Chapter 1: Just Pretend
Chapter Text
“You hungry?”
Uraraka frowned, wrinkling her nose as she opened her notebook and pulled out the trigonometry problem set. “Not right now,” she smiled up at her friends, her eyes crinkling tightly as she picked up her pencil. “I’ll get something after I get this done.”
“The cafeteria closes in an hour though,” Midoriya reminded her as he stood up from the chair he’d occupied during their study session.
“A good nutritious dinner is essential after a day of training,” Iida added as he packed up his books, adjusting his glasses.
“I know, but,” she assured, looking down at her paper as her stomach growled, “If I don’t get this done now, I’m not going to and I really don’t wanna wait until the last minute.” She had a few more days until she had to turn in the problem set, but it would be easier to get it out of the way now.
“Okay,” Midoriya agreed, slinging his bookbag on his back. “Just make sure you-”
“Yeah, yeah,” she waved them off, making sure her smile didn’t falter. “I got it. You guys go get something. If I’m not done in thirty minutes, I’ll get something to go.”
“Alright then!” Iida gave her a little nod, gathering his own bag. “If I don’t see you again this evening, have a good night Uraraka-san.” He gave her a little bow before walking away from the table and exiting the lounge.
“Good night, Iida!” she called to him before turning to Midoriya.
“Are you sure-”
“Yep,” she insisted, ignoring the twinge of bitterness in her stomach. Her smile faltered for a moment as she looked down at her homework for a second. “I’m in the zone right now so I figure I might as well tackle math now.”
“Oh,” his voice dropped. “I could help you after dinner.”
“Naw.” The prospect would have excited her a few months ago “I don’t need help with this.” There was a chance he hadn’t heard her stomach growl, but she knew that Midoriya was well aware of her math struggles.
Overall, she did well with memorizing formulas. The problems came with the application and little mistakes in her arithmetic that kept her from getting the correct answer.
“It’s just graphing,” she shrugged, motioning to the calculator sitting next to her notebook. It was matching the equation to the correct graph and using the calculator to check her solution.
That implied coming up with a solution to check.
She took notes in class which meant absolutely nothing to her, but it was better than nothing. “I’ll be fine.”
Midoriya stared at her, lips tight.
Uraraka knew him well enough to know he was thinking of what to say to her.
He was too observant not to notice a shift in her demeanor but cautious enough think of a way to approach it.
“Go enjoy your dinner,” she told him before he had a chance to question her. “Text me if they have something really good, ya?”
“Okay,” he nodded, giving her one last look before slowly moving away from the table.
The moment he was out of sight Uraraka relaxed her face, allowing the corners of her lips to fall as she exhaled deeply.
Finally.
She didn’t have the energy to deal with her emotional baggage and trigonometry.
The second term was supposed to be a fresh start.
Her disappointing performance at the Sports Festival had led her to an awesome internship. The pride she felt about being able to evade one of the heroes she looked up to had been burst when Aizawa informed her that she and Aoyama had barely passed their final.
The summer had been a disaster. Between the trauma of being attacked in the forest during a training exercise and her trip to I-Island turning into another crisis…
“Oi, round face.”
Speaking of disasters. “Um-” She looked away from her untouched homework, turning to the blonde standing beside her chair. “Bakugo?”
“What are you doing in a couple of months?”
“No idea.” Uraraka wasn’t even sure what she was doing after she finished this paper. She was supposed to be getting something to eat, but the way the numbers and letters started blurring together was starting to make her head hurt.
The assignment wasn’t due until Thursday anyway, so she had a couple of days to finish and optimistically understand the assignment.
Knowing Ectoplasm he’d probably give them a quiz on Friday. He’d probably give them the quiz on Thursday to keep them on their toes. They’d all grown to expect his Friday “pop” quizzes, Uraraka was just waiting for him to switch it up when they least expected it-
“I need a date to my stupid cousin’s wedding.”
Uraraka blinked, her mind going blank for a moment as she stared at him.
He looked at her with indifference, a small sneer at the corner of his lips.
“Excuse me?”
Bakugo inhaled slowly, shoving his hands in his pockets as he shuffled his feet, “You heard me.” Red eyes rolled toward the ceiling.
If she didn’t know better, Uraraka would have sworn he was blushing but she couldn’t be too certain with her ears malfunctioning. “I-” Had she heard him? Because if she had heard him correctly, it sounded like he was indirectly asking her for a favor. “You-” She wasn’t so hungry that her senses were playing tricks on her.
She’d gone over a day without eating and hadn’t hallucinated.
Though she had taken a fall during combat, but she hadn’t blacked out. Iida hadn’t hit her that hard. It had been hard enough to send her to her back, bruising her elbow and lower back. Nothing outside of the usual damage. “What?” She definitely didn’t hit her head.
“I said I need a fucking date to my stupid cousin’s wedding,” he growled, snapping his eyes to her before looking past her head to the window behind her.
Uraraka avoided his gaze, choosing to look around the lounge. “Okay?” she acknowledged slowly.
Was anyone else hearing this?
“Tell your cousin I said congratulations?” What else was she supposed to say?
“I said I need a date. I don’t care that you’re happy that witch found someone stupid enough to marry her.”
“Um…” A soft flush overtook her already rosy face as Uraraka looked down at the math problems. Her fingers fiddled with her pencil as she nodded, “Okay?”
“So you’ll go?”
Did he sound relieved? “What?” she questioned. “You were asking me to be your date?”
Bakugo folded his arms across his chest, looking affronted, “Why the hell else would I come over here to tell you about my cousin’s wedding?”
“Well,” she started carefully, “I figured you were trying to make conversation.”
“I don’t do small talk, round face,” he scoffed. “It’s a waste of my fucking time.”
“Oh.”
“So you wanna go with me or what?” he questioned, brows furrowing deeper as he glared at her impatiently.
Setting her pencil down she turned toward him, propping her chin against her fist. “Why are you asking me?” This was more perplexing than her homework.
Do I need a fucking reason?
Considering she couldn’t remember a time where they’d ever had an actual conversation that hadn’t involved him insulting one of her friends or calling her round face… “Yes, yes you do.”
“Look-”
How did he have the ability to make someone feel like he was doing her a favor when he was the one asking her for something?
“It’s a yes or no question.”
“What’s my name?” she asked him suddenly. Her lips were drawn tight as she stared at him intently.
“What-” he stuttered, gesturing wildly as his jaw went slack for a moment. The blush she wasn’t sure was there seemed to get darker on his cheeks. “What the fuck does that have to do with anything?”
“You don’t even know.”
Just as she thought.
Uraraka picked up her pencil, gripping it tightly as she turned away from him. “Go ask Hagakure. She loves weddings. Oh, and in case you weren’t sure, she’s the one who is invisible.” Normally, she’d swallow whatever bitter feeling lurched at the back of her throat and opt for a more positive approach, but between math homework and the emotional drain of being happy around Midoriya she had no more positive emotional energy left to spare.
Bakugo wasn’t the only one capable of making snappy comments.
“She’s in our class, as well, in case you’ve for-”
“Uraraka Ochako.”
She froze at the sound of her name brushing roughly from his lips.
“I know your fucking name.”
Somewhere she remembered him using it before now.
“There,” he spat, tipping his chin. “So, now that we’ve gotten that shit out of the way, will you fucking go with me?”
Uraraka looked up at him, dropping her pencil back to the table, “Why me?”
“Because,” he sighed boredly, letting his head tilt toward one of his shoulders, “You’re the least annoying person I can fucking think of.”
That was almost a compliment. “Just ask Kirishima.”
“Fuck no,” Bakugo barked, snarling at her. “Look, I just need someone with half a brain to sit next to me.”
Maybe it wasn’t a compliment. She couldn’t tell if he was insulting her or Kirishima.
“Just pretend to my date,” he told her with a huff. He wiped his hands against his pants before placing them palms down on the table.
This was a horrible idea. “I don’t...um,” she chewed on her bottom lip as she looked at the blonde teen in front of her. “What do I have to do?”
“I don’t fucking know! Sit next to me, so my family will get off my back.”
Her eyes narrowed, “You’re using me as a buffer between you and your family?”
“Pretty much.”
At least he was honest. “I don’t know why you don’t ask Kirishima-” Kirishima was certainly the definition of diplomatic, and she figured he’d have no trouble dealing with a herd of Bakugos. “Or any other girl in our class.” She had a hard time believing she was his first choice.
“I already told you,” he started gruffly. “You’re the least annoying-”
“Ashido?”
He stared at her, “Who?”
“The pink girl in our class.”
“She’s fucking annoying as hell.”
Uraraka’s shoulder’s dropped as she stared at him, “You hang out with her.”
“Not by choice.”
“What about Tsu?” Uraraka didn’t even know why she suggested her best friend knowing full well that she wouldn’t have agreed.
Bakugo glared at her not even trying to figure out who she was talking about.
She sighed, “She’s in our class. Has the frog quirk…”
“Tch, no,” he dismissed.
“Jirou? Earphone jacks.”
“The one dunce face has a crush on?”
“Huh?” She didn’t know that. “Really?”
“Look, I’m not asking you to help me find a date. I can do that myself. I asked you because-” His mouth snapped shut.
Her brows raised, waiting for him to finish.
“You either do or you don’t,” Bakugo told her indifferently as he frowned, “I already told you, you’re not annoying and you have half a brain. I don’t know what you want me to say.”
The truth? “You don’t think this is weird?” She pointed a finger between the two of them.
He shrugged.
“I don’t know,” she shook her head, still trying to figure out what exactly was she was agreeing to.
“You get a free meal and some cake.”
She laughed sourly, “Yes, I know I’m poor, but I’m not that poor. Nice tr-”
“I didn’t fucking mean it like that,” he corrected roughly. “I mean that shit will be there so it won’t be a complete waste of time.” His shoulders dropped, but his hard stare remained. “Do you want to go or not?”
She stared at him, mouth agape.
“Yes or no, Uraraka.”
“I-” This was a really horrible idea. “Sure.” But, something in his eyes convinced her to say yes.
Bakugo nodded, stuffing his hands back in his pockets as he stood up straight, “Good.” He turned away from her, taking a few steps before stopping to look over his shoulder. “I’ll let you know when that crazy bitch sets the date, it’s going to be in November though.” He walked out of the lounge.
“Okay,” Uraraka called out, letting her back collapse against the chair. She looked down at her math sheet distastefully. The little motivation she had to complete the assignment early had dissipated and had been replaced by the confusion of Bakugo asking her to be his wedding date. “We’re not even two weeks into term…” she sighed shoving her homework in her binder.
So much for a fresh start.
“Damnit,” she muttered under her breath, throwing her pencil into her bag.
To be Continued…
Chapter 2: Nothing means Something
Summary:
“It’s nothing,” Uraraka shook her head, picking up her water bottle and taking a large gulp.
“Nothing?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing usually means something.”
Notes:
A/N: So, omg, I did not expect the amazing reaction of kudos and comments this got. Like... omg... YOU GUYS!!! I WASN'T READY FOR THIS!!! Ahhh! Thank you!! <3
I hope I haven't disappointed you all!!
Disclaimer: I do not own Boku No Hero Academia. This is a work of fiction that I am not making a profit off of...
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“Ochako.”
Uraraka yelped, hands flying to the rails of the treadmill as she struggled to get back to her comfortable running pace. Her head whipped around the gym as she checked to see if anyone had seen her nearly faceplant on the treadmill.
“You okay there?” Asui questioned, raising her brows curiously at her friend as she continued her own run.
“Yep,” Uraraka answered too quickly and too brightly.
Truthfully, everything was almost as it was before Bakugo asked her to be his date for his cousin’s wedding. Her math homework was still incomplete, and she was still avoiding Midoriya.
“Really?” Asui pushed, tipping her head to the side and shooting her a critical gaze. “You haven’t been coming down for breakfast or dinner with us.”
Uraraka had gone back to the fasting ritual she’d used to stretch out her groceries before she’d moved into the dorms.
No dinner, occasional breakfasts, and lunch had turned into grabbing the quickest and most filling she could find before running off to the library to hide. She’d gotten a small stock of breakfast pastries on sale before the term had started that Uraraka was determined would last her for the next month. Maybe two if she dipped into her chocolate stash for breakfast.
“I’m just trying to get used to the schedule for this term.” Uraraka figured that excuse would only last her another few weeks, so it was best to milk while she still could.
“It’s almost identical to the last term.”
“I guess.” It really was. “It’s just been hard since they added another hour to combat.”
“Combat is your favorite class.”
It was. “Yeah.” There was something really satisfying about tossing Midoriya flat on his back today. “I don’t know, I think trigonometry has my brain fried.” That wasn’t a lie.
“I can help you with it after dinner,” Asui offered kindly, checking the stats on the little screen.
“That would be amazing,” Uraraka sighed, relieved as she continued to run. “I can meet you in your room after I shower.”
“You’re not gonna eat with us?”
“No.” She was lucky they hadn’t run into Midoriya in the gym, she wasn’t pushing it. “I was just gonna eat something real quick-” munch on a chocolate bar and half a breakfast pastry if she were lucky, “-and get a head start on that novel we’re reading in English class.”
Asui frowned, “We’re starting the novel next week.”
She was really going to have to work on her lies or just confront Midoriya.
“Have you-” Asui started, taking a few deep breaths to continue her pace and dropping her voice, “You’re eating, right?”
“Yes.” She was.
Not three full meals, and definitely not as much as she should, but it was more than before she moved into the dorms.
“I just don’t wanna fall behind this term,” Uraraka explained, casting her friend a reassuring smile. “I really wanna do well.”
“You did well last term.”
“There’s always room for improvement, right?”
Asui nodded, giving her thumbs up. “Are you going to the store with us on Saturday?”
Good question. “Um-” Uraraka hummed, shoulders hiking up as she thought. Going on their usual Saturday store run meant confronting Midoriya, and possibly being confronted by some of their friends about her behavior later. She was sure if Asui noticed, others had as well.
Weekends weren’t for putting on a happy face and pretending everything was normal. She was looking forward to relaxing a bit.
“I don’t know.” Not going to the lounge and cafeteria was one thing, but eventually, she was going to need more groceries.
“Is everything okay?”
“It’s fine!”
“Are you sure?” Quickly slowing the speed on her own machine, Asui turned her head to face her friend. “We don’t have to talk about it now, but-”
“It’s nothing,” Uraraka blurted out, answering too quickly again and looking down at her own stats. She increased the speed of her machine as if she could run away from this conversation. “Okay,” she inhaled.
There was no escaping this.
Asui wasn’t going to let go of this conversation, so she didn’t have much choice but to talk. “Has Bakugo asked you anything,” Uraraka shrugged, avoiding her friend’s gaze for a split second as her voice lowered. “Anything weird?”
“Weird?”
Weird may not have been the right word, but it was the only word her hungry and tired brain could think of. “Yes.” Though it was weird that Bakugo had come to her with a request.
“No.”
Oh.
“Why?”
“It’s nothing,” Uraraka shook her head, picking up her water bottle and taking a large gulp.
“Nothing?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing usually means something.”
“No,” Uraraka shrugged, eyes wide as she turned her head to face an imaginary target in front of her. Her eyes jumped between the weights around the gym floor and the glowing red letters of the exit sign above her that seemed to blur. “It’s definitely nothing.”
“So there’s no particular reason why Bakugo is walking toward us?”
A blush flourished over her face as she moved her feet to the sides of the treadmill, staring wide-eyed at the green haired girl jogging lightly next to her. “What?” Uraraka hissed, eyes shifting left and right trying to catch a glimpse of him approaching from the corner of her eyes.
Asui nodded, leaning toward her. “Why is he walking over here?” she repeated matter of factly.
Uraraka’s lips tightened and her eyes somehow got a little wider at the sound of his footsteps and gym clothes rustling as he got closer toward her. “He’s not coming over here.”
“Oi, round face,”
Her eyes closed as she inhaled slowly. “That’s not my name.” She was well aware that he’d noticed her panic and the conversation she’d had before he approached, but she was going to pretend it hadn’t happened.
“Uraraka.”
At least he couldn’t see her red face. “Bakugo.” Yet.
She wasn’t even sure why she was blushing and wasn’t sure how she was going to explain this to Asui. Uraraka turned off her machine, slowly turning to face the blonde as the familiar smell of sweet smoke filled her senses.
He must have come from one of the battle rooms.
The usual scowl on his face, he stopped right in front of her. “I need to talk to you,” he mumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets before turning his back to her.
“Okay,” Uraraka nodded, grabbing her water bottle and catching Asui’s very curious glance as she stepped off her treadmill. Somehow, Bakugo was already a few long strides ahead of her. Face red and frazzled, she followed him toward the water coolers hidden by a wall that led toward the locker rooms. “Did you find out when your cousin’s wedding is?”
Bakugo leaned against the wall across from her, folding his arms across his chest. “No.”
“Alright,” Uraraka sighed, choosing to stand a safe distance away from him between the coolers, “What?” She raised her water bottle to her lips, taking a mouthful of water.
“We’re going to my house on Saturday.”
He could have at least waited until she’d swallowed to say that. “Um,” she started wincing at the pain in her throat and the rush of cold water hitting her empty stomach. “We’re what now?”
“We’re going to my parents' house,” he repeated casually.
The squeak of the boy’s locker room door made Uraraka jump with panic. Her head whipped behind her before she quickly moved her bottle underneath the cooler, pretending she wasn’t talking to Bakugo.
Bakugo stood unmoved at the sight of Tokoyami exiting, barely casting him a glance as he kept his attention to Uraraka.
“Oh, hi Tokoyami!” Uraraka greeted too joyfully with a wide smile.
“Uraraka,” Tokoyami nodded as he walked toward the gym area.
“Just make sure you meet me at the bus stop by one o’clock,” Bakugo told her as if they hadn’t been interrupted.
“I appreciate you asking if I was free that day.” She rolled her eyes, blush still on her face as she screwed the cap back on her water. “Thank you.”
He snorted, “Are you?”
“I need to go grocery shopping.” She also had plans to study, continue to hide in her room, clean, do some laundry, wallow, and workout.
The usual.
“But-”
“You can get your groceries after,” he told her curtly. “We’re not gonna be there long.”
“Thanks for planning out my day for me.” She’d gone from embarrassed to angry before her blush could even fade, and she wasn’t completely sure why she was feeling any of it.
“Okay then-”
Jerk. “You’re seriously not gonna tell me why we’re going to your parents’ house?” Uraraka questioned, pushing her weight to one of her legs and tucking a hand on her hip. “Really?”
Bakugo huffed, pushing himself off the wall and moving away from her, “They just wanna meet you before the wedding. It’s not a fucking deal. We walk in, you wave, we get the fuck out, and you can get your damn groceries.”
Uraraka blinked, “Uh, wh-”
“Just don’t be late,” he told her, tossing the demand over his shoulder as he walked away.
Exhaling loudly, Uraraka placed a palm toward her forehead as she closed her eyes for a moment.
Inhale.
Choking Bakugo would be deeply frowned upon.
Exhale.
Randomly stopping at his parents’ house on Saturday was a reasonable request even if she didn’t understand why. It wasn’t far.
Inhale.
It wasn’t like she had an abundance of things to do on Saturday.
Exhale.
This would be the perfect excuse to get her out of going to the store with her usual group. She had an errand to run.
Inhale.
That wasn’t a lie though.
Opening her eyes, she wiped her face off with the bottom of her shirt and pushed a smile on her face. Uraraka walked back toward her treadmill adding an extra bounce to her step as her stomach rumbled. “Oh.” The corners of her lips faltered for a moment as she noticed Asui wasn’t alone. “Hey guys!” she greeted casting a look to Iida, Todoroki, Yaoyorozu, and Midoriya before she looked back to Asui.
“Hey!” Midoriya greeted, “We were about to head to the cafeteria.”
“If you both are finished here,” Iida added, adjusting his glasses. “We don’t want to interrupt your workout, and we were thinking we should head to the cafeteria now before it gets too close to closing.”
“Hopefully, they aren’t out of soba noodles,” Todoroki mused quietly.
“They are never out of soba noodles,” Yaoyorozu commented with a little smirk. “I think you’re the only one who eats the cold noodles.”
“Not true,” Iida shook his head, “They are quite popular when it’s hot out.”
“Not too much right now though,” Asui added, stepping off her machine. “We should get going before they run out of hot soup for the day.”
“You would think they’d have plenty of that with the cold weather,” Todoroki mumbled with a shrug.
“Well, it’s refreshing that the soup is fresh daily.”
Yaoyorozu nodded, “I just wish there was a little more.”
“No,” Uraraka shook her head wrinkling her nose, “I’d like to remind you of the leftover fish stew that graced the cafeteria menu for two days.”
“It wasn’t that bad,” Asui shrugged.
“My memory begs to differ.”
“Well, the calendar said hot and sour soup-”
Uraraka cleared her throat, trying to cover the sound of her stomach rumbling at the mention of the food.
“I think they are having some steamed buns too-”
Her mouth watered. She chugged several large gulps of water, hoping her tongue would stop fantasizing about food.
“We should get going then,” Iida nodded as they started to walk toward the exit. “Uraraka-”
Everyone stopped, looking at her standing on the edge of the treadmill she had been using. Somehow Midoriya’s look felt the most intimidating after Asui’s focused gaze.
Uraraka smiled, stepping back on the belt. “Yeah, I’m not finished with my cardio, so I’ll grab something later before the cafeteria closes.” She just needed to run long enough for them to leave and be far enough away for her to make it back to the dorms undetected.
“You sure?” Midoriya questioned taking a few steps toward her. “We could wait a couple minutes?”
“Oh, no.” She tucked her headphones in her ears. “I’ll catch up with you guys later.” Uraraka pretended to turn on some music.
She wouldn’t.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Uraraka wasn’t exactly sure what she was to supposed to wear to say hello to one of her classmates' parents, but she was sure a pair of gym leggings, an old sweatshirt, and dirty sneakers wouldn’t cut it. A pair of black soft leggings that tied at the back of her legs, a dark pink tunic, and her least ratty pair of pink sneakers would be nice enough to make a decent impression and comfortable enough to do her shopping in.
Giving herself one last look in the mirror, she looked at her clock sitting on her nightstand.
Five minutes until one.
With a sigh, she grabbed a hair tie and pulled her hair back as she exited her room. Any other time Uraraka would have opted to use the elevator, but she didn’t want to have to walk through the lounge to exit. She set a brisk pace down the stairs, fingertips gliding down the banister as she quickly reached the lounge level.
Her friends were gathered on the couches, chatting as they prepared for the day.
“Hey Uraraka!”
Uraraka’s head whipped forward, seeing a flash of bright red hair and a friendly grin. “Hey Kirishima,” she turned her head toward her friends who were still absorbed in their conversation and hadn’t noticed her standing in the open archway. “What’s up?” Keeping her head toward the teen in front of her, she kept her eyes on the green haired teen on the couch.
“Nothing much, just got back from lifting some weights,” he answered cheerfully following her gaze. “You getting ready to go shopping with everyone?”
“Oh, no actually,” she answered as Midoriya met her eyes. “I have some errands to run beforehand, and I didn’t want to slow everyone down.” Uraraka snapped her eyes back to Kirishima, trying to pretend she didn’t notice him looking at her.
“Understandable,” Kirishima nodded with a toothy smile, “You’re gonna come down for movie night, right?”
“Maybe.” Movie night would be a larger group of classmates and not her intimate group of friends. If anything, she could sit with Asui and Ashido or move next to Hagakure. “Whose night is it to pick?”
“Eh, we haven’t drawn a name from the hat yet. Class 1-B is coming too so it might be one of them picking too.”
She watched the green blur of hair rise. “Cool! May the odds be ever in our favor, right?” she joked, taking a little step toward the door as Midoriya approached. “I’ll see you tonight, maybe.”
“Later Uraraka.”
He’d barely finished saying her name before she was out of the dorms, jogging toward the sidewalk. Her pace slowed to a walk as she moved toward the bus stop. Uraraka glanced over her shoulder making sure Midoriya hadn’t followed her outside. Confirming she was clear, she turned her attention back to the bus stop, spotting Bakugo next to the sign with his arms crossed and the usual scowl on his face.
“You’re late,” he commented, unfolding his arms as his eyes went from the top of her head to the bottoms of her shoes.
She exhaled, relieved at his casual black pants, long-sleeved red shirt, and black loafers she’d seen him in around the dorms, “It’s barely two minutes after one.”
Bakugo’s scowl deepened as he pulled his phone from his pocket, checking the time, “It’s seven minutes after one.”
“Did we miss the bus?”
“That doesn’t change the fact that you’re late,” he huffed turning away from her as he looked toward the street.
She took a step closer to him, glaring in disbelief, “Okay, I’m sorry-”
“Don’t be late.”
Bakugo had this amazing ability to make her regret being kind in the first place. She almost wanted to go back inside and actually talk to Midoriya. “-That I was late getting here, but I am taking time out of my day-”
“Did you have anything better to do?” he snapped as the bus came into view.
Uraraka stared at him patiently, eyes fierce and angry as the bus screeched in front of them. Silently, she stepped unto the bus, sliding her pass then taking a seat. She folded her arms across her chest and slouched in her seat as Bakugo stood next to her, hand on the railing above.
Her eyes settled in her lap as the bus moved. The tension was palpable as the scenery rolled by and people got on and off the bus.
“Look-”
Uraraka looked up at Bakugo, staring out the window.
He exhaled deeply, muttering under his breath as he dragged a hand through his hair. “I shouldn’t have fucking yelled at you.”
“No, you shouldn’t have.”
“Can you let me finish?”
Uraraka sealed her lips together, dropping her hands to her lap. “Go ahead.”
“I know you don’t have to do this,” he admitted, rolling his eyes as his shoulders hunched down. “Visiting my folks stresses me out, and I know it’s not your fault.”
“So you’re saying,” she started, nodding slowly and crossing her ankles, “you’re sorry?”
Bakugo shrugged, “Something like that.”
“Apology accepted.” She couldn’t help but try to think of a time she heard Bakugo apologize prior to this moment. “It’s in the past.” She really didn’t need someone else at this school to avoid.
“Well hopefully we can get this fucking visit in the past too,” he muttered, pushing the button for the next stop.
Uraraka stood up, grabbing the pole as the bus slowed to a stop. “You said it wouldn’t take long.” She stood up, smoothing the front of her top as she followed him off the bus.
“Just make sure you don’t talk to that hag,” Bakugo shoved his hands in his pockets as he took quick strides. “We’re not there to socialize.”
“But I thought we were?” She jogged behind him, trying to keep up with his pace.
“No.” His fists tightened at his sides. “My hag of a mother made a comment about how I’m probably lying about bringing someone to the damn wedding.”
“You’re not though. I’m coming with you.”
“Yeah, well,” he huffed, his steps quickening, “That fucking fact wasn’t enough for her.”
“She’s going to see me at the wedding.”
“Not the point.”
Uraraka stepped next to him, “You’re telling me that only reason we’re going to your parents' house right now is to prove I’m real.”
“They know you’re real.” That had been easy enough to prove. “I told them I was taking the girl I beat from the Sports Festival.”
Ouch. “Thanks for reminding me about that,” she sprinted next to him, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “And, again, she’s going to see me at the wedding.”
“Tch.”
“Problem solved.”
“No,” Bakugo grunted, stopping. “We’re going to settle this shit now.”
A comment about his immaturity died at the sight of the house in front of her. Somehow, she should have known Bakugo had come from a wealthy background.
“Oi!”
Uraraka shook her head, noticing him standing yards in front of her with his foot impatiently propped on the doorstep.
“The sooner you stop daydreaming, the sooner you can get your groceries.”
Clenching her jaw, Uraraka walked toward him with a scowl of her own set on her face. She slowly stepped up to the doorstep, shooting him a look of annoyance.
“Just keep your mouth shut, or we’ll be stuck here the whole damn afternoon.” Either he hadn’t noticed her look of displeasure or he’d decided he didn’t care.
Suddenly, she found herself wishing that they could rewind to his almost apology on the bus to remind herself that Bakugo did indeed have a human side.
“Hey! I’m fucking here!” he shouted, stepping into the house and waiting in the entryway.
Uraraka followed inside, flinching as the door slammed behind her. She watched as he slouched against the door, hands in his pockets.
He wasn’t kidding when he said they weren’t staying long.
Bakugo wasn’t bothering to take off his shoes.
“What did I tell you about slamming that door, Katsuki!?”
Her eyes widened at the screech of a woman’s voice bouncing off the walls.
“She’s a fucking banshee,” Bakugo muttered with a loud sigh.
Uraraka turned her head, straining her head to look at the pictures on the mantle in the living room. “You started it.” She smirked, hearing the irate sizzle of sparks burning at his palms.
“Real fucking mature.”
She snorted, hiding her laughter behind the palm of her hand.
“Well, well-”
If she had to guess, Uraraka was comfortable assuming that Bakugo had inherited his looks from his mother.
