Chapter Text
Uraraka marched determinedly toward the haunted house, her thoughts singularly focused on wanting to show up Bakugou and prove to him that she wasn’t a coward. Her steps began to slow as she got closer to the line leading inside. Why did she need to prove to him that she wasn’t a coward? She knew that he knew she was strong, and yet she still had the urge to prove to him – to everyone – that she was braver and tougher than what they always thought her to be.
She shook her head and got in line, the others close behind her as they waited their turn to enter the attraction. When Mina had mentioned to the girls in their class about how she and Kirishima were planning a trip to the amusement park for the class, everyone had been beyond excited. Summer break had been just around the corner, and so they were all making plans to hang out, anyway, so they all thought it was the perfect opportunity to do so together.
And now that they were in line, Uraraka could feel the nerves in her stomach bubbling up. She hated haunted houses so much. Even if she knew that everything inside was just actors or puppetry, she didn’t care, they were still terrifying and she hated them. She could laugh at horror movies no problem, but put her inside of a horror situation? Nope. Can’t do it.
Plus, she was with Bakugou. Bakugou! Her stomach did another flip, but for an entirely different reason. She hadn’t told anyone of her crush on the hot-headed boy for fear of being teased for it, so upon Mina’s insistence of joining her to go with Kirishima and Bakugou on some rides, Uraraka had initially been very hesitant and nervous. So far, though, they’d had a bunch of fun on the roller coasters, and even waiting in line and chatting. Bakugou never said much, but the small bits showed small glimpses of himself, and Uraraka really enjoyed that.
Mina leaned over to her now and asked, “Do you want us to go in a big group, or do you think Kirishima and I should go first, after?”
Uraraka shook her head. “It doesn’t matter to me. If you want to go in a big group, we can.”
Mina thought for a second and then said quietly, just so Uraraka could hear, “Actually, I’ll just go ahead with Kirishima. It’s your bet with Bakugou, anyway, right?” She grinned, and Uraraka could feel her cheeks warm a bit.
As the line quickly made its way to the front, Mina took hold of Kirishima’s arm and dragged him in front of Uraraka. “We’ll go ahead first. Have fun, you two! And don’t get scared, Ochako! I believe in you!” She waved as the two of them were let inside, the haunting music flowing out from beyond the doorway as the two entered. Almost immediately after Uraraka and Bakugou could hear one of them scream, but Uraraka wasn’t sure which. She would have laughed if not for the knots in her stomach. Her hands fidgeted together against her stomach.
“Scared?” Bakugou said close to her ear, causing her to jump. He ducked out of the way before she could accidentally bump his head with his. The smirk appeared again on his face, smaller this time, and his eyes narrowed. “You’re already jumpy and we haven’t even gone in yet. Looks like I’m going to win the bet.”
Uraraka glared at him and crossed her arms. “You wish. I won’t jump or scream once when we’re in there. I just wasn’t expecting you to be so close, that’s all.”
Bakugou’s smirk disappeared and he quickly turned his head away, fixating his gaze somewhere else. She turned herself, facing back towards the door, her heart already racing. This was going to be interesting.
“Alright, you two are next,” the attendant said, smiling and gesturing for them to enter. “Just follow the lights and you’ll be fine, lest you want to be lost among the things of nightmares!”
Bakugou rolled his eyes, but Uraraka nodded, and the two of them entered through the door, the haunting music growing louder as they entered the space.
The lights were dim inside, and there were cobwebs everywhere. Black curtains lined the walls as they followed the dark corridor down to the first area. Almost immediately upon entering the area, a figure of a skeleton whizzed toward them, stopping just short of a foot away from Uraraka’s head. She flinched from the sudden movement and felt a scream upon her lips, but she quickly shut them and just stared wide-eyed at the mannequin as it drew back into the shadows from where it came from.
“I thought you said you weren’t going to jump,” Bakugou said coolly behind her, looking bored at the first jump scare.
Uraraka took a deep breath and continued forward. “I didn’t jump, I flinched because it got so close to me, that’s all.” She stomped forward, clenching her fists as they moved into the next area.
The room turned from dark black curtains to gray lit walls and cells, depicting a prison, and inside were mannequins being tortured in one way or another, fake screams and moans coming from speakers inside the walls. Ahead, a blank room stood, and as they began to pass, an actor whizzed up in a grotesque demon getup and swiped toward them.
Uraraka steadied herself as she felt herself flinch again, but less noticeably this time – she hoped – and quickly turned the corner. Bakugou laughed quietly, but she wasn’t sure if it was at her or at the actor.
She could feel she legs shaking slightly as they turned the corner to the next area. Screams could be heard ahead of them, followed by laughing, and she could only assume that it was Mina and Kirishima in the next area ahead. At least they sounded like they were having fun, which made Uraraka glad, but it didn’t do much to quell her fear in the slightest.
The next area turned from a gray light to a blindingly bright white, the room painted with red stripes that dripped down the walls to look like blood. There were several raised platform areas, one of which had a pane of glass that she could easily see her and Bakugou’s reflection in. They were walking on the platform opposite it when she noticed the figure following them in the mirror. She froze, staring at it, and Bakugou ended up bumping right into her.
