Chapter Text
Katsuki had had just about enough of waiting. He was tired of this shit and it had officially turned 4:00 pm twelve seconds ago; so he was in the right mind of leaving this stupid idea in its grave for dead and never doing this again. Ever. Also, his ‘feelings’ for his ‘crush’ could go die in a rotten hole as well.
But of course, some extra Katsuki couldn’t see had insisted that they’d wait until it was 4:01 pm for them to leave. That same extra was kneeling on the floor completely deflated, desperately leaning close to her phone that she’d intelligently placed on the floor for someone to step on and crush. He couldn’t even see her face yet he knew she was pouting: he had so many overdramatic ‘friends’ that would do the exact same thing (he was specifically referencing Ashido and Kaminari) so the blonde could identify the aura they emitted. She was definitely pouting.
When Katsuki went to Kirishima’s room that night, his intention was not for these assholes to poke their nose into his business and set him up on this monstrosity they called a date. He liked Uraraka, he wanted to do something about it but Jesus Christ, he would have never expected the outcome to be this pitiful.
Regardless, the teenager had himself to blame for letting their shitty plan go through.
Holy shit, what the fuck was he thinking?
The brunette girl (one of the two girls they were all anticipating to hear from or see) most likely stood him up or just changed her mind. He’d accepted it: Bakugou Katsuki was getting rejected... Fuck - his name and ‘rejected’ should never be in the same sentence unless he was the one doing the rejecting. Stupid crappy emotions, he hated having a crush with every fiber of his being... well almost every fiber of his being. Some part of him deep, deep, deep down was probably giddy about the ordeal; but surface Katsuki was having none of that.
He scoffed.
Katsuki didn’t care about what had happened. If Pinky had just forgotten everything, or if Round Face had refused to come, hell Shitty Hair and Invisibitch might have just been acting this whole time to trick Katsuki into thinking any of this could actually happen.
The prickly blonde had no qualms about leaving their sorry asses behind in…what was it now? In the next thirty-four seconds.
Despite his incredibly pessimistic attitude, he did wait with them while a tight knot formed in his stomach - the boy thoroughly ignored this feeling.
-PVV-PVV-PVVT-
The invisible girl’s phone buzzed: a beacon of hope. Her and Kirishima’s eyes lit up as she quickly stretched over to reach it.
Katsuki just scowled, subconsciously tensing his shoulders.
She picked it up and swiped, “Oh, it’s just Shoji...” she muttered knowing fully well that this whole thing was a waste of time.
Great. Just great. Getting him worked up for no reason, fan-fucking-tastic.
“Wait wait wait wait wait! It’s Mina! She says that she’s super sorry and they should be here really soon! In like four minutes max.”
“What happened to her?” Kirishima asked, still worried about the pink girl and what the delay was.
All that could be heard next was tapping.
“She said she’ll explain later, but she has to give Shoji back his phone.” the teen responded, a few moments later; all of her excitement and exhilaration had returned, “YAY!”
Yay? Was this really a ‘yay’ situation!?
Katsuki allowed the new information he just received to be fully registered in his brain: Uraraka was actually coming, on her way, to go on a goddamn date with him, like what the actual fuck!? Uraraka and Pinky, of course, but still? Katsuki was rendered speechless, probably looking like a total dumbass as the other two nosy people he was with gleamed at him, all bubbly and excited; Kirishima showing off his spiky teeth knowing that this was good news, while the invisible girl (although much harder to detect) was definitely thrilled by the way she was bobbing up and down.
“Great, I’m waiting by myself now, you shits can leave.” Katsuki came to a concrete conclusion, he snarled, dismissing both of them. He did not want to see their (well one of their) faces of satisfaction when Uraraka arrived, especially if those satisfied faces came from the fuckers who were partially responsible for it all - looking smug as fuck. Raccoon Eyes was going to be a whole different story, so he’d prefer it if there were fewer witnesses.
“What!?” the girl shrieked at Katsuki - she then covered her mouth releasing what she’d just done and turned down her volume, “I m-mean, like, we stayed and waited with you and now you’re kicking us out!? WHY?”
“Did I stutter, Invisibitch? I didn’t ask you to stay, did I!?” Katsuki snapped back, not wanting to explain himself to some extra. Unfortunately, he didn't need to, since Kirishima was right there to explain for him.
“Don’t worry, dudette. He’s just nervous about seeing his crush.” the annoying redhead - that now knew way too fucking much - hummed, approaching the invisible girl and sympathetically patted her back. Kirishima pronounced the word ‘crush’ in a way that made it sound mushy, soft, and frankly disgusting.
Not helpful in the slightest bit.
Katsuki could already feel his face gaining more heat and tinting red: he despised it. The now flustered boy had the urge to cover it up, however, that would only bring more attention to his blush, so he left it there to humiliate him.
“UwU!” she made the sound and Katsuki swore that if she’s wasn't invisible he would be shooting her his deadliest glare that only came out when his classmates were being unbearable or when Deku did anything remotely stupid. She fucking earned that stare.
“Are you shits leaving now or do I need to make you?” he hissed at them. The invisible girl jumped at Katsuki’s assertiveness, but she eventually turned her back to him, heading in the opposite direction with her arms up in the air signaling defeat.
“Fooey, really wanted to stay too…” she muttered under her breath - and who the fuck says ‘fooey’!?
Kirishima, on the other hand, knew he had a little more leverage than Invisibitch, who was over there sulking. The redhead was idle, he stood there for a second longer than necessary, smirking at Katsuki in a way he really didn’t like. Like at all!
“Just remember, bro, don’t be rude and cursing isn’t always necessary to emphasize your point!” he sent a thumbs up to the blonde and jogged away to catch up with the other girl.
“FUCK YOU, Shitty Hair, don’t give me any of your CRAPPY ASS LOVE TIPS, you asshole!”
By then, Kirishima had already bolted, joining the girl; the boy had escaped knowing that if he’d teased any further Katsuki would have exploded with embarrassment. Not like he was embarrassed though, Katsuki was angry.
Angry!
“OMG Kiri, was he blushing?” The invisible girl hushed loud enough for Katsuki to hear every syllable: it was fucking ironic since her whole gist was being stealthy.
