A/N: Sorry I took so long to update. I had a birthday on Sunday. The last update was kind of long, and so, hopefully that held you over until now. lol

Disclaimer: My science knowledge is somewhat limited. Please forgive me ahead of time for pulling stuff out of my ass. Just know, Bakugou's quirk is that he naturally sweats nitrous oxide, but he can secrete glycerin at will. Together, they make nitroglycerine which explodes.

Give Me a Break

How does someone like Bakugou realize their romantic feelings for someone like Uraraka? He felt his sanity slipping from him like a wet bar of soap. Gradually, he understood the repercussions of growing an attachment to her. She dominated his thoughts without moving. In fact, her absence from his vicinity strengthened her stronghold on him.

Contrary to the past few weeks, Bakugou's performance dipped across the board. His sloppy workout resulted in sore shoulders that reminded him just how careless he became when lifting weights. Uraraka managed to shatter his concentration both in and outside of the classroom.

These sickening thoughts of her cycled throughout him and deadened every limb until he felt nothing. While he knew what infatuation looked like, he had never felt it before her.

His lungs collapsed when she walked into the classroom. As she approached him, his eyes stayed fixated on her. Two forces collided in his core - a light, flowery felicity and a dark, hostile resistance to that useless sentiment. Such conflict required an exorbitant amount of energy, so that must have been why the air became thick and gravity became too much for any human to bear. The temperature climbed like that sensation escalated up his spine.

For the past few days, he thought about where she was and what she did and how she did it. That repugnant clairvoyance haunted him. As he slept the night before, he could picture how she curled into a ball beneath her blankets. Drool sparkled from the corners of her mouth as her soft breath pushed past her lips. And, she probably smiled at her sappy dreams of Deku - not Bakugou. More than likely, his mere name never grazed her mind for that entire weekend.

Without fail, the image of the green-haired dork incited rage within Bakugou, but for that moment, as she cruised into the classroom alone, he only thought of her.

"Bakugou!" she greeted with an enthusiastic smile that Monday.

In her hands, she held a sheet of paper with black and red ink. Bakugou only knew that from his peripheral, for his blank stare lingered on her bright, toothy grin.

Uraraka's slender, smooth fingers pointed to the number at the center of the red circle. "An 86! I couldn't have done this without you."

Flipping his exam to the blank side, he lowered his head to shoot a softened glare up Uraraka. Even he could feel the subdued effects of its typical ferocity. "Fuck off," he demanded, but to him, the phrase came off as a plea. He couldn't look at her for much longer without giving way to her buoyant aura. Even his heart floated.

They had somehow received the same score. The observation disgusted Bakugou. He usually did much better than that.

Uraraka's spunky spirit failed to falter in the wake of his effrontery. She knew him, or so, she would claim to know him if someone asked. As she stood in his presence, her speechless mouth promptly dropped to stare at him in a few moments of silence as she decided to interpret his response as she saw fit for the typically genial tone of their relationship. "Right," she muttered as if to recall what he had said. She looked to the ceiling and then back at him. "That's just Bakugou language for 'No problem. Anytime.'"

When her lips spread into a smile, Bakugou placed a flat hand against the edge of his brow. He wanted more than that curt and cordial address, for he harbored more turmoil in a single syllable than he witnessed across her ebullient expression. Gulping, he wiped his sweaty palms on his pants as he contemplated a comeback- anything like "fuck you" or "shut up." Instead, he averted his stare to the blank sheet of paper on his desk for what seemed like hours.

By the time that he checked in front of him, she had absconded with another chunk of his sanity. Bakugou watched as she damn near latched onto Midoriya's presence when he entered the room. Deja vu. This scene occurred before. Uraraka would approach him. Bakugou would curse her away. She would run to Midoriya.

Finally, the stark realization entered Bakugou's world. He yearned to have her cling to his arm and feel every degree of heat between them. And, as he peered across the room, his body climbed in temperature and left him in a torpor of silence. Foolish of him to have sought perfection, for he found it in Uraraka Ochako.

Bakugou trembled in his seat as he shoved his fingers through his ash blond hair. His entire body tensed when he heard her soft giggle.

She was too perfect. The aesthetic of her deep brown eyes and robust, chocolate hair completely effaced him. Her hair and face and eyes curved without faltering to a single blemish. The balance between her sensitivity and stubborn tenacity intrigued and hooked him to a suffocating surface. To top it all off, her past and motivations and stories enticed him. She was like some kind of warrior fairytale princess - no, a Queen.

Just then, he realized a legal marriage would not suffice. He wanted more. He wanted her heart, mind, and soul. He coveted the timid desires she harbored for Midoriya. Bakugou wanted her to want him. He wanted her love as his queen.

