Chapter Text
A Month Before
Look, it was never her intention to get involved in a fight. Really, she was just trying to find her Math tutor. It was right after the school festival, in one of their rare relaxing periods of school. Well, maybe relaxing wasn’t the right word. Life was never easygoing at their high school, but it had been a few tranquil weeks since they had brought Eri into safety. She finally had stopped having nightmares about what she had seen in their previous battle, and she had finished her make up work. Ochako and one of her closest friends, Jirou, were walking down one of UAs many corridors, trying to find their Math tutor’s classroom. She didn’t usually need a tutor, but hey, it was free, and Algebra wasn’t exactly an easy subject. Jirou needed help on Science, and their tutors just happened to be in the same classroom. Well, if they could find their classroom in the first place.
“We’re lost, aren't we?” Her friend commented, her voice even more sarcastic and bored than usual.
“No! It’s on the first floor…I think,” She blushed a little at her uncertainty. Jirou just groaned.
“Oh, God,” She rubbed the bridge of her nose. “I should have known better than to follow you around.”
“Hey, I’m normally very organized! Maybe we should just go back to the dorms.”
“Yeah. Momo might be able to help.” Both girls turned around to leave, when Ochako heard a small noise coming from down the corner. It was so faint, she thought she had almost hallucinated it. But it came a second time, a little louder, and she was sure she had actually heard something. She stopped immediately, and grabbed Jirou’s arm. “Did you hear that?”
“Hear what? I didn’t pick anything up,” She stared at the other girl like she was losing her mind, when the sound started up again, clearer now. From far down the corridor came a muffled cry of pain, followed by a few faint curses. Adrenaline immediately flowed through Ochako’s veins as she weighed the possibilities internally. Was it an intruder? If it was, they should probably get a teacher. But it couldn’t be, they hadn’t had a break in since the U.S.J. Oh God, she hoped it wasn’t a repeat of that nightmare. Then again, and more probably, it could just be students roughhousing. But no, that didn’t feel right. The yelp they heard wasn’t like the happy, bubbly ones from whenever the boys in her class started shoving each other around. They never really meant to cause any harm. But the sound was more frantic, like whoever made it really needed help.
“Do you think we should…” Jiro began, before getting cut off agian by whoever was being hurt.
“Get off of me, stop!” Both their eyes widened at the voice. It was high-pitched and a little raspy, with sharper consonants and the slightest, most subtle trace of an American accent. Maybe not instantly recognizable to most people, but after living with so many people, she got used to identifying the voices of her classmates easily.
“Kaminari,” Jirou gasped, before taking off down the corridor.
Ochako was quick to follow at her heels as they rushed past classrooms to the sound of the struggle. They came to an old classroom at the end of a solitary hall, one that she had never even seen before, with the shades on the door pulled down. Even though they couldn’t see inside they could hear sounds of scuffling inside, accented by small yelps and most noticeably, an antagonistic, sharp voice ordering, “Shut him up already! Shut him up!” Ochako peered behind her, about to suggest they should grab back up, but Jirou instantly barged into the room. She had no choice but to follow.
The scene they walked in was both what she was expecting and not all at the same time. In the back of the dimly lit classroom was, predictably, Kaminari. But what was happening to him wasn’t at all what she expected, even with the shouting she heard. The blonde was being restrained by a third year student, with his arms pinned harshly behind his back. Their classmate was seriously injured, with his lip busted wide open, nose bleeding, neck swelling from new bruises, and more blood running from his forehead down to his temple. His eyes widened in shock at the sight of the girls, and his face went red with humiliation. In the middle of the room was the cause of the injury, a third year boy with jet black hair, sharp features, way too many muscles, even for a U.A. student, and an air of snootiness and entitlement that made her sick to her stomach. His closed fist, which was currently frozen in the air and aimed at Kaminari’s face, had traces of blood on it. Two other third year boys were lounging on old tables, caught mid-laughing and jeering at the scene of brutality in front of them.
