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Bakugou was hopelessly in love with Ochako Uraraka.
He didn’t know when he first realized this, now that he was in his early twenties and of course, no thanks to the universe above, roommates with the tiny brunette. He only became aware of her during their first year when she happened to rain down a whole meteor shower above his head. After that, it was kind of hard to not pay a little attention to someone that nearly squashed him like a bug.
Bakugou respected Cheeks, sure, but that was as far as his feelings went for other people. That was it. Plus, in first year he had other pressing priorities – he was going to become number one, and having distractions such as friends wouldn’t help.
So he didn’t give a fuck about her until second year. Bakugou didn’t believe in friends. He believed in a network of people that could be of use to him when the time came, but without earning his respect, as far as he knew, everyone’s importance to him was equal to a pesky fly on a hot summer's day.
Annoying as fuck.
Then Cheeks started popping on his radar. He almost snorted out loud, irritation bubbling in his bones as he blinked at the most atrocious scene before him. She was far below a pesky fly for that. Maybe a roach at best. The respect he had for her from the Sports Festival last year fizzled away in an instant.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Bakugou barked. Uraraka startled and the milk she was pouring into a bowl accidentally splashed onto the table, a small ‘eep’ leaving her mouth as she whipped her head to him standing in the kitchen doorway.
He nearly rolled his eyes, seeing the ends of her hair sticking up in different directions and her bangs somehow defied gravity by standing straight up into the air. She looked like shit, which made sense because of all the times he had woken at 5 am to get a start on his day, he had never seen Round Face awake. Let alone awake before him.
He would’ve found it amusing, but instead, he caught her pouring milk before the cereal and he just about had an aneurysm watching her, because what the actual fuck???
“Are you shitting me? Who the fuck puts the cereal after the milk, you dumb idiot?!” She flinched, the bleary look on her face morphing to comical surprise. Probably because prior to then, she and Bakugou never had much of a conversation other than a few grunts here and there.
And also, it was 5 am in the fucking morning.
The minute she registered his words, all of her drowsiness went away instantaneously and rage lit up Uraraka like no other. She spun around so fast as she slammed the carton down, shaking the table and her bowl, splashing milk everywhere.
“Who are you calling a dumb idiot, King Explosion Murder?” She whisper-yelled back with equal fervor, in an effort to preserve the early morning quiet, unlike somebody.
His mouth gaped open as the bubbly girl in front of him became a fire breathing dragon.
“I’ll have you know that putting the cereal in afterward keeps it crunchier, just how I like it! And I need to know how much milk I have before I put in the cereal so they’re at a good ratio. I don’t need some emotionally constipated imbecile to tell me what to do at—” She peered over at the clock above the kitchen’s doorway, gesturing towards it wildly. “—5 am in the morning! So shut your trap, mister, and leave me alone!”
Bakugou was not one to be rendered speechless, but even that had him opening and closing his mouth like a fish. He recovered quickly, anger spiking because what the fuck did she call him?
“Well, I guess something crawled up your ass this morning.” He watched with uncontained glee as pure rage lit up her face. He had never seen Cheeks look so pissed and he was, unexpectedly, having a fucking ball. “And are you fucking stupid?! You pour the milk afterward to make sure there’s not too much for the cereal!” He growled back and watched with growing excitement as she stalked closer to him before jutting a finger to his chest.
Vaguely he knew that this argument was being blown completely out of proportion, but when the brunette glared up at him with her bedhead and clear eye bags, he couldn’t be bothered to stop.
He wanted to piss her off.
“I personally pour the cereal afterward so I know if there’s too much cereal for the milk!”
“The fuck? You’re saying that you eat cereal for the goddamn milk?” At this point, they were standing toe to toe, his head completely tilted down while she was facing upwards. Yelling in each other’s faces and ignoring how it was way too early to be screaming at the top of their lungs.
“And what of it?!” Round Face snarled back. Bakugou’s eyebrow twitched.
“Haaaaaaah?!” This was the stupidest shit he had ever heard. “You’re fucking crazy. And why are you eating this shit anyways? Cereal is straight-up cardboard sugar. Bet you don’t even know how to cook an actual fucking breakfast!”