“Yeah. He was.” Shitty Hair nodded like a proud father or rather a proud best friend.
Katsuki willfully ignored their obnoxious remarks and was relieved to be left alone so he could think. The same damn knot from before began to tighten in his stomach AGAIN, Katsuki felt his heartbeat a little faster thinking about the literal shit he was about to go through. The explosive teen (who - considering the situation - was remarkably calm) narrowed his eyes at nothing in particular, folding his arms patiently. Hagakure had said four minutes so Uraraka and Ashido were supposedly close.
What a brilliant idea this was.
Katsuki could already feel the overwhelming feeling of embarrassment start to sink in and it was fucking dreadful.
-
“BAKUGOU!” a small person ran towards him, he soon identified them to be Uraraka, “Sorry I’m late, I only got a text from Mina a while ago. How long have you been waiting!?”
Ashido wasn’t with her so something must have happened. Either way, Katsuki was rather thankful, since that meant he didn’t have to deal with her relentless teasing and cooing. The blonde didn’t comment on her absence, he just pouted.
“S’not your fault. About 18 minutes.”
“That long!? I’m surprised that you stayed! Thank you!” she smiled at him, her voice and face made Katsuki relax, soothing his nerves: it was Uraraka after all, he didn’t need to keep his guard up (unless they were sparring, then he definitely needed to). She didn’t expect shit from him.
“It’s nothing.”
“We should go in now.”
“Yeah.”
With a prolonged creak, Katsuki took initiative, trudging into the empty gym and glaring at nothing. As expected, nobody was inside. The space was too large, making Katsuki feel like a tiny dot on a blank canvas. The cliffs had been put up, towering over them in the room. Taking three more steps into the gym, Katsuki bit the inside of his cheek, awaiting the now common feeling of his chest tightening to overcome him. He was waiting for his heart to start beating louder and harder than usual, and the light sting he felt when listening to Uraraka talk about anything really: what she was passionate about, what she found annoying, different ways she intended to improve her skills: Katsuki always listened-
“You okay?” he asked Uraraka who was still at the entrance.
“Y-Yep! Completely a-okay!” she stuttered with her back to him. She wasn’t moving but just facing the other way so Katsuki had no view of her face. He wondered what expression she was making and sensed his desire to see her face again, as he felt his own nerves steadily return. He really did like her, didn’t he- fuck why did Jirou have to be so right!?
“Then why are you floating?” pointing at her feet that were hovering above the ground, Katsuki called her out. He kept a straight face, wanting to see her reaction.
“AHH, I AM?” Uraraka spluttered, taking a peek at her own two feet which were (as Katsuki had said) floating. Shaking off her quirk, she slowly came back to the ground - Katsuki watching her descend - and she sighed quietly, “Just ignore that… okay.”
“Whatever.” Katsuki scoffed, secretly glad that he wasn’t the only one freaking the fuck out.
Further in, a rather large post-it note was stuck to the wall, it was vibrant bright and yellow so Katsuki noticed it straight away. The boy advanced into the gym, taking a closer look, he recognized Ashido’s semilegible handwriting that she’d scribbled in a rush:
HElloo Lovebirds, it’s Mina-chan♡ you’re amazing activity is to rock-climb up the wall where you’ll find a delicious picnic made by ʕ•́ᴥ•̀ʔっ Tooru! You two should use teamwork, passion, joy (((and your mutual love for each other))) to climb it!! Then y'all can eat the yum yums ( ͡❛ ‿‿ ͡❛)👌 *chef kiss*
~~Your explosive bond is out of this world ~~ (p.s. Ty for letting me do this ocha)(p.p.s. Ty baku for being head over heels for ocha & existing :P) (p.p.p.s. ( ͡≖ ‿っ ͡≖))
That girl.
“Ooh, what does it say?” a familiar voice asks behind him, Uraraka’s eyes fixated on Katsuki's hand, trying to sneak a peek at the note. The girl was completely enthralled, she hadn't expected there to be a note.
Embarrassed, Katsuki hadn't noticed her progression towards him: she was right next to him disregarding his personal space. Uraraka was so close to him, barely three inches apart and glowing with exhilaration. Katsuki overreacted and leaped away from her, cursing at his own body for freaking out and aggravated by his pounding heart.
“Nothing...”
“Lemme see!” she still pursued and came after him, Uraraka took a second to draw back before running. She jumped and caught hold of the post-it note, a gust of wind dragging behind her and blasting by Katsuki, “Got it!”
Reading the note, she took no notice of Katsuki’s blush, “She’s so fucking annoying sometimes.”
“In an endearing way.”
“No, just annoying.” he tsked.
“Rock Climbing huh… can’t I just-” Uraraka uses her quirk on the note as an example, it floats about, high in the hair. Its fluorescent yellow color made it shine like a paper star, but other than that it wasn’t very graceful. She let it float for a few seconds before releasing it, letting the note swiftly fall into Katsuki's palms that he'd reached out to catch it.
The two blinked at each other.
“She really didn’t think this through, did she?”
“And there were three of them- you’d think one of them would remember your quirk being fucking Zero Gravity.” Katsuki face-palmed, his fault for overestimating Pinky’s ability to plan an adequate activity for them to do.
“Should I use it or do you want to do it the proper way?”
Katsuki examined the note again; nowhere did it say that they couldn’t use their quirks, meaning this ‘date’ thing could be over as soon as possible. On the other hand, it wasn’t like he was in a rush to do anything and he was here with Uraraka...
“What were you doing before you came?”
“Huh?”
“You said Pinky just texted you today, you didn’t know about this beforehand?”
“Oh yeah. She told me this might happen but I had no clue when! I wasn’t doing anything important if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Good, then we’ll do it normally. Why the hell would we take the easy way?”
Uraraka sparkled at Katsuki before she smiled with her eyes and nodded, “You’re right!”
In preparation, Katsuki pulled the bag that had been resting, slung over his shoulders. This morning he’d actually gotten everything ready because if this day was gonna happen, he didn’t want it to completely suck ass because he wasn’t ready.
