notes: Well, I was planning on posting this when I woke up in the morning. My daughter saw to it that by "morning", it was five am, so this has not been proofread. I'm too tired for it. I'd like to title this chapter as, "Bakugou's Dawning Realization that He's Fucked". This is also the chapter that so many people have been waiting for, so I hope you all enjoy!
Sunday had been absolute torture. Bakugou had spent the entire day fighting against himself in the gym and with quirk training. He didn't know what his problem was, but he had to get over it and fast. Something had changed and he didn't know what to do with it. Whenever he felt himself getting distracted or feeling conflicted, he put in extra physical work to get back on track. It almost always worked.
Luckily last week's match up in the hero course had helped amp him up even further, if that was possible. More often than not, when he had to worry about defeat, it came in the form of Deku or Todoroki. Even though the latter had been on the team, the victory had decidedly lied in Uraraka's hands. Even Icy Hot had admitted that in class the next day and that she had helped him learn a lesson in support. People like Todoroki, Bakugou, even Deku now - they were used to always being the one in control, the leader, the strong one, the winner.
Uraraka had turned their world upside down last Wednesday.
And then she'd done it again for Bakugou on Saturday.
When Monday came around, he was buzzing with energy, but he didn't know how to fix it. He'd spent all of Sunday busy working on himself and then school stuff on Monday. If it looked like he was avoiding Uraraka, slipping out of class quickly, eating lunch as far from her table with Deku and the others as possible, turning his back to her when he talked to Kirishima… Well, he wasn't. He was just busy.
When he stepped into the kitchen to grab a water bottle before going to the gym, Uraraka was already in there. The two of them froze the second they connected eyes with one another, but then she melted, her shoulders relaxing and a smile appearing on her face. It was so warm. He'd never noticed how she could harden up when facing him in competition, but soften when she saw him as well. He couldn't remember anyone looking at him like that, not even Kirishima
It was different and he didn't know what to do or what it meant.
Bakugou wasn't one to back down though, so he nodded his head and walked to the fridge. Every muscle in his body felt tensed up, like how he felt after working out before he cooled down, except he hadn't gone to the gym yet. He didn't know why he was acting so weird around her when they'd gotten something to eat just two days ago. There hadn't been an issue then.
"You going to the gym?" Uraraka asked. Snagging a bottle of water, Bakugou nodded and grunted in affirmation, twisting the cap and taking a sip out of it. "You were there for almost half the day yesterday. Sure you aren't pushing yourself too hard?"
"Well, somebody showed me that I need to be quicker on the uptake," Bakugou drawled, leaning back against one counter as she leaned against the other one across from him. "Stronger too, if I'm gonna take you out next time."
Uraraka laughed. "So confident that there's going to be a next time, huh?"
"Hell yeah," Bakugou said, but he eyed her carefully. They were talking about fighting again, right? Or was it something else now? So many things had second or third meanings now. Uraraka wasn't the type to be tricky though, so he figured that she was being upfront. Maybe he was the one reading into things. That wasn't like him. He was straightforward and that was what.
Pushing away from the counter, Uraraka asked, "See you tonight?"
"Actually, I'm busy," Bakugou told her.
That caused Uraraka to pause and turn back around to look at him. She couldn't stop the disappointment from flashing in her eyes, although she tried to act like his words hadn't affected her as she smoothed out her face. He felt too on edge though. Just being around her right now was making his palms sweat too much. She was likely to kick his ass at Mario Kart and he'd accidentally explode the controller in retaliation.
"Oh, okay," Uraraka said, a smile attempting to flicker back on her face.
"I've just got a lot of schoolwork I need to catch up on," Bakugou continued, although he didn't owe her an explanation. It wasn't like their nights playing video games were set in stone. She'd cancelled on him before and he'd only given her a little of a hard time. "The match up distracted me and then Saturday…"
Uraraka swallowed and nodded her head. "No, I totally get it. I took up…" She straightened up. "You're right. I put a lot of focus on that match up too."
She opened her mouth, like there was more she wanted to say, but then she turned on her heels and started for the door. It was so awkward. His words had clearly stung her more than she wanted to admit. He felt like he should say something, but he'd never felt the need to do that before. If he said something that upset someone, that was their problem. It was up to Uraraka whether or not she let this bother her.
(So why was it bothering him?)
