"Pretend to be my date."

Ochako rubbed her eyes, not sure if she was dreaming or not. After waking up at the sound of strong knocks at her apartment door, she expected if was one of her neighbors wanting to complain about something. What she didn't expect, was to see Bakugou Katsuki, wild blond hair and angry red eyes, standing in front her.

"Bakugou…?", she mumbled, voice raspy from being asleep just minutes ago. "What do you want?"

He gulped, as if he was swallowing his pride. "Pretend. To be. My date."

His voice sounded odd and restrained, like he regretted saying them. Ochako blinked.

"Hum… I'm gonna need you to be more clear than that.", she said, arms crossed, leaning on the door frame.

His scowl deepened, hands trembling. He was trying to hold some explosions back, that was for sure.

"To the goddamn party Best Jeanist's gonna host!", Bakugou blurted out, looking away from her.

Ochako had heard of the party. The now third best hero in the country decided to throw one of those fancy charity events, the profits destinated to a foundation that helped the victims of villain attacks and their families. It was a really nice initiative, but the invites were a bit expensive. The girl couldn't afford to spend that much, now that she had to pay her own rent.

Which reminded her…

"And after three years since you last saw me, you decided to ask me out at 11:00 pm on a tuesday, because…?"

Bakugou flinched at her sarcastic tone.

"I'm not asking you out, stupid round-face!", he said, running a hand through the back of his head. He had an undercut now, she noticed. "I just need you to go with me to this fucking ball and pretend to be my date. Don't blow this out of proportion!"

"Wow, you really know how to convince a girl."

It's not like Ochako held any grudges from high school. Despite being a dick to her and all her friends, Bakugou had gone through a great development, and ended up becoming a not so unpleasant company at the end. However, after school was over, she hadn't heard much from him. They saw each other from time to time, for work-related reasons, but she kinda felt hurt that he never return her calls or joined the rest of their friends when they hung out.

"Look, i know it's been a long time", he started, frowning at her hurtful expression. Taking in a deep breath, his stance got a little more relaxed. "And i… i'm fucking sorry, okay?!"

Her eyes went wide open. Bakugou Katsuki, apologising? Not something she ever thought of seeing in her life. He caught her impressed reaction, scowling and letting out a stressed sigh.

"I just, needed to focus on my career. It's hard enough trying to go solo without any distractions. I don't have time for it." he muttered, looking genuinely honest. Her eyes softened a little. "This stupid party'll be full of government people and potential investors. And i need to make a good fucking impression if i ever want to stop being just a sidekick."

Ochako blinked, putting the pieces together. "So, you think i could make a good impression?"

He scoffed. "I've seen you on the magazines. TV shows. Posters. Gunhead sure knows how to use that round face of yours to promote his agency."

She blushed, looking away from him. It wasn't a lie. Gunhead wasn't exactly the greatest example of charisma, and having her on his office had made a huge difference in his popularity. But Ochako wasn't just a pretty face, and he knew that. They've been a great team during the last few years she's been his sidekick.

"Besides, you're good with people. You have this stupid positive attitude, and you know how to use words.", she felt her cheeks warming up at the strange compliments. "Those old geezers will fall in love with you in the blink of an eye."

"You, on the other hand, would just make them run away in terror.", she pointed out, watching as his face curled up in a sneer.

"Yeah, smart-ass. But with you by my side, maybe they'll actually hear what i have to say. Then, if we can convince them, they'll land us the money to start our own office!"

She choked, not sure if she heard that right.

"Our office? D-do you mean… Are you proposing a partnership?", Ochako's eyes were wild. She must have gone crazy, Bakugou would never ask her that.

"It's not like that, stupid!" he hurried his words, looking a bit flustered himself. "I mean, just until our names start to stand out as solo heroes. Than, we can on our fucking ways."

She slowly nodded, starting to understand his track of thought. Going solo was really hard these days, with so many heroes popping out of nowhere. If you didn't have the money, you had to really stand out from the crowd to catch the eyes of investors and get your office going. Then, there's the hiring, administration, keeping track of the income, of the popularity, sometimes campaigns and other issues. At such young age, and with barely any resources, Ochako would never make it own her on.

Bakugou, although being one of the best of their generation, lacked every other quality a pro hero should have, such as charisma, patience and cooperativeness. Even if he had the money to start, he would certainly be demonized by media and other agencies would refuse to work with him. If they could rely on each other until they were well recognized as pro heroes, maybe there was a chance for both of them to achieve their goals.

"So? You in or not?", she snapped from her thoughts, looking back at him. He looked impatient, hands on his pockets, staring at her with expectation. "I'll pay for your entrance, even buy you a fucking dress if you wa—"

"I'm in."

His eyes were wide for a second. He stared at her, looking for any trace of sarcasm in her face. "You… you're in? Are you sure, round-face? Even if we can make it, It's gonna be a long damn time before we can hire assistants, and there's the management issue and—

"I said i'm in, Bakugou.", she had a big smile on her lips, as he stared at her in awe. He expected her to say no, to laugh at him, to send him flying out of the fucking building. But not to actually accept his offer.

"I have some conditions, though.", she said, and he raised a brow at her serious expression. "No baku-raging at the party. You'll act like a gentleman, and agree with everything i say. And you'll call me by my name, from now on. No snarky nicknames about my face."

He sneered at her, rolling his eyes. "Fine, Uraraka. Anything else?"

She thought about it for a second. "Yes. If we do manage to start our own office, i'll be the one who'll name it. You're awful with names."

Bakugou's eyes flared up at the insult.

"What?! What's wrong with King and Queen of Explodo-Kills?!

At this, she slammed the door in his face, going back to her bed.

And this, was how hero agency Supernova was born, now one of the biggest offices in Japan.