Chapter Text
Uraraka Ochako’s family had always been a bit tight on money, and she grew up a frugal spender. When she had extra money, she always sent it back to her parents.
But that would never stop her from buying Animal Crossing. She had saved up and bought a Switch last year, anticipating the game’s release. The cute neighbors. Home design. Fishing, catching bugs, breeding plants — she wanted it all. It was a brief escape from the hard work she and her classmates put in daily at UA.
She’s in her third year now. Considerably stronger than she was her first year, too. In fact, she was now considered one of the strongest in her year, on top of being the best rescue hero in her class. Ranked fourth, behind Bakugou, Deku, and Todoroki, and she’s damned proud of herself. Making her quirk as strong as it is now took A LOT of vomiting, and she’d be damned if that wasn’t reflected in her class standing.
Multiple internships with some of Japan’s top heroes and high rankings on the sports festivals have helped, too.
So some time to put aside and play Animal Crossing was well deserved. She knew that. And when she was put into forced quarantine in the UA dorms yesterday, she was deep, deep, deeeeep down thrilled that she had an excuse to do nothing but develop her village with the occasional workout thrown in.
But she wasn’t the only one locked in the dorms. No — it was her and one other person. Bakugou Katsuki.
Everyone else was home, quarantined with their families as some new, dangerous virus spread through Japan like wildfire. But no, she and Bakugou HAD to be exposed while on a mission.
The two of them were interning for Kamui Woods. The day prior had started out just fine. It was Friday. The two of them grabbed their cup of coffee in the dorm kitchen as usual and made their way to the pro hero’s office with a little chitchat along the way.
Conversation had been a bit easier between the two, as they got to know each other better throughout the few years at UA and worked patrol shifts together at their internship. They never really had any problems in the past, and she knew that Bakugou had even come to respect her after their first battle at the Sports Festival a few years back. But now that she got to talk to him daily, she at least knew he didn’t hate her. In fact, when he’s in a good mood, their conversation could even be pleasant.
Now he’s far from pleasant. He’s in Bakurage mode x 10,000.
Here’s what happened:
Their patrol had started like any other. They canvassed around the city in the area of Kamui Woods’ agency, happily greeting the local shop owners that they saw daily.
“Ground Zero! Uravity!” one of the shop owners, Sakura, waved them down, poking her head out of the shop’s open door. “Do you have a moment?”
Uraraka’s heart stopped. Sakura ran a shop that specializes in mochi. Could it be?
Bakugou glanced down at her. “Oi.” At this point he towered over her, having grown immensely in the last few years. She had to turn her head up to see his eyes. “Don’t just stand there and drool.” He pushed her lightly by the small of her back. “Let’s go see what the lady wants.”
“Right.” She clenched her fists and closed her mouth, brows furrowed. They walked together up to Sakura’s shop, smiling as they approached.
“Good evening, Miss Sakura! How are you?” Uraraka asked, waving her hand.
Sakura had a mischievous glint in her eye. “I’m well, I’m well. Thank you for asking.” She clapped her hands together. “I heard that you are a very big fan of mochi, Uravity,” Sakura smiled. Bakugou cleared his throat.
“Yes!! How did you know?”
“Just something I heard from a few people in the neighborhood,” Sakura responded with a glance toward Ground Zero, pushing the two of them into her shop. “I’m still so grateful for you rescuing my Mochi out of a tree the other day. He’s never gotten stuck up there before,” she continued as she opened a freezer behind the counter, taking out a box wrapped up with a bow.
Uraraka blushed and raised both hands up, wagging them nervously. “Oh! It’s no worries, Miss Sakura. That’s what I’m here for!”
“Oh hush. Not every hero would take time out of their day to rescue a cat from a tree.” Sakura gave a mean glance at Bakugou, who scoffed.
“Don’t push it, lady,” he jutted out his lower lip. “Why would I climb a tree when I have a partner that can literally cancel grav—” Bakugou started before receiving a sharp elbow to the rib from Uraraka.
He glanced down at her from the corner of his eye and could see the ominous aura emanating from her. And everyone thought he was scary. At that moment, Bakugou felt a slight shiver.
“I made some mochi just for you,” Sakura smiled. “Of course, you can give a few to Ground Zero if you’re feeling generous.”
Bakugou stood there impatiently as Uraraka gushed her thanks and appreciation to the woman, who had to tell her, “no seriously, you don’t have to pay for them,” about 10 times before she could get Uraraka out of the shop.
