UPROAR

Summary: Just because you're a Pro doesn't mean you're immune to the shit life throws your way. But that's part of the fun, right? Ugh, All Might made it all look so easy. Aged-up. Rated T, for now. Connected drabble series.

A/N: Welcome! Let's explore the Pro-Hero employment escapades of our favorite UA graduates! All they have to do is juggle their social lives and navigate their relationships as they climb the Hero Rankings by tackling the resurgence in villains running amok after All Might's retirement! How hard can that possibly be...? On a side note, I plan to focus primarily on Bakugo, Ochako, Deku, and Kirishima, but other characters will make appearances in one way or another as you'll see.

Chapter 1: Ground Zero

Five Years Ago (from Present Day)

"—bring you breaking news. We go to the scene live with Hinata Teodasu." The single-horned newscaster announced, staring directly into the camera with a stern expression while the screen transitioned to the other reporter.

"Oh my god." Ochako gasped, taking in the background behind the new reporter. The woman covered the scene as stoically as she could, but there was a reason they all coveted that anchor's spot back in the safety of the studio.

Hinata Teodasu filled in viewers as thick clouds of ash and smoke billowed around her. They would have blended in with the night sky were it not for the rich flames below painting them with an orange gleam. It would have almost been beautiful were it not for the danger.

Ochako sat in her agency's lobby, waiting for a kettle of water to boil for her konbini ramen. It had already been three months since graduation, but she was still struggling to adjust to the mandatory night-shifts she'd been assigned. Eager to start working in order to help her parents as much as she could, Ochako had accepted the first contract she'd been given.

It was with a small agency, whose specialties lay with disaster recoveries and civilian rescues and evacuations. The owner of the agency was elated to have Ochako, whose quirk could not possibly be more fit to their goals if she'd manufactured them in a lab.

But regrettably, she hadn't read the fine print before signing. Because it was such a small agency in such a rural area, they rarely received any new heroes. As such, her contract required her to serve her first three years on night and overnight shifts exclusively. It wasn't exactly the ideal future she planned for herself, but at least her paychecks were topped off with a bit extra due to her undesirable hours.

So, she decided to stick with it for the first three years based on that alone. Her tuition to U.A. wasn't cheap, and she knew her parents had sacrificed a lot in order to help her achieve her dreams. It was the least she could do to suffer just a little in return for their sake.

And nobody could know what the future would hold – for all she knew, her agency could receive a transfer from a different agency next month. It was still early enough for some of her other graduated peers to change their minds and switch from a big agency, wasn't it?

She sure hoped so, at least.

The kettle began to whistle, and she quickly turned it off the heat. In the silence, she listened to Hinata Teodasu explain the fiery scene behind her.

"What was once a quiet harbor home to the twice-abandoned warm-water port now lay in ruins behind me." Hinata declared in a strong voice. "We received multiple reports from locals about a novice sidekick following a deranged villain into the abandoned warehouses. Just over twenty minutes later, the immediate neighborhood was suddenly evacuated, leaving hardly ten minutes to spare before multiple gasoline storage units were detonated –"

Ochako's ears perked up at the word, pausing in placing her chopsticks across the lid of her ramen.

"—which is the cause for the scene behind me, Daikaku-san."

"Are there any casualties to report, Teodasu-san?" Miyagi Daikaku appeared in a small box near the bottom of the screen so as not to distract from the story.

"I'm being told it's still too early to be certain, but law enforcement officials seem fairly confident that there has not been any civilian deaths or even any serious injuries reported."

Daikaku couldn't conceal his shock, though it could have also just been relief. "This is truly a surprise to hear, considering the amount of damage behind you. Now, do we know which Heroes are on the scene? Are any of them available for interview?"

Hinata shook her head negatively. "Unfortunately, Daikaku-san, we are currently unable to interview anyone other local law enforcement. In spite of the fact that we are the first ones on the scene…"

A flash of red suddenly rushed to the camera and Ochako would have dropped her foam cup of noodles had she been holding it. Sweaty and soot-covered, Kirishima's shock of red hair atop his head was unmistakable. Grinning his sharp smile, he struggled to get a handle on Hinata Teodasu and her cameraman, growing increasingly flustered as they kept rolling in spite of him.

"Please, it's still very dangerous!" He insisted, attempting to turn the camera away with a black-clad hand. "This is still an open crime scene and we evacuated everybody for a reason!"

In an instant, Ochako's phone exploded with messages. She quickly scrambled to get it off the table lest the vibrations wake her Pro-Hero boss, Gaia, who was taking a cat nap on the nearby sofa. With the extra cash she'd earned with her unpleasant shift hours, Ochako had been able to finally buy a smartphone. With that came the downloading of the messaging app that was currently bombarding her with texts from her U.A. group chat.

"Poor Kirishima LOL who else is watching this news lady completely ignore him?" Ashido Mina was the first to poke fun at one of her closest former classmates.

"What even happened? I'm just tuning in now." Replied Sero.

