#hazelkacchako

“Another thirty minutes at least,” Katsuki answers, his red eyes twinkling with amusement from her discomfort. “Our sources said Daisuke Sato would meet his contact here at nine P.M. We’re stuck until he shows up.”

“Dang it!” she whines.

Ochako realizes those hand warmers she didn’t think she would need may have helped keep her hands from feeling like they’ll fall off. Her fingers burn because of how numb they got. Ochako’s body shivers, the frigid night air biting through her pants not made for cold temperatures. Just thirty minutes, kick some ass, then she could go to the closest coffee shop to dip her hands in a large cup of tea to warm them up. She tries her best to keep the sounds of her shivering quiet. They’re on a stealth mission; she’ll have to push past her discomfort to ensure they succeed. They may not get another opportunity to take this villain down. Ochako balls her fists up and shoves them into her pockets in hopes it will help the ache a tad. It doesn’t. She counts down second by second until Daisuke arrives in a black SUV surrounded by giant bodyguards.

“Ready, Cheeks?” Katsuki says while glancing over at her.

“L-let’s infiltrate once they go inside,” Ochako struggles to say. “We know the layout of this b-building and can use it to-to our advantage.”

“That’s it, we’re going shopping for warmer fucking clothes tomorrow!” Katsuki hisses.

That’s an excellent idea. They execute the mission without a hitch, and once the villains are in handcuffs, Ochako doesn’t want to leave. While it isn’t heated, it’s at least warmer inside than it is outside.

“You’re fucking irritating!” Katsuki exclaims when Ochako refuses to follow him outside.

“My hands hurt so bad out in the night air!” Ochako argues. “They’re still not warm enough yet!”

“Well, if we get in the damn car, we can crank the heat!”

“It’s three miles from here!”

Katsuki rolls his eyes. “We can use my explosions to get there faster. Use your brain!”

“No, you use /your/ brain!” Ochako lifts her chin to glare at him. “You’re not sweating because it’s too cold, and you used your reserves for the fight! Flying super-fast is colder, too!”

“Goddammit!”

Katsuki storms over to her and grabs her hands. He snatches her gloves off, which she tries to take back.

“What are you doing, you jerk?! Give them back to me!”

“I know a way to warm up your hands!” Katsuki replies, holding her gloves out of her reach.

She notices he won’t make eye contact with her.

“How?”

Katsuki steps closer, his gaze slowly meeting hers as he shoves her gloves into his jacket pocket.

“Put your hands on me.”

Ochako cocks her head to the side in confusion. “How will putting my hands on you warm them up?”

“No, you idiot,” he mutters.

Katsuki slides her hands underneath his jacket and sweater to rest against his stomach. His muscles flinch from her touch.

“Holy /fuck/, your hands are fucking ice cubes!”

He growls as if in pain, then whimpers. Ochako almost misses it because she’s too busy absorbing the warmth from his skin. Katsuki’s body is like a furnace; she needs every ounce of heat she can get. Clarity hits her like a freight train a second later. She’s /touching/ Katsuki Bakugou, the hot-headed Hero she spends more time arguing with than anything else. Ochako pauses, realizing that’s not true. She and Katsuki had an… understanding with each other. Ochako is the only person aside from Eijirou that Katsuki will let touch him. He seems to enjoy sitting pressed back-to-back as well. Any time they’re using their laptops to research for missions, that’s how they sit. It’s been like that for the past six months.

Still, over the last month, they sat back-to-back while reading books and playing on their phones. He’d even lay his head on her lap, tell her to shut up if she protests, and go to sleep. Ochako realizes his nearness is comforting, but she’s never touched him like this before. She must be blushing. There’s no way he can’t hear her heartbeat from how hard it’s punching against her ribs. His hands grip her wrists as she focuses less on warming her hands and more on the feel of his smooth skin underneath her touch as the sensation returns to her frozen fingers.

“Fuck!” he curses. “Hurry up, already!”

“Katsuki…” she breathes, resting her head against his chest and closing her eyes. “You’re so warm.”

“I fucking know that! Hey, what are you doing?”

She doesn’t get flustered by his snippy response. Ochako chuckles instead, then inhales his sweet scent enhanced from using his quirk. The seconds tick by, and they stand unmoving, lost in each other’s presence. Ochako glances up into his breath-taking eyes, staring down at her. They’re like galaxies glittering in the flickering dim light of the warehouse. Mesmerizing, addicting, and beautiful.

“Cheeks,” he murmurs when she wraps her arms around his waist.

His lips crash into hers a second later, and he’s kissing her hard. The passion behind it matches his temper. It's rough, intense, and is over before her enamored brain can catch up. Katsuki yanks himself out of her grasp and snatches her gloves from his pocket to toss to her.

“Your hands should be warm by now. Let’s go already!”