“Ahhh – see this Bakugou-kun,” Uraraka smiled hard as they walked down the street, holding the box of mochi in one hand and smacking Bakugou hard on the back with the other, momentarily knocking the wind out of him, “This is why you rescue cats from trees. No job is above you!”
“The fuck—” he coughed, scowling down at her. “Keep your damned hands to yourself, Round Cheeks.” His brows furrowed so deeply in a scowl that they made an impressive “V” shape.
“Yeah, yeah. You better be nice or I won’t give you any mochi.” She waggled her eyebrows, and she could see the wrinkles on his face get just that much deeper. “Why don’t we take a quick break, eh?”
“I’ll just keep going while you – AY! ROUND CHEEKS! PUT ME DOWN, DAMN IT!” Bakugou shouted, interrupted by another hard smack to his back. He started floating up toward the sky as Uraraka also activated her quirk on herself. She pushed herself off the ground and quickly passed him, grabbing his wrist on her way up.
“Shut up, Kacchan,” Uraraka teased, leading them to a nearby rooftop. She heard him mumble about 20 different curses as they rounded over the top of a building and she let out a light-hearted “Release!”
Their feet touched ground and he was immediately in her face. “Oi, Uraraka. What are you on today?” He looked down into her big auburn eyes, his glowing red. “I’m about one sarcastic Kacchan away from tossing you off this damned roof.”
She mocked his pout, pushing out her bottom lip a bit. “Don’t be mean, Bakugou-kun. I’m just going to have to eat all of this mochi by myself down there.”
He eyed her angrily, thinking hard. Uraraka smirked, knowing he was asking himself if it was worth passing up on the best mochi in town – given to them for free, no less.
“Alright, just shut the fuck up and give me some of that freakin’ mochi.” He crossed his arms so tight that his muscles were bulging, obviously pissed with the entire situation.
“Hehehe, that’s what I thought,” Uraraka laughed out loud, sitting herself down on the edge of the building. Bakugou sat down by her, legs dangling near hers.
Uraraka pulled the bow loose and opened the box slowly, gently, both of them eyeing the beauty in the box. It practically shone brighter than the sun. He went to take one before she smacked his hand away. “Ah! I go first! I rescued the cat, remember?”
“Tch. Some damn nerve.” Bakugou scoffed in response. “When did you get so annoying? Not even those damn extras push me around as much as you.”
She smiled in response as she took a bite of her first mochi of choice, savoring the beautiful treat. “Your bark is bigger than your bite, Bakugou-kun.”
He laughed a bit in response, taking a mochi for himself. “Whatever, Round Face. We’ll see if you say that to my face again next time I beat your ass.”
The two continued to chat over mochi for the next while, and it seemed like it would be an easy patrol shift. Both of them were aware of the concern over the spread of the new virus in the country, but it had hardly hit the region they were in. It hit other countries harder. So of course, they weren’t prepared for what happened next…
After they finished off their mochi they returned to street level, patrolling the alleyways where the low-level villains usually lurked.
Uravity and Ground Zero walked in a peaceful silence, scanning the area around them.
Breaking the peace, a fist suddenly flew by Uravity’s face, and she dodged it right in time.
“What the fuck?” Ground Zero responded, quickly turning his feet on the ground, eyes scanning the area. A fist flew at his face and he smacked it away with the back of his gauntlet, grabbing the person’s other arm with his free hand and pulling the villain closer, readying an explosion.
Just as quickly as Ground Zero had grabbed the villain, the villain sneezed in his face. “Oops—how rude of me,” the villain smiled.
A zero-gravity trash can hit the villain in the back of the head, and he staggered for a second before seemingly teleporting from in front of Ground Zero to behind Uravity.
He kneed her in the back of her own knee, but as her left leg collapsed she caught herself with her other foot, quickly dropping her hands to the ground and pivoting, pulling her leg around her with her weight and throwing it up and around the villain’s neck, pulling him down to the ground.
“Oh no!” The villain smirked. He suddenly coughed, a loud hacking sound, right into her face. Tiny spit droplets hit her face shield and she suddenly felt a wave of non-zero gravity induced nausea.
“Dude, what the fuck is your problem?” Ground Zero growled, kicking the villain in the face, sending him flying into a nearby wall. The hero propelled himself forward toward the villain, grabbing him by the face and throwing him over his shoulder and smack into the ground.
