A/N: Oh my goodness, look at me updating the next day. What is going on here? I want to say thank you to the review for the last chapter! It was very in-depth and really gave me a lot to think and hopefully I'll be able to improve as I keep writing. Perhaps I'm focusing too much on the dere part of Bakugou's tsundere-ness but maybe it's cause I'm a sucker for tsunderes (I'm a piece of trash, I need to stop talking). Please read and review! Constructive criticism gives me life~!
Summary: A collection of kacchako/bakuraka drabbles – Prompt 02: "Can I kiss you?" – "In that moment, with the two of them, chests heaving, blood pounding, and hot breathes intermingling, she suddenly only wanted one thing."
Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia, Horikoshi Kohei does. I also don't own this drabble prompt; it was created by myquantumtheory on tumblr.
~x~
Prompt 02: "Can I kiss you"
~x~
"All right, Uraraka," Bakugou cracks his knuckles, a challenging sneer stretching across his face as he steps onto the school gym mat, "the real battle starts now. You and me, hand-to-hand combat, no fucking quirks."
Uraraka jumps uneasily at the challenge. On one hand, she was eager to accept and get more practice to improve her hand-to-hand combat skills. On the other, this was Bakugou Katsuki, and dying a sad, miserable death at the hands of this walking, maniacal, human time bomb was not exactly on her to-do list for the day.
She sighs. This was not the outcome she had in mind when she teasingly used her quirk to bench-press but apparently benching more than him and tauntingly and repeatedly shouting, "fight me!" was enough to ignite his fighting spirit and Ochako knew there was only one way this was going to end.
"Fine, I accept." She shrugs off her windbreaker and throws it to the floor before stepping out of her shoes and onto the mat. The vinyl-covered foam sinks slightly underneath her weight and she runs the soles of her feet over the material, trying to get her bearings as Bakugou cracks his neck eagerly from side to side and flexes his muscles. His expression suddenly turns serious as he steps back into a fighting stance and she responds by stepping back into her own stance, her fists held up protectively in front of her face.
"First one to pin the other down wins," she says and Bakugou grunts his approval.
"Go!"
He wastes no time in springing to action. Instantly, he's flying toward her and Ochako feels her heart leap into her throat at his overpowering fighting aura. She had felt the same intimidation in the face of his fighting prowess at the school sports festival but even in this casual sparring session the self-proclaimed "king of explodo-kills" fought with no bars held.
'He always starts off with a left swing', she mentally reminds herself in an attempt to calm her raging heart as Bakugou leaps toward her and just as she figured, he pulls back his left arm to prepare for the swing. Immediately she lunges toward him, ready to tackle him and use his own momentum to throw him over her shoulder but a sudden chill giggles down her spine as she sees his previous confident smirk return to his face.
"DON'T THINK I DIDN'T REALIZE YOU'D BE TAKING POINTERS FROM THAT FUCKING NERD!"
He suddenly twists in the air and unleashes a resounding round kick to her left shoulder, sending electrifying white-hot pain racing through her body. She coughs and sputters as the breath is knocked out of her lungs and she's sent flying onto the mat but she has no time to linger on the pain as her opponent leaps into the air and lunges toward her for the second time. She turns on to her back and plants her palms on the mat before springing upwards and slamming the soles of her feet squarely against on his chest. She uses his inertia to kick him backwards and immediately rolls back onto her feet but just as soon as she stands up and turns to face him, he tackles her and sends her sprawling back onto the mat.
Wheezing, she looks up to see his face hovering above her own, their harsh, warm breaths intermingling as they struggle to catch their breath. His sweaty hands tighten their grip on her wrists, signaling the end of their match, and for reasons she can't understand the motion sends her heart pounding against the confines of her ribcage, demanding to be set free.
He scoffs in between shallow breaths, clearly proud of his victory.
"I. win." He stresses, his smirk growing as he leans down closer and immediately she's on fire, her blood turbulent and boiling in her veins as she diverts her eyes away from him and her breath quickens at the sudden thought in her head. In that moment, with the two of them, chests heaving, blood pounding, and hot breathes intermingling, she suddenly only wanted one thing.
