If My Body’s Alive (1/5)
Summary: Bakugou Katsuki is going to be the number one mma fighter in his league, and not even a loss at the hands of fucking Todoroki is going to change that. He just needs the right motivation.
Thankfully, he gets Uraraka.
AO3
A/N: MMA FIGHTER AU? YES PLEASE! once again, thanking @a_sassin (AO3) for my drive and @doesitsaysassonmyuniform for being the best damn beta there is because I'm Jared 19 and can't read after I've written something.
“You’re Bakugou fucking Katsuki, you’re going to be number one.” She was half dazed on alcohol and the night air. Katsuki kept her upright.
“How do you know?” he spat at her, snarling back but all she did was smile. They sat on the stone wall that ran outside the crumbly gym, Uraraka holding onto the side with her feet dangling. She was a lightweight in every department, apparently.
“Because I believe you will be. Always getting back up and fighting when it seems hopeless. You can see the end, and if you can see the end, then why the hell shouldn’t you be number one.” She tilted her head, smile so big and bright, it was almost blinding.
~
He saw every move, calculated every possible reaction, but even as Shoto’s fist landed across Katsuki’s face, he still hadn’t registered how easily it would take him down. He was on the floor, Shoto falling after him, fists raining down and making Katsuki’s focus wane.
“You’re Bakugou fucking Katsuki, you’re going to be number one.”
Katsuki could see the drunken smile that had been pinned to her lips as the fist hit into his face. He could see the chocolate eyes that stared back at him with a kindness that not many showed with his attitude. When he couldn’t feel his face anymore, Shoto was dragged off of him. The referee determined he was KO’d, and the fight was the shitty half and half’s. When Katsuki finally got up he stood, confused and ultimately defeated.
He was supposed to be number one. An MMA champion. Now...he was nothing.
He didn’t remember much else, all he could figure out was that his chances of becoming number one were dashed before he could even get a handle on it.
Walking back to his locker room, his team trying to be supportive as they could - but Katsuki was having none of it. Even Kirishima made him feel like a weakling - a failure. Would he ever be able to look at her again if he couldn’t be number one?
Why was he even thinking of her? He must have been knocked around hard to think of her after this fight...especially not seeing her in eight years. Eighteen and a cocky underdog - moving from a lightweight to a middleweight in all those years, but still he remembered her face that night.
Before he could enter the locker room, a barrage of reporters stood outside, barking at him with incessant questions.
“What do you have to say after your first ever loss?” One tossed out. Kirishima gripped Katsuki’s arm but he wrenched it away, grabbing for the mic that was shoved in his face.
“I’m getting the fuck back up,” he snapped, moving past the reporter and throwing the mic back.
In his locker room, he shouted out a storm of insults and was left on his own. Save for Kirishima.
“You know how the media is going to take that, bro,” he tried.
“Just get out,” Katsuki spat back, unravelling his hands, the ache that ran over his body was faint, but before it had been numb. His body was finally catching up.
“I’ll send someone to your room to look at you,” Kirishima offered.
“Don’t bother. I’m going to my apartment.”
“At least let the doctor see you!”
“Whatever, make it quick.” Kirishima left in a hurry, abandoning Katsuki in the room all to himself. He got his things, changing quickly back into loose clothes and pulling the hoodie over his head. The doctor came in, gave Katsuki the all clear, and left. Even with his two broken ribs, there wasn’t much he could do; the trouble with ribs, he supposed. It wasn’t eventful, and he just wanted to go home.
In the mirror stared back a bloody faced man that he didn’t recognise. His eyes were dead and tired - not just from the fight. He felt like he had lost himself along the way. Something felt missing.
Grabbing his gear, putting his hood up, he made his way from the building undetected and unbothered. Shitty hair still fired off a mountain of messages, checking where he was - but even though the guy was his trainer, he was more moral support. The guy had trained in the past, and was a good punching bag when needed, but aside from that, Kirishima was the kind of guy that worried and with how reckless Katsuki was, sometimes he needed someone to do the worrying for him.
