Chapter Text
Bakugou’s eyes snapped open at her voice coming from the room next door.
“Bakugouuuu! I think the AC is broken.” Uraraka yelled out from her bedroom, punctuated with a slight sob that Bakugou just knew was accompanied by a little pout.
He blinked a few times and scrunched up his nose.
He was absolutely drenched in his extremely flammable sweat.
He grimaced and peeled himself off the bed, covers that he had undoubtedly kicked off in his sleep, seeing as they were already already strewn about the ground.
Of course their AC just had to die on the hottest day of the year. All the news channels reported a dangerous heatwave to the point where Bakugou had been called off his scheduled patrol. His explosions would have been far too dangerous, especially in a dense city like Tokyo. It was already Uraraka’s day off, but this was absolutely not how she had hoped to spend it.
Bakugou’s hair was matted to his face and as soon as he stepped onto the laminate floor, his foot slid out from under him.
Uraraka quickly leapt out of bed and pulled his bedroom door open to see an incredibly irate Bakugou sitting on the ground in just his boxers that were matted to his legs.
Uraraka inhaled sharply and turned around quickly to hide the rising red taking over her face. “S-sorry! I heard a thump and wanted to make sure you were ok!”
Bakugou sighed. “I’m fuckin’ fine.” He winced slightly as he got up. “The damn heatwave has me sweatin’ enough to become a nuke.” He grumbled as he dug through his dresser for a pair of shorts, opting to stay shirtless through the heat.
Uraraka laughed lightly as he exited the room to check on their AC unit. He rubbed his hip with each step.
Uraraka quickly went to their freezer to grab him one of their many ice packs. Working as heroes, they always had basic first aid items ready on hand, including Todoroki’s branded ice packs. Hero merchandising was weird.
She basked in the cool air of the freezer for a moment before grabbing an ice pack for herself too.
“Here.” She nudged him with the ice pack in hand, her ice pack already against the back of her neck.
Bakugou grumbled but took it from her anyway and gingerly placed it against his hip. “Gonna have to take it apart to fix it.” He nodded toward the AC unit.
Uraraka saw him wipe an obscene amount of sweat off his face as he moved to get the small toolbox he kept under the sink.
“Hey, why don’t you just leave it for the night when it’s a bit cooler?” She said softly as she saw the discomfort written on his face.
“It’s fuckin’ hot, Cheeks. The fuck are we gonna do till night?” He glared up at her and the movement caused his soaked hair to dampen the area around him, like a dog shaking out its fur after a bath.
Uraraka shrugged. “We’ll figure it out. We’ve got soba we can eat cold, and a ton of ice cream thanks to me, so we’ll just close all the curtains to keep the sun out and make do.”
Bakugou furrowed his brows and looked at the AC unit again. He opened and closed the hand that wasn’t holding the ice pack and saw just how much sweat he’d accumulated even in this short time. His hip did actually hurt a bit, and he knew he’d get extra frustrated as he fiddled with the small parts of the AC. His shoulders slumped and he sighed as he gave in.
“Fine. Gonna shower.”
Uraraka put on a small smile and nodded. “I’m gonna have ice cream for breakfast!” She pumped her free hand in the air, making an excited fist.
Bakugou couldn’t help but roll his eyes, holding back the upturn at the edge of his own mouth.
7 New Messages.
[Cheeks] OMG, Bakugou, look at this dog I saw on the way to work!
[Cheeks] <pomeranian.jpg>
[Cheeks] Looks just like you!!!
[ Cheeks] Ok, look at my ginormous lunch. America is wild!
[Cheeks] <childsizedrinkandlorgeborger.jpg>
[Cheeks] Hey, I heard there’s another heatwave. Hope the AC works this time!
[Cheeks] Facetime before bed/work?
Bakugou runs his palm across his face to wake himself up a bit more after looking through his phone messages.
[Me] I don’t fuckin look like that. That burger is normal sized, you’re just small as shit. AC’s fine, but the heat ain’t as bad as last year anyway.
Bakugou grumbles as he climbs out of his all too big bed and throws open his bedroom door to release some of the stagnant warm air. He looks down at the last message Uraraka sent and quickly pens one in response.
[Me] I’ll call at 8 PM my time, 7 AM your time.
Bakugou pads out to the kitchen and starts to prepare the fish as he scoops out some rice from the rice cooker into a bowl. He looks at the bowl he subconsciously grabbed to see that it was Uraraka’s favourite meme bowl. She picked up the bowl from a street market vendor, and it was clearly one of those knock off hero brand merch. It had a now fading pattern of little dogs and cats in Dynamight’s hero costume.
Bakugou scoffs and shakes his head, but doesn't change the bowl out.
