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vannahfanfics · 2 years

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Barely a Cinderella Story

Word Count: 8550

Romance, Drama, Action

Summary: Third-years Ochako and Katsuki are recruited to go undercover at a swanky city gala to help the pro heroes stop an assassination plot. Ochako is quickly overwhelmed by all the grandeur and affluence, which also bring the romantic feelings she's been harboring for her partner to the surface. But then things go south, as all is not as it seems with this mission. As Ochako and Katsuki fight to escape the crossfire, will the unspoken romance between them bloom in the highest adversity?

Hello, everyone! Here is my story for the @bnha-big-bang! My partner @coslyons also made a totally awesome playlist, so be sure to check that out! Enjoy!

As Ochako sat in the leather backseat of the luxurious limousine, part of her still couldn’t believe what was happening was real. It was all just so opulent—the bottle of champagne chilling in an ice bucket in the middle console of the seat, the champagne glasses clinking together with the subtle movements of the car, the deep blue mood lights, the slightly romantic classical music bleeding from the high-end speakers mounted in the ceiling. As if the fact that she was in a vehicle worth more than her apartment wasn’t head-spinning enough, the fact that she was sitting in one with her classmate Katsuki Bakugo as part of an undercover mission was enough to make her head want to burst.

The two third-years had been approached to participate in an operation at an annual political gala that would be held in one of the city’s ritzy ballroom entertainment centers. It was located on the bottom floor of some big bank conglomerate’s headquarters, or so Ochako had been told. The Commission had received frightening intelligence detailing an assassination plot against one of the country’s most influential—and polarizing—political leaders. They were still students, so their role in the operation would be minimal—they would pose as special guests on behalf of U.A. to mingle with the politicians under the guise of obtaining more funding for the school. In reality, they would be the eyes on the ground for the heroes that would be hiding throughout the building and attempting to ferret out the assassins. If anything were to go awry, Katsuki and Ochako would be close enough to hopefully protect the man from harm.

Truth be told, Ochako wasn’t sure she would be able to focus on the task at hand, not with the sheer amount of grandiosity surrounding her. Her jaw had nearly hit the floor when she had been presented with the gown she was wearing to the gala; even now, the luxurious silk made her skin crawl with anxiety. A gorgeous, flowing dress of pure pink silk with an asymmetric skirt baring one of her legs just enough to be sophisticated and thin spaghetti straps daintily framing her shoulders. She was wearing matching pink lace gloves to conceal her finger pads. A gold necklace with a pure spinel gemstone charm hung heavy on her neck, matching the square gem studs glittering in her ears. She’d never worn anything like this in her life, and it was driving her insane.

“Oi, Cheeks. You look like you’re about to combust over there,” Katsuki huffed. Her previously hazy gaze focused upon him. He sat on the opposite side of the limousine, his legs spread open and his arms splayed across the back of the leather seating. Unlike her, Katsuki seemed perfectly at home with his refined wardrobe; the black tuxedo hugged his muscled figure in all the right ways. Even the way he’d rolled the cuffs of the suit and the slight looseness of his pink bowtie—the same blushing pink as Ochako’s dress—exuded a lavishness he seemed to be perfectly accustomed to.

“Sorry,” Ochako mumbled while nervously fisted the skirt of her dress. She could barely feel the fabric’s softness through the sheer lace of her gloves, and it made a nervous shiver crawl up her spine. “I just—I don’t think I’ve been around so much money in my entire life.”

Katsuki’s lips curled in a smirk.

“Tch, yeah. It’s almost disgusting, isn’t it? How rich these guys are.” He began digging in his ear with his index finger, and Ochako couldn’t help a wan smile. He seriously wasn’t bothered at all. Of course, Ochako wasn’t only on edge because of the opulence.

Katsuki Bakugo was downright sexy in that tuxedo.

Ochako had thought about Katsuki in romantic connotations before. How could she not? He was the whole package! But of course, constant life-and-death situations superimposed on an already rigorous hero education didn’t exactly leave much room for romantic pursuits. So it was just a crush she nursed in the back of her mind, only coming to the forefront in moments like these.

“All right, Cheeks.” She was pulled out of her thoughts again by his voice. He was looking out of the window now, his eyes narrowed. “It’s go time. You gonna be all right?” When he turned his crimson gaze on her, its intensity colored her face, her cheeks being painted a rosy hue.

Ochako slapped her hands lightly against her cheeks a few times. The sting zinged along her nerves, driving away all her anxiety to replace it with the first flickers of adrenaline. She had to leave everything else behind; right now, the mission took precedence. Once she felt her head was in the appropriate space, she nodded firmly to Katsuki. He gave her a lopsided smirk, and as soon as the limousine ground to a halt, he popped the door open.

“Ah, sir, I was supposed to get the door for you,” Ochako heard the driver stammer as Katsuki got out. When she scooted up to the door, she saw Katsuki standing there and tugging the jacket of his suit forward to button it up halfway.

“Tch, that isn’t necessary,” he grunted. He then turned around and offered Ochako a hand. She knew it was all part of the refined act, but it still made her face flush and her tongue go dry. She slowly slipped her gloved hand into his, and Katsuki wrapped his fingers around it in a solid grip. She honestly felt like some sort of princess as she stepped out of the car, the folds of her dress falling around her legs and the moonlight gleaming on the pink jewels adorning her body. When Katsuki guided her hand to rest on the thick muscle of his arm, bent at his side to form a perch with his elbow, her head began to swim again.