Losing wasn’t in him. Katsuki had done a lot over the eight professional years he was fighting - his first three were just proving he was worth a damn, he could be let in the big fights. Then the other five, he kept moving up weight divisions, never allowing him to make it to championships. When he finally had it that night - it was taken away. He couldn’t even look at the damn belt. He’d never lost a match.
No.
That wasn’t true.
When he started when he was ten, from taekwondo and jiu-jitsu, he was already showing aptitude to all fighting styles he took on. It wasn’t until he was thirteen when -
He remembered that smile.
Katsuki had taken an Uber to where he needed to go, but he was surprised by it. The old place looked just as run down and shitty as it did back then. Sixteen years had passed since he first walked inside, and yet - not a single thing on the outside had changed. Even that stupid neon pink sign was there, flicking the name - The Uraraka Gym.
Walking to the old place, he remembered what it felt like to be young and walking through the doors like he had already won the world - he just needed people to know his name. The old hag put him here, knowing the family through mutual friends.
Once there, through different sessions and different fighting styles, old man Uraraka saw potential. He hired some other fighting trains - allowing Katsuki time to adjust to everything, whilst Uraraka made Jiu-Jitsu his own personal training project. As many fighting styles as possibly was always his motto; any way to get out of a situation was all he needed to know.
Katuski would have called out as he entered, but knowing old man Uraraka, he’d be pissed that Katsuki was making so much noise. Instead, he walked in, hearing the faint but familiar sounds of fists against leather. Walking further into the dimly lit gym, no one else around - but equipment all packed away, obviously closing early that day - Katsuki knew there would only be one person still there. As it sprung to mind, he was still unsure if he was ready to see them. It felt strange to see her after all those years - but he had doubts she’d ever throw him out.
Under one of the only lights still on, he watched the small woman twist and jab at the punching bag, her body filled out in muscle during the eight years he had been gone. The outfit of a training fighter - sport bra and tights, bandages on hands and ankles. She had sweat beading on her skin, and even from the floor he could tell she’d been at it for a while - droplets making an outline of where her exertion lay. When her leg came up to the bag, it barely budged from her attempt, and Katsuki scoffed.
“What kind of featherweight doesn’t know how to throw a damn kick?” he shouted across the length between them. Ochako turned, surprised to see him. But then her features softened, stance deflating and the fight within her lost.
“What kind of middleweight doesn’t get the fuck back up?” she panted, smiling over to him, falling to the floor in a heap as she unwrapped the bandages around her ankles. “It’s good to see you. Your face is in good shape.”
She still smiled the same.
“Thanks,” he replied, clearing his throat, walking towards her.
“Why are you here?” she asked, the back of her hand wiping at her
“Came to see the old place, still as shitty as ever,” he said, looking around. The equipment had been updated, and hell, there were even screens in front of some of the stations to watch things.
“Thanks,” she replied, not offended or surprised, almost as though she expected it. She had known him for sixteen years.
“Where’s the old man?” he asked. Ochako looked up at him.
“Hospital,” she replied, and Katsuki frowned only to be met with one similiar in return. “oh, right. You were gone by then. He got diagnosed with lung cancer,” she explained.
“Smoking the way he did doesn’t surprise me,” he scowled, crouching to be the same height at her.
“He’s doing good, just there with my mum right now. He’s in remission, just getting some check ups, but he can’t run the place yet,” she explained, untying her hands next. It was a natural thing for fighters, letting the wrist go to let the material unravel.
“Right,” he said, squinting at her, “who’s running the place then?”
“Yours truly,” she beamed, same smile, same joy. It hit him like a wall he never saw coming.
“Thought you were gonna be a fighter,” he scowled. Ochako’s features softened, as though someone had punched her in the gut - instead of answering straight away, she looked down.
“It’s on hold right now.”