“It’s about time my good for nothing son came home for a visit-”
His personality as well, apparently.
The woman moved in front of them, a little smirk curling on her lips as she grabbed Bakugo and pulled him into a tight hug.
“Stop it!” he growled, squirming frantically before settling into the hug.
“You stop being a little shit,” Mitsuki told him, placing a hand on the top of his head affectionately before shoving him away. She turned toward Uraraka, placing her knuckles against her hips. “So this is your girlfriend, huh?”
Uraraka’s head whipped toward Bakugo, waiting for him to correct his mother.
Bakugo shrugged indifferently, growling at his mother, “I fucking told you.”
“You did,” Mitsuki chuckled, her face softening as she looked over Ochako, “It’s nice to finally meet the nice girl dating my idiot son.”
To be Continued…
Notes:
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Next chapter, we get more into the meat! Nom Nom! I hope you enjoyed!!
Let me know what you think! <3
Chapter 3: Correct It
Summary:
“Stop standing there with your damn mouth open-”
Her eyes went back to their confused stare as she looked at him.
“You’re the one saying you had shit to do today-”
Shock faded as anger bled into her confusion. Uraraka inhaled deeply as her eyes drifted closed for a moment.
“So move your ass so we don’t have to spend the afternoon waiting for a damn bus-”
She could not kill him on a crowded street.
“You’re not the only person with shit to do today-”
There weren’t too many people around.
“Unless you wanna go to a store here then be my gues-”
“Are you fucking kidding?!” Uraraka shouted, ignoring the critical gaze of an elderly couple walking past them.
Notes:
A/N: Again, so blown away about the response to this fic! Wow! You guys are amazing!!!! <3
Disclaimer: I do not own Boku No Hero Academia. This is a work of fiction that I am not making a profit off of...
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Uraraka blinked, eyes going wide as her brows wrinkled with confusion, “Wha-”
“Oi-”
Bakugo’s voice barely hit her senses as she stared at the smiling blonde woman in front of her.
“I told you we don’t have time for a damn tea party,” he grunted, taking a step next to Uraraka. He casually dropped an arm around her shoulder but kept a few inches between them. “You saw her. She’s fucking real.”
Mitsuki nodded, “She is.”
And Bakugo’s arm was really around her shoulder.
“You’ll have to tell me how you won her over after the Sports Festival,” Mitsuki chuckled, folding her arms across her chest satisfied, then turned her attention back to Uraraka. “That match was all Katsuki could talk about for-”
“Hey! Hag-”
Either Bakugo smelled like sugar cookies or his mother was baking.
“We don’t have time for this shit.”
Uraraka inhaled slowly, trying to soften the buzzing in her ears and the blushing on her face. Perhaps she needed to start with relaxing her eyebrows.
“I told you we had places to go.”
Her head whipped toward Bakugo before turning back toward his mother. “He-” Uraraka sputtered. She raised a finger, pointing at the blonde teen as her eyes narrowed critically.
“So as nice as this fucking visit was-”
“But-” There was still the matter of this ‘girlfriend’ situation.
Mitsuki shook her head, turning to Uraraka, “Allow me to apologize for my idiot son’s rudeness-”
“Hey!” Bakugo barked, jerking Uraraka a little as his chest puffed angrily. “I’m not being fucking rude. I told you when I said we were stopping by that we had shit to do today-”
Like lying.
“I’m sure your girlfriend-”
There was that word again. Uraraka stiffened, feeling her eyes go even wider as she struggled to string a sentence together to protest the assumption.
“Wouldn’t mind some tea?” Mitsuki’s eyes focused in on Uraraka, lips curling deviously as she seemed to send signals for her to comply.
“I-” Uraraka looked at Bakugo, turning back to his mother. “We-” How exactly was she supposed to say that she wasn’t his girlfriend?
“She’s not thirsty.” Bakugo grabbed her wrist, pulling her back toward the door.
“Okay, okay,” Mitsuku sighed, defeated, “I won’t ruin your lunch date.”
Uraraka stumbled, four fingers slapping against the door to stop her collision. She turned back toward his mother. “We’re not,” she started, looking back toward Bakugo. “We aren’t-”
“Tch,” Bakugo jerked her over the doorstep, “We’re not going to lunch. Ochako-”
At this point, Uraraka was thankful her thumb was tucked into her palm. She was pretty sure floating her new fake boyfriend’s parents’ house wouldn’t leave a good first impression. Uraraka wasn’t sure how much she could lift right now, but she was comfortable assuming she could float this house clear through the ionosphere especially with this extra boost of adrenaline from her nerves.
“-needs to go shopping.”
That may have been the first honest thing he’d said besides her name.
“Oh well.” Mitsuki started moving toward the doorstep, “Next time then. You’ll have to stop by when Katsuki’s father is home.”
She was pretty sure there wouldn’t be a next time considering she refused to fall for this trick again. There was also a high possibility of her no longer speaking to Bakugo at this point.
”It was wonderful to meet you, Uraraka.”
“Um-” Uraraka stood on the doormat, nervously touching her fingerpads as her veins pulsed between her ears. “Nice to meet you as well, Bakugo-san.” The pleasantry rolled off her tongue without thought. It’s what she said anytime someone expressed it had been nice to meet her.
No use in breaking the pattern now.
“She’s so polite,” Mitsuki cooed, turning to her son. “She’s too good for you.”
“Whatever,” Bakugo snorted, slamming the door.
Somehow the blush on her face deepened as she stumbled behind Bakugo. It took a few long steps for Uraraka to process the full scope of what had happened.
Bakugo had taken her to his house.
Introduced her to his mother.
His mother called her his girlfriend.
Bakugo did nothing to correct her.
And called her by her given name.
Uraraka came to a sudden stop, sinking her weight into her heels as Bakugo tugged at her. “Hold up-”
“You’re the one worried about how long this would take.” Bakugo dropped her wrist, shoving his hands in his pockets as he looked at her casually.
He had to be joking.
“Stop standing there with your damn mouth open-”
Her eyes went back to their confused stare as she looked at him.
“You’re the one saying you had shit to do today-”
Shock faded as anger bled into her confusion. Uraraka inhaled deeply as her eyes drifted closed for a moment.
“So move your ass so we don’t have to spend the afternoon waiting for a damn bus-”
She could not kill him on a crowded street.
“You’re not the only person with shit to do today-”
There weren’t too many people around.
“Unless you wanna go to a store here then be my gues-”
“Are you fucking kidding?!” Uraraka shouted, ignoring the critical gaze of an elderly couple walking past them.
Bakugo frowned, “What the hell is your problem?”
She slumped, hands dropping to her sides in astonishment.
“And watch your fucking mouth!”
Uraraka liked to believe that she was a relatively diplomatic person, but she was learning there were just some people she couldn’t reason with. “Seriously?” Maybe if she could just give him a good smack to the back of his head…
“What?” he shrugged.
For some reason, she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. “Why does your mother think I’m your girlfriend?” It was possible didn’t know why she was angry.
“I don’t know,” he answered, pivoting away from her a bit, “She was the one who drew that conclusion.”
“And you didn’t think you should…” Uraraka trailed off. “You know, correct it?”
“Eh, it’s not a big deal.”
“I’m not your girlfriend.” Uraraka waited for him to say something. “Your mother thinks I’m your girlfriend.”
He blinked, staring at her boredly.
“You’re lying to your mother.”
“And?”
She took a step back, curling her fingers at her sides to keep from strangling him. “I can’t talk to you right now.”
“Stop making a big deal about this,” Bakugo grunted, turning away from her as he waved behind him. “Come on, you can bitch at me later.”
“No!” Uraraka yelled.
He turned back toward her, brows raised.
“I agreed to go with you to a wedding-” She wasn’t sure what the hell she was thinking doing that. “I didn’t agree to lie to your parents for your own amusement.”
He looked at her rolling his eyes. “You wouldn’t have agreed to go if I told you-”
“You’re right.” So he’d planned this. “I wouldn’t have.” Uraraka turned sharply, walking down the sidewalk away from him.
“Oi, round face!” he called. “You’re going the wrong damn way!”
“I don’t care!” She seemed to be moving in the wrong direction for the last year.
Wasn’t anything new.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
“Son of a-” Uraraka pressed her lips together, stopping the swear as the hot bag ripped and sent a flurry of popcorn raining down around her.
Iida stilled, standing in the open refrigerator and looking at her like a ticking time bomb.
“Biscuit,” she corrected quickly, looking at the damage around the kitchen floor. Tossing the open bag of popcorn to the counter, she sighed as more rolled out onto the counter and spilled to the floor. “I’ll get the broom.”
“I uh-” Iida slowly closed the door, gently kicking popcorn from his path, “I’ll take care of it.” He placed the soda on the counter.
“No, I got it.” Uraraka cringed at the feeling of popcorn against her bare feet as she sprinted across the kitchen floor and searched the cabinet for a broom. “I made the mess.” She sighed, opening the closet door. “And the broom isn’t in the closet.”
Of course.
With the day she was having, she wouldn’t expect anything less. “You would think we could keep track of a broom,” she mumbled, looking out into the lounge at the group of her classmates and the students from 1-B who had gathered to watch the movie. “Imma ask Yaomomo to make another one.” To get lost with the countless others they’d lost somewhere in the dorm.
“Don’t worry about it,” Iida told her, walking over to her to check the closet next to where she’d already looked. He offered her a gentle smile before pulling the broom from the closet.
Oh. No wonder she could never find the broom.
“It looks like you have a lot on your mind-”
Like where the hell all of the brooms went. Uraraka looked inside the closet he’d just opened. “So that’s where the brooms are,” she nodded, taking out one of the dust pans sitting on the floor. “Good to know. Seriously, Iida, I’ll clean this up.”
“Or you can take the popcorn out.”
“You mean what’s left of the popcorn,” she sighed, walking back over toward the finished bags sitting on the counter. Even though she’d only spilled one bag to the floor, the damage seemed bigger spread out all over the floor.
“It’s not too bad,” he assured as he swept. “You’re okay though?” He looked up, broom still pushing popcorn into a small pile.
“Yeah, I guess I just put too much muscle into opening it,” Uraraka chuckled lightly, smoothed her hair back as she looked out toward the lounge area.
Iida had this amazing ability to ask a dozen questions in one. “No, I mean-”
He also took things entirely too seriously. “I’m fine.” Like Asui she knew those two words of assurance wouldn’t be enough. “It was a long day.” Not a lie. “The grocery store was annoying and frustrating.”
It had been.
By the time she’d finally found the right bus and gotten to the grocery store close to campus, she’d wasted most of her afternoon. The store was crowded and her foul mood had been pushed further by the woman in front of her haggling over what she deemed to be overpriced mackerel. “I just hate that I wasted the day.” Also not a lie. Though the rage the grocery store brought on had temporarily allowed her to forget that she was angry at Bakugo. Now, day wasted and tired, everything seemed to bleed together.
And spill popcorn everywhere.
“I’m okay though.” It was obvious she wasn’t, but she knew the explanation was logical enough for him to accept.
Iida nodded toward the television, “The movie is starting, you don’t wanna miss the beginning.”
“You know it was Kaminari’s pick, right?” She picked up the bags of popcorn, smirking at Iida. “The only thing I’m going to miss is a voluptuous woman bouncing along the beach and some half pieced together plot.”
“That would have been the case,” Iida shrugged innocently, leaning against the broom with an even smile, “If someone hadn’t switched the DVDs.”
She chuckled, “If anyone asks, I don’t know anything.” Uraraka nodded, walking toward the lounge. Her eyes focused on the bright glow of the tv as she stepped next to the small lump of her classmates. “Popcorn!” she announced, rattling the bags she held. Her eyes locked with a curious set of green across the room before bouncing to a heated shade of red behind her. “Careful, it’s hot,” she cleared her throat tossing a bag a few feet, “Well it was. Some of them are.” She handed out the bags and dusted her greasy hands against her leggings.
Her eyes went back to Midoriya’s gaze as she stood frozen, hands empty and unsure of where to go. He was surrounded by their friends. Todoroki sat next to him on his left and Asui sat a space away from him.
A spot for her.
“You can sit here.”
Uraraka blinked, looking down to see Monoma scooting over to accommodate her.
“Thanks,” she mumbled, slowly lowering herself to the floor and looking away from the flash of hurt in Midoriya’s eyes to see Bakugo folding his arms behind them in disapproval before settling back to the screen. She sighed, relaxing as her back uncurled. “I didn’t even save myself a bag of popcorn,” Uraraka muttered, slapping her hands against her thighs in defeat. It was bad enough this confusion had been costing her meals but she had been looking forward to popcorn.
“Here,” Monoma offered, offering the bag he held.
Uraraka looked at the bag of popcorn.
As if this day wasn’t confusing enough.
“What do you want?”
“You wanted popcorn,” Monoma told her simply.
“I’m still in Class 1-A.” Kendo was a few rows away from them, so she would have to deal with Monoma on her own. “And no one has a kindness quirk for you to copy…”
“Ouch.”
“Well-” It was mean, but Uraraka had trouble recalling a time she’d seen Monoma be nice. “I’m not sure what to think.”
“It’s popcorn,” he shrugged, “It would be cruel to let you starve during whatever this nonsense is.” Monoma nodded toward the television as he pushed the bag toward her.
Uraraka hesitantly took a handful of popcorn. “Could have been worse,” she told him as everyone groaned around them as a censored image of the title heroine came up on the screen. “Right, it already is for you because you don’t get to see her.”
“Nice of you to assume I’m a pig.”
“Well-” Why didn’t she feel bad about that? “You’re kinda a jerk,” she informed him, eating a couple of pieces and casting him an unapologetic glare.
“Yeah, but I’m not a pig,” Monoma frowned, looking toward Kaminari and Mineta frantically wailing at the lack of skin on the tv.
“They’re not-”
Monoma’s brows wrinkled as he waited for her to finish that sentence.
“Kaminari isn’t that much of a pig,” she defended with a defeated sigh, trying not to laugh at Monoma’s quiet chuckling, “Not all the time.”
“Sure.”
She shook her head, frowning as her phone buzzed from the front pocket of her hoodie. Uraraka shoved the remaining popcorn in her mouth and pulled out her phone.
“No phones during the movie.”
“Shut up,” she snorted, trying to hide the smile on her face.
90-3473-2666, 7:41 PM
Why are you making friends with that douchebag and not sitting with your usual group of nerds?
Uraraka lowered her phone to her lap. She slowly turned behind her to see Bakugo leaning casually against the couch and staring intently at her with his phone in his hand.
URARAKA OCHAKO, 7:42 PM
Bakugo?
90-3473-2666, 7:42 PM
Who fucking else…?
That was fair. She honestly couldn’t think of anyone else she knew that spoke like that.
URARAKA OCHAKO, 7:43 PM
What do you want?
She added his number to her contacts, attaching a little explosion emoji next to his name before going back to their conversation.
URARAKA OCHAKO, 7:43 PM
And how did you get my number?
BAKUGO KATSUKI, 7:44 PM
Are you done being pissed off at me?
“Seriously?” she grunted under her breath, clenching her phone tightly as her fingers furiously flew over her keyboard.
URARAKA OCHAKO, 7:45 PM
If you’re not ready to apologize to me and tell your mother the TRUTH, we have nothing to talk about.
For not being his girlfriend, she was sure typing like she was.
BAKUGO KATSUKI, 7:45 PM
I’m not gonna fucking argue with you over text messages.
And he seemed to be doing well as her boyfriend.
URARAKA OCHAKO, 7:46 PM
Good.
URARAKA OCHAKO, 7:46 PM
Then don’t. Don’t speak to me.
Uraraka dropped her phone into her lap, crossing her arms with a frustrated huff as she looked toward the screen.
“You okay there?” Monoma questioned cautiously, holding the bag of popcorn out to her.
“Wrong number,” she answered, taking another handful of popcorn. Uraraka shoved the handful in her mouth not bothering to care how unladylike she looked.
“Right.” Monoma didn’t seem willing to debate that fact. “They’re calling back.” He looked down at the glowing phone in her lap.
Uraraka rolled her eyes, picking her phone back up.
BAKUGO KATSUKI, 7:50 PM
Can you come off of your goddamn high horse for five fucking minutes and just listen to me?
She closed her eyes inhaling deeply.
URARAKA OCHAKO, 7:51 PM
I am not willing to lie for you.
She was having trouble lying for herself these days.
URARAKA OCHAKO, 7:51 PM
I don’t know what more there is to say.
BAKUGO KATSUKI, 7:51 PM
I already told you I’m not gonna fucking argue with you over text messages. Meet me in the stairwell in two minutes.
She could see him walking out of the lounge in her peripheral vision as she focused on keeping her attention on the screen. The pads of her fingers rubbed against the sides of her phone as she counted the seconds. Uraraka wasn’t quite sure how much time had passed. “I’ll be back,” she offered Monoma a fake happy grin as she stood up.
“You okay?”
“Fine, just want something other than popcorn.” She didn’t even bother to tell a decent lie. Uraraka walked right out of the lounge, not bothering to care if Monoma saw her or not. She made her way to the stairwell and quietly closed the door behind her. “You got five minutes,” she told Bakugo, leaning with her back against the wall.
“So you’ll listen to doucheface but not me, huh?” Bakugo snorted, shoving his hands in his pockets as his back fell against the wall opposite her.
“Four minutes.”
“Does Deku know you’re cozying up with that asshat?”
Uraraka’s arms fell from across her chest as she felt her anger begin to boil. “Two minutes.”
Bakugo’s brow raised.
She could have sworn she saw him flinch.
“Look, I didn’t ask you to lie-”
“You’re right, you dragged me into it,” she snapped.
“Shut up. You’re not gonna take my fucking two minutes to get pissy at me.”
As much as she would have liked to point out the fact that she was the one who had graciously given him those two minutes, she could at least hear him out before she called him an idiot and stormed off.
Bakugo breathed in a deep breath, looking at her with a scowl, “I don’t like you or anything-”
Always good to start an apology with a compliment.
“-When I mentioned to my cousin I had found a date, she told my hag of a mother that I was bringing my girlfriend,” Bakugo explained with a huff. “I didn’t fucking tell them we were dating.”
“You also didn’t correct them,” Uraraka quickly pointed out. “People make assumptions and when they’re wrong you correct them.”
“You’re making a big deal out of nothing.’
Didn’t feel like it. “I’m failing to see how you dragging me into your web of lies i-”
“It’s one stupid white lie,” he told her roughly. “After the wedding, all I have to do is say I dumped you and it’s done.”
“Um-” No. “Why would you dump me? Why can’t I dump you for being an asshole!?” That sounded more reasonable to her.
“Oh, so now you’re playing along.”
“No! There is no playing along!” She had enough of her own drama. “You have no reason to lie about this so put on your big boy pants and tell your mother this was a misunderstanding.” She also needed to take her own advice, but Bakugo didn’t know that. “Tell your mother the truth or I’m not going.” She turned, closing her fingers around the door handle.
“Do you remember what happened this summer?”
Uraraka stopped, hearing Bakugo shuffle behind her as a low curse slipped past his lips. “What does that have to do with anything?” Summer wasn’t too far behind them, but Uraraka was sure those events were something she wasn’t likely to forget. She slowly turned back around to face him
“After-” Bakugo stopped as his loud bravado faded for a moment.
Her eyes widened.
Oh.
The scar on her arm and her own trauma seemed small when compared with his own. She’d only heard stories and her friends’ accounts of what happened when they’d gone to rescue him, but no one knew anything about the time he was held.
“-All that shit,” he spat out, taking his hands out of his pockets and curling his fists at his sides, “I wasn’t fucking hurt or anything but some fucking shrink told my folks I had PTSD and-”
Uraraka wasn’t sure why she was shocked by the admission. Maybe it was because she’d never taken the time consider that her classmate’s brash behavior was a defense mechanism.
“-fucking failing my license exam and all that shit, just-” Bakugo growled, dragging his hands through his hair. “I thought if I did something fucking normal it would get people off my back! My shrink, my fucking paren- I just want them to stop looking at me like I’m fucking damaged.”
Oh.
“Like how you’re looking at me now.”
“I’m not.” She wasn’t even sure what her face looked like. The hollow pang in her chest was the only thing she could focus as she steadied her breathing.
“You are.” His eyes seemed to get fiercer and more determined to prove to her he wasn’t ‘damaged’. “Look, I’m not telling you this shit because I want you to feel sorry for me-”
“I don’t.” She did.
“I'm telling you because I’m not trying to bullshit you,” Bakugo admitted, shrugging as he swallowed a lump bubbling at the back of his throat. “I just want them to see I’m not ruined-”
“Nobody is saying you’re ruined.” It had been a shock when he hadn’t passed the exam, but she didn’t hear anyone say anything cruel.
Maybe Monoma. If anyone had, it would have probably been him.
“I know people talk, round face.”
They did. She knew people in other classes were still murmuring about what had happened to them.
“And when you sit on a leather fucking couch every other week to talk about shit you’d rather move on from-”
Outside of the evaluation she’d had after the incident, she hadn’t been mandated to speak to anyone. The school had offered services for any student who needed it, but Uraraka had almost found herself making excuses to deal with the tangled mess in her head.
She was too busy.
Too tired.
The nightmares weren’t so often anymore.
It hadn’t been as bad for her.
So much of it was just pathetic self-pity.
“-Then you can fucking talk to me,” he growled, looking at her angrily, “I understand you don’t want to be dragged into my world of shit, but we just need to play pretend at the wedding.”
If agreeing to be his date was a bad idea, then this had disaster written all over it. “If you wanna convince your parents I’m your girlfriend,” she sighed, looking up at him slowly. “We’re gonna have to do better than that.”
Why was she saying yes to this?
To be Continued…
Notes:
Disclaimer: Alright! We are stepping out of the exposition of the story! Unto the rising action! Huzzah!
Thanks for all the love! Let me know what you guys think! I hope you all enjoy this chapter, lovies!! <3
Chapter 4: Look Happy
Summary:
“You haven’t been eating,” Todoroki pointed out bluntly.
Pausing, Uraraka stood halfway in the stairwell. Her fingers clenched around her candy bar as the wrapper wrinkled, and she adjusted the bags of ice she held. She looked back at her friends. “Yeah.” Honesty didn’t feel as good as she thought it would. “It’s just been a rough couple weeks.”
Notes:
A/N: Let's get more into the plot shall we... We shall cause we are! Build all the pieces.
Disclaimer: I do not own Boku No Hero Academia. This is a work of fiction that I am not making a profit off of...
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“Like what?”
Uraraka blinked, “You can’t just drag me to your parents' house and wave me in front of your mother for two seconds and expect her to be satisfied.” She folded her arms and bounced her back against the wall.
“Why the fuck not?” Bakugo scoffed. “My stupid cousin said I have a girlfriend. I showed her a girlfriend.” He shrugged, palms flipped toward the ceiling. “Problem fucking solved.”
“No, no,” she shook her head. “Problem not fucking solved.”
“You have a filthy fucking mouth.”
“My point is,” Uraraka started, jaw clenched down in frustration as she rolled her eyes, “Would you be satisfied with half of the story?”
“What story? There is no damn story!”
“You created a damn story when you made me come to your house,” she hissed, pointing an accusing finger at him. “You really don’t think they aren’t gonna ask us questions at your cousin's wedding? Or your mom won’t want more information about the girlfriend you randomly and casually waltz in front of her?”
A low growl rolled off his lips. “What the hell else could they want to know?
“Um, well-” She couldn’t decide which to list first. “How did we met-”
“Obviously at school.”
“How did we get together? Wh-”
“No one asks that shit,” Bakugo huffed, resting a hand on the railing, “This isn’t some trashy chick movie-”
“You do realize that people ask those questions outside of ‘trashy chick movies’?” Not that she had any experience in the matter. “Because they are normal questions about a relationship.”
“Tch, at worst, they would want to just ask a bunch of questions about you and what you see in me.”
“Which requires me to actually know things about you.”
Bakugo stared at her for a moment, eyes going wide with realization.
“Yeah,” she nodded slowly.
“We need a fucking story.”
“Yeah. I said that.”
“Okay,” Bakugo started, scratching his hair roughly before rubbing his hands across his face, “Yeah, yeah you’re fucking right. You want a cookie or something?”
“Actually, I would.” In hindsight, she should have taken the bag of popcorn with her. “So, I think I’m going to get a cookie and finish watching that awful movie.” It wasn’t the best way to spend her weekend, but she wasn’t going to turn down a cookie or the popcorn she had waiting for her. “You can start working on our lines-”
“No.”
“No?” She was willing to recite the lies she’d been given, but writing them seemed like a step too far. “But we agreed that we needed a story.”
“Yeah,” he nodded thoughtfully, “But we’re also gonna have to practice.”
Huh?
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
By Monday, her mind was still buzzing from Saturday.
After her conversation with Bakugo, Uraraka had just stared at the movie lost in her own thoughts. Monoma’s snide commentary and Midoriya’s curious glare couldn’t keep her from wondering what exactly Bakugo had meant by ‘practice’.
Sunday left her no real time to analyze the word or time to talk to Bakugo about it. There were moments between chores that allowed her to think, but nothing that led to an answer. She considered texting him but the question looked ridiculous staring back at her.
On Monday, her mind had no choice but to wonder while the day moved around her in slow motion. She was used to sitting through Trigonometry on an empty stomach. But sitting through Trigonometry with an empty stomach and a full head was cruel. Scribbling shapes in the margins of her notebook didn’t seem to keep her stomach from rumbling or her vision from blurring.
It wasn’t like she understood the material on a full stomach, so eating lunch wouldn’t have made a difference. Skipping lunch hadn’t been part of the plan but she couldn’t face Midoriya and avoid Bakugo.
“Today you’re going to be sparring without using your quirks.”
Uraraka sighed, quickly regretting not sneaking a bite from the chocolate in her bag while she changed her clothes. An empty stomach was helpful when using her quirk for long periods of time but not for combat. She’d be running on fumes within five minutes.
“We’ve been focusing on strengthening your quirks for battle, but,” Aizawa started, taking a step forward and sleepily stuffing his hands in his pockets, “We haven’t talked about what you’ll do without them.”
Uraraka dipped her head between her shoulders as his red-eyed stare scanned over her before moving to Asui next to her and continuing down the line.
“The reality is you’re gonna find yourself in situations where you cannot use your quirk in battle,” he continued.
Ashido raised her hand, “Sir, isn’t that why we have licenses? So we can act.”
“You’re assuming every situation would require you to act with your quirk, which is naive,” Aizawa sighed. “You wouldn’t expect someone with a fire quirk to use their quirk in a burning building to rescue people-”
Uraraka’s head whipped behind her, meeting angry red eyes.
Bakugo’s stare burned into her eyes before he looked around at the sea of eyes focused on him. With a scoff, his eyes squeezed shut before looking toward the ground. “Why the hell are you idiots looking at me?” he snarled, “I’m not the only person here who has firepower.”
“Pretty sure you're the person who would be ragey enough to do that though,” Kaminari mused aloud.
Uraraka’s eyes widened for a moment as she imagined Bakugo angrily screaming and blasting at an unruly fire because it won’t obey him.
That sounded about right.
“I’m finding it hard to disagree,” Kirishima shrugged, folding his arms across his chest as he smirked.
“Bakugo isn’t the only person here whose quirk has limitations in certain situations,” Aizawa announced, “All of you have situations and opponents your quirks would be ineffective against, and you don’t want to have to figure it out with your back against a corner or someone else’s life at stake.” Aizawa rubbed his eyes, blinking rapidly. “I don’t have eye drops or enough eyes to monitor everyone, but if you’re caught using your quirk you take a failing grade for today’s practice,” he chuckled, lifting up his clipboard. “These matches were made to help you think about your combat weaknesses. I expect you to be able to tell me why I’ve been pairing you with particular students by the end of the week.”
More self-reflection.
Uraraka huffed silently as she readied herself to hear her opponent.
“In area A, we have Tokoyami versus Aoyama-”
Made sense. Aoyama’s best way to win would be for him to use his navel laser if Tokoyami were able to Dark Shadow. Uraraka wouldn’t recall a time either of them had solely relied on combat and not their quirks.
“In area B, Mineta versus Iida-”
That was going to a train wreck.
Hilarious.
But a trainwreck.
“In area C, Todoroki versus Midoriya-”
Two people who were both physically very capable and have demolished areas with their quirks, and without them would probably fight to the death if allowed. And then chat over dinner like nothing happened.
“In area D, Yaoyorozu versus Koda-”
There was absolutely no logical explanation for that. At least nothing she could think of with her stomach grumbling.
“In area E, Bakugo versus Ojiro-”
Obviously, Aizawa wanted to see what Bakugo would do against someone with an advantage against him. Ojiro’s tail counted as a limb and there was nothing preventing him from using it. Even if he didn’t use it, he was quite skilled in hand to hand.
