Cussed (Kacchako)

TWENTY-THREE

Some 20 Hours Prior
Katsuki watched Hawks fly out of the gym with Ochako and tried, unsuccessfully, to stamp down his irritation. Luckily, disappointment was vying for primacy at the same time and they managed to balance each other out. He took a deep breath and left the gym, heading back to the dorm. He would shower and then get the food promised for the kids.
 
***
 
Katsuki grimaced at the knock on his door. The students had proved largely not to need caretakers; either they were naturally well behaved, or they were unwilling to make him or Ochako unhappy—for different reasons, he was sure. As such, the afternoon and early evening had gone relatively well, and he had been in his room reading up on more of what Ochako had found the other day. He still didn’t understand a lot of the science, but he had found several of those videos that explain things on the level of fifth graders, and that had helped. He had been hoping that most of the night would be uninterrupted, other than breaks for feeding the kittens. He stood up and went to the door.
 
Several students milled at the door looking uneasy. “Sensei…” Nyanko stepped forward holding her phone, “Where’s Uraraka-sensei?”
 
Something about her tone of voice made Katsuki’s stomach sink. “She was called earlier to help evacuate after an explosion.” He paused, “Why? Was there something on a hero site about the explosion?”
 
The girl swallowed and her ears wilted, “Th-there was this stream, and it showed Uraraka-sensei leaving a building and….and have you heard from her? Is she ok?”
 
Katsuki opened his mouth to demand more details when his phone, abandoned on his desk, started ringing. He stared across the room at the sound. Was it the call? Every hero had gotten that call; it was impossible not to have lost someone after being in the field for over a decade. “Bakugo-sensei?” the voice broke him out of his shock and he went to the desk and grabbed the phone.
 
“Icyhot?”
“Bakugo, Momo is on her way over there, you need to get to the hospital.”
“Todoroki, what—”
“She’s almost there. You need to leave, now. Midoriya and I are at the hospital,” there was a pause on the other end of the phone. “We’re here with Uraraka. She’s going into surgery. I don’t know what’s going on between you two, but I think you should come. We’ll brief you when you get here.”
 
“Brief?!” Katsuki shouted, but the call had already ended. He shoved the phone into his pocket and turned to the door, surprised to see a group of teenagers staring at him from the door. They scrambled aside as he stalked towards the door.
 
“Bakugo-sensei, was that about—”
 
“Creati is on her way here. I’m leaving.” He was out front doors of the dorm and in the air the next step, his explosions damaging the ground as they propelled him into the air. What the fuck had happened?! Ochako wasn’t sloppy. It doesn’t matter, a small voice in the back of his reminded him. It doesn’t matter, a lucky shot is all it takes. Icyhot did not, or would not, say how bad it was. He put more strength into his explosions, ignoring the pain that started to work up his arms and across his shoulders.
 
***
 
Stories always show people rushing to the hospital, but the truth was that you almost always end up rushing just so that you could wait around the lobby. Ochako had gone into surgery while he was traveling there, and she would be in surgery for a while. If something went wrong, he wouldn’t be able to do anything and its not like he could see her. Honestly, there was no reason for him to be drinking shitty hospital coffee, but he would never forgive himself if he went home and something did happen. So, he waited in the uncomfortable hospital chairs drinking lukewarm brown water.
 
Todoroki only had time to give him a brief rundown when he came rushing into the hospital. She had been shot twice. They didn’t know by who, Hawks had flown her to the hospital while he and Midoriya had gone into the building to try and find someone. After that brief breakdown, he had had to go and talk to the damn police chief to give a more detailed report. That tight-ass had made it clear Katsuki wasn’t invited. Katsuki dug the heels of his palms into his eyes and tried to calm down. Being angry would just drain his energy. He pulled his hands down and slide his eyes to the side when he heard someone setting down next to him. “Science lady. What are you doing here?”
 
Melissa smiled at him and handed him another cup of coffee. “You look exhausted, Bakugo-san. Though you should eat if you’re going to drink all this coffee.” She didn’t seem insulted when he just grunted at her. “Izuku called me and told me what happened, so here I am."
 
“I didn’t think you and Uraraka were friends,” he said blunty. Especially since she and Ochako's ex were now shacking up. See? I can be tactful, he thought somewhat sullenly, he hadn’t said that last part out loud.
 
“We are acquaintances.  But I’m not here just for her. Izuku is really upset about what happened.” She paused to take a sip out of the drink in her hand. “The four of us….it’s complicated, isn’t it?”
 
“Nothing complicated about it,” Katsuki growled. Ochako was with him, even if they hadn’t really talked about it in so many words. He was going to remedy that though, once it was obvious that she was ok. That way no one could say things were complicated.
 
Melissa chuckled, “Fine, let’s say things are awkward instead.”
 
“Do you know what happened?” Katsuki asked, changing the subject. If he had to talk to this woman, he might as get some useful information out of her.
 