“Fucking why? You had potential back then,” he scowled back harder
“Look, it’s been a hard year. I was doing well, but my last match wore me out, and then dad got sick, it just didn’t end up going my way. When things go back to normal, I’ll be back fighting. You’ll see.” Even though her words were determined, there was no passion in her voice.
“You sure about that?”
“It’s fine! I run the place, teach classes. Even taught someone you fought,” she praised herself, lifting her chin.
“Yeah, who?” katsuki stood, just as Ochako was getting to her feet.
“Iida Tenya,” she said, and he frowned. It wasn’t someone he was expecting.
“He was fast, but sucked at taking a punch,” Katsuki said, though he did downplay his opponent somewhat. Sure, he sucked at taking a punch, but Iida sure knew how to throw one. And he could throw them one after the other without much of a break. One of the only matches Katsuki knew he got a concussion from.
“Told him so too. Ever noticed the mark in his eyebrow?” she said, hands on her hips.
“That you?”
“Damn straight,” she beamed. It made him feel eighteen all over again.
“It’s good to see you,” he said, trying not to seem like an asshole, but it was hard to be honest.
“What? My ugly mug? You always said my cheeks were too round,” Ochako crossed her arms. He’d never forgotten the name he gave her - her own name never passing his lips to that day.
Katsuki reached the distance between them and tugged on one of her cheeks. “They still are,” he said, raising his brow as he smirked at the sight.
“What are doing here, Bakugou?” she asked, swatting his hand away. Her eyes suddenly looked into him - seeing the stuff he had always kept under the surface, but it was like she could see it all. It was so clear to her. “You can lie to everyone else, but I’ve known you long enough - you’d never come back here unless you had to,” she said. Maybe she remembered what he said that night after all, even in her drunken state.
“I lost.”
“I saw.”
“So did the world.”
“It was your first since you became pro,” she crossed her arms again, eyes fixed on him like she was deciphering him.
“First ever,” he replied sharply.
“I remember a thirteen year old me knocking you on your ass,” she said, jutting out her chin, raising it defiantly to him.
“That didn’t count,” he spat back. Ochako giggled, shaking her head.
“Says who? It’s my greatest achievement,” she said, and Katsuki looked away, feeling like his face was heating up. Why did he always get like that with her? She was just a girl he knew - nothing more. But she smiled, and that kindness felt fake.
“I couldn’t get back up,” he felt himself sigh, like a defeated child. It felt pathetic to admit it to her.
“When you fell you accepted the fact that you weren’t getting back up,” she explained.
“I wanted to get back up, if it weren’t for half and half, I would have -”
“Stayed there.” Katsuki snapped his attention back to her. It was so matter of factly, the words almost hurt. “I watched that fight, Bakugou Katsuki. You saw no point in winning,” she said.
“How could you know?!” Katsuki snapped, getting straight into her space. Even thought she was still short, but those determined eyes were no less intimidating, he’d give her that. When her hands suddenly made impact with his chest, he finally realised he was in pain. It wasn’t dull anymore - it burned through his body, but he didn’t care. He saw the rage that bubbled within him seep into her.
“I told you eight years ago! You see the end of the fight! You saw you could lose and you lead yourself straight into that corner,”
“I don’t need to hear this shit,” he started to walk away, only to hear footsteps following after him.
“Don’t you walk away from me when you let that guy kick in your ribs! You let him break the bottom two and you let him have that advantage! You were in the perfect position to block and you just let him!” she shouted before they got to the door, Katsuki readying to leave.
“What would you know?” he snarled over his shoulder, gripping hard into the door handle.
“Maybe I don’t know after all. The Bakugou I knew wouldn’t have let anyone have that advantage over him,” she said. Katsuki wrenched the door open, walking past and slamming it behind him. The long walk home didn’t cool down his rage, for one reason alone; she was right. He did see the kick coming - he didn’t think it’d break his ribs, but he felt them go, and that was it. The fight left him once he felt the disadvantage, like shitty half and half could read him better. The entire fight pissed him off.
