The horrendous bright pink apron was technically his; the apron that his mom gave him when he was 12 and asked her to teach him how to cook. Because he had thrown a fit and caused a lot of damage to their home with his explosions when he got grease on his shirt, she bought him the apron as punishment and he had to wear it for a whole year. And yes, he kept it after that so he wouldn't get anything on his clothes. Could he have bought a new one? Maybe. But this one made Ochako fall in love with him and he couldn't bear to part with it.

Ochako may have gotten the T-shirt, but Katsuki kept the apron. He pulled it out of one of his boxes at Kirishima and Ashido's apartment, where he'd been staying for the past few months since the breakup.

Katsuki had gifted the apron to her, sure, but to be fair, Ochako was never really the chef in the relationship. He had given it to her without thinking, as a way to recover from his awkward teenage self trying to woo a girl for the first time and not knowing the first place to start. So when they actually began dating and she sheepishly showed him that she had kept it, he was happy.

And when he was packing up his belongings and he found it, he decided to keep it for himself. She could have the t-shirt, but this held much more value. And as much as he tried, Katsuki couldn't erase the memories of his first and only love from his mind, or his belongings. At this point, he'd given up.

As soon as he would forget about Ochako for a minute, he would find a brown hair on one of his shirts. When he thought he was over her, he would smell strawberries and be brought right back to the first time he gave her a hug. It was maddening, but he knew it would fade with time.

As he tied it the straps of his apron around his waist, Katsuki hoped his roommates wouldn't be home any time soon so he could have a moment of peace while he cooked dinner. No such luck.

"Hey man! What are you making for us?" Kirishima burst through the front door, with Ashido breezing in behind him and throwing herself on the couch dramatically.

"I am just famished from all that shopping! Bakugo are you making us dinner?" Ashido leaned over the couch and smiled at her moody friend.

"Make your own food." He responded dryly.

"You're grumpy today. Guess that means you don't want to know what came in the mail?" She asked teasingly, knowing that Katuski would take the bait.

"What?" He was irritated, he hated when Ashido did this. Kirishima was smiling knowingly.

"I got a letter from Ochako!" Ashido jumped up and held the envelope high in the air, as if it were a prize. Katsuki's heart lurched a little.

"So what?"

"So? You don't want to know how your ex-girlfriend is doing?" Ashido asked as she ripped open the envelope. "I know you don't have each other on any of your socials anymore. So you MUST be curious." She continued with a sly smile.

"Shut up." Katsuki's mood was descending rapidly.

"And she included a picture! Look at how cute she looks Bakugo!" Ashido was up from the couch now and running over to him. He didn't want to look, but his eyes moved before his brain could tell him no. Ashido held the picture inches from his face so he could get a good look of what he let go of.

Ochako was in front of the Statue of Liberty, and she seemed happy. Smiling brightly and giving a peace sign, it looked like she was on a boat and the sun was shining down on her face, highlighting her rosy cheeks.

She was wearing Katsuki's t-shirt.

"She's swimming in that shirt, though." Ashido commented as she took the picture out of Katsuki's line of sight.

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH HER SHIRT?" He raged, finally letting his bottled up temper explode. Ashido retreated, unaffected, and shrugged her shoulders as she made eye contact with her boyfriend, giving him the silent signal to go talk to his best friend.

Kirishima came to stand next to Katsuki, putting his arm around his shoulder.

"Hey, man, I know that the past few months have been hard. And it's not that we don't love having you here. But do you know when you're gonna be getting your own place?"

"Soon. I promise." Bakugo hated living with his friends just as much as they probably resented having him, but he had to save up money. He had enough to live, but he had a different goal in mind now. He was thinking bigger, and he knew he was going to have to make changes. He was close to his goal, and would probably be able to afford his own place in a month or two.

Which was great, because hearing Kirshima and Ashido every night was doing something to his psyche that was traumatizing on another level, and he thought he might lose his sanity. He used to think that he and Ochako had had an active sex life until he moved in with those two.

"I don't know what you're planning in that brain of yours, but whatever you need, I'm here to help." Kirishima crashed his fists together in excitement. It was hard to not feel optimistic with Kirishima around, and Katsuki silently appreciated his friend's support. He knew that living with him was difficult, and he didn't take any of the generosity he received for granted.

After reading, Ashido had dropped the letter and picture of Ochako on the counter before walking down the hall to her and Kirishima's bedroom, where he joined her not long after. As Katsuki drowned out the noise of his friends, he wondered if Ashido had left the picture there on purpose.

Knowing that nobody would say anything, he grabbed the picture of Ochako and shoved it in the back pocket of his pants as he finally began cooking.

She searched her cupboards for something to eat. No mochi, dang it.