He let her leave though without saying anything. It was only when he was on his way to the gym though that he realized they'd never talked about Thursday. From what it sounded like, maybe...
Maybe things were over. Maybe it was for the best. He needed to focus on school, after all. Anything else that took his attention was a distraction from his goal.
The next two days were strangely like old times, before he and Uraraka had started playing Mario Kart together, when she wasn't such an integral part of his life. There were no secret glances between the two of them in class, no friendly smiles from her in the hallway, no random urges to walk over to her and pull her away from the others. She'd been in his peripheral vision for so long. It was like normal when she went back to that place. After all, she had her group and he had his. He liked it that way. He didn't want to be connected to anyone else more than he already was now.
Wednesday night though it all came crashing to a head when he walked into the common area and he saw Uraraka sitting on the couch in between Deku and Iida watching a movie. It was impossible to miss her with that teal hair. After a week, it was starting to fade, seeing as how she hadn't bought the permanent dye, but she still stood out in a room. (She would've stood out regardless of her hair color.) What had really drawn his eyes was her laugh, so bright and unrestrained, like she had sounded on Saturday night with him.
But she wasn't with him right now. She was with them. She wasn't even looking his way.
To his credit, he'd done what he could to go back to his old routine in these past two days, but he did glance at her every once in a while and she'd never once looked his way. At first, it had irritated him, but then, he'd remembered that this had been of his own design. She was a distraction. He realized that she had started to preoccupy his mind a lot more than normal. One off night of Mario Kart had become a week thing, to twice a week, to weekend nights, to even affecting him during school.
His brain first told him that it was Uraraka's fault, but no, that wasn't right. She'd met him head for head at every round, but he had been the one to start upping the ante. He had been the one to seek her out almost time and time again. He had been the one that was angry when Todoroki had chosen her as a partner instead of him, even though fighting against her had proven to be even better.
He could've handled all that - he could've gone to his dorm and continued to ignore it - but then he glanced over spotted Kaminari and Jirou whispering in the corner and he just snapped.
Bakugou stormed over towards them, fire in his eyes. Jirou spotted him first, her eyes widening in shock, and he saw that she understood what was going on. She was smart enough to cut Kaminari off by loudly proclaiming, "I need to speak with Momo about something," and then booking it to the other side of the room where Momo was studying.
Unfortunately for Kaminari, he didn't notice that Bakugou was bearing down on him until it was too late when he had a hand gripping him by his collar. "O-oh, hey, Bakugou! What's up?"
"You're coming with me," Bakugou announced in a growl as he dragged Kaminari into the hallway. He protested only a little, waving his hands about, but then snapped his mouth shut when Bakugou kicked the bathroom door open and tossed him inside. He followed and then locked the door behind him, effectively locking Kaminari in the bathroom with him. Although he had no plans to actually hurt him, it had the desired effect of scaring him shitless, which he knew would loosen his tongue. "I know what you're up to, Buzz Brain."
Kaminari laughed nervously. "What are you talking about?"
Bakugou folded his arms across his chest. "You expect me to believe that you and Jirou are dating?"
"It was our first date!" Kaminari insisted, his face turning bright red. Try as he might though, he couldn't keep the guilt out of his eyes and that was when Bakugou knew he had him.
"The restaurant," Bakugou said flatly and Kaminari swallowed. "You, me, Kirishima, and Sero went there last year and you didn't like it, so you can't tell me that you decided to take Jirou there on a date."
Kaminari's face went from red to pale very quickly. He was probably seeing his life flash before his eyes. Luckily for him, Bakugou was currently angrier at himself. "It-it's not what it looks like-"
"Oh, like you were following me?" Bakugou questioned, stepping closer and making Kaminari step back. "Like you were spying on me?"
"Would it be better if we were spying on Uraraka?" Kaminari asked.
Bakugou narrowed his eyes. "Worse. Much worse."
"That's…" Kaminari winced. "Unfortunate."
"Start talking, Pikachu, or we're going to see just how many times you can surpass your quirk limit," Bakugou demanded with no wiggle room.
After looking around the bathroom nervously for any escape route, Kaminari slouched his shoulders and leaned against the wall. There were no windows for him to climb through and with Bakugou standing in front of the only door, on top of it being locked, there was no getting out of this. It looked as if whatever scheme he'd had cooking was at the end of its road. If Kaminari and Jirou had had the foresight to follow him and Uraraka to the restaurant, then chances were they knew more as well and he wanted to know.