And he didn’t know why.
Half of it was a blur. Katsuki didn’t even remember stepping into the ring and days later it felt like he had never truly stepped out of it. As though all his motivation lay in a pool of his own blood and sweat, and the memory of pain as his ribs cracked and Shoto’s fist making his face a numb mess.
In the months after, it felt like he was in a daze almost. He trained with Kirishima, he visited his parents, he cooked and cleaned and waited for his ribs to fucking heal.
He was sitting on the couch eating his dinner the night Shoto lost his title - fucking barely three months after he’d won the championship in the first place. That bald-headed idiot Yoarashi Inasa stealing it out from under the fucker in a flurry of punches. It looked brutal, even through the TV, and Katsuki almost felt bad. Almost.
The fight ended in a knock out in the third round, Shoto looking ridiculous as the fighter stupidly dubbed ‘whirlwind’ roared with hands in the air.
It took Shoto a week to come see him at a gym they had first met in. The pair could be considered friends, if friends would beat the shit out of each other and be rivals a majority of the year. They did train together a lot, but not much before Katsuki’s loss, or since.
“Hey,” Shoto greeted, his hands in his pockets. He wasn’t even fucking training. With a tight ‘tch’, Katsuki continued to lift his weights. “Wanted to check on you,” he said. Letting the weight slam back into their rest, Katsuki shot up, looking at the bastard.
“What do you want half n’ half?” he scowled. “Can’t even keep your fucking title, have to see that shitty fight. Pathetic.”
“Bakugou,” Shoto tried. Katsuki snapped up his shirt, slinging it around his neck as he walked to the leg press machine.
“You kicked my ass and then gave up your title like it was nothing! You had every chance to win that fucking figh -”
Shoto grabbed hold of Katuki’s bicep, flinging him back to stare back at him - the two in a heated glare.
Still, half and half didn’t let go.
“Just like you did?” His stupid fucking voice is steady - not an ounce of rage, even though it echoed in his eyes. “I fought you, remember? You held back.”
Katsuki broke his gaze. He could see the sweat droplets that pooled beneath him, scattered on the floor of the gym.
“You wanted to get knocked down,” There was a certainty in Shoto’s voice. “Don’t use me as an excuse for suddenly losing your drive.”
“Fuck you!” The words exploded from him, finding his fists in Shoto’s collar, tugging him closer. “I didn’t lose shit, bastard!”
Katsuki was panting, muscles twitching as he geared up for a fight. He wouldn’t go down again this time. He’d kill the bastard before he could even get the chance.
“How do you think I won?” Shoto’s voice trembled in a way that warned Katsuki to be wary of fists, “I’ve never once found an opening against you - how many times have we fought, trained, and -nothing.”
He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, all the while, he seemed to be calming.
“You let me take it,” Shoto said lowly, words almost antagonising.
“I’m in every single fucking fight I’m in!” he snarled back.
Shoto let go of Katsuki, making it abundantly clear that he was the only one that was pressuring the fight. “I beat you with little effort,” he said evenly once more, the fight entirely gone. All the while, Katsuki’s hands trembled with anger at Shoto’s collar, knuckles white and aching. “Do you even want what you’re fucking fighting for?”
Katsuki felt like he was spewing out fumes, anger and frustration filling his body like a furnace. His vision is narrowed, shifting back to when they fought, and the rage dissipates, his hand unfurling from Shoto’s collar.
“Get out of my way,” he said, though he wasn’t sure why - it was the only thing he could say. He couldn’t even move.
“Inasa took the top spot because I couldn’t find an opening,” Shoto said, kept talking like the socially inept bastard he was. “He’s a middleweight in name only. He hit like a freight train and I couldn’t think straight,” he said, face slowly deepening into an uncharacteristic scowl. “Every opening I had, he came in faster,” he said, almost wincing at the memory, “every movement was one step ahead of me. I couldn’t keep up.”