On the other hand, “Mina didn't say I needed to bring anything! Sorry!”, the girl's eyes widened when she caught a glimpse of the bag. Just being notified about his event a few minutes ago, Uraraka had turned up empty-handed with only her phone as an accessory to her rushed outfit: a long snow colored shirt, sky-blue drawstring shorts that almost reached her knees and the school tracksuit jacket that she’d put on in a rush.
“Don’t worry, ‘s fine. I’m just prepared,” he replied while opening the bag to inspect-
“Oooh, what did you bring?” The brunette leaned in extra close to him again, taking a peek (making Katsuki ‘thump’, but this time he didn't flinch). Unexpectedly, neither of them had anticipated a bright neon glow illuminating inside the pitch-black sack. Pink and distinguished, Katsuki investigated the abnormal light, finding the source being the spare shirt he’d packed due to Kirishima’s suggestion. Since when was it pink though? “Wow, you really are prepared! Even for a fashion crisis, hahaha!” Uraraka gave a half-suppressed laugh, allowing the humiliation to sink in.
“Pinky…” Katsuki spitefully sneered, recognizing the gift the colorful girl had given him on his birthday. Leave it to that bitch to somehow humiliate him without being physically present. Fucking Ashido buying him a motherfucking pink glow-in-the-dark shirt. GLOW. IN. THE. DARK.
Uraraka sighed, “I bet it’d look cute on you, Bakugou.”, watching Katsuki’s irritation increase rapidly, she didn't want him to explode (both figuratively and literally). By doing this, she started a chain reaction of embarrassment - Katsuki taken aback by her use of the word ‘cute’ to describe him, and Uraraka’s delayed awareness, she laughed nervously before her voice died down: this commenced a ten-second long awkward silence.
“She bought it for me as a present.” he finally coughed, breaking the silence.
“Present…for your birthday! Oh, I’m so sorry I didn’t get you a present! I felt so bad that I didn’t see you that day either.” Uraraka pouted; disappointment was clear in her voice, she took hold of the glow-in-the-dark shirt inspecting every small detail.
“Why are you apologizing? The idiots are the ones who dragged me around the whole day. Besides, I don’t like presents…” Katsuki checked everything else.
Yeah, he was ok.
“Nonsense, you’re just saying that to sound cool. I’ve seen the way your face lights up when your friends do something nice for you!”
“Ugh- my face doesn’t ‘light up’.”
“Okay, if you say so~” During their conversation, Uraraka had managed to wrangle on the pink shirt on top of her own and tied her jacket around her waist. She made a peace sign, “How do I look?”
“Practical.”
“Wow, Bakugou, really know how to flatter a girl don’t ya?” Uraraka scoffed, she tilted her head up to stare at the cliff they were assigned to climb.
To Katsuki, it wasn't even that high up; if anything it was short and wouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes for them to ascend. Not to mention it was thin, supposedly more comparable to a tiny hill. Ashido hadn’t even left them any real equipment, probably expecting them to go up it the same way they did in class: grabbing onto edges and hauling themselves up with their own strength - which by the way was not mountain-climbing, the activity Katsuki had suggested when the pink girl had tricked him to confess. To be fair, this was the next best thing she could've set up in a few days without requiring them to travel anywhere - so he looked over the big difference.
“Alrighty, I think we should go one at a time: you climb up and I wait for you to reach the top, then I’ll follow.”, grabbing his attention, Uraraka began to plot their next moves. The brunette had her hands placed on her hips, sizing up their task.
“Let’s do that but you’re going first.” Katsuki crumpled the annoying note that he still held, violently shoving it into his pocket. ’Your explosive bond is out of this world’? She might as well have bought Love Hearts and written down the first shitty message etched on one of the sweets. What the fuck did that even mean?
Uraraka, meanwhile, was somewhat offended by his comment, “Why? You don’t think I could carry you if you fall?”, she challenged him for no reason, taking a step closer to the taller boy and flexing her muscle, “Boom.”
‘He wasn’t intimidated’ he told himself.
“How many times have you done this, huh?” he ignored her unfair tactics and instead resorted to pointing his finger at her (not as effective but with his face, he could make anything intimidating), raising his eyebrow, questioning her experience. Uraraka pointed right back at Katsuki, their fingers just about touching, almost recreating that scene from E.T.
“Bakugou, you’re forgetting I’ve done this multiple times during classes, you aren’t the only one with climbing experience; I won’t fall on you.'' The girl declared, her voice was firm and sure of herself.
“But I still have more experience than you, assmunch. SO you’re going UP.”
Katsuki continued to insist, glaring at Uraraka who glared right back at him. She was getting feisty and Katsuki didn’t mind too much.
Getting Uraraka riled up was always entertaining and frankly one of the many joys of having her as a friend; a breath of fresh air from his usual idiot gang. She knew when the bring it and when to shut the fuck up - a trait which not a lot of people in the world were granted with. Brown eyes were fixed on Katsuki, not backing down from the trivial argument that she had chosen to escalate into this not-so-awkward staring contest. ‘One of the manliest ways to decide on a matter’, Kirishima would say, ‘right beneath a good old arm wrestling match’.
An unforeseen event, Uraraka’s face began to tint a different color, becoming pink as a certain thought popped into her head - her eyes bugged out and her mouth gaped forming an ‘O’ shape. Katsuki had no motherfucking clue what this thought was but it certainly helped him win this silent argument of the eyes.
The girl backed out, recoiling and began to pout, cursing her own mind, “Mmmh- fine! You win this time, Bakugou Katsuki. You win this time .”
“I win every time.”
“Not true and you know it.”
“Uraraka, just go already.” he ended with, pushing her closer to the hill.
Examining where to start, Uraraka takes one more second to look at the cliff, locking eyes at every rock she could use to take her first step. The girl starts promptly, having done this many times she wasn't very nervous - she wonders what Ashido’s goal could have been for this exercise? Team-building and cooperation? This sad excuse for ‘rock-climbing’ wasn't necessarily the most romantic of things to do for what the pink teenager had planned to be their first date.
Holy moly, Uraraka was on a date with Bakugou!
Jumping onto the wall, she began to climb, lifting one foot, then the other on a rock that looked stable enough.
