Chapter Text
Bakugou sat frozen, shell-shocked by this conversation.
First — he had grown a weird rivalry friendship and mutual respect (though he will never admit it) with Deku, and he felt a strong sense of guilt in not realizing such a big fact about his life. Of course Deku would never talk to him about it, he probably thinks I don’t give a fuck. Bakugou frowned to himself.
And then… Uraraka just had to drop this bomb. Yeah, he won’t lie. He felt the sting of jealousy growing in the pit of his stomach.
“Oh,” was all Bakugou was able to muster.
She sat, biting her lip nervously.
“It wasn’t much though…we were doing homework one time and it just kind of happened.”
Bakugou felt his soul leaving his body. His eyes settled onto nothing. He was the husk of a human being. It just kind of happened… with Icy-Hot.
“I see,” he muttered.
As Bakugou sat lifeless, Uraraka started getting nervous. She had only told Asui about this.
“Yup..we were just sitting there and BAM!” She once again rubbed the back of her head nervously. “We made out for a few minutes.” Uraraka laughed nervously. “This happened our first-year…it was pretty crazy.”
Bakugou’s crimson eyes suddenly turned to meet hers, both eyebrows upturned in disbelief.
“Cheeks — what?”
She smiled, looking at him confused. “What?”
“So you just hooked up — made out, that’s it?”
“Yes.”
“You just kissed?”
“Yeah, we kissed.”
Bakugou smacked the back of his hand onto the palm of his other hand for emphasis as he continued. “No touching?”
“I mean I’m pretty sure that kissing counts as touching, but yeah.”
He sat there, staring deep into her eyes. For some reason, he couldn’t help but find her innocent nature endearing, feeling his heart sigh in relief at the news. But ICY-HOT?! OF ALL PEOPLE?! He smacked his hand onto his forehead, slowly dragging it down his face. That was probably her first kiss, too.
“YOU HAD ME ALL WORKED UP FOR NOTHING, URARAKA?!” He shouted before he could catch himself.
“HAH?!” Uraraka’s body jumped back a bit, shocked. “Worked up?!” A light blush crossed her face. “What do you mean worked up?”
He pointed at her. “I see your brain going one million miles a minute right now, don’t overthink my words,” he huffed out, trying to catch himself. Bakugou turned his head away, avoiding eye contact with her. What the fuck is wrong with me. Why is my heart beating so hard right now. Since when did I have a fucking crush on Cheeks?
Bakugou continued. “You had me thinking you and… ICY-HOT of all people…” He could hardly even bring himself to mutter the next few words. “Went…all the way.” His voice dropped about ten levels with the last few words.
Now it was Uraraka’s turn to be shocked. Her face suddenly burned red. “WHAT?! ME AND TODOROKI?! NO WAY!!” Her hands desperately searched for the nearest pillow and she buried her face into it, trying to hide her embarrassment. “Oh gods, I can’t believe that I made you think that!”
“What else would I think?!” Bakugou spat back.
Uraraka peaked her doe eyes up over the top of the pillow, still clutching it to her face. “I’m sorryyy, Bakugou-kun. I didn’t mean to make things weird!”
His heart beat out of his chest looking at her peek at him with such cute eyes. “Hah?” How is she so cute how is she so cute. He crossed his arms tightly. “I mean there’s no need to apologize, Round Face. I don’t control your life.”
As she sat staring at him apologetically, he glanced sideways at her.
Here Uraraka was, staring at him with that cute ass face, apologizing for thinking she made things awkward, when he was the one who was giving her a hard time since they got locked into the dorms together. He sucked in a deep breath, contemplating his next few words carefully.
“Uraraka, you don’t have to keep clutching that damn pillow for life,” he said as he snatched it away from her, causing her to momentarily lose balance and squeak in surprise. “I don’t really care anyway.”
He swore at that moment he saw her deflate a bit. Hah?! Was she disappointed? Or am I overthinking things as usual?
“Gotcha…” She said, eyes cast downward at the couch for a few moments. “Soo,” she continued, blowing some air up to knock some flyaway hairs out of her eyes. “I obviously have to rethink my delivery if I ever have this conversation again, obviously.”
Bakugou couldn’t help but grin a bit. “Obviously.”
He snuck another glance at her, trying to play it cool. Bakugou was about to change the topic with a question that would make her night before their phones buzzed simultaneously.
A text from Kaminari to the group. “So, when should I pencil in this Zoom meeting?”
Bakugou and Uraraka’s eyes met, and Uraraka couldn’t help but giggle at the stupidity of the whole situation, Bakugou grinning along with her.
“I guess that’s actually happening,” Uraraka sighed, happy to be able to change the topic.
He scoffed jokingly. “I guess, but that shit ain’t happening tonight.” He slowly stood up, noting it was already getting late in the day. “Come on Cheeks, let’s go make some dinner.”
His question would have to wait for another time.
Later that night, Bakugou laid still in bed, eyes wide open. It was already midnight. He usually went to bed by 9 p.m. THE LATEST. But tonight, sleep escaped him.
He had too many thoughts swirling around his brain. Mostly, of Uraraka.
Bakugou tried to work out whether he just suddenly developed a crush on her, or if he was too stupid to realize sooner.
Yeah, he always enjoyed her company while they were out on patrol. In fact, he already knew (he had put some thought into this prior) that if he had been given the option to choose who to intern with, she would have been his first pick.
Since their battle during their first year, he had always trusted her to have his back. She proved her tenacity that day, and he’d be damned if he ever questioned her commitment to a fight — especially when it came to villains.
And though some people might not think it, she had solid instincts and could easily lead a team of heroes into a fight. All of those thoughts were just confirmed twice — no, three times over when he watched her in action.
And yeah, maybe he did care for their little patrol chats more than he would admit. She was good company, and loved by everyone in the neighborhoods they watched over. He always smiled, unbeknownst to her, as she ran up to all of the local shop owners and folks of the neighborhood just to get to know them. They called out to her whenever they saw her, thanking her for her work. Sometimes they would acknowledge Bakugou, but he didn't care much. Uraraka was personable in a way he would never be, and he had always felt that her presence complimented his own. She was probably the only person he'd want to split rooftop-mochi with in the middle of a shift.
Bakugou angrily rolled over onto his side, changing up the scenery to stare at his wall instead of the ceiling. Damn his heart for being all over the place.
He was hopeless. He realized that these feelings weren’t new — he was just too damned stupid to decipher them sooner.
And of course, those thoughts spiraled into, well, how the fuck does she feel about me? On the surface, he was convinced there was no way she would be interested in him. But as he replayed the day’s events in his mind, somewhere deep down he felt a spark of hope.
Another trail of thought keeping him up was the fact that he was pissed at himself for his behavior the last few days, feeling guilt over taking out his recent frustrations on Uraraka. Bakugou knew she was just as frazzled by this whole quarantine situation as she was, yet he kept losing his cool over the stupidest shit.
Of course, just thinking over how he had treated her made his stomach flip and he ruffled his spiky hair with his hands in frustration, growling to himself as he flipped onto his back, finishing off the movement with a loud sigh.
His crimson eyes stared into the darkness. He had to make it up to her. Apologies had to be driven by action, and he knew what he had to do.
He had to invite her to his island.
He pouted to himself as he envisioned Uraraka sitting on the couch clutching a pillow to her face, peeking at him earnestly. Bakugou closed his eyes, covering his face with his arms as he laid still, face burning. Fuck, I’m fucked.