Focus, Ochako! She reminded herself. Oh, she was so lightheaded that it felt like she was going to trip in her heels at any moment. Lives are at stake! You can’t focus on… on… this… She didn’t even really know was “this” meant, but it was something, all right—being escorted into a luxurious ballroom by her handsome classmate while wearing something fit for royalty. And as soon as they passed into the ballroom, the attention she had just managed to rein in broke free of its leash and went galloping off in a hundred different directions.

Crystal chandeliers suspended from the ceiling, their warm yellow lights refracting over the vaulted ceiling. A live string quartet played an elegant tune, and many couples glided around in genteel waltzes around the polished circular dance floor at the center of the room. Others—most of them businessmen in ironed suits and sophisticated tuxedos—stood on the fringes chatting idly to one another as they nursed their glasses of wine and champagne. The sheer level of magnificence took Ochako’s breath away, leaving her winded and squeezing Katsuki’s arm.

“You good, Cheeks?” he asked her, giving her a concerned raise of his eyebrow.

“I-I’m fine!” she squeaked. God, she didn’t even want to look at the table displaying the hors d’ouevre. “It’s just… wow…”

“Well, look alive, because there goes our mark.”

Ochako managed to wrangle enough control of her wandering mind to follow the subtle nod of his head. It pointed to a man that was striding confidently to one of the small tables on the edge of the ballroom, where a woman—presumably his wife—was sitting and chatting amicably to another couple. The woman smiled serenely as her husband offered her a drink, her eyes illuminating with affection as he sat beside her. He put his arm around her shoulders, but even from the appreciable distance, Ochako felt there was something oddly… terse about him. Like he was hesitant to touch the woman, even with the matching rings gleaming on their fingers.

“All right. We’ve got eyes,” Katsuki said while discreetly pressing the button on the communicator disguised in his ear. “We’ll let you know if anything happens.” There came a crackly response, and then Katsuki lowered his arm. Ochako expected him to start walking, but instead he just… stood there.

“Um… Katsuki… It will look suspicious if we just stand here.” She couldn’t blame him, necessarily. They’d been informed that the villains were supposed to enter through the roof and make their way down, so all the pro heroes were on the upper floors. If all went perfectly, Katsuki and Ochako wouldn’t see any fighting at all.

“Well, what do you suggest?” he snorted. “We can’t drink, and I ain’t gonna kiss ass, no matter what our cover is supposed to be.”

Ochako looked around the spacious ballroom with an unsure hum. It looked like all there really was to do was either consume alcohol or partake in conversation with the elite. Ochako would probably faint at the scent of money on their breath, so it wasn’t really something she really wanted to do either. Her gaze came to rest at the large circular dance floor, and she hesitantly suggested, “We could… dance.”

Katsuki looked at her like she’d recommended they strip naked. She flushed, but remained steadfast in her proposal—a few of the adults were already glancing at them like they didn’t belong there, so they had to do something before their cover was blown. Katsuki seemed to sense the growing air of unease, as he quickly adjusted his expression back to one of slightly unimpressed refinement. He cleared his throat, then gruffly said, “Fine.”

He didn’t look happy about it, but he accompanied her out to the dance floor nonetheless. As the tile changed under her shiny nude heels, Ochako couldn’t help but let her heart flutter in excitement. I’m in this beautiful dress… in this beautiful ballroom… about to dance with the handsomest man I know! Oh, if this is a dream, please don’t let me wake up! She tried not to let the excitement show in her expression when Katsuki turned to stand across from her, channeling it only in biting slightly down on her bottom lip. Katsuki was too busy roving his hands through the air around her body to notice, anyway.

“Uh… I put my hands here… right?” he mumbled and made a squeezing motion in the air around her hips. Ochako snickered, then guided his hands to the proper place—one resting snugly on her waist and the other perched atop her shoulder. She then put both her hands on his shoulders and peered demurely up at him through her lashes.

“Just don’t step on my toes, okay?” she teased with a little smile.

“Tch,” Katsuki grunted as he began awkwardly shuffling them in a circle in time with the music. “Don’t patronize me, Cheeks.” And as he did so, it felt like she was swept up in a dream. Ochako wasn’t a dancer herself, but it felt like some unseen force guided her feet so she could focus on the ethereal feeling of being in Katsuki’s arms.

Maybe it was all the opulence, all the grandeur going to her head—nevertheless, she felt so certainly that she belonged there, in his gentle embrace.

Katsuki’s gaze was trained on her face, like he was afraid to look anywhere else. But his cheeks were dusted the color of her dress, shining like opals in the gleaming light cast down from the chandeliers. His body gradually relaxed, making their motions smoother and more fluid; his hand slipped a little down her waist to hug the top curve of her hip, his fingers twitched over her shoulder to slip the spaghetti strap of her dress a little down her shoulder, his head tilted slightly as his gaze moved slowly from her eyes to her nose to her glossed lips. It was there that his eyes fixated, and Ochako couldn’t help but notice that his blush was gradually darkening.