“You know-AH!”
Uraraka begins to say something before losing her footing on the first step, her body was sent flying backwards as she flung her arms, attempting to balance herself out or somehow undo the whole situation. Nevertheless, prepared, Katsuki reached out his arms to catch her, Uraraka falling right into his hold; narrowly missing the ground and certain death ( of humiliation after bruising her butt from falling from a small height... terrifying)
With a blank expression, the girl who had previously been boasting about her immense and extraordinary strength was in Katsuki’s arms after falling from a step yay high. The blonde couldn't help but smirk.
“Heh-”
“That was not my fault! Ugh~ don’t laugh at me!” she whined angrily, claiming that her lack of concentration was the issue. Uraraka’s face was puffed out, her big cheeks made her look like a cute chubby chipmunk.
“I wasn’t gonna laugh,”, Katsuki discreetly fibbed, “Wow, ‘I won’t fall on you’ she says.”
“Your lack of belief made me fall. I blame it all on you.” the girl easily rolled her eyes at Katsuki’s attempt to push her buttons, “I’m trying again!”
She began to climb up for a second time, with much more concentration than before - whatever had been on her mind had wholly dissipated replaced with sheer determination.
Yeah, she wasn't gonna embarrass herself again.
Replicating the same strategy she uses in class obstacle races, Uraraka lunged herself higher with her grip tight on each rock, making sure to stabilize herself after every step. Rushing up never turned out effective, slow and steady won the race. Even though it wasn’t a race.
“How am I?” This time a little more apprehensive because of her prior failure, the round haired brunette checks to see if her foot is in the right position to push up. Uraraka calls out to Katsuki for his input.
“Up high,” he replies with.
“Ha, very descriptive.” she takes this as a ‘You’re good’ in Katsuki language. Yes, he officially has a whole language dedicated to him - he’s that special.
With that confirmation, she put her weight on the edge and rose up to the top.
“You’re slow. Hurry up!” an aggressive form of encouragement was shouted at her from below, Katsuki (who wasn’t at all mad, juxtaposing his words) had his arms folded.
“Pfft I’m almost at the top, c-calm down.”, her words came out more annoyed than Uraraka had wanted them to; but she was right, her hands were at the top and the girl pulled herself up. “There goes teamwork.” she smiled down at the blonde who was preparing to head up himself, fastening the bag around his chest.
“The fuck you talking about, I was coaching you the whole way through.” Katsuki snorted from the ground and since the room was empty, they could clearly hear each other.
“Mhm, how?” Uraraka replied only half-engaged in the conversation, she patted herself down trying to shake off any stones or sand.
“I told ya to do better.”
“What a great coach you are,” Uraraka smirked.
“Hey mind you, I spent a whole day with a bunch of kids last year and I fucking aced that shit!”
“Didn’t you, like, fight those children?”
“YEAH but-”
“OMG, BAKUGOU!” Uraraka cuts him off, screaming for the boy.
“What!? What is it?” Katsuki reacts alarmingly. During this time the blonde had mounted the cliff so he was just about at the top; he hoists himself up higher to see if she’s ok.
“Tooru’s lunch boxes are absolutely adorable! Quick, come, and see.” In support, a hand is offered to Katsuki to assist him, “Oh, you need my help there, pal?”
“N-nope, and don’t call me pal, weirdo.”
“Well then, don’t call me weirdo, pal.” she smiled back, wiggling her eyebrows.
“Holy fuck, I’m not doing this." the boy rolled his eyes.
He hesitates but then grabs Uraraka’s hand which tugs him up off the edge onto the flat surface. The other teen had meanwhile a giant excited smile plastered on her face, “Thanks for catching me back there, guess I was a bit too cocky.”
Katsuki simply nodded at her in a way to say ‘You’re welcome’.
“Look! Look! True craftsmanship this is!”, a lunchbox is shoved in front of Katsuki’s face. The boy only got a few seconds to look at it before Uraraka removed it from his view to show him the rest of the picnic that had been set up. The brunette was shining with enthusiasm, in awe at the beautiful picture that her eyes were seeing; on the other hand, Katsuki wasn’t nearly as blown away but, not gonna lie, he was impressed.
A blue checkered picnic blanket was laid on the ground, with an empty wicker basket to the side. On top of the blanket was: a pile of napkins, a stack of plastic cups right next to a tall infuser water bottle filled with blueberries and strawberries, and a single bento lunch box - the other being in Uraraka’s ravenous hands. Besides that though, it was actually pretty lackluster in comparison to a real picnic, yet it was more than either of them had expected.
“We have to thank all of them so much tomorrow! This is amazing! I can’t believe Tooru made all this! What the actual what?! Bakugou…” Uraraka had calmed down and found a spot to sit in, she patted to a place beside her, insisting that he joined her. She was obviously very eager to try Hagakure’s adorable food.
The slow realization that he was about to engage in a meal with Uraraka alone together began to sink in as Katsuki took up her offer and sat right beside her, fearing nothing. The ash-blonde had awkwardly tossed aside his bag seeing as he no longer needed it. ‘Relax’, he told himself, ‘Fuckin’ chill out’!
Katsuki took this moment to get a good look at the lunch that Uraraka had been freaking out over, grabbing hold of his own box and opening the lid.
Inside was a panda sandwich and a pastry shaped like a dog. The panda sandwich was cut so that there were two ears poking out the top with tiny hands carved in the middle; the invisible girl had also drawn a face with a sauce that Katsuki didn’t recognize. Imitating the explosive blonde, the sandwich had a moue. On the other hand, the doggy pastry was made in a similar style: a shape of a face, with three dots: two eyes and a nose (there was a sausage inside the bun, creating the image of a dog nibbling on a sausage). There were other treats in the box as well, but those two things were probably what Uraraka was mainly excited over.
“It tastes as good as it looks.” Uraraka mused, holding her cheek; the girl had already started to eat and her mind had been magically transported to a distant utopia of yumminess and carbs.
“You’re just sayin’ that cause you’re hungry. It’s mediocre at best, 5.6/10.” the boy joins her, taking a bite.
“Harsh. Who are you, Gordon Ramsay?”
