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Katsuki Bakugou nervously wiped the sweat from his palms. If he were fighting a villain, he would be grateful for the abundance of sweat he was producing. However, he wasn’t fighting a villain. He was laying restlessly in his bed, fighting his own damn nerves.
“Yo, Bakugou!” Eijirou Kirishima knocked on Bakugou’s bedroom door before opening it without asking. “You wanna come hang out with me and Denki tonight? Since we don’t have class tomorrow and have an extended curfew, we want to take advantage of it.”
“Why the hell would I want to hang out with you two?” Bakugou responded. “I’ve got other plans.”
“Oh, that’s not like you. Normally you just sit around the dorms brooding or find somewhere on campus to train. What do you have planned?” Kirishima leaned against the wall, making it obvious he had no intention of leaving without an answer.
Bakugou glared at Kirishima, steam rising from his hands - which were already starting to collect more sweat - and growled. “That’s none of your business.” He swung his legs over the side of his bed and stood up, hoping this would be enough of a threat to scare away his red-haired friend.
“Awwww, come on Bakugou. I think it’s pretty manly of you to prioritize the plans you already made over hanging out with your bros.” Kirishima smiled and held out a fist, hardened by his quirk.
“Shaddup, idiot.” Bakugou shoved his hands in his pockets and stalked out of his room. He didn’t bother checking over his shoulder, he knew Kirishima would follow. “What are you and Dunce face doing, anyway?”
“We haven’t decided yet. We might go to the arcade. There are some good movies out right now too, so maybe we’ll go out.” Kirishima jogged to catch up to Bakugou, walking about one pace behind him on his right side. “If you’re not coming, we’ll probably ask Sero.”
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.” Bakugou grumbled. He stopped walking when he arrived in the common room to find Ochaco Uraraka and Tsuyu Asui sitting on the couch.
“Hey Bakugou, hi Kirishima, ribbit.” Tsu nodded politely at them. “What are you two doing tonight?”
“Mind yer own business, extra!” Bakugou roared reflexively. He didn’t particularly mind the frog girl’s presence, but his mood was already souring thanks to shitty-hair’s prodding.
“Heya, Tsu! Uraraka!” Kirishima greeted them cheerily. “Me and Denki are going to hang out tonight, probably head to the arcade, or maybe see a movie. I was just asking Bakugou if he wanted to come along, but he has other plans.”
“Oh, well maybe we can go together! Mina and I are trying to get the girls together too. I was just about to ask Ochaco-chan if she wanted to come with us.”
“Oh! Thanks Tsu, but ummm…I’m not feeling that well, actually.” Uraraka’s cheeks blossomed and she laughed nervously. “Maybe next time, though!”
“Oh, alright. Well, make sure you get some rest then, ribbit.” Tsu tilted her head and held her index finger up to her chin, looking concernedly at Uraraka. “If you need anything, let me know.”
“Thanks.” Uraraka stood up. “I’ll be in my room if anyone needs me.” As she left the common room, she glanced at Bakugou and gave a slight nod. A silent confirmation that she was feeling fine for their secret date later that night.
“Well, if Ochaco isn’t feeling well, maybe you could invite Mina, Jiro, and Hagakure? We were gonna invite Sero, maybe Ojiro too. Everyone else is either studying, training, or visiting their families.” Kirishima paused for a moment, then frowned. “Well, there’s also Mineta.”
“As long as you don’t invite Mineta, I’ll invite the girls, ribbit.” Tsu let out a gentle chuckle before hopping to the stairs to find the other girls.
“You sure you don’t want in, Bakugou?” Kirishima draped his arm around Bakugou’s shoulder. “C’mon, you won’t even have to talk to anyone since it’ll be such a big group.”
Bakugou shrugged off Kirishima’s arm. “I said I have plans, shitty hair. “
“Alright, alright.” Kirishima held his hands up in defeat. “Well if you’re gonna be here, would you mind checking in on Uraraka later? She’s been working herself pretty hard lately.”
“Why should I care?” Bakugou asked, opening the freezer and grabbing a popsicle.
“Well, it would be pretty manly of you to take care of a sick friend.” Kirishima said.
“We’re not friends.” Bakugou replied without hesitation.
Kirishima shrugged and walked toward the stairs. “Sure, man. Whatever you say. I’ve seen the way you watch her train, though.” He smiled and then ran up the stairs before Bakugou could really attack him.
“OI!” Bakugou took three steps toward the stairs, then decided it wasn’t worth it. Damn shitty hair. When did he start paying attention to people? He threw away the wrapper to his popsicle, then went up the stairs and quietly made his way to Uraraka’s room.