The explanation began to spill out of Kaminari like a landslide. "Well, I saw you and Uraraka playing Mario Kart after everyone went to bed one night and I got curious. I mean, everyone was after you bought Todoroki lunch, but then there was the movies where you and Uraraka held hands and she floated you and she was wearing your shirt."
"How do you know it was my shirt?"
With a look on his face like it was obvious, Kaminari said, "I saw her take it off and throw at you in the laundry room."
Red immediately flashed in Bakugou's mind's eyes. "You what? That's what you were doing outside that night?"
"I ran out of the room when I realized what was happening!" Kaminari exclaimed quickly, holding up his hands in defense. "I didn't see anything, I swear!"
A deep frown on his face, Bakugou eyed him suspiciously, but then let the matter go. If Kaminari had actually seen anything, he would've been blushing a hell of a lot more. He probably would've had a nosebleed or something. Bakugou hadn't even seen anything since she'd thrown the shirt at his face and he'd been super red. "Continue."
"Well, after I overheard you and Uraraka talking about hanging out, I couldn't keep it to myself anymore and I told Jirou, so we...kind of...listened in…" Kaminari fiddled with his fingers anxiously. "But you two were just watching a movie, so we left you alone."
Bakugou stepped forward and pointed a finger at him. "You tell anyone else about that movie-"
"I-I won't! I promise!" Kaminari hesitated. "Well, Momo knows you were there - she walked into the room when we were listening." If steam could blow out of Bakugou's ears, that would be happening right now. "But she doesn't know what movie you were watching!"
Pinching the bridge of his nose, Bakugou waved with his other hand. This was even more of a mess than he could have ever imagined. He and Uraraka had just been playing Mario Kart. How the hell had it evolved into some sort of conspiracy theory?
"So there there was the whole teams fight and I could tell you were pissed about Todoroki picking Uraraka," Kaminari continued. "I figured you wanted to pick her, but he beat you." He whistled. "That was one hell of a fight. What Uraraka did with Todoroki was crazy." He shook his head. "Anyways, when you and Uraraka made last minute plans off campus at the same time, we knew something was up. I mean, once we saw you two at the restaurant, we figured out you were dating and we were curious, so-"
"Wait," Bakugou interrupted. "What?"
Kaminari looked at him strangely. "You and Uraraka are dating...right?"
"The hell do you think I am?" Bakugou demanded furiously, crowding in Kaminari's space. "I'm not dating anyone. I don't have time for that shit."
"But...you two… You took her out to eat - to your favorite restaurant - and then you took her to your house. I mean, you had to do that since you got your video games." Kaminari scratched his head while Bakugou gawked at him. For being an idiot, he'd figured quite a few things out, but then, he'd had Jirou to help him. She was smart enough and observant to put two and two together. "That's like textbook dating, isn't it?"
There was nothing Bakugou could say. Kaminari and Jirou thought that he and Uraraka were dating. It was fucking ridiculous. They'd just been playing some games, blowing off some steam, and making dumb bets. They hadn't been dating. They were torturing each other with these bets. Dating… No way. He didn't like Uraraka like that. She was Round Face. She was best friends with Deku. She wasn't… He didn't… It was just for the bets.
"Get out of here," Bakugou said, turning away from him.
"Uh, Bakugou?"
Bakugou rounded on him quick as a whip. "What the fuck did I just say?"
"You got it, boss!" Kaminari bolted around him, unlocking the door and all but running out, leaving Bakugou to stew inside the bathroom alone. He didn't know. Kaminari didn't know shit about the bets. He'd seen a few things between Bakugou and Uraraka, but he had no clue what was really going on. He didn't know what the hell was going on with them. Dating, them, ha! He wouldn't date her. He didn't want to date her.
He gripped the edge of the sink and leaned forward over it. Her laughed popped into his head, bright and nervous and awkward. Her smile - shy, proud, cutting, tired, uncomfortable. Her pink cheeks and how they'd glow whenever she was embarrassed or mad. Those soft pink pads on her fingertips that contrasted with the rough skin of her palms. The warmth he felt when sitting next to her on the couch. How he could be clear across a room from her and still look over to connect with those knowing brown eyes of hers. The way she could make him feel sky high, prouder than hell, thrilled, anger, fear, pain, freedom, brightness.
