"Those extras are probably done with the food by now," Bakugou mumbled.
The girl in his arms chuckled weakly, "I sure hope so… though I do feel bad for not helping."
Bakugou stared on ahead, ignoring any and all embarrassment he felt about carrying this chick back to the rest of their class. The pain still throbbing through his arms helped with that. Not to mention…
"You're heavy."
Any other girl would probably get flustered or angry, but Niwa just grinned, "71kgs of pure muscle," the girl stated proudly.
"You're way too happy, shouldn't you be bitching about how much pain you're in?"
"How could I not be happy?" Niwa smiled up at him and Bakugou refused to look at the mess of a girl in his arms, "I stood by my words, finished that ridiculous fucking excersize-"
"You could've stopped an hour ago, you brought the rest on yourself." He mumbled flatly.
"Besides," She ignored him, "It was totally worth it since you're carrying me like a princess." Niwa grinned her cheeky little grin and Bakugou felt the heat rise to his cheeks. Carrying anyone else? Fine. Carrying the girl that had just confessed to him a few weeks ago? Embarrassing as fuck.
"I will drop you."
She laughed loudly and winced through dying chuckles, "Please don't."
"Then stop making shit weird." He grumbled.
"I'm afraid I can't help myself." The magenta-haired girl relaxed against his chest, completely relying on him to carry her useless ass back to their class. "I saw you smile properly the other day…"
"The hell you mean properly?" He smiled plenty of times, especially when he fought.
"Not that shit-eating grin of yours." The girl sighed lightly.
Bakugou remembered exactly when she was referring to and grinned at the thought, "When Deku got nut-shotted?"
"Mm. You were way too happy about that."
"So what? It was funny."
"Of course, you'd find Midoriya's pain funny." Niwa snorted another giggle, "I wanna see more."
"More of what?" Bakugou huffed, he really needed to stop with this useless conversation.
"More of you." The girl said, "I liked seeing you happy and I really enjoyed seeing how red your face got when I said I like you."
His face reddened in anger, it wasn't a fucking blush, piss off. He refused to reply, hoping to end the conversation, but of course, this chick didn't know when to shut up.
"You smell nice. Kinda sweet but not at the same time."
"I haven't showered." Maybe grossing her out would get her to finally stop talking.
"So you naturally smell nice? That's so damn unfair…"
He chose not to respond again. Damn woman, get a clue.
"Is it because of your quirk or something?" Niwa asked in genuine curiosity and Bakugou sighed, officially giving up with this chick.
"Probably. The sweat from my hands is something like nitroglycerin."
"Something like? So, it's not actually nitroglycerin?" She questioned.
Bakugou looked at the idiot of a girl who was already starring up at him, "Do you even know how nitroglycerin acts? I'd be blowing up everything all the damn time."
Niwa hummed in thought, "So what's different about it then?"
Bakugou thought seriously about his quirk for a moment. He had studied nitroglycerin in attempts to see if he could make his quirks stronger and it had helped a little. "My Quirk's more condensed, for one. Or potent? I guess… I don't need to sweat a fucking pool fill to blow up that half-and-half bastard. But I guess the main difference is that I can control its detonation."
"So, more like dynamite than actual nitroglycerin?"
"Dynamite contains nitroglycerin, idiot."
His feet halted. Stuck to the ground while the word rolled around his head over and over.
Dynamite…
"Bakugou?" The curious voice from Niwa pulled him from his mind and back to the girl.
"What?" He grumbled. Returning to his walk through this dark as fuck forest path.
Niwa chuckled again. She sure as hell was in a good mood. Well, there was no point in ruining that. Not when the only one to deal with a shitty bitch was him. His thoughts trailed away again, this time – like many other times – the subject of his musing was none other than the girl in his arms.
What she had said earlier, screamed out in agony and frustration, lingered on his mind more than he wanted it to. She had failed to protect someone. Failed to the point that they had died, and she obviously hadn't forgiven herself for it. Useless questions like who and how popped up but Bakugou was more worried about the trauma she clung to. Whatever it was, she was using it as a fuel to that seemingly endless determination of hers… But how much did it weigh on his friend?
Bakugou cast the thoughts from his mind the moment he saw the lights and heard the chatter of his loud-ass classmates. They weren't far off now.
"Hey." Niwa said suddenly, her fist clenched to the fabric of his shirt.
Bakugou frowned and glanced down to the girl. When he saw that glittering little light of mischief in her eyes, he knew he had fucked up.
"I wanted to say it again-"
"I will drop you." He warned but the magenta-haired girl just grinned up at him like a plate of salmon had been shoved in her face.
"I like you."