Knock knock-knock
Uraraka opened the door and Bakugou slid inside. “Do you think they’re onto us? She whispered as she closed the door behind her.”
“Nah. Those extras don’t have a clue.” Bakugou said back. Uraraka still got chills when he was speaking to her quietly like this. His voice was low and smooth, all traces of his raspy shouting voice completely erased. “Still, we should change our plans for tonight.”
“But it’s our first date! What about our reservations? Haven’t you been planning this for a couple weeks now?” Uraraka started pacing anxiously around her room. “I know we’re at risk of running into our classmates, but you’ve already spent so much money on this. I couldn’t possibly ask you to-”
“Uraraka.” Bakugou put a hand gently on her shoulder, just firm enough to keep her from pacing. “I don’t mind at all. I already had a backup reservation in case something like this happened. We’ll just go to the opposite side of town from the arcade and theater, that way we won’t run into our classmates. It’ll be a little fancier than the restaurant I was planning to take you to, though. Is that alright?”
“F-f-fancy? Oh no, I couldn’t possibly… I mean, I don’t fit in with…” Uraraka turned around to face Bakugou. Let’s just cancel, I can’t fit in in a fancy setting. She froze. The words stuck in her throat. Bakugou smiled at her. He looked so calm, gentle even. So different than he was with the rest of their classmates. “I don’t have anything to wear.” She finally said, hanging her head.
Bakugou hooked his index finger and put it under Uraraka’s chin, guiding her gaze to meet his own. “Don’t worry about it. You can wear whatever you want.” He turned and cracked open the bedroom door. “You’re prettier than all those snobs anyway.”
Before Uraraka could respond, Bakugou slipped out and closed the door behind him.
“Hey, Kacchan! ” Denki’s voice came muffled through Uraraka’s door. “What’re you doing in Ochaco’s room, huhhhhhh?”
“SHUT IT, DUNCE FACE, OR I’LL FRY YOUR BRAIN! SHITTY HAIR ASKED ME TO CHECK ON HER, OK?” Bakugou bellowed. Uraraka heard Denki yelp before two sets of rushing footsteps descended the stairs. She giggled, then laid down in her bed.
A fancy date with Bakugou Katsuki, huh? She thought, rolling over to stare at her closet. He said it doesn’t matter what I wear, but I wonder…
Bakugou waited in his room for ten minutes after Kirishima and the others left. He didn’t want to risk running into them outside the dorms. When he was sure they must be gone, he changed into a pair of loose fitting khaki pants and put on a dark red button-up shirt over his black skull t-shirt. He looked in the mirror, decided to button his shirt up, and fixed his hair.
Knock knock
“Just a second!” He called. He would recognize Uraraka’s gentle knock anywhere. He quickly shoved a tie in his pocket. Just in case.
Bakugou opened his door to see Uraraka floating slightly off the ground in front of him. She was wearing a pink and black skirt, a pink top and a black jacket. “Hey.” She said, floating slightly higher. “Um… you look nice.”
Bakugou’s heart skipped a beat. “‘Course I do!” He said, looking away to hide his face. “You, uh… don’t look bad yourself. You might look better if you weren’t slowly approaching the ceiling though.”
“Oh!” Uraraka quickly released her quirk and laughed. “Sorry, I’m just a little nervous I guess.” I’m only going out with the strongest, coolest guy in our class.
“Tch. Don’t be nervous. It’ll be fine.” Bakugou locked eyes with Uraraka for a moment, then cleared his throat. “Now come on, the longer we stand around here the more likely we are to get caught.”
“You’re not hiding it very well in the first place.”
Bakugou and Uraraka both jumped and turned to face the stairwell. Kyoka Jirou leaned lazily against the wall. “You know I’m in the room beneath you, right? And I can hear things pretty well?” Jirou twirled the extended lobe of her ear and pointed the jack at the end toward the “secret couple.”
“Lobes! What do you want?” Bakugou started to storm down the hall, but Jirou raised a hand to stop him.
“Easy, lover boy. I don’t care what you do. Just figured I’d warn you that I’m not the only one catching onto you.” Jirou shrugged and turned her back to Bakugou. “Shouji has probably put it together by now, and I heard Ojiro and Satou talking about it a couple days ago. I like you two, so don’t screw it up just because you’re too scared to be together in front of the others”
Jirou waved and left the new couple standing dumbfounded in the hallway. Uraraka appeared at Bakugou’s side. “Well, that was unexpected.” She chuckled nervously, trying to break the tension.
Bakugou looked at Uraraka. She was clearly confused and unsure on how to proceed. He sighed heavily. “So other people know. Big whoop.” He took Uraraka’s hand and started walking toward the stairs. “If they figure it out, that’s their business. We can still hide as much as we want.”