“You should be watching our mark,” she murmured. Katsuki only grunted, still focused on her mouth—like he was mesmerized by the way her lips moved. It took him a second or two to slowly pull his gaze back up.

“Tch. I was,” he lied, and his gaze flicked over her shoulder to watch the table where the politician was still sitting with his wife.

And a good thing, too, because that’s when the lights went out.

Shocked cries and women’s screams rose into the air like fog rising in the early morning. Ochako gasped when she felt Katsuki rip away from her. She looked around wildly, but she could only catch snatches of his form that illuminated with the crackles on his palms as he blasted his way to the table. The dark was alive with cacophony—screams and shouts and breaking glass and splintering wood. She whirled in a circle with her arms slightly outstretched, trying to feel her way in the pitch black; she could occasionally feel a rush of wind when someone dashed past. On reflex, she apologized when her arm smacked against the solid form of a body, though they were already long gone.

The microphone in one of her earrings crackled with static. She pushed down on it to find the radio frequency jumbled. “Villains… Under attack… Blackout…” came garbled words through the white noise. Someone shoved her from behind, causing her to stumble forward; she slipped out of one of her heels as she tripped over herself. She yelped with the twist of her ankle over her dislodged shoe, and the word that slipped out with the tears in her eyes was all but involuntary, “Katsuki?!”

Then the lights were on, shining down on a scene of absolute chaos. Overturned tables, shattered glasses, spilled alcohol, splattered food—the opulent dream turned into a garish nightmare in less than a minute. It was even worse with the blur of Ochako falling forward into the open air; nausea swirled in her belly, from the fear, from the sadness, from the bitter disappointment.

The air was knocked from her lungs as a sturdy arm caught her across the chest. Katsuki crouched a little as he caught her, using only the meat of his arm and his strength to stop her fall short. Ochako swallowed thickly at the close approximation of the floor to her face—close enough to watch the tear beaded on the tip of her nose to drip down and burst against the shiny tile. She gripped his bicep with a whimper; it felt like the only lifeline in this confusing storm that had washed her out to a dark sea.

“Cheeks, I gotcha,” Katsuki reassured her. His voice was gentle, even with the gruff strain of exertion in it. With his help, she righted herself. She stood awkwardly, her shoeless foot arched in a tip-toe to keep her from leaning to one side. To this end, Katsuki kept his arm around her waist to keep her steady; his other arm was at his side, with a very teary woman clutched desperately onto it.

The politician’s wife? Ochako realized. Where is he?!

“I lost him in the chaos,” Katsuki grunted, as if his Quirk was reading minds instead of exploding things. The ballroom was empty now, filled only with shattered delusions of grandeur and propriety. “They cut the power and attacked in the dark. He managed to get away, but I don’t know where.”

The woman whimpered and wrapped her arm tighter around his arm, tears running silently down her pale cheeks. Ochako rubbed at her own cheeks, feeling the stains of her shed tears on them, and her belly flipped.

How embarrassing… I can’t believe I panicked like that! How could she have let herself fall into that false sense of security, have let the mission slip from her mind in favor of focusing on all the romantic implications? She should have reacted like a hero! Not some damsel in distress! Her own shame made her bottom lip wobble and the tears threaten to fall anew. If only she hadn’t been so swept up in the magic of the moment…

A soft gasp left her lips as Katsuki pushed her backward. She fell back into a chair, slightly splintered from the carnage. Before she could ask him what he was doing, he was on his knees in front of her, holding her ankle while he slipped her high heel back onto her foot. Ochako just bit down hard on her lip while trying not to think about how his fingers brushing over her skin felt absolutely divine. There was a sobbing woman right in front of her, but still, nearly all she could think about was how Cinderella-esque the moment was.

Focus. Focus, Ochako. You’ve already mortified yourself one time too many, she told herself firmly. She took a few deep breaths while willing her mind to return to the task at hand.

“Are you sure that he managed to get away? What if he’s been taken hostage?” Ochako asked Katsuki. She looked down at him, and it took all her willpower not to let her belly flip again at the sight of him knelt down in front of her with his fingers resting idly over her ankle. He was lost in thought, head turned to survey the sprawl of chaos behind them. At her question, he squinted up at her.

“Why take him hostage when the plan was to kill him?” he pointed out. The woman must not have been privy to the drama, for she released a small gasp and then buried her face into her hands. Katsuki ignored her in favor of narrowing his eyes further, ruminating. “I don’t like this one bit. Something isn’t right.”

“You’re damn right!” came a sudden shout from across the ballroom.

Ochako whipped around in the chair, and she felt a rush of air as Katsuki jumped to his feet behind her. Their gazes both landed on the newcomer at the same time, and Katsuki’s hand grabbed onto Ochako’s shoulder to give it a tight squeeze. Standing at the entrance of the ballroom was the politician they had been assigned to protect…

and he was pointing a gun at them.

“I should have known that the heroes would have had people on the ground,” he scoffed. “I just didn’t think it would be a couple of brats. And worse, I didn’t think brats would get in my way.”