Katsuki took another bite of the pastry, this time properly savoring and analyzing the taste for a real examination. But then he tasted some char and shook his head sticking with his previous opinion.
“She should've put as much effort into the taste as she did the presentation.”, he commented, “And she gave me mustard so one less point. The food we made was ten times better in flavor.”
“Yeah, the food ‘we’ made. Like you didn’t do most of it.”
Usually, Katsuki would have taken the compliment stroking his ego but, “Shut up, we both made it.”
“I guess so, I just wish I knew more about all those fancy spices you use.” Round-Face sighed gloomily.
“...We should cook more often then.” he offered.
“What?” she blinked at him. Trying to comprehend what Katsuki had just said. Did he just-
“Like together, so I could teach you to be better since it's bothering you so damn much.” The boy explained to the chubby-cheeked girl, pointing the chopsticks he’d found near the basket at her.
“Oh-okay!” Uraraka's face lit up again, her chest full of delight, “One day I might even make a dish better than you!”
“Bring it on, Round-Face.”
“Hey, can I ask you something? Why do you call me Round-Face?”
Huh?
“Because you have a round face? Why the fuck else?” Katsuki rolled his eyes at the very obvious question. Why else would he?
“Yeah I know but, I don’t call you ‘Bad Temper’,” Katsuki scowled at her tease, afterward reaching over to get hold of a plastic cup (Sero would disapprove) and the water bottle, “and you've called me by my name before.”
Tilting the bottle, he slowly poured the berry-infused water into his cup. “Want me to stop?” he asked, arching his eyebrow.
Uraraka was boggled: was this a trick question? A trap? Or was it an actual offer? “Yes!” she chose to answer with a joyous tone but she was still a smidge wary.
“Okay, whatever Uraraka.” Katsuki took a sip of the drink - not bad but how could anyone fuck up water.
Wow, that was WAY easier than the girl had expected. Katsuki liked her enough to drop the nickname just like that. Uraraka felt her heart beat a little harder, she looked at Katsuki to see him maintaining a nonchalant expression, staring at his drink and avoiding eye contact. The teenager didn’t know what else to say, so she remained quiet, worsening the situation.
Katsuki had presumed her to laugh and brush it off, thanking him for the kind gesture, except she was silent. Didn’t say a thing. Lost in thought. Segueing into the irritated blonde blushing a nice shade of pink.
“Then I’ll just call you Bakugou.” Finally, Uraraka tried to break the silence.
“You already do!”
“Do I?” she joked, still committed to keeping the conversation going, “Or do I call you Bakubro?”
“Uraraka, you’ve never uttered that name for me, ever - only the others do.”
“You’re right, I don’t.” she sighed dropping the subject since the atmosphere was less thick, “Hey, I was gonna ask you something before I… you know…”
“Slipped.” Katsuki finished her sentence, stifling his laughter.
“Yeah that... Why do you like rock climbing? Mina’s idea all stemmed from your opinion, right? You suggested this.”
“For one, Pinky tricked me into telling her, so I didn’t suggest this for us to do.”, he put the cup down to think, “I guess I find it calming? It releases steam? I fucking don’t know - when I’m up so high above the ground and aiming to climb higher it’s like I don’t have anyone else judging me or expecting me to do shit and I can just focus on reaching my goal, and the view at the top is always goddamn breathtaking so that’s an added plus.” the boy’s eyes widened at his own mushy words.
“Aww, that’s awfully sentimental for you Bakugou. I’m glad you’ve found something that you enjoy so much.” Uraraka cooed with her eyes smiling for her.
“Oh shut the fuck up and eat.” Katsuki huffed, embarrassed about how vulnerable he had been just then. Did he really just say all that sappy shit out loud? What was this girl doing to him? Everything just came out so naturally when he was with her, he didn’t have to give it a second thought. And it was weird because that wasn’t who he was! Katsuki didn’t just fucking tell any extra about his personal shit, hell the blonde found it excruciating to open up to his own friends and family. Nevertheless, in this intimate setting, with this girl who made him feel different and good and bad all at the same time, he’d told her something that he didn’t even really understand himself! Most of the time, Katsuki rarely needed to say anything: Uraraka had this uncanny ability to read him better than anyone else - his feelings, intentions, thought process, all that crap. That meant he didn’t need to act with her or hold back or ‘be polite’ since she knew him. Uraraka knew who he was and still wanted to be this close?
WHAT THE FUCK!?
Katsuki had a brief mental panic, but he managed to keep his outward composure the same until he heard Uraraka speak again.
“-one day we could do it together properly. Or you could try something I like!”
“What?” he sputtered trying to register what she’d just been saying.
“Oh nothing, it's fine.” she took back her words quickly, her eyes focused on the sandwich in her hands, and took an unnecessarily large bite.
“No seriously, I just fucking zoned out, sorry. What did you say?”
The anxious brunette gulped down her food and rephrased her sentence, “One day, potentially, we could have an actual outing and choose where to go ourselves.” she twiddled her fingers and didn’t make eye contact with Katsuki.
“M-maybe…” he groaned knowing that his face had already turned as red as the ketchup packet in the picnic basket - the girl had barely done anything yet Katsuki was reacting as if she’d just proposed to him. He officially hated having a crush and loved it at the same time.
-
When lunch was finished, they started to head out. Katsuki had helped Uraraka pack up the boxes and napkins into the basket and they were both casually walking towards the exit, holding one handle of the basket each. Their hands so close.
“-he said the color of your shoes reflects how much sugar you have in your blood.” The girl told her story, skipping next to Katsuki. Compared to when they had started, her attitude had grown more relaxed and she was now ecstatic. Similarly, Katsuki, himself, was kinda disappointed that time had flown by so quickly and their time together had come to an end. Primarily, he was surprised that he might not 100% regret agreeing to Ashido’s idea.
“What the actual fuck?”
“Yeah, everyone quickly debunked his theory though, hence the topic of shoes. Of all the ways to end up there, it was really unprecedented, ya know.” Uraraka finished her story animated, the girl was fed and full.