But so was Bakugo…
Uraraka turned back to the blonde standing behind her. She watched the muscles in his jaw twitch as he stared down Ojiro. He probably would try to stay on the defensive during their match and-
“In area F, Shoji versus Uraraka…”
Uraraka blinked, slowly craning her neck to face Aizawa as he kept listing the matches. Either she’d done something to piss off her teacher or she was still atoning something she’d done wrong in a past life.
“Get to your areas,” Aizawa announced.
Uraraka’s head dropped for a moment as she inhaled deeply and her stomach rumbled. Exhaling, she looked up and caught Midoriya’s glance as he walked in front of her, offering a crooked smile.
“You cheating on me already?”
Uraraka held a bubble of air in her cheeks as her eyes slid to the blonde walking next to her. “Don’t flatter yourself.” Last night, she found herself empathizing with him.
“That doesn’t even make sense.”
At the moment, she felt like she wanted to rip his head off. “Well-” Sarcasm was hard with an empty stomach and trying to think of a strategy on how to defeat an opponent almost three times her size. “Why are you talking to me?” She looked around, quickening his pace to keep up with his wide strides.
“Come to my room tonight at six.”
“Again,” she muttered under her breath, “Thank you for planning out my evening. Appreciate that.” Uraraka stepped into the circle taped on the floor of the gym.
Bakugo narrowed his eyes as he walked toward his own space on the floor, “Don’t be late like you were last time.”
She rolled her eyes.
“And bring a fucking pencil.”
Exhaling roughly, she snatched her hair into a rough ponytail as Shoji stepped into the circle.
“Alright,” Aizawa’s voice echoed off the walls of the gym and interrupted her thoughts, “You fight until I signal for you to stop.”
Her fists curled at her sides, trying to decide if she should pretend Bakugo was standing across from her. Maybe she could ask Shoji to grow a second head during her fight so she could envision Midoriya’s head as well.
Uraraka couldn’t decide who she was more angry with at the moment. Since she couldn’t kick her own ass, her eyes narrowed on the tall white haired teen in front of her. Blonde and green clouded her vision as Aizawa signaled for them to begin.
She sunk her heels into the floor, bringing her fists up to protect her face. “Sorry Shoji,” Uraraka whispered, watching him barrel toward her.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
“You look happy.”
Uraraka bit back a groan as she dropped the ice tray to the counter with a loud clack. “Everything hurts, I’m dying-” With a growl, her fingers grasped the ends of the tray as she struggled to free the ice. “And it’s only Monday.”
“You’re that hurt?” Todoroki questioned watching with wide eyes as she slammed the try against the counter.
“Yes,” she sighed, relieved as ice spilled out to the counter. “I would kill for a bathtub filled with ice.” The thought alone was enough to dull the ache of her muscles and ease her endless number of bruises she had.
“You know I could have just frozen those bags for you.” He leaned against the counter watching her.
“Meh.” A frown tugged at the corners of her lips as she filled the tray with water and placed it back it into the freezer. “I don’t wanna keep bugging you to freeze them.”
“It’s not a big deal,” Todoroki shrugged, “I can freeze them between training, dinner, and homework.”
She scoffed, glancing at the stove clock, “How do you have anything left for training? You know we probably have this little exercise all week.”
“I know.”
“You and Deku nearly beat each other to death.” Not that she’d minded.
There was a vindictive little corner of her brain that may have cheered when Todoroki had landed a particularly hard hit, causing Aizawa to call for a pause.
She was also able to take a breather. “You should be tired and bruised,” Uraraka sighed, picking up one of the bags and placing it on the back of her neck. “Like I am.”
“It was interesting to fight.”
“Is that what you’re going to tell Aizawa when he asks what you were supposed to get out of it?”
“No,” Todoroki admitted with a small smirk, “I’ve got all week to figure it out.”
Uraraka whimpered. “Don’t remind me. The only thing I’ve learned is that I think Aizawa is pissed at me.”
“I doubt Aizawa paired you up with him because of a personal vendetta.”
The bruise on her tailbone said otherwise.
“He’s not that small.”
Uraraka thought she wasn’t small enough to delight in watching one of her friends get a sucker punch, but she’d quickly learned her lesson today. “Yeah, well, I don’t understand why’d he thought I’d learn something by matching me up with someone three times my size.”
“Shoji’s only twice your size.”
“I was saying three times cause arms.”
Todoroki snorted, shaking his head. “It’s not that bad.”
Right. “Maybe he wants me to learn not to give up no matter the challenge.”
“No.”
“Too warm and fuzzy?” If the lesson were coming from All Might, she’d consider that being the moral of exercise.
“Yeah,” he nodded, “We should already know that isn’t an option.”
“What isn’t an option?”
Uraraka’s head shot up as Asui approached them. “Oh um-” Relief coursed through her system as her shoulders slumped. “We were trying to figure out Aizawa’s sparring assignment. The reason for the pairings.”
“It’s definitely an interesting assignment,” Asui nodded bringing a thoughtful finger to her chin and turned toward Todoroki. “Especially since you and Midoriya nearly beat each other to death.”
Uraraka’s head slowly tilted toward Todoroki as a smug smirk curled on her lips.
He narrowed his eyes.
“I don’t understand why Aizawa would pair you two together especially after the Sports Festival,” Asui continued with a hum.
“Thank you,” Uraraka nodded staring at Todoroki as she dropped her hands to the counter, “See I’m not the only one who noticed you all trying to murder each other in class today.”
“We weren’t,” Todoroki told them. “We were sparring.”
“You two were trying to murder each other, and now you wanna break bread.”
“I’m getting soba noodles-”
Sigh.
“And knowing Midoriya he’s probably going to get katsudon so-”
“It’s a figure of speech,” Uraraka huffed, moving to her cabinet and grabbing a candy bar, “It means you’re making peace.”
“Midoriya and I don’t have any ill will toward each other-”
Her fingers fumbled, the treat dropping to the floor. She wasn’t sure if that comment was directed at her or if she was imagining Asui and Todoroki’s pointed stares.
“It’s a class assignment that we are both putting our best effort towards.”
“Right.” Uraraka picked up her treat and the bags of ice. “On that note,” she sighed, looking at the clock.
Five minutes until six.
“I’m going to go lay down,” she nodded, tipping her head toward the two of them.
“You’re not coming to dinner?” Asui asked curiously, eyeing her. “We were gonna work on Trig after.”
Todoroki nodded, “Are we still gonna get a quick workout before hand?”
“If anything I'mma take a quick swim.”
“Won’t you get a cramp?”
“That’s swimming after eating,” Asui corrected, “I am going to swim then eat, so no cramp.”
“Isn’t that an old wives tale?” Uraraka interrupted them.
They shrugged.
“Anyway,” she shrugged slowly walking out the kitchen, “I just wanna relax and pretend I don’t have math homework waiting for me.” Todoroki and Asui followed behind her as she went toward the stairwell.
“You know if you finished your homework it wouldn’t be waiting for you tomorrow,” Todoroki told her.
Uraraka leaned against the door. “But it’s not due until Wednesday, and today is Monday…”
“Procrastinating?” Asui questioned.
“No,” Uraraka answered slowly as she felt the buzz of her phone. “I’m prioritizing.” Not really. “I’ll get dinner later after my neck stops aching.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yeah,” Uraraka assured, pushing the door open slowly. “I’ll catch you guys later.” She wouldn’t, not today.
“You haven’t been eating,” Todoroki pointed out bluntly.
Pausing, Uraraka stood halfway in the stairwell. Her fingers clenched around her candy bar as the wrapper wrinkled, and she adjusted the bags of ice she held. She looked back at her friends. “Yeah.” Honesty didn’t feel as good as she thought it would. “It’s just been a rough couple weeks.”
“Is it money?” Leave it to Todoroki to be direct.
When she’d first started, her funds had impacted her diet. The dorms provided free housing and free meals five days a week. She only had to worry about paying for food on weekends or when she didn’t want cafeteria food. “No,” she answered honestly.
“Are you trying to lose weight?”
Her eyes widened as she looked at Asui. “Why would you think that?” Deflection worked best with achy muscles and an empty stomach.
“Because the only other explanation I can think of is that you’re avoiding us,” Todoroki explained. “Which doesn’t make sense because we’re your friends.”
Her phone buzzed again as she closed her eyes for a moment and inhaled. “I’m-” She couldn’t backtrack on the honesty now. “I’m not avoiding you,” Uraraka followed quickly before she looked at Asui, “Or Tsu.” Her eyes flashed up at Todoroki, hoping he heard everything she wasn’t saying to him.
“So does that mean you’re avoiding Iida?”
“No.”
“Midoriya?”
She froze.
“Is this-”
Uraraka took another step into the stairwell. “I gotta get going,” she smiled tightly, looking back at them. “My ice is starting to melt. Later.”
“Do you wanna talk about it?” Asui’s voice caught Uraraka’s ears as the door slammed behind her.
Brown eyes looked at the closed door as she sighed with relief. “I do not,” she whispered, adjusting the ice and candy she held. Uraraka started a brisk pace up the stairs. Stopping at the second floor landing, she stepped back at the door opening in front of her. “Oop-”
“Uraraka-”
“Oh, hey Deku,” Uraraka quickly dodged the door and moved to the next flight of stairs.
“You’re not coming to dinner?”
She stopped halfway up the flight. “No, I gotta go, but maybe tomorrow yeah?”
“Oh,” Midoriya answered slowly as she kept moving up the stairs, “Well, I talked to Melissa-”
Uraraka stopped at the top, squeezing her eyes shut. She slowly turned around to face him keeping her expression pleasant as her stomach dropped and heart pounded. “Yeah?” she responded, making sure her voice sounded interested.
“Yeah,” he smiled brightly making her stomach turn, “She said she was gonna text you. I figured you wouldn’t mind if I gave her your phone number.”
She minded.
“I think she’s gonna come visit some family here in Japan,” Midoriya told her. “She’s going to be in Tokyo, and I think she’s going to be looking at some schools nearby since everything going on with her father.”
“Oh.” She couldn’t even pretend to sound excited as tension and bitterness flooded her stomach. “Well, you’ll have to let me know when she’s coming.” So she could double her training, volunteer for classroom cleaning, kitchen duty in the dorms, and anything to keep her busy.
“She mentioned wanting to hang out with you, so-”
Maybe she’d still be in the midst of her fake relationship practice with Bakugo so she’d have a legitimate reason.
“I figured you all could do something-”
Why was everyone so comfortable making plans for her without considering what she would want?
“I can’t remember if she really got a chance to meet Asui, but I figured you girls would wanna hang out and stuff-”
If she invited Hagakure, it would be easier to transfer her hosting duties.
“And she’s gonna hang out with us too, of course-”
Of course.
“I figured it would be nice to show her around since she’s most likely coming here and-”
“Well, I’ll look out for her text.” A few quick responses to hurry a conversation along should be easy enough. Uraraka decided to save her energy for when Melissa visited. “I’ll see you later,” she spun away from him, hurrying up the stairs. She slammed into the door to the fourth floor, knocking it open with a loud slam as she stepped into the hallway. Uraraka leaned against the wall, retrieving her phone from her back pocket.
BAKUGO KATSUKI 6:01 PM
Are you still coming, round face?
BAKUGO KATSUKI 6:05 PM
I said not to be late.
Her eyes widened as she stuck her tongue out at the message. “It’s only Monday,” she sighed, dropping her head against the wall behind her.
To be Continued…
Notes:
A/N: Thank you to everyone who has left a comment or kudos! I didn't expect this story to become a multichapter, but here we are!
Thanks so much for reading! <3 Let me know what you guys think, I will see you next time when Bakugo and Uraraka practice! Whatever that means... *wink, wink, nudge*
Chapter 5: Different Story
Summary:
Usually his smile left her stomach feeling fluttery. “Me too.” Uraraka found herself unable to feel anything but bitterness toward her friend’s warm gaze. When had that happened? “I’m just glad it’s over.” Her stare drifted back toward Bakugo as their eyes met. She watched as the lines of his brows slowly relaxed.
Notes:
A/N: It feels like forever since I last updated this, well not forever, but long enough. Thanks to everyone who has read and left comments and kudos! I'll never be able to express how much your kind words mean to me! <3
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
By the time Uraraka made it to Bakugo’s room, her ice was half melted and her patience was completely gone.
“I told you not to be fucking late.” Not that Bakugo seemed to notice.
Her fingers curled tightly around her makeshift ice pack as she resisted the urge to launch it at his forehead. She liked to think she wasn’t a violent person by nature. Being a hero certainly meant that there would be times she’d have to use combat as a measure for peacekeeping, but Uraraka had decided long ago she’d be the type of hero who would also use her words.
“Well, what the fuck took you so long?”
Her brows raised evenly, ignoring the growl of her empty stomach. “Hello Bakugo, how are you this evening?” she offered sarcastically, tilting her head to the side as she looked past him. “I’m well…” Stressed, bruised, annoyed, somehow still awake-
“Tch.”
And sane, even though it seemed the world was currently conspiring against her.
“Just get in here so we can get this shit over with,” Bakugo grumbled, stepping aside to allow her in. “I’m not about to be up all night because you decided to be late.”
“You know,” Uraraka started, tucking her ice pack beneath her chin as she stepped into his room, “If we’re going to be in a relationship-”
“We’re not in a relationship.”
“I was being funny.” Served her right for trying to lighten her mood. Maybe tomorrow would be easier. “I’m saying-”
Bakugo snorted, walking back to his desk and taking a seat. He leaned back in his chair and tucked his hands behind his head as he watched her tolerantly.
“I’m saying,” she started again, rolling her eyes as she made her way over to his bed, “we’re working together, so you can at least say hello to me.”
“Why the hell do I need to say hello? I already saw your round face today.”
A smart quip faded from her lips as she turned to face him, the backs of her thighs brushing against his bedspread. She’d never been in his room before.
Not that she’d ever had a reason.
Her fingers curled into the sides of her shirt as she looked around his room. “Never took you for a neatfreak.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she realized how she should have expected it.
His bed was made neatly with black sheets and a dark green comforter and everything seemed to have it’s own place. To be fair, Uraraka recalled her own room looking this neat at the start of them living on campus, but long days left her room looking less like a museum.
“Or someone who likes plants,” she nodded, looking over at the little green cactus sitting on his nightstand behind his alarm clock.
“Mind your damn business.”
Uraraka rolled her eyes, folding her arms across her chest. “What am I supposed to do, not look around?”
“Yeah.”
That was gonna be hard. Her anger had faded into curiosity as she shifted her weight to her right leg, leaning to check out his bookshelf. “Well, I’m going to anyway…”
“Take this and start writing,” Bakugo grunted, holding a paper out toward her.
She frowned, “What’s this?” Uraraka took the paper in her free hand, letting her eyes scan it over.
Mother’s name.
Father’s name.
Birthday.
“Is this a questionnaire?” The arm holding the paper dropped to her side as she stared at him in disbelief. “Seriously?”
His chair swiveled, turning his back toward her as he looked back at the notebook on his desk. “How the fuck else am I supposed to know this shit?”
Uraraka blinked, shaking her head as her eyes drilled holes into his skull. “Um, well-” Even though she was sure she’d learned more about him by seeing the inside of his dorm room than in the last few months of being in the same class, she was sure there were better ways to get to know each other. “You could ask me?”
“I don’t have time for that shit-”
Yet, somehow he managed to find the time to put together this worksheet.
“-you’re the one who said we needed a story!”
“You agreed with me,” she replied slowly, too tired and too hungry to make sense of this. “Remember? You also said we needed to practice.” She took a step forward quickly snatching a pencil and a book from his desk.
“You didn’t bring your own pencil?”
Uraraka’s eyes widened as she stared at him, “Either shut up and let me write your stupid answers to these stupid questions, or I’ll answer and you write it yourself.” Normally, she’d be flustered about taking a seat on his bed, but she was too busy trying not to throw something at his head. “You’re such a jerk.” Why did she agree to this? The small shred of his humanity he’d laid bare before her the other night seemed like a memory she’d created.
“If you were on time, I wouldn’t have to be jerk.”
She was sure she’d seen a glimpse behind his usually loud bravado. Shoji hadn’t hit her that hard. Bakugo had stood before her humbled and vulnerable, miles from the way he was acting right now.
“They’re gonna ask us shit about each other. These papers give us a script,” he grumbled as he picked up a pencil. “After we know what to say, we can work on you not being a complete spazz around me.”
“Excuse me?”
“You were babbling like an idiot in front of my mother. You can’t do that shit at the wedding-“
“Because you introduced me as your girlfriend without my knowledge,” she spat. “I apologize if that information came as a surprise to me.”
“Tch.”
“You should be grateful I’m willing to work this hard when I have a pile of homework waiting for me in my room.” Not that she planned on working it tonight.
“How else am I supposed to know your birthday and shit?”
“Um, again,” she started, sighing as she lifted her pencil up, “you could ask me.”
Bakugo slung his arm over the back of the chair as he stared at her in disapproval.
“You don’t want me to ‘act like a spazz’ in front of your mother-“ There was no point in trying to argue with him. He was too stubborn and she was too tired and stubborn to have a civil disagreement. “Then maybe you should try talking to me, so we act like a couple and not two weirdos, yeah?”
A few long moments passed between them.
Uraraka watched his brows twitch somewhere between thought and irritation as his fingers drummed against the back of the chair.
“That’s dumb.”
For god’s sake. “Have you ever even had a girlfriend?”
“That’s none of your fucking business.”
Placing a hand on her forehead, Uraraka closed her eyes for a moment and sighed loudly. “I literally don’t care about your dating history.” But she was a little curious. “It’s just a question.”
Maybe the progress they’d made was in her head. It was possible that Shoji had given her a nasty concussion, and this day was just a bad dream.
She was gonna wake up in Recovery Girl’s nurse’s suite any second with a massive pile of make up work, and this would have been nothing but an odd dream.
“Then why the hell are you asking about that shit?” he growled, digging his fingers into the back of the chair.
“Because being a couple isn’t just about knowing random facts about each other.” Not that she had the experience to support that claim. “It’s about how you interact with each other. We need to learn how to act like a couple.” At the very least, they needed to learn how to be around each other without it being awkward.
His brows softened for a moment. “You ever had a boyfriend?”
If she didn’t know better, she’d think he was smirking at her. “That’s none of your fucking business,” she answered quickly, using his words.
“Oi, watch your fucking mouth and stop dripping water every goddamn where!”
“Whatever.” She pulled the bag from underneath her chin. “It’s not even leaking! It’s just condensation!”
“That damn thing isn’t even cold.”
“Bakugo,” she groaned, dropping the book and paper on the floor, “can we just get on with this?” Uraraka had been here for about thirty minutes and they hadn’t made any progress working on their ‘relationship’.
“You’re the one bitching-“
“Stop,” she warned, shooting him a stern look and holding a finger in front of her. “Move on.”
His jaw tightened as he snatched a paper from his desk. “Tch.” Bakugo swiveled his chair around planting his feet on the ground as he faced her. “What the fuck are we supposed to talk about?”
“When’s your birthday?”
“Tch.”
Uraraka stared at him, tilting her head to the side. “Well?” It was an easy enough ice breaker. The question didn’t require any emotion just a piece of information she could find out without asking him.
“April 20th,” he muttered.
“Mine is December 27th.” Silence overtook their conversation. They watched each other as if they were adversaries in a match, waiting for the other person to strike person first. “Well?”
He shrugged, “You’re the one who said we should talk and not fill out the damn questions!”
“Um-” She was convinced Bakugo would definitely be the type of person to have a prepared list of questions for his date. “What’s your favorite color?” She cradled her bag of ice in her palms.
“That’s a stupid question.”
“It’s on your paper.”
“Eh.”
Uraraka rolled her eyes, “How hard is it to just say black?” She moved her bag to the back of her neck, sighing happily at the cool feeling.
“What?”
She looked around the room. “Every other thing in here is black. And almost anytime I see you out you're wearing black-”
“Black isn’t a fucking color!”
Uraraka blinked tilting her head. “Then what the hell is it?”
Bakugo folded his arms across his chest, looking at her tolerantly. “It’s the fucking absence of color.”
“What?”
“Black isn’t a damn color because it means the lack of all colors.” His foot bounced impatiently as he shrugged. He turned away from her facing the balcony as his arms tightened around his chest.
“Okay,” she answered slowly, “I didn’t know you liked art. This is why conversation is im-”
“My old man is a fashion designer, and my hag of a mother makes fucking textiles,” he blurted out in frustrated embarassment.
She shifted back, smile growing on her face as she brought her legs up on his bed to sit cross legged. “And yet another thing I didn’t know.”
“Just keep your damn mouth shut.” A soft flush stained his cheeks as he kept his gaze away from her.
“Okay.” Uraraka adjusted the half melted bag resting on the back of her neck. “My favorite color is pink.”
“No shit,” he snorted.
Suddenly, her bad mood faded and Uraraka had trouble remembering why she was so upset in the first place. “Well, I also like yellow. I used to be quite fond of green, but-” Not so much anymore. “Pink and yellow, for sure.”
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday passed easily.
With her Trigonometry homework due Wednesday, Uraraka had a reason to avoid her friends and hide in the library during lunch. The combat exercise with Shoji had left her with a few more bruises, no time for reflection, and too tired to talk to Bakugo beyond a few text messages.
She’d passed out sometime before dinner, waking up around midnight to munch on a snack cake she had stashed in her nightstand then passing out until morning.
“Ochako?”
Wednesday was a different story.
“Hmm?” Uraraka yawned, flinching as her lunch tray came back into focus.
Asui tilted her head, looking intently at her picked over stir fry and half eaten rice, “You alright?”
“Yeah,” Uraraka answered quickly, ignoring the glances from her friends. She’d planned on hiding in the library again but after Todoroki and Asui expressed their concern, she felt it was important to make an appearance. “I’m just out of it.”
It wasn’t a lie.
“Not ready for combat this afternoon.” Also, not a lie. They were already at the middle of the week, and she still had no idea why Aizawa thought matching her against Shoji would help her technique. “I’m still sore from yesterday.” And Monday.
“Perhaps you should see Recovery Girl before class,” Iida suggested, sitting his bowl down for a moment.
Todoroki nodded, staring at her, “You haven’t been looking like yourself lately.”
“Yeah,” Uraraka shoved a mouthful of food into her mouth as she avoided bright green eyes across the table. She set her gaze to Bakugo a few tables away from them. His eyes were squeezed shut in annoyance as he sat sandwiched between a boisterous Kaminari and a cackling Kirishima. “Just a lot of stuff going on.”
“How’d you do on the math quiz?” Midoriya questioned as she looked pass his head.
“Oh, umm,” Uraraka stumbled, pulling her eyes away before red eyes could catch her. “Fine,” she answered simply, struggling to keep the sincere smile on her face.
The brief breath of relief she enjoyed handing in her completed Trigonometry homework had been snatched from her once Ectoplasm declared they were going to have a pop quiz. While she was sure she hadn’t bombed the assignment, Uraraka felt confident saying she didn’t score within the top five of her class.
Top ten maybe. “I think I did okay.” Uraraka was sure she wouldn’t receive the lowest mark. “I didn’t fail.”
Midoriya nodded, returning her smile with ease, “Good. I’m glad.”
Usually his smile left her stomach feeling fluttery. “Me too.” Uraraka found herself unable to feel anything but bitterness toward her friend’s warm gaze. When had that happened? “I’m just glad it’s over.” Her stare drifted back toward Bakugo as their eyes met. She watched as the lines of his brows slowly relaxed.
Bakugo’s brows raised, eyes widening with interest as they continued to stare at each other.
She blinked, slowly tilting her head to the side as she blindly pushed a piece of chicken around her bowl. Her brows mimicked his curious arch as she set her eyes in a firm glare.
“The day's not over,” Iida commented. “We’re barely halfway through.”
Uraraka cleared her throat, quickly looking away as she fumbled with her chopsticks. She could still feel his eyes on her from across the room and his amusement permeating the air.
“Exactly half,” Todoroki nodded toward the clock.
“Depends on how you define half,” Asui murmured thoughtfully. “I mean, we had four hours of general ed, and we still have four hours to go…”
Uraraka still needed to figure out the point of her being paired up with Shoji. “I’d forgotten about that.”
“You forgot that we still had combat?” Midoriya questioned, looking at her playfully.
She stared at him evenly, searching his eyes for something more than the unpleasant feeling in her stomach. “Like I said-” Nope. Just bitter anger gnawing at the back of her throat. “I’ve just had a lot of stuff going on.”
-----------------------------------------------------------------
BAKUGO KATSUKI, 5:11 PM
You too beat up to talk?
“Dude,” Kirishima muttered, tapping his fingers against the table as he stared down at his notebook, “What did you get for number three?”
“Tch, figure it out,” Bakugo scoffed. He twirled his phone between his fingers as he slumped deeper into his chair. “I’m not doing your damn homework for you.” He kicked his feet up on the table as he looked down at his phone.
“I thought the point of us studying together meant we would actually,” Kirishima started, gesturing between them, “study...”
Bakugo raised his brows.
“Together?” Kirishima finished, pointing to the books in front of him. “This is due tomorrow.”
“I already finished this shit on Monday,” Bakugo shrugged gruffly. “Not my fault you fucking waited until the last minute."
URARAKA OCHAKO 5:13 PM
I appreciate your concern.
Bakugo snorted, a smirk growing on his face.
BAKUGO KATSUKI, 5:13 PM
I’m not concerned. We still gotta figure out how to make this fake relationship shit look real because I don’t think knowing each other’s birthdays’ is enough.
URARAKA OCHAKO 5:14 PM
I was being sarcastic…
BAKUGO KATSUKI, 5:14 PM
I fucking know that!
URARAKA OCHAKO 5:15 PM
And yes, one hour long conversation trading facts about each other doesn’t make a ‘convincing’ relationship. I imagine it takes more than that.
BAKUGO KATSUKI, 5:16 PM
I don’t have time for that shit.
“Yo, Bakugo!”
Bakugo jumped, “Fucking what?” He pulled the phone into his lap, sitting up defensively.
“If you didn’t want to study,” Kirishima started slowly, carefully steering his eyes toward the phone in his friend’s lap. He wouldn’t be able to see anything from where he was sitting, but the redhead felt compelled to try. “You just had to say so.”
“I fucking did!” The phone vibrated in his hands as it the alert sound was muffled by his hands.
URARAKA OCHAKO 5:18 PM
Then don’t get involved in a fake relationship!
“You kept bitching about how you didn’t understand this shit,” Bakugo grumbled. “The damn answers are in the book you just have to look for them.”
BAKUGO KATSUKI, 5:19 PM
The point of being in a fake relationship means I don’t have to worry about all that fluff.
“If I don’t understand it, then I don’t think reading the textbook is going to help?” Kirishima pondered out loud, rubbing at his chin. “Because I asked you for help because I’m not getting it.”
URARAKA OCHAKO 5:21 PM
Can we go back to the other night when you admitted I was right about us just learning how to interact with each other without it being weird?
URARAKA OCHAKO 5:21 PM
I’ll be there at 5:30 PM
“Have you tried reading the damn book?” Bakugo questioned shrewdly, lowering his feet to the ground and standing up.
“That’s what you’re for,” Kirishima shrugged. “Where you going?”
“Back to my room.”
BAKUGO KATSUKI, 5:22 PM
Whatever.
URARAKA OCHAKO 5:22 PM
Don’t fucking be late! :P
Bakugo’s lips twitched as he quickly shot a snarl in Kirishima’s direction, “Read the damn book before you whine at me about not understanding.” He made his way over to the kitchen.
“You sound like Aizawa!”
He ignored the comment as he opened the fridge door and pulled out a container of leftovers. Setting the microwave, Bakugo placed his dinner inside leaning against the counter as he listened to the hum of electricity.
“Did you not get my last message?”
Bakugo looked up from his phone, seeing Uraraka move next to him. “The fuck did you come from round face?”
“I-” She bit her lip, rising to her toes as she reached for a package of instant noodles. “I had to go see Recovery Girl,” Uraraka shrugged, turning to face him.
His eyes zeroed in on the bright purple bruise on her cheek.
“No concussion and I don’t have any combat restrictions, so…” she hummed, reading the information on the packet. “I’ll still able to get thrown around tomorrow.”
Bakugo clicked his tongue before a half-hearted growl escaped him. “Wouldn’t happen if you didn’t try to out muscle someone three times your damn size.”
“Huh?”
“You’re not gonna win with power, round face-”
“Uraraka,” she corrected, “And you think I don’t know that? And you have to stop calling me that…”
“Tch, well maybe you should show it,” Bakugo quipped back, jerking his head away from her.
She opened the package, placing the noodles in a bowl. “Maybe you should use my name.” Uraraka walked over to the freezer plucking a few ice cubes from the tray.
“The fuck are you doing? That shit doesn’t need ice!”
Her eyes narrowed as her arms fell slack against her sides. “I’m making an ice pack for my face.” She pointed to her swollen cheek. “It kinda hurts.”