"I'm just glad everyone is safe! Was he the one who ran in after the villain?" Tsu-chan questioned without her trademark ribbit.

"Probably." Mineta conjectured with a suspicious detective-looking emoji.

"That was completely reckless of him!" Shouted Iida, whose hands gestures Ochako could imagine perfectly. "What if someone had gotten hurt? He's lucky no civilians were injured!"

"Explosions can't hurt him, dummy. His quirk is too strong." Mina rebuked.

"Can someone PLEASE tell me what happened? Social media is blowing up right now and I can't tell what's real or not!" Kaminari Denki mirrored Sero's frustrated sentiments. "WTF did Kirishima do?"

"He blew up the harbor." Mineta declared with several flame emojis this time.

"That doesn't sound like something Kirishima would do…" Tokoyami stated.

"I agree." Came Yaoyorozu Momo's response. "But I'm glad he's safe."

"Which hero is he working with again?" Asked Jirou.

"He's Fourth Kind's sidekick now." Answered Kaminari. "The guy from his first internship."

"I thought he didn't like him?" Jirou countered.

"Nah, that's just because that first time he made him and Tetsutetsu just kill time all week. He's much more serious now that Kirishima's his sidekick."

At that point, Ochako stopped reading since the messages had gotten off topic. She skimmed all the way down to the most recent messages, keeping a close eye on the TV and Kirishima's continued struggle to get the increasing news reporters to leave. At some point, he fell for Hinata Teodasu's charms because he ultimately succumbed to her prying questions, probably not realizing he shouldn't be talking about the case without consulting with Fourth Kind, first.

"So, take us through the events of this night, Red Riot." Hinata insisted. "What drives a newbie sidekick to run after a villain all by himself?"

Kirishima's grin faltered a bit and his eyes widened in unabashed confusion. "What do you mean? I didn't go after him."

Ochako's phone started buzzing again, but she was wise enough to ignore her former classmates' gossip this time. She had completely forgotten about her ramen, which had surely devolved into an overcooked mess of too-soft noodles by now.

"Then who was the sidekick who ran after the villain?" Hinata pressed. "We have multiple reports. Are you trying to say those reports are false?"

"No, no, no, no!" Kirishima tried to backpedal, nervously eyeing the many cameras on him and probably just now realizing his mistake in talking to them. "I'm just saying it wasn't me. Ground zero back there was –"

Suddenly, a swift kick from a dark colored boot sent Kirishima flying past the cameras as The Rabbit Hero: Mirko landed in his spot with a grumpy look on her face. She forced a smile to her lips for the cameras as she placed her hands on her hips in annoyance.

Immediately after recognizing the dark-skinned hero, Ochako snatched her phone and dialed a number she called so often now that she had it memorized.

"Hello?"

"Deku-kun!"

"Hi, Uraraka. Are you reading everyone's messages, too?"

"Mhm." She nodded even though she knew he couldn't see her. "What do you think about it?"

Deku chuckled. "Well, I'm actually on patrol right now so I haven't seen the actual news yet – just whatever people are posting online about it."

Ochako's rosy cheeks grew hot with embarrassment at the thought of pestering him on a patrol. "I'm sorry! I didn't realize you were working!"

She could hear him getting flustered on his end. "No, no, it's alright! I swear! I wouldn't have picked up if I was busy!"

Ochako paused, supposing that to be true enough.

"So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Well…" she hesitated, realizing she didn't actually need to bother Midoriya with this when a simple search on her phone would probably do the trick. "It's just that I'm watching the news right now and Mirko is there…"

"Mirko?" Deku echoed in cautious appreciation. "She's the Top Hero with a rabbit-based quirk. She attacks mostly with her powerful legs, and her costume seems to be designed around that fact since the steel-plates on her boots are modified to look like rabbit feet…" He continued to ramble until Ochako clearing her throat snapped him out of it. "But wait – if Mirko is there, then that means…"

Despite the notoriously boisterous hero in front of her, the reporter Hinata Teodasu continued her interrogation. She shoved her microphone in Mirko's face.

"Who is this Ground Zero?" She demanded. "Is that the name of the sidekick who rushed in after the villain tonight?"

"That's what I was afraid of." Ochako breathed into the phone, gut wrenching at the fact that Deku managed to confirm her suspicions. "Bakugo-kun is her sidekick...so where is he?"

Putting her phone on speaker, Ochako went back to the U.A. group chat and assumed Deku was doing the same judging by the silence from his end as well. After scrolling past the irrelevant conjectures about Kirishima's involvement, Ochako finally found a message about Bakugo. It was from the last person she expected – Shouto Todoroki – and he had asked the same question that Ochako had asked Midoriya.

His question had sent the group chat into a frenzy, as everybody began to come to the same conclusion. Bakugo, currently working as Mirko's sidekick, was the reckless newbie who had chased the villain into the warehouse and detonated all those gasoline tanks.