“Still not the stupidest theory he’s had.” Katsuki scoffed, unfortunately, he was extremely familiar with Kaminari and his wild shower thoughts that were always incredibly inaccurate and had no real evidence to back them up - the electric blonde was often offended by Katsuki’s floccinaucinihilipilification of this ‘talent’.
“I fail to believe that.” Uraraka sniggered, clearly underestimating Dunce Face. Her laugh gradually died out as the girl’s eyes flickered down at their hands, almost touching but not quite, “Hey Bakugou, thanks for spending the day with me today.”
“Why are you thanking me? We hang out all the time.”
“Yeah, but none of them have been classified as a…”
DATE. Oh shit yeah.
Since arriving, neither of them had really touched on the subject that this was intended to be their ‘first date’. Because they liked each other? Hell, apart from some long stares and blushing, the topic of romance hadn't been a conversation focus at all. Both of them didn’t know what the other was thinking or what their intention was being here - the obvious answer would be that they were interested but Katsuki refused to believe that was the case. How could she?
“Well fuck then, thank you for being here as well.” he returned.
“Aww, you don’t have to thank me.”
“T-THEN DON’T THANK ME FIRST!”
“Okay okay…”, she leaned closer to lightly nudge him on the shoulder, “...it’s been nice.” Her eyes were locked on him, soft and easy to read. Uraraka was telling the truth - she really did want to be here with him. She thought it was nice.
“S’ always nice with you.” Katsuki let a small smile slip through his demeanor, subtle to anyone who wasn’t paying attention but Uraraka could see it as clear as day. Picking up its pace, her heart thumped louder in her chest, probably loud enough for Katsuki to hear. The boy who was usually closed off had just openly said to her ‘It was always nice being with her’. Katsuki pushed past his own inhibitions, copying the brunette and locking eyes with her, allowing Uraraka to gaze into the blonde’s piercing crimson eyes. The same eyes that (regardless of their sharpness) were gentle.
Katsuki felt that same pain in his chest.
Uraraka closed her eyes and moved in to press her lips against his.
Katsuki violently jerked away.
Katsuki let go of his side of the picnic basket.
Uraraka’s eyes snapped open and caught hold of the abandoned side before everything spilled out.
Katsuki didn't know how to respond to the gesture.
Katsuki was yanked out of the moment.
Katsuki felt a different pain in his chest.
“Oh gosh! W-what did I just do! I’m so sorry, I zoned out and I thought that- I’m just- AH!” she apologized and apologized and apologized.
Time stood still.
“Can’t believe I just did that.” she still tried ever-so-hard to laugh off the deep feeling of shame and regret in her chest, her voice wavering with each guilty chuckle. Uraraka breathed in, “Sorry.”
Katsuki was silent for a really long time like he was trying to drag out his answer; he turned a blind eye to the desperately apologetic brunette who was once by his side but was now far behind him. What had just happened? Why did he do that? Uraraka was right there and he’d-
“Forget it,” Katsuki said.
Forget about what? The kiss? That he pulled away? This whole day? Should Uraraka forget him? Everything? It was a mess, a complete demolition of the day. Katsuki and Uraraka silently vowed to not speak - refusing to worsen the situation; individually zoning out and becoming hyper-aware of their surroundings. They left in shambles…
...Snoring was what the two heard.
Loud snoring at that.
Katsuki kissed his teeth, his eyes were drawn to the floor seeing the one and only Ashido by his feet. Narrowly avoiding crushing her skull, he hopped over her big pink head, “What the actual hell?” he snapped as a warning for Uraraka who was directly behind him.
“Mina!? Wha -why?” her reaction was similar to his, utter confusion and slight concern. Uraraka followed Katsuki’s example and hopped over the sleeping girl.
Ashido had somehow found her way here and chose that the best thing to do was to doze off right in front of the entrance-exit; she was asking to be trampled over. Her body had unnaturally curled into a ball in contrast to her usual sleeping position which consisted of the pink teen transforming into a starfish (a lot like Katsuki's own - but he wasn’t going to admit that). Meanwhile, a disgusting puddle of drool had formed underneath her, making the right side of her head all wet - this completely eradicated any positivity Katsuki had left (which was near to none) and instead replaced it with revolt.
Uraraka, on the other hand, didn’t look as nauseated and instead whispered, “Wow, she must have been really tired! How long do you think she’s been here?”, tapping her chin thinking of a way to handle the situation.
“Long enough.” he rolled his eyes, unamused.
“Should we carry her?”
“Fuck no. We’re leaving her.” Katsuki snapped fibbing - they both knew that he'd never leave Ashido here. Even after the stupid stunt she'd pulled today.
“You’re lying! You would never! She’s too cute to just leave her all alone-” Uraraka instantaneously called him out on his bullshit.
“She looks like she’s content.”, they turned their heads back to face the ‘sleeping beauty’ but without any of the beauty and with all the drool: ‘Sleeping Drooly’ you could say (that was a terrible joke), “She’s also decided to be a spit waterfall…”
“Yeah, that’s gross.”, Uraraka didn’t try to fight that fact and agreed, “It’s not like we can just wake her up! She’s like fast asleep and do you know how long she sleeps for when she’s out!? We’d have more luck taking her back.”
Katsuki nodded, all too aware of Racoon Eyes’ fucked up sleep schedule. He himself has born witness to her insane ability to stay asleep through the most annoying and loud sounds (one could say that as an annoying and loud sound herself it seemed fitting).
Still, the way Uraraka had said it sounded like she was doubting Katsuki.
He gave her a look and she knew that she'd started it. Katsuki smirked at her which Uraraka responded with laughter.
“Ah-Bakugou, n-no you can’t!” she covered her mouth seeing his scarily serious yet sneaky ambition.
“Was that a fucking challenge?”
“She’s really tired t-though.”
“Well, better for her to wake up now than ache tomorrow,” he commented nonchalantly but Uraraka took note of the worry in his voice.
“Pfft - where would y-you even start?” She still tried to reason with him while giggling at Katsuki's zealous determination. The brunette was right, many simple methods like shaking Ashido or poking her were shown to be ineffective time and time again. Nonetheless, by spending way too much time with his idiotic friends and the pink teenager - he had a vague idea of what to do.