“I thought that was the point of you seeing Recovery Girl.” Bakugo’s eyes darted from her hands to face.
“It looked worse before plus I didn’t wanna sleep the evening away,” she shrugged, searching for a plastic bag as she avoided his gaze. “I gotta finish that reading assignment for Ethics and hey-”
Bakugo snatched the plastic she’d filled dumping it in the sink. “It’s bad enough you were planning to eat your nasty ass instant noodles in my room but-”
Uraraka stopped herself from agreeing with him. The shrimp flavored noodles weren’t her favorite either, but Asui hadn’t wanted them. And she wasn’t about to turn away free food since she was still avoiding her friends.
“-you’re not dripping water all over my damn room again,” he barked, pulling out an ice pack from the freezer.
She watched as he carefully wrapped the pack inside a dish towel before pushing it against her injured cheek. “Ow!”
“Put that there.”
Uraraka blinked. Her hand brushed against his sweaty fingers when she reached to hold the ice pack. “I know how to use an ice pack,” she mumbled, feeling her stomach float. “Thanks though.”
To be Continued…
Notes:
A/N: Well that's chapter 5! I'll see you guys for the next chapter, and we'll see what awaits these love beans!
Chapter 6: Personal Space
Summary:
“Why would you hug me?”
Good question. “I’m your ‘girlfriend’. I think a hug is a reasonable display of affection that isn’t too much, but enough to establish closeness?” she answered. “I hug my friends. I think it would be reasonable to assume that I would hug my boyfriend.” She was too tired and her head hurt a little too much to be thinking this hard about a hug.
“So you hug four eyes?”
“No, Iida is weird about personal space.”
“Icy hot?”
“I have a couple of times.” Like once. It wasn’t a regular thing. “You’re missing the point-”
“Deku.”
Notes:
A/N: It has been awhile for this story, but I haven't forgotten... Thanks so much for all the reads and love! It keeps going! <3
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“Stop yawning.”
Uraraka adjusted the book in her lap as she rested her elbow to her knee. “You stop yawning,” she countered, smothering a yawn that bubbled at the back of her throat. Pressing the back of her hand to her mouth, she narrowed her eyes at Bakugo.
“I’m not the one falling asleep,” he countered, leaning back in his desk chair.
She rubbed her cheek, sneering at him. “Sue me, I’m tired.”
“Sleep on your own time.”
Her eyes fell closed for a moment, allowing her head to fall back against the side of his bed.
“We’re supposed to be working on our fake relationship.”
She snorted. “Thought the point of a fake relationship was so you didn’t have to do the work?” Sighing loudly, Uraraka opened her eyes looking back down at her textbook.
“You were the one complaining about it.”
Uraraka blinked, “Um-” She honestly hadn’t expected him to listen. “Okay, what do you wanna talk about?” she questioned, running her fingers through her hair as another yawn passed over her lips.
“I don’t fucking know!”
Of course.
His brows furrowed angrily as he looked back at his homework. “ You were the one complaining-”
“Yeah, yeah. I know,” Uraraka acknowledged with a defeated sigh. “Bakugo-” Why did things have to be so difficult between them? “Maybe we’re going about this the wrong way.”
“This was your idea!” he barked.
She rolled her eyes, “I know, but we’re not getting anywhere.”
“Because we’ve already talked about everything-”
She really couldn’t think of anything else they could talk about.
“-and you’re falling asleep.”
Asshole. “You’re not saying anything.”
“What am I supposed to say?”
“I don’t know!” They hadn’t been this frustrated with each other earlier in the kitchen. They’d bantered, but the tension between them had felt light and strangely comforting.
It was crazy, but Uraraka had managed to find comfort in the way his brows furrowed as he pushed the ice pack against her face, and the way he sneered when she moved her bowl of noodles close to him. Right now, she found herself wanting to toss the book at the side of his head to soothe the agitation at the base of her stomach.
“People in relationships don’t force themselves to talk, it just happens,” she reasoned with a shrug. “I think we need to just focus on being comfortable around each other too. Like-” She sighed loudly. “-we don’t act like a couple.”
“No shit.”
She closed her eyes for a moment, face heating with laughter. She could hear his smile echoing in the room. “I know, Bakugo. I mean, we don’t sit next to each other. You’re gonna have to sit next to me at the wedding and interact with me around a large group of people.”
“What’s your fucking point?”
“My point is we have to be able to sit next to each other without it being weird.” The idea had sounded much better in her head. “Okay, it sounds stupid.”
He nodded, “Yeah, it does. It doesn’t take a couple of geniuses to sit next to each other.”
“No, like-” She swallowed the fluffy images her mind had created with her and Midoriya. Most of her fantasies weren’t of some grand romantic gestures and moments. They were simple.
Eating dinner.
Studying.
Walking.
Training.
“Like, we’re not comfortable around each other,” she added, fingers nervously playing at the edges of her book.
“You afraid of me or something?” Bakugo questioned.
“No!” she yelped. Her stomach turned at the bitter tone in his voice. “Of course I’m not. I mean-” This was so hard to explain. “Okay, like with Asui-”
His brows twitched. “Why are you talking about frog face?”
“Because I’m trying to explain.” Midoriya would have been a good person to use as an example , but she’d clearly read their interactions wrong. “She doesn’t mind me in her personal space. So if I were to give her a hug-”
“Why would you hug her?”
“Because we’re friends?” She wasn’t sure how to answer the question. “Because hugs are a nice way of showing affection to someone? They’re comforting? Feel nice? It’s a hug. They’re awesome.”
Bakugo sneered, “Tch.”
“Everyone loves hugs.” Well, she couldn’t speak for everyone, but she liked them. “I’ve seen you give Kirishima a hug-”
“No, that fucker hugged me!” he barked. “I don’t fucking hug!”
“That’s my point,” she huffed, rolling her eyes. “I don’t wanna hug you and then have you blowing up the reception hall.”
“Why would you hug me?”
Good question. “I’m your ‘girlfriend’. I think a hug is a reasonable display of affection that isn’t too much, but enough to establish closeness?” she answered. “I hug my friends. I think it would be reasonable to assume that I would hug my boyfriend.” She was too tired and her head hurt a little too much to be thinking this hard about a hug.
“So you hug four eyes?”
“No, Iida is weird about personal space.”
“Icy hot?”
“I have a couple of times.” Like once. It wasn’t a regular thing. “You’re missing the point-”
“Deku.”
He hadn’t even asked her.
Bakugo had spat the name out like an accusation. His eyes seemed to look right through her trying to read the emotions that seemed to gnaw at her beneath her skin.
Uraraka felt her skin flush with shame and her stomach clench with embarrassment. She knew that her crush on Midoriya hadn’t been much of a secret. Everyone had seemed to notice.
Everyone but Midoriya. “You really had to bring him up?” she mumbled bitterly, shaking her head.
Bakugo sat back in his chair, looking at her with an unreadable expression.
Whatever. “What I’m trying to say,” she started, feeling her face burn with shame, “That I don’t know if I’m allowed to hug you, hold your hand, or how to act in your personal space.”
Bakugo blinked, clearing his throat. “That’s stupid,” he told her quietly, holding her gaze for a moment.
She could see him debating on whether he should keep the conversation going or question her distaste for him mentioning Midoriya. “Okay, yes, but what if your mother or someone wants to get a picture of us together?” Uraraka asked shrugging a bit. “We can’t just stand there like a bunch of rocks on a log, or if we’re sitting next to each other-”
Bakugo huffed, standing up from his seat, picking up his book as he made his way to take a seat next to her. “I’m not kissing you,” he grunted, focusing on his book.
“I’m not kissing you either,” she retorted, turning her attention back to the book in her lap. Her face burned as she fidgeted, unsure of how she felt being so close to the blonde.
“Sit still.”
Uraraka’s head snapped in his direction, eyes lingering on the flush at the tops of his ears. “My foot is falling asleep.” It wasn’t a complete lie. “So stop being an asshole.”
“Oi! Watch your damn mouth.”
“You watch your damn mouth,” she countered, sticking her tongue out at him as she pulled her knees to her chest. “Why do you care if I curse?” Her change in position pushed them closer together. She watched him stiffen as their shoulders brushed.
“Sounds weird,” he answered shortly, keeping his eyes on the book.
“It sounds weird?” she repeated frowning.
“You’re too nice for that crap.”
“Oh,” she yawned, rubbing her face as she reached her arms up toward the ceiling. “Well-” She started letting his words sink in. “Fuck.” Had he just complimented her?
Bakugo’s head whipped over to her.
Uraraka grinned up at him brightly, “What?”
“The fuck was that?”
She shrugged innocently, holding her breath a little as she watched the lines on his face relax. “I’m not sure.” If she didn’t know any better, she’d say Bakugo was blushing.
“Weirdo.”
She knew better.
“And watch your mouth.”
Not again. “No,” she hummed, focusing back on the text of her book. “I don’t think I will.”
Bakugo smirked.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
“Pause!”
A rush of air forced itself from her lungs as her hands went to the tops of her thighs.
“That’s it for today.”
Pride was the only thing keeping Uraraka standing. She absolutely refused to pass out in the middle of the gym floor. At the very least, she was going to get to the locker room and collapse. She could trust Asui to move her body to a dignified position in one of the corners.
“Tomorrow, you will only engage in two rounds of combat-”
“Thank the gods,” she wheezed silently. Tears stung at the corners of her eyes as she thought of how good a hot shower and her bed were going to feel tonight.
“-after that, you each will write a short essay about what you were supposed to learn from this experience,” Aizawa continued as he addressed the class, “then you will meet with me to give a verbal summary to your discoveries before you are dismissed. Remember, you should not only have insight into your combat but in some of your classmates’ battles.”
Uraraka’s brows raised in confusion as her classmates murmured around her. The only thing she’d been able to keep her eyes on beside her opponent was the floor.
Which she’d gotten to know pretty well during the week.
Very well.
“When you’re in the field, you need to be aware of more than just the person in front of you. This exercise is no different,” Aizawa told them strictly. “You should have been able to figure out why I chose some, if not all, of these match-ups.”
Uraraka’s eyes widened as she looked around. She wasn’t even sure she could name all of the match-ups let alone understand why Aizawa did what he did.
“Dismissed.”
Uraraka stretched her arms above her head, wiggling her fingers as she started walking toward the locker rooms. Her eyes fluttered closed as she focused on ignoring the pain radiating in her side.
Shower.
Snack.
Sleep.
Sit next to Bakugo without being weird.
It would be an easy night. She didn’t have any assignments due until next week. The responsible thing to do would be to take advantage of the free time by getting some extra studying in, but Uraraka was focused on not dipping into her wallet to treat herself to some mochi and noodles.
“You okay?” Asui questioned stopping her.
“Oh,” Uraraka froze, lowering her arms as she forced herself to smile. “I’m okay, just a little stiff.” She looked around, watching as her classmates slowly began to leave the training area. Her eyes drifted over to Bakugo for a moment before curtly turning back to her friend. “I came down on my hip in the middle of practice.” Hurt like hell. “It’s fine though.” She could feel his gaze watching her from across the room.
Asui looked at her curiously, tapping a finger to her mouth as she inspected her friend from head to toe. “You sure you're okay Ochako?”
“I'm fine,” Uraraka responded automatically. “I just wasn’t expecting Aizawa to say that we needed to have notes on other people’s matches, but I’m somehow not surprised…”
“It is a good lesson in being aware of our surroundings,” Iida nodded joining the conversation. “We have to be focused on our opponent but also aware of everything that is going on around us.”
“Why do I feel like that might have been the whole point?” Asui mused.
“It probably was,” Todoroki nodded, joining the conversation with Midoriya and Yaoyoruzu walking behind him.
Uraraka glanced over at Midoriya before shifting her eyes just past him to focus on the wall and not Bakugo watching him. Their conversation from last night flooded to the front of her mind. Had he cared about her hugging Midoriya? “I don’t know why he wouldn’t have just said so.” No, that was the concussion and the lack of sleep talking.
“Because it would defeat the purpose,” Todoroki shrugged.
“I think Aizawa is testing out observational skills,” Midoriya nodded, hand cupping underneath his chin and giving a firm nod.
Uraraka shifted her gaze to Asui as she shuffled her feet.
“Yes, but,” Yaoyorozu started, “I think if he really wanted to test our observational skills, he would have surprised us with the question tomorrow. I think this is about observation, collaboration, and some self-reflection.”
She wasn’t sure about everyone else, but Uraraka was sure that she could do with a lot less self-reflection lately. “So, we should collaborate?”
“Won’t it look weird if we all have the same answers for why we were paired up? Asui questioned.
“I don’t think we will,” Yaoyorozu shook her head. “I think us talking to each other will help us come up with our own answers which be similar because there are some pretty obvious match-ups.”
“Like I’ve somehow sinned against Mr. Aizawa, and this week was my penance?” Uraraka offered.
“No…” Yaoyorozu cringed, unable to offer any reasoning.
“Yeah.”
“We can figure it out tonight,” Midoriya offered. “We can grab dinner and then meet in the lounge.”
“Sounds good,” Todoroki nodded as the others murmured in agreement.
Uraraka’s eyes drifted toward Bakugo standing across the room with Sero and Kirishima with a grumpy scowl on his face. “I can’t,” she breathed, turning back to her friends as Bakugo looked over toward her.
“Why?” Midoriya questioned, face falling a bit. “We can figure out some of the match-ups. Plus, I wanted to talk about what we’re gonna do when Melissa comes to visit.”
Definitely not. “Oh, um-” She could feel Todoroki’s obviously curious gaze and Asui’s careful stare watching her reaction. “I wanted to get a jump on some assignments.” She exhaled at Iida’s approving nod, looking to Bakugo out of the corner of eyes. “Honestly, this week was such a blur, so I don’t even know how helpful I’d be trying to figure out Aizawa’s reasoning.”
“We understand,” Asui nodded.
She looked at Todoroki who shrugged a little as his face softened. “If you need us, you know where we’ll be.”
“Just come for a little while?” Midoriya suggested, giving her a sheepish smile.
Bitter warmth pooled in her stomach as she felt her eyes begin to sting. “I guess,” Uraraka offered, swallowing the lump at the back of her throat.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Bakugo knew Uraraka had a crush on Midoriya.
He would have to blind, deaf, dumb, and completely oblivious not to notice. Hell, he hadn’t even known her name, but he’d noticed the way she looked at him during their first week at U.A.
Just because he didn’t care didn’t mean he wasn’t able to see the obvious. Any idiot could see how she looked at him or how her cheeks flushed brighter at the mention of his name. So why did no one seem to notice how sad she looked recently.
“Dude, what'd you get for number six?” Kirishima murmured, leaning back in his chair.
Bakugo blinked, looking away from where Uraraka sat across the lounge. “The fuck?” he questioned, flickering his attention from Uraraka and back to his friends. She was sitting on the couch between Asui and Todoroki, nodding her head at Midoriya as she plastered a fake smile on her face.
“Okay,” Kirishima set his pencil down and rubbed his eyes, “before you yell at me, I looked in the book. I-” He looked at work in front of him. “I did the problem like seven times, and I got seven different answers.”
Bakugo’s hands tightened around his pencil as he kept his eyes trained on Uraraka. Her smile wobbled as she inhaled and tucked a strand of hair behind her head.
“What’d you get?” Kaminari questioned, scratching his head.
He couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment he’d noticed.
“X equals twelve, or fourteen, or negative six-” Kirishima listed as he read off the answers from his paper.
When he’d asked her to his cousin’s wedding, he anticipated having to pull her from her friends so he could ask her privately.
“Negative?!” Sero yelped. “Dude, what problem are you doing?” He stood up to look over Kirishima’s notes.
“Number six!” Kirishima yelled cackling loudly.
He hadn’t. Uraraka had been alone. “Why?” Bakugo murmured, brows furrowing.
“Why? What do you mean why? I followed the steps!”
“If you followed them, you wouldn’t have ten different answers,” Kaminari snorted as he continued to work.
“Seven answers!”
She’d been spending every evening this week with him. This may have been the first time this week he’d seen her sit with her friends.
“I’m not sure that’s a good thing,” Sero frowned, looking down at his work and then to Kirishima’s paper. “Yeah, I don’t have any of those answers. “
Why hadn’t her friends said anything? Maybe they had. They could have easily said something to her without him knowing.
“Me either!” Kaminari cried, dramatically slouching his chair. “I give up. I got forty-five.”
“WHAT?” Kirishima shouted. “We’re screwed.”
“I know, man,” Sero agreed. “I need to figure out what I’m gonna say for that essay tomorrow too.”
Bakugo flinched, jolted by the feeling of his phone buzzing in his pocket.
URARAKA OCHAKO, 6:25 PM
We meeting tonight?
Bakugo looked over to her.
Her shoulders shrugged a little as she offered him a little smile. Her eyes were glassy as she turned her attention back to her phone.
BAKUGO KATSUKI, 6:26 PM
Yeah. Your room?
URARAKA OCHAKO, 6:26 PM
Sure.
He set his phone down, drumming his fingers against the table as he watched Uraraka leave in his peripheral vision. He counted down the seconds waiting for a few minutes to pass. Bakugo stood up from the table, snatching his notebook.
“Yo!” Kirishima called out, watching him pack up his stuff. “Where the hell are you go-”
“X equals forty-five,” Bakugo told them before storming away from the table.
The three teens stared at each other in shocked silence.
“Dudes,” Kaminari grinned, slowly placing his hands behind his head with a satisfied grin, “I’m a fucking genius.”
“No,” Kirishima shook his head, picking up his pencil as he looked over his work, “the world is officially ending, and that was the first sign of the apocalypse.”
“Or statistically you were bound to be right eventually,” Sero shrugged, pulling out his eraser.
“I mean, if this is how we go, then this is how we go,” Kaminari decided.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
“Oh.”
Bakugo frowned, taking in her appearance.
Uraraka wiped her eyes with her sleeve, sniffling as she smiled at him. “Hey,” she whispered, stepping aside. “I didn’t mean to pull you away from your friends.”
Bakugo heard the door close behind him. He listened to her shuffle into the bathroom of her dorm, grabbing some tissues to blow her nose. Red eyes stayed on the wall in front of him as his fingers tightly gripped the book at his side.
“We didn’t have to meet tonight.” She blew her nose, sniffling softly as she stepped back into the bathroom. “I mean, all we’re going to do is sit next to each other,” she chuckled.
The sound of her laughter made his stomach sink. It wasn’t the bright bubbly laughter that would overwhelm his ears. Her laughter sounded dark and defeated.
“I’m sure you have better things to do.”
He could feel his palms starting to sweat as he fought to hold unto his books. His chest burned with what felt like white-hot adrenaline and something like a sucker punch.
She sighed, another bitter chuckle escaped her lips, “I don’t even have anything I can work on-”
“Shut up.”
The air shifted between them.
Bakugo turned around to face her, dropping his books to the floor. He wiped his hands against his pants as he stepped in front of her.
Uraraka looked up at him, lips parted and lashes wet with warm tears. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, nodding as she cleared her throat.
“Shut up,” Bakugo repeated softly, wrapping his arms around her. He pulled her against his chest, tucking his chin to the top of her head.
She froze, arms pinned beside her as her heart caught in her throat, “What are you-”
“This shit is supposed to be comforting right?” He wasn’t sure why he’d hugged her. “You said you liked hugs.”
Her face burned as she looked up at him. “You don’t.”
“This isn’t about me.” Bakugo wasn’t even sure what any of this was about anymore. “It’s not a big deal.” He looked up to the ceiling, tightening his hold as she squirmed against him. He could feel her tears seeping through his shirt and burning against his skin.
“I’m getting your shirt wet,” she whined with a little whimper as her emotions started to bubble over.
“It’s fine.” His stomach clenched as his hands curled into tight fists and his palms started to sweat. Bakugo squeezed his eyes shut as he held her a little tighter.
She laughed.
For a moment, she almost sounded like her old self.
“Can I hug you too?” she asked quietly as she cried.
“No.”
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Uraraka exhaled, picking up her paper as she quietly slid out of her seat. She cast a timid glance around the half-empty classroom as she walked her paper to the front of the room. She looked over at Midoriya scribbling furiously on his paper before glancing at Bakugo’s empty seat. She wasn’t surprised he’d been one of the first to finish, while Midoriya seemed to be writing down a lifetime of theories.
“Finished?” Aizawa droned, arms folded as he watched exit the classroom. Aizawa had set up a chair in the hallway to conference with students about their observation once they’d finished their written part of the assessment.
She placed her paper on the table next to where he sat. “Yes sir,” Uraraka nodded timidly, nervously linking her fingers in front of her.
“Well then,” he stated plainly, “What did you learn this week?”
“That I won’t always be able to win the way I want to.”
To be Continued…
Notes:
A/N: I think this was my favorite chapter to write so far... Let me know what you think! Thanks so much for reading, leaving love, and comments! You guys rock!! <3
Chapter 7: You Can’t Win
Summary:
“Perhaps,” he shrugged, looking her over. “So what’s your problem?”
Her eyes watched the droplets of water fall along the sidewalk in front of them. “Existential crisis.” Labeling her hard hitting epiphanies as an existential crisis felt dramatic, but she wasn’t sure how else to word it.
“About what?”
Notes:
A/N: Oh my gosh, I'm back again! *dance break* Here we are with the next chapter in this mini saga. Turned out a little longer than I imagined, but *jazz hands* Here we go!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
She couldn’t remember what exactly she’d said to Aizawa but the aftermath of her word vomit left her head spinning.
“It’s raining.”
Uraraka flushed as a shiver rushed down her spine. She pulled her knees against her chest as her teeth chattered, trying to blink away the rain drops that clung to her lashes. “I hadn’t noticed,” she shivered, rubbing her hands against her soaked blazer in vain.
When had it started raining?
“Go away,” she commanded evenly, casting a suspicious glance to the blonde standing in front of her.
Monoma slung a hand in his pocket as the other steadied his umbrella over her.
Slouching, Uraraka released a loud, defeated sigh. “Thank you.”
“Was that so hard?” he questioned with a little grin.
“Yes.” It had stung a little, considering her sour mood.
“What are you doing out here?”
She wasn’t in the mood for conversation. “What are you doing out here?”
“I just got out of detention.”
Not surprising. “What’d you do?” She’d been outside for over two hours without even realizing it.
“I don’t know,” Monoma sighed, taking a seat next to her.
“Sounds like you learned your lesson,” she mumbled, leaning her head down so her chin could rest against her knee.
“Perhaps,” he shrugged, looking her over. “So what’s your problem?”
Her eyes watched the droplets of water fall along the sidewalk in front of them. “Existential crisis.” Labeling her hard hitting epiphanies as an existential crisis felt dramatic, but she wasn’t sure how else to word it.
“About what?”
Sharing snacks was one thing, but sharing her emotions with the person who seemed hell bent on destroying her class seemed just plain stupid. “I-“ The last thing she needed was Monoma running his mouth about her problems to anyone that would listen. “Why do you care?”
He shrugged, “I don’t.”
“Oh.” That wasn’t surprising.
“I’m just curious why you aren’t having your existential crisis inside,” Monoma explained. “Where it’s dry.”
Good question. “I needed to sit down.” The things she needed the most were miles away. She needed her mother to make her dumplings and scratch her hand through her hair while she cried. Her father to tell her a funny story while he dried her tears and reminded her how proud he was of her.
She couldn’t afford a trip home.
Her parents couldn’t afford a trip to see her.
The best thing she could do was sit on a bench in the pouring rain to try to escape U.A., if only for a few minutes.
“So I sat down,” she told him with finality. “This was the best I could do.”
“Okay.”
Uraraka closed her eyes, drawing in a tight breath as she listened to the rain fall around them.
“Wanna talk about it?”
He almost sounded human. “How do I know you’re not going to use this against me later?” Uraraka looked at him. Had this been anyone else in Class B, she would have probably taken them up on their offer. It would be nice to talk to someone not connected with their class.
“You don’t.”
“That’s fair.” She wouldn’t have trusted any other answer from him. “I-“ It was weird that she found herself wanting to talk to him. “No thanks.”
He nodded, “Let’s go back to the dorms.”
She wasn’t sure she was ready to leave the rain yet.
“Can’t have you getting sick,” Monoma told her, standing up. He kept the umbrella tilted over her as he let rain hit his back. “I don’t want my sparring victory to be tainted because you have pneumonia.”
“You don’t get pneumonia from the rain.” Uraraka stood up, stepping in front of him.
“The cold doesn’t help,” he countered as they started to walk. “Either way, I don’t want any excuses when I beat you.”
Leave it to Monoma, of all people, to make her feel a little better. “How do you know our classes are even training together? That probably won’t happen for weeks.” Her shoes squished loudly as they walked shoulder to shoulder. She wasn’t sure why she was trying so hard to stay out of the rain when she was already soaked to the bone. “And even with pneumonia, I’d still mop the floor with you.”
“I’m not too sure about that,” he drawled as they walked. “You seem to look more like a mop than I do at the moment.”
Uraraka laughed despite the cloud of uncertainty still buzzing around her, “Whatever, you jerk.”
Monoma shrugged, taking the insult in stride as they walked up the steps in front of her building. “Say what you will, but I’m right.”
“You’re not.”
“Says the mop.”
She paused, fingers wrapped around the door handle, “Hey Monoma?”
“What?”
“Do you ever feel like you can’t win?”
He shifted his weight from one leg to another, tilting his head curiously at the question. “What do you mean?”
Good question. “Like-“ What did she mean? “I’m-“ How was she supposed to explain it without revealing too much of her personal information. It wasn’t easy to sum up her feelings of inferiority over her combat practices even though she’d done everything possible to grow. “I’m not sure.” She couldn’t even begin to describe her complicated feelings about Midoriya.
“Is it one of those “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” sort of things?” he questioned.
“No, not really.” Uraraka, couldn’t really say what it was herself. “Maybe?” It was close enough sure. “Sure.”
“Okay.”
“So, do you ever feel like you can’t win?”
“No,” Monoma answered simply, turning his back.
She blinked.
He stopped halfway down the stairs. “I always win.”
Right.
“Later, Uraraka.”
Egomaniacs don’t have time for or understand the concept of self-reflection. “Later,” she responded, quietly stepping into the building.
Lucky him.
On Friday nights the dorms were either loud and bustling with activity or barren and painfully silent. The brightness and noise from the activity in the lounge hit Uraraka like a slap in the face. She quietly closed the door behind her, listening.
Music.
TV playing in the background.
The low hum of the microwave was mixed in there with the sounds of her classmates’ offbeat footsteps.
Uraraka sighed. Brushing her fingers against her shoes, she quietly walked toward the elevators. The stairs would have almost guaranteed no one would see her, but she was soaking wet and just wanted to get to her room as fast as possible.
Without making a bigger mess than she already had.
“Uraraka!”
She should have expected that. “Hey,” she greeted slowly, narrowing her eyes in embarrassment as turned toward Iida. She blinked as rain rolled down her face and burned her eyes. Pressing her fingers together, she murmured a quiet “release” as she felt the weight return to her feet with an unpleasant squish.
Now to pretend she wasn’t soaking wet.
“What’s up?” she questioned brightly, looking up at the taller boy with wide eyes.
Iida looked her over. “We’ve been looking for you.”
“Oh.” Her eyes drifted over toward the microwave clock. Three hours? “I went for a walk.” Ignoring the hours she spent sitting on the bench, she had walked back to the dorms.
“In the rain?”
“Um-“ Clearly. “Yes.” Uraraka blinked, hoping he wouldn’t ask anymore questions. At this point, she just wanted a hot shower, a warm blanket, hot tea, comfy socks, candy, and to watch a mindless drama to help her forget about today.
“Well-“ He didn’t believe her. Iida wouldn’t bring it up with what sounded like half their class behind him.
She had until at the latest Monday to come up with a logical reason for why she’d spent about three hours in the rain. Telling Iida she was having an existential crisis would just lead to more questions, more concern, more confusion, and probably another uncomfortable truth to add to the long list brewing in her head.
“Melissa-san is here.”
Or he could just add to it now.
The words seemed to float over a head for a solid minute before seeping into her bones. Uraraka looked past Iida, seeing the familiar blonde locks at the center of her classmates. Her face burned as sweat and rainwater mixed and rolled down the side of her face.
“Oh,” Uraraka exhaled suddenly as she struggled to breath normally. She’d meant the little noise to convey excitement. Melissa was her friend.
Kind of.
Maybe friend was too strong of a word.
“Ochako!” Melissa’s voice chirped happily.
Acquaintance who she’d had a pretty close brush of death with. “Melissa,” Uraraka responded, cheeks straining to keep the happy expression on her face. She could remember a time she’d smile so much that her cheeks hurt, but Uraraka couldn’t remember a time her face was so pained with sorrow.
Melissa stood in front of her bright and bubbly with a blinding smile that made Uraraka’s stomach turn. Her arms moved to bring her into a hug before stopping at the sight of her drenched state.