Uraraka had now completely forgotten her bowl of cereal.
“Why are you lecturing me on what and how I should eat my food?! Why do you care anyway?”
“I don’t! You just piss me off!”
“How? I’ve barely even talked to you!”
“It’s ‘cause you keep on wasting your fucking time.” Cheek’s eyebrows scrunched together in a mixture of confusion and irritation. “You’re in U.A. to become a Pro-Hero, and you’re wasting your time pining over Deku.” In an instant, the entire mood of the conversation changed. He saw how his words shocked her, watching her flinch back before turning her face away.
“H-How do you-” He scoffed, all while Uraraka was reeling about how she even got herself in this situation in the first place. She had stayed up late working on an assignment, and by the time she finished, there was no point in sleeping. She was really regretting her decision to get breakfast now.
“It’s pretty fucking obvious to anyone who has eyes, Round Face.” His words snapped her out of her stupor, and she tilted her head back up at the towering blonde.
“I’m surprised you even noticed, seeing as you’re a self-absorbed, emotionally stunted Pomeranian!” Aaaaand now they were back to glaring daggers into each other’s eyes. But something about it…
“Who are you calling a Pomeranian?!”
“You! Are you deaf?” Her eyes stayed locked onto his, challenging him. An emotion licked at his chest, making him feel...weird.
Why the fuck was he wasting time arguing about this shit with her?
“Oh no, not after this. All I did was tell you how cereal was supposed to be done - you’re the one who decided to act like there’s a stick up your ass.”
She let out a defeated groan, shoving at his chest but he barely budged. “Bakugou, what are we even doing? This is literally so stupid! You’re so-”
“Why the heck are you guys yelling?” They froze in their tracks before both turned to look at a very disgruntled Kirishima. “We could hear you guys from a floor up.”
Immediately, Uraraka deflated, her cheeks heating up as she stumbled a step away from Bakugou. She stuttered out apologies before bowing and shit. Bakugou rolled his eyes, deciding to go on his run without his pre-workout snack. He already wasted too much time.
“Tch.” His eyes lingered on the brunette. Their eyes locked again, and they shot each other a glare before Bakugou sneered. With a self-satisfied smirk, he turned away to the exit.
She had no idea what the fuck she just started.
-=-=+=-=-
Ever since he made sure to make Round Face’s life a living hell.
Maybe it was stupid of him to waste his time and pester her after the small incident that morning, but he didn’t dwell on it long. He was having too much fucking fun getting a rise out of her.
He fucking hated it how peppy she was, going around school, always around Deku and Glasses. The blonde always managed to hunt down the brunette with his eyes, giving her his darkest glare until she finally noticed. She’d stick her tongue out and he’d give her the middle finger back. Occasionally it would rile her up enough where they would bark curses at each other.
“Dumb bitch.”
“Stupid butt.” Cheeks was never good at being mean, but Bakugou secretly loved listening to her try.
This year he sat two rows behind her but was close enough that he was confident in his aim. He thrived off of crumbling papers in his hands and chucking it at her when Aizawa wasn’t looking and revelled as she sat there, stewing in her anger.
He made sure to cough loudly when it was her turn to speak in front of the class, bumped into her in the hallways when there were too many people for her to start a scene, occasionally ruffling her hair and making sure to interrupt the times she happened to be alone with a certain nerd.
And Bakugou had to admit, he wasn’t immune to her retaliation. Sometimes she’d be able to sneak by him and trip him as he was walking, before bolting away before he could catch up with her. Or she’d pounce on him during the most inopportune times, yanking at his hair before hiding away in the girl’s washroom like a coward.
And what really pissed Bakugou off was when she was humming or singing terribly out of key when she thought she was alone. God, his poor ears.
She was singing some kind of overrated pop song while she was jogging outside on a Tuesday morning when Bakugou happened to pass by her with narrowed eyes. The minute they made eye contact they both glared at each other intensely.
Great. He just wanted some peace and quiet, away from the Round Face. Was that so hard?
Despite his thoughts, he started the conversation.
“You sound like shit, Cheeks.” He was slowly enjoying more and more the way her eyes would light up in anger at his words.