The gods were wise. They knew leaving her with her demon powers allowed her to visit Nirvana when invited by an Arch Angel. With Katsuki’s wings clipped, he wouldn’t hesitate, no matter the consequences. They did everything to stand in their way, but it only strengthened their bond. Ochako stood and stretched her arms over her head, the lavender long-sleeve dress she wore sliding off her right shoulder as she did so. She knew better than to wear restricting clothing when her heart’s desire made his appearance. Katsuki was a passionate being, raw and honest in everything he did, whether standing up for what he believed in, war, or lovemaking. She admired that about him.

The wind rustled behind her, and his presence washed over her. To a human, its heaviness would intimidate them, but Ochako only smiled and turned to face him. Katsuki didn’t give her a second to whisper hello before his arms wrapped around her, tendrils of his power billowing white smoke around their ankles. He tilted her chin up and kissed her. The warmth of his broad chest against her felt familiar. Any tension she might have had evaporated as Ochako reached up to drape her arms over his shoulders. 

“Ochako,” he murmured between kisses.

The tears she promised herself she wouldn’t shed this time trailed down her cheeks as they broke apart and pressed their foreheads together. 

"I've missed you, ra te ektun vi och seminkeh.”

“Ra te ektun vi och seminkeh,” Katsuki repeated in a language long forgotten.

My star amongst the clouds. Despite Ochako’s former standing as Purgatory’s lead General of Torture, Katsuki never saw her as the monster his kind did. He recognized, worshipped, and loved her for who she was, even if their first meetings hadn’t gone well. A sassy asshole angel had barged into her realm and had demanded she release someone who’d accidentally been sent to hell. It hadn’t been the first time someone ended up in Purgatory by mistake, but Ochako had declined to release her victim. Maybe the Grim Reaper hadn’t been paying attention when they’d gotten their assignment for that human, but they hadn’t been wrong to bring her to hell.

She’d been a cruel human who’d purposely brought sick infants to the brink of death in hopes of saving them and looking like a hero. Her success rate had left much to be desired and many parents mourning the loss of their little one. Scathing words were shared, ones Katsuki had disagreed with, and they’d fought, a flurry of talons, teeth, and wings until Nirvana’s god had called him off.

Katsuki had promised he’d return, and Ochako had vowed to crush him under the heel of her boot. He had returned, but Ochako had shown him what that human had done to deserve eternal punishment. Once Katsuki had understood Ochako’s victim’s crimes, he’d given her a stern look. The woman begged him for forgiveness and pleaded that he save her from torment. Katsuki had met Ochako’s gaze, those intense red eyes speaking for him before he uttered a word.

“Do what you want to her.”

With that, he’d left, and Nirvana had been in an uproar. Apparently, the woman had been a project of All Might, the god of Nirvana. He’d wanted to bring her to Nirvana to rehabilitate her and let her be reborn. This would have been her third reincarnation.

In her first life, she’d been a male serial killer slicing up prostitutes in alleyways. In the second, a cruel dictator who’d caused mass genocide and a world war. Reincarnating her as a woman did nothing to stop the blackness embedded in the soul. It was tainted.

What angels failed to realize was that some souls weren’t worth saving. This one chose to be evil. That set the start of Katsuki and Ochako spending time together. Ochako wasn’t sure when she’d fallen in love with him. All she knew was she’d fight by his side for all eternity, and their combined powers, tied with the desire to change the status quo made them dangerous in the eyes of the current leaders, hence their curse. It wouldn’t stop them from being together. They were destined, written among the vastness of all universes.

Their battles and a love that couldn’t be extinguished would live on forever. Tales of how an angel and demon overthrew the celestial realms would never be forgotten. It would change the course of time for millennia to come when it happened.

Katsuki’s fingers trailing up her sides brought her out of her musings to study those bright crimson eyes. 

Shaky palms cupped his jaw, bringing him down to meet her lips once more as his wings materialized. They expanded as Katsuki hooked his arms under her thighs, hoisting her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist with practiced ease. His arousal pressed against her core with promises of heated passion to come. Bringing each other to the edge had become second nature, but neither grew tired of seeing the other coming undone from their touch.

“Ready for me to fuck you senseless, Demon?” Katsuki asked before leaving open-mouth kisses along her collarbone that made her toes curl.

“Always, Angel,” Ochako replied, raking her nails through his ash-blonde locks. “Tonight, you’re mine again.”

They blasted into the night sky toward their cabin of old, intent on making the most of those few hours until they met again. The chill of the air rose goosebumps along her skin, but the warmth of his chest helped satiate the cool bite of ending autumn. The clear night sky let the full moon blanket the tops of full oak trees, a beautiful night for them to spend together. Ochako relaxed into her lover’s embrace as they flew across the night sky, the Earth a new vision from their place amongst the low clouds. They couldn’t fly as high as they once did because of her human stature, but Ochako didn’t mind because the glitter of the river’s surface nearby gave her peace.