He’s going over some intel and security footage today, so he doesn’t need to go into the agency. He figures he’ll just work from home, but he stalls a bit, thinking about what would be the most comfortable place to set up his laptop and the files. He walks cautiously over to the door to the second bedroom, shakes his head with brows furrowed, deep in thought. With a big sigh, he gives in and opens the door to see a shell of a room.
Uraraka’s cartoonish planet print bedding is still pristine, tucked in as if she’s the one who made the bed.
Bakugou grumbles and throws all his files on top of the bed and climbs in.
The room has started to smell more like him than her.
He drops his head back onto the padded headboard and closes his eyes just for a moment.
Bakugou hopped out of the shower to find the apartment coated in as much darkness as all the curtains could provide. There was a slight breeze from Uraraka’s open bedroom flowing through the apartment.
He peeked his head around the doorway to see Uraraka sprawled on her bed, still wearing her black shorts with little bows on it and the ratty, old black tank top that’s now been stretched out since her UA days. He noticed that the curtains on her window weren’t closed all the way, but thanks to the angle of the buildings nearby, her room was still shaded while letting in the cross wind.
“Oi, you gonna lay in bed all day?” He asked, voice breaking slightly as he tried his best to not focus on the sweat pooling around her strong legs, littered with little scars just like his were.
She turned on her side to face him, cheek squishing against her pillow. “Mmm, not a bad idea. I’ll just get up for ice cream breaks.” She grinned and then patted the empty part of her bed. “My room’s the coolest, so you should come hang out.”
Bakugou’s eyes widened and he gulped. “I-I’m gonna get your bed all sweaty.”
Uraraka gave him a half shrug. “Everything’s gonna have to be washed anyways. Not like I’m not sweaty too.” She patted the bed with more emphasis now. “It’s too hot to move, so we can watch stuff here. We haven’t finished that one shoujo you like yet.” She finished with a smirk.
Bakugou rolled his eyes as the mood lightened slightly. “I don’t fuckin’ like shoujo.”
Uraraka’s laughter was carried by the light breeze that blew her hair into her face. “Yeah, yeah, I won’t tell anyone that the great big explosion murder god just wants his ships to sail.” She reached out and beckoned him with her hands. “Now, are you gonna join me or nah?”
Bakugou sighed and grabbed his laptop before plopping onto her bed, setting up the latest episode of Fruits Basket.
“Fuckin’ hell,” Bakugou grumbles to himself, planet print blanket loosely pooling around his feet, “of course, the asshole has a ground manipulation quirk.” He sighs and picks up the next file on one of the suspected villains involved in his current case. This is the first case he’s been assigned to without Uraraka, coming across his desk just after she left. It’s a weapon trafficking ring, with a seemingly rotating group of villains. He had made bust after bust, catching a couple at a time, but there just kept being more people. At this point, he’d dealt with 37 villains, and he’s now really hoping this last run will be the last.
When he found out that one of the villains would probably have a ground based quirk, he really wished that Uraraka was back and handling this case with him. There weren’t very many aerial quirks in the first place, and she was one of just two at Hawks’ agency, where they both worked. Uraraka not being here meant he’d probably have to talk to and work with his boss directly. Ever since she transferred to Hawks’ agency after a couple years with Miruko, Uraraka had become a staple in life. They were hero partners for a few months before Uraraka needed a new place to live. Kirishima had just moved out of Bakugou’s apartment to take a job in Osaka, and truthfully, Bakugou’s apartment felt less lively without his best friend. So, of course, Bakugou replaced one ray of sunshine for another.
He’d never tell Uraraka that was actually the reason. For all she knows, it was just for the rent and so that she’d stop pestering him about what he did on his weekends.
It’s not like Bakugou actually liked her right from the start. It definitely wasn’t the case that she had been on his radar from their very first year at UA. It absolutely wasn’t the case that he’d followed her career after she had graduated. It certainly wasn’t the case that he was actually excited to be partnered up with her again because she had only grown in confidence and strength since their high school times.
So, when his feelings hit him like a truck just one random Tuesday night when she was sitting down with a facemask whose smell Bakugou hated, clipping her toenails on the couch just as he had told her not, he did what anyone in his place would do.
He denied it.
That lasted about a week when he came back to their apartment from a Hero Association meeting early and found her dancing away to complete silence in the kitchen with a bowl of ice cream in her hands.
He just stood in the doorway, frozen, trying to not make any noise as he saw how her hair moved with the sway of her hips and the dip of her shoulders. All he wanted to do at that point was reach out to grab her by the waist and dig his face into the crook of her neck.
That was six months before she left.
“Oi, wake the fuck up, Round Face.” Bakugou whisper-yelled after the fifth episode of Fruits Basket. He reached out to shake her slightly, hesitating for just a moment before gripping her shoulder. He smiled slightly as he took in the curve of her face - sure her cheeks were round, but so was her small nose and the parts of her ear peeking out through her hair. He saw just how she was leaning against him, toes touching his calves. He took a deep breath to push down the warmth he felt creeping up his body.