Now, to be honest, Ochako never had many positive opinions on Kaminari. He was just kind of a flirty goofball, not really a threat, but not someone she was eager to be friends with. She didn’t exactly forget his cruel cheerleading prank or all the times he had hit on her at the beginning of the year. Jiro liked him, so she never stirred up trouble between them, but she was still wary. Still, she respected his positive and helpful demeanor. He always seemed almost…unshakable. He was always smiling, effortlessly confident, and constantly joking, almost like a scripted character. Seeing him this vulnerable…it really messed up her mind. No one deserved what was happening to him…even Denki Kaminari. While she was mostly frozen in shock, Jirou was clearly not.
“Get off of him!” She screamed, with such an intensity that the student holding Kaminari let go of his grip, letting him drop to the floor with a thud. Jirou marched right up to the third year who was aiming to punch her friend, shouting, “What the hell do you think you’re doing, you meathead?”
“Relax, we were just playing around,” The ringleader’s face contorted into a crude attempt at charm, and his brain-dead goons just smiled and nodded with him, ignoring their victim slumped on the floor. “Besides, what do pretty girls like you two want with a creep like him?”
The leader was a smooth talker, that was for sure. Ochako could tell instantly, he was the type of idiot who was used to getting his way, no matter who he had to trample on. He almost reminded her of Bakugo, but he clearly lacked the strong values, discipline, and goal-driven nature that made Bakugo mostly tolerable. Even though she was trying to stay in the background, just in case they needed to run or get help, she found herself meeting her classmate’s gaze. It was only a single moment, but it made everything clearer to her. His eyes, normally so bright and animated, were rimmed with tears of pain and humiliation. He clenched his fists, and tried to make his way to his knees as he swallowed down the blood from his lips. It was a miserable sight, and one no flattery could erase. It was clear that for the first time since meeting her, Kaminari was desperately trying to ask for help.
“He’s our classmate,” Ochako finally spoke up, almost not believing her own voice. She moved to Jirou’s side, trying to stand tall and proud, “If you don’t leave him alone…”
“What? You’ll tell your teacher? Your parents? I’d like to see you try,” The leader was clearly unamused, and stepped towards them menacingly, “You’re Ochako Uraraka, aren't you? That first year who got all beat up by the feral kid at the sports festival? Well guess what, Space-Girl? My parents, Mr. and Mrs. Kimura, are the head of the school board, they could get your teacher and anyone they want fired in a second. Hell, I could even get the both of you expelled if I really tried. So why don’t you just shut up, and go back to your own class.” He sneered, his boots growing dangerously close to their friend’s face.
“I…I’ll…” Ochako began, but all of a sudden, she simply couldn’t speak. She tried again, but it was like her voice had suddenly turned off. She began to panic, feeling the familiar tingle of a quirk washing over her.
“Right. You can’t do anything.” He got in her face, his aura of superiority and danger suddenly very apparent. “So, I’ll tell you what’s going to happen. I’m going to be nice and let him go, but if you even think of going to anyone about this, I’ll come back and finish what I started.” He gestured to his friends, and they shuffled out the door. But, before he left, he turned back once more, glaring at Kaminari like he was the most disgusting thing he had ever seen. “If I were you, I’d get out of this school as soon as possible. We both know you’re gonna get expelled eventually, so just cut your losses and go back to where you belong,” he threatened, before slamming the door behind him.
The room was tensely silent. They were caught in a strange moment between peril and safety, of paralyzing confusion, of anger and rage and millions of other emotions she couldn’t even name. Jirou was the one to break the freeze, rushing to Kaminari’s side.
“Oh my God, what happened to you?” She gasped as she helped him up.
Kaminari stated sarcastically through gritted teeth, “Well, you found me all bloody in an abandoned classroom. What do you think happened?”