“Watch me, Uraraka.”
The devious boy knelt down, only just missing the drool puddle (which, by the way, was still sickening) and lifted Pinky’s left arm. All the while, Uraraka held her breath with her eyes brimmed with anticipation, tracking Katsuki's every move - she better be taking notes cause he was not gonna do this again. He bent her arm slightly (of course Ashido didn’t react whatsoever) and brought his free hand off the ground to her elbow.
“OMG!” Uraraka smiled, warming up Katsuki's insides.
He began to tickle.
One time, Katsuki had caught a glimpse of Kaminari and Ashido having a ‘tickle war’ when Ashido had come bombarding into Katsuki’s room to escape Dunce Face’s terror. The blonde vividly remembered Pinky going fucking ballistic when Kaminari touched her elbow, resulting in (lucky for them, dilute) acid being sprayed all over KATSUKI’S BED… After that, let’s just say that those two don’t play ‘tickle war’ anymore. At this point, everyone in the squad (yes squad, because he’s run out of ways to deny their friendship so he’ll just give in) had some sort of blackmail/special knowledge about the other that they could use at their will.
After one or two strokes, the girl twitched away from Katsuki’s hold but he stayed put and continued to persist and wake Ashido up. When Pinky was awake, both of them instantly knew as they heard a high pitched scream and a loud holler from the once sleeping, now fully awake body.
Katsuki (having human decency and knowing when to stop) retracted his hand to let Racoon Eyes breathe. Ashido, took this chance to recollect her scattered thoughts, mindlessly blinking at the two people who were smirking and gleaming at her.
“Good morning, Mina-chan!”
“Your puns are pitiful and sad.” Katsuki dug through his pocket and found the sappy post-it note that had been stuffed in there. He stuck it onto Ashido's forehead.
“Technically I was teasing y’all. They weren’t really puns more of flirting lines for you to use. Did you use any of the secret ones I told you?” Her sleepy and wet face beamed at Uraraka, who was caught off guard. The brunette waved her hands in front of her face.
“What secret-” Katsuki started before she interrupted him.
“NOPE, not the s-secret ones, I couldn’t!”
“Ok, now I’m fucking intrigued.” completely lost, Katsuki said pissed about being left in the dark-
“But are you intrigued in fucking? That’s the real question.” Pinky snickered.
“Mina! That’s so vulgar! How can you say that with a straight face!?” Uraraka stopped Ashido from going any further with her innuendos.
“Oh sweetie, I literally never have a straight face…” Ashido tutted, she yawned and then widened her eyes, “I’m super sorry that I couldn't find you in time Uraraka,” she apologized with a sly smile slowly seeping through her sorry demeanor, “you were a total missing person, but I guess with Bakugou you were, say kissing persons!”
...
“Hahaha, that joke was so forced but look how good I am! Left you both speechless!” She aloofly patted herself on the back and took no notice of the drastic mood change.
...
The realization came slowly, Ashido first looked at Uraraka, then at Katsuki and back at Uraraka before she fully understood something was wrong, “Oh, sweeties, what happened? Ocha did you hurt my son? Blasty did you hurt my daughter? Wait- no, that means incest, ew no.” she finally caught wind of the awkward atmosphere and wanted to find out more, Pinky analyzed Uraraka one more time, furrowing her eyebrows, before coming to her fairly accurate conclusion, "You two kissed? Or like almost did-".
“EH! H-How did you…” Uraraka immediately reacted, taking a step back - the girl’s face was red with shame and embarrassment.
“Were y’all going to end your date with a failed kiss attempt!? OH my gosh! Have you learned anything!? Have I taught you nothing?!” Ashido somehow hit the nail on the head, her guess was all too accurate. She desperately stared at them, Uraraka’s face shadowed once again with guilt while Katsuki fumed at the bouncy pink girl trying to draw information from him. “Tell me what happened please, I can help! It happened just now didn’t it!? I sensed it in my sleep.”
“No, fuck off!” he snapped, seeing everything crumble down. He didn’t have to give any reason, she didn’t need to know and he was most certainly not going to do it now or ever. Katsuki stomped off, his feet like bricks against the floor.
Pinky rushed closer to him, her right foot was still asleep from her unorthodox sleeping position so her balance was off, resulting in her wobbling after Katsuki.
“It’s fine Mina, leave it. You might make it worse.” left behind, Uraraka sighed, grabbing all her things and helping Ashido stand up properly. She slid Raccoon Eye’s arm over her shoulders to support her - it wasn’t necessary but she still did it.
“NO! You two need to communicate if you want to progress your relationship! Everyone knows that!” Ashido shook her sleeping foot, vigorously waking it up.
Katsuki let out a long groan, he felt his chest tighten while listening to Ashido’s lackluster explanation.“What relationship!? IT WAS ONLY ONE DATE! KEEP YOUR NOSE OUT OF MY SHIT RACCOON EYES and fuck off!” he snapped.
Ashido - who was unaffected and accustom to Katsuki’s outbursts of anger - pouted at him but stayed silent, thinking about what she could say that would make him stay, which was nothing, nothing would make him stay-
“Was that all it was…” a voice asked softly, Uraraka squirmed, “a one-time thing?”.
It was a genuine question.
“I- Fuck.” Katsuki didn’t know what to say. A foreign lump formed in his throat, restricting him from saying anything else. During this, Uraraka looked at him expectedly: her face was neutral and unreadable to the blonde who was at a loss for words.
“Calm down and communicate!” Pinky whispered noisily, trying to act as a buffer.
“Don’t tell me what to do.”
“It’s some advice, a good one at that.”
“Bakugou.” The brunette started again, “I know it might be tedious to you and all, but as intrusive Mina might be, she’s right. I need to know, why did you actually do this?”
“Ooh, tea.”
“Mina.”
“Sorry.”
Katsuki clenched his fists at a loss for words. He hates how he can’t just say what the fuck he was feeling. The spiky blonde had stopped walking off, idly standing in one place listening to Uraraka’s silence. Instead of giving an answer, he grunted and whipped his head around.
“Why did you do this!?” he retorts back the exact same question.