“Excuse you? And stop calling me Cheeks!” She hissed. Unbeknownst to both of them, Bakugou and Uraraka started jogging together as they spat words of distaste to each other.
“I could sing way better than you, Ura-ra-ka.” He rolled his eyes. She sighed, turning her head away quickly. Why? Bakugou didn’t know at the time, but now that he thought back on it, he faintly remembered the pink tinging her ears.
“Somehow, I don’t doubt that.” She grumbled to herself. “But you probably have shit music taste anyways.”
“What the fuck you talking ‘bout?” Bakugou felt anger spike in him. “My music taste is badass.”
“Uh huh.” Ochako went along with it with a mocking tone. “Badass.” She repeated.
“Oi, don’t fucking swear!” The brunette spluttered. He had the audacity –
“Don’t tell me what the fuck to do!” Ochako yelled back, purposely throwing in a curse to piss him off. “Plus, of all people, you really want to lecture me to not swear?” And somehow, they went on another long argument on whether or not Bakugou swore like a sailor. She found it damn hilarious at the idea that he wasn’t even aware of his colourful word choices, denying that he swore that much at all.
“I rarely fucking swear!”
“You just did it again!”
And they went like that the entirety of the jog back to the dorms.
Even as they continued to yell at each other, there was a weird feeling swirling in Bakugou’s chest as they neared the entrance. Usually, he’d get back and shower before getting ready for the rest of the day. But this time around, he felt rooted in place in front of the doors for some insane reason.
He realized that Round Face was…interesting. Maybe that wasn’t the exact word for it, but because she was interesting, he didn’t exactly want to stop talking to her just yet. The realization made him irked. She was annoying, infuriating, always meeting whatever challenge he threw at her instead of backing down. But for some reason, Bakugou didn’t want to stop being around her annoying ass.
Bakugou had to admit, he had the emotional intelligence of a rock during his time at UA. So when he started to feel a tug towards her, it was a weird revelation. He didn’t understand himself at all.
God, in hindsight, he was fucking dumb as hell.
Before Round Face went back inside, he felt a sort of...desperation as her back turned to him after she cheerily told him to “Fuck off,”.
“Show me,” He called out to her vaguely. Shit, that sounded dumb. She paused, before turning around with an eyebrow raised.
“Um, what?”
“Show me what music you listen to, and then I’ll decide if it’s shitty or not, or whatever.” He was really goddamn trying his best to will away the heat rising to his face. Katsuki Bakugou didn’t blush, for fuck’s sake.
Her brown eyes sharpened, looking at him. Calculated. “Uh huh. So we’ll see who has the better music taste then.” Ochako seemed to agree with his offer, nodding along as she thought about it. “My room after class?” She finally asked with a tilt of her head, brown strands falling to the side.
He wanted to…burn her hair off. In actuality, he wanted to tuck her hair to the side, but he refused to have such a girly thought. Bakugou pressed his lips together in a smirk.
“You’re going down, Cheeks.”
And somehow, they started coming to each other’s rooms every week or so after class. Every week or so eventually became every couple of days.
They went from showing each other’s music taste (and while he never admitted to her face, he started listening to Hamilton and other musicals in his free time), to criticizing shitty movies together (he found that Round Face was a damn scaredy-cat, cursing him for days after he forced her to watch Insidious), to spending hours in the lounge playing some shitty game of Dunce Face.
‘Smash Bros’, or whatever you fucking call it.
“Fucking DIE!” He’d scream at the top of his lungs, leaning towards the screen on the couch. Because if Cheeks for a second thought she was going to beat him in anything, video game or not, then she was terribly wrong.
“Experience the wrath of the Wii Fit Trainer!” She snarled back. She would stand on her tippy toes for some odd reason, wearing the dopiest face he had ever seen in his life, occasionally grunting like a cave-man whenever she was able to knock Bakugou off the map.
And if he ended up staying up way past his bedtime just to prove to Cheeks how much better he was at video games than her, he didn’t acknowledge it. Or when he finally kicked her ass in the game five times in a row, she tackled him with a war cry that had him roaring with laughter before they roughhoused all over the living floor, he didn’t acknowledge how fucking thrilled he was either.