“Don’t get mad at us, we saved you,” Ochako didn’t know whether the pain or her remark shut Kaminari up, but he did anyway. The girls helped him onto one of the tables near the wall, so he could lean up against it. Jiro grabbed her water bottle out of her bag, and offered it to him.
“Thank you,” He managed, his voice more stable after a few sips of water. “You didn’t need to help me.”
“You were getting the crap kicked out of you, of course we needed to. Who were those idiots? What did they want with you?” Ochako found herself questioning, her voice suddenly working again. Her words caused Kaminari to dip his head and blush furiously. Well, that wasn’t exactly the effect she was looking for. She really didn’t want to make him any more embarrassed, but she needed answers.
“No one. I’ve got it under control.” He grabbed a rag from a sink near the table, and pressed it to his forehead.
“Like hell you do, idiot,” Jirou rolled her eyes, but her voice was soft with concern, “We need to get you to Recovery Girl, now.” She turned to go out the door, when Kaminari grabbed her arm.
“No!” he pleaded with her, “Please, it’ll just make it worse. If I tell anyone, I swear he’ll kill me.”
“How can we not? Kaminari, you’re seriously hurt, if you don’t get help, you could–”
“Its just a few bruises. I’ve dealt with worse, they’ll clear up in a few days.”
“I don’t care how fast they’ll heal! You’re scaring me, I don’t know what’s going on,” Jirou shouted at him, “We need to know who those guys were and why they beat you up, otherwise, I’m getting Aizawa.” Kaminari bit the inside of his lip, considered his options for a moment, then let the truth spill.
“I…I grew up in the same town as the guy you saw trying to punch me. He’s always picked on me, ever since we were in Primary School. I guess I was just an easy target growing up. I was coming from the Library when they found me and dragged me in here. The jerk, Asahi Kimura, has a quirk like Hitoshi Shinso’s in general studies. Once he forbids a certain action for a person, they physically can’t do it. He can only do one command at a time though, and he can’t do anything too serious like forbidding breathing or heartbeat. He and his friends dragged me in here after he turned off my quirk.”
“So that's how his parents got so much power,” Ochako whispered as she finally put all the pieces, “I’ve heard of him before, he’s supposed to be just under Mirio, Tamaki, and Nijere in terms of skill. He claims to have two quirkless parents, but powers are almost always hereditary. They probably have something similar.” Kaminari nodded.
“How did they find you here? You said you lived pretty far out in the country.” Jirou said, grabbing the first aid kid off the wall as Kaminari wrung out the now bloodied rag.
“The School Fair. They recognized me onstage,” He said miserably, wincing as she poured disinfectant on a cut on his arm she was about to bandage. “I’m just lucky they let me off easy. Trust me, this could have been much, much worse if you two hadn’t shown up. Thanks for that.” Personally, she couldn’t imagine how that could be true, especially from just a childhood bully, but the look in his eyes proved that there were some secrets buried too deep for her to know.
A quiet moment passed as the group slowly cleaned up. Ochako scrubbed the few drops of blood that had fallen onto the wooden floor while the other two students worked on getting Kaminari patched up. His uniform wasn’t torn or bloodied, but whether that was a negative or positive thing, she didn’t know. Luckily, he was able to walk to the dorms alright, but the sun had already gone down. They walked as quickly as they could with Kaminari’s injuries, and just managed to get on the doorstep by curfew, the dorm shining from the lights inside like a beacon of hope. Ochako was more than ready to crash on her bed, but Kaminari stopped both of them at the door.
“Don’t tell anyone from class about this. If anyone asks, I tripped going down stairs. They think I’m stupid, they’ll believe it.”
“We don’t think you’re stupid,” Jirou commented. He just laughed without a grain of humor in his voice before opening the door.
“Just…do what Kimura said, and don’t tell anyone what happened. Trust me, we do not wanna mess with this guy.” Again, Ochako didn’t exactly see how an arrogant jerk with a mediocre quirk could do any real damage once they were with their class, but the fleeting panic in Kaminari’s eyes made her listen.