When they landed in front of their mortal home deep within the forgotten woods, the earthy hint of dirt reached her nose as the dust bloomed from the flap of Katsuki’s mighty wings. Ochako wove her fingers between his and led him toward the small cabin, the lights flickering the closer they got. Ochako smiled, grateful for their friend and forest king, Izuku, keeping their location hidden. She swung the door open, listening to its soft creak before stepping inside a place that looked well used from its cleanliness. There was an open kitchen to their left and a beautifully furnished living room straight ahead. The domestic feeling reminded her of her hopes of settling down with her lover after their battle against the gods. It would happen. Ochako’s determination and Katsuki’s stubbornness to love each other unconditionally and without fear or repercussion rang clear and strong. As Ochako led Katsuki toward their bedroom, his footsteps behind her heightened her arousal. They belonged to each other this night, as fate intended them to be.

 "What do you suggest he have then?" Dr. Bakugou responds in the most condescending tone she'd ever heard.

Ochako gives her charge nurse, Mina, who's standing over her shoulder to hear the conversation, a bewildered look. She looks just as shocked. If he wants to play this game, Ochako will play it. Her end goal is to ensure her patient's comfort, and she won't let this jerk ruin that. 

 "How about tramadol?" Ochako suggests. "The patient said with his previous surgeries that medication controlled his pain better."

"Tch, the patient is fucking allergic to that medication. Are you a fucking idiot? Did you even read his chart?!" 

 Ochako's adrenaline rushes through her body. She has pulled up the patient's chart, and tramadol is not listed on his allergies. She's even reviewed his previous surgical visits for his knee and shoulder surgery and saw that tramadol was prescribed both times. 

 "Dr. Bakugou," Ochako begins, struggling to keep her voice from rising. "The patient doesn't have tramadol listed on their allergies, and he got it for his last two surgeries. Prescribe it, please." 

 "I'm the fucking surgeon!" he yells, making Ochako hold the phone out. "Give him the meds I ordered, and don't call me again!" 

Then the line goes dead. Ochako, Mina, and the rest of the staff who has been at the nurse's station sat there in awe. She's never been spoken to that way by a doctor and refuses to let that kind of behavior fly.  Ochako writes a memorandum of their encounter and gives it to the house supervisor, puts in a patient safety report, and stays after her shift to speak to the chief of surgical services. Dr. Aizawa, a doctor known not to let other doctors act terribly toward staff, gives her a solemn look and says he'll handle it. Ochako had no doubt he will; she just wishes she'd be there to see it. 

 A week passes, and Ochako is on day shift. It's a busy day; she's drowning, and of course, she's handed a new same-day surgery patient. Ochako sighs when she sees the surgeon is Dr. Bakugou. Fuck this guy entirely, but she prepares for her patient and gets report from the post-anesthesia unit. She finds an issue with the orders and pages him, dreading the callback. Instead of a call, as she's exiting her patient's room, she sees Dr. Bakugou walking down the hall. He moves with purpose and pride, a scrub cap with grenades on it visible from a distance. It's ironic that someone with an explosive personality wears that cap. Ochako squares her shoulders and steps in his path. His piercing crimson eyes stare her down, but she won't look frightened. 

 "You nurse Ochako?" he asks. 

 "That's correct," she answers. "I paged you."

"Let's talk for a minute." 

 Ochako swallows and crosses her arms over her chest. "Are you just going to scream at me again because you can do that here."

Dr. Bakugou's cheeks flush. She would say it makes him more handsome, but she's not going to because he's Satan incarnate. 

 "I'm not gonna yell at you, alright?" he says. "Where's somewhere private?"

Ochako walks them past the nurse's station and tells the charge what she's doing. Izuku's gaze flickers over Dr. Bakugou before turning his attention back to her. 

"Let me know if you need anything," he says, and Ochako understands that he'll gladly go to bat for her.

She notices Dr. Bakugou stiffen, but he says nothing, and Ochako leads him to an empty room. She closes the door with a resounding click, turning to him, ready to argue. 

 "I yelled at you when you called me about one of my patients," he begins. "Aizawa reamed my ass for it.  That was unprofessional and uncalled for, and you were right about his allergies. I wanna apologize." 

 Ochako places her hands on her hips. 

"You were an absolute asshole, and it's not the first time with other nurses you've belittled them and questioned their intelligence. You need to get it through your surgeon brain that we are on the same team. I hear your apology and appreciate it, but what would mean the most is a change in behavior." 

 Dr. Bakugou's blond eyebrows shoot up, eyes wide. Maybe his bafflement comes from no one who he deems a lesser position talking to him with such authority. Good. Ochako is happy to be the first. The silence ticks on for a few moments before he does something surprising. He grins, and Ochako's heart flutters because, wow, he is gorgeous when he smiles. 