“Don’t worry about it.” Uraraka was normally a hugger herself. “I got caught in the rain.” But she’d go stand outside in the cold rain for another hour if it put some distance between the two of them.
“Doesn’t matter,” Melissa assured, pulling her into a tight hug.
Uraraka wrapped her arms around the girl to return to gesture. Her chest felt hollow and her stomach churned bitterly.
“I texted you earlier in the week to let you know I was coming,” Melissa started, pulling away.
She’d spent most of the week hiding from her friends and being used as a punching bag by someone three times her size all while working on her fake relationship. Quite the busy week.
“I was planning on surprising Izuku-”
Uraraka flinched, smile faltering. Of course she called him Izuku. They were dating, so it made sense.
“But I figured with how crazy you guys’ schedules are, I should probably call to make sure he even had the time,” Melissa finished sweetly. She turned her head, looking back at Midoriya with a smile.
If Uraraka wasn’t soaking wet, she was pretty sure she’d burn up with jealousy.
“Did he tell you I’m looking to transfer to U.A.?”
Uraraka held her breath for a moment, trying to digest her words. Midoriya may have well already told her, but she couldn’t bother to remember. The news still stung.
“Uraraka!”
She looked up seeing Midoriya making his way over to them.
The green haired teen approached, slinging an arm around Melissa’s shoulder. “Did Melissa tell you she was transferring to U.A.?”
“Yeah,” Uraraka answered, taking a little step away from them. “I think you mentioned it.” She’d say anything to get this conversation over with. “That’s wonderful.” Her eyes drifted from Midoriya to Melissa as rain drops stung her eyes.
“We were thinking we could show her around town tomorrow.”
“We?” The word slipped out without her getting the chance to fix her tone.
“Me and you,” Midoriya continued without missing a beat, oblivious to her displeasure.
Uraraka’s brows raised as her eyes continued to bounce between the two of them.
“Asui has to go home this weekend, Iida has some a seminar tomorrow-”
And now Uraraka was stuck, playing third wheel on their date. “Are you sure you guys don’t mind?” There was absolutely no way the universe could be cruel. This would be the cherry on top of an absolutely terrible week. “I would hate to impose.” Her fists curled at her sides, toes wiggling anxiously as she bounced in place.
“Oh no,” Melissa cried, shaking her head. “It’s been forever since I’ve seen you! We’d love to hangout with you.”
We.
They were this unit.
A set.
A pair.
A united front.
And she would be following them around like deadweight all day. She’d have to walk a few steps behind them while they held hands and made nauseating small talk. “Awesome,” Uraraka forced herself to grin as her eyes burned. “Um, I gotta go get changed.” She’d need all the rest she could get if she was going to have to play happy tomorrow.
“Are you coming back down?” Midoriya questioned. “We were gonna have a mini movie marathon.”
No. “Yeah.” At this point, she didn’t care if she was outright lying. Uraraka wanted to be as far away as possible. “I’ll be right back.” Uraraka quickly turned around, moving toward the stairs. The elevator would give her at least another minute of conversation.
A minute too long in Uraraka’s opinion.
The door swung closed as Uraraka found herself standing alone in the stairwell. Her eyes drifted closed, chest pounding as the echo of the door slam rang in her ears. “No,” she whispered, trying to forget the jealousy coursing through her veins.
Inhale.
Melissa was nice. She didn’t have a single reason to dislike her, but right now she couldn’t feel anything other than distaste. It was silly-
Exhale.
-selfish, small, and so many other words that wouldn’t describe someone aspiring to become a hero, but she couldn’t help her feelings.
Inhale.
She was human. She was allowed to feel her feelings.
Exhale.
She wasn’t mistreating her friends.
Inhale.
She’d swallowed her emotions and suffered silently. She wasn’t the same bright and bubbly Uraraka they were used to, but she was doing her damnedest to try to play the part.
Exhale.
“What the fuck happened to you?”
“Huh?” Uraraka flinched as Bakugo’s face came into focus. She looked around the hallway, realizing she’d made her way to Bakugo’s room instead of her own. “Oh,” she looked down at her soaked uniform. “I got caught in the rain.” Her voice was soft and broken as she met his eyes.
The hard lines on his brows slowly melted away as his gaze softened.
“Are we meeting tonight?” She wasn’t sure what to say. “I didn’t want to be late, and I rushed over here as soon as I realized what time it was.” What time was it?
Bakugo’s nostrils flared.
She inhaled, pulling together what was left of her composure as she pretended she wasn’t a complete mess.
“Whatever,” he mumbled, walking back into the room.
Her eyes looked up to the ceiling as her shoulders relaxed down in one big sigh. Uraraka relished in the brief moment relief. At the very least, she’d have a couple hours where no one would know where she was. “Thanks,” she mumbled, stepping into the room.
“Here.”
She caught the bundle of clothes hurled toward her.
“I don’t need you dripping shit everywhere,” he muttered weakly.
Uraraka stared at the clothes as if they were a bomb.
“Go change,” he commanded, waving a hand toward the bathroom.
“Right,” she whispered nodding. “Thank you.” Uraraka hurried into the bathroom, shutting the door quietly. Her back collapsed against the door as she stood in the darkness. Her fingers fumbled for the light switch, meeting her reflection in the mirror.
The girl staring back at her was an Uraraka Ochako she didn’t recognize. The girl in the mirror looked defeated.
She’d survived and somehow continued to thrive while her parents faced financial issues. She grinned while her stomach growled and hunger made her head throb.
She swallowed embarrassment and clenched her fists in determination as her middle school classmates laughed at her desire to attend U.A. Her acceptance letter only fueled her determination. The shocked look on her classmates faces had been well worth the torment they’d given her.
She pulled herself back up after Bakugo had eliminated her at the Sports Festival. Losing against him made her realize she could become more than a rescue specialist.
Uraraka didn’t recognize the girl standing in front of her.
Pale.
Drenched.
Sad.
Wide-eyed.
Pathetic.
“I need to change.” She didn’t see herself being any less pathetic today, but she could at least dry off. Uraraka peeled off her wet clothes and quickly changed into the shirt and shorts Bakugo had given her. Without thinking, she snatched the towel hanging from the rack, using it to dry her hair.
She was wearing his clothes, she could borrow his towel.
“I guess this counts as relationship bonding,” she mumbled. Uraraka hung her clothes over the rack. With a sigh, she clicked off the light as she stepped out of the bathroom. “I borrowed your towel.”
“Just put it in the bin,” he commanded softly, back facing her.
“I can wash-“
“Or you can put in the bin.”
Uraraka’s eyes widened for a second. “Okay, okay,” she mumbled, walking the towel over to the hamper as he commanded. Uraraka huffed. Her fingers raked through her hair as her eyes fluttered closed for a moment.
“Here.”
Her eyes snapped open, revealing a black mug in her face. “What’s that?”
“Tea,” he grunted, pushing the side of the mug against her nose.
An earthly bittersweet scent tickled her nose as the steam warmed her forehead. “Is that chamomile?” Why did Bakugo have chamomile tea in his room? How did Bakugo make chamomile tea in his room?
“It’s strawberry hibiscus.”
“Okay,” she drawled, shifting her eyes up to look at him strangely. “How did you make strawberry hibiscus tea?” Uraraka took the mug from him.
His brows furrowed. “A fucking tea bag and some hot water-”
Oh my god. “No,” she huffed, rolling her eyes as the hot steam warmed her face, “How did you make tea in your room? What did you use to boil the water?”
“My quirk,” he answered easily, looking at her like the answer was obvious. Bakugo walked over to his bed to sit.
“Oh.” Duh. “I didn’t know you liked tea.”
“It’s tea.”
Uraraka took a sip, enjoying the banter and the warmth of the tea. “I figured you’d like something not as-” A thoughtful frown tugged at the corner of her lips. “Sweet,” she finished, raising her brows as she took another gulp.
“It’s fucking tea. I drink it,” Bakugo told her simply. “It’s not complex.”
“Yaomomo would disagree with you.” She took a mouthful, letting the flavors settle on her tongue. “You put honey in this?”
“Is this a fucking tea tasting?” he questioned. Even though his brows were furrowed and his lips were drawn in a tight straight line, Uraraka could hear the amusement in his voice.
“We could have one,” she quipped lightly, swinging her legs out in front of her. “I bet I could figure out what tea you like.” It felt good to focus on something so ridiculous.
Bakugo shook his head, rolling his eyes in faux annoyance. “This is stupid.”
“You like…” Uraraka nestled the mug in her lap as she pulled her legs on the bed. Turning to him, her brows furrowed dramatically as she brought a finger up to tap her chin.
“You’re a fucking dork.”
“You’re the one who asked this fucking dork-” Watching his reactions when she cursed was easily becoming one of her favorite past times. “-to be your fake girlfriend, so I’m not sure what that says about you.”
Bakugo narrowed his eyes, ears burning. “You’re annoying.”
“I think-” Uraraka hummed. “I think you like earthy teas. Herbal, right?”
He clicked his tongue.
“And flowery stuff.” She picked up her mug, taking another sip. “I highly doubt you would keep tea you don’t like in your room.”
“My hag of a mother keeps giving me this shit.”
“And if you didn’t want it,” Uraraka drawled with a big smile. She took another big mouthful, getting a big taste of honey that collected at the bottom of the mug. “I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t take it from her or-” She bumped his shoulder. “-you would throw it away before you got three feet away from the house.”
“The garbage cans are more than three feet away from the house, smart ass.”
“You’re just mad that I’m right.”
“I’m mad because you’re fucking annoying.”
He didn’t think so. “You’re fucking annoying,” she grinned, running the pad of her index finger around the rim of the mug.
“Watch your damn mouth,” Bakugo grimaced, glancing at her from the corner of his eyes for a moment.
“Yes, dad. ” Silence settled over them as they stared off into space. Despite the light conversation between them, Uraraka could feel the tension and confusion between them.
Bakugo wouldn’t ask what was wrong.
It wasn’t that he didn’t care or wasn't curious.
He just wouldn’t ask.
“Melissa is here.” She wasn’t sure if it was because he didn’t want to pry or because she’d blurt it out eventually, but she was grateful for his patience and tea.
“Who?” he barked, confused.
“Melissa,” Uraraka repeated.
Bakugo blinked looking at her to continue.
“The girl from I-Island?”
“I don’t fucking know who you’re talking about,” he told her, shaking his head as he kept his eyes forward.
“She’s-” Uraraka swallowed the bitterness building on her tongue. “Blonde, tall, really pretty?” All of the things that she wasn’t, and things Midoriya seemed to like.
“Who?”
“Seriously?” she questioned, annoyed by his confusion. “She was right there when we were fighting a whole legion of security bots. She and Deku have been a thing ever since then.” She made sure to throw that last part in there as casually as possible before even grasping at the root of her issues.
Bakugo snorted, “Why the fuck would I care what that nerd does?”
Fair. “You seriously don’t remember Melissa?”
“No.”
“The tall blonde girl-”
“I don’t fucking remember some tall blonde chick smashing robots with us,” he grunted, shrugging. “What the fuck was her quirk?”
He would ask that. “She doesn’t have one.”
“Of course that nerd would hook up with a quirkless chick,” he snorted laughing a little.
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing.”
Or not nothing.
“What about this quirkless girl?” Bakugo questioned, staring ahead of him. “Besides her being Deku’s girlfriend.”
They didn’t need to talk about the obvious right now. “She’s here,” Uraraka huffed bitterly. “She’s looking to come to U.A. next year for her last year, and-” It felt so good not having to hold back her emotions. “I get the absolute pleasure of being the clunky third wheel on a bicycle built for two tomorrow after such a wonderful week.”
“So don’t go,” he answered simply.
Uraraka pouted, leaning her head against his shoulder. “I can’t say no.”
“Bullshit.” He shifted closer to her. “You can always say no. You don’t have to go hang out with those damn nerds unless you want to.”
She closed her eyes. “I don’t think it works that way.”
“Tch.”
Uraraka felt Bakugo take the mug from her hands and place it on the nightstand. She nestled her cheek against his shoulder as his shoulders slumped. “I should probably get back downstairs soon too,” she yawned.
“Screw that.”
“I told them I’d be back.”
“So fucking what?” He turned his head, carefully maneuvering her against his chest as he draped an arm over her shoulders. “What do you wanna do?”
She wanted to stay here. “I feel bad though,” she whispered, feeling herself drifting off to sleep.
“Fuck those damn nerds.”
Uraraka giggled sleepily.
Fuck those damn nerds indeed.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
It would have been easy to hide in her room, but the situation was unavoidable.
When, not if, Melissa came to U.A., she’d be forced to deal with her presence. Uraraka figured she might want to get used to it now.
Uraraka rubbed her hands together as she approached the entryway. “I can do this,” she whispered to herself. Hanging out with Bakugo had been a pleasant distraction and helped her charge for what was to come. “It’s gonna be a fun day,” Uraraka decided, nodding her head as Midoriya and Melissa came into view.
“Uraraka!” Midoriya greeted brightly.
“Hey Ochako!” Melissa smiled.
Uraraka felt her teeth grind together, forcing a smile to stay on her face. “Hey guys.” If this was gonna work, she was gonna have to figure out a way to get Melissa to stop calling her Ochako. “What’s the plan for today?” Optimistically, they would go to the movies.
Three hours in the dark without having socialize would be amazing.
They’d also have snacks. And snacks made everything better. “Movies?” It couldn’t hurt to suggest it.
“We were thinking we could just walk around,” Melissa started. “I just wanna explore. Maybe walk around the park and the shops-”
Exactly what she didn’t want to do. Follow behind them all day, just outside of their little bubble.
“I don’t know,” Melissa giggled with a perky shrug.
Midoriya nodded, “See where the day takes us.”
Uraraka already hated the start.
“Oh, hi Kacchan!”
Uraraka’s head whipped around as Bakugo approached them.
He stopped about a half step in front of her. Brows furrowed, he dropped his hands in pockets as he glared at Melissa and Midoriya. “So, are we going or what?”
Somehow Uraraka’s brows raised higher than Midoriya’s. She turned her head to look at him, staring at him as if he’d lost his mind.
“Oh-” Midoriya sputtered. “-I didn’t know-I mean of course you’re always welcome to join, but I didn’t know you were coming with us?”
Neither had Uraraka.
“Because I didn’t fucking tell you,” Bakugo snapped, grabbing Uraraka’s hand as he walked toward the door. “Let’s go, nerds.”
This was unexpected.
To be Continued…
Notes:
A/N: Thank you so much for reading and all the love! Let me know what you think... I'll see you for the next part in this adventure . I wonder what will happen with these little beans.
Love to you all! <3
Chapter 8: Mean It
Summary:
His next words were cautious. “You’ve been distant.”
Uraraka swallowed the snappy comment on the tip of her tongue, “No.” He was the one too busy with Melissa. “Just busy. We’ve had a lot going on,” she added.
“I haven’t seen much of you over the last few weeks,” Midoriya told her gently, taking a little step closer to her.
“Sorry.” She wasn’t, but she had to say something.
“I’m not mad.”
Uraraka snorted, bristling back, almost offended, “I didn’t think you were.” She honestly didn’t even care if he was mad.
“Are you-”
Yes.
“-mad at me?” Midoriya questioned in a small voice. Bright green eyes dulled between sadness and seriousness.
Notes:
A/N: ... This probably my favorite chapter. I hope you guys like it, I really, reeeaaaallly do because I really like it. Okay, here ya go!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“What are you doing?”
Bakugo turned his head away from her, fingers still firmly laced together. His eyes slowly moved toward Melissa and Midoriya happily walking a few steps in front of them. Tightening his grip on her hand, he slowed their pace down, putting some more distance between them. “Keep your damn voice down,” he mumbled, sliding his free hand in his pocket as they continued down the street.
“ Seriously? ” she hissed, looking at him frantically. “What are you doing?” Uraraka couldn’t ignore the beautiful burn of relief she felt when Bakugo showed up.
“Walking.”
She growled, grinding her teeth together. “Don’t make me fight you.”
Bakugo snorted. His shoulders shook as laughter floated around in his chest. “I’d like to see you try.”
“ Bakugo ,” she warned. Her brows narrowed as she looked at him out the corner of her eyes. “What are you doing here?”
“I-” Good question. What was he doing here? “I figured we might as well see how convincing we are at this couple shit.” It was a weak excuse, but it made sense.
Uraraka sighed. The tension drained from her shoulders for a moment as worry overtook her eyes. “Okay-” She bit her lip, glancing ahead of her as they continued down the street. “But what are you gonna do if Deku tells people we’re dating.”
“That idiot isn’t gonna say anything.” He hadn’t thought about it.
“He might.”
It was a real possibility. Midoriya would talk about it in a gossipy way like Ashido or Kaminari. The nerd would bring it up innocently and cause a stir among their classmates.
“Or Melissa might say something.”
Crap. “Quirkless girl can run her mouth if she fucking wants to, I don’t give a damn.”
“Yeah,” she hesitated, trying not to be amused, “let’s not call her that to her face.”
“You think I don’t fucking know better?”
Uraraka looked at him wide-eyed, tilting her head with a skeptical glance. “Well, not really-”
“Shut up.”
Her lips quirked, swallowing words at the tip of her tongue. “I’m just saying,” she sighed heavily, “it’s not that I don’t appreciate you being here, because I do-”
Bakugo turned his head away, gazing across the street.
“I really do-”
His jaw tightened.
“But I don’t want this to snowball into some annoying rumor, you know?” Uraraka asked him.
He could feel the shrug of her shoulders through their linked hands. “We don’t let it.”
She stopped, bringing their pace to a halt.
“Why the hell did you stop?”
She frowned for a moment, shaking her head at him teasingly, “It’s amazing how you think you can just bend people to your will.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” he questioned, confused.
“You think not saying anything is going to keep people from asking us about going on a double date with Melissa and Deku?” Uraraka shook her head, tugging them forward so they could catch up with the pair ahead of them.
“I don’t control what those idiots have to say,” Bakugo grunted as he followed along behind her, “I just know I don’t have to fucking answer to them.”
Uraraka stopped, letting out a little ‘oof’ as Bakugo collided with her.
“What the hell, round face?”
She turned to him, lips drawn in a thoughtful line. “That was oddly profound, Bakugo.”
Heat rushed his face. “It’s fucking true.” Bakugo tugged her forward. “People just like to make a big deal about nothing.”
Lightning fizzled in Uraraka’s stomach. It felt like something more than nothing. “I guess.”
“I’m not gonna enable that shit.” His eyes set forward with determination as he swallowed the heat rising on his face. “So don’t let those extras get under your skin.”
Uraraka followed his stare, setting her eyes on Midoriya and Melissa stopped at the corner. Her brows knit with focus as she gave a sure nod. “Right.” She inhaled deeply, slowly blowing the air out of her lungs as they approached.
“So, what should we do?” Melissa questioned, smiling at them.
Uraraka peeked at Midoriya from the corner of her eyes. Despite the pleasant look on his face, she could almost see the wheels of mind trying to work on making sense of Bakugo joining her. “What did you guys have planned?” If it were up to Uraraka, she’d suggest they just go back to the dorms.
“Not much really,” Melissa replied sheepishly. “Kinda wanted to explore the area around campus since I’ll be living here soon.”
“Awesome.” She ignored Bakugo’s glance at her fake enthusiasm.
Since going back to dorms wasn’t an option, she was willing to do anything that prevented them from talking or socializing.
“We could go to the movies?” Uraraka suggested. She would gladly pay full price for everyone’s tickets and snacks if it meant she didn’t have to talk to Midoriya and Melissa for the entirety of this outing. She would be eating air sandwiches for the next week but an empty stomach would be well worth getting through this day without having to interact.
“What about lunch?” Midoriya suggested, squeezing Melissa’s hand as he looked around them.
Uraraka resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
“There are a lot of good places around here. I mean, you’ll get to try them all eventually but we could try a place for lunch then grab a treat somewhere else?” he offered with a smile.
At that moment, Uraraka decided she’d rather gnaw on whatever was on the bottom of her shoe than do that. She did not want to be caged into a booth with them without an escape. The topic of Bakugo joining them would come up eventually, but she didn’t want to deal with it while she was trying to enjoy food.
“Let’s just go to the park,” Bakugo grunted, tugging Uraraka closer to him. His steps were already moving toward his suggested destination. “There’s food and plenty of shit for us to do.”
It wasn’t a bad idea.
The park was open and had a variety of things for them to do. They could eat, visit the shrine, look at the pond, visit the vendors set up around the big trees, or just walk around.
She also had an easy escape route. “That’s not a bad idea,” she answered, allowing him to drag her.
“But,” Midoriya started, whipping his confused gaze from Melissa to Uraraka then to Bakugo, “I thought we could just walk around here. You know, we could eat lunch then shop and then-”
“Tch!” Bakugo’s irritated growl stopped that train of thought. “If we’re gonna deal with the damn crowds we might as well be outside.”
“He has a point,” Melissa shrugged, smiling as she gently took raised her and Midoriya’s linked hands.
Truth be told, it looked like Bakugo wasn’t giving them much of a choice in the matter.
Midoriya nodded, “It is a nice day-”
“So shut the fuck up and walk!”
Uraraka wasn’t sure why Bakugo’s outburst made her smile. Normally, his brash behavior toward Midoriya was something she wouldn’t bat an eye to. At the start of the school year, it had bothered her, but now…
She couldn’t decide if the little tiny devil on her shoulder was delighting in Bakugo’s treatment of him, or Uraraka was just amused that he was just as ready as she was to be done with this day.
The four of them walked to the park in silence. Days like this were her favorite back home in Mie. It was sunnier and warmer than it should be during this time of year and had it been a few degrees warmer, Uraraka could take off her jacket to enjoy the breeze.
“Quit spacing out,” Bakugo murmured, pulling her a bit and putting more distance between them and Melissa.
Uraraka blinked, tripping over her feet before steadying her pace, “Sorry.” She focused her attention forward, matching his fast steps. “I was trying to enjoy the day.”
He snorted, “Right.”
“I am,” she told him defensively.
“You don’t want to be here.”
Her cheeks flushed. “You don’t want to be here either.”
“I didn’t fucking choose this,” Bakugo told her, head jerking away.
Uraraka’s brows furrowed as they kept walking. By the time she’d come up with a response, they’d already arrived to where a long line of food trucks were parked. She felt Bakugo gently untangle his fingers from hers as he shoved his hands in his pockets.
“I’m gonna grab something from over there,” he grunted, tipping his head toward the bright red truck.
A smirk tickled the corner of her mouth. “Okay.” Of course he’d be able to spot the truck that carried something spicy without effort.
“Let’s meet back here after we get our stuff?” Melissa suggested with a smile before looking around for what she wanted to eat. “If the benches are taken, we can just sit on the grass or by the fountain.”
Uraraka nodded, releasing a little sigh as she walked away from the group in search of food. There seemed to be an endless amount of trucks and options for her to choose from. Her eyes drifted down to her shoes kicking against the dirt road and back to the slowly growing crowd of people. “Mochi isn’t lunch,” she murmured with a pout as she took heavy strides. “It is delicious though.” She stopped in front of the pale pink mochi truck before sighing loudly. “No Ochako.”
She needed something more substantial than a sweet.
Meal first, then mochi.
“Tempura sounds good,” she whispered to herself, stepping over to a light gray truck that had a little black chalkboard in front of it. Typically, she’d get something like noodles, but that seemed like too much of a hassle for the park. She could eat tempura with her fingers if they couldn’t find a place to sit. Uraraka took her place in line behind a happy young couple as she waited for her turn.
“Uraraka!”
Her back stiffened as she slowly turned around to meet green eyes. “Hey Deku,” she replied evenly as she tried to put a smile on her face.
There had to be well over twenty trucks lining the dirt path in the park, and he had to visit the same truck she’d chosen.
“You getting something from here too?” Uraraka asked already knowing the answer.
“Yeah,” Midoriya nodded happily, “Katsudon.”
She was pretty sure he could find that dish at another truck. He didn’t have to stand near here. “Oh.” Uraraka turned back toward the truck, folding her arms across her chest. “Okay.” This is what she got for not getting dessert for lunch.
“Uraraka?”
Her arms tightened around her body. “Hmm?” There were three people in line in front of her, four if she counted the woman hanging off her boyfriend. Plenty of time for Midoriya to strike up a conversation with her.
“So-”
Here it came.
“I didn’t know you and Kacchan were close.”
Her shoulders tightened as she glanced behind her for a moment, “Oh well-” What was she supposed to say? “Yeah.” It felt weird talking to her unavailable former crush about her fake boyfriend. “Kind of.”
“Oh.” Midoriya stared at her, obviously trying to choose his words carefully.
Uraraka turned back to the food truck, letting her eyes trace the words on the menu. She took a step forward as the line moved.
“Are you okay?”
Her head whipped back around. Uraraka felt her heart drop as she took in Midoriya’s unusually serious expression. “Yeah.” No.
“Are you sure?”
Why was he asking this now? “Yeah,” she repeated, feeling her hands curl into loose fists. She could feel trace amounts of Bakugo’s nitroglycerin slipping against her palms. “I’m fine. The last couple weeks have been busy.”
“I know but-”
Things at U.A. were always busy.
His next words were cautious. “You’ve been distant.”
Uraraka swallowed the snappy comment on the tip of her tongue, “No.” He was the one too busy with Melissa. “Just busy. We’ve had a lot going on,” she added.
“I haven’t seen much of you over the last few weeks,” Midoriya told her gently, taking a little step closer to her.
“Sorry.” She wasn’t, but she had to say something.
“I’m not mad.”
Uraraka snorted, bristling back, almost offended, “I didn’t think you were.” She honestly didn’t even care if he was mad.
“Are you-”
Yes.
“-mad at me?” Midoriya questioned in a small voice. Bright green eyes dulled between sadness and seriousness.
“No,” she answered, too quickly and too bitterly. Uraraka forced her face to relax as a tremble of irritation vibrated through her body. “You know what, I think I’m going to get some dumplings instead.” She forced herself to smile at Midoriya before walking to a different truck several meters away from him.
Uraraka wasn’t even sure that the truck she stopped in front of had dumplings, but Midoriya wasn’t in line with her so that was good enough. She wasn’t even sure what she’d ordered. Uraraka was the last person to make it back to their meeting place.
She’d found Midoriya and Melissa sitting cozily next to each other with Bakugo a good distance away scowling over his own meal. Uraraka took her place on the other side of Bakugo to keep her distance.
“What’d you get?” Bakugo questioned, looking at the unopened container sitting in her lap.
“Dumplings,” Uraraka answered, moving the plastic away from the bag before opening her box.
“Those look really good,” Melissa cooed, leaning over to get a better look at Uraraka’s food. “I could smell those as soon as you opened the box.”
“Yeah,” Uraraka answered, quickly stuffing a dumpling in her mouth.
“Are the trucks always out here?”
Midoriya shrugged, “I’m not sure. We typically go to a cafes or eat at the mall when we get a break.”
They used to.
Well, she used to.
On Saturdays, Uraraka, Midoriya, Todoroki, Asui, Iida, and a few of their other classmates would go grocery shopping and get lunch together. It had been awhile since Uraraka had joined them for an outing.
“They’re here as long as the weather isn’t shit,” Bakugo commented, casually eating his lunch.
“I had no idea,” Midoriya marveled. “It’s nice that there is so much variety. I even saw a pizza truck.”
“Oh!” Melissa squealed, “If they’re here tomorrow, we’ll have to come back for that.”
Uraraka wasn’t sure what she was doing, but she was pretty sure she was going to be very busy tomorrow.
“I wonder if they are here on Sundays,” Midoriya mumbled, scratching his chin between a bite, “Hey Kacch-”
“What the hell did I say, nerd?” Bakugo huffed as he ate. “If the weather isn’t shit there are food trucks here.”
“Oh yeah,” Melissa nodded, grinning brightly as she stole a bite of food from Midoriya, “we are definitely spending our weekends at the park when I transfer.” She informed the green haired teen.
Uraraka dropped the dumpling she’d brought to her lips. Bitterness flooded her stomach as her appetite faded.
“Good luck finding the time if you’re in the hero course,” Bakugo snorted.
“Oh, I’ll be transferring to support,” Melissa corrected him.
“Then you’ll be cooped up with the other crazy nerds in the workroom all weekend.”
“But you guys are allowed to go out on the weekends.”
“Doesn’t mean we don’t got shit to do.”
“We don’t get much downtime,” Uraraka explained, trying to be friendly. She pushed her food around the carton and tried to remind herself that she and Melissa were friends. “It seems like there is always something going on, so it’s weird when we have a truly free day.”
“I guess I came at the right time, huh?” Melissa chuckled, leaning closer to Midoriya.
“Yeah, we just got done with this week long combat exercise where our teacher paired us against someone who would help us work on our weaknesses,” Midoriya told her. “We had to write a paper on it and explain what we learned from that exercise. The match ups were really surprising.”
Bakugo scoffed, “Not really.”