"Who's Ground Zero?" Mina suddenly interrupted the discourse in the group chat about Bakugo to ask the question of the night. "The reporter keeps bugging Mirko about it and now someone else just asked again."

"They're the sidekick who ran after the villain." Mineta replied, unhelpfully.

"I thought we decided Bakugo was the one who ran in?" Kaminari whined, tossing in a confused-looking emoji to drive his frustration home. "He's Mirko's sidekick after all, isn't he?"

"But Bakugo's hero name is Kacchan." Sero stated. "We all agreed it made him sound less scary."

"It definitely beats King Explosion Murder!" Mina's laugh could be heard even without any emoticons.

"Everyone…watch the news." Tsu-chan proclaimed.

Ochako whipped around to the tv screen, chocolate orbs widening at the sight of a bulky figure approaching from the smoldering remnants of the harbor. His silhouette was unmistakable in his hero costume, large gauntlets giving him that undeniably striking swagger as he trudged forward.

"Oh, thank God." Ochako breathed.

"What is it?" Deku's voice startled her, forgetting that she still had him on speaker phone. "What's going on?"

"It's Bakugo." She clarified. "He's alive." She squinted at the screen as he came into clearer view. "It looks like he's carrying someone…I think – I think it's the villain!"

Deku seemed to chuckle, though it held no real humor in it. "That's Kacchan for you. Even with someone as ferocious as Mirko threatening to punish him, he'll still do what he wants."

Ochako laughed, feeling more relieved than she expected herself to be. "I guess that will never change. He's not going to make a very good sidekick that way – but I guess he's not aiming to be the world's #1 sidekick, though."

"No. He's not."

"Deku-kun?" His tone caught her off guard.

"Sorry, Uraraka. I should get going – it doesn't look good for me to be on the phone during a patrol."

"Oh, I'm sorry about that!" She exclaimed a little too eagerly. "I'll let you go! Let's talk again soon!"

"Sure. Goodnight, Uraraka."

"Goodnight, Deku-kun." She placed her phone back on the table just as Sayaka, otherwise known as the rescue hero Gaia, sat up from the sofa with a feline stretch.

The woman who ran the agency with her older husband peered around the lounge and smiled when she spotted her young sidekick.

"Welcome, Ochako-chan." She greeted. "How's it going?"

Ochako watched Bakugo's expletive-riddled tirade against his new moniker in a daze. He had looked so heroic just a minute earlier, stomping through the ash and smoke with a K-O'd villain draped over his shoulder. He was covered in soot and blood and sweat and didn't seem bothered by any of it. He plopped the unconscious villain on the ground and rolled his shoulder with a pensive scowl on his face. But the entire façade vanished the very moment he opened his mouth.

"I dunno what you heard, lady, but that ain't my name!" He warned, reminding Ochako of his long-standing disdain for reporters. Ever since his encounter with the sludge villain in junior high, Bakugo had always been annoyed by the press.

"I don't know." Kirishima teased him openly on the air, slinging an arm around his recently-vacated shoulders. "I think Ground Zero sounds manly. It's intimidating."

Bakugo slapped Red Riot's arm off of him and stormed off with an irked Mirko following close behind to loudly lecture him.

Deku wasn't kidding when he'd called her ferocious. The last thing Ochako saw before the camera panned away from them was Mirko snatching the flares of Bakugo's mask to drag his ear closer to her yelling. In return, he gave her long ears an enraged tug until she finally relented and released him with a pained howl. They both stumbled away from the other for a moment, rubbing their respective injuries and glaring at their partner before continuing on their way. With a healthy distance between themselves.

Sayaka stood and shut off the TV after that, giving Ochako a friendly smile. She spotted the abandoned ramen container sitting near the electric single-burner and surmised what had happened. Looking up at the clock on the wall, she turned to her hungry sidekick.

"How about we grab a bite to eat before we head out?" She offered. "We still have some time before we officially start."

Ochako seemed to shake her head clear of her thoughts before nodding eagerly – never one to turn down a free meal.

A/N: So since this took place five years ago fresh after their graduation, everybody is probably between 17-19 years old give or take some months in-between. I really like the idea of Mirko and Bakugo teaming up even though they both seem averse to partnering up in general. I feel like their personalities are so similar that they would hate each other while simultaneously being an amazing hero duo, if that makes any sense at all you. I'll be exploring their relationship some more because I can't get enough of it. Also, someone correct me in a review or PM if I'm wrong, but Bakugo STILL doesn't have an official hero name right? Ground Zero has been floating around for such a long time that it's become his unofficial "official" name, so I wanted to allude to that by having him reject it initially in this fic. I also really liked the idea that since he inadvertently gave Izuku his hero name "Deku", that it would be a nice callback if he returned the favor by ultimately taking Izuku's nickname for him as his official name in this fic. And if he was going to take on ANOTHER unintentional name, it would have to had been from Kirishima for it to stick as we saw here. But don't worry, he won't go by Kacchan for very long here. I promise!