“Darling!” the wife exclaimed. She staggered to her feet, eager to rush over to her husband. However, Katsuki swiftly threw his arm out in front of her. She gasped as his thick arm collided with her chest and stopped her from proceeding. “What are you doing?” she cried, looking frantically between Katsuki and her husband. The relieved smile on her face was rapidly becoming strained. “I must go to my husband, please—”

“Don’t come near me,” the politician snapped and turned the barrel of the pistol towards her. He began to stride quickly across the room; the slap-slap-slap of the soles of his dress shoes against the tiles was ominous enough to send a shiver down Ochako’s spine. Katsuki protectively stepped in front of the woman and shoved her behind him, using his bulk to shield her. “Have you really not figured it out yet? You’re lucky that kid managed to get to you in time. I was this close to finally putting a bullet in your head.”

“D-darling?” the woman stammered, still nervously smiling. “What are you talking about? What are you saying?”

“I’m saying I want you dead, you miserable woman!” he shouted. In his ire, he pulled the trigger, and the woman screamed as the bullet shattered some glasses off to their left. It probably hadn’t been intended as a signal, but at the sound of the gunshot, the side doors burst open, and at least two dozen men in black garb and riot gear streamed in to flank them on either side. Ochako stumbled out of the chair, looking frantically left and right while she stood next to Katsuki.

“Forgive me,” the man sighed and ran a finger through his gelled hair, as if all the dramatics were exhausting him. “I let my anger get the better of me there…”

This guy’s off the rails! Ochako thought wildly. This is so much worse than we thought it would be! Clever man, making sure all the villains were on the higher floors.

“This isn’t good!” Ochako hissed under her breath to her partner. “We’re outnumbered, and we can’t fight all of them, not with her! It’s too dangerous!”

“Back door,” Katsuki whispered back. She discreetly peeked out of her peripheral vision and just barely managed to spy the door leading further into the building, presumably to offices and other management areas of the entertainment center. “The other heroes are on their way down to deal with these guys. Our priority is getting her out of here.”

Ochako looked at the wife. She was gaping in horror at her husband over Katsuki’s shoulder, trembling violently with silent tears running down her face. She suddenly inhaled sharply, her irises shrinking further into a sea of white as the fear took hold. Ochako whipped back around to see the politician encroaching again, and the rest of the villains pushing in from either side.

“I know this is going to come as a shock to you, my dear, but I loathe your presence,” the man hummed. He seemed far too pleased about the fact that he was saying the most disgusting things imaginable to someone he had professed to love. “I cannot stand it anymore. Each day with you is torture.”

“Prick,” Katsuki gruffed under his breath. With each step forward their enemies took, they edged backward, slowly but surely creeping toward the door. But it was a dangerous gamble; slowly, slowly, they were being surrounded, and Ochako didn’t know if they would make it.

It doesn’t matter! We just have to keep him on his tirade, and then make a break for it at the opportune moment.

“If you loathe me so much, just ask for a divorce!” the woman shrieked at him. She went to leap around Katsuki and claw angrily at the man, but he managed to grab her around the middle and throw her behind him again. She stumbled backward in her heels, openly sobbing now. “You vile—miserable man—I have done nothing but loved you—supported you—what could I ever have done to deserve this?! I know you’re sleeping with your secretary! I even looked past that—”

“Honey, I am sleeping with way more than just my secretary,” the man laughed dryly. “And I can’t let all that come out in a divorce, now can I? So just be a good girl and die in a botched assassination plot like I intended—”

Katsuki kept nudging the woman backward, but Ochako could tell that it was beginning to strain him. His jaw was clenched so tight that the veins bulged in his face, and his arm was shaking slightly as it kept propelling the woman back. It had always pained him to run away from a fight, and honestly? Ochako wanted nothing more than to pound the guy into the dust, too.

Save to win, she reminded herself. She looked over her shoulder. The door was within a few yards. She slowly tugged one of her gloves off so she could inch her fingers toward the woman’s arm. She could make her float and fling her away before the gunfire started—

As soon as her fingertips met the woman’s skin, Katsuki grabbed her and whirled her toward the door.

“Go, Uravity!” he roared over the explosions cracking on his palms.

Ochako didn’t waste any time following his order. She fell into a roll, kicking her heels off her feet in the process. Bullets whizzed over her head; a few of them clipped off tufts of her dress, and one even shaved a few centimeters off a lock of her hair. She scrambled to her feet to sprint to the door, against which the woman was resting in mid-air gasping like a fish out of water. Ochako shouldered the door open, grabbing her arm in the process to yank her inside. As soon as Katsuki had blasted his way in, she slammed it shut and flipped both the deadbolt and the small lock.

“That won’t hold them for long!” she shouted. She quickly released the woman from her Quirk, holding onto her to keep her steady when she came back to the ground. Without looking at Katsuki, she began to corral her down the hall in the direction of the stairs. “We should get to the rooftop! I can float us all to—”

The words lodged in her throat mid-sentence. She’d looked back at Katsuki in the middle of talking. He hadn’t moved. He was slumped against the door, his face scrunched up in agony while his hand pressed into the bleeding bullet wound in his abdomen. Blood gushed through his fingers, and it shone ruby-red against the pale white of his fingers. He’s hurt. Katsuki’s hurt. The realization rang hollowly in her mind; she didn’t want to think it, she didn’t want to believe it, and so she could only watch in a stupor as the blood dripped down the length of his body.