A deep shuddering breath, and grim eyes raised to look at Katuki. “Remember that,” he finished.
For a moment, he doesn’t know what to do. Tell him to fuck off? Reassure his friend?
Katsuki knew he couldn’t do either - that wasn’t in him.
“Next time, I’ll make you eat mat,” he spits out, lacking the heat he wanted it to.
“Next time, I won’t need to wait for an opening,” Shoto replied, clapping Katsuki’s shoulder as he passed him. “Next time, I’ll make one.”
Katsuki looked over his shoulder to Shoto. And they smirked at one another. A challenge was made and it was one that each wanted to keep.
He knew what he had to do - but the realisation of it was something he dreaded.
The drive there was relatively short - he never strayed far from his old neighbourhood. Outside, the gym was bustling with people, far more than he had seen before. They had trainers with them, making them run, or helping them exercise with kids - which he didn’t know was a thing until he watched it - yet inside was the busiest he’d ever seen. Every machine was taken up, all the equipment was being used, there were even people in the ring with supporters at the ropes, urging them on. Beside one of the punching bags, holding it steady was the woman that he’d run out on not a few months before.
The attention of the gym fell on him - his face recognisable these days. He wished it wasn’t sometimes, but he couldn’t help that, public eye and all. Katsuki walked the distance to her, hands tucked into his pockets. Letting go of the bag and allowing the boxer off, she faced him for just a moment.
“What are you doing here?” Ochako asked, her hair flicking over her shoulder in a ponytail. He hadn’t noticed it all those months ago, but her hair was much longer than he realised - even tied up, it was midway down her shoulders, touching at the bottom of her shoulder blades. Only way he could tell was that she kept her back to him.
“I heard there’s a decent trainer here,” he replied.
“Not for you,” she snapped back at him, walking off to do god knows fucking what - ignoring him most likely.
He scowled at her. “The fuck does that mean?”
“You weren’t willing to hear me out a few months back, why should I give you a chance now?” she snapped, looking around at her gym. Katsuki looked around too, noticing that all eyes were on them. “Everyone get back to fucking training! You wanna waste your money, go ahead, but I will pull each and everyone of you into that ring and show you what slacking off will get you,” she shouted, and the room went back to its noise, ignoring the pair completely.
“That’s why I need you,” he said, ducking his head down, rubbing over the undercut at the brink of his neck. She still moved on, and Katsuki snarled, grabbing hold of her wrist and making her look at him. Her eyes were mad - he couldn’t blame her. “I just need a better fucking trainer, ok? Whatever that fight was, it wasn’t me. You know me, know how to push me.”
Pulling out of his grasp, her eyes had softened. She sighed before she raised her chin to him, hands on her hips. “I’m not my dad. I will break you.” Ochako may have thought she was warning him, but it only made him smile. Her cheeks flushed in response.
“It’s what I’m counting on,” he replied.
“Come by tomorrow. We’ll start early,” she replied, gesturing for him to leave. He gave a nod, even though he wanted to start that day.
When he got home, he called his team, letting them know there were changes. He didn’t care about the yelling, he was doing what he needed to. When shitty hair called back, excited as anything, Katsuki rolled his eyes and let the idiot come by for training.
It was six in the morning when he turned up at Kirishima’s place. He dragged the fucker out of bed, made him take a shower and fed him breakfast on the drive over. By the time they got there, it was half past seven, and the gym had no one in it, save a few people getting a workout in before work. In the ring however was where Ochako stood, hair up in a bun, and wearing tights and a singlet that hung off her frame.
She was training someone with hands on experience. That was a good sign for him at least.
Her hands were up, she was ready to fight the young fighter. He would have been eighteen at most, weighing in a lightweight division.
“Is that Uraraka Ochako? No one has seen her in the ring for over a year,” Shitty hair exclaimed in a whisper.
