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“Yo, Round-Face!”
Uraraka stopped in her tracks as rain poured down all around her. She turned to find the source of the voice bolting towards her.
Bakugou’s feet seemed to catch every puddle possible on his way down the street. His trouser legs were soaked almost the whole way up by the time he reached Uraraka. He shoved an umbrella into her hands, interrupting her attempted greeting.
“Here. It’s raining.”
In her surprise, Uraraka wordlessly accepted the umbrella. It was only as he began stomping away again that she shook herself back to sense.
She dashed to get ahead and held out a hand to stop him. “Hold on! Now you’re going to get wet, take it back.”
“Don’t want it,” he said, walking around her.
Uraraka fumed, and puffed out her cheeks, and almost just left him to walk home in the rain, but her compassion made her waver before she could even start. She knew starting an argument with Bakugou, of all people, would be useless but there are things to do other than argue.
Moments later, Bakugou felt the rain around him stop, though he could still see it gushing down ahead. He rolled his eyes at Uraraka, stepping along cheerfully beside him with the umbrella over both of their heads.
“I told you, I don’t want it, dunce.”
“I’m not giving it to you,” Uraraka smiled. “Just sharing it!”
“We don’t live anywhere near each other.”
“Then I guess I’m walking you home, since you’re under my umbrella.”
Bakugou grumbled, but could find no way to argue, and so they walked together.
Days later at Ultra Academy, the girls’ table of 1A was discussing boys. Uraraka was doing her best to not take part in the conversation, letting herself get overly invested in dissecting her ramen to cover her disinterest. That was, until a certain name got brought up.
“Bakugou?” Hagakure said disparagingly. “I dunno, he’s a bit bossy, isn’t he?”
“And so loud,” Jirou agreed. “I couldn’t put up with all that aggression.”
“He’s not that bad,” Uraraka blurted out before she could help herself. “He’s always nice to me.”
Yaoyorozu raised an unimpressed eyebrow. “Doesn’t he call you “Round-Cheeks” all the time?”
“That doesn’t bother me!” she huffed. “You guys just need to give him a chance.”
Ashido nodded vigorously. “Yeah! Bakugou’s nice when you get used to him. Just gotta let him warm up to you, and he’s a total softie. He’s an acquired taste, but still a good one.”
“Not a taste I want to acquire, kero.”
The group’s laughter at Asui’s remark drowned out any remaining suspicion at Uraraka’s sudden defense – at least, she hoped it did. Her case wasn’t helped by Bakugou walking by at that moment, and especially not by her locking eyes with him. Neither of them smiled, but it wasn’t an unfriendly eye-contact. Just… Familiar.
Uraraka had not covered her tracks as well as she had thought. At their class president’s suggestion, the class was taking a group trip to a nearby cafe, but had to split into smaller groups in order to fit into the booths. Before she could breathe a word, Uraraka was being pushed towards Bakugou’s group. She still could have snuck her way out if not for Kirishima loudly and eagerly welcoming her in. Bakugou didn’t look displeased to see her, but he didn’t look at all happy that Kirishima pulled in Midoriya as their last member.
Both Uraraka and Bakugou were uncharacteristically quiet at the table; Bakugou behaving himself for once and biting back insults at Midoriya’s every word, and Uraraka just anxiously scanning the menu. Normally, she would have had enough saved up to manage at least a snack for a class event, but rent was due last week and she had to buy a new pair of shoes just yesterday… The cafe seemed sweet, but all Uraraka could focus on was the hiked up prices.
She kept scouring the menu for anything within her price range, letting Midoriya and Kirishima natter away to each other enough for the whole table, until she felt a gentle tap against her thigh. She looked down to see Bakugou nudging his wallet against her, and back up to see him pointedly looking away. He tapped her again, and she pushed his hand away, slightly shaking her head ‘no’ when he turned around.
Bakugou frowned and pushed it back towards her, but she just put his hand back. They continued this charade until they were loudly interrupted.
“What’re you two glarin’ about? I thought you’d be happy to see each other.”
Uraraka could feel her face flushing. “What’s that supposed to mean? Happy to see each other? Why would we be…” She cut herself off before she could dig that grave any deeper.
“That sure was a reaction, Ochako,” Midoriya said with a knowing smile.
“… Stupid Deku,” Uraraka mumbled, dropping her hands to her lap – where she realised Bakugou had somehow slipped his wallet while she was distracted. Her head shot up to protest, but he was already striking up conversation with Kirishima.
Fine, she thought. But I’m not getting anything expensive. Stupid Bakugou.
The weather had been fine when the class entered the cafe, but they had seen out the windows as it started to drizzle. By the time they were done, it was an all-out downpour. Bakugou grimaced, thinking of how drenched he’d be by the time he got inside, but before he had even finished his thought a cover was sprouting up over him.
“Walk you home?” Uraraka offered. “As pay back.”
“You don’t need to pay me back for that, round-cheeks.”
“I don’t wanna owe you anything. Now, come on.”
Without waiting for an answer, she linked their arms together and pulled him along. Bakugou called her an idiot, and grumbled the whole way home, but never once pulled away.