“Oi, why’d you stop?” His question sounded annoyed, but he followed her gaze and squinted at the mirror, the figure having disappeared. “What, scared of your own reflection now?”
“N-no, th-there was someone in the mirror that wasn’t us,” she whispered and pointed to the mirror, but her voice was cut out from the loud music playing over the speakers.
He leaned in closer to her. “Huh?”
She turned and felt her heart in stomach again, but this time it was because he was so close, his red eyes looking at her curiously. Her words froze on her tongue as she looked into his eyes, and almost as if realizing how close he was, he quickly straightened, shoving his hands in his pockets before continuing around her. “C’mon,” he mumbled.
Uraraka shook her head and quickly kept pace with him, her eyes never leaving the mirror, and she saw the figure once again toward the end of the area staring at them, motioning to its neck in a slow swipe as if to say, “You’re dead.” Uraraka felt a chill run up her spine. Ugh, she hated this so much. She knew it was all fake, but she couldn’t shake the fear she felt with each room they walked into.
They continued into the next area, this time Bakugou walking right beside her, his pace having slowed down to match hers, as the room they were now in was much darker than the last. The dim lights were red, casting an eerie glow over everything. Some of the lights blinked in and out slowly, and what could be seen in the room were nothing but black curtains that opened at certain spots where people started to jump out toward them. All of them dressed as clowns, laughing at them menacingly, honking horns, coming at them with knives or mallets. It was horrible.
Uraraka did everything in her power not to scream, but she couldn’t help but press closer to Bakugou as they made their way through the room. He didn’t complain, didn’t even say anything, as the last clown followed them to the end of the area before another appeared right beside her and she ended up quickly wrapping her arms around his closest one. He just looked down at her, then back at the clown and glared more menacingly than the clown looked, which caused the actor to falter in their step a bit.
They made their way to the next area, the second to last one, and Uraraka felt like she was unraveling at the seams. She was so close to being at the end, she could make it. This area was dark once again, but this time cast in a blueish-green light with moss hanging down from the ceiling, the sound of water trickling, and even the smell of a swamp hanging in the air. People appeared in the small tanks off to the side, their Quirks used to look like swamp creatures and squirt water toward them, but not hitting them.
Uraraka felt herself calming just slightly. This room wasn’t so bad, especially compared to the last one, and clinging to Bakugou like she was had a bit of a calming effect on her.
Wait. She was still clinging to Bakugou. And he hadn’t said a word about it. His hand was still in his pocket, but he had left enough room for her arms to be wrapped loosely around his as they walked. She turned her gaze up toward him, but he had his head turned away to look at one of the people trying to use their Quirk to squirt them with water. The person coward slightly, but did manage to squirt some water and actually his Bakugou in the face.
“Oi, what the hell!?” Bakugou yelled at the actor who quickly ducked into the murky water to escape. Bakugou wiped his face on his sleeve, glaring toward the spot where the actor had been as they continued forward.
Uraraka felt a small chuckle rise to her lips and sputter out. He turned his sharp gaze to her as she quickly turned her head to cover her mouth as another actor in the tank on the other side made to squirt her, but she ducked at the water ended up hitting Bakugou’s shoulder. Bakugou’s hands came out of his pockets to crackle with energy, causing Uraraka to let go. “Want to go, huh!?” Bakugou made to stomp towards the actor, who quickly submerged himself and swam away.
Uraraka let out a full-blown laugh that time, her hands clutching her stomach as she was overcome with giggles. Her anxiety and fear began to ebb away as she laughed at Bakugou, now a bit drenched from the two bouts of water, stared at her. He grumbled, “What’s so funny, huh?”
She had to take in breaths and peek with one eye at him, holding back her laughter as she said through giggles, “You—you should have seen your face!” Another laugh emanated from her and she doubled over from laughter.
“Oi, it’s not that funny, Uraraka,” Bakugou grumbled, watching her laugh.
She knew it wasn’t that funny, but she couldn’t stop. The fear had been growing with each room they were in, and so the fact that she hadn’t been able to scream or anything due to their bet caused her laughter to become so contagious to herself that she couldn’t stop.
“Oi,” Bakugou growled as he took a few steps toward her and gently pinched one of her cheeks. “I said it’s not that funny.”
She looked up at him, the laughter dying down to softer chuckles and giggles. “S-sorry, Bakugou. I just—” She paused and looked up at him. The severity in his eyes had dimmed and he had the softest of smiles on his face. He forehead wasn’t creased and he looked for all the world so open and warm that for a moment, Uraraka was lost in those red eyes.
He pulled his hand away and raked it through his hair, quickly turning around. “Let’s go now that you got that out of your system,” he said softly and began forward into the next area.
Uraraka shook herself from her dazed state and followed him forward, the fear of the haunted house gone and replaced with something else: a much warmer feeling, one that settled so deep inside of her that she couldn’t deny it to be allowed to sit there.