Every couple of days became every day spent together.
People were noticing. If anyone asked, he’d usually roll their comments off his shoulders and tell them to ‘fuck off’. Simple. Usually, they’d leave him alone if it was clear he refused to talk about it, and Bakugou didn’t want to share his time with Round Face to anyone. Not even Shitty Hair.
He wanted Ochako all to himself.
Damn, back then he really was the epitome of denial. But now as a (very fucking mature) adult, he wasn’t afraid to admit it how he was drawn to Cheeks like Kirishima was to Mina.
God, wait, fuck no. He was not going to compare himself with Shitty Hair.
One day he even overheard the nerd and Glasses asking Ochako to lunch when Bakugou walked by a classroom to find her. She denied them, saying she had already planned to eat with a certain blonde, and Bakugou ignored the sudden flood of pride at her words. It was already the fourth day they’ve been eating together, and the two extras took notice.
“You’ve been hanging out with Kacchan a lot more lately.” Deku commented lightly, but even Bakugou sensed the small hint of distress behind his cheerful tone. Bakugou scoffed to himself.
“We just want to make sure you’re…” Glasses seemed to consider his words. “…okay, with eating with him.” Bakugou gritted his teeth as whatever good feeling he felt was squashed.
Were they fucking implying that he was forcing her to eat with him, for fuck’s sake? He slammed open the door to the classroom, ready to blow the fuck up before he witnessed one of the most captivating moments of his life.
“Thank you very much for asking, guys,” She bared her teeth while Deku and Glasses wore matching faces of bewilderment. Bakugou’s chest started to fucking ache.
“But Bakugou isn’t making me eat with him. In fact, he’s really great company and I wanted to become closer with everyone else in the class too since we’re all together for these three years. Okay?” Her question held no room for argument, and fuck, fuck his chest was hurting.
“So you don’t have to worry about me. I can take fucking care of myself.” The extras visibly startled as she swore and he was genuinely concerned if he had a heart disease.
But, as they flinched back, Cheeks seemed to realize what she was saying and deflated. It was clear even to Bakugou that she was trying to not be an ass, but some kind of sick satisfaction swirled in his gut when he noticed she was peeved at the small disrespect towards him.
Him of all people.
“Anyways, I got to go so–” she said through clenched teeth before turning away, and Bakugou had enough.
“Oi.” He broke the awkward silence that was starting to settle. He was full-on grinning as he watched the nerd and Glasses blanche, chest swelling with pride because she chose him over them. He almost laughed out loud as Cheeks huffed angrily, failing to hide her annoyance as she spun on her heel and walked right by Bakugou.
And holy fuck, dealing with a livid Round Face that wasn’t directing her anger at him for once, was always a fun time. Watching her rant and her face flush as she blew off steam, was funny as fuck. And when she was angry for him...
Cheeks did eventually apologize; she felt bad for lashing out and chalked her anger to having a bad day, which Bakugou didn’t fucking get but whatever. It didn’t make him lose any respect towards her. In fact, he respected her more. Round Face stood up for him.
Not like he really cared, of course. It just showed that she even had the guts to stand up to people she was close to.
He found himself seeking Round Face out more and more. In classes, his eyes would periodically glance at her form, scribbling away on her paper and chuckling at fidgets, completely lost to whatever the hell Aizawa was teaching. Or sometimes, when they stayed up late the night before, he’d watch her struggle to stay awake as she nodded off. Because her face was just...so...round.
He knew the extras were whispering about them. Pinky and her loud mouth already had the whole class aware of his and Ochako’s developing friendship. But he couldn’t be bothered.
What was bothering him was that Bakugou’s tight regime was slowly becoming unraveled. Working out in the morning was replaced with jogging with Round Face. Sleeping at 8 pm turned to chilling in her room until 12 am. Making his meals was now teaching Cheeks how to cook, and if he was feeling nice, he’d make her dinner and they’d eat together in one of their rooms.
People talked, but he didn’t give a fuck.