Ground Zero’s solid metal knee met the man’s chest, and the lowly villain was stuck in place. “You gonna try that fuckin’ teleporting shit again, I’ll blow your head off,” he practically whispered, voice dripping with venom.
The villain coughed into the ground, trying to laugh. “Don’t got it in me no more.” He sighed. “I accomplished my goal anyway.”
“The fuck did you say?” Ground Zero dug his knee in a bit harder and twisted his hand in the man’s hair.
“Nothin’,” the villain smirked to himself. Uravity called in the police in the background, explaining the current situation to them. They asked more questions than usual, particularly about the state of his health. It caught her off guard, but she told them everything that happened.
The next few hours were pretty much a blur for both of them. The police came, as did Kamui Woods, and the villain was taken away. But the police made everyone keep a distance, and the people who took the villain away were dressed up head-to-toe in protective gear.
“Shit,” Bakugou murmured as low as he could to a worried Uraraka. They were both told to stand to the side, quite a distance from the others. Aizawa came to the scene, standing near the police cars about half a football field away from them.
Both of them watched Aizawa pull his phone out of his pocket and call them, staring at the two of them as he did. Bakugou’s phone rang, and he picked it up.
“Put me on speaker,” Uraraka could hear their teacher say through Bakugou’s phone. He complied.
“I’m just gonna cut to the chase,” Aizawa said to both of them. “We’re working on the assumption that you both have been exposed to the virus.”
Uraraka’s eyes widened in shock. Bakugou swallowed loudly.
“I think you’ll both be fine since you’re in top condition, and they’ll be testing him soon” Aizawa said, voice flat. Splitting the distance between them, the people dressed in hazmat suits walked the villain away. The villain had to stop and throw up some blood on the walk, causing all three heroes to wince simultaneously.
“We’re already in the process of sending all of your classmates home as a precaution,” Aizawa continued. “For your comfort, we’re going to isolate you both to the dorms. A car will pull up any second to bring you back. By the time you get there, your classmates will be gone and your belongings that were left at your internship will be in front of your rooms.”
As their teacher spoke, a van pulled up beside them and more people dressed up in hazmat gear stepped out of the vehicle. “You’ll be receiving more instructions when you get back.” Aizawa was quiet for a moment, pondering. “Sorry about this.” He hung up.
Both Bakugou and Uraraka were silent, processing their teacher’s words as they loaded up into the van. They continued to sit in silence the whole ride home. Until further notice, they will be alone. They can’t see their family or friends. No chance to say, “bye for now.”
They walked up to the dorms with an escort. Aizawa was waiting by the front door of their dorms wearing the same protective gear as the others.
“Bakugou, Uraraka,” he nodded to them.
“Sensei, what’s going to happen to us?” Uraraka asked, eyes still wide in shock. “How long are we going to be here?”
“I don’t know. A couple weeks, maybe a month. It’s hard to say for now,” he started, eyeing the two of them. “This was obviously a planned attack. The headlines are out and the villains got what they wanted,” he held up his phone, with a news headline pulled up. UA evacuated as Uravity, Ground Zero are possibly exposed to deadly virus.
“Again they are blaming the school for not taking precautions to protect our students,” Aizawa sighed. “The prime minister is expected to issue a nationwide quarantine order any minute now in response to the attack on you two. It was coming anyway, but…”
“Are there coordinated attacks on heroes by these virus-infected assholes?” Bakugou asked, scowling.
“Could be,” Aizawa sighed. “Whatever the case, it’s another nightmare for UA.”
“Will we be the only ones on campus?” Uraraka asked.
“No. There will be staff members on campus throughout your entire quarantine. They will bring you meals on weekdays as well as groceries and some other things to keep you occupied. You’ll have to cook your own meals on weekends.”
Bakugou’s face darkened, slightly familiar with the state of Uraraka’s cooking skills.
“As of now you can’t leave the building at all. We don’t know just how easily this virus can spread,” Aizawa said. “As more research is done and we learn a bit more about it, we might be able to section off an area right outside of the dorms for you. For now, if you have to spar or something, just do it in the common area and please, try not to destroy it.”
The teacher pondered for a moment. “Classes will be continued online. You both will be expected to report to the common area during normal class times and login to the online class together.”
He listed off the other minor details they needed to know before Uraraka and Bakugou entered the dorms, the doors locking behind them.
…
And that’s how we got here!
Uraraka sat on the couch in the common area, Switch in hand. After they got back, she and Bakugou did not talk at all. He went back to his room and effectively shut her out. When their dinner had been delivered, she knocked on his door to try to eat together but he just told her to go away.