Ochako gave a nod, and the young nerd prepped his hands up, bouncing on his feet as Ochako found her opening. His left hand guarded lower than his right. In one hard swing, she brought her leg up, kicking him round the cheek and sending him to the floor. It was such little effort to her as she stood over him.
“I told you to block!” she said, crouching down, holding their hands up around their face, guarding it unlike what they had done before, “hands up, honey,” she said, smiling sweetly after just kicking their ass. She stood, looking over to Katsuki.
“Where’s the trainer?” Eijiro asked. Katsuki pointed back to Ochako.
“You’re looking at her.”
When Katsuki looked at him, shitty hair was staring at him with his jaw practically on the damn floor. Rolling his eyes, Katsuki waved over to her.
Stepping under the rope, she came over to them, giving a slight jog as she bit her gloves off from her hands.
“Bakugou,” she said, letting her hair out of the hair tie. It flowed down around her shoulders.
“Cheeks,” he said and she rolled her eyes.
“Uraraka Ochako,” she greeted, turning to shitty hair.
“I’m Kirishima Eijiro. Support trainer,” he said, shaking her hand vigorously. Katsuki frowned, watching it as though it were a violent act. It didn’t look comfortable. But Eijiro was excited.
“Support?” she asked, looking between Katsuki and Eijiro. Katuki shrugged.
“I can be your support as a trainer, or I’m just an emotional support for this emotionless dumbass,” he said, gesturing over to Katsuki. He frowned, crossing his arms.
“I think that is a very useful job,” Ochako smirked.
“It’s not but I love my bakubro, so I’ll always help,” Eijiro said, following Ochako like he were a lost dog. Katsuki shook his head, putting his gear inside her office and beginning to stretch as shitty hair continued to fawn over her. After he was done, the gym filling with a few more people - it was as though Ochako became a different person, and everything changed about his routine.
Ochako kept her promise.
She pushed him hard - harder than he thought he’d be pushed by a trainer. It hadn’t been since he started had a trainer looked him over and said he needed ten times more, even as he lay on the floor panting. Ochako didn’t let him rest, focused on the task at hand - be faster, be stronger, be the best fucking fighter there was.
From the first day, she pushed him to his limits, never allowing him to rest in order to create stamina - she was good, but fuck was it torture at the same damn time. He had no reason to deny her though - she obviously knew his style, knew where he needed to improve, because he seemed to leave the gym far more exhausted than he had before his fight with Shoto.
Every day, as they wound down, her stretching and tactical sessions were wound into one. Ochako would help him stretch out his back, walking through different things he could improve on next time, as well as small exercises he could do in the times he didn’t see her. Eventually, she’d end up on top of him somehow - either she’d keep his knee as he stretched up towards his armpit, twisting the knots in his back, or working out his hamstrings by leaning on his leg and pushing it as far as it could until they were done. All the while, she’s rattled on about technique and drummed in her ideas of his fighting style improvements.
At first, he was resistant to her - he knew he was good, he just felt like he needed his foundations, but when Ochako got mad, she got him in the ring and knocked him on his ass with ease, almost making him tap out with the crushing effort of her thighs.
“I’m not playing around here, Bakugou Katsuki! You take me seriously or you can get the fuck out of my gym!”
It was all he needed to hear. He took note - she wouldn’t bring it up if it wasn’t important.
“This,” Katsuki panted one day, down on the floor after a three hour training session that could be called torture, “this is why I wanted her as my trainer,” he said to shitty hair who laughed.
Bad move.
“Just for laughing, you’re joining him next hour, move it, Eijiro!” she barked, sending Kirishima on a run around the gym. “Take another fifteen. You’re too wrecked to do anything with right now,” she said, crouching down to Katsuki.
“I can go!” he roared, trying to get up, but with her hand pinned to his chest, it made the effort null and void.
“No need to show off, buddy. I know you can perform when asked,” she teased, looking him over. “but I’m not asking, and I can tell you’re not going to show me anything,” she smirked, it soon turning into a giggle.