“Hey, get going.” Katsuki’s rasp pulled Ochako out of her trance. She looked at him in utter horror. “I mean it! Get her out of here. I’ll hang back and give you a chance to escape.” The door heaved against his back, making him stumble forward with a pained gasp. Ochako rushed forward to catch him, and she planted her feet as his entire weight slumped against her. She swallowed thickly at the bile rising in her throat at the feeling of his blood splashing against her dress, hot and sticky.

“What? No!” Ochako cried, shaking her head vehemently. “I’m not leaving you, not like this! Let me stay behind, I can—”

“No,” Katsuki growled. He ripped away from her, shoving her backward in the process. Her tears and his blood arced through the air before splattering across the floor between them. “No,” Katsuki said again, softly. He turned to the side, but Ochako could see his pain in the tense line of his clenched jaw. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t hide it from her. “I can’t get her off the building. You know that. The other heroes should be here soon. I’ll be fine.”

He sounded more like he was trying to convince himself, and that made Ochako’s heart shatter into a million pieces. It was taking everything inside her to keep up a brave face for their terrified victim; Ochako wanted nothing more than to break down and sob and scream and pitch a fit, but she couldn’t. She bit down on her lip until it drew blood, tightening up every muscle she had and clenching her dress in a white-knuckled grip to force down all her emotions. She had to focus on the task at hand. She had to get the woman out of here.

But still…

“I’ll come back for you!” she promised. “As soon as I can, I’ll come for you!”

“Tch. I’ll be up there before you know it,” Katsuki said, looking back at her with a strained smirk. He pressed his hand deep into his side again as the door heaved, the wood of the threshold splintering. “Now go! I’ve got this,” he asserted and turned his back on her. The way he was trying to hide his fear and uncertainty under a mask of bravado was enough to make Ochako want to cry again, but she couldn’t. Now was not the time for crying.

Now was the time for saving.

Before she could be overcome by her emotions again, Ochako whirled on her heel and snatched the woman by the wrist. She dragged the startled woman into a sprint. They raced down the hall and then burst into the stairwell, the bang of the door striking the wall echoing into the upper floors. Faster, faster, faster, Ochako urged, her grip ironclad on the woman’s wrist as she all but hauled her up the stairs. There’s no time to waste! I have to get back to him; I can’t leave him to fight alone!

But Katsuki was alone, and Ochako knew it from the way the building began to shudder and moan as explosions rocked deep within the first floor. Dust rained from the ceiling, the metal railing vibrated, the windows trembled. As they ascended the stairwell, the explosions faded and were replaced by the insistent peppering of gunfire. Ochako could see the white flashes of the guns in each landing, igniting the small window of the door before fading back into darkness. The other heroes were embroiled in their own battles, and every second they tangled with their foes ticked closer to Katsuki’s defeat.

The building was only ten floors, but to Ochako, it seemed like the stairs would never end. Landing after landing after landing they mounted, surrounded by gunfire and shouts and the shuddering building. Ochako’s lungs burned with the desperate need for oxygen. Her muscles ached with the strain of prolonged climbing. She screeched in agony when she missed a step and slammed her bare toe against the side of it, the nail immediately cracking to gush bright red blood. But she just clenched her teeth through the white-hot pain and kept going.

It was wrong, and she knew it—thinking this way. Ochako was a hero. Her entire mind should be bent on the task at hand. Her entire mission should be to save the woman and help defeat the villain. But that was the furthest thing from the forefront of her mind. All she could think about was Katsuki, Katsuki, Katsuki and the fact that he was alone down there. Saving the day didn’t matter. All that mattered was saving Katsuki.

After what seemed like ages, they came to the final landing. Ochako threw open the door, and the wind immediately rushed down to greet them. Both the women gasped as it plucked at their dresses, sending the fabric writhing around their legs. Above the roaring of the gale, Ochako heard the chop-chop-chopping of helicopter blades. She looked up, and she saw their oval forms blacked out against the stars, spotlights shining down against the bank building while news cameras rolled.

“Come on!” Ochako cried over the din. She guided the woman to the edge of the roof and looked down. Police cars had swarmed the parking lot, forming a barrier of red-and-blue flashing lights in a semicircle around the building. The light refracted off the broken glass like an oddly beautiful mosaic; pretty to some it may be, but it just filled Ochako with dread. Even from the top floor, she could feel the building shuddering slightly under her feet; every few seconds, dust exploded out of one of the broken windows. Katsuki was still fighting. But the police couldn’t get close, not with the gunfire spraying across the parking lot to keep them at bay.

Ochako turned to the woman, who was hugging her arm with a pale white face. The woman looked up at her when she moved, and her eyes were shrunk with fear. Ochako felt guilt twist at her stomach. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. She should be making this woman feel safe. Ochako’s own problems would have to wait.

“I’m going to float you down to the police,” Ochako said with an emphatic point over the edge of the roof.

The woman gasped, shook her head vehemently, and clutched tighter onto Ochako’s arm.

“We can’t! I-it’s so high, and all the bullets—!”

“Hey,” Ochako smiled at her. Her comforting tone made the woman twitch, and when she looked back at her, Ochako smiled wider. “There’s no need to worry. I am going to keep you perfectly safe. I promise. Just hold tight onto my hand.”