Her eyebrows sat on her forehead nervously as she fished for new creatures to donate to her museum. She couldn’t help but wonder when Bakugou would show himself. She longed for human interaction, no matter how brief or rude.
Her phone suddenly buzzed. A text from Deku. “How’s everything going? You holding up okay there with Kacchan?”
She gave up a small smile. “I’m ok. Thanks for asking. We haven’t talked. He’s upset.” She stopped typing, fingers frozen above the screen as she considered her message carefully. A light blush crept up on her face as she added “Miss you!” to the text. Send.
As soon as the message marked delivered, she gasped. “Gods! That was hard.” She clutched her phone to her chest, heart beating a bit harder. “I need a break. Tea. Yes.” Uraraka put her Switch into sleep mode and zipped it into its case, leaving it on the table in the common area.
She stood up, slipping her phone into the pocket of her hoodie as she walked into the kitchen. Grabbing a kettle, she added enough water for two – just in case Bakugou decided to emerge from his cave today.
Alas, he did not and she ate breakfast alone, defeated. She huffed as she grabbed her switch and returned to her room, determined to nap.
She fell into a deep hibernation, waking up hours later. Without bothering to check her hair or general appearance, she left her room, dressed in an oversized t-shirt and shorts, Switch in hand.
Eyes practically closed, she landed on the couch in the common room, ready to doze again, but desperate for a change of scenery.
Loud feet thumped through the room. “The fuck is your problem? Are you sleeping again?”
Uraraka’s eyes opened a bit wider, but she paid him no mind. Bakugou had seen her in worse condition. “I’m tired.”
He eyed her suspiciously. “You feelin’ sick?”
She yawned, stretching her arms back. “No, I’m just tired. Once I fall asleep for a few hours in the middle of the day it’s all down-hill from there.”
He huffed in response. “Lazy as hell. Why don’t you get up and be productive? Run around the common room?”
Uraraka glared at him. “Ugh, don’t be one of those people,” she scoffed. “We were just put on freakin’ house arrest until – until – until I don’t even know when!” Her frazzled hair seemed to float around her head, and Bakugou watched it with mild interest. “How could I possibly feel inspired to do anything?”
“You’re going to be bored out of your mind if you don’t,” he replied. He started to walk away from her, toward the kitchen.
“Hey wait – where are you going?” She turned her body on the couch, hands on top of the cool fabric. She watched him leave with big eyes. “You just got here.”
“Lunch.” He kept walking, but stopped for a moment. “You hungry?”
She nodded like a pathetic puppy, eyes even bigger now, and she could have she could see the smallest smile on his face as he glanced at her over his shoulder.
He blinked in acknowledgment and disappeared to the kitchen.
She just blinked again, before twisting back in her seat and huffing. Uraraka could tell he was upset with the situation…who wouldn’t be? Maybe it wasn’t hopeless, though.
But at the same time, the cold shoulder he gave her the night before made it feel like the partnership/friendship (how should she define it?) that they developed went back 10,000 years! Surely he has to know this situation isn’t her fault?
About 10 minutes of mindlessly catching fish later, Uraraka decided to sneak up on Bakugou to see how her precious lunch was coming along. She tiptoed across the room and hid behind the wall to the kitchen, peeking in. He stood by a few things cooking on the stove, focused in on a --- SWITCH?
Uraraka hadn’t pegged him as the type to play games. Her mind was racing with the new possibilities.
She had to know more. Patiently, she waited until he turned to tend to the food. In one swift movement, she placed her hand to her chest, canceling her gravity. She floated up to the ceiling and crawled across it until she was above Bakugou, who stood stirring the food with one hand and the Switch in the other.
What game is he playing…? Her eyes strained and she craned her neck forward…and then she saw it. A small boy with spiky blonde hair and a black hoodie. A red triangular nose. A net in hand. A huge frown.
“BAKUGOU PLAYS ANIMAL CROSSING!!!” Uraraka couldn’t help but shout. His entire body twitched violently in shock, hand tossing his Switch into the air.
“THE FUCK!!” Furious crimson eyes shot up. “YOU.”
The gravity user pushed off the ceiling with her feet and caught the Switch mid-air before she released her quirk, landing perfectly on two feet.
“Oh, my, my, my.” She smirked mischievously, one hand holding the Switch, the other tossing her short hair back before landing on her hip, standing confidently before the ball of fury that was Bakugou Katsuki. “What have we here?”