Melissa stared into her own cup of coffee for a moment before saying anything. “Unfortunately, I probably know less than you when it comes to what exactly happened to Uraraka-san at the port. She was shot and they brought her here.” She sighed. “Guns in a world with quirks. I do know that Izuku and Todoroki-san were at the port because of the case they’re on.”
 
Katsuki sat up fully now. “Midoriya’s been running things by you?” It made sense, she was a science lady.
 
Melissa smiled, “I do have a background in science,” she said, echoing his thoughts. “I heard it was Uraraka-san that made the CRISPR catch. Very impressive.” Katsuki let himself feel a moment of pride for Ochako in her absence. “They were hoping they could get a better idea of what things the companies were working on by looking at the manifests while they were in quarantine at the port. My understanding is that they ran into the group you all are looking for while they were in the middle of another theft.”
 
Katsuki sat up. “As in actually ran in to? Did they see them? Was--"
 
“And now you’re asking questions I don’t have the slightest answer to, Bakugo-san,” Melissa cut him off before he could get ahead of himself.
 
Katsuki bit back the questions that the Hero in him wanted to ask. The science lady didn’t have the answers he wanted, and he was supposedly taking a break from that. He paused and then asked a question that had been bothering him since earlier, “Why did you say things were complicated?”
 
She quirked a brow at him before chuckling. “I had heard that you didn’t care much for the niceties of social etiquette, but surely even you would find talking to the new partner of your current partner’s previous partner a bit complicated, no?”
 
“Anyone would find it complicated if you explained it like that,” he grumbled. “I meant, how did you know it was complicated?”
 
“Oh, there’s been quite a lot of talk about it when we’re all together.”
 
Katsuki choked on his coffee. “When who all are together?”
 
Melissa put a finger to her chin and cocked her head to the side in thought. The damn woman seemed to be counting. “Well, I suppose it started with Todoroki-san saying something…..well, you know him. The man isn’t known for his delicacy. Momo-chan tried to un-ring that bell, but Mina and her darling husband were there, and well, we all started talking.” Melissa leaned in and patted his arm, “For what it’s worth, Kirashima-san did try to rein Mina in.”
 
At the emphasis the woman put on the word ‘try', Katsuki felt his stomach sink and his face heat. “What—” Katsuki coughed, clearing his throat and hoping that would make it sound less panicked, “What was said?”
 
Now Melissa leaned back. Gone was the consoling woman and, in her place, was one that wouldn’t look him in eye and was trying to put as much distance as possible between them while still remaining polite. “Oh you know, it was just girl talk really.”
 
“Girl talk. That icy-hot and shitty-hair took part in.”
 
“Bakugo-san,” Melissa said, her voice a little higher pitched than before. Katsuki couldn’t decide if she sounded panicked or on the verge of hysterics. “We don’t know what’s going on. Mina just suggested that maybe there have been a few…um…false starts? False starts with sparks? And—”
 
She broke off when Katsuki buried his face in his hands with a groan. God damn what had Kirishima taken from the things he had said? What had Ochako said to the pink girl? What has she then taken from that? And what the hell did the rest of the guys now think of the two of them? And—
 
“They’re moving her into a room.” Midoriya’s voice carried as he walked into the lobby. “She’s still unconscious, but she’s out of surgery.” Katsuki leapt out of his chair but ground to a halt when Midoriya stepped in front of him, reaching up to a put a quelling hand to his chest. Katsuki stopped before the other man could touch him. “She’s still unconscious Kacchan. We need to talk.”
 
“I’ll go sit in with her,” Melissa said, forestalling any argument. “That way she won’t be alone when she wakes up and I can get you the moment that happens.” She turned to Midoriya, “What room?” he told her and she hurried off.
 
After locking eyes with the other man for a moment, Katsuki stepped to the side and slowly started walking in the same direction. “Talk. What the fuck happened out there today? A fucking gun?”
 
Midoriya's jaw seemed tense, but he answered. “We turned a corner and ran into a group of them. Probably wouldn’t have taken them as anything more than dock workers, but one didn’t have the best poker face, and when we noticed, they panicked. Literally blew the buildings while jumping out the second floor window. Not just our building, but others in the complex as well. They seemed to be gone by the time we got ourselves out of the rubble. That’s when we called and had Hawks bring Uraraka over to help out.”
 
“You didn’t clear the area?” Katsuki demanded.
 
Midoriya's jaw clenched again before he said, “Rescuing survivors was our top priority, and it didn’t make sense that they would stay after creating such a spectacular distraction.”
 
“Well you were fucking wrong about that, weren’t you? And Ochako got—”
 
Midoriya turned on him, “Why are you blaming this on me, Kacchan? This is all your fault! You—”
 
“Me?!” Katsuki roared. “I wasn’t the one who—”
 
“She was always level headed before you! No way should would have done something rash—”
 
“She wasn’t doing something rash she was doing her job! A job that you didn’t give her proper backup—”
 
“Job?!” Now Midoriya was yelling. “Her job is to work on rescue detail! What was she thinking fighting—”
 
“She was thinking like the fucking HERO she is!!” Midoriya stepped back and even Katsuki was a little shocked with how angry his voice had become. He opened his mouth again, to say something more subdued he was sure, when the door slip open and Melissa stepped out.
 
