From the Ground Up: Kacchako

Chapter 7: run away

The window midoriya had found wasn't large, but wasn't small either. And he hadn't been lying, it was slightly open. The blackness outside hadn't changed, but there was a breeze streaming in through the crack. Bakugou lightly toed the floor as he watched the others gather around the small opening.
There was a scorching hot burning in his thigh, but he wouldn't let it show. Not here. Not now.
His hands were buried deep into the pockets of his new pants, and his sleeveless shirt clung tightly to him. He hated being here. He hated being stuck in a box like a labrat and told what to do and where to go. But still, he hated being close to Ochako more. Even being near her made a weird feeling go through him. Like even if he built up the strongest walls he could she would always be able to see through him. It made him feel weak. Vulnerable. And that pain in his thigh, he had trouble keeping his mouth shut about it.
Still, he kind of enjoyed the tenseness gone from his shoulders. After their- incident together- he'd felt like a weight had been lifted off him. Didn't change the fact that she wouldn't stop looking at damn deku, though. Staring at him with big googly eyes like a love sick puppy. It made his hands feel hot and his chest tighten.

He felt like grabbing her arm and screaming to stop staring at deku, but what good was that? She didn't even believe him when he'd swore to her that something wasn't right. Her hair was up in a bun and she walked with her hands behind her back, and he spotted something on her neck. A dark purple bruise, dead centre on the side of her throat. His eyes flung wide and his jaw clenched tightly. Without thinking he plucked the hair tie from her and held it at arms length. She turned on him with a cute angry look.
"Hey! Give that back!"
"I need it more!"
"Wha- for what?!"
He leaned in close so no one else could hear,
"Because I don't have a damn purple bullseye on my throat"
She gasped and slapped her hand over the spot, quickly combing her hair around her neck with her fingers. He chuckled and slid the band onto his wrist as deku walked up to the window.
Bakugou had already gone to a few other of his classmates, the ones he thought might listen about his suspicions, but they'd all said they trust deku and that he was wrong. So he hung at the back of the crowd with his arms crossed. Deku held up his hands.
"See! It's a way out, I tested it before. It's completely safe!"

Bakugou lightly toyed with the band on his wrist and waited. Anytime now.
"Who will go first?"
Todoroki said, and just as Bakugou thought, deku stepped up first. Kirishima stepped up to Bakugou's side.
"I know you don't like the dude, but he did find us a way out. Maybe you should give him some more credit?"
Bakugou snapped his head to glare at Kirishima so fast his neck cracked.
"What? He found a way out for himself! Face it, once he goes through that window and it closes, everyone here will be sitting on their asses because they were all relying on him to pull them through. Not me, I'll find my own way out"
Kirishima sighed with his eyes closed and tilted his head at Bakugou.
"Dude, you need a girlfriend"
Bakugou narrowed his eyes very slowly.
"Excuse me?"
"Someone to calm you down, get you to be more trusting and all that. I swear, some girl is out there waiting for you"
"You think so?"
"Oh yeah. Someone with low self-esteem, no sense of style, and no standards whatsoever"
Bakugou gripped the front of his friends shirt tightly.
"You little-"
Midoriya stepped up to the window and slipped through, and bakugou felt his eyes widen. The window snapped shut behind him so fast no one had time to blink. With a sharp bang it was closed, and likely never opening again. Bakugou dropped Kirishima and grinned. He'd been right after all. Ochako looked back at him from where she was standing. He made a face saying, I told you so. She looked away quickly.

Everyone that he'd warned earlier turned to look at him now, shock stamped on their faces like ink. He held up his arms.
"Well, I told you so."
The rest of the group turned to stare as well. Ochako was the only one with her eyes to the floor.
"Told us what?"
Momo said, and bakugou stepped forward. Almost protectively Todoroki stepped in front of her, blocking Bakugou's path towards the dark haired girl. Bakugou scoffed and ran his red eyes over his classmates.
"I told a few of you that he was lying, but the rest of you should have guessed. For the past two years you've all depended on deku like he was your life source. You're paying for it now. Did you all suddenly forget that he wasn't your leader? That you acted like damn sheep when he wasn't around?"
Frozen faces stared back at him. They didn't notice, then. They didn't notice how much they'd all come to depend on him for the answers, the way out. That this test would be to see how they'd all do without their favourite classmate.
"Predictable, all of you. You're all absolutely damn idiots if you didn't realise it. Of course this would've been the outcome"

He turned on his heel and walked away, deciding to search on his own. He'd already walked and turned down three hallways when something fast and hard collided with his back. He stayed on his feet but lost his balance a little. He went to turn around and hit whatever it was, but stopped when he realised there was a pair of slim arms wrapped around his waist. That there was a body behind him, considerably smaller than he was.
"I'm sorry"
Ochako murmured against his back, her voice vibrating into his shoulder blades.
"I shouldn't have doubted you. I should've believe you"
He looked at the ground and tightened his hands into fists.
"Sorry? Sorry? Sorry doesn't take back the fact that you were the first person I went to, and that you were the first person who didn't want to believe me. Who thought I was too stupid to see through the damn test"
She let him go and moved to stand in front of him, tilting her head back to look at him.
"That's not true! I just- I thought you were right but-"
"But you had your sites on deku, so you said fuck it and believed him instead"
"No! That's not it! I- I was just mad. Mad that you blew me through a building and didn't even think twice about whether I would break my spine when I fell!"

He closed his mouth and lowered his brows.
"Of course I thought twice. Did you even bother to notice where you landed?!"
She twisted her features into confusion. Then realisation washed over her face. He'd made sure she could land in the least dangerous spot. And because of that he'd gotten hurt, badly. As if she noticed the weird way he stood she pulled him around another corner and stood in front of him.
"Drop your pants"
She said, his brows went up.