like thing was thrown at him was obviously meant to be more dangerous than it looked because the villain looked astonished.

Ha. He'd mastered his unbreakable and reached a stage where he could withstand Izuku's punches at fifty percent, not to mention Ashido's acid which could even burn through Tetsutetsu's skin at his strongest if she wanted.

And considering Izuku was now number one, that said a lot. A puny villain was nothing in comparison, strong quirk or no. Still puny.

But he was outnumbered and no matter how powerful, his quirk wasn't offensive. It's just,

why her? Why did it have to be her?

"Uravity here!' Came a cry as she floated a villain right behind him. 

"Hey, Kiri," She said, smiling a silly smile. His heart skipped a beat.

He's pretty sure it stopped for a minute there. "...hey, Och-Uraraka." He stammered.

He blinked twice before realising he'd been staring. Of course, even he knew he only realised he was doing so when he saw her cheeks turn red. Ochako averted her eyes, flustered.

The thought that he still affected her gave him more confidence, though.

"Oi," He grinned widely. "Hope you haven't forgotten my fighting style,"

Because she knew things about him--knew him, even better than Katsuki did. She'd watched him, she'd seen him the way no one else ever bothered to.

She'd thought there was something worth looking at, so she knew exactly what he meant.

Back to back, they became each other's eyes where the other couldn't see and finished the fight within a few minutes.

"No one knows we're unbeatable together," Ochako beamed at him, wiping dust from her face as she dropped an unconscious villainess to the ground, tying her up with the rest.

"But...?' he egged her on, knowing she had more to say.

She stared up at him, brown eyes full of forgiveness and longing. "But. They will."

"That a promise?' he asked, jokingly, only to stop when she looked him dead in the eye,

"Yes, Ki-no, Eijirou. I swear. Nobody will see it coming. I promise."

He hoped it was a promise she'd keep.