It was already too hot to feel even more warmth.
Calming himself, he grinned wide and shook her vigorously.
Uraraka’s eyes shot open and she sat up, wildly flailing her head around as she heard Bakugou cackling beside her. She blinked away the sleep and narrowed her eyes at him. She smacked him on the arm, making a loud noise through their otherwise silent apartment.
“Rude!” She pouted.
Bakugou wiped the tears of joy out of the corner of his eyes. “You brought it on yourself, Pink Cheeks. Didn’t even make it halfway through the season.” He grinned, crossed his arms, and flopped onto his back, lying fully on her bed now to look up at the ceiling.
The light breeze floated through her room, the sun was starting to set, cooling down the apartment even more with the evening air.
Uraraka lay beside him but moved her head to touch his shoulder gently. Bakugou raised an eyebrow and looked at her out of the corner of his eye but didn’t say anything.
“Remember my first night here?” Uraraka said softly as she reached her hand up to the ceiling, looking at the back of her fingers before turning to scrutinize her finger pads.
Bakugou scoffed. “Can’t fuckin’ forget it. You almost burned down the kitchen.”
He heard her huff a puff of air.
“I just wanted to make brownies for our first night together!” She whined.
“You were a fuckin’ disaster.” Bakugou shook his head fondly.
“Well, you changed that.” She tipped her head upwards a bit to glance at him.
Bakugou had offered her cooking lessons once a week every week since he had realized his feelings for her. Of course, it gave the two of them time to get to know each other more, really only cementing every thing that Bakugou saw in her.
She was a terrible cook to start. She could barely even cut vegetables without cutting herself, and she kept deviating from recipes and substituting completely random ingredients for each other. She explained to him that she didn’t really have a whole lot of food variety growing up, buying and eating only what she and her family could afford.
Bakugou had stayed silent as she recounted bits of her childhood, going more and more in depth everytime they cooked together. Over time, he had started to open up to her too. He told her about the times he’d cook with his father and bake with his mother. There were the only times he really felt normal around his family, his mother expecting so much of him all the time.
Uraraka made him sit down for a full three course, Western style meal a month and a half into their deal.
He watched her cook all the food even though both of them had just come back from a tough patrol. She wanted to stay true to her word of cooking for them that night to show Bakugou just how much she’d improved. He saw her determination with her tongue sticking out of her mouth and her little ponytail bobbing up and down as she frantically looked between the stove and the recipe.
It just all felt so normal.
Just as he was drifting away, still in Uraraka’s bed, a cool breeze lapping up his sweat, his stomach growled.
Uraraka giggled and sat up fully. “Come on, grumpy, we should eat. We spent the whole day in bed.”
Bakugou rolled his eyes but followed suit and sat up to put his laptop away. “You spent the whole day asleep.”
Uraraka shrugged. “Don’t blame me ‘cause you weren’t smart enough to nap through the hottest part of the day.”
He furrowed his brows and threw on a disbelieving scowl. “Smart would have been fixing the fuckin’ AC.”
Uraraka patted his arm as she bounced into the kitchen and opened the fridge. “Soba first, AC after. I made this, so you gotta eat it.”
He gets up, raising himself on an elbow and furiously pulling the paper stuck to his face away. He grimaces as he notices his drool smearing some of the ink on the pages he fell asleep on. He sighs and piles up the pieces of paper neatly into their original folders. He’d spent the whole day in her bed again. It was becoming a bit too much of a habit on the days he could work from home.
He looks around the room to see some of the things she left behind. She had some plushies lined up on the corner shelf, and he smiles as he remembers how she only packed the Dynamight plushie. She said that she had gotten the transfer job just after she bought it, so it was now her good luck charm. He walks over and lightly dusts off the other plushies and frowns.
The room didn’t look anything like how he remembered it when it was full of her vibrancy. She loved saving money, but she also really liked little knick knacks, so they’d sometimes go visit night markets and she’d come back with some cheaply made merch. He’d always shake his head, pretending like it was such a chore doing this with her, but eventually, he was the one bringing back little goodies from every trip the agency sent him on without her.
He gathers up all his paperwork from the bed and quietly puts the sheets back up to make it seem undisturbed. He takes a big breath and gently moves his finger over the Pluto the dog pillowcase. She had been so happy when she came home with that pillow case, her childish excitement over every small detail leaking through.
Bakugou needed her to come back in one piece.
He walks over to the kitchen and starts to cut up some vegetables for a quick stir fry. As he’s doing so, he comes across an old recipe in the drawer.
“Strawberry mochi.” He mumbles to himself. His mom’s recipe.