Well, not until he realized that he was starting to slack off. All the warning signs flashed in his head. He found himself lying in bed dumbfounded – why the fuck was he changing his lifestyle so much just so he could spend a little more time with a certain brunette? There must’ve been something wrong with him. A fever, a quirk of some sort. He was determined to ‘fix’ himself. His priority was to surpass All Might.
So he tried. For once, Bakugou cancelled on Ochako, ignoring the way his heart ached at her little pout. Waking up at 5 am to cook, 6 am to workout, and spending the remaining of the morning getting ahead in school. Classes, meal prep, eat, then quirk training until he was ready to collapse at 8 pm.
The day droned on and on. And on and on.
Fuck, how the hell did he live like this before?
He had only spent a day alone, but Bakugou felt like his life was utterly mundane. Boring, worthless, without a certain round-faced girl along with him.
He didn’t dwell much on his growing want to be around her. Deep down, he had an inkling he had started to become aware of why he was so attached. But Bakugou refused to think about it.
So then, he proposed a solution so they could balance his work with his time with her and vice versa. They compromised, merging their schedules together and planning their days. Ochako was actually pumped that she could get extra training and studying time while they discussed in his bed, sitting side by side as she played with his hair.
And when Bakugou asked ‘why’, because he was genuinely curious despite the gruff tone of his voice, his heart stuttered to a stop when she turned around and hugged him around his waist.
“Because everything’s more fun when we’re together, duh.” She scrunched her nose and gave him a look as if her words were obvious.
His heart nearly flew out of his goddamn chest. He pushed her away roughly, muttering expletives under his breath as his face warmed. Bakugou was freaking the fuck out. Why the hell was his heart hurting so goddamn much? Why was his face getting warm and why was he sweating like he did during the heat of a battle?
She only giggled, seemingly enjoying the way he became a stuttering mess. Bakugou didn’t get it. And when he asked Kirishima about it, Shitty Hair only laughed like the unhelpful ass he was and slapped Bakugou on the shoulder, telling him that he would figure it out on his own time.
It was in third year that Bakugou realized how important Ochako was to him. Maybe it was all the times she came over, forcing him to do face masks and talking about who knows what. Or maybe the few times Cheeks was able to force him to leave the dorms with just the two of them, the times where she made him verse her in those damn arcade games and demanded a rematch every time Bakugou won without so much as trying.
(He may have let her win a few times after that.)
Maybe it was the times they’ve trained together enough times where they discovered that their quirks were more than compatible. They had fucking chemistry that blew Bakugou’s expectations out of the waters and into outer space. It was exhilarating.
Bakugou already knew Cheeks was a force to be reckoned with all on her own when he first found himself lying in bed, thoughts drifting over to her. Just...fucking think about it for a second.
Ochako was able to float people without touching them. Once she could increase her weight limit to buildings for example and figure out how to increase gravity rather than take it away, she’d have the entire world at her hands.
Before he knew it, he found himself thinking about just how fucking amazing Cheeks could be. Just how amazing Cheeks was.
And the perfect opportunity came the one-time Ochako cancelled on their time together, which honestly threw Bakugou for a fucking loop but he wasn’t going to admit it then. He studied for the English test coming up, and at the fifth time he had gotten distracted by his thoughts about a certain brunette, he ended up wandering aimlessly around the dorm’s garden.
It was relatively quiet that day, thank fuck. Everyone was getting ready for exam week.
Until the sounds of rocks hitting against rocks grabbed his attention.
He moved towards the sound, and when he finally turned the corner on U.A.’s training arena, his heart lurched to his throat at the sight before him.
Bakugou stood there, and he was sure Cheeks had a second quirk or some shit, to make him speechless too many times to count. There she sat, her legs crossed in the center of the area. The world around her was rooted in place, much like he was, save for the rapid beating in his chest.
She was facing away from him as she held up rocks, branches, grass, and other debris in the air, hovering in place as they created a halo around her. He took in how certain materials would float downwards while others floated up, and then he realized that she was trying to change the gravity on select objects and holy fucking shit she was amazing.
And he still continued to watch in a daze as the materials suddenly all lifted higher in the air before she attempted to level out the debris into a straight line. But he could tell she was struggling, her form shaking on the ground and the rocks were stuttering in place, and suddenly, everything came crashing down around her.