Bakugou's forehead fell against the mirror. "Oh fuck."
Yeah, he was in deep shit.
Apparently he hadn't known what was going on either. Shit, he wondered if Uraraka did. Fuck.
Right before lunch on Thursday, as everyone was filing out of the classroom, Bakugou bumped into Uraraka and grumbled, "You got your game face on for tonight?" He only glanced at her long enough to see a grin light up her face before he pulled his backpack further onto his shoulder and walked out. It was all that needed to be said to change the mood considerably. When he came back to class after lunch, Uraraka waggled her eyebrows at him and he shot her a lazy smirk.
This felt right. This felt good. It wasn't the old norm, but a new one that he didn't want to let go of. Whatever this was had been going on for almost two months now and he didn't want it to end. She didn't need him anymore to get over her motion sickness with video games - she'd proved that much already - but it was obvious that she didn't want to stop this either. What that meant, he didn't know, but he had to find out. He was fiercely tenacious if nothing else.
After another night of Mario Kart with the class while Uraraka merely watched and turned down Deku's invitation to play, Bakugou went off to his dorm to wait. Kaminari had pointedly avoided him the entire day and had even chosen to sit separately from Jirou. He must not have told her what he and Bakugou had talked about, but judging from the looks she sent his way, she'd figured it out on her own.
Bakugou didn't care. None of it mattered. He knew what did and what was on the line.
It was him.
(He hated it, but wasn't willing to stop it either. He never backed down from a challenge.)
Apparently, the two of them left their dorms at almost exactly the same time. They met each other in the common area, both of them buzzing with an excited energy. He'd missed this on Monday night when he'd been doing some extra credit work. Truth be told, while he had let himself get distracted by her, it had allowed him to focus more on his work when he got down to it. Maybe there was some credit to the idea of giving his brain a break. Plus, he was ready to work harder on even menial tasks and busy work when he was in a better mood. He hadn't even noticed the change until Kirishima had asked if he was okay on Tuesday.
"I'll get the snacks and you start the game?" Uraraka prompted.
"No, I'll get the snacks," Bakugou told her.
Uraraka shook her head. "No way. Your snacks will only serve to distract me and that's an unfair advantage." She didn't even give him the chance to argue before she ducked into the kitchen. He rolled his eyes, but instead of following her, he went to set up the video game. Part of him wondered if he should be worried about Kaminari or Jirou spying on them, but no, that had to be done. Kaminari had learned his lesson, all without Bakugou resorting to use his quirk.
See, he could be nice. He bet Uraraka would be proud of him.
"So, I've got a bet for you," Uraraka said as she set down his glass of water and some snacks on the table. She picked up her controller and sat down on the couch, her legs curled up underneath her. The way she sat, her body was turned towards him slightly and her knees just barely grazed the side of his leg. "You remember how you had to style your hair for your internship with Best Jeanist?"
The groan Bakugou let out was completely unintentional. "That's evil, Uraraka."
"My hair is teal!" Uraraka exclaimed, although she didn't sound mad. "Anyways, you have to style your hair like that for a week."
Bakugou gave her a sideways look, totally unamused. "Yeah? That's your bet?"
Uraraka grinned at him. "Yeah." They settled into picking out their character and karts. "So what's yours tonight?"
It all came down to this moment right here. He could change his mind. He could still change the bet. He'd come up with a back up one in case it didn't feel right. After that stupid bet about her taking off her shirt, he felt like a total idiot and he didn't want to make a bet that felt like crossing a line or would upset her. He had learned that there was a difference between coming up with a bet that would embarrass her and one that would make her uncomfortable and he didn't want to do the latter.
But he'd never backed down before. He wasn't the type. When this bet had popped into his head earlier this morning, he hadn't been able to shake it, no matter how many times he told himself how stupid it was. He didn't want to do this. He didn't want her to do it either. So what was the point of this bet, huh? It would only manage to make things awkward between them again. Maybe she'd stop talking to him. What the hell was he thinking? He didn't want to do this with her. This was just some stupid game.
"If I win," Bakugou said, "you've gotta kiss me."
"Wh-what?" Uraraka blushed furiously. "Are you…? Are you kidding?"