Ochako offered the woman her other hand. The woman blinked down at it. Then, slowly, she released Ochako’s arm. She slowly extended her hand out, and when she put it in hers, Ochako squeezed it tight to make sure all her finger pads were touching the woman’s skin. Ochako then touched herself, and they began to float off the ground.

“A-ah!” the woman cried, kicking her legs a little. She cried out again when one of her heels fell off.

“It’s okay!” Ochako reassured her. “Don’t look down! Just look at me!”

It took a minute for the woman to tear her gaze away from the dizzying height spreading below the edge of the roof. She did, though, and Ochako smiled brightly. “Just look at me, okay? We’ll be down before you know it!”

The woman nodded and kept her watery gaze fixed on Ochako. Ochako stretched out her foot to give herself a little propulsion, and then they were sailing out into the empty air. The woman laughed nervously and squeezed Ochako’s hand in a vice-grip.

“O-oh, goodness! Oh, we’re flying, oh—oohh, this is… this is kind of nice,” the woman said. She looked around at the cityscape around them, ablaze in twinkling lights—cars, buildings, streetlamps, traffic stops. Maybe under different circumstances, Ochako could appreciate the view, too. But instead, she was staring at the battle-rocked building, watching for the characteristic flash of Katsuki’s explosions within.

Even now, when this woman depended on Ochako most, all Ochako could think about was him.

They floated a few yards into the open air, and once they had made it past the firefight, Ochako began to guide them down to the ground, alternating between releasing and activating her Quirk to give them a gradual descent. The police caught sight of them and scrambled to make a landing zone, bringing out one of the firefighter’s trampolines. Ochako let them down gently onto it, and when she released her Quirk, the woman stumbled a little as gravity took effect.

“Ma’am! Ma’am, please come this way,” a nearby police officer said and held his hand out to the woman. The woman took his hand and stepped down from the trampoline, awkwardly limping on her one heel as she was guided to the ambulance. “Are you hurt, ma’am? Can you tell me your name?” The woman ignored his blathering to turn around and try to get back to Ochako.

“Oh, wait, wait! I must thank you. Young lady!” She kicked off her other heel so she could hike up her skirt and rush back to Ochako, who was just climbing down from the trampoline herself. “Young lady, what is your name?”

“Uravity, ma’am.”

“Uravity,” the woman said with a smile. “Thank you, Uravity. You and your partner saved me.”

At the mention of Katsuki, Ochako looked back at the building. She shouldn’t go back in, she knew it. It was against protocol. Ochako had to stay with the woman through debriefing, give a report…

The woman smiled knowingly at Ochako.

“You should go get him. He’s waiting for you.” When Ochako’s head whipped around so she could gape at her in shock, her smile turned wistful. “I thought I knew what it was like, to be in love. It seems that I was mistaken… But I’ve seen it now. It’s what you two have.”

Love?! Ochako reeled. She thinks I love him? More than that, she thinks Katsuki loves me? It was outrageous. It was ludicrous. It was—

It was true. Ochako did love Katsuki. If this night had proved anything, it was that. Ochako loved Katsuki, and there was no way that she was going to leave him to fight in there alone. If that made her a bad hero, then Ochako quite frankly didn’t give a damn.

Ochako had saved the woman and won the day. Now, it was time to save Katsuki and win their future.

“Now, Uravity, I need a full report—” a police officer started as he approached her with a pad and a pencil. He stopped short with a gasp as Ochako didn’t even acknowledge him and instead sprinted full speed toward the police barricade. “Hey! You can’t go back in there! Come back!”

Ochako did not go back. Instead, she vaulted herself over the police barricade and activated her Quirk in mid-air. She sailed through the debris and spray of bullets, coasting right over the armed mercenaries’ heads to land back in the ballroom. She landed in a roll, ducking behind the nearest overturned table as some of them turned their guns on her. She didn’t have time to deal with them; she had to find Katsuki. She floated the table and held onto it with one hand, using it as a shield against the gunfire while she ran back across the ballroom toward the back door.

It had been beaten off its hinges, bent at an odd angle and forced open. She clambered over it and wedged the bullet-ridden table in the gap. There were a few more thunks of bullets slamming into the solid wood before the gunmen gave up and resumed fending off the police. That was one obstacle surmounted. Now, Ochako had to find Katsuki in this labyrinth of a building.

The first-floor hallway was quiet now aside from the rumble of distant fighting and the zapping of the broken lights above her head. Ochako crept down the hall, pausing every few feet until the sparks of electricity from the shattered bulbs illuminated her surroundings. It was chaos, bullet-riddled walls and blown-out windows and smashed doors, but there were still signs of her partner—small puddles of blood and large patches of soot, gradually leading further into the depths of the building. Ochako would just have to follow this twisted trail of bread crumbs until it hopefully led her to her quarry… for better or for worse.

She followed the remnants of battle into a large conference room. The roof had fallen in, onto the round table to form a makeshift slope. Ochako climbed up it to the second floor, into a set of cubicle offices. Several unconscious men were draped over the short walls, singed and dusted in soot. She carefully picked her way around the overturned chairs, scattered papers, and broken printers toward the opposite side of the room.