She was different somehow. A little more confident than she had been in the past. It was still her underneath it all, but there was something entirely different to her - a growth that came from something he couldn’t see.
“Are you trying to say something?” he frowned, turning over to look at her easier. “Since when do you talk like this anyhow? You were always fucking quiet back then,” he reminded. Ochako thought for a moment, the silence aching between them - a look shared that he couldn’t figure out. To it, she merely shrugged.
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” she smirked, patting his face - or maybe it was a slap? He was too exhausted to know the difference, “go get some water or I’ll make sure I put you in the ring and knock you on your ass again,” she warned, standing up and going to some of her other trainees.
After one of their earlier morning training sessions that ran later because Kirishima was being a pain all day, Katsuki was picking up his gear from her office, seeing her at the desk, stretching her neck as she took notes and scrolled through her computer screen.
“Aren’t you going home? It’s been a long damn day,” he asked, almost spoking her with the way she jumped.
She shook her head. “Can’t. Gotta check the books and pay some bills. The work is never ending.” Ochako pointed to her screen, smiling, but it lacked a light. She looked tired. With the way her desk had been building the last few weeks, he wondered what she was going through for the first time since it had all started.
“I didn’t ask, but how’s the -”
“He’s fine. He’s just not strong enough to work yet,” she interrupted him quickly, as though there was something she wasn’t saying. He stepped in closer to her desk and she waved him off, “it’s fine. I’m staying on top of everything,” she said, smile no longer blinding. He shook his head.
“Whatever. You better be eating right,” he warned her.
“Go home, Bakugou. It’s fine,” she laughed.
“Night cheeks.” Hitching up his bag on his shoulder, he waved her off, and they parted for the day. But even as he rested that night, he wondered if she was doing as good as she presented.
He remembered when she was young, hurting her ankle and not telling her parents for days because she was scared she'd worry them. It took his prodding to make her move and explain what happened. Tossing his phone in his hand, he looked at their blank message chain.
His phone soon buzzed, showing the message through from Ochako.
00:35am - Cheeks: I ate dinner if you were wondering :)
He smiled to himself.
00:36am - Katsuki: Whatever. Go to bed. We’ve got an early start tomorrow.
~*~*~
As they sat over lunch in Ochako’s office. Eijiro and Ochako ate some ramen as they watched Katsuki’s confirmed opponent. Fumikage Tokoyami. They were gathered up, pausing and starting the clips at random. Well - it was more so Ochako. She seemed to break down things with ease when it came to this.
“See, Tokoyami is a kickboxer by nature. If he can, he’ll go for the head, and he lifts off the ground like a bird. He might be a middleweight, but he’s on the lighter side. What you should be doing is,” she said, playing the video a little longer, catching a moment where his foot went up into his opponent’s ribs, “when he goes for this, catch his ankle and get him on the ground. You punish him on the mat and make him wish he didn’t have legs,” she said, and Katsuki smirked.
“Marry me?” Eijiro said out of nowhere, spooking both Ochako and Katsuki, making them snap their attention to him.
“Oi!” Katsuki snarled.
“What?”
“She’s my trainer, shitty hair, buzz off,” he warned.
“You’re not dating her,” Eijiro reminded.
“I’m not dating either of you, so can we get back to this,” she said, pushing away from the desk and indicating that their break was over. “Eijiro,” she turned to him.
“Yeah, yeah. Just make sure I don’t pass out this time,” he said, setting down his lunch and grabbing hold of his head gear that he had been wearing that morning. They moved from her office down to the ring, stepping up and into the ropes. Katsuki put his gloves back on, tightening them with his teeth.
At the other side of the ropes, Ochako caught Katsuki’s arm, tugging him to her. She slipped a long strand of hair behind her ear. He leaned into her.
“Knock him out,” she whispered, looking up at him with a devilish gleam in her eye.
Katsuki smirked, clapping his hands together. “No need to ask me twice,” he replied, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet.
“Oh shit,” Eijiro exclaimed, watching over the two fighters’ faces.
