Unlike her dream, the sky that evening wasn't beautiful at all, but cloudy and dark. Unlike her dream, Inazumari stayed at the agency until really late. Unlike her dream, Bakugou didn't tell her that he liked her. The day went on as normal, like nothing ever happened between them. And then the next day, and the day after that. Gradually, Kamiko began to forget that the kiss even happened.
"So... How's it going with you and Ground Zero?"
Kamiko choked on her iced latte at Akemi's sudden question. Akemi's brows raised in amusement as Kamiko patted her chest trying to calm her coughs.
"W-What do you mean?" Kamiko asked, wiping the latte from her chin.
"Like I mean... You guys are going out right? I've seen you with him multiple times around the city, in and out of his hero costume," Akemi said.
Kamiko's face scrunched in confusion, "When- First of all, we are not going out! How many times do I have to tell you that? Second of all, when have you seen me multiple times around the city? The city is pretty big."
"Pshh, the world is only so big my dear friend! Okay, back to my questions. Well if you're not going out then what are you guys?" Akemi asked, her eyes sparkling with excitement as she leaned closer, hovering over the table.
"Coffee, you're gonna spill the coffee," Kamiko warned as she pushed Akemi back on her seat and guarded their drinks. The two of them were sitting in the small campus cafe next to the canteen, taking a break from their art assignments. She tried to ignore Akemi's burning gaze, but eventually gave in and let out a sigh. "To be honest... I don't even know what we are."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well, um... We kinda...made out," Kamiko whispered as she scratched the back of her neck almost guiltily.
"WHAT?!" Akemi nearly jumped from her seat. She slammed her hands on the table, nearly knocking everything down.
"Yo! Shhhhhh!" Kamiko crouched down as people started looking their way. A few people sitting around them typing away on their computers gave Akemi a harsh glare.
"Sorry..." Akemi bowed politely to everyone in the cafe before sitting down. "Girl...what?!" She then whisper yelled. "Deets! I want the deets!"
"I know I know, just calm down okay?" Kamiko hissed as she looked around. They got some weird looks from people lining up to order, but she just smiled apologetically at them before turning back to her friend. "It happened once. It was...I don't know how to describe it, just like-... It just happened."
Akemi frowned at her. "Girl, you are so bad at explaining. How did it happen?"
"Just-..." Kamiko's face started to turn red as the memory she had nearly pushed out of her head came crawling back vividly. "Now that I think about it, it was kinda my fault. I think I was...being a little touchy..."
"Touchy? Thats unexpected. I know you can get pretty flirty sometimes, but touchy is a first," Akemi acknowledged.
"I do?"
"Just like, you're really open about a lot of things, and you're not afraid to be vocal about it, but those kind of things could come off as flirty to some people," Akemi said. Kamiko raised a brow, recalling the past few weeks she's spent with Bakugou and the things she said. Were they flirty? And speaking of touchy, she has a feeling she and Bakugou shared more skin contact than she ever did with her other guy friends. Was that really just an accident? "But it's not like it's a problem. So explain this... Touchy." Akemi put quotes on the word "touchy."
Kamiko cringed just thinking about it. Quite frankly she can't even understand why she suddenly decided to start feeling him up. "I just... Started touching his back muscles, and then he turned around and one thing led to another we just...yeah."
"Why the fuck did you touch his back muscles?" Akemi asked. "But okay seriously though, how were they?"
"A++++!" Kamiko held an 'ok' sign with her fingers. Akemi placed her hands over her mouth and started squealing.
The conversation quickly shifted to Bakugou body appreciation. They pulled up pictures of him all over the internet and started fangirling over his nice V shape torso and those amazing biceps. It wasn't until they had finished their coffee that Akemi finally remembered she was supposed to question Kamiko about the kiss.
"Okay hold on back to the original topic. Like what are you guys?" she asked.
"I don't know." Kamiko shrugged. "After that kiss we kinda just, mutually decided not to mention it."
"But like, did his attitude towards you change or... Is he more affectionate?" Akemi asked.
Kamiko thought for a while about Bakugou's behavior. All those, "Hey shitty woman get your ass up," or the, "The fuck is taking you so long," and the, "You shithead who the fuck dips fries in ice cream?!"
"No. He's still an asshole towards me attitude wise," Kamiko said.
"Huh... What about non-attitude wise?"
"To be honest I just don't think much has changed between us. Ground Zero has a potty mouth and a nasty attitude but he's actually a very caring person if you get to know him. For the past month that I've been hanging around him he's been more than helpful."
Akemi smirked. "Sounds like someone has a crush."
Kamiko's face instantly turned redder than the stop sign. "No I... Okay...maybe a little..." she admitted.
Akemi chuckled in satisfaction as she leaned her chin on her palm and cooed at her friend. "Awww! Spring is finally coming to our cute Miko-chan's life!"
"No, don't say that," Kamiko averted her eye contact from Akemi as she played with the empty coffee mug.
"How come? Don't you wanna further this relationship?" Akemi asked.
"First of all, there's no relationship. Second of all, I don't wanna further... Whatever you call this," Kamiko said.
"Why not?"
The silver haired woman sighed before saying, "I like the way we are right now. Plus, he doesn't seem to want to address what happened between us, so... It's better not to expect anything." Akemi hummed understandingly.
"But why did he kiss you in the first place? He was the one who kissed you right?"
Kamiko nodded. "About that... I kind of have my speculation..." She let out a slight awkward chuckle. Akemi leaned in expectantly. A slight blush returned to Kamiko's cheek as an awkward smile tugged on her lips. "I think he might be...sex deprived."