She froze when she heard Katsuki yelling in the distance, followed by several explosions and gunfire. The room quivered, and dust rained from the ceiling. He has to be on this floor! she realized. Before she could take off running, though, a groaning man crawled out of the cubicle next to her. He made eye contact with her and froze; then, his eyes slowly drifted toward his discarded gun. He lunged for it, and at the same time, Ochako snatched up a discarded helmet from the floor. Just as he had slapped his hand down on the machine gun, Ochako was on him, slamming the helmet down onto the back of his head. He went limp.

“This might come in handy,” she huffed, spinning the helmet in her hand before gripping it by the visor. She left the unconscious criminal to his involuntary nap and proceeded out of the room, following the sounds of battle.

As she drew closer, the signs of Katsuki’s struggle grew more apparent. More and more soot blackened the walls, if they hadn’t been destroyed completely. Bits and pieces of paper littered the carpeted floor, several of them aflame. A potted plant smoked with embers in the corner, and as she passed, Ochako licked her thumb and forefinger and pinched the flame that was igniting on the papery leaf. And everything was rumbling, vibrating with each explosion that rocked the building’s frame.

Close… I have to be getting close now!

Ochako turned a corner just in time to see a man get blasted out of one room and into the other. There was a loud crash, and Ochako peered into the room to see him splayed out over a collapsed desk. Smoke billowed from his charred clothes.

Katsuki! Ochako realized in delight and hurried to look into the opposite room. Her excitement, however, was short-lived.

Katsuki was standing against the back wall, which was a floor-to-ceiling window; it had been shattered in, sending the wind spilling into the room. It ruffled the papers strewn all over the floor, pushing them forward until they swirled around the legs of the five men surrounding Katsuki. A large work desk was pushed up against one wall; based on the bullets riddling it, Katsuki had been using it as a shield until the men had gotten ahold of it. Now Katsuki was defenseless.

Worse, he was even more wounded than when Ochako had left him. In addition to the bullet hole in his abdomen, which was still very much bleeding profusely, there was a large chunk of meat blown out of the side of his shoulder. He had a large scratch across his forehead, and the blood running down his face forced him to squeeze his eye shut against the sting. Sweat glowed on his skin, mixing with the blood and dust that caked his body from head to toe.

“I gotta say, kid, you sure gave us more hell than I coulda anticipated,” one of the armed men said while slapping the barrel of his gun against his hand, as if it were a baseball bat instead of a deadly weapon. “I wouldn’t have expected you to take down fifteen of my men, wounded as you were. U.A. sure does produce some scrappers, eh?”

Their attention was focused on Katsuki. If Ochako was careful, she could attack with the element of surprise! But she had to make sure Katsuki didn’t get caught in the crossfire. She crouched down on all fours and began to pick her way around the corner of the room, inching her way toward the overturned desk. It was a torturous pace, for she had to time her movements with the shifting of the papers. One wrong move, one loud crinkle, and she and Katsuki would be done for.

Her presence didn’t go unnoticed by Katsuki. His red eyes flickered down to her for a fraction of a second before immediately moving back to the armed men, not wishing to arouse their suspicion. Stall, please stall! Ochako prayed silently, hoping that he would think of the same thing.

And of course, Katsuki did.

“Say, what’s in it for you bozos, anyway?” Katsuki huffed. “This pretentious prick hires you to do all the dirty work and kill his wife in some over-the-top assassination plot. As soon as things go south, he hauls ass, leaving you to clean up the mess. It sounds to me like you losers got the shaft!”

“Hey, boss, do you think he’s right?” one of the men frowned, leaning in to speak to his commander in a low, uncertain voice. “For all we know, he’s on a private jet outta the country… You think we’re still gonna get paid?”

“Of course we’re gonna get paid!” the man snapped and whacked his subordinate over the head. “I don’t care where that jackass flies off to! If we don’t get our money, we’re gonna hunt him down and take care of him!”

“But we didn’t even kill the woman,” another man frowned thoughtfully. “If we didn’t complete the mission, does he even have the right to pay us?”

“We shoot people for a living! Why are we debating the principles of compensation for incomplete labor? It doesn’t matter if we get the job done or not! We get paid for trying, simple as that!”

While they bickered, Ochako continued to crawl across the floor. She wormed her way into the small space between the desk and the wall, then carefully maneuvered herself into a favorable position. Each brush of her clothes against the wood made her heart stop; she would freeze and frantically peer out at the men to ensure that they were still squabbling before resuming her actions. Finally, she wriggled her way into a crouched position, her feet flat against the floor with her heels braced against the wall. She placed her palms against the desk, activating her Quirk to make it levitate a few centimeters off the floor. She took a deep breath in, then let it out.

Now!

She shoved the desk, propelling it across the room. As soon as it was within grasp, Katsuki grabbed onto it and pulled it to him so he could duck down behind it. The men’s heads all snapped towards it, their mouths agape in shock; they were too preoccupied with the sudden movement of the furniture to even register Ochako spinning across the room. Helmet in hand, she catapulted into the nearest gunman and knocked him to the floor. She swiftly whacked him over the head with it, and he went limp underneath her. As the men began to turn to her, fingers on the triggers of their guns, she floated the man and kicked him forward.