~*~*~
When the fight came, Ochako stood with him in the locker room, giving him a once over in his gear - she tightened his gloves and made sure his black and orange shorts didn’t look crinkled and weird. She looked like she usually did in the gym - her tights and shirt combo, but now she wore his name over her shoulders and her gym over her chest, their own way of promotion. It was the least he could do for putting her out as he did.
Months of training had led up to this - the confidence in him was practically spilling out onto Ochako. He’d never seen her so excited, it was almost scary how ready she was.
“Now, I want you to stay focused on the fact that Tokoyami will try and outmanoeuvre you. He’ll strike with his knees and legs if it gives him an advantage. He’ll go for your ribs because he knows -”
“Oi, cheeks, I got it,” he replied, huffing to her words. He could feel his knee bouncing as he sat there. He wasn’t nervous - he was just raring to go. It was taking too long.
“Listen to me,” Ochako said, standing in between his legs, arms folded over her chest, she stared him down, “you pin him on the ground, get him in a choke hold, and you make him tap out,” she instructed. He scowled back at her.
“I can knock him out,” he said, gritting his teeth at her. Her eyes warned him to keep his temper down - if he let it loose too soon, it wouldn’t be useful, or he could even be careless in his fights.
“I know you can, but I want you to tap him out! If you try and knock him out with one punch you’re gonna go the full five. I want this done in two,” she said, but it was a request - show her what he could do - finish it all in two rounds and she’d keep him. He gave a nod in response. “Alright, lets move it,” she said, stepping away from him and tilting her head to gesture to the door. He walked out first, breathing evenly as he moved, his team following behind.
Once his music started, they walked out the doors to a roaring crowd and the commentators' words being beamed loudly over the speakers. The match hadn’t started, so the whole stadium could hear the fuckers speak.
“Bakugou Katsuki’s first match back is met with some confusion, as he brought in a female coach! This has never been done before!” One said. Katsuki wanted to look back at her, but knew if he did she’d kick him in the throat. He needed to be focused.
“A lot of people are going to be surprised to see this - wait...That’s Uraraka Ochako! Are we getting this? Uraraka is a featherweight fighter, hasn’t been seen in over a year and a half, and now she’s training Bakugou Katsuki!? This is going to be an insane fight ahead.” The second one made the crowd go nuts.
Katsuki stepped into the ring, Ochako following after, doing yet another check over
They introduced Tokoyami, but Katsuki was focused on whatever Ochako was saying. It was stuff she had said multiple times over - but it was like she wanted him to seep it all in, in only a matter of seconds.
This was the moment that everything would change or he’d be the same fighter he was all those months ago. He’d be on his way to being a champion or nothing at all. They had put in so much effort - he had put in so much effort, and it could all go to fucking waste in one single fight.
As Tokoyami walked into the ring, Ochako tugged on him, bringing his focus down to her and not to the opponent walking into the ring.
“Hey, look at me,” she asked, hands either side of his neck, keeping him focused on her, and only her, “who are you?”
“What?” he asked. Ochako shoved the mouth guard into his mouth. He grunted at the pressure she placed.
“I wanna know what’s going on in that head of yours, so who the fuck are you?” she asked, pushing him to the singular thought.
“I’m Bakugou fucking Katsuki,” he said, muffled by the guard.
“Who you going to be?” she asked, hand on his shoulders.
“I’m gonna be number one,” he replied. The smile that grew on her face made him feel powerful.
“Then show me,” she patted his cheek and left the ring. She kept close by, her own eyes focused on the impending fight. As the two prepped for the fight, the referee brought them in, going through the rules and what he expected from the fight. He made them touch gloves, and they gave a brief acknowledgement of the other. In one of the many corners, Katsuki stood, ready for that one single word.
“Gentlemen are you ready?” The referee asked both sides. They each gave a nod. “Go!”
Katsuki smirked and roared to life.
28 notes
·
View notes