Uraraka shrugged. She’d had enough self reflection for at least this next year. The exercise had caused her to learn more about herself and the people around her than she cared to. “Maybe,” she mumbled, stuffing a bite of food in her mouth.
“What did you guys write?” Midoriya questioned.
Uraraka shoved another dumpling in her mouth. Can’t talk with a full mouth.
“Why the hell is that your business?” Bakugo hissed.
“Just curious,” Midoriya hummed, “I only got to talk to Tsu, Todoroki, Yaoyoruzu, and Iida about what they wrote. “Todoroki and I wrote completely different things. The others didn’t even mention our match up in their explanations, so I wanted to know what-”
Bakugo snorted, “I wasn’t paying attention to you idiots.”
“Oh.”
Uraraka had written about Midoriya and Todoroki. Her analysis of their fight had been longer than her own. She’d given Aizawa nearly a page of reasons and rambling speech filled with evidence to support her theory of why he’d matched Midoriya with Todoroki.
“What did you write Uraraka?”
Uraraka looked up from her meal, meeting green eyes. She inhaled sharply. “Umm-” When had it become so hard to talk to him? He was supposed to be one of her best friends. “I don’t really remember.” She could feel Bakugo’s eyes watching her closely. “It was such a long week,” she chuckled nervously as her eyes stung and heart quickened. “I had my hands full with Shoji.”
“I wonder why Aizawa put you with him?”
It was safe to assume he hadn’t written about her match. They weren’t far from each other during training, she figured he would have noticed something. “I guess to test how far I’ve come in combat.” The explanation sounded a lot dumber outloud. She hadn’t missed Bakugo’s wince and furrowed brows at her words.
“Makes sense.”
Uraraka squeezed her eyes shut as Melissa joined the conversation. She wasn’t sure what they were talking about anymore. The conversation blurred in her ears as she watched the leaves drift to the ground.
Her first real day off in forever and she was finding it hard to enjoy herself.
“What should we do now?”
Midoriya’s voice snapped her back to reality. Noticing their empty containers, Uraraka quickly shut her almost full container as she swallowed. “Whatever you guys want.” She’d barely made it through lunch.
“We’re done,” Bakugo announced, standing up before anyone had a chance to breathe. He snatched the container from Uraraka’s hand and tossed it to the trash can a few yards away from her. “Let’s go.” He wrapped a hand around her wrist and tugged her to her feet.
“Kacchan-”
“We’re done, Deku” Bakugo repeated, pulling Uraraka behind him as he walked away from Midoriya and Melissa.
It took a few steps for Uraraka to process what happened. “That was rude,” she told him, turning back to look at Midoriya’s and Melissa’s bewildered stares.
“Shut up.”
“You shut up,” she countered emotionlessly as she turned to glance at him for a moment. “Seriously-”
“Shut. Up,” he growled, voice tight as he gave her arm a little yank to keep her moving behind him.
His grip was firm enough to keep his hold around her wrist, but loose enough for her to escape. If she really wanted to, she could have walked back to Midoriya and Melissa. Uraraka wasn’t sure where he was leading her. As they walked, the people around them became fewer and fewer as they walked through the grass and stumbled along a little hill. “Where are we going?”
“What the hell did I say?”
Her lips tightened together as she yanked her arm back as they passed by a bench. “I don’t care what you said,” she decided angrily. “What the hell is your problem?”
Bakugo blinked, “My problem?”
“Yeah!” she shouted, not caring if anyone heard her. “One minute you're being supportive of me hanging out with Deku despite feeling-” Horrible, unspeakable amounts of jealousy she couldn’t allow herself to admit. “-sick.”
Bakugo’s brows raised at the word.
“And now you’re being a real dick!”
He blinked.
Uraraka huffed as her face burned.
“Are you fucking done?” he questioned, unusually calm.
“No!” she snapped. “What is wrong with you?”
“Me?”
“Yeah!”
“I’m not the one forcing myself to be around those nerds.”
She snarled, biting back a comment about how technically he had forced himself to hang out with them.
“You fucking don’t want to be around him!” he yelled at her. “Why the hell are you forcing yourself when you clearly don’t want to?”
“He’s my friend!”
“So what’s the fucking problem?”
Uraraka plopped down on the bench, folding her arms tightly around her chest. Her brows furrowed as her chest heaved and her eyes stung. Tears gathered at the edge of her eyelashes as she tried to swallow the lump at the back of her throat.
“He’s your goddamn friend-”
Why did hearing that sting?
“You’re more miserable than I am being around the fucking idiot which doesn’t make any fucking sense, so-” Bakugo shrugged dramatically, dropping his hands to his side. “Don’t fucking ask me what my problem is. You’re the one who’s acting like a beaten dog!”
“I’m not!” she yelped pathetically, starting to feel the tears slip.
“Well fucking act like it!” he roared as he looked at her.
Uraraka’s breath stuttered as hot tears slid down her face.
“God fucking damnit,” he cursed under his breath as his face relaxed. Bakugo’s shoulders slumped as his rage lowered. “Are you fucking crying?”
“No,” she sniffled, wiping her face angrily. “I’m not.”
Bakugo rolled his eyes, dropping down on the bench next to her. “Stop it.”
“I’m not crying.”
She obviously was. “I-” And he obviously wasn’t sure what to make of it. “Fucking stop crying,” he whispered, hanging his head. “I’m not pissed at you.”
“I’m not crying because you yelled at me,” she cried softly, wiping her eyes between little sobs, “asshole.”
Bakugo snorted. Sitting up a bit, he dug in his pocket and handed her a napkin he’d grabbed earlier.
“Thanks,” Uraraka mumbled, wiping her face as she sniffled. She took a few slow deep breaths as her sobs slowed. Tears continued to stain her cheeks as she looked out to the field in front of them. “You’re right.” Her fingers played with the tissue in her hands. “I didn’t want to be here today,” she admitted as she shook her head, spilling more tears. “I thought-” She stopped. Yesterday she found herself considering confiding in Monoma, today she found herself unable to stop herself from hiding her burdens from Bakugo. “I thought that maybe today would be okay.”
He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he rubbed the palms of his hands together as he listened.
“I thought being around them and reminding myself that he’s my best friend,” she spoke, wordless slipping over her lips breathlessly as she felt hollow pain throb in her chest, “it would be okay. I would be happy for him because he’s happy. He deserves to be happy.”
She could see the muscle in his jaw clench as he silenced himself.
“But today,” she chuckled bitterly as she cried, “today only reminded me that he doesn’t even notice me.”
He turned his head, searching for a reaction. “You like him,” Bakugo stated flatly.
“No,” Urarka shook her head, trying to dry her face with the damp tissue. “I used to, but-”
“You’re crying over the damn nerd.”
“It doesn’t mean I like him.”
Bakugo wasn’t buying it. His brows raised suspiciously as he hardened his gaze.
Uraraka sighed, “I’m not sitting here waiting for his relationship with Melissa to fail and fantasizing about golden opportunity.”
“So what then?”
“I’m hurt ,” Uraraka admitted, the word harshly rolling off her tongue. “It feels like-” For a moment, the weight on her chest lightened. “It feels like he doesn’t even see me. I was right there this week, and he didn’t even see how hard I fought.” It felt good to finally get it out. “And it’s more than just the fight this week.”
He watched as her face crumpled, shoulders falling as the tears returned in full force.
“It hurts because I was right there, and Deku never even considered me.” She’d spent countless hours thinking about it. Why had he never noticed? “I know this sounds whiny and stupid and-” She knew how this sounded. “I know , but it makes me so angry.” Uraraka would never say it outloud. “But-”
What did Melissa have that she didn’t?
“I-”
“Deku’s fucking stupid.”
Uraraka wiped her nose, sniffling pathetically as she laughed softly through her tears.
“That’s not your fault,” Bakugo told her softly, turning to look at her.
“I don’t know why but,” she whispered, shrugging as she met his eyes, “it hurts a lot.” Midoriya had gone from being her best friend to being another reminder that she wasn’t good enough.
“Don’t let that nerd, quirkless girl-”
Uraraka laughed, drying her eyes with the back of her hands.
“Or any other motherfucker make you feel like a damn nobody,” he commanded, looking back to the grass in front of him, “cause you’re not.”
“Okay.”
“I mean it.” His words were almost gentle even though his voice was rough.
Uraraka slowly lowered her hands from her eyes, looking at his surprisingly serious expression. The hollow feeling in her chest returned as her breath caught at the back of her throat. “Yeah,” she licked her lips, tasting the saltiness of her tears, “cause Bakugo Katsuki doesn’t fake date nobodies, right?” she teased trying to lessen the tension. Her stomach gathered in knots as their eyes met.
She wasn’t quite sure who moved first. For a second, the air around them felt dense. Her eyes drifted closed and perhaps she leaned forward. Bakugo seemed to meet her in the middle, pressing his lips against hers in a long chaste kiss.
Uraraka was sure he could taste the tears she’d just shed over his rival. She could feel the soft brush of his eyelashes on her face. The kiss was nothing beyond a caress in the moments their lips were connected. Her fists curled in her lap as she resisted the urge to touch his face. Squeezing her eyes shut, Uraraka couldn’t bring herself to look at him.
Right now, she wasn’t invisible.
She wanted to hold onto that feeling for however long it would last.
To be Continued…
Notes:
A/N: I hope you all enjoyed it! I've wanted to explore how Uraraka would react to Midoriya being with someone else so here we are... Let me know what you think! Love you guys! Thanks for all the love and support <3
Chapter 9: Some Space
Summary:
“Whatever,” Bakugo huffed as they stepped outside and started toward the dorms.
The pad of her thumb caressed his knuckles as she looked out toward the sky. She gently swung their arms back and forth as she hummed a little tune. “Bakugo?”
“What?” he answered gruffly, giving the hand she held a squeeze.
“Did you write about me?” Uraraka questioned as her thumb circled one of his knuckles.
Notes:
A/N: An update! I would really like to be faster at this, but I have too many projects! I appreciate all your kind words and love cause they fuel me! <3
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
After the kiss had ended, Uraraka pulled away feeling timid and nervous. The comforting warmth of the kiss had faded and was replaced with chilling uncertainty. Uraraka opened her eyes slowly, focusing her gaze on her lap. Her fists were still clenched tightly in her lap as her heart pounded.
What does this mean?
She didn’t get the chance to process her building insecurities.
Bakugo reached over, grabbing one of her wrists with surprising tenderness. He laced their fingers together in a tight grasp. The simple gesture had calmed her anxiety but still left her wondering.
What does this mean?
An easy question Uraraka couldn’t bring herself to ask. Instead, she chose to enjoy this moment.
The warmth of the sun.
The breeze.
The quiet chatter of people passing by them.
Bakugo’s warmth.
Somehow they stayed there until the sun started to disappear, and the sky began to melt into night.
“You hungry?”
Uraraka blinked, turning toward him for the first time in hours. “I-” she started softly, unsure of how she was feeling. “Yeah.” Even though her stomach was too full of butterflies to feel hunger pains, she figured dinner was a good idea. She wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight, and a full head and an empty stomach would make for a long night.
“C’mon,” Bakugo murmured as he stood, gently pulling Uraraka to her feet. He led her through the park to a small cafe with a bright red awning and white paper lanterns.
She took the seat across from him, resting her elbows on the table while he placed his coat on the back of his chair.
“What do you want?” he questioned, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he moved by her chair.
Turning toward the menu, Uraraka’s eyes scanned over the options. “Um,” she hummed, digging around for her money, “Whatever is fine.” She presented him with a few crumpled bills.
Bakugo’s eyes drifted to the money for a moment, before meeting her eyes as if he hadn’t noticed the money. “Tempura, right?”
“Yeah.” How had he known?
“Kay,” he nodded, taking a step back and turning toward the counter.
“Wait!” Uraraka called out, standing up with the money clutched between her fingers. “Bakugo-”
“Just sit down.” He tossed the command over his shoulder before making his way toward the front of the shop to place their orders.
Uraraka growled softly, dropping back into her seat obediently. She shoved the money back into her pocket before slumping down against the table. She didn’t need more questions. Her head was full enough as it was. Releasing a slow exhale, Urararka focused on busying herself counting the tiles on the ceiling rather than thinking about her feelings.
She whispered numbers under her breath as her eyes followed along the patterned lines. “Eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, six-” What does this mean? Uraraka sighed loudly as the question entered the forefront of her mind. Her forehead knocked against the cool veneer table.
Is this a date?
The thought made Uraraka’s head shoot up in a panic. If this had been any other situation, she’d assume this was a date. They’d spent the afternoon together, shared a surprisingly sweet kiss, and Bakugo was now buying her dinner. If she ignored the fact that he’d come as a buffer between her old crush and his girlfriend while they were working on their fake relationship, things were simple.
“Here,” Bakugo placed a tray in front of her before taking his seat across from her.
Uraraka blinked as she pushed her thoughts back. She sat back in her seat looking at him owlishly.
He grunted as he picked up his chopsticks. “Eat,” he murmured, taking a bite of his own meal.
“Thanks,” she whispered quietly, looking over the meal he’d gotten for her. A large plate of shrimp and vegetable tempura was portioned in a big white bowl in front of her. On the upper left corner of the tray was a bright white mug filled with hot tea and next to it was a serving of what looked to be strawberry mochi.
“What’s wrong?”
“Huh?” Uraraka’s head snapped up to meet his eyes.
“You’re not eating.”
“Oh.” She reached for her tea mug, letting the steam warm her face.
Peach green tea.
“I will.” Her favorite. “Thank you.” The pads glided along the sides of the hot ceramic. Uraraka took a little sip, smiling at the taste of honey that lingered on her lips.
He remembered.
Uraraka set her mug down, picked up her chopsticks, and enjoyed her meal. They ate in comfortable but heavy silence. It should have been awkward, but Uraraka found herself the most relaxed she’d been all day even though there were obvious questions between them. She could clearly see his uncertainty each time their eyes met. It was masked behind furrowed brows and a scowl, but Uraraka could see it all the same.
“You done?” Bakugo questioned, eyes fixed firmly on her.
She nodded, putting the last bit of mochi in her mouth. “Yeah.” Uraraka met his eyes, taking a moment to search past his uncertainty.
What was this?
Bakugo stood up, standing by the table.
Uraraka waited a moment and then another. She counted a few seconds.
He shoved his hands in his pockets, posture slouching as he waited.
A smirk crawled on her lips as she stood up from her seat. She grabbed his arm, pulling his hand from his pocket and lacing their fingers together.
“What the hell are you doing?” he grumbled.
She smiled, seeing red begin to tint his face and feeling the hand she held become slick. “Holding your hand.” They walked out of the cafe.
“Why?”
Uraraka considered the question. “I don’t know.” She didn’t. “I just want to.” It was the truth, and the answer seemed to be enough for Bakugo.
“Whatever,” Bakugo huffed as they stepped outside and started toward the dorms.
The pad of her thumb caressed his knuckles as she looked out toward the sky. She gently swung their arms back and forth as she hummed a little tune. “Bakugo?”
“What?” he answered gruffly, giving the hand she held a squeeze.
“Did you write about me?” Uraraka questioned as her thumb circled one of his knuckles.
His brows furrowed.
“In class?” she elaborated.
Red eyes focused intently on the sidewalk in front of him as street lights illuminated in his eyes.
“For that assignment?” she rambled anxiously. “Did you write about me?”
“Tch.”
Their footsteps echoed along the sidewalk as Uraraka counted the many streetlights in front of them. She carefully watched him from the corner of her eye.
His silence didn’t bother her.
She could see the muscles of his jaw flex, teeth clenching as he searched for the words. Uraraka trusted him to answer when he was ready.
“Yeah,” he grunted, shoulders slumping a bit.
“What’d you say?” she pushed, slowing the swing of the arms. She squeezed his hand as she turned to face him.
His eyes were locked in front of him. She could see the flush growing on his cheeks in the night light.
“Well-” She needed to meet him halfway. “I wrote about your fight with Ojiro.”
Bakugo glanced at her for a moment. “I thought you only wrote about Deku.”
“No.” Midoriya had taken up a large part of her essay but his match wasn’t the only one she’d written about. “I wrote about a couple matches.” Granted, she’d spent most of her time ranting about how stupid and reckless Midoriya was than analyzing his technique.
“Okay.”
She took that as permission to continue. “I said that I think you were matched with Ojiro because of the slight advantage he has over you-”
“What fucking advantage?” he snapped quietly, tugging her a little closer to her.
“Well,” she started smiling, “he has an extra limb.”
“And?”
Uraraka chuckled, “That means he has an advantage against you.” She figured Aizawa thought the same thing. “On the surface, but you’re really strong at hand to hand combat-”
“Damn right.”
“And Ojiro doesn’t realize how good he is either,” Uraraka explained as campus came into view. “So, you both were good for pushing the other because when you hit hard, Ojiro hit back just as hard.”
His eyes glanced at her for a quick second.
“You’ll never admit, but it was a challenge you enjoyed.” The pad of her thumb brushed over his fingers as she moved so they were shoulder to shoulder. “Right?”
“Tch.”
“Yeah?” she cooed, teasingly as she leaned into his space. “Come on.”
A low growl vibrated in the back of his throat as his face reddened.
“Say it,” she giggled as they stopped out in front of the gate.
“You just fucking said I would never admit it.”
“Come on, say it.”
He rolled his eyes as she stepped in front of him.
Uraraka patted his chest as she looked up at him. “Say it,” she grinned brightly.
“Fine!” he barked, stopping as they approached the steps. “It was an okay match. If that fucking tail idiot decided to stop playing games he could be some real competition.”
“You should definitely tell Ojiro that,” she laughed, turning her back to walk up the stairs.
“No fucking way!”
She laughed harder as tension floated from her body. She wrapped her fingers around the doorknob, pulling the door open.
“Oi.”
Uraraka froze. “Yeah?” She slowly closed the door before pressing her back against it.
Bakugo slowly walked up the steps, stopping about a few inches in front of her. He shoved his hands in his pockets as he turned away from her. “You didn’t give up.”
She carefully watched his face, trying to meet his eyes even though he was avoiding her stare.
“You got your ass handed to you-”
“Thanks for the reminder.” She wasn’t sure why she had to smile about this after being in tears about her battle this week.
“Because,” he continued shaking his head, “you were too damn stubborn to use your size and speed against him. You foolishly wanted to try to out muscle him.”
“Again, so many compliments.”
“And you wouldn’t fucking stop even after your face was black and blue.”
She’d had only gotten one bruise to her face at the beginning of the week and a few scratches. “Face isn’t black and blue, thank you very much.”
“That’s not the fucking point,” he huffed, shaking his head as he slouched. Bakugo’s head rolled as their eyes met.
“What is the fucking point?” she teased.
Bakugo grunted. He rolled his eyes, taking a heavy step forward as his palm slammed next to her head. “Shut up.”
Uraraka’s lips rolled together as she silenced herself.
“You were so determined to out muscle someone that could crush you without a fucking thought that you didn’t give a fuck about what that did to you.”
“I get it,” she shrugged innocently. “Stupid strategy, I know. Looking back, I should have tried to gas him out and make myself a harder target.”
“Also not the fucking point,” he grunted, tilting his head down. “Your stupid strategy was obvious, but you didn’t fucking stop. You went beyond your limit.”
“Isn’t that why we’re all here?”
“Not being stupid.”
“Why can’t you just say you’re impressed with my tenacity? My guts, my-” Uraraka hummed trying to think of another word.
His eyes narrowed.
“Strength.”
“He kicked your ass.”
“My inner strength,” Uraraka corrected grinning.
“I didn’t say that,” he muttered thickly.
“Didn’t have to.” She knew what he meant. “Bet Aizawa loved reading you getting all fluffy about my unwillingness to never give up.”
“You’re fucking annoying.”
She wouldn’t know it from the way he said it. “I’m not.”
“Tch.” He leaned down, pressing their lips together for a few long seconds.
Uraraka felt her back melt against the door as he moved closer to her, chests barely pressed together. It was like the kiss they shared in the park.
Chaste.
Sweet.
Long.
Bakugo pulled away, keeping their noses connected. “You’re fucking annoying.”
Uraraka returned the words with a smile. “So are you.”
“Tch,” he countered, placing his hand on the knob. “Whatever, round face.” He walked inside of the dorms, Uraraka following behind him happily.
The lounge was busy as usual for a Saturday night. Most of their class was gathered in the lounge in front of the TV watching movies or at the tables playing games.
“What are you doing now?” Uraraka asked softly as they walked toward the elevators.
Bakugo shrugged, “I was going to go back to my room.”
“You’re not going to bed are you?” Her nose wrinkled as she looked at the clock. “It’s Saturday, and it’s early. Let’s watch a movie.” Even though they’d spent the entire day together, Uraraka wasn’t sure she was ready to leave him yet.
“I’m not watching that crap.” He nodded his head over toward whatever was playing on the screen across the room.
“I know,” she huffed. “We can watch something else?” Uraraka looked over at him expectantly as she bounced on the balls of her feet and clasped her hands behind her back.
“Uraraka?”
They both turned to the person calling her name. “Deku,” she breathed, feeling dread creep through her body. Memories of the day flooded her as quickly as she’d forgotten them. It wasn’t like she could hide from him. “Hey.”
Bakugo turned to the elevator doors, refusing to acknowledge him.
“You guys just getting back?”
Bakugo bit his lip, stifling a snarky comment.
“Yeah,” Uraraka exhaled with a little nod. “We just got back.” Her attention turned to the elevator as it chimed.
“Can I-” Midoriya started timidly, his eyes bouncing between Uraraka and Bakugo. “Can we talk?” he questioned, finally settling on Uraraka.
She should have expected this. “Um-” The elevator doors opened as she hummed. She looked over at Bakugo.
Bakugo met her gaze, brows knitting fiercely as he stared at her. “Why the hell are you looking at me?”
“Bakugo,” she pleaded softly.
“That’s your fucking decision.”
For the first time in a while, she couldn’t read his tone. Was he angry at her? “I-” She looked over to Midoriya, shaking her head. “Yeah.”
Midoriya started walking toward the dimly lit hallway, looking at Uraraka to follow him.
“I’ll be up in a minute,” Uraraka assured Bakugo as he stepped in the elevator.
“Yeah,” Bakugo acknowledged, looking past her.
“I will.” She took a little step inside the elevator, placing a hand to stop the doors from closing. “Look at me.”
He wouldn’t.
“Bakugo.” Why was he upset? “Are you mad at me?” Things had been going well.
“If you wanna talk to that loser, that’s your damn business,” he told her frankly, leaning against the wall.
The message was clear. “Can you look at me?” He knew she didn’t want to talk to him.
Bakugo met her eyes.
“I’ll be there in a minute,” she promised, releasing her hand from the door and stepping back.
“Fine.” The doors closed.
Uraraka sighed, following Midoriya to the hallway. He was sitting on a bench by the door with his hands in his lap. “What’s up?” she asked, clearing her throat as she kept some distance between them.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” The answer was quick but surprisingly honest. She was a little anxious to get back to Bakugo, but the dread and heaviness she’d been carrying with her during the week had evaporated. “I’m fine.”
Midoriya nodded, looking at her again. “Are you sure?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Today was,” he paused as Sato walked past them, “weird.”
It was. “A little bit,” Uraraka nodded, clasping her hands behind her back as she rested her weight on her left leg. She turned to look back out into the lounge to watch their friends.
“I didn’t know you and Bakugo were-” Midoriya’s lips twisted. Uraraka could almost see the calculations in his head as he was trying to find the perfect words to craft this conversation. “So close? Friends? Dating?”
She didn’t know how to describe it either. “Yeah.” It could be all of the above or none of the above. “Is that what you wanted to talk about?”
“Not entirely,” he stared at her intently, green eyes studying her body language. “Why didn’t you tell me about Bakugo?”
“Why would I?”
“Because we’re friends.”
They were supposed to be. “I don’t know.” To be fair, whatever was going on between her and Bakugo hadn’t started romantically. “I never got a chance to mention it.”
“You’ve barely talked to me in weeks.”
This again.
“We’ve been busy.”
“Yeah, but-”
She hated how careful he was being.
He was trying to push without causing her to retreat again. “You’ve had time to talk to Bakugo, so-”
“Bakugo made time.” Uraraka snapped her lips shut, shaking her head. “You’ve been busy.”
“I haven’t.” Midoriya had been no busier than usual. “You haven’t been to study group or the cafeteria in weeks, Uraraka.”
Uraraka inhaled, closing her eyes as she felt her chest sting. “Can we not talk about this?” This wasn’t on him.
“Why?”
“Because.” It wasn’t an answer, but she couldn’t bring herself to confess to him. “Because I don’t want to talk about this now.”
“Can you at least tell me what I did?”
Did he know?
“Because if I did something, I want to fix it.”
His selflessness was one of the things that had drawn her to him. “Deku.” As big as his heart was, Uraraka had trouble finding her place there. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Then why aren’t you talking to me?”
He wouldn’t stop.
“You can’t say it’s nothing.”
His stubbornness was something else she wished she didn’t admire about him.
“Our friends have noticed,” Midoriya shook his head, eyes flashing hurt.
She would have to tell him something.
“I think even Kacchan noticed,” he continued. “It was like he didn’t want me near you this afternoon. Or,” he pointed toward the elevators, “just now.”
There was no escaping it.
“What is going on?”
Uraraka felt her eyes sting as a lump bubbled at the back of her throat. “You-”
“What happened, Uraraka?”
“You didn’t do anything.” This wasn’t his fault. “I-” She took a deep breath, letting the air pass from her lips slowly. “This is about me.”
“Did something happen?” he questioned gently. “Are your parents okay?”
Why did he have to be so nice about it? “Everyone is fine.” The confession she made to Bakugo replayed in her head.
It feels like he doesn’t even see me.
She couldn’t even say that now. Midoriya was in front of her, willing to take the blame for something he hadn’t done to repair their friendship. “I’ve been dealing with some emotional baggage.”
I’m hurt.
“It’s not anyone’s fault. Especially yours,” Uraraka sighed.
I’m not sitting here waiting for his relationship with Melissa to fail and fantasizing about a golden opportunity.
“And I’m sorry that I made you feel that way.”
What did Melissa have that she didn’t?
“I shouldn’t have done that,” she whispered. “I’m really sorry, Deku.”
I know this sounds whiny and stupid and- I know, but it makes me angry.
“I just need some space,” she admitted.
He deserves to be happy.
“I understand,” Midoriya nodded, sitting up.
She could still see confusion clouding his vision.
He didn’t understand, but he was willing to respect it.
“Thanks.” One day Uraraka would be able to apologize to him properly, but this was a start. “I’ll see you later.” She took a step backward before making her way to the elevators. Breathing a sigh of relief, she stepped inside the doors then pressed the button for Bakugo’s floor.
Don’t let that nerd, quirkless girl, or any other motherfucker make you feel like a damn nobody.
“I deserve to be happy too,” she decided, feeling the elevator ascend. Uraraka quickly made her way to Bakugo’s door, gently rapping her knuckles against the door. “It’s me.”
The lock clicked as the door opened a few inches.
She pushed the door open, stepping inside of his room.
Bakugo silently took a seat on his bed, setting up a movie on his laptop.
“What are we watching?” she asked, kicking off her shoes as she made her way to him. Uraraka climbed on the bed next to him.
He sat his computer on the nightstand. “Some action movie the app recommended,” he muttered. “Can’t remember the damn title.”
She tucked herself next to him as she rested her head against his shoulder. “Interesting.” Her breath caught in her chest as he shifted. She relaxed as his arm went over her shoulder.
“We’ll see.”
To be Continued…
Notes:
A/N: Another chapter down! What's next for our beans? We shall see... Can't wait until next time! *devious smile* Let me know what you think! Lots of love you guys! <3
I hope everyone is staying safe! <3 <3 <3
Chapter 10: You First
Summary:
“You mean Deku.”
She hadn’t missed how her friend’s name rolled off his tongue. “Yes, Deku is in the study group. So is Asui and sometimes Yaomomo joins us too.”
Bakugo scowled.
“What?” she frowned, shrinking away from him a bit as she tried to decipher his expression. His brows were wrinkled in frustration, and, if Uraraka didn’t know any better, she’d say that his lips were twitching in what looked to be worry.
“You don’t have to study with him.”
“I know.” Why did the wrinkles in his forehead deepen? “I want to.”
His jaw tightened.
“What?”
Bakugo was holding back his words.
Notes:
A/N: And we're back! I hope you enjoy this chapter! <3
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“What’s the name of Pluto’s largest satellite?”
“Charon.” Her pen hadn’t missed a beat as she continued taking notes on the assigned science chapter. Uraraka could feel her friends’ heavy stares as her wrist stilled. “What?” she asked, blinking owlishly as she looked at the curious stares.
“How did you know that?” Ashido asked her, amazed, flipping through her textbook.
“I like astronomy.” She forced herself not to smile at the corners of Bakugo’s lips twitching with amusement next to her.