Ochako hated playing this game; it was one she played often, and the familiar pit in her stomach had as much to do with frustration as with hunger. She found herself wishing that she could grow up a little bit faster so she could get a job at a hero agency and finally afford to buy whatever food she wanted.

She was one step closer, today was her 17th birthday. Although it didn't really feel like it.

"Instant noodles again." She said out loud, more to convince herself that it wasn't a big deal and she would do almost anything to eat anything else. Usually, she wouldn't complain. She knew she was lucky to be where she was, and her struggles now would help her family in the future.

But sometimes, she couldn't help but want.

Ochako padded barefoot toward the kitchen on the first floor of Class 2A's dormitory, and when she turned the corner toward the kitchen she stopped dead in her tracks as she saw a figure viciously cutting vegetables at the counter. Nobody was supposed to be here, it was the winter break and everybody had gone home until the new year started.

His back was turned to her, but there was no mistaking the out of control blonde hair, broad back, and pure chaotic energy. It was Katsuki Bakugo, and he was…cooking? Before she could make herself known, Katsuki turned around with a flash of a knife.

"AH! What are you doing here?!" He yelled, more so in alarm than anger.

Ochako tried to stifle a giggle, but was doing a bad job of it. She wasn't intimidated by Katsuki anymore, learning quickly that he was all bark and no bite, at least not with her. Besides, Katsuki may have forgotten, but he was wearing a bright pink apron that made him look anything but scary.

"What are you doing here? I thought everybody else was home for winter break." Ochako said with a smile, "I like your apron." She finally let go of the giggle that she had been holding in.

Katsuki quickly remembered his kitchen attire, and it was almost as if the pink of the apron crawled up his neck right to his cheeks. Furiously, he turned back to his cutting. Ochako couldn't see his face, but the back of his neck was getting pretty red.

"Tch. I don't want to ruin my favorite shirt." He scoffed, with a put-out edge to his voice. Ochako walked to the microwave and put her noodles on. Feeling a little strange, she could never remember ever being alone with Katsuki before, she walked over to where he was chopping and watched him intently.

Flustered, Katsuki burst out again, "So why are you here?!" As he chopped carrots rapid-fire.

"Oh, well, my parents are traveling. They have a construction company and are trying to expand their business." Ochako stopped after that, thinking that Katsuki probably didn't care. Ochako couldn't ask them to spend the extra expense to bring her home for Christmas. They felt terrible about leaving her behind on her birthday, but she knew they would make it up to her.

"Isn't today your birthday?" He asked, catching Ochako off guard.

"Yeah…how did you know that?" She asked suspiciously.

"It's on the calendar over there, idiot."

"Don't call me that!" Ochako huffed, crossing her arms. Katsuki pointed to the common room bulletin board. And of course, in big red letters, was Ochako's birthday on the 27th of December. Mina must have written it in, as it was her big, girly handwriting.

"So why are you back at school?" Ochako asked as the microwave beeped to let her know that her food was done. She tried to move around Bakugo without cramping his space, but as soon as she grabbed her food she found herself drawn back to his side, watching him work.

"Why wouldn't I be?" He answered as if it should be obvious. She decided it wasn't a line of questioning worth pursuing.

"That looks good." Ochako was mesmerized by Bakugo's hands. She had seen him chopping food before, but his speed was something else. Even with the hideous pink apron, Ochako felt a stirring inside her as she watched him.

"It's just stir fry." Bakugo responded, giving her a weird look, which made Ochako's cheeks flush. "What are you eating?"

"Nothing fancy, just noodles." Ochako hated being poor more than anything in that moment. How embarrassing. She knew that Katsuki's family had money, at least more money than hers. He must have thought she was so lame.

"That's it?" His face screwed up, turning his narrow red eyes from his cutting to glare at her dismal excuse of a dinner.

"That's all I have right now. I guess I need to go shopping." Ochako did her best to keep up that optimistic tone in her voice, trying not to let any disappointment sink in.

Katsuki seemed to consider this for a moment, then-

"WELL DO YOU WANNA EAT WITH ME OR NOT?" He seemed to be having difficulty controlling his volume; causing Ochako to jump in surprise and almost spill her dinner.

"Yeah, sure, but my food's done now and-"

"I didn't mean that crap!"

Oh.

Ochako couldn't help it, her heart swelled up a little bit. "Are you sure there's enough for both of us?"

"Course I am." Katsuki responded, as if it was rude of her to assume otherwise. Ochako still felt awkward, unsure of what to do with herself. She searched her mind for another question to ask, something to reassure that she wasn't misreading anything, because she wasn't convinced that this was actually happening.

"Do you want some help?" Was what she landed on, moving her prepackaged noodles out of sight and feeling something she was having trouble explaining. Katsuki thought about her proposal, and instead of immediately responding he took off the pink apron and tossed it at her.

