"𝚒 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚘 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚘 𝚍𝚎𝚎𝚙𝚕𝚢,
𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚍𝚊𝚢, 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚙𝚊𝚜𝚝.
𝚒 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞."
- 𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚡𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚛𝚊 𝚟𝚊𝚜𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚞
28.
I turned my attention towards the orange bass guitar in the corner. Seeing it stirred up a lot of feelings for me. Not a lot of people choose bass off the bat. So the fact that he had one made him all the more interesting.
"Do you play this too?" I asked, pointing in it's direction
"I tried to. Thats why I have it. Guitar is too damn confusing. It pisses me off."
"Hm. Do you mind if I...?"
"You play bass?" He asked, raising an eyebrow
"I dabble." I replied with a shrug as I picked it up "You sound surprised."
"Shutup."
It felt so strange having the guitar in my hands again. It had been a while. Bakugou tossed me a guitar pick. I caught it and strummed a few strings to make sure it was in tune. I hope I still sound decent considering its been a while and I'm teetering on the edge of passing out.
I went into a melody I made up so long ago...
"I probably made that up when I was 15." I laughed
"Its... it's beautiful. What about you? How long have you played?"
"Well, my bass was my mom's originally. I took it after she passed. So, I guess about 12 years."
"I guess we were both holding out on each other, huh?" He said
"Well, we both have some well-earned trust issues. We're learning though. I wouldn't want to learn with anyone else."
"Holy shit, you're corny." He laughed
"I try to have a moment with you, and this is what I get." I replied sarcastically
"Shutup, dumbass. We'll play together after you get your provisional license. You still have 2 weeks of training left." He yawned "Ready for bed?"
"Yep." I replied with a nod
Bakugou and I, along with everyone else, were so hungover the next day, that we all dragged ourselves out to eat the greasiest pork cutlet bowl we could find for brunch, before going back home and passing out.
The day after that, it was back to business as usual. For another two weeks, I continued to train and study for my provisional hero license exam. I'd even gotten to train with Mina and Uraraka a couple of times. Before I knew it, my written exam was a day away, and my physical exam was a couple days after.
I was in one of the conference rooms at the agency reviewing some written exam material with Aizawa and All Might. At this point, I don't really need them to be there—I'm not learning anything new, I'm only studying. I've just really grown to like hanging out with them, its like I've gained two adorably supportive Uncles.
Their quiet banter about 'the good old days' was comforting as I studied. They talk like they're old ass men—but Aizawa-sensei is only 36. All Might is... well yeah, I guess its okay for him to talk like that.
Don't tell him I said that though.
However, I was having trouble focusing for some reason—I kept having to reread sentences, and staring off into space...
"Reiko-chan. Yo." Aizawa-sensei said in an attempt to get my attention "Are you okay?"
"Yeah..." I replied "Sorry, I'm just thinking."
"Whats on your mind?" All Might chimed in
I let out a deep sigh.
"I think I'm just psyching myself out about the exam..."
"You're doing great in both areas." Aizawa-sensei replied "So, cut that out."
"Its not that I don't think I'm doing well. Its just—can I really do this? Like, be a hero? Will anyone ever even accept me as one...?"
All Might and Aizawa glanced at each other before turning their attention to me.
"Reiko-chan. Do you know in your heart that you want to be a hero?" All Might asked
"Of course, without a doubt."
"Then thats all that matters... Silverflame used to do the same thing, you know."
My heart jumped.
"My mom...? What do you mean?" I asked curiously
"She would doubt herself alot—thinking she wasn't a good enough hero."
My mom?
How the hell could she ever have thought that?
She was amazing...
"Judging by the look on your face, that sounds crazy to you, right?" Aizawa-sensei added
"Thats how we feel about you." All Might said "We've spent a month with you, we've seen you in action—you've got this. People's minds will change in time."
"Part of being a hero is having public approval—but the reality is, people aren't going to like you all the time, people may not accept you, and thats okay." Aizawa-sensei elaborated "As long as you know that you're doing your best, thats all that matters."
Their words resonated with me. It made me think back on the past couple of months. I'd worked really hard, I risked a lot by doing what I did to get here. Everything I'd done since the night I first met Kacchan and Kirishima has been leading up to this point.
