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By the time she had been hauled off of the battlefield, and he was announced the winner, Bakugou wasn’t feeling as content as he normally did whenever he won — and this pissed him off. He marched away, dirt from the ground coating his already dirty boots as the shadows from the entrance swallowed him. The cheering from the festival slowly died down, only the echoing roars sounding through his throbbing ears as he slowly walked away from the mess both him and Uraraka Ochako had caused.
She was his opponent, and a damn good one. Unlike all the other assholes in the sport’s festival, she had shown him a match, made him fight until the very end and he actually broke a sweat unlike everything else. Of course that shitty Deku had beaten him in the first event, but it was mere fuckin’ luck. The moment Bakugou began to round the corner of the stairs, he was met by a face that only pissed him off whenever he saw it; instead of arguing with the kid though, Katsuki merely pushed on by, purposely smacking his shoulder off of Deku’s to prove a point.
“K-Kacchan!”
A wave of aggression washed over him, making it hard to focus on his real goal at hand. Instead of turning, though, he remained where he stood. His hands balled into tight fists within the confines of his pockets as he waited for Izuku’s voice to echo and bounce off the walls that surrounded them.
Of course there was something Bakugou wanted to say, but instead of lashing out like he usually did, he remained quiet. Thoughts continued to swirl in his mind — the color of caramel eyes looking at him until they finally disappeared behind thick lashes, a bruised and beaten face looking up at him until she finally fell unconscious. The thought of seeing her black out like that sent a cooling wave throughout his body.
Deku’s presence continued to wrap around him, enveloping him in annoyance as he waited for whatever stupid thing this kid wanted to say to him now. He simply clenched his teeth before turning his head, catching a glimpse of Midoriya’s tensed figure out of the corner of his eye.
“Congratulations on your win—”
It wasn’t what he wanted to hear. A low growl filled the void around them before the clapping of his boots against the tiled floors left Deku standing alone in the hall, shaking in his shoes as Bakugou made his way down the hall and around the corner as fast as he could. His heart was beating miraculously fast in his chest, leaving him breathless until he was out of sight and away from the kid that always pissed him off.
What a shitty thing for him to say — congratulations. Bakugou didn’t feel like a winner; he felt empty and he felt anything but satisfied. He wanted more action, wanted to see that fire in Ochako’s eyes as she charged at him with the full intent to fight to the finish. He felt his heart in his throat the moment she collapsed in front of him, leaving him dumbfounded and aching.
A choked sobbed pulled him from his thoughts as he glanced up from the tiled floors, making direct contact with a particular shade of caramel. Not only was it Uraraka’s frightened glance, but she had trails of tears lining her round cheeks, while her eyes were left red and swollen.
“I’ll call you back in a little, daddy. I love you.”
An itching sensation filled Bakugou’s cheeks as he glanced away quickly, his heart fluttering in his chest, beating against his ribcage as he closed the metal door behind him. With Uraraka Ochako standing in front of him, the back of her hand came to wipe at the tears, carefully avoiding the bandage placed on her cheek.
And then silence finally fell upon them; the two of them, beat to the bone and staring at one another, waiting for each other to fill the quiet room that enveloped them.
“You look like shit.”
Uraraka was immediately flushing, her cheeks filling with a shade of pink that he had never seen before — it nearly matched the red, irritated look in her eyes, but she was good at discarding the blush as fast as it came. It took her a second to clear her throat before her brows furrowed.
“Jee, I wonder why?” Her question held a bit of a bite to it, ice coating her words and it only amused Bakugou to see that much sass coming from a girl that had just been beat. It was this type of thing that made his heart beat wildly in his chest, along with their fight of course, he could really feel the adrenaline start to pump again.
“Ya almost fuckin’ beat me,” he finally admitted before leaning against the metal door. Uraraka’s eyes glanced at him as her fingers slowly toyed with the bandage on her cheek now. While his hands came to grab at his forearms, he could feel the built up pressure in his muscles, and it wouldn’t do him any good to try and massage the pain out — he had pushed his quirk way too far, and he had only ever done that while fighting Uraraka so far.
“Well, I didn’t,” Ochako breathed out with a defeated tone. Her fingers continued to pick at the bandage on her cheek, and while Katsuki tried to ignore it, he finally couldn’t take it anymore.
“Oi, Roundface. That’s put there for a reason, so quit messing with it.” His tone was hard, voice stern and eyes locked on hers. Instead of listening to him though, Uraraka casually looked away and began to wipe at the corners of her eyes again.
“Bakugou?” Her voice was soft, almost as soft as rose petals and silk sheets. A low grown escaped from his throat, indicating for her to continue. “Why did you come here?”
It was a damn good question: why did he come here? Was he out of his mind for wandering this far into the building, letting his body run on autopilot as he made his way to this particular room? Of course he was, and now he had no answer for why he was here. Instead of answering her, though, a frown settled on his face instead.
“Because I fucking can.” He stated, and Uraraka could only gasp softly at his words, clearly shocked and confused by his statement. It wasn’t until Bakugou really looked at her, that he figured out why he came this way. A soft sigh, before—
“You have room for improvement,” he started. Instead of leaning his back against the door any longer, he made his way for the table. He grabbed at one of the chairs before spinning it around on one leg, placing the back of the chair before him as he took a seat. His arms came to cross over the back of it as he stared her down with bleeding, scarlet eyes.
“And?” Uraraka asked, clearly confused by his statement.
“And, I want to—” he felt himself stumbling over his words, especially since he had never particularly gone out of his way to help anyone. “I want to help you.”
Stars twinkled in her chocolate colored eyes as she stared at him in bewilderment. Her lips parted, fingers trembling as her hands dropped to either side of her body. Katsuki opted to wait another moment or two, his fingers thrumming against the plastic chair.
“Like… like training together?” She asked, nearly breathless.
The way Uraraka had said it made it sound that much better, and he could feel the corners of his lips turning up before he was smirking at her with a toothy grin.
“Exactly.”
Chills ran down his spine, making his skin crawl as Ochako’s right hand came to rub at her left arm, clearly stating how uncomfortable she was at the thought — or maybe she was just nervous? — but Katsuki waited for her answer. Moments ticked by on the clock overhead, the hands on the clock sounding louder and louder with each passing second and before Bakugou could say another word, her soft voice finally echoed around them.
“Fine.”
She sounded almost unamused, but that determined look had taken over her face, and deep down from within her exhausted eyes, Katsuki could see the flames of a golden fire sparking to life. His smirk only deepened before he pushed himself away from his chair, his body cast over Uraraka’s while he stood a head taller than her.
“Don’t expect me to go easy on you, Angelface.”
It was Uraraka’s turn to smirk, accompanied by a scoff before she crossed her arms over her chest. This girl was far from weak, and it thrilled him.
“And don’t expect to win next time.”