“Name three of Jupiter’s moons,” Kaminari challenged, holding his pen anxiously as he leaned toward her with interest
“Io, Europa, and Ganymede,” she listed, looking at him with bored eyes.
“Wait, wait,” Sero panicked, flipping through his notebook frantically. “Can you repeat that?”
“Io, Europa, and Ganymede” Uraraka repeated as she looked up from her notes. “And scientists think that number is well over fifty.” The people around the table looked at her in awe. “No, I cannot name them all.”
“Wow.” Kirishima chuckled, stretching his arms over his head, “Why are you even bothering to take notes?” A sigh left his lips as he dropped his arms back to the lounge table.
“Because that was the assignment,” Uraraka told him with a little shrug. “Take notes on Unit 3, Chapter 4: The Outer Planets, then answer the questions at the end of the chapter.” She showed him her little journal covered in metallic pink stars.
“Maybe I should get a notebook to write down my homework?” Kirishima mused.
Bakugo grumbled next to her.
Uraraka snorted, gently poking his arm underneath the table as she shot him a little look.
“How do you spell Ganymede?” Kaminari questioned as he tapped his pen against his temple.
“Oi! Look that shit up!” Bakugo barked, shoving the textbook closer to the blonde.
“But,” Kaminari started, looking at Uraraka in wonder, “she has the knowledge.”
“I have the knowledge,” Uraraka grinned, fluttering her eyelashes at Bakugo playfully. She bit her tongue, noticing the pink creeping up the back of his neck.
A growl scratched at the back of Bakugo’s throat. “So does the damn book that idiot is supposed to be reading!”
“But she knows,” Kaminari whined, slouching to the table dramatically.
“Look it up!”
“Not nice, Kacchan!”
Uraraka snickered as Bakugo seethed next to her. “There, there,” she cooed playfully, patting Bakugo’s arm in a comforting motion as she tried to stifle her giggles.
“You’re fucking enabling them,” Bakugo growled softly, looking at Uraraka accusingly.
She grinned as she tilted her chin up toward him. Despite the irritation in his voice, she could easily spot the amusement twinkling in his eyes. “I’m helping.”
“She is,” Ashido started, leaning toward Uraraka with her notebook in hand, “Enabling would be telling me how many moons Saturn has and listing five of them.” She looked at Uraraka intently, pen ready to write an answer.
With a giggle, Uraraka dropped her pen into her bag before shutting her textbook. “Eighty-two moons-”
“Cheeks!” Bakugo scolded her.
She shrugged, getting up from her seat. “I didn’t tell her any names.” She pulled her backpack onto her shoulders, stepping behind his chair to look down at him. Her hands rested on the back of his chair as the ends of her fingers brushed against his shoulder.
They weren’t hiding anything.
There was nothing to hide.
Her classmates were well aware that they’d been spending more time together.
Things weren’t awkward between them, quite the opposite, but Uraraka wasn’t sure how things worked in the public sphere. Everything they rehearsed seemed to fade away after their first kiss in the park.
Behind closed doors they were comfortable.
When they watched movies in his room, she often found herself tucked by his side with her head nestled against his shoulder and his chin on top of her head. She was comfortable reaching for his hand, and Bakugo didn’t have a problem initiating contact in private.
In public, they inched around each other in a little game to see who would make the first move.
Who would be the person to confirm that they’d grown closer than friends, despite that fact being painfully obvious.
“Shouldn’t have to because the answers are in the damn book!” Bakugo yelled, mashing a finger to Ashido’s textbook. “There’s a whole damn section called Saturn! You don’t even have to read it!”
“How else is she supposed to find the answers if she doesn’t read?” Kaminari questioned skeptically as he narrowed his eyes in thought. “Or ask Uraraka for the answer?”
“Internet,” Sero quipped, snapping his fingers and grabbing his phone.
“Or you could fucking skim the text!” Bakugo yelled.
“That’s still reading.”
“It’s faster!”
“But,” Kaminari paused, shaking his head, “Reading.”
“Fucking stupid,” Bakugo hissed going back to his own work.
“I’ll give you a hint to help you skim,” Uraraka told them as her fingers crept over his shoulder. “One of the moons is named Titan, so if you find the name Titan in the text you know you’re in the right place to look for names of other moons.”
“Or look for the goddamn orange header that fucking says ‘Moons’ and fucking look for the proper nouns!!”
“That is also a solution,” she chuckled, giving his shoulders a gentle squeeze before sliding her hands back so only her fingers rested against his shoulders.
Kaminari took a moment to consider the options, “I like her way better.”
“Totally,” Ashido nodded.
“Yeah,” Sero agreed, setting his phone down and flipping through the book.
“You are totally leading our study group for this exam,” Kirishima insisted to Uraraka, quickly jotting down the information before beginning to look for the answer himself.
“I don’t fucking understand these morons,” Bakugo seethed.
Uraraka shrugged, “You’re asking them to focus on an entire section for an answer. I am asking them to find a word and follow a trail of breadcrumbs.”
“We’re talking about the same damn section.” He shook his head watching his friends search through the text. “You basically told them to do the same fucking thing I did, just with different words.”
“Yeah.” She had.
“The fuck.” Bakugo’s head fell back between his shoulders as he looked up to the ceiling in annoyance.
Uraraka laughed, “The important thing is they are reading the section.” She stuck her tongue out at him, wrinkling her nose sweetly as she leaned above his face. Her eyes dropped to his lips for a moment before she blushed. As much as she wanted to kiss him, the common lounge didn’t seem like a safe place to test the boundaries of their affection.
“Tch,” he scowled. The wrinkles in his forehead relaxed as their eyes met, red irises filling with confusion. “Where are you going?”
“Gonna get dinner with Todoroki, Iida, Tsu, and Deku,” she answered softly. She didn’t miss the twitch in his face when she mentioned her former crush.
“Don’t eat with those losers.”
She laughed. “I promised them I’d meet them at 6:30.” It was a few minutes after, but she still intended on meeting them.
“We’re about to head to the cafeteria too,” he commented. “Whenever the fuck these idiots finish their damn work!” Bakugo turned his rage to his friends still working.
“Hey, you’re still working too!” Kirishima noted, pointing to the open notebook in front of the blonde.
Uraraka’s face flushed, noticing Kirishima’s curious glance at their proximity. She moved her face back, putting more distance between them.
“I moved to the next section,” Bakugo snorted, rolling his eyes at the redhead before looking at Uraraka with a softer expression. “You sure you wanna eat with those losers?” His hand came up to grab her wrist.
“I’ll be fine.”
For the first time in a long time, it was the truth.
“I’ll catch up with you after?”
Bakugo searched her eyes for a few long seconds. “Yeah.” His fingers released her wrist as he nodded his head. “Okay.”
He was seeing if she was lying. “I’ll text you,” Uraraka promised, drumming her fingers against his shoulders before stepping back.
“Sure,” he answered, watching as she left. Bakugo exhaled, picking up his pen as he looked back at his notes. “Fucking what?” he snapped at Kirishima, aggressively uncapping his highlighter.
“Nothing.” He wouldn’t say anything in front of their group, but that didn’t mean Bakugo couldn’t read the questions on his face.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
“We thought you weren’t joining us!”
Uraraka set her tray on the table, smiling as she took the seat across from Midoriya. “Sorry about that,” she winced, “I was helping Kaminari and Ashido with science homework.” She looked at him with a genuine smile as she unwrapped her sandwich.
It still hurt.
Rejection was painful.
Uraraka knew things between them wouldn’t be fixed in one conversation, and it wouldn’t be fixed by avoiding Midoriya. Things weren’t back to what they had been. Before Melissa, Uraraka had spent pretty much the whole day fluttering somewhere in Midoriya’s orbit. They typically had breakfast together, they were in the same classes, studied together, did homework together, and hung out together.
Even if something in their routine had changed, he wasn’t far.
If she’d decided to join Asui or Hagakure for breakfast, Midoriya would only be a few tables away at their usual spot.
There were times she hung out with the girls while Midoriya lingered with the boys or she could see him practicing from one of the large lounge windows.
No matter where she was, Midoriya was typically not far from her sight.
Until recently.
“Your area of expertise, Midoriya acknowledged as he dug into his dinner.
“One of the perks of being a country gal,” she grinned, taking a nibble of her sandwich. “We didn’t get TV until I was like ten, so there wasn’t much to do besides look at the stars.”
“You didn’t have a TV until you were ten?” Todoroki questioned, joining in the conversation.
“Yep,” Uraraka confirmed. “I mean, we had this old model from grandma but we used it as, like, a coffee table.”
“You used the television as a coffee table?” Iida asked, brows furrowing in disapproval.
“It had a flat top and sat in our living room.” She picked out a pickle from her sandwich. “It’s now the stand for our current television and a small collection of succulents.”
“The stand you owe your vast knowledge of astronomy to,” Todoroki added.
“And botany.”
“Who else was in your study group?” Asui asked.
“Um-” Uraraka hummed, eating the pickle slice from her sandwich. “Kaminari, Ashido, Kirishima, Sero, and Bakugo.” She finished the list, taking a bite of her sandwich.
Todoroki nodded, staring at her as he slurped his noodles, “That’s interesting.”
“Definitely more lively than our own study group,” she smiled, ignoring the obvious implication of his words, “but still fun. When are you guys gonna start studying for the trigonometry test?”
“From what I can see, Ectoplasm is on course with the syllabus,” Iida started, adjusting his glasses. “I think we should start reviewing the unit next week. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to start reviewing the previous units as well.”
“That’s a lot of math.”
“Final exams will be here sooner than later,” Asui agreed.
“Don’t say that,” Uraraka whined.
“It’s true,” Todoroki added.
“I can barely hold on to what we learned last week in trig. I can’t think about the beginning of the term.” Uraraka huffed, smiling, eyes locking with Bakugo as he took a seat with his friends.
“You must.”
Iida nodded with a firm nod, “You will.”
“You can!” Asui encouraged her with a ribbit.
“You will be fine,” Midoriya grinned at her, taking another bite of his food. “We’ll do extra proofs just for you.”
Uraraka’s shoulders deflated. “Way to make a girl feel special.” Even though the comment was sarcastic, she couldn’t stop her lips from twitching up in a smile. “I’ll spare you guys from some of my whining next week. I’ll be sure to torture Bakugo with my confusion as well. Plus,” she nodded, grabbing a potato chip, “Kaminari is freakishly good at proofs.”
“Really?” Iida frowned, trying to digest the information.
“Really,” Uraraka nodded. “He’s horrible at the equations though.” Things were good.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
“Will you help me study for the math final?”
Bakugo brows furrowed as he looked down at her. “Huh?”
Uraraka leaned forward to pause the movie. “Will you,” she started, resting her chin against his shoulder as she stared up at him with wide pleading eyes, “help me study for the math final?” Uraraka pouted sweetly as she scooted closer to him.
“We have over a month before finals.” He dropped an arm around her shoulder.
She placed her hands against his chest. “You underestimate the amount of work you’re going to have to do to help me comprehend the ridiculousness that is trigonometry.”
“It’s math,” he told her, letting his fingers play with the ends of her hair. “It’s like the universal language.”
“There is no universal language.”
“Math comes close.”
“Poetic.”
Bakugo scoffed, rolling his eyes. “You could go to a high school in Canada, Spain, Russia, Italy, Australia, Egypt- fucking anywhere-
“Fucking anywhere,” Uraraka repeated with an amused nod.
“Oi, language!”
She beamed.
“Fucking anyway,” Bakugo inhaled, “You could go fucking anywhere and the math is the same. The language, the food, the weather- all that shit is different, but the math doesn’t change.”
She leaned up, bumping her nose against his to signal she wanted a kiss. “I didn’t know you were so passionate about math.”
“Tch,” he grumbled, dropping a kiss to her lips, “you want help or not?”
“You mean, are you willing to be tortured by my horrible math skills?” she pouted against his lips before pulling back.
“Can’t be worse than Kaminari.”
Her eyes widened. “Well-” There were days her work was riddled with what Iida called ‘careless mistakes’. “I am sure I will have moments that test that theory. Lucky for you, you won’t be the only person I torture with my math skills.”
“What do you mean?”
“Iida, Todoroki and them-”
“You mean Deku.”
She hadn’t missed how her friend’s name rolled off his tongue. “Yes, Deku is in the study group. So is Asui and sometimes Yaomomo joins us too.”
Bakugo scowled.
“What?” she frowned, shrinking away from him a bit as she tried to decipher his expression. His brows were wrinkled in frustration, and, if Uraraka didn’t know any better, she’d say that his lips were twitching in what looked to be worry.
“You don’t have to study with him.”
“I know.” Why did the wrinkles in his forehead deepen? “I want to.”
His jaw tightened.
“What?”
Bakugo was holding back his words.
“ What?” From their first introduction, Uraraka couldn’t recall a time she’d seen him restrain herself. She remembered Aizawa having to physically restrain him from Midoriya during their initial quirk evaluation.
He went on a full uncensored rant at the Sports Festival in front of a live audience.
Bakugo didn’t mince words.
He didn’t hesitate to say what was on his mind.
“Is that a good idea?”
Uraraka tilted her head, eyebrows drawing down in confusion. “I need help in math…” Even though she was currently in danger of failing the class, she was determined to finish the term with a low B in the class.
“So I’m fucking nothing?” he asked her plainly.
“You also have to help Ashido, Kirishima, Kaminari, and Sero.”
“You don’t fucking annoy me.”
The admission made her feel light and erased the stress lines on her face. It was basically a formal declaration of affection. “Good,” she grinned, moving a hand up to scratch the back of his head.
“Tch.” His nose twitched, jerking his head away from her face. “Quit that,” he muttered, leaning in toward her touch.
“Nope,” she whispered, knowing he didn’t want her to.
Uraraka, herself, was a hugger, but Bakugo was a sucker for a good head scratch. She’d found herself playing with his hair during a movie and couldn’t forget how cute he looked relaxed and sleepy.
“Do you not want me to study with Deku?” she asked softly.
“I’m not gonna tell you what to fucking do.”
“I’m not going to do something that makes you uncomfortable.”
“I’m not fucking uncomfortable.”
She raised her brows at him skeptically.
He wouldn’t say it.
Whatever it was. She nodded, continuing to tenderly rake her nails over his scalp. “Okay.” And she wouldn’t ask him. “Deku and I are friends.”
He knew that. “Why?”
“Because I stopped him from falling on his face the first time I met him,” she recalled with a merry smile, “and he stopped me from being crushed.” That’s how it had started.
That wasn’t what he wanted to know, but he wouldn’t push.
And neither would she.
His arms circled around her waist, keeping her close to him. “What about me?” Bakugo mumbled as his cheek went to her shoulder.
Uraraka’s fingers stilled, her smile widening, “I tried to bury you alive because you didn’t know my name.”
“I knew your name.”
“Did not,” she laughed, nuzzling his forehead. “I was standing right behind you, and you had no idea who I was.”
“I knew who you were,” he protested, pulling away from her.
“Liar.” Uraraka stuck her tongue out at him. “Doesn’t matter though-”
“Because I fucking did.”
“You didn’t, but,” she started, tapping his nose. “I made sure you knew it after.” The loss still burned, but Uraraka didn’t have any regrets. “You don’t have to worry about Deku.”
“I’m not worried about that damn nerd.”
“Good,” she agreed, kissing him softly. “Our story is better.”
It wasn’t the awkwardly charming meeting she’d had with Midoriya or close to the fantasies she’d daydreamed about.
“And,” she started, looking away from him shyly as a blush bloomed on her cheeks, “I’ll come to you first.” They’d been talking about math, but the conversation seemed to evolve into something more serious than either of them could understand.
“You fucking better.”
To be Continued…
Notes:
A/N: I worry that this fic (my writing in general) is boring, but I am a fluffy soul. Give me lots of fluff with spikes of moderate drama! That's my bread and butter!! I hope I have fed you all well <3
Let me know what you think! Also, I think we only have one or two more chapters to go! OMG! >.<
See ya next time
Chapter 11: Random Damn Answer
Summary:
“Okay, you’ve offended, like, half our class, and the day hasn’t started yet.” Uraraka picked up her bag from Midoriya’s desk and patted Bakugo on the shoulder. “Pace yourself,” she instructed, trying to ease the tension. “What time is the wedding?”
Back to more important things.
“Yes, what time is this wedding?” Ashido questioned as Jirou tried to push her out of her seat. “Are we invited?”
Notes:
A/N: I think next chapter is gonna be the last one. I'm like 95% sure, but ya never know what happens... But yeah! Thank you for being on this wild ride with me! I didn't expect this fic would get so much love! ❤️
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“Round face.”
Uraraka bit back a giggle as she lowered her head to the desk. “I told you that I needed help with math,” she reminded him melodically.
“How the hell did you get fifty-four?” Bakugo muttered as he worked on the problem himself. “What the fuck did you do?”
“The problem,” she grinned cheekily, planting her hands on the desk as she leaned forward to watch him work.
“The fuck you did.”
“The fuck I did,” she nodded with a cheeky smile as she pointed to the work she’d done. “See!?”
Bakugo’s pencil stilled as he looked up at her, narrowing his eyes.
Her smile broke into a grin as she leaned closer to him.
“It’s damn weird hearing you curse,” he muttered as he shook his head.
“It’s not,” she told him, bumping her nose against his.
He snarled. His cheeks glowed with a blush as he looked around the empty classroom before going back to the problem he was helping her with. Over the last couple days, they’d been meeting up before homeroom started so Bakugo could tutor her.
“You should be used to it by now,” she teased as she settled back into her seat.
“Tch,” his tongue clicked. “Seriously, round face-”
“You could use my name.”
His stare was hard.
Uraraka could tell that his patience was running thin.
Good.
He was kinda cute when he overreacted.
“Ochako.”
She reared back in surprise, nestling her back against her chair as she put distance between them. She could feel her face turning an embracing shade of red. Her plan to annoy him had backfired.
“I don’t know what the fuck you did,” he started, smirking as his eyes flashed from her to the paper sitting between them, “but there is no way you did the problem and got that damn answer.”
“Our work is the same.”
His brow furrowed. “The fuck…”
“Yeah.”
“What the fuck did you do?” he muttered, checking over every step she’d done. “You should have gotten forty-nine.”
“I did-”
“What?”
“Yeah,” she sat up, placing her knees on the seat as she pointed at the area she’d erased, “but then I changed it to fifty-four-”
“Why the fuck would you do that?!”
“Cause it looked wrong,” she pouted as he went over the other problems she’d been working on. “The problem was too easy.”
Bakugo shook his head, “So you write some random damn answer?”
“No…”
He scoffed.
“I figured it had to be close to forty-nine so-”
“What the fuck?”
She bit back a laugh at his disbelief as she offered him an apologetic little shrug. “Just added a little more just in case.”
“That isn’t how math works, round face!” He flipped back to the problems they’d done over the past few days. “What have those extras been teaching you?” He skimmed over the book. “The fuck -”
“You’ve said that already,” she giggled. It was cute how distraught he was about this.
“Stop changing your fucking answers!”
“I thought they were wrong!”
“They aren’t!”
“Well…” she trailed off, gesturing between them and toward the notebook. “I don’t know what I’m doing. That’s why I asked for help!”
“You know what the hell you’re doing!”
It didn’t feel like it.
“Okay, a couple of stupid mistakes-”
“Hey, I’m human! It happens!”
“Not if you check your fucking work, but all this shit is basically right,” Bakugo told her as he furiously flipped through the pages.
“Oh.”
“Stop changing your damn answers!”
Only Bakugo could make a gruff command sound soft, sweet, and make her stomach flutter. “Well, now that I know I’m right, I won’t anymore.”
“How the fuck do you not realize it when you review your work?” he questioned still shaking his head.
“It works though!” Uraraka turned to the sound of the classroom door opening. She raised her hand to wave to Iida who had just walked in. “He-”
“It doesn’t!”
She frowned, dropping her hand as she looked to Bakugo. “It does! If I do the problem again, I get the same answer which lets me know I’m close, so I add a little more again.”
“What the fuck?!” he yelled, dropping the book on the desk. “What moron told you to do the problem again to check your work?”
“Wha-”
“Oi!” Bakugo yelled, whipping around to face Iida. “What the fuck have you been telling her?”
“Um,” Iida stopped at the lecture stand, hands hovered over the papers he’d been sorting through, “I’m afraid I don’t understand.” He looked over to Uraraka with wide confused eyes.
Uraraka snorted, hands flying up to cover her mouth as Midoriya and Todoroki entered the room with boxes. “He’s helping me with math.”
“Because you fucking nerds are obviously useless!” Bakugo barked, snarling at the three boys at the front of the room.
“ Bakugo .”
The blonde flinched as a low growl of frustration rumbled from his throat. “These idiots had you doing the wrong shit for half the year and not checking your work!”
“Okay, no,” Uraraka shook her head, “I had myself doing the wrong shit for half the year.” Probably longer. For some reason, math took up so much mental energy. “They tried to help me. It’s not like I’m failing.” She stood up from her desk, stretching her arms over her head before reaching in her bag for a snack.
“They didn’t show you how to check your damn work!” he continued to rage. “It’s a fucking fundamental in math! You check your damn work!”
“I told her to redo the problem to make sure you get the same answer,” Torodoki replied evenly.
“Why the fuck would you do that?”
Uraraka shook her head as she walked over to Iida and Midoriya. “Good morning,” she chirped softly, taking a bite of her granola bar. She wasn’t getting involved just yet.
She didn’t know how she was ‘supposed’ to check the equations.
She was gonna eat her granola bar.
“To make sure you get the right answer,” Todoroki answered obviously. “If you complete a process twice and get the same results, then it means your work is correct.”
“That’s not how it works in math!” Bakugo yelled as he charged to the front of the room and angrily scribbled a short equation on the board. “It probably means,” he quickly worked solving the problem twice showing two different answers, “you fucked up twice!”
“It shows that you did something wrong.”
“Yeah,” Uraraka agreed with a nod as she looked at the equation and the two answers he’d written. “Both are wrong. The answer is six. Cause-” She swallowed, pointing to the variable. “-two plus six equals eight, so x had to be six.”
Bakugo turned to her. “So why don’t you do that shit with the other problems?”
“What?”
“Replacing the damn variable with your answer!” He angrily stabbed the dry erase marker from the answers he’d noted back to the variable in the problem.
She blinked.
“I think Kacchan is wondering why you don’t test your answers when you finish,” Midoriya spoke up hesitantly. “Like if you put four where x is you get six which isn’t eight so your answer is wrong.”
“Yeah, that’s obvious.” It felt good to talk to him with bitterness. “I get that.”
“Or just do the problem over,” Todoroki insisted.
“No!” Bakugo roared. “I just proved that you can fuck up more than once! That doesn’t help fucking shit all, scarface!”
“Bakugo is correct,” Iida started, interrupting the discussion. “The most effective way to make sure your answer is correct is to see if it actually works, especially in more complex questions.”
“But,” Uraraka frowned, pointing to the problem, “x is on both sides of the equal sign in the problems we’re doing. This problem only has one.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Bakugo told her. “You put the value for x back in!”
“How?”
“This!” He circled the equal sign. “This shit means ‘is’! You’re saying what the fuck is on one side of this fucker is the same as the other fucking side!”
“That explanation is surprisingly thorough but, um well,” Iida swallowed, lips twisting between a frown and a cringe.
Uraraka laughed, stepping in front of Bakugo and offering him a bite of her bar.
Red eyes narrowed at the treat in front of his lips with a sneer before looking at three sets of eyes watching curiously behind her head.
Normally, she was more conscious about the level of affection she displayed out in the open. Was it wrong to act like this in front of a former crush?
Midoriya had been openly affectionate with Melissa.
She’d offer Bakugo a bite with or without Midoriya in the room.
Not in front of the teacher.
Not in the middle of a full cafeteria.
At the dorms, it was fine. She’d taken food from his plate when he scooted his meal closer to her. He hadn’t directly fed her though.
Uraraka tapped the edge of the bar to his mouth.
“A rather crude way of describing the process, but yes,” Iida continued, still watching them carefully.
Bakugo growled, taking a bite.
“Bakugo is correct. An equal sign does represent the fact that things are the same on both sides of the equation.”
“Oh,” Uraraka gasped happily. “That makes a lot of sense. I never thought of it that way.”
“What the fu-”
She shoved a big chunk of the bar in Bakugo’s mouth with a proud grin. “Thank you for explaining it to me.”
His shoulders slumped in defeat as he narrowed eyes. Bakugo rolled his eyes before stomping back over to his desk.
“Is that what you guys are doing here so early?” Midoriya asked, looking at Uraraka before looking at Bakugo.
“Oh, yeah,” Uraraka turned to Bakugo.
He narrowed his eyes as he reached into her bag to grab a granola bar for himself.
“He’s helping me get ready for the math final,” Uraraka confirmed, grinning at the sound of him aggressively opening the bar. “I wanna try to raise my math grade.”
“She can’t do that with you idiots not giving thorough instructions!” Bakugo grunted. He glared at Midoriya while taking a feral bite of the bar.
“Shut up and eat,” she commanded gently as she glanced at him for a moment. “You’re being mean.”
He rolled his eyes, gnawing around the bar before turning his back to her.
Uraraka pressed her lips together tightly, trying to stop her smile of amusement. “But yeah,” she shook her head as she turned back to Midoriya and Iida, “I figured if I work really hard I can end the term without math bringing down my average.”
“It’s good you’re starting to review now,” Iida commended her with a proud nod.
“I’m sure you can do it, Uraraka!” Midoriya told her with a friendly smile as he patted her shoulder.
She could hear Bakugo scoff behind her, and she didn’t need to turn around to see him rolling his eyes.
“Okay,” Kaminari stopped in the doorway, halting the traffic flowing behind him. looking at the board in horror before turning to the room occupants, “the day hasn’t even started, and there are math problems I don’t understand written on the board.”
“I’m not seeing how that’s different from any other day. Walk, dude!” Sero yelled somewhere behind him.
“Hey, now!” Kaminari shouted back, “We haven’t even started the day, and I’m confused! I’m allowed to be upset about this!”
“Ugh!” Ashido groaned, pushing him out of the way as she stomped into the room. “It’s a problem with two answers, move on!”
“Goddamn fucking idiots,” Bakugo grumbled loudly, taking another hard bite from his bar.
“No,” Iida blinked. His brows furrowed with concern as he looked from Kaminari to the problem Bakugo had solved. “No, n-”
Ojiro walked past him, shaking his head.
“Don’t do it, class rep,” Sato whistled as he moved his seat.
“But-”
Shoji patted his shoulder. “We know. You have to try.”
Iida frowned, sighing as his posture dropped, “The problem only has one solution.”
“Oh,” Mina chuckled, plopping her bag on her desk. “I didn’t even look.” Dark eyes squinted as she looked over the work. “Yeah those are both wrong.”
“See what happens when you take the damn time to read the problem!” Bakugo hissed from his desk. Stuffing the rest of the bar into his mouth, he dug into his backpack.
“We know! Kirishima laughed, giving a playful salute as he walked into the room. “Read the directions and review all problems before you start.”
“If you know then why don’t you fuck nuts do it?!” Bakugo cradled the phone to his ear as he glared at Sero, Ashido, Kaminari and Kirishima.
“As my wise and powerful mother would say ‘There’s a big difference between doing and knowing’,” Kirishima retorted with a merry grin.
“You know the fucking difference.”
“I know a lot of things,” Kaminari started.
“You don’t,” Jirou told him.
“Not even fucking one,” Bakugo added under his breath as he pulled the phone from his ear before putting it back.
Uraraka giggled, lightly pushing at his shoulder. “Why haven’t I gotten this great test taking tip?”
Bakugo glowered at her as she laughed harder.
“I’m just saying that, like, I blank out when someone puts a test in front of me,” Kaminari added as he sat down. “It’s like I know things, but don’t ask me to recall that information at a specific time.”
“That’s the entire point of the education system,” Yaoyoruzu explained. “Learning information and being able to demonstrate mastery in a variety of ways.”
“Yeah, no,” Kaminari shook his head as he twirled a pencil between his fingers and slouched in his seat. “No thank you.”
“That’s also fucking life,” Bakugo stated grumpily. “Ah fuck!” he cursed, exhaling roughly before tossing his phone in his backpack.
“What?” Uraraka questioned as she walked over to him.
He dragged his hands over his face. “The fucking wedding is on Saturday.”
“Wedding?” Hagakure squawked, jumping up with interest.
“There’s a wedding?” Ashido asked as she slowly approached, leaning over Jirou’s desk to listen to the conversation with interest.
Uraraka huffed, glaring at her friend. She turned back to Bakugo, pretending she missed the curious gazes from her classmates and a particularly interested look from Midoriya as he took his place behind Bakugo. “That was fast.”
“I guess that’s what that old hag was bitching about.” He groaned at the way she flinched at the curse word. “You’ve met my fucking mother! You’ve heard her bitch about the air around us.”