Actually, maybe my whole life has been leading up to this point.
Suddenly, the alarm on my phone went off, snapping me out of my daydream.
"Shit. Its noon already? Sorry, guys. I've gotta go, but thank you both... really. Thank you."
I quickly shoved my notebook into my backpack.
"Where are you headed in such a hurry?" All Might asked curiously
"Kacch—I mean... Bakugou and I are taking a day trip out of town to do some training. He wants to go somewhere with a lot of open land so we can use our quirks freely in a new terrain and get out of the gym. He said he knows a place."
I squinted suspiciously at All Might and Aizawa, they'd started chuckling.
"Hey... What exactly the hell are you two laughing at?" I asked, folding my arms.
"You and Bakugou. You two don't have to hide the fact that you're together from us, we know." All Might laughed
"I—Theres...!" I stammered "W-Whatever! I'll see you two grandpas when I get back."
I hugged them both.
"Woooow, we're grandpas now?" All Might laughed "You really are taking after Bakugou-kun, hm?"
"Mhmm! Thanks again!"
Bakugou packed up his car and drove us couple hours outside of Tokyo to an area in the countryside. There were a lot of wide open spaces. Fields, cliffs, rivers... I'd never seen anything like it, it was so pretty.
He seems to have a thing for nature, which is such a contrast to his character—its cute.
I was eager to get to work, so thats what we did. We had started working on a combo move earlier that week—a few of them, actually. We love being in combat together so much, that we figured it was only natural, and kind of stupid that we didn't already have one.
So, there we were in a clearing, in the middle of nowhere, setting off explosions left and right, and bouncing around like two pinballs.
"So... its nearly perfect..." I panted as I came to a stop "But it still has no name. None of the combos we've come up with have names."
"MURDER BLAST 1, 2, 3 AND 4!" He shouted and put his fists together
What is with him and that word?!
"You can't just keep fucking throwing the word murder around, you're a hero!"
"DON'T TELL ME WHAT THE HELL TO DO, EXTRA!"
"Whaaatever. I guess we'll come up with something eventually."
He walked over and passed me his water bottle. I paused to take a long, much needed drink.
"... How are you feeling, babe?"" He asked "Your exams are coming up."
"I feel... I feel good. I think I'm ready."
Bakugou lowered his head, he began to kick at the ground.
"...Did I do enough? Do you feel like I prepared you?" He muttered
He's worried about that...?
"Hey! Whats with that look?" I asked
I put a hand on each side of his face, forcing his gaze down towards me. I looked up into my favorite set of eyes. Their ruby color sparkled in the daylight.
"You did everything. I'm more than prepared. I'm gonna murder that exam, okay?"
"Don't throw the word murder around, you're a fucking hero." He mocked me in an annoyingly high pitched voice
"Shut UP!" I laughed "Thank you, Kacchan—for everything."
"Thank you for making is easy for me by being so goddamn amazing."
"Oohh, good response!" I grinned
"Shut up, dumbass." He mumbled before giving me a quick kiss "You also have the most badass hero as your coach, so, you know. That helps."
I rolled my eyes.
"Well, I'm definitely not worried about the written exam... and I guess the worst thing that could happen on Monday is me not passing... which is okay. I'll do the remedial work and try again—like you did way back."
"Yeah, like I di—" He cut himself off abruptly. His expression twisted into what I like to call his 'rage face'.
Heeere we go.
Bakugou's Point of View
"WAIT A FUCKING MINUTE! HOW THE HELL DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT?!"
"Heh... Kirishima might have mentioned it in one of my study sessions..."
SHITTY HAIR!
"DAMN KIRI..." I growled through clenched teeth
"Relax!" She giggled "You're gonna burst a blood vessel and have no one to blame but yourself, explosion boy."
"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" I yelled "I was just young and stupid. I let my temper get the best of me during the exam—I was so mad all the time back then I could barely even think straight."
"Well, no point in dwelling on it, look where you are now. Besides, I like that you're a grouch. OH, right! That reminds me—I have something for you."
"I'M NOT A DAMN GROUCH... Wait, huh?"
What...?
She got me something? Why?