"Bakugou-kun," she cautiously whispers his name as if afraid to break this fragile moment, "can…can I…"
She swallows hard before turning her gaze back to him, her eyes searching his for some sign of reciprocation.
"Can I kiss you?"
His expression is completely undecipherable but rather than waiting for the impending rejection, she seizes the initiative and cranes her head upwards, capturing his lips in hers. The kiss is chaste and awkward – the first for both of them – but there is a strange familiarity in the way their lips meld together, like two puzzles pieces fitting together as if this was always meant to be. He doesn't pull away but he doesn't kiss back either and as she breaks away, her cheeks burning increasingly red with embarrassment, she still cannot read the expression on his face.
"Bakug-."
The words die in her throat as he suddenly pulls away and stands to his feet, and the sinking weight of rejection presses on her chest as an icy chill rushes through her veins from the loss of physical contact. As she sits up, she cannot hide the embarrassment from her face and instead turns to look away from his retreating back, the blush burning angrily in her cheeks as she squeezes her watery eyes shut.
"Ice your shoulder," he murmurs as he steps back into his shoes and stuffs his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants, "before that classroom full of idiots start complaining to me."
She lifts a hand to the sore spot on her arm and winces at the stinging pain. She nods in agreement but knew that either way it was definitely going to bruise.
"Well, hurry the fuck up!" He suddenly shouts and she blinks rapidly in confusion. She had expected him to leave on his own but was he…waiting for her? She almost scoffs at the ridiculous idea but as he stands there, hands in his pockets and awkwardly scuffing the soles of his shoe against the ground, she slowly begins to believe that maybe her idea wasn't so crazy.
"Are you…" she trails off, the surprise evident in her voice at what she perceives to be a rare act of kindness, "waiting for me?" She was always blunt and she immediately regrets it as his brows furrow together even further (she didn't even know that was possible) in disgust.
"Do you own an ice pack?" He reasons impatiently and she shakes her head, still too embarrassed to look him in the eyes. "And I forgot my fucking swipe so I need you to get me into the dorm. So stop spewing dumb shit and get off your ass!" He punctuates his tantrum by stomping off and slamming open the gym door to leave and she rushes to her feet and quickly jumps into her shoes before joining him at his side.
They walk together for a bit and just as she reaches into her pocket, searching for her swipe card, her eyes catch a glimpse of his own swipe swinging from the lanyard dangling out from his back pocket. Her earlier embarrassment immediately fades away as she giggles at his transparency and instantly, Bakugou Katsuki, rage incarnate and walking human time bomb, whirls around to glare at her.
"What the fuck are you laughing at?!" She laughs even more at his tantrum and shakes her head, giving him a reassuring pat on the shoulder.
"Nothing. I was just remembering how I benched more than you."
"The FUCK?! You asshat, are you seriously fucking shitting me?! Do you want me to hand your ass to you again cause I'll fucking do it!"
"Was' that?" She lets her Osaka accent slip out as Bakugou fumes from beside her, "I can't hear you over my bench press record of INFINITE pounds compared to your 160 pounds."
"URARAKA, YOU SHIT-STAIN!"
She drowns out his ensuing rampage as she laughs and runs away, clamping her hands over ears to block him out. But as he chases after her, cursing and raging and doing everything that made him, him, she thinks back to his swipe card, swinging from his back pocket, and she thinks this is ok. In this time and this moment, with the two of them chasing each other under the sunset sky, this is enough.
A/N: I definitely wrote this a lot faster than I do my other fics so perhaps I'm improving. Not much to say here, this was cute and fluffy, which is always fun. As I mentioned last chapter I want to work on a more serious, adventure-y kacchako multi-chapter fic that will definitely develop their relationship more. It's kind of hard writing these oneshots when they don't really have moments yet and when bnha doesn't really go into romance that much (but honestly, I think that's a good thing. I'm too old for shipping wars) but I guess the fun lies in that challenge! Anyway, please read and review!
