Chapter Text
Her smile could give the sun a run for its money. It was so bright, so illuminating that it could light up the sky all on its own – that she could light up the sky all on her own.
Bakugou caught himself staring at Uraraka for longer than was necessary, he knew it, but as soon as he had heard laughter from the group of girls sitting on the opposite side of the room, the first person his eyes landed on was Uraraka and her brilliant smile.
“What’cha looking at, man?” Kirishima leaned over towards Bakugou’s shoulder to follow his line of sight, but Bakugou quickly straightened and whipped his head away with a hard “tch” sound and mumbled a quick, “Mind your own business, shitty-hair,” then began to walk away toward the stairs leading to the rooms of the dorm. Kirishima looked from Bakugou to where the girls were still chatting excitedly and laughing, his eyes first landing on Mina, who always had the cutest laughing fits as she always laughed with her whole body and was currently cradling her stomach from the laughter. Then his eyes trailed from Mina to Yaoyorozu, Jirou, Tsu-chan, Uraraka…
Kirishima paused as he spotted Uraraka, her smile bright and cheerful, and, much like Mina, she tended to laugh with her whole body, with so much unabandoned joy that it could be felt across the room. Ah, that was who he was looking at, Kirishima thought, a big grin spreading across his face.
Kirishima stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked away from the bright smile of Uraraka and turned to walk into the kitchen where Kaminari and Sero were chatting by the fridge, a drink in each hand. “Hey,” he said as he reached in the fridge to grab himself a drink. “Do you think Bakugou likes Uraraka?”
The two classmates immediately stopped talking, Kaminari nearly spitting out his drink, as they stared with wide-eyed shock at Kirishima. They looked at each other then burst out laughing before Kaminari asked, “Why do you think that?”
“Yeah, I can’t imagine King Explosion Murder liking anyone,” Sero said with a snicker.
Kirishima shook his head. “He was just staring at her a minute ago. I mean, I don’t blame him, she is pretty cute, but I just didn’t think that he liked anyone.”
The three boys looked over to where the girls were chatting, the laughter having died down a bit, each of their gazes landing on Uraraka. As though feeling their stares, she paused in listening to Mina talked very excitedly and animatedly about something to look over in their direction. The three boys quickly looked away, trying to look nonchalant as they did.
Kaminari leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, “If he does like her, do you think he’ll ask her out?”
“Probably not,” Sero said, taking a sip of his soda. “He’s too prideful, but also too focused on being the best at everything to probably even consider that kind of stuff.”
Kaminari nodded solemnly, but Kirishima wasn’t too sure. As the years at UA progressed, Bakugou had been changing in ways that were so drastically different from when they had started that it often surprised not just him, but everyone. Of course, everyone had been maturing and changing over the years, but it was Bakugou who showed the most change, for sure. Not that he still didn’t have his moments of anger and violence – something very inherently just Bakugou – but in smaller, subtler ways.
Kirishima took a big gulp of his soda before saying, “I think we should help him along, don’t you?”
Once again, Kaminari’s and Sero’s eyes widened as they both said at the same time, “Are you serious?”
Kirishima’s grin was wide. “Yeah! C’mon, I think a little bit of a more domestic situation could help our boy even more, don’t you think?” He draped an arm over Kaminari’s shoulders, pulling his friend close. “Besides, I think they’d make a cute couple, for sure!”
Once again, their gazes all swiveled to land on Uraraka, but it was Mina’s black and yellow gaze they met, who was suddenly standing right in front of them. They each jumped and shouted, some of the soda from their glasses spilling onto the floor. Mina had her hands on each of her hips, looking at them sternly. “What’re you guys chatting about, hm? I saw you three looking over at us then whispering all secretly and stuff, so out with it.”
The boys looked sheepish under her scrutinizing gaze, but Kirishima gestured for her to lean in closer. When she did, he whispered, “I think Bakugou likes Uraraka—”
Mina instantly gasped loudly and squealed. “Ohmygosh, really!?”
Kirishima waved his free hand and shushed her. Mina quickly slapped her hands over her mouth and glanced back at the girls, who had paused to look at Mina, but she just waved her hand like it was no big deal, and the girls went back to chatting while Mina spun back around.
Kirishima chuckled. “Yeah, I noticed him staring at her earlier, and a few times before then, too, and I was just telling these two that I think we should help them get together.” Mina’s grin widened impossibly further with delight. Kirishima could feel his own stomach flutter a bit at her bright smile before continuing, “Do you know if Uraraka likes anyone?”
Mina leaned back and put a finger to her cheek thoughtfully. “Hmm, I don’t think so. She hasn’t liked anyone in years, that I know of.” There was a time when all of the girls had teased Uraraka about liking Deku, but over time that crush had faded to admiration for their classmate, and so the girls would occasionally ask each other of their current crushes and such, but Uraraka was always quiet during those conversations, so Mina didn’t know – which drove her crazy, because she loved to know everything about her friends.
Kirishima nodded. “Do you think we should try to get them together? Maybe we could have a big outing or something and just try to help them along.”
A light bulb went off in Mina’s head. “That sounds perfect! Leave it to me, I know just the thing that could help. Operation Get Explosion Boy and Floaty Girl to Fall in Love is a go!” She stuck her hand into the center of the small group of them, waiting for them to pile their hands on top of hers. Kirishima put his hand on top of Mina’s then looked expectantly and excitedly at his friends. Sero and Kaminari glanced at each other, shrugged, and put their hands one on top of the other’s in the center. “One! Two! Three! Let’s do it!”
The four of them threw their hands into the air with a cheer, causing those in the common area to all look at them, but they just smiled excitedly as Mina leaned in once more to tell them of her plans.
Little did Bakugou or Uraraka know just what they were about to get into, and how much it would change their lives.