“I have not,” Uraraka explained, leaning over to look at his phone. “She was very nice.”
To her.
Bakugo and his mother were too alike for their own good, and they mixed together like oil and water.
“You met his mom?” Ashido questioned. She slid next to Jirou, attempting to share the small seat.
“I haven’t even met his mom!” Kirishima snorted.
“Why the hell would you?” Bakugo shouted as he tumbled back into his seat.
Midoriya thumbed at his chin, “I’ve met his mom.”
“Who the fuck asked you, nerd!?”
“What’s she like?” Sero questioned.
“Mind your fucking business!”
“Are we debating nature versus nurture?” Todoroki looked over at Bakugo, tilting his head distastefully. “Because I have questions.”
“Fuck you!”
“I think Human Biology is next in the curriculum. It should answer any misconceptions you have between the two concepts.”
“Fuck you twice four eyes.”
Iida stared, jaw dropping in shock.
“Okay, you’ve offended, like, half our class, and the day hasn’t started yet.” Uraraka picked up her bag from Midoriya’s desk and patted Bakugo on the shoulder. “Pace yourself,” she instructed, trying to ease the tension. “What time is the wedding?”
Back to more important things.
“Yes, what time is this wedding?” Ashido questioned as Jirou tried to push her out of her seat. “Are we invited?”
“Oh!” Hagakure gasped, “I love weddings!”
“Me too!” Sato agreed.
“Oui!” Aoyama waved from across the room. “I will try not to upstage the bride, but how can you not see my sparkle.” He winked.
“Weddings can be a banquet of madness,” Tokoyami hummed with a firm nod.
“If they get to go, I wanna go too!” Kirishima whined.
“You have a lot of single female cousins, right Bakugo?” Mineta wondered. “Weddings are one of the best places to pick up a date.”
“You assholes aren’t invited!” Bakugo raged, slamming his hand on the desk.
“And,” Ashido drawled with a skeptical glance, “Uraraka is?”
That question seemed to be on everyone’s mind.
“Why aren’t you all sitting?” Aizawa droned, slowly walking into the room.
“Oh crap!” Ashido muttered as everyone scattered to their seats.
“Oi,” Bakugo grabbed Uraraka’s hand to keep her near him, “I’ll text you the details.” The tips of his fingers fluttered over her hand, giving it a little squeeze.
Uraraka nodded, slowly releasing his hand as she walked away.
“Why is everyone still not sitting?”
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
“What do people wear to weddings?” Uraraka frowned, looking at the clothes she pulled from her closet. Her mother had insisted she take a few dresses with her to the dorms when she’d moved. “What about this?” Frowning, she held up a light pink sundress with lace and embroidered wildflowers along the bottom hem.
“That looks like a summer dress,” Asui told her, looking over the dress.
It was. “I could wear some tights and a sweater with it?”
“Um-”
That was a terrible idea.
“Why don’t you ask Bakugo what you should wear?” Asui offered, sitting up on her bed.
Uraraka huffed, dropping the dress at the end of the bed. “I already did.” She picked up her phone and pulled up her message. “See.”
URARAKA OCHAKO, 4:49 PM
What should I wear on Saturday?
BAKUGO KATSUKI, 4:53 PM
I don’t know.
URARAKA OCHAKO, 4:55 PM
That’s not helpful… -.-
BAKUGO KATSUKI, 4:56 PM
Just wear clothes!
URARAKA OCHAKO, 4:57 PM
…I’m not talking to you.
BAKUGO KATSUKI, 4:58 PM
Yes you are.
“Well then,” Asui cleared her throat, trying to decide if this was amusing or not. “What did you wear to the last wedding you went to?”
“Kimono,” she sighed. Pouting, Uraraka stomped over to her bed and flopped down next to her friend. “It’s at home though. I didn’t think I’d need it here.” She barely had time to do laundry. Attending a festival outside of school wasn’t happening.
“I’m going home Friday night to babysit,” Asui started as she tapped a finger to her chin, “I’ll be back Saturday morning, so I can bring you one of mine if you want.”
“That would be amazing.” Uraraka reached over, patting her friend’s knee. “I can’t believe I didn’t think about what I was going to wear.”
“You only just found out about it.”
She turned to look at her friend. “I’ve known for weeks.”
“Weeks?”
“Weeks,” Uraraka confirmed. “Months actually.”
“Oh-”
Crap. “Two months maybe?” She hadn’t been counting. “I’ve known long enough to not wait until the last minute to find an outfit.”
“So, you and Bakugo have been together for awhile?”
Here it came. “Not really.” It had been awhile since he’d introduced her to his mother as his girlfriend, but they’d only been together for a couple weeks. “He asked me to go with him to the wedding with him before we started dating.”
“Really?”
“Yep.”
“Why?”
A question she’d asked herself a lot. “He said I had half a brain and I was the least annoying option.”
“That’s,” Asui started slowly, brows furrowed as she struggled to process that piece of information, “interesting.”
“That’s what he said.” That moment had been ridiculous, but Uraraka couldn’t help but smile at the memory. Accepting the invitation had set off a strange and wonderful domino effect that had pulled her from depression. “He also said there’d be cake.”
“So, that’s why you’re going?” Asui teased. She laid down next to her friend.
“I chewed him out for that comment actually,” Uraraka chuckled. “I told him that I wasn’t that poor before I chewed him out some more and told him I’d go, but I am looking forward to some high quality cake now that I think about it.”
Asui laughed with her before turning her head to look at her friend. “I’m glad you seem happier.”
The comment hit Uraraka hard. The up curve of her lips slowly faded into a neutral line as she stared at Asui.
“Todoroki and I were worried about you.”
“I was okay,” Uraraka told her too quickly.
“You weren’t.”
“I-” She hated thinking about how she had acted over the last few months. “I might have overreacted.” Uraraka wasn’t sure how else to describe it.
“You were hurt.”
Her best friend understood. “That’s not an excuse.”
“Heartbreak is tough.”
“Does everyone know that I had a crush on Deku?” She almost didn’t want an answer. Uraraka stretched her arms above her head before relaxing back into the comforter with a sigh.
“I only knew because you told me.”
True. “Bakugo knew.”
“He did?”
She could feel her friend’s surprise as tension bubbled in her stomach. “Yeah, we talked about it.”
Asui sat up, eyebrows high and eyes wide with shock as she came up on her elbows. “Am I allowed to ask how that went?”
“Fine. I mean-” She could trust Asui. The green haired girl wouldn’t run her mouth. “I think Bakugo is a little jealous because I used to have a crush on Deku.” She’d never tell Bakugo that she thought he was jealous.
“That’s understandable though.”
“I know.” It was fair he felt that way. Uraraka couldn’t imagine how she’d feel if Bakugo had a crush on one of her childhood friends turned rival. “He doesn’t have to worry. I’m not using him as a replacement for Deku.”
“I know.”
“I know you do.” She knew that, but Uraraka was sure that if her crush on Midoriya was common knowledge, someone was assuming she was using Bakugo. “And I know Bakugo knows too.”
“That’s all that matters,” Asui told her firmly. “And the fact that you're happy.”
“Thanks,” Uraraka grinned before rolling to her stomach. “I still feel like I owe Deku a real apology, but I don’t even know if he noticed.”
“It was pretty obvious.”
“You just told me that you only knew because I told you.”
“I was trying to make you feel better,” Asui admitted with a sheepish glare. “It was pretty obvious that you had feelings for Midoriya-”
Perfect.
Her unrequited feelings had been on display for everyone to see.
Deep down inside she knew but hearing it was another thing.
“-but I don’t think he realized that you liked him as more than a friend.”
So, everyone knew but Midoriya. “I can’t decide if that’s a good or bad thing.”
“It doesn’t have to be either,” Asui spoke evenly. “It’s just a fact.”
“A fact that makes things complicated.” Simplicity was good while it lasted. “I already apologized to Deku, but I never told him the whole story.”
“Honesty is the best policy.”
“No,” Uraraka decided quickly. “I don’t think that’s true in this situation.” For the first time in months, things weren’t awkward between her and Midoriya. She had her friend back.
Plus, she had a boyfriend and a pantry full of granola bars and instant noodles.
Things were looking up. “I think I should focus on getting through this wedding on Saturday,” Uraraka sighed as she reached for her phone. She’d already apologized and was actively trying to be a better friend.
URARAKA OCHAKO, 6:09 PM
For your information, I figured out an outfit for Saturday.
URARAKA OCHAKO, 6:10 PM
So ha! :P
“Do you have to bring a gift?” Asui questioned with a hum.
Uraraka groaned, dropping her head into the bedding as she kicked her feet. “I don’t even have shoes picked out.” The phone in her hands chimed.
BAKUGO KATSUKI, 6:12 PM
I thought you weren’t speaking to me
She laughed.
URARAKA OCHAKO, 6:13 PM
I’m not.
BAKUGO KATSUKI, 6:14 PM
Well, you wanna not talk to me over dinner?
To be Continued…
Notes:
A/N: There we have it! Next chapter is the wedding! We did it guys!! Let me know what you guys think! ❤️
Thanks for reading!! 😘
Chapter 12: Eat Cake (Epilogue)
Summary:
He huffed, “I said your clothes were hideous, not you.”
Uraraka whipped around to face him.
Bakugo’s face was fixed in a scowl as blush began to stain his face. He inhaled deeply, rubbing his palms against his thighs.
“Are you saying I’m pretty?”
Notes:
A/N: We've reached the last part... I feel sad about letting go of this story but I'm really happy with how it turned out.
It's not my most flufftastic piece in the traditional sense but I liked doing this innocent, silly teenager fluff. <3
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“You look-”
Uraraka’s lips were tight as she slowly inched her way down the steps. Her fingers pinched at the bright green fabric, fanning the fabric out so he could see the full effect. “You can say it,” she encouraged with a tight smile. “I know.”
“No, it’s-”
Her brows raised as she reached the bottom of the steps. She placed her hands on her hips proudly as she waited for a full critique of her outfit.
“You look,” Midoriya started. His lips twisted nervously as he tried to keep the smile on his face. Green eyes were bright with horror as he struggled to compliment her on her attire. “You look nice .”
She laughed, “No.”
“You do.”
“This thing is hideous,” Uraraka snorted as she looked down at the kimono. As much as she appreciated Asui offering to loan her a kimono for the wedding, she was quickly regretting her decision.
“It’s,” Midoriya swallowed, gritting his teeth as he shook his head, “not.”
It had to be bad if Midoriya was struggling to lie right in front of her. “No, it really is.” It was green, first of all.
Uraraka didn’t hate the color green, but given the last few months, it wasn’t the first color she wanted to be draped in. She should have known better asking Asui in hindsight but it was too late now. The green wouldn’t have been a problem if it wasn’t such a ridiculous shade paired with some sort of floral pattern with more unflattering tones of green.
“You can say it,” she assured with a nod, gesturing at the outfit.
“No, you look-” The compliment seemed to be stuck on his tongue.
Uraraka bit back a smile as he cringed, struggling to lie. “I look…?”
“You look,” Midoriya shook his head, staring wildly at the ensemble, “festive.”
“Good word.” One of the things she admired about him was his ability to turn almost anything to a positive. “I’m just there to keep Bakugo sane, so…’ She trailed off, shrugging her shoulders as she touched a stray lock of hair framing her face. She’d pulled her hair into an easy bun since her attire was busy enough.
“It’s nice that Kacchan asked you to go with him.”
“It is.” It hadn’t been at the time. “I almost said no,” she laughed.
“Why would you say no?”
Her brows furrowed. “Why would I say yes?”
“You two are dating, right?”
“Yeah.” Even though they hadn’t really announced it to their classmates, they were dating. Bakugo had already introduced her as his girlfriend. “But he asked me to go with him before we started seeing each other.”
“Really?”
“Really. Tsu didn’t tell you?
Midoriya shook his head.
“Oh, well he wanted a date for his cousin’s wedding and said I was the least annoying option and here we are,” Uraraka smiled with a happy shrug.
“Sounds like Kacchan.” Midoriya nodded, looking behind him into the common room. “Where is he?”
“He had to get there early so I’m meeting him there.”
“Oh well, I’ll let you go then,” he smiled, giving a little wave before turning around to walk back into the common room.
Uraraka felt her stomach drop as her heart slammed against her ribcage. “Hey Deku,” she called out. Shuffling forward, she reached out toward him.
“Yeah?”
She swallowed, feeling the hollowness of anxiety bloom in her chest. “We should hang out tomorrow,” she suggested softly. “Play video games or board games-” Uraraka couldn’t remember the last time they’d hung out without the weight of her feelings for him crushing the atmosphere.
She’d been so consumed with getting him to notice her, Uraraka couldn’t enjoy the times they’d battled during video games or how funny it was to watch him play Jenga. She couldn’t tell you what happened during the movies they’d watched or the silly jokes their friends made in the middle of the fray. Her feelings for him had consumed her existence.
Everything had led back to Midoriya.
So much so that it had affected her school work too.
She’d been so worried about being him noticing her that she’d found herself underperforming when she was capable of being at the top.
“Something fun,” she added with a genuine smile. It would be nice to just enjoy his company without worrying about his approval.
“Definitely!” Midoriya nodded, excited at the idea. “I’ll let everyone know.”
“Cool,” Uraraka agreed as her smile grew. “Just tell Iida that if we’re playing Monopoly, we’re putting money under Free Parking.”
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
“Oh no,” Uraraka mumbled to herself as she stepped into the wedding hall.
Everyone was dressed in modern formal wear.
Sleek jewel-colored cocktail dresses and dark suits playing off the elegant off white decor.
Not one kimono in the room.
Or anyone else in various shades of ugly green.
“Awesome.” Her fingers clutched the little straps of her purse as a tight smile warmed her face. She waved awkwardly, hunching her shoulders down as she made her way to a seat in the back.
Once the bride came out, no one would be looking at her anyway.
She’d have to deal with stares at the reception.
Preferably while stuffing her face.
If she was eating she wouldn’t have to socialize.
Also, the food would help swallow her embarrassment.
Her eyes perked up at a familiar tuft of blonde hair. “Bakugo,” she hissed, trying to get his attention. “Ba-ku-go.” Uraraka ducked her shoulders down, hoping she wasn’t attracting any more attention. “Bakugo,” she called out quickly.
Crap.
Which side of the family was this? In all likelihood, there could be a room full of Bakugos. “Katsuki!” she called out, unable to feel even more awkward than she already did.
She watched his shoulders straighten in attention, before turning around to face her.
Thank goodness.
Uraraka breathed a sigh of relief as he started walking toward her dressed in a simple black suit. “Thank gods,” she sighed, relaxing a little as he approached. “I don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t found you before the ceremony started.” Things were supposed to start a few minutes ago. Bakugo had instructed her to arrive at the time they were scheduled to start and not before. “Especially since you told me to get here late.”
Bakugo stared at her.
“What?” she questioned, waiting for him to respond.
Red eyes were blown wide with a mix of shock and perhaps horror at her attire.
“Yeah,” she sighed, opening her arms a bit so he could get the full look. “I know. I asked Tsu to borrow a kimono. I should have known it was green, but I didn’t and well....” Uraraka trailed off as the orchestra music started.
People around them started settling into seats as Bakugo continued to stare at her.
“Sit down,” Uraraka scooted over, grabbing him by the sleeve of his suit jacket. She pulled him into the seat next to her. Sitting up straight, she focused on watching the wedding party procession and ignoring Bakugo’s gaze. “It’s not that bad.” She stood up, adjusting the layers of fabric as the bride began her walk down the aisle.
Bakugo sputtered, “It’s-”
She inhaled, waiting for him to weasel out some half-assed compliment like Midoriya had done before she left.
The bride reached the altar and the ceremony started as she took her seat. She turned to Bakugo for him to finish his thought. “Well?” she asked him quietly.
Red overtook his face as he looked her up and down.
“What?”
His lips twitched, a smile splitting over his face. Uninhibited laughter escaped his lips for a moment before he slapped a hand over his mouth.
“You are such an asshole.”
Bakugo attempted to swallow his laughter, clearing his throat as he turned his head.
She could feel herself smiling. Uraraka shook her head to cover up her amusement. “I can’t stand you,” she mumbled, low enough so only he could hear her.
Laughter rumbled at the back of his throat as he started to cough, drawing a few looks from people in front of them.
Uraraka smiled politely. As the vows started, everyone focused back on the couple at the front of the room. She scooted a little closer to him. “I hope you choke.”
He snorted, stopping a burst of laughter from escaping him.
She narrowed her eyes and set her brows in a stern line. “I asked you what I should wear,” she growled centimeters away from his ear. Her eyes went toward the front of the room. The bride and groom were exchanging vows. “I asked you.” She poked his side.
He flinched, covering his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Don’t laugh,” Uraraka whispered as she started to giggle herself.
Bakugo scooted closer to her, giving her a little nudge. “You’re fucking laughing.”
She buried her cheek into the shoulder of his suit jacket as she quieted her laughter.
Uraraka didn’t imagine they’d have this much fun. The muffled sounds of Bakugo’s unhinged amusement were infectious, and she couldn’t wait to hear him fully laugh at her attire.
They didn’t hear any of the ceremony.
She spent most of the time hiding her face against his arm, trading little nudges with Bakugo as they both struggled not to laugh. Somewhere around the exchange of rings and lighting a unity candle, Bakugo wrapped an arm around her shoulder and squeezed her against him.
For a moment, Uraraka froze wondering what the people behind them were thinking about their behavior. But when she felt Bakugo poke at her side, she squirmed, resting her head against his shoulder as she stared up at him.
“Asshole,” she mouthed, leaning away from him.
Applause erupted around them.
Uraraka frowned, “That’s it?” Her head whipped around, eyes finding the kissing newlyweds at the front of the room and everyone clapping around them. “Where’s the rest of the ceremony?”
“What are you talking about?” Bakugo snorted, brows furrowing.
“That was like five minutes.”
“Yeah?”
She blinked, “The last wedding I went to the ceremony took almost an hour.” She hadn’t been the only person wearing a kimono at the last wedding she’d attended.
“What the fuck did they do for an hour?”
Uraraka watched as the wedding party dispersed. “Well, at my cousin’s wedding the priest-”
“Priest?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re fucking religious?”
“Does it fucking matter?” she chuckled, countering back at him. “My family is from a super small town in the middle of nowhere, so everyone gets married at the temple.”
“Remind me not to go to a wedding with you.” People around them rose from their seats, moving toward the reception hall and mingling around.
“I don’t know,” Uraraka teased melodically as she stared at one of the elaborate flower arrangements at the front of the room. “One of my cousins just brought his girlfriend to meet our grandmother, so a proposal might be coming soon.”
“Good for them.”
“You might be going with me to a wedding next year,” she tilted her head against his shoulder.
“Fuck no.”
She snickered, tilting her head against his shoulder, “I can’t wait to see you in traditional clothes.” Uraraka couldn’t remember the last time she was so excited about the future.
“Don’t got any.”
“Liar.”
He rolled his eyes, slouching back into his chair. “Tch.”
Uraraka batted her eyes, enjoying watching his cheeks redden.
Bakugo had surrendered. Even though he hadn’t said it outright, he would accompany her to a wedding next year if she’d asked him. “Whatever, round face.”
“So,” she started, gently wrapping her hand around his wrist, “do we go to the reception?” She looked around, seeing how empty the crowded hall was now. “Where is it?” Walking her fingers up his wrist, she laced their hands together.
“Upstairs,” he answered, slinging his head back as he snuck little glances at her.
“Oh,” she hummed, shoulders dropping, “I guess that explains the music.”
“What music?”
She frowned, stilling as she focused her ears. The dull pulse of what sounded like drums thudding above them. “You can’t hear that?” Uraraka looked up for a moment before facing him.
“What the-”
“Listen.”
He huffed, face relaxing as they sat in silence. “No.”
“Wow, you can’t hear.”
“Shut the hell up.”
“You should probably get that checked,” she suggested. She reached over to brush his hair away from his ear. Gently grabbing his ear, Uraraka gave the organ a little tug before playing with a spike of his hair.
“My hearing is fine,” he dismissed, leaning his head closer to her.
She winced, giving him a cheeky smirk, “That’s debatable.”
“Tch,” he snorted, glaring at her from the corner of his eyes, “at least I’m not color blind.” His eyes went to the kimono as the corners of his lips twitched.
“Bakugo.”
A wicked grin broke over his face.
“In my defense-”
Light chuckles vibrated in his chest.
“I asked you what I should wear,” Uraraka whined, trying not to laugh with him as he gave into his amusement. She tugged at his hand. “You didn’t tell me.”
A loud cackle through the now empty hall.
“Go ahead and laugh,” she sighed, turning her head away from him in mock frustration. She couldn’t help but smile at the sound of his genuine laughter. “It’s not even mine.”
Even if it was because of her outfit.
“It’s Tsu’s,” she tried to explain giggling as she turned back to him. “Mine is at home, and it’s not green.”
His laughter ceased for a moment, eyes glittering with amusement.
“It’s not even that bad.” She wrinkled her nose, poking him in the chest.
“It’s fucking hideous.”
“Mean,” she frowned as she leaned away from him.
“It is!”
It was hideous. Uraraka couldn’t even deny it. “Still mean.” She folded her arms over her chest and turned away from him.
“I’m not gonna fucking lie to you.”
“I’m not asking you to lie to me.” That was the last thing she wanted.
He huffed, “I said your clothes were hideous, not you.”
Uraraka whipped around to face him.
Bakugo’s face was fixed in a scowl as blush began to stain his face. He inhaled deeply, rubbing his palms against his thighs.
“Are you saying I’m pretty?”
He grunted, red eyes focused on the ceiling as he refused to look at her.
“Bakugo?”
Rolling his eyes, he looked down to meet her eyes.
She leaned in close, lightly placing her hands on his knee . “Are you saying I’m pretty?”
He narrowed his eyes.
“Are you?” Uraraka moved closer as she tipped her chin at him in challenge.
“Don’t be stupid, round face.” The words were harsh, but they were gentle against his lips. Bakugo looked at her with a disapproving frown. “Why the hell would you ask that?”
“I don’t know,” she blurted out. “Maybe I want to hear you say it.”
“Why?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“You already fucking know.”
“And?”
“And…?” he sputtered, shaking his head as he looked at her.
She tilted her head down, waiting for the words.
“For fuck’s sake-”
Uraraka giggled.
“You’re pretty, round face,” he blurted out, face pinched in annoyance. His face was almost as red as his eyes.
“Aww,” she cooed, rubbing their noses together as he growled, “you think I’m pretty.”
“It shouldn’t be a fucking surprise to you.”
“It’s not.” It wasn’t. “I just wanted to make you say it.”
“Tch.”
She pressed a quick, teasing kiss to his lips, enjoying the look of shock on his face.
“Fucking annoying,” Bakugo grumbled, eyes soft.
“Just imagine,” Uraraka started, standing up. She fluffed out the fabric of her kimono before grabbing his hand and pulling him to his feet. “How annoying I’m going to be when I make you dance with me.”
“Not happening.” He squeezed her hand, leading her toward the elevator that would take them upstairs.
“We’re totally dancing.” She’d drag Bakugo onto the dance floor. “You have to give me one song.”
He jammed his finger against the elevator button. “Fuck no.” He gently jerked her closer to him, slick fingers gently caressing the back of her hand.
Bakugo would dance with her. “Whatever you say,” she nodded, giving his hand a squeeze. Uraraka rested her head on his shoulder with a happy hum.
“I fucking mean it, round face.”
“I know.” She would probably end up holding his hands as she bounced in front of his still and stoic form. “We won’t dance.” They stepped inside the elevator.
“Fine,” he groaned as the doors closed. “One dance.”
Uraraka squealed.
“None of that slow shit,” he insisted with a heavy sigh.
“Okay,” she beamed.
“I’m picking the song.”
He was trying. “Okie dokie.” Neither one of them knew what to do.
All of this was new.
“I can live with that.” It wasn't what she imagined. “There’s going to be cake, so I’m happy.”
I deserve to be happy too.
She looked at him with a bright smile. “I’m happy,” she declared, wrapping her arms around his torso. Uraraka couldn’t recall when happiness had become more than an idea. It was now actionable things she did every day.
Bakugo’s eyes softened, draping an arm around her shoulder. “You dork.”
Today, she was going to dance with Bakugo. “Yep.” And eat cake.
Fin
Notes:
A/N: I hope you all have enjoyed this journey! Thank you so much for the comments, kudos, hits, and love! You all inspire me and keep me going. <3
I hope you all join me for the next adventure!
Pages Navigation
Lexy_Writes on Chapter 1 Tue 19 Mar 2019 12:39AM UTC
Comment Actions
megwritesfanfiction on Chapter 1 Fri 19 Apr 2019 12:56AM UTC
Comment Actions
frshflwr on Chapter 1 Tue 19 Mar 2019 12:45AM UTC
Comment Actions
megwritesfanfiction on Chapter 1 Fri 19 Apr 2019 12:57AM UTC
Comment Actions
enjoythehigh on Chapter 1 Tue 19 Mar 2019 02:06AM UTC
Comment Actions
megwritesfanfiction on Chapter 1 Fri 19 Apr 2019 12:57AM UTC
Comment Actions
Decemberbellz on Chapter 1 Tue 19 Mar 2019 02:11AM UTC
Comment Actions
megwritesfanfiction on Chapter 1 Fri 19 Apr 2019 12:58AM UTC
Comment Actions
Honey346 on Chapter 1 Tue 19 Mar 2019 02:28AM UTC
Comment Actions
megwritesfanfiction on Chapter 1 Fri 19 Apr 2019 12:59AM UTC
Comment Actions
king_geets on Chapter 1 Tue 19 Mar 2019 02:43AM UTC
Comment Actions
megwritesfanfiction on Chapter 1 Fri 19 Apr 2019 01:00AM UTC
Comment Actions
clownenergy on Chapter 1 Tue 19 Mar 2019 04:35AM UTC
Comment Actions
megwritesfanfiction on Chapter 1 Fri 19 Apr 2019 01:01AM UTC
Comment Actions
xxsilvermoonlightxx on Chapter 1 Tue 19 Mar 2019 08:28AM UTC
Comment Actions
megwritesfanfiction on Chapter 1 Fri 19 Apr 2019 01:01AM UTC
Comment Actions
BTM (Guest) on Chapter 1 Tue 19 Mar 2019 01:33PM UTC
Comment Actions
megwritesfanfiction on Chapter 1 Fri 19 Apr 2019 01:03AM UTC
Comment Actions
smile_lifegoeson on Chapter 1 Tue 19 Mar 2019 04:13PM UTC
Comment Actions
megwritesfanfiction on Chapter 1 Fri 19 Apr 2019 01:03AM UTC
Comment Actions
Le_Hibou_Noir on Chapter 1 Tue 19 Mar 2019 06:47PM UTC
Comment Actions
megwritesfanfiction on Chapter 1 Fri 19 Apr 2019 01:04AM UTC
Comment Actions
kiball on Chapter 1 Tue 19 Mar 2019 07:26PM UTC
Comment Actions
megwritesfanfiction on Chapter 1 Fri 19 Apr 2019 01:04AM UTC
Comment Actions
astiluor on Chapter 1 Tue 19 Mar 2019 08:48PM UTC
Comment Actions
megwritesfanfiction on Chapter 1 Fri 19 Apr 2019 01:05AM UTC
Comment Actions
littledreams on Chapter 1 Wed 20 Mar 2019 02:58AM UTC
Comment Actions
megwritesfanfiction on Chapter 1 Fri 19 Apr 2019 01:05AM UTC
Comment Actions
littlesmalllove on Chapter 1 Thu 21 Mar 2019 12:51AM UTC
Comment Actions
megwritesfanfiction on Chapter 1 Fri 19 Apr 2019 01:06AM UTC
Comment Actions
trollie_hime on Chapter 1 Thu 21 Mar 2019 03:58PM UTC
Comment Actions
megwritesfanfiction on Chapter 1 Fri 19 Apr 2019 01:06AM UTC
Comment Actions
HotPinkHonchkrow (Guest) on Chapter 1 Sat 23 Mar 2019 03:55AM UTC
Comment Actions
megwritesfanfiction on Chapter 1 Fri 19 Apr 2019 01:06AM UTC
Comment Actions
Lovelymilord on Chapter 1 Tue 26 Mar 2019 12:24PM UTC
Comment Actions
megwritesfanfiction on Chapter 1 Fri 19 Apr 2019 01:07AM UTC
Comment Actions
teratai on Chapter 1 Wed 27 Mar 2019 04:32PM UTC
Comment Actions
megwritesfanfiction on Chapter 1 Fri 19 Apr 2019 01:07AM UTC
Comment Actions
ScarletSong on Chapter 1 Tue 02 Apr 2019 12:27PM UTC
Comment Actions
megwritesfanfiction on Chapter 1 Fri 19 Apr 2019 01:08AM UTC
Comment Actions
Pages Navigation