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You’ve been dating Bakugou for eight months, and your relationship with the infamous explosive hero is a confusing case among your friends.
However, you don’t know how confused they are until Uraraka pulls you aside one day to ask if you’re okay—read: to ask if you’re safe.
You almost laugh in her face, but you’re able to keep it together in front of her honest expression. It’s surprising how little they know, and it’s hilarious how wrong they are (which is wild to you, because aren’t they close with Midoriya who considers him one of his closest friends?).
It’s laughable that they think Bakugou, of all people, is dangerous to you.
Bakugou, who gives you his credit card three months into the relationship.
Bakugou, who changes his phone background weekly because he can’t decide on one favorite picture of you.
Bakugou, who searches for your hand to hold even in his sleep, who jerks awake whenever he feels you shift too far away in bed, whose frantic fingers search the sheets for you in his half-sleep.
That Bakugou. Right.
Though you have enough self control to not laugh, you do let out a wicked snort. You tell her to watch carefully next time you’re all together, and even when she tries to tell you that she has been, you shake your head and repeat it—watch carefully.
At the next group outing at a pop-up carnival, you arrive arm-in-arm with Ashido, Bakugou following close behind. Midoriya’s the only one who eagerly greets your boyfriend, though you wouldn’t say the others give an unkind welcome. You grin at the ones you know are worried—Asui, Iida, and Uraraka—though they don’t find this as funny as you do.
Watch close, you mouth to them.
And they do.
At first, they think you’ve got some mild form of Stockholm Syndrome; they think that you must be used to trauma and that you can’t tell your relationship is a bomb ready to go off. All they can see are his scowls and shouts. All they can see is the angry child who grew bigger, stronger, and more powerful than he was a decade ago, a man who must be utilizing all of his strength and anger to keep you trapped.
Watch, you tell them again when they try to pull at you for a quick intervention.
They’re still doubtful, but for you, they try again.
This time, they see things—they see Bakugou, maybe not the way you do, but different than how they used to.
They see how his shoulders always touch yours when he’s seated, how he accompanies you to the food stall so he can pull his wallet out, how he always glances back to see where you’re at as you linger at each stand. They see him scowl with cheeks colored pink as you fix his hair in the whipping wind. They see him lean into your ear and whisper something that makes you laugh as he points to an ugly pig plush prize. They seem him pull you away from the group and sneak off into the crowd when he thinks no one’s watching.
Still not fully convinced, they finally approach Ashido about your relationship, about whether or not you’re truly safe and loved. She’s first taken aback because she thinks they’re making a dumb joke. Then, when she sees that they’re genuinely concerned, she doubles over in laughter, cackling so hard and so loud that there are hot tears in her eyes and painful cramps in her stomach. She gasps out in between giggling and snorting about how incredible it is that they could believe something so obviously impossible, ignoring their expressions of irritation and shame.
Well, Bakugou doesn’t drink around you guys, so that’d probably help, huh, she says when she’s finally calmed down, wiping at her eyes. At their confusion, she explains that he’s needy when he’s drunk. I’ll give you a sneak peek, she smiles conspiratorially.
Pulling out her phone, she opens up the folder created specifically for sentimental Bakugou photos. Ashido shows them a picture of him passed out on the couch, face resting against your lap with a firm grip on your calf (This was last week when he was plastered after four drinks!), another of him with you up on his shoulders in the pool, fiery smirks on both your faces (They beat me and Denki in Chicken, ugh!), and finally, a picture of him kissing you around a corner, which was immediately followed by a blurry photo of Bakugou swinging at the camera (I don’t remember this one, actually, but this happens pretty frequently!).
Perhaps they hadn’t been watching closely after all, they think.
Ashido shows them several more photos, each with Bakugou sappier than the last, and she ends it by cooing about how cute the both of you are. She says she’s surprised that neither you nor Midoriya have shown them anything, and Midoriya stammers out something about privacy, and they mention that they hadn’t expressed their horror in full until recently.
Horror, Ashido repeats, and then it turns into another full-blown cackle in public.
When you and Bakugou make it back to the group, you take one look at your friends and grin, seemingly aware of their newfound understanding. They look back at you, abashed, but you’re too preoccupied with your bag of souvenirs and the ugly pig plush in your arms to be mad about their misconceptions. Anyways, the pig was bought, not won, and you’re excited to share the story with the others. Bakugou is on his phone again, subtly leaning against you; when Uraraka passes by behind him, she sees that he’s not scrolling through his apps but deciding a new background photo, stuck between one of you throwing the camera a kiss or laughing in the sunlight. She watches him pick one and then favorite the other one.