“Uh!” she gapes at him, her pupils dilating with anger? Sadness? Disappointment? Katsuki had no idea how to read her, “T-That’s not fair, I asked you first!” the girl shakes her fist, pouting irritatedly before whispering, “(Isn't it obvious…)”, which Katsuki didn’t hear.
“I can say why y’all came~” Ashido piped in, although she was being willfully ignored and went unheard (You’d think as someone who's watched tons of romance movies she’d know when to shut the hell damn up during an ‘emotional scene’).
Katsuki stomped back to Uraraka, his feet pounding against the concrete floor and his bag bobbing up and down, slung over his left shoulder. She didn’t flinch at his aggressiveness, and instead was washed over with sorrow, her eyebrows furrowed squinting at him close to tears.
He didn’t know what to do.
“I’M SORRY!?”
(“Going to my happy place~ la la la la la.” Pinky continued to comment, singing in the background.)
“No.” Uraraka got over her astonishment, staggered by Katsuki's violent apology but she soon composed herself, “I need you to answer! I’ll forgive, but I need to know what you are feeling!”
What he was feeling?
Raccoon Eyes detached herself from Uraraka, her foot finally waking up. She gave the two some space so she wasn’t smack-in-the-middle of their heated conversation and peeped one last background remark, “UUAAH, why you two fighting? Please don't! It’s obvi that you two-”
“IT’S CUZ I FREAKIN’ LIKE YOU!”
“Oop.” Pinky covered her mouth.
“Me too! I’m sorry that I was moving too fast! I shouldn’t have tried to-” Uraraka relayed back at him but he interrupted her.
“No- shit, it was me. Fuck, I should've- you deserve better!”
“Don’t force yourself to do anything you don’t want to, Bakugou.”
“I should have done it!”
“You didn’t need to do anything! I didn’t even ask.”
“BUT I LIKE YOU SO WE SHOULD HAVE KISSED!!”
(“Dang it, where my popcorn be at?” Ashido tutted, fully entertained by the drama like the weird sensation seeker she was.)
“There are other ways to show someone you like them without kissing…” Uraraka softened her tone and took a step closer. Her face had lightened. She was cracking a small smile - revealed that Katsuki hadn't pushed her away out of spite: it was a boulder off her shoulders. Next thing Katsuki knew, her arms had delicately wrapped around his torso, consuming the boy in a hug. Fingers traced down his back and along the creased fabric of his shirt, soothing his tense shoulders and relaxing him in a way nobody else could. “Like this. Slow is sometimes good to be the best.”
“I know that.” Katsuki huffed into her shoulder and latched onto her back as well.
“I like you Bakugou.”
They hugged.
Mina’s emotions been gone, got done, and dusted.
She didn’t really know what that meant but it was something. She was feeling in some way. In the background, she did her sign that had recently become really useful to her lately.
Bakugou and Ochako were hugging lovingly right in front of her, both of them choosing to ignore her presence, focusing on each other instead. Their arms were tightly wrapped around one another, Bakugou’s hands clutching onto the fabric of Ochako’s… wait... holy shit that was the amazing and fantabulous glow-in-the-dark pink shirt Mina gave Bakugou! Ochako was wearing Bakugou’s shirt! God, if Mina’s phone wasn’t dead (because of that shitcake M**neta who she wasn’t going to forget about), she would 100% be filming this beautiful moment or taking a bajillion pictures. Regardless, she was still drowsy from being rudely awakened from her slumber so that wasn’t the main thing on her mind.
Mina fluttered her eyelashes at the two, patiently waiting for their hug to be over, not wanting to ruin the moment. Hopefully, they didn’t mind her third-wheeling them too much, she was being SUPER quiet (unlike before when she did make some unnecessary side remarks - darn her tendency to act on impulse) so the couple could have their moment in peace and, from a technical viewpoint, this scene was only occurring due to her own doings and actions; so, therefore, there would be no repercussions for her watching them.
Besides, they were totally into each other, like wow, crazy wow; and it’s not like Mina didn't know this fact for herself already, but seeing them interact in this manner was something completely different. Especially for Bakugou, but the truth is, Mina had no idea what a lovestruck Blasty McSplode would look like, so this was education.
‘Bakubro has difficulty expressing feelings of interest like kissing’, Mina silently noted in her head, ‘but he wants to or should? Maybe he’s ace? I’ll have a probe into that matter’.
“The fuck are you looking at?” a low voice snapped at her. Bakugou had tilted his head up to scowl at Mina who shrugged off his attack.
This boy was just embarrassed.
“Oh, nothing. Just watching the fruits of my labor growing into a big beautiful watermelon, fu~fu take that as you please.”
“Well, Bakugou is beautiful isn’t he?” Out of the blue, another voice piped in, this one was much more light and playful than Bakugou’s. Ochako laughed innocently while teasing Bakugou who reacted just how Mina had predicted he would: getting flusterated - he was seething.
If this was the aesthetic of their relationship, Mina was living for it!
“Ehehe, yess! I was referring to my ship being the watermelon, but that's even better, Ocha!”
“Alright, that’s enough. I’m outta here.” by some Bakugou magic, the spiky blonde found his composure and plastered on his usual glower almost instantaneously. He took off.
“Oooooaahhwowowahhhohyeah!” Mina sang.
“What was that?” Ochako asked Mina, torn between looking at the pink girl or the grouchy boy who was leaving.
“Hannah Montana transition song. I thought we were just quoting stuff! Because of the ‘I’m outta here’ -”
“Okay bye Mina!” she smiled and waved at her, going to catch up with her boo. Girl got her priorities in check so Mina didn’t complain.
The alien queen watched them wander off without her, knowing fully well that she was going to catch up to them and she was going to ask for details.
(In the dark pits of her mind, Ashido Mina was slowly plotting her revenge. That little fucking evil shitty grape boy was going to get it… HARD. She didn’t know when or how, but she knew it would be soon. Really soon!)
Unlike what they would have expected, Mina wasn’t intending to meddle any further. These two could handle the rest- just like Mina had told Tooru: they just needed that extra push. So, as far as Mina was concerned, her job here was done.
OPERATION ROCKETSHIP… complete.