From the Ground Up: Kacchako

Chapter 6: Underrated

Underrated seemed like a horrible word. But Uraraka felt like that was how she'd describe Bakugou. Yeah, Underrated seemed very fitting.

He screamed, he yelled, he threw tantrums, but he was strong. And he always pulled through. But as he blew a hole into the floor and her entire world tilted she thought of a few other words to describe him. And she didn't fall through just one floor, she fell through the whole goddamn building.
She stopped herself from landing last minute with her quirk and stared at the broken ground mere inches from her face.
"Release"

She said, and fell the last few inches to the floor. Something like a groan mixed with a growl came from her throat when she tried to get up, her arms screaming at the effort. She guessed her body had tried to freeze up from the shock. She cut her fingers on the broken cement on the floor when she pushed her self up. A hand grabbed her arm, as if to pull her up, and she slapped it away knowing who it was.
"Don't touch me, katsuki"
He stepped back and she got up herself. She cracked her back and rolled her neck.
When she turned to him he had an odd look on his face, as if trying to figure out what she'd do next. Without any warning she slapped him across the face, hard. His head flew to the side. He was too stunned to react for a few seconds. Someone behind them gasped. She looked over shoulder at them. Kirishima, Iida, And Denki stood there stunned.
"Dude- what happened?"
Kirishima asked, his eyes wide and his arms slack.
"I've never seen anyone slap you like that!"

Bakugou didn't answer, so Uraraka stomped away, anger boiling inside her chest. She snatched the school jacket Iida was holding and wrapped it around herself.
"Uh- the others are in the cafeteria"
Denki said, but she didn't even nod her thanks. Just kept walking.
When she got the cafeteria the girls all crowded her, saying that she and bakugou were the last to arrive and they'd all been worried sick. Momo made some cloths for her and she changed into them while they acted as a barrier from a certain migit's prying eyes. Everyone had different cloths on, curtesy of Momo, and their suits were all piled into one corner. Midoriya put his hand on Uraraka's shoulder and smiled.
"Are you okay? I don't ever see you this angry"
She bit her lip and glared when Bakugou walked into the room with Kirishima and the others.
"Bakugou blew out the floor and I fell like ten stories"
Midoriya pulled his lips into a tight line.
"Ah, I think I'd be angry too. But, Kacchan can be too scary to stay mad at sometimes"
She crossed her arms across her chest.
"Sometimes, it's worth staying mad at him"
She pursed her lips when she found Bakugou staring at her, and he looked away with an unhappy look on his face.

A strange sentence kept playing in her head. When Momo had told her that she and bakugou were the last to arrive, she couldn't believe it. He was never last. He couldn't stand it. She cast a suspicious look in his direction before tying her hair back into a ponytail. Momo had made her a simple outfit, black shorts and a grey singlet that clung to her. She also had been made a pair of sneakers. The others all had on similar attire.
An hour later, they'd all gathered in a circle and were sitting, eating whatever food they'd managed to steal from the cupboards. Bakugou had gotten the only deserted chocolate bar and was nibbling on the end of it.
"I think,"
Midoriya said, swallowing some cold rice.
"I found a way out before, but only one person can get through at a time. It's a small gap in a unchecked window"
Bakugou sat a little straighter and crossed his legs. Midoriya continued.
"I think we should go and try to escape-"
"Can't be that easy,"
Bakugou said, and the others turned their heads to him.
"Think about it! We get trapped inside the school, isolated, with ridiculous bullshit challenges, and they leave a window open? No way, I say we keep searching"
"That's what I thought too! But I stuck my arm through, and I could feel sunlight and fresh air on my skin"
Midoriya countered, and bakugou looked murderous. Right now, Kirishima sat between uraraka and bakugou, and she was prepared to hide behind him and use him as a human shield. He winked at her with a hint of mischief, sensing what she was thinking, and chomped down on whatever he was eating.

Todoroki began talking.
"Bakugou, Uraraka, What did you two find on your floor?"
Bakugou sneered.
"Nothing. Just more empty rooms"
"Then why did you take so long to come back?"
He refused to answer, so Uraraka jumped in.
"We were locked in. Something intoxicated us through gas, and someone tried to play twisted games with us,"
She scrambled for something to make their time wasting more forgivable, more believable.
"A-And, the gas somehow disabled our quirks. We only escaped once Bakugou could use his quirk again"
The lie tasted bitter in her mouth, but the others nodded and focused on Todoroki again.
"Then we go to this window midoriya found. No one else found anything, so we look there first and explore other options if that fails"

On the way there, Bakugou leant down to Uraraka's ear and whispered to her.
"Why did you do that?"
"Do what?"
She asked, cutting him a side glance. She was still mad at him.
"Lie. God forbid you lie to everyone about anything, so why lie for me?"
She puffed out her cheeks.
"Because I knew you would topple over like a snapped stick if there was no reason why you were last, that you lost to everyone else"
He lost the pattern in his footing slightly, and her brows went up.
"I didn't lose for no reason"
She chewed on the inside of her cheek.
"Well it doesn't matter now. Let's just find a way out"
His hand wrapped around her upper arm and she snapped her head to him.
"I think deku was lying"
He said quietly, and her eyes widened in horror.
"Wha-"
"I know, I know. But, I've known him forever. The bastard probably didn't think I noticed, but he was lying, Ochako. He was."
"What do I care?"
She said, not entirely kindly. His head tilted to the side in confusion. For a few seconds he was blank, then quickly screwed up his face in frustration and let her go, wiping his hand on his shirt as if it were dirty.
"Whatever. Just don't come crying to me when he leaves us all behind"
She didn't bother to look at him the rest of the way there, but she did think about his words. Bakugou didn't lie- but neither did Midoriya, didn't he? She crossed her arms like a child and ducked her head. Who would she believe?