But with all the raining destruction, she sat in the middle like an archangel, her body turned over to dry-heave. And he found that even then, her hair tangled up in her face as she began to spew her guts out, that she was fucking badass.
No, she was more than badass. She was…something on a whole other level.
God, Bakugou really was an idiot back then.
“Uraraka,” he finally got his mouth to work and called out her name. She froze for a second, then wiped at her mouth before looking over at him with wide eyes.
Beautiful.
“Bakugou?”
He ignored the way his heart pittered in his chest.
“Spar with me.”
And they sparred. Fought until his lips were trickling red and her sides were covered with black and blue.
His chest never stopped aching.
They ended up training together nearly every day. She was learning fast and Bakugou expected as much from her. And to his delight, that wasn’t to say that she didn’t challenge him back. Ochako was terrifying, especially when he found himself lying on his stomach, his arms pulled behind his back as her knee dug into his spine. Panting hard with his face plastered to the gym floor.
“You’re putting too much focus on your arms, Bakugou. You’re way too predictable.” And holy fucking hell, he almost creamed his pants.
Round Face was sure to call him out on his bullshit and apparently he had a thing for being too mouthy during fights, which gave him away too much to his liking. Especially for an opponent like Cheeks, who was becoming more and more familiar with his attacks. And he was fucking terrible at being aware of his surroundings – she taught him to use the environment to his advantage much like she has to do as a result of her quirk.
She was making him better. Pushing him to reach limits he had never achieved alone.
But, back to Round Face.
Her improvements were jaw-dropping once they started combining their workouts, and that’s coming from him of all fucking people. Watching her take his advice in stride, seeing her develop the confidence in her ability as a hero, experiencing first hand of her improvements as she successfully knocked him off his feet and onto his knees.
He felt himself amp up, anticipation running through his bones whenever he thought about Uraraka in general. Bakugou knew she had so much potential and he couldn’t wait to see her thrive as a Pro-Hero.
And he faulted at that thought.
The thought that he actually cared about someone else’s success rather than his own shocked him to the core. He didn’t dwell on it. Bakugou refused to focus on these growing feelings that he had no intention to keep around. He respected her strength. That was it.
But the problem was, he wasn’t the only one aware of the power she possessed.
Third-year, the tension between U.A. and the League of Villains was high. Both sides were gathering forces in preparation. The pro-heroes were planning. They didn’t know how far the League of Villains would go to get what they want. Protocols were set in place to protect citizens, an increased number of heroes on patrol, and medical workers being positioned throughout Japan, and U.A. along with many other hero schools were forced under grueling training in order to prepare for the worst.
He should’ve fucking known.
U.A. didn’t get days off. But after spending hours upon hours mentally and physically preparing for the battle that was coming closer with each day, they needed motivation. A stronger reason to fight and train with all they had. U.A. gave them a day off to visit family, talk to friends, and live like normal teenagers.
Just in case. Just in case it was the last time they would ever have any semblance of normal ever again.
It was that day, he thought he lost everything.
Bakugou and Cheeks had an unspoken promise between them. After they spent the day with their families, they were going to meet up at the dorms. He remembered so clearly in his head, the somber look on her face as she walked up to the building before immediately lighting up the minute her eyes landed on him.
Round Face smiled so brightly. For him. He didn’t think much about the tight coiling in his throat, used to but also unused to feeling such a way. He didn’t deserve the smile. He didn’t deserve it as he watched the telltale dark swirl of clouds form behind her.
Images flickered in his head. The cold hand wrapped around his throat, pulling him into the dark void. The tight chains leashing him to the chair. The taunting laughter, the haunting, recurring nightmares of what could have happened.
He couldn’t let Ochako go through the same thing.
“No!” He boomed forward, the sound so loud in the quietness of the evening. The explosions sprung him towards the brunette at breakneck speed, heart lurching out of his goddamn chest as her eyes widened at the blonde barreling towards her.
He made it.
Bakugou grabbed her quickly, thrusting them both away from the dark void. He ignored her sharp bark of surprise as he barreled away from the solidifying mist. Bakugou wanted to fight, and he knew Ochako could handle herself just fine. But a crushing grip squeezed around his heart, telling him that he sure as hell didn’t want either of them to be captured by the mist.