Bakugou huffed. "What? Anyone would be lucky to do that." She snorted in an attempt to stop from laughing and he glowered at her. "Ah, whatever, you're too chicken-shit. That win last Wednesday went straight to your ego."
"It did not!" Uraraka picked the course. "I just…" She bit her lip. "I didn't think you'd want to, you know…"
"Who says I do?" Bakugou shrugged his shoulders, trying to appear cool, while every warning sign was blaring inside of his head. He could just hear his brain shouting, Abort! while acid ate away at the lining of his stomach. What the hell had he been thinking? She didn't want to do this. He was making her uncomfortable again. Gods, he was such a fucking idiot. How the hell did she make him feel like this? "The point of a bet is making you do something that you don't want to do."
Uraraka swallowed and gripped her controller tightly. "Right, of course."
"Listen, if you don't want to-"
"No!" Uraraka interrupted. He turned to give her a curious look, which she avoided. "Let's just start the race, okay? I-I can't wait to see you with a comb over again."
Either on purpose or because she'd been distracted by his bet, Uraraka had unintentionally picked the hardest course in the game. It was the rainbow road, except this time, Bakugou had every intention of winning. She did her best to knock him off a few times, but he clung on for dear life. This was a match he was absolutely determined to win - and not just because he didn't want to style his hair in a comb over for a week.
When he one the first race, she grit her teeth and started the race again. When he won the second, she tucked her hair behind her ears and leaned forward to focus. She won the third game and he found himself swearing. When she won the fourth game and jumped up to dance in his face, he almost tackled her on the couch to get her to stop. The fifth game though, the deciding game, the one with all the money riding on it…
He won while she came in a miserable fifth place.
Instead of gloating and cheering like he normally did, Bakugou set the controller down on the coffee table and leaned back against the couch. Uraraka was staring at the screen like she wasn't quite sure what happened. He thought she looked… Maybe he was looking into things, but he thought she looked a little nauseous, like she used to when video games still triggered her motion sickness. She must have really not wanted to kiss him. He'd had the wrong idea all day.
Bakugou rolled his eyes. "Relax. I was joking about the bet."
Instead of replying to him, Uraraka set her remote down and turned her body towards him. She'd changed sitting positions multiple times while playing as if that might help her win, but her legs were back underneath her now as they had been before. He looked at her with an impassive expression, forcing his beat to stay steady, and didn't even blink when she scooted closer to him.
"So just like...one kiss?" Uraraka asked finally. "Any time limit?"
Bakugou huffed and sat upright. "I'm not gonna time you-"
She did it when he least expected it, leaning forward to cup his face with her hands and pressing her lips against his. The action caught him off guard and he almost pulled back, but then she was kissing him, holding onto him, and his eyes closed and his hands found themselves on her arms. An instinctive urge to pull her closer burned inside of him that he ignored, but he tightened his grip on her just a bit. It wasn't the best kiss by far, seeing as how she'd bumped noses with him by moving while he'd been talking, but then her lips were soft, warm, and wet. He could taste the cookies that she'd been snacking on in between races and feel the tension in her hands against his face as her lips moved against his.
By the time he realized that he was floating off the couch, he'd run out of air and had to stop in order to breathe. Their faces were only inches apart though, eyes locked on one another's, and the only reason he hadn't floated completely to the ceiling was because of their grip on each other. That had been no quick peck that he'd been anticipating. That was… He didn't know what the hell that was, but it had managed to make him completely forget about the game.
"Bakugou, I…" Uraraka's face was a beautiful shade of pink, but there was fear in her eyes that made him panic and pull away out of habit. "I've gotta go!" She pulled her hands off his face and jerked out of his grip, hopping off the couch. Pressing her fingers together, she said, "Release!" and he went crashing front first onto the couch. Before he even had time to clamber upright and figure out what the hell was going on, she was gone, having run off to her dorm in record time.
Groaning, Bakugou flopped onto his back and rubbed his face with his hands. What the hell had he been thinking? Uraraka hadn't wanted to kiss him. Now he was really going to have to apologize and this whole thing would be over. She'd never want to hang out with him again. He'd fucked up a good thing and he knew it. There had been a clear line and he had crossed it.
Except… Well, that kiss. It had certainly fucking felt like she'd meant it.
And he was too thrown to pretend like he hadn't. What the fuck had happened?