Uraraka gripped Bakugou’s hand and nodded. “Ok.” So warm…
The two walked to the lobby hand in hand - they passed Jirou on the third floor, who gave a nod of approval - and were about to leave when they heard another voice behind them.
“Hey! Kirishima said you two weren’t joining us tonight, did you change your mind?” Hanta Sero called from the stairs.
“What are you doing here, tape-face! Kirishima and the others left almost fifteen minutes ago!” Bakugou quickly let go of Uraraka’s hand as he wheeled around on his friend.
“Whoa, down boy. I had to come back for my money.” Sero said, holding up his wallet. “Anyway, we decided to see a movie together. I’ll call Kirishima and let him know you two changed your minds, then we can all walk together and meet them at the theater!”
Bakugou grunted and stammered, but in the end he couldn’t think of a reason to say no. Uraraka laughed behind him. “I guess it’s a good thing we ran into you, Sero! We may have gone to the wrong theater.”
“Yeah, happy to help. Gimme just a minute and we can get going.” Sero said, dialing Kirishima’s number into his phone. “Yo, Kiri guess who I found in the lobby, man! Bakugou and Uraraka! Yeah! I know! Yeah, they’re coming with me. Uh, one sec.” Sero pulled his phone away and addressed Bakugou. “Hey, do you guys have money for your tickets or do you want Kirishima to get them for you?”
“What do you think!” Bakugou yelled. He almost jumped when Uraraka gently put a hand on his shoulder.
“We can get our own tickets when we get there, but thank you for the offer.” Uraraka smiled. “We’re already running late, so I don’t want to be an extra burden on anyone.”
Bakugou looked at Uraraka. How are you always so calm? Can you balance me out? He would have to save those questions for another day. “Yea, tell shitty-hair I’ve got us covered. If he even thinks about paying for me I’ll kill him.”
“You catch all that? Ok, great! Yeah, see you when we get there. Save us some seats!” Sero hung up his phone. “Alright, let’s get going!
After walking for twenty minutes, Bakugou, Sero, and Uraraka arrived at the theater. Sero bought his own ticket, then Bakugou bought tickets for himself and Uraraka.
“Yo!” Kirishima called from across the lobby. “Hope you guys are ok with the new action movie! Mina and I thought it would be the best fit for the whole group.’
“Yeah man, sounds great!” Sero called back. Then, low enough that only Bakugou and Uraraka could hear, he said “Kirishima wanted to see the latest romance movie but Mina vetoed that idea.”
“What’s that?” Kirishima called.
“I said we’ll be in after we hit up the concession stand!” Sero grinned and waved as Kirishima gave a big thumbs up and went into the theater with the rest of their group.
“Looks like both lines are pretty short so I’m gonna go ahead and get a drink.” Sero pat Bakugou on the back before leaving. For a brief second, Bakugou thought his friend was pushing him towards Uraraka, but that must have been his imagination.
“Do you want anything?” Bakugou muttered.
Uraraka blushed. “Oh, you don’t have to-”
“Uraraka, I was going to buy you dinner.” Bakugou interrupted. “At least let my buy you some lame movie theater snacks.”
“Umm, well I guess I wouldn’t mind some popcorn.” Uraraka admitted.
“Great. Wait here.” Bakugou ordered two buckets of popcorn and joined back up with Uraraka and Sero, then they entered the movie theater together.
“Hey! Saved you guys some seats!” Kirishima waved at them from a row near the back of the theater. “We had to split the group a little cause of the stairs. I’ve got two right there across the aisle for Sero and Bakugou, and Mina saved you a seat down there, Uraraka.”
Bakugou glanced at Uraraka. Dammit, shitty hair. This is still supposed to be a date, how am I supposed to do that when she’s on the other side of the theater?
“Oh, there’s a seat open by Mina? Great! We were talking about this movie the other day and I’d love to see her reactions!” Sero turned to Bakugou and Uraraka. “You two don’t mind sitting together, do you?”
“Uhhh.” Bakugou stared at Sero, not sure how to respond.
“Oh, um. We don’t mind, I guess. Right?” Uraraka said, nudging Bakugou’s shoulder.
“Right. We’re just watching a movie, why would I care who I’m sitting by?” Bakugou finally managed to say.
“Great! Thanks so much, guys!” Sero lowered his voice again. “Have a good date, you two.” He winked, then ran off to his seat by Mina.
“Well, uh… After you, Cheeks.” Bakugou said. Damn tape face. I owe you now.
They took their seats, and a few minutes later the movie began. Bakugou wasn’t sure when he started holding Uraraka’s hand, but he knew it felt nice. Maybe having their friends know about them wouldn’t be too bad after all.