"You can finish cutting these, and I'll get started on the meat." He muttered, pulling shrimp out of the refrigerator and a pan out of the bottom cabinet. Without questioning him, Ochako tied the ugly apron around her waist and tried not to stare as Katsuki''s thick arms as he reached high above his head into the top of a cupboard to grab some spices.

They worked in silence for a few moments, Ochako staying still and Katsuki moving furiously around her. Suddenly, she was pulled out of her reverie.

"Don't!" He grabbed Ochako's hand while she was mid-strike with the knife. Admittedly, the blade was about to be too close to her fingers, she wasn't too experienced at cutting food. But she wasn't about to tell Katsuki that.

"You don't have to yell at me like I'm a little kid!" Ochako said indignantly, her hand still in Katsuki's, held awkwardly in the air. Katsuki looked surprised for a moment at her outburst, but recovered in time to retort.

"Do you want to cut your quirk off?" His rough fingers grazed the pads on her own, and Ochako felt something that absolutely was not nausea pool in the pit of her stomach.

Snatching her hand back, she turned toward the vegetables and without looking at him, asked "Well how am I supposed to do it then?" She hated her inexperience at almost everything. Her parents worked so often that her mom never got around to teaching her how to cook.

Katsuki reached over again, and curled her fingers on her left hand under. "Like that." He said, as gently as he possibly could.

Ochako felt him waiting for her to start cutting again, and took a few strokes with the knife. He was right, of course. This was much safer. Katsuki watched Ochako slice for a few moments, and she tried not to pay too much attention in case she exploded from his gaze alone. She wondered if he felt the similar when she was watching him.

She had never been more aware of somebody before, and the proximity of him standing behind her caused goosebumps to start forming no the back of Ochako's neck.

Satisfied with her work, Katsuki ruffled the top of Ochako's head like a praised pet and said "Good girl" in a low voice before returning to his pan on the stove, conveniently missing Ochako's jaw dropping.

Her entire face flushed a shade of red she didn't know was possible and she tried to continue with her cutting. It was difficult with her heart almost beating out of her chest, but she somehow managed to work through a few more carrots and some cabbage as Katsuki silently prepared the shrimp. They worked as a quiet, cooperative team. This was definitely the weirdest birthday she'd ever had.

Katsuki made Ochako sit down after she finished cutting the remaining vegetables and insisted on finishing the meal himself.

"Do you want the apron back?" She tried not to laugh as she untied the awful garment.

"No, you keep it for the next time we cook." Katsuki said, not meeting her gaze.

Next time?

The words tumbled out of Ochako's mouth before she had a moment to second guess them. "Is this a birthday present?"

Meaning it as a joke, she didn't expect for Katsuki to catch her eyes and respond with a very serious "It is now."

"Well...thank you." Ochako wasn't sure how to respond. She had never been given a gift by a boy before, much less a boy like Katsuki Bakugo. She was pretty sure her face had never been this red for this long before.

"Whatever." He responded, but as he turned his head a bit she could see the small beginning of a smile on his face.

Ochako turned on the television in the common room and pretended to focus on the screen in front of her as she heard Katsuki curse a few times and mumble to himself while he finished their dinner.

She thought she heard a small explosion at one point, but she couldn't be sure. He didn't even tell her when he was done, shoving a bowl of food in front of her face and sitting down in silence with his own meal. It smelled spicy. Ochako was acutely aware of every movement she made, and felt a strange tension building inside of her that was both unfamiliar and not completely unwelcome. She tried to steal looks at Katsuki, who ate ravenously, without paying much attention to what she was or was not doing.

Realizing that she was being weird, Ochako tried to act like eating a dinner with Katsuki that he made on her birthday was the most natural thing in the entire world.

"Mmmmm…this is so good! Thank you, Bakugo." Ochako said sweetly, this birthday was weird, but it certainly wasn't bad. Not bad at all.

"It was easy." He said between bites. But Ochako could tell, he was pleased with himself. "Happy birthday, Uraraka."

Katsuki had decided to visit Best Jeanist almost as soon as Ochako left. Waiting until he was ready, he took the bus and then walked the rest of the way, wondering what he could possibly say the pro hero who had called him out on all of his bad behavior long before almost anybody else?

"Fucker." Katsuki muttered to himself even as he kept walking to the agency.

Even though Katsuki hadn't been in years, he still remembered the exact address of his first internship. If you would have asked him when he was 16 if he ever thought he'd be back, he would have cursed you out until your ears bled. But now, things were different. The stakes were higher, and he needed a professional.

"I'm surprised you called me." Best Jeanist couldn't keep that tone out of his voice, and it made Katsuki's skin crawl. "Where's your other half?"

"I need your help." Katsuki started. Best Jeanist raised a curious eyebrow.

"Oh, with what?"

Katsuki took a deep breath, and began explaining.