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When the doors close behind them after they get Izuku inside the silence seems defending. They all head to the baths to get cleaned up before they crash. The past few weeks have been some of the toughest they had faced as a class, and they had been through a lot the past year. Bakugou watches Uraraka slip away up the stairs. Initially he was upset that no one noticed but some of their class must have because when Izuku asks about her Jiro tells him that she went to bed.
He could tell that it was more than physical exhaustion that was weighing her down, because he was feeling the same things she was. They both cared for Izuku and revealed those parts of themselves to the world today. He couldn’t explain all that had changed between the three of them, only that things could never go back to how they were. Between them or out in the world. He was trying his best to not call Izuku Deku anymore.
After seeing All Might Izuku fell asleep on the couch so Bakugou decided to head to his room and let some of the others take care of him for now. When he got to his floor he paused before going into his room when he heard a noise from down the hall. When he looked there seemed to be a pink glow coming from under Uraraka’s door. He couldn’t stop himself from heading toward her room and he heard the noise again, like things were hitting the wall or something. When he reached up to knock on the door he heard another noise that make him want to blow the door off its hinges, a scream.
“Uraraka!” He pounded on the door and called out to her. “Open the door.”
He tried the handle and found that it was unlocked. He hesitated before going in until he heard her whimper so he threw caution to the wind and stepped inside and closed the door behind him.
Her room was in total chaos. Her belongings were glowing and rocketing around the room. He ducked as a textbook flew at his head. He finally spotted her floating in the center of the room. She seemed to be having a nightmare and her quirk had activated in her sleep. He knew that she wore mittens to prevent herself from floating her bedding but they weren’t helping her now.
Her whole body was glowing and she was thrashing around murmuring. He couldn’t understand what she was saying but he could guess what she was dreaming about. They had been through so many nightmare inducing events, but these last weeks of endless villain hunting, loosing friends and teachers, and worry over Izuku seemed to be the cherry on top. She had done more than the rest of them. He hardly ever saw her stop to rest. She took double the patrols because her quirk was one of the most useful for rescuing trapped civilians. She has seen more of the darkness infecting their world than the rest of them, and yet she never lost her smile.
Now her subconscious was fighting against the constant stress by releasing her quirk in her sleep.
“Cheeks, you have to wake up.” She didn’t react to his voice. He had no choice but to make his way through the chaos and try to wake her up.
He crouched down and managed to miss being hit by anything too bruising. When he was close to where she was floating he stood up and reached up to grab her arm. He immediately started floating as soon as he touched her. He grabbed on to her other arm before he could be carried off into the rest of the stuff circling the room. Her face was scrunched up and she kept shaking it back and forth. His heart clenched at the obvious pain she was in.
“Wake up, Ochako. Its just a dream.” He attempted to shake her but only ended up almost slamming their heads together.
“No,” she mumbled, “Leave him alone. He’s ours.” He was close enough to understand her mumblings now. She was probably talking about Izuku, it felt like the league had chased him away from us and kept him from coming back the UA. “Give him back.”
“Wake up, Izuku is fine.” He let go of her left arm and patted her face. He really didn’t want to slap her but he wasn’t sure how else to wake her up. He pulled her close and whispered in her ear,
“Every one is fine cheeks, we brought him back remember. You need to wake up before we get pummeled by all your stuff.”
She moaned and he could feel her breathing speed up against his cheek. “Katsuki.”
He breathed a sigh of relief and pulled back only to see her eyes still closed and her brow even more scrunched. Was she dreaming about him too? “I’m here Cheeks, just wake up.”
He looked around the room and grabbed a half empty water bottle that was floating amongst the chaos. He opened it with his teeth and splashed it on her face. Her eyes flew open and stared at him with a shocked expression. “Bakugou? What’s happening?” she looked around and seemed to realize the answer on her own. Before he could stop her she released her quirk and everything around them dropped to the floor with a crash. The weightlessness that had a hold of him also released and suddenly his body was pressed against hers even as she stayed weightless. Their faces were inches apart and it took everything in him not to kiss her right then.
“I’m sorry, did I wake you up?” she slowly lowered them to the ground and he sat back and gave her some space to breath while she finished waking up.
“Don’t apologize,” he said roughly, “I heard you scream and came to make sure you were ok.”
She rubbed her face and looked around them, her room was a complete mess. All her loose belongings were scattered around and even the larger things like her bed and desk were not where they should be.
“I haven’t had a nightmare that vivid in a long time.” Suddenly she blushed and wouldn’t meet his gaze. She began picking up her scattered things. He got up and helped her right the furniture and began gathering her books.
“Would it help to talk about it?” he asked. He wasn’t sure she was going to answer, but when he turned around and looked at her she was blushing again staring at a sneaker in her hands. He suddenly felt ridiculous for asking, of course she didn’t want to talk to him about it. She probably just wanted him to get out so she could be alone.