“She’s awake,” she said flatly. Wiser men would have heard the undercurrent of annoyance in her voice. Neither men were wise as they both tried to shove through the door way. “Not you big guy, you can check on her another time,” Melissa said, putting a hand to Midoriya’s chest and letting Katsuki slip by her. He didn’t look back, but he assumed no one else followed him in after he heard the door slide shut.
 
Katsuki hate hospital rooms. He found he hated them even more when Ochako was confined to one. He made it to the chair by her bed before his knees collapsed. He wouldn’t put money on whether or not he would have been able to remain standing if the chair hadn’t been there.
 
“Katsuki.” He felt a hand on the side of his face along with the name. He leaned into the hand and just looked at her. She was bruised. Her large, brown eyes were hollow. Her arm was secured to her torso, preventing any movement. “I’m ok.”
 
Katsuki grabbed the hand that started to slip from his cheek and it held it there. “You’re ok?”
 
She gave him a weak smile. “Yes.”
 
After a moment’ pause, Katsuki stood up. “Scoot over.”
 
“Wha—”
 
“Make yourself light.” Still looking confused, Ochako complied. Katsuki gently maneuvered her to the other side of the hospital bed before setting her down gently. Her confusion shaded into one of her face blushes that he loved so much when he started to crawl into bed with her. “Hush. You have to stay in this fucking place, and I’m sure as hell not going to leave until you get to leave too. This way we both get to sleep.”
 
“I thought you were going to yell at me,” she said quietly.
 
“Why would I yell at you for being good at your job?”
 
After a moment, Ochako relaxed into his chest and he suddenly felt like he could breathe normally again. Once he could take her home he was definitely going to sit down and have a talk with her. No more confusion or complications. Perhaps he could take her to get dumplings.
 
 
^^^^^^^^^
 
Heee~~y, I’m back! Thank you everyone for your well wishes. As I’m sure some of you unfortunately know, when you’re struggling with grief, you can start feeling guilty over things, and everyone was so nice and supportive over my long absence it helped keep my guilt to a minimum. I do feel bad at how short this chapter is after being gone so long but....well, I had a rough time.
 
I wish I had better news, but my dad did pass away from cancer, hastened by covid, this January. The months leading up to it were very hard since I couldn’t visit, and covid made it so I couldn’t even be there with him as he went. As someone who works in Healthcare, I support most of these covid restrictions but they still really fucking suck. Anyways, my mom passed 4 years ago, so that left me to handle everything on my own. I had some help from extended family, but a lot of the mundane stuff like paperwork and calls to various government entities have been using up most of my energy.
 
Today though, I’ve felt better than I have in ages and wasn’t exhausted the moment I opened my laptop. I took that as a sign to finish this gosh dang chapter!
 
The story is about 65-70% through. I’m hoping to be writing more often now, since it seems like my grief has released its hold on me (for now). I still have work and school which will take up time, but I’m hoping by the end of summer.
 
Which leads me to address what next. A friend of mine has been supportive (pushy? Whiny? Demanding?) of my writing and they’re suggesting that I find some way to monetize it, and I’ve been throwing some ideas around in my head, and wanted to get y’all's thoughts because you’re the ones who have supported me.
 
First, are you even interested in other, non-fanfiction writing I might to do? I’ve had a few false starts, but I’ve got a story that’s slowly coming together that I’m really excited about, and I hope at least some of you might be as well.
 
So, if the answer to that is yes, the next question is how to monetize it. These are some of the suggestions my friend gave me:
 
Patreon—nothing outrageous, maybe $1 per month and I could do limited give aways for each story arch where I put your name and/or character into the story as a side character with a bit of their own story if people are willing to tip extra that month.
 
Twitch—I game for fun (used to at least), and my friend has been suggesting I do vtubing. As part of my twitch channel, I could read a chapter or two on set days of the week where people would have the opportunity to tip if they were able.
 
Youtube—similar to twitch, it just wouldn’t be live. I would upload two ish times a week and put ads on the videos. This appeals to me because I’d feel kinda bad putting stuff behind a paywall if people really did enjoy what I was writing.
 
The revenue would also keep me eager about the writing and help me not be lazy lol.
 
Anyways, tell me what you think, once this story is done would you: even read non-fanfic fantasy from me, and if you would, do you think patreon, twitch, or YouTube is the way to go? Or some combination of those?
 
Hope you all are well and that you’ve stayed safe. Ramadan Mubarak, to those of you who celebrate Ramadan. Happy April to everyone else (it’s my birthday .nothing, so I will make it a happy one, dammit!)