“Ooof!” the four men cried in unison as their unconscious comrade slammed into them. One of them instinctively dropped their gun to catch him—a grievous mistake. He had no manner of defense against the heroine, who sprang into the air and brought the helmet crashing down on his head. He crumpled like a ragdoll, and his friend fell on top of him.

“Kill her! Kill her!” the commander shrieked. “Kill he—mmmfffpphff!” His deranged screeches were cut off as the potted plant that Ochako had flung at him slammed into his face, filling his mouth with leaves. He flung it to the side and looked around wildly with his mouth nearly frothing with rage. But Ochako had quickly side-stepped around him and was now standing with the helmet poised above his head.

“Nighty-night!” she chirped before bringing it down with all her strength. There was a sickening crack, and then his knees were buckling inward and his eyes rolling into the back of his head. His body dropped. Ochako looked from his still body to the two remaining men, who were just gaping stupidly at her.

“You know, we’re not getting paid,” one shrugged and tossed his gun to the side.

“Yeah, we’re just gonna, uh, go question our lives and think about finding some new employment,” the other laughed nervously and followed suit. They ran out of the room so fast that Ochako could almost see their imprints of dust clouds floating in their wake. Mercs, she thought with a roll of her eyes.

Katsuki peered over the top of the desk and squinted at the helmet in Ochako’s hand.

“Did you just beat the shit out of those guys with one of their own helmets?”

“Sure did,” Ochako smirked. She spun it on her finger like a basketball. Wait, what was she doing? Katsuki was seriously hurt! She flung it over her shoulder and leaped at the desk, scrambling over it like a monkey in her effort to get to him. She kneeled on top of it as she fluttered her hands all over him, not sure what wound to try and address first.

“Cheeks. Hey, Cheeks, I’m fine,” Katsuki laughed. He immediately groaned, falling forward and catching himself on the edge of the desk. He coughed, then peered through his sweat-soaked bangs at Ochako. “Okay… Maybe I’m a little less than fine.”

“Of course you’re not fine! You’ve been shot!”

“Eh, I’ll live,” he shrugged. But he continued to support his weight against the desk, his head hung just underneath Ochako’s chin. “You got the woman out, right? You should have just stayed outside. I told you I would follow.”

Oh, of all the—! Ochako thought with an indignant huff. She cupped his sweaty, bloody, dirty cheeks in her hands, forcing him to look up at her.

“And I told you that I was going to come back,” she retorted matter-of-factly. “There was no way I was going to leave you to fight all those villains by yourself!”

“You worry too much.” His voice rumbled like a cat’s purr, throwing Ochako off guard. He leaned into her touch, tip of his nose brushing against the line of her jaw and his ruby-red eyes burning into hers. “But I guess it’s all right. Watching you pulverize all those extras like that was pretty hot.”

“Eh?” Ochako blinked in confusion. Sure, she had come to the realization that she was in fact in love with Katsuki, but she hadn’t really thought about what to do when confronted with that. She laughed lamely and stammered, “You-you’re acting pretty weird… Maybe you’ve lost too much blood…”

“Maybe. So I guess you’ll forgive me if I do this?” he asked with an upward twitch of his eyebrows. Then he was diving forward to capture her mouth in a hungry open-mouthed kiss. He stole the breath right out of Ochako’s mouth, and then every one after, leaving her lungs screaming for air. But she didn’t dare pull away. His lips were like honey on hers, so overwhelmingly syrupy sweet that it immediately made her addicted. And Katsuki must have felt the same way, because he kissed her like he wanted to devour her; he smashed against her lips over and over like he wanted to claim every piece of her and incorporate it into himself. And hell, Ochako would let him.

“Been wanting to do that all night,” Katsuki purred as soon as he pulled away. “Do you know how hard it was to focus on that guy when you were right in front of me in this dress?” He gestured at Ochako’s person, and she giggled.

“Probably just as hard as it was for me to focus with you in your tux!”

“Well, I do look sexy as fuck,” Katsuki smirked with a self-satisfied head waggle. Ochako snorted and smacked him lightly on the shoulder. Even though it was his non-injured one, it still made him flinch.

“Oh, gosh, I’m sorry!”

“Don’t sweat it, Cheeks,” Katsuki chuckled. His expression was strained, though, making Ochako pout doubtfully. Katsuki smiled in amusement at her sulking; it turned into an impish smirk, and he reached up to playfully pinch her bottom lip between his thumb and index finger. She squeaked in indignance, and he laughed. “Seriously, stop your worrying,” he smiled softly. “I’m all right now. I’ve got you to look after me, right?”

He let go of her lip, and she smiled sweetly at him.

“Yeah. Of course. Always.”

“Atta girl,” he hummed, then leaned in to gently press his forehead to hers. “I promise, as I soon as I get patched up, you ‘n me are gonna finish that dance.” His face then twisted into a grimace. “Okay, now I think I really may have lost too much blood. I’m startin’ to feel funny…”

“Oh my—Katsuki!”

Well, Ochako’s love story certainly wasn’t as Cinderella-esque as she’d thought. But it was hers, and she’d gotten her Prince Charming in the end. And she was sure their “happily ever after” would be just as exhilarating.

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