Bakugou paused and seriously considered dropping her right then and there. But unlike the last time he had heard those words, she wasn't going to leave any time soon.
Now was as good a time to sort this shit out anyway, it had been bothering him ever since and it was a waste of time to think about.
"Why?" He asked.
The girl blinked then closed her eyes, her face morphed in thought.
"You're an egotistical bastard, that's for sure, but your earnest. I guess I find that admirable? Your personality is, as Kaminari once said, that of steamed turd but I don't hate it. You've got your bad qualities but you're also kind in some weird ways and you actually care."
Bakugou didn't know whether to be insulted by half the shit she was saying or flattered by the other half. Either way, he wanted to punch that damn Pikachu all over again.
"It helps that you're strong and nice to look at. But I guess at the base of it all, I think you're pretty cool, Bakugou."
Bakugou heaved a deep sigh in utter defeat, he was sure she could feel his heart pounding in his chest and-
"I also love making you blush."
Despite his warning, Bakugou gently set the girl on the ground and sat on the dirt with his hand covering his burning face. She was the first person to ever confess to him and it was way more uncomfortable than he had thought. The second time was just as worse, it seemed.
"Saying shit like that… Isn't it embarrassing as fuck? Or do you just not give a damn?" He groaned.
"The latter I guess?" Niwa winced while rubbing at her shoulder, "I did care, at one point. But then I met you and realized that worrying over useless things like other people's opinions is a waste of time… Do you hate it?"
He hated that he didn't hate it. Bakugou had resolved to himself that he would get to the bottom of this shit so it would stop distracting him so much. It was from those thoughts that he realized exactly why she had confessed to him in the first place.
It was distracting and school comes first.
He remembered her saying something like that at the time. He cursed some more in his head before sucking it up and dealing with the embarrassment.
"What do you want?"
"Huh?"
"Just answer the fucking question." He mumbled.
The silence made him uneasy and coaxed his curiosity. He looked up from his hand and almost instantly wished he hadn't.
The small smile dancing across her lips and the unfiltered warmth in her eyes held him spellbound and he realized, even if she was covered in dirt, blinking lazily from exhaustion and reeked of oil… There was no denying that Niwa was still a beautiful chick. Even he had eyes enough to admit that much.
"I want to stay beside you." He watched the warmth in her eyes deepen and his heart pounded even louder, "Whether its training, class, spare time, or beating the shit out of someone… I want to be with you."
Bakugou groaned in pure distress at his situation. Truthfully, he – reluctantly – enjoyed the idiots that followed him around all the time. Niwa included. Things were more lively and even the most boring of classes were somewhat enjoyable when one of them did something stupidly amusing.
But, out of that group, Niwa and Kirishima were the two idiots he had come to acknowledge. They were strong, reliable, and just less of a pain in his ass than most people. And they actually gave a fuck about him, even though Niwa was so damn difficult about it.
After the temperature of his face cooled and his heart slowed to its usual pace, Bakugou tucked his arms under her legs and around her back, lifting them both from the ground again. He winced a little as a jolt of pain shot through his arms again.
"I think I can walk from here?" She said hesitantly, brows furrowed in worry.
"Just… Shut up?" Stupid, difficult as fuck, meddling, maddening woman. "I wouldn't carry your heavy ass if I didn't want to."
"…Thank you." Even though he refused to look at her, Bakugou could hear the smile in her voice.
He couldn't have been happier when they finally reached the lamp-lit area filled with ravenous teenagers. Bakugou walked over towards the picnic tables his class filled and caught a few worried looks from the mob.
"Niwan!" Raccoon-face shouted in worry earning stares from most of the class.
Niwa waved and winced almost simultaneously.
"What happened?" Pony-tail chick asked with a gasp, getting up from the table and helping Bakugou slip the magenta-eyed girl at a table's vacant seat between earphone-chick and dunce-face. Bakugou stood, ready to plate himself some much-needed food before a plate of curry was almost shoved in his hands.
He watched as Kirishima gave Niwa the other plate of curry before retaking his seat at the other side of the table. "There's more than enough for seconds and thirds." The sharp-toothed boy grinned.
Bakugou huffed and sat beside the damn Pikachu he still wanted to punch, but the food was way higher on his priority list.
"You're doing alright?" Flat-face Sero asked Niwa from beside Kirishima and Pony-tail chick.
"Yeah, I'm feeling like shit, but it was rewarding. Might have overdone the training a bit, though."
"A bit?" Kirishima snorted.
Bakugou ignored the rest of the dinner's conversation to the best of his abilities and completely devoured the curry on his plate. He wished there were some chilies or hot sauce but otherwise, shit-tasting curry had never tasted better.