Hot-Headed (Now also a podfic on spotify!)

Chapter 19

Ochako awoke the next day to her mother calling her down for breakfast. She hopped down the stairs and sat at the table to eat breakfast while her father checked his phone and her mother watched her morning talk shows.

"So," her mother asked, not taking her eyes off of the TV, "I hope Bakugo had a good visit last night."

Ochako stopped chewing for a second and looked up at her mother who still had her eyes on the TV.

"Yeah!" she said with a little too much cheeriness, "He left a few minutes after you guys went upstairs. He said he came by to give me a birthday present." She went back to her food.

"That's so thoughtful of him!" her mother said, diverting her attention from the TV finally, "What did he bring you?"

She paused again, realizing her blunder.

Well you really thought that one through, her own mind sniped at her.

She had to think fast.

"Uh, well, it had to do with work," she said quickly, "I've been asking him to figure out a way for me to have footholds so it would be easier to ride on his back and now, he did it! So happy birthday to me!"

She grinned at her mother.

"That's so great, sweetie," her mom chirped, giving her a warm smile, "I'm glad he's being a considerate partner to you."

Ochako gave a little nod.

"Mrs. Bakugo will be so happy to hear her son came all this way to be so sweet and to wish you a happy birthday."

"Yeah..." Ochako said, feeling awkward. It felt weird to be encompassing so many people in a lie. Yes, he had been there last night to give her a gift but that gift was most definitely not work related. Hopefully, he would play along if his mother asked about it.

She didn't see the smirk that came over her mother's lips as she picked up her phone and tapped the 'Mitsuki' contact to start a text.

---

She spent a couple more days lounging around with her parents and catching up with her homework that she had left off until the last moment.

By the time she finally emerged from her room, a huge homework hangover bogging her down, it was New Year's Eve.

Deku called, having finally come back from taking his mother skiing. He told her all about how terrible he had been. He never excelled at sports, which seemed ironic to Ochako. For crying out loud, he was the strongest student at UA and All Might's protege. But, apparently, he could not properly french fry and pizza. The mental image alone made her feel like cracking up.

After she was finally done giggling over that, Deku discussed going back to school and how their final term at UA would turn out. Now was a time for them to swap out to another work study too if they so chose but Ochako felt like she was happy where she was and he felt the same. Endeavor seemed to be someone he enjoyed working under and she assumed he would get a job at his agency until he was ready to venture out on his own.

The conversation hit a lull and Deku went quiet for a minute.

"Ochako-chan," he said in a slightly quieter voice.

"Yeah, Deku?"

"I was thinking... we don't have a whole lot of time in the school year any more. I've been pretty patient these last few months but now I feel like it's the right time to fight for you."

Ochako barely breathed as he spoke.

"I still want to be with you and I want you to give us a shot. If you're still not sure by now then I'm going to just assume you're not really interested anymore. I think I can accept that despite the fact that I really care about you, but I need you to tell me now."