 "Won't happen again, Ochako. Fucking promise." 

 Ochako nods and reaches out to pat his shoulder. Lightning flutters through her chest when he places his hand over hers, holding it there longer than necessary. Ochako freezes as he drops his hand and turns to exit the room. 

 "Lemme see whatever order you were paging me about," he says over his shoulder.

Ochako tucks that encounter in her mind to scream at Mina about later before following him out of the room. From then on, Dr. Bakugou's attitude does a 180. No more name-calling and yelling. He's got sarcastic humor that Ochako likes, and instead of dreading caring for his patients, she looks forward to it. Dr. Bakugou buys food for her unit once a month, different types, from typical pizza to Thai and Indian. He times it whenever Ochako is working. Today, they eat together in the break room, and because of him, Ochako finds she loves Indian food. 

 "Why have I never eaten this before?!" she whines, taking another bite of chicken tikka masala and savoring the rich flavors. "It's so good!"

"Maybe you should slow down and enjoy it instead of inhaling it," Dr. Bakugou teases in between bites of tandoori fish. 

 "It's hard!" Ochako laughs. "Dr. Bakugou, who knew you were a food connoisseur?" 

"Call me Katsuki." 

Ochako pauses, her heart fluttering. Okay, so she may have developed a crush on U.A. Regional's former resident jerk, and she hates herself for it, but their encounters have left thoughts of him in her head longer than she wants to admit. His asking her to call him by his first name is putting scenarios in her head. Scenarios of going on dates to unique restaurants and watching medical dramas to point out all the inaccuracies in them. 

“Sure, Katsuki," she replies, unable to hide her beaming smile.

Dr. Bakugou, now Katsuki, puts his elbows on the table, studying her. "Ever had Jamaican food?" 

"I haven't," Ochako admits, waiting for his next words. 

"You off Friday?" 

"Yep." 

"Let me cook for you," he says, redness creeping up his neck. "You need to be more cultured to other types of food. There's so much good shit out there."

 Ochako wants to float off into the stratosphere. She pinches her arm to bring her back to Earth and stop the internal screaming rattling her brain. 

 "I'll think about it." 

“Hey, I was wondering if you’d help me practice my barbell lifts?”

No. Absolutely fucking not. It isn’t his goddamn job. Katsuki quit coaching two years ago and wasn’t about to pick it up now. His gym time included him and weights, not him, the weights, and a tiny buff smoke show.

“Tch, ask Eijirou,” he snaps, walking over to his water bottle that’s close to the door leading into the protein and snack area. “He’s the damn coach!”

Ochako follows, not at all phased by his gruff response.

“He told me to ask you.”

Katsuki glares at Eijirou, who’s conveniently giving him a thumbs up. This stupid fucker is setting him up. Katsuki would kill him. He’s told him a million times he’s not looking for a fucking relationship. Katsuki will murder him, resuscitate him, and kill him again.

“I want to do a weightlifting competition in a few months,” she explains, stopping when Katsuki does. He grabs his water bottle with enough force to collapse it. “He said you’re really good with Olympic lifting.”

Katsuki’s chest fills with dread. If he says yes, which he fucking won’t, he’ll have to train with Ochako and her tiny shorts that ride up to show the underside of her ass for a while. It would be idiotic to say yes.

“I won’t go fucking easy on you,” Katsuki says, contradicting the hard no in his thoughts. “You do what I say, or we’re done, got it?”

Her face lights up, her excited expression wearing on his stiff demeanor. “Got it! Your name is Katsuki, right?”

He grunts in response. Ochako brushes it off and bows. “Nice to meet you!”

Nice in-fucking-deed. Katsuki and Ochako train a few times weekly, and she’s growing on him. She rotates between buying him protein powders, pre-workouts, and protein bars as compensation for his time, no matter how many times he yells at her not to.

“I’m gonna make you smile!” she tells him, and she’s gotten pretty close.

Katsuki finds himself thinking about her more than he should, picturing how fucking hot she looks pulling 113kg deadlifts off the floor with ease. She can do five sets of eight now, and that’s after 200-meter sprints. He’s staring at her ass more and eying her chest when he should be focused on spotting her bench press. He knows she’s noticed because she drags him into the locker rooms one day and gives him a shy but coy smile. Katsuki freezes as she wraps her arms around his shoulders.

“I really like you, Katsuki, and I think you want me as bad as I want you.”

“You’re a dumbass,” he croaks. “I never said that.”

She raises an eyebrow and puts enough pressure on his growing erection with her upper thigh that he thinks he might die.

“Your body shows me you’re interested, and it’s not the first time.” Ochako hooks a finger in the waistband of his shorts. “You think I don’t notice when you get hard around me? These don’t hide much, you know.”