In the end, he didn’t have a say as the dark swirl widened and two figures slid through. Bakugou and Ochako stood ready, heat cracklings in his hands and small debris began to float near the brunette.
His heart stopped.
They watched as Dabi and Toga emerged to stand before the mist. Sweat began to trickle down Bakugou’s forehead as he recognized all three of the villains who stood before him. He cursed himself as his body involuntarily trembled. Fuck, he was supposed to be stronger than this. He shouldn’t be so damn afraid.
Fuck, why wouldn’t he stop shaking?
“Waaah!” The ash-blonde girl wrapped her arms around herself, shuddering as she tightly squeezed a knife in one hand. She looked dead straight at the girl standing behind Bakugou. The raven-haired man beside her only cocked his head in boredom. “Ochako, hon, I missed you!” A wave of protectiveness flooded him, and Bakugou moved to stand in front of Uraraka at the sound of her gulp.
Noticing the small movement, Dabi’s lip twitched, eyes flickering between the two students.
“Oh,” He drawled, a taunting tone to his voice, small, blue flames licking at his fingertips. “I’m excited to see how this pans out. I guess it’s long time no see, Bakugou.” Rage lit up inside the blonde at the way Dabi said his name as if mocking him for being weak.
For letting himself be captured. For letting All Might…
And suddenly, like a switch had been flipped, the trembling fear was replaced with the fire for revenge.
“Bakugou, we need to go.” He ignored the urgency in her voice and shook his head.
“I’m not fucking let them get away again.”
“We’re outnumbered, we need—” She didn’t get to finish what she said.
Dabi lunged towards Bakugou, flames flaring from his palms. The blonde grunted as he blasted himself away from the blaring heat, seeing Cheeks dart off and engage with Toga, before rounding back with an explosion that Dabi swiftly dodged.
They traded blows, adrenaline pumping through his veins. He allowed his rage to overcome him and more sweat secreted from his pores. Even as heat washed over the front of the dorms and the vague sound of alarms blared nearby, Bakugou couldn’t help but wonder what the hell these three were trying to accomplish.
Whatever they were doing was stupid, trying to fight two students on U.A. grounds.
But were they there for him? Fucking hell, he was sick and tired of this shit.
“Whatever villain bullshit you’re trying to sell, you’re talking to the wrong fucking person.” Bakugou growled as he jumped back from a particularly brutal attack, cracks forming in the cement where he was only a moment ago.
Crossing his arms, explosions lit as Bakugou blasted towards Dabi in a rotating ball of fire. The villain smirked as he attempted to thrust his own ball of blue flames.
Fire met fire and a sizzling, unbearable heat lit up the area.
Another fist suddenly appeared in Bakugou’s vision. Before he could dodge, the burning fire connected with his left cheek. Anger lit through him at being so careless, and through the pain, he threw his own explosion to Dabi’s smug face.
They both flew back. Bakugou landed with ease but hissed at the small sting of his cheek, shaking it off as he stood up again.
“Ah!” His heart lurched, red eyes snapping to Cheeks at the sound of her yelp. She staggered back before deftly dodging at Toga’s rabid swipes with her knife, all while the warp gate inched closer from behind her.
Bakugou latched onto the way she clutched her right arm, shoulder hunched together in obvious signs she was in pain. His heart nearly stopped beating as he took in the sight; blood oozed from where Uraraka was holding herself, streams of red trickling through her fingers and down the sleeve of her right arm.
No. A flood of fear hit him. No, Uraraka.
It was his fault. She was hurt because of him and his carelessness and –
Bakugou grit his teeth as he dodged yet another attack, before grey, binding cloth flung out and wrapped tightly around Toga, pulling her away from Uraraka. Bakugou reeled around as Aizawa flashed his red eyes at the black mist.
“Both of you! Get back!” Midnight snarled as she came from behind EraserHead. She moved towards where Dabi and Bakugou were facing off, a determined gleam in her eyes but he felt no relief because Uraraka.