He’d gotten her to write down the recipe a couple months after living with Uraraka, but hadn’t gotten a chance to make it for her yet. It’s a time consuming and complicated dessert, and he wants the first time she has them to be the night when he finally tells her how he feels.
“Bakugou, I can’t understand any of this.” Uraraka pouted as she turned the unfolded AC instruction booklet upside down. She squinted her eyes as if that would help her figure out the troubleshooting diagrams.
Bakugou rolled his eyes but didn’t snatch the paper away from her.
He couldn’t figure out how to read the text-less instructions either, but he wasn’t about to tell her that.
“That shit’s probably wrong anyways, Cheeks. I got this. Just grab me some fuckin’ water, will ya?” He wiped his forehead, the frustration making him overheated even though the night breeze now rolled in.
She placed the glass of water on the ground beside where he was sitting and she took up a spot across from him, leaning against the wall. She eyed him carefully, watching the intensity in his eyes and the sweat sticking the hair on the back of his head to his neck. Sometime over the past few weeks of living with him, Uraraka had started wanting to just reach out and touch him.
She realized that he was nothing like the hot-head she knew back in school. He’d stopped insulting Midoriya with every second sentence, going so far as to bring him in on select cases. He’d also been extremely considerate to her, helping with just about everything she needed including teaching her how to cook.
It didn’t hurt that he looked like a marble statue that belonged in a museum until he gave her a lopsided smirk that reminded her just how alive he really was.
But it was because of all that that she couldn’t just tell him how she felt right now. He deserved her entire attention, but so did her career.
“Hey, Katsuki?” She looked at him softly, using his first name for the first time.
She noted the wild eyes as they focused on hers and the light dusting of red taking over his ears.
She gulped and continued. “There’s a year long young heroes program run by the International Hero Association, and um… I applied to go.” She looked down, unable to meet his eyes for the first time that night. “I leave in two months.”
Bakugou choked on his own words as he just stared at her. He knew about the program, of course, it was extremely well renowned, and every single hero that spent a year in that program showed greatly improved rescue skills that inevitably skyrocketed them through the ranks. He couldn’t have been more proud of her for deciding to take that step in her career. She already was a great hero, and she mirrored his ambitions by wanting to truly be Plus Ultra.
“How’re you gonna find mochi abroad?” He croaked, trying to crack a smile.
Uraraka let out a small chuckle. Music to his ears. “I’ll just have to come back, and you’ll finally have to make me the mochi you keep holding over my head.”
Bakugou rolled his eyes. “Maybe you just haven’t deserved my mochi yet. It’s gonna be the best damn mochi ever, you know.”
Uraraka smiled wide. “Well, I bet I’m gonna be higher ranked by the time I come back, you think I’ll deserve it then?”
Bakugou had to scoff but his eyes softened. “You’ll have to come back to find out.”
“Keep my room for me?” She whispered, looking at him with bated breath.
He gave her a soft smile that she would have missed if she didn’t know him so well. “Obviously.”
She watched him work for a few more minutes, both in the comfortable silence. He fixed the AC and re-installed it on the window before turning it on without fanfare. She fanned herself with her hand and sighed as she thought about her life this time next year.
“What’re you even gonna do without me next year?” She blurted out, mid thought.
Bakugou chuckled deeply. “Not hang out in your damn bed all day, that’s for sure.”
Bakugou cleans up his dishes, finishes his workout, and has a quick shower before he crawls into his own bed, immediately noting how unsatisfying it feels after being in Uraraka’s bed. He glances at the clock before grabbing his phone and pressing the call button as he quickly fluffs up his hair a bit using his reflection from his phone screen.
“Bakugouuuu!!” Uraraka yells excitedly as she picks up, fumbling slightly with the camera until she gets a hold on it and focuses on her face.
Her voice is like a soothing balm and he can’t help but chuckle as her cheeks become the focus of her screen.
“It's past my bedtime, Cheeks. Make it quick.” He says with absolutely no force behind his words.
Uraraka nods sharply and takes a big breath before starting. “Ok, so there was a villain with a vibration quirk today, tryin’ to start somethin’ right near The Empire State building! I was with Lasso, my patrol partner here with the rope quirk, and we had to rush in real quick, and I was so ready to hold up a whole building…” She continues, cheeks puffing up, eyes darting around her surroundings as she takes small breaks to eat her breakfast sandwich.
Bakugou tucks himself farther into his bed just letting her voice wash over him. He knew he’d stay up all night if she really needed him to, but she had to get to work soon, so that wouldn’t happen tonight.
He glances at his large bed, feeling more and more empty with every passing day. He wonders for a moment what her bed feels like, halfway across the world. Even if she slept on concrete, he’d much rather be there.
Just three more months until she comes back, and this time, he’s resolved to tell her how he feels.