“Never mind, forget I said anything. Im glad your fine, I’m going now.” Why could he not get his temper under control? He wasn’t mad at her, so why was he stalking away to the door feeling like an idiot?
“Wait!” her voice stopped him in his tracks, “I think it would help, if your willing to listen. You were in it actually.”
He turned and looked at her from the corner of his eye. She was meeting his gaze now, even with the blush still coloring her face.
She sat down on the edge of her disheveled bed and began speaking while fiddling with her mittens.
“It was kinda a mix of a mix of whats been going on with Deku and some things from before.” She glanced up at him to see if he was listening. When she saw that he was she took a deep breath and continued, “at first it was us all out there searching for Deku and just this overwhelming feeling of failure, like it was my fault he was out there being hunted down. I was just running through the city searching, but it kept shifting who I was searching for. Deku, Iida, my parents, you...” she glanced up and then back down again, “And then all of a sudden I was in the clearing from training camp. Shigaraki had you and was pulling you away from us into that black hole. The dream shifted again and again, it was you and then it was Deku. It kept flashing between your faces. I reached out but you were gone, I just screamed for you like Deku did that day” Her hands were shaking as they strangled her mittens. He looked at her face and couldn’t help but approach her, it was so twisted in pain as tears streaked down her face.
He knelt in front of her and reached up to lift her chin to make him look at him.
“Cheeks, look at me.” He tried to keep his voice as calm as he could. She looked at him then he continued, “It’s not your fault, if anything we could only bring him home because of you and what you did. Your speech to the refugees today was amazing and even before that you worked harder than any of us to help find Deku and help people at the same time. We all have suffered, but you have been the one to bring us peace while our society is literally falling apart. That night at camp wasn’t your fault either, every one did their best. And I’m back now so its fine.” She was crying again, thats not what he meant to do. He wasn’t good at this; he was just starting to find out that he didn’t have to be so rough with everyone around him.
He dropped his hand and stood up sticking his hands in his pockets, not knowing what to do now that he made her cry again. He wasn’t sure what to make of the part of her dream that included him. There was no way that she cared for him more than as a classmate, it was just old trauma getting dredged up. Just because he admired her didn’t mean she was obligated to feel the same towards him.
Sure she was strong, and skilled in more than just using her quirk, and she had a smile that stopped his heart sometimes, and she was stubborn about the things that mattered to her, and the wore her hair half up in that bun that made him want to run his fingers through it until it came loose, and she had those pink ovals on her cheeks that blazed when she was embarrassed, and she had a weakness for sweets, and she cared about her friends so much that she would do anything for them. But it didn’t matter that he thought any of those things because he was mean, and rude, and crass, and angry. Why would she choose him when she had Deku? Just another reason so be jealous of him.
He flinched as he felt something touch his arm. She had stood up and reached out to him as he was backing away wrapped up in his own thoughts. She reached out again and this time he didn’t flinch away from her touch on his bicep.
“Thank you, not just for saying that but also for helping me wake up. I can usually wake myself up but it just felt so real this time. Maybe it was the fact that we almost weren’t able to bring him home that brought back all the same feelings from when we almost lost you too. I don’t know if you know this, or even if I should tell you this now, but when I got to that clearing and they told me that you were gone I wished that Toga had taken me instead. I wanted to scream and rage like Deku but I couldn’t and when they came back with you I felt like I had no real reason to talk to you because I was just one of your extras. I guess what I’m just trying to say that its ok if you don’t feel the same but for a while now I have cared for you and...”
He didn’t let her finish her statement before grabbing her face and kissing her hard. Hearing that she cared for him broke his restraint and he did what he had been wanting to do for months now. He pulled his face back but didn’t let go as he studied her expression. Was she upset at what he had done?
To his relief she smiled up at him and said, “I guess that answers that then.”
He rolled his eyes and responded with another kiss of his own. This time he didn’t smash their faces together but controlled himself better and slanted his mouth against hers.
After a few moments of enjoying the feel of her soft lips against his he pulled away and said, “You need sleep. Lets get your things back in order and we can talk more tomorrow." He let go of her face and he helped her get things as orderly as possible for the moment.
When they were done she walked him to the door, the hall was empty because of how late it was. He let her give him a peck on the cheek after he rolled his eyes but leaned down to let her do it anyway, no need to let her know his heart was tripping over itself or anything stupid like that.
“I’ll meet you at the elevator at 6:00 am tomorrow.” She said, “I want to check on Deku first thing, I’m sure you do too.”
“Yeah, yeah. Don’t get a big head and start telling me what to do.” He turned away towards his own dorm, secretly melting a little inside and simultaneously wishing he could stay with her all night.