Almost instantly Akemi burst into a fit of laughter. She had to cover her mouth before she gets any more glares from the people around them trying to do work. The pink haired artist slammed her hand over her lap multiple times as she rocked back and forth in her chair, laughing crazier than a hyena. "Seriously?! What makes you think that?" Kamiko hesitated for a long while, but considering Akemi is the only girl friend she had that she could talk about these kind of things with, she eventually told her about Bakugou got hard in the midst of kissing. That just made Akemi laugh even harder. The two had to leave the cafe because Akemi's laughter was too loud.
The two of them moved to a bench near their studio building, where they could continue the conversation. Akemi told Kamiko about the extreme possibility of hee speculation. "You don't understand just how horny men are at this age. My boyfriend literally asked me if we could have sex every day!"
"Seriously? Do you?" Kamiko asked.
"Of course not! Do I look like a rabbit to you? He respects me enough that we only do it whenever we both feel like it, but I don't recall a single time when I wanted sex and he didn't. They're just at the age you know."
"Yeah, that's what I thought..." Kamiko had done her own research in this area for the sake of her manga.
For some reason, Kamiko felt really stuffy around the chest area. She doesn't necessarily have trouble physically breathing, but it feels like it's hard to breathe. She was the one who suggested this idea herself, so why was it making her feel so uncomfortable?
"While I don't deny that Ground Zero may be horny, but I think you should consider the possibility that he's into you," Akemi said.
Kamiko scoffed at the thought. "Yeah right," she replied sarcastically. Who could be into me? Akemi wanted to argue further, but Kamiko stood up from the bench and suggested they go back and finish their projects which were due soon. They left this conversation to be continued, but little did Akemi know, her words had already implanted a seed of hope in the depth of Kamiko's heart.
Since they've reached July, Kamiko was preparing her final portfolio as well as studying for the art history exam. It was a rare sight, but Bakugou was fascinated by how studious the girl had become, taking notes and everything. "What's this?" He leaned over her shoulder to take a look at all the things she wrote down. For an artist, her handwriting was unexpectedly messy. Her words were written in one stroke, and she often connected characters that were meant to be separated. It took Bakugou a second to realize he was supposed to be reading the two kanjis separately.
"Art history," Kamiko answered. "My worst subject."
Bakugou sneered at her. He was a straight A student in school, excelled at every subject. He didn't dislike history. In fact he found it interesting, but it was far from his favorite subject. "Dumbass."
Kamiko shot him a glare, and shoved him with her elbow. "If you have nothing good to say then go over there and read some manga. You're distracting me." Bakugou didn't budge, however, for his eyes were locked onto her writing hand. Her fingers were neither long nor stubby, just kind of normal. She had an obvious writer's bump from years of gripping the pencil too hard.
He noticed her rubbing her eyes with her left index finger. Bakugou then pulled her chair from the desk. "WHOA!" She nearly fell from the chair from the sudden jerk. "What the hell are you doing?!"
"Get your ass up, we're going to the convenience store." Bakugou let go of the chair and grabbed his wallet from the coffee table.
Kamiko stood from her seat wide eyed. "Convenience store? Right now?" The wall clock read 10:48, and they had already finished showering. Bakugou just shot her an annoyed look, as if saying, "Yes right now." The young woman had to slip on her sandals and follow him outside. It didn't even take them five minutes to get to the convenience store, since it was just across the street. Once they walked in, the manager quickly greeted Kamiko and Bakugou.
"Here for some late night snacks?" the manager asked.
"Hey Hiou-san. Working late again today?" Kamiko greeted. The older man nodded with a sigh.
"Can't be helped." Hiou shrugged.
Kamiko caught Bakugou walking over to the freezer, and she quickly followed. "You drag me out here just to get ice cream?" She raised a brow at him. Bakugou took out a fruit punch popsicle from the freezer.
"Do you want one or not?" he asked flatly.
"Your treat?" He nodded. A grin spread from one ear to another on Kamiko's face. She scanned the freezer, and quickly picked out a strawberry vanilla ice cream cone. Bakugou brought the two over to the counter and quickly paid. Hiou thanked them for their purchase, and Kamiko waved the older man goodnight as she and Bakugou walked out of the convenience store. Kamiko ripped the wrapper off of her ice cream cone immediately after they got out of the store, afraid the ice cream would melt away during the three minute walk back to her apartment.
"Thanks for the treat Bakugou!" she cheered before taking a bite into the soft vanilla ice cream. Bakugou bit a large bite off of his fruity popsicle, enjoying the crunchy icy texture. They just hung out at the side of the road, since there were nobody out at this hour anyways. Kamiko smiled blissfully as she ate her ice cream, until a sudden realization hit her.
Could it be, Bakugou dragged me out here not because he wanted ice cream, but because he wanted me to take a break from studying? She looked up at him. Noticing her gaze, Bakugou paused mid bite and looked down. "What?"
Kamiko smiled at him, eyes closed, cheeks dusted in a light shade of pink. "Thank you Bakugou! You're the best!"
Heat started rising to Bakugou's face. Crap! What's with that face?! It's so cute... Out of instinct he grabbed her face with his free hand, covering that smile so it doesn't cause him a heart attack. "Mm!" Kamiko's gasp was muffled.
"Fucking disgusting..." Bakugou knew he wasn't being honest, but he couldn't help it. It just came out. He turned his head to the other side and chomped the rest of the popsicle all into his mouth to cool his face. Fucking adorable.