Bakugou jolted in surprise as Dabi backed off, jumping towards Cheeks and he had a frightening, fleeting thought that Dabi was going to get there before Aizawa did and shit, Uraraka was in trouble.
“Uraraka!” He barely registered his voice cracking as he flung himself towards the brunette.
But it was already too late.
Replacing Toga’s place, Dabi lit up a wall of flames to halt Eraser Head in his tracks and temporarily blind him. Aizawa accidentally loosened his hold on Toga, and before Uraraka could slap Dabi with five fingers, he punched her in the gut.
Bakugou could only watch in ice-cold horror as she wretched, blood spewing out of her mouth and as Dabi’s fist came back red, fear gripped him as he realized she wasn’t just cut on the arm and she was being taken right in front of him.
She collapsed against Dabi’s hold, her hand slipping away from the gash on her arm and only then Bakugou noticed the rips on her tights and the soaked front of her shirt.
“No!” Bakugou could make it to her. He made it the first time and he’ll make it a-fucking-gain!
Toga bounced through the warp gate with a happy prep in her steps, and absolute terror filled him when Dabi began to slip through the warp gate himself, pulling along the limp girl with him.
He paid no mind to his aching arms. Faster, he had to go faster.
“No, no, no, no, no!” Dabi turned his head towards Bakugou barreling towards him, and the smirk the villain gave him would haunt up for days.
With that, he entered the portal and it sealed shut right as Bakugou’s hands gripped empty air, the remaining black tendrils of the warp gate seeping through his fingers before dissipating into the air.
“OCHAKO!”
“Bakugou?”
The blonde flinched out of his thoughts as he blinked blearily down at bright, brown eyes. An eyebrow raised at him as she rolled her eyes.
“Of course you weren’t listening.” Angel Face huffed in defeat. His eyes trailed down to her short, alive figure, wearing silk orange shirts that closely matched his hero costume and nearly gave him cardiac arrest the first time he saw it, and a black, spaghetti-strapped tank top that revealed a memorable scar on her right arm, two more to match on her lower abdomen and left thigh.
“Huh?”
“I said, have you called Kiri and Mina yet? About whether or not they’re coming to town this weekend?” His mind was still catching up to the present and his heart raced in adrenaline as he was reminded of the girl that slipped through his fingers too many times to count.
“Yeah.” Her eyebrow raised higher if that was even possible.
“Are you okay? You’re awfully…calm.”
“The fuck you mean? I’m always fucking calm!” She let out a tinkling laugh that made his lips wobble in embarrassment and his heartache in indescribable longing.
“Alright, buddy. Man, I already feel bad for the lucky lady…” She paused, tilting her head side to side in contemplation. “Or man, that gets stuck with you. I can barely handle you as my roommate.” She laughs to herself again.
Bakugou couldn’t even respond.
She had no idea.
“Well,” She proceeded to take out a bowl before rummaging through the fridge. “Since someone also forgot to buy groceries today, I guess I’ll have cereal.”
A scowl rose on Bakugou’s face.
“Oi, it was your fucking turn today.” She grinned, fully aware.
“Yes, yes.” The blonde rolled his eyes in fond exasperation, before pausing as he watched the brunette proceed to pour milk into the bowl, before the damn sugary flakes she called a meal.
“Fucking—” He couldn’t believe it! “How many times do I have to have to tell you?! You put the cereal before the damn milk!”
“Hah?! You wanna fight about this again?” Uraraka immediately rose to the challenge.
“I wouldn’t complain about it if you did it right the first fucking time.”
“Mhmm, and you think I care, because?” He growled as she stuck out a tongue towards him, giggling at the roll of his eyes, before skipping off into the living room to watch whatever shitty show she wanted to watch today. Ignoring how his heart hammered in his chest.
Ignoring how much he wanted to scoop her into his arms and let himself be selfish.
Even just for a day.
And as his eyes trailed after her, he couldn’t help feeling that she was slipping through his fingers again, like a curl of dark smoke. The sun he revolved around moved further and further away from his touch, and he was left cold, alone with his once again, aching heart. Longing for more and never getting enough.
Bakugou really was hopelessly in love with Ochako Uraraka.