Brushing his fingertips across his cheeks, he wondered if others could see the scorching heat that spread through his face and down his neck. To protect his image, he buried his head in his arms. "No," he thought. His precipitous performance stemmed from Uraraka. Therefore, he concluded that she had somehow become his Achille's heel. All he could see was red. His body continued to accelerate towards an alien zenith.

Steam billowed from his ears as he could clearly recall the nauseating scenes of romance between his parents. He grew up with a clear picture of a loving relationship, and, as his mother once put it, time would soon dictate that he would desire the same - kissing, cuddling, and embracing a girl. And as he stewed in his self-contempt, he dreamt of Uraraka as the object of that foreign affection. In fact, only she could satiate his newfound hunger of companionship. Therefore, he would have to sever the cords of attachment that bound him to weakness.

In the few minutes they had before class, Sero and Kirishima witnessed the collapse of Bakugou. They knew he had finally realized his feelings. After exchanging a look, they figured they had to do some kind of intervention to help their friend. Directly approaching him would probably not help, so they waited until after class to devise a temporary solution.

"You told Ashido?!" Sero exclaimed to Kirishima in the commons of the dorm that late afternoon. Even he would not have gone as far as to tell a curious chatterbox like her. Just that moment, she capered around the room, looking to witness Bakugou's infatuation first-hand.

Kirishima rubbed the back of his head. "I figured she could help. You know, girls know more about this sort of thing than we do," he explained as he gesticulated with his free hand. His eyes, however, stayed on Ashido's back. He made a noticeable grin when she turned around and returned to them.

Pressing her hands against her cheeks, Ashido cheered, "I can't believe it. Uraraka didn't really seem like his type, but I guess opposites attract." She interlinked her two index fingers and giggled along with her middle school friend.

Still skeptical, Sero tapped his foot before he interjected, "Listen, you can't tell anybody. That'll ruin everything." Typically, Kirishima would have sense enough to not tell anyone, but on those odd occasions when Ashido got involved, Sero had to pick up the slack. Then, depending on how mischevious Kaminari happened to be, he would be helpful as well, but he had clean-up duty with Jirou.

Bakugou entered the room donning a black t-shirt and dark blue sweatpants. He headed towards the bathrooms as he dragged his feet across the floor. His shoulders lowered when the trio of classmates crossed his path. He halted.

Standing on the tips of her toes, Ashido whispered into the blonde's ear, "I heard you like Uraraka, is it true?"

Sero jumped and prepared to flee until he realized that Bakugou failed to react at all. Instead, his dull eyes fixated on the door of the bathroom. Not a single twitch sparked in the corners of his mouth or on the span of his brow. His silence caused the pink girl to cover her face in excitement. Kirishima placed a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to keep her composed. Of course, she interpreted Bakugou's silence as a confirmation as her eyes filled with glossy light.

"She likes someone else," revealed Ashido without any padding for her statement, "but you should probably tell her. I can tell her for you."

Bakugou knew who Uraraka liked. He could put together the clearly defined pieces. Would Bakugou punch Midoriya in the face if he walked into the room at that moment? Probably not. His numb arms could hardly lift away from his sides. That wouldn't make Uraraka love him either. Shaking his head, he decided aloud, "There's nothing to tell. I've already decided."

Sincere concern furrowed Ashido's brows as she added, "What? I thought you wanted to marry her."

"Not anymore," he muttered as he pushed past the trio. If this putrid infatuation continued, he needed to distance himself from Uraraka as much as possible. The prospect of badass offspring could not interfere with his current goals of winning the title for the world's best hero. Yet, as soon as the thought of forcing a wedge between him and Uraraka entered his mind, his chest cringed in pain. Hopefully, that would fade.

All or nothing. That's how he lived. At least, that's how he had lived. If he couldn't jerk Uraraka's attention towards him with what he had already done, then he wanted nothing to do with her.

Emerging from the restroom, he meandered across the commons and past his friends before halting along with the thickening air. His heart raced ahead of him as he froze in place. Slowly, he turned his head to scan the immediate area before honing in on that familiar shade of chestnut brown hair. On the couch, meters away from him, sat the lovely Uraraka Ochako as she captivated her audience of Ashido, Sero, and Kirishima.

She gasped in a high-pitch voice like cold water hit her by surprise, "Oh!"

His heart dipped, he knew what was coming.

"Bakugou! I was looking for you."

A summoning. How presumptuous of her!

For some ungodly and impalpable reason, he marched towards her noxious atmosphere. Tucking his hands into his pockets, he decided to fixate a stare in any direction besides her. "What?" he asked.

Uraraka jumped from her spot and gripped the short sleeve of his t-shirt. "Can we talk?" she asked in a clear and soft tone. Then, even more tender than before, she implored, "Alone."

The grins of Bakugou's friends damn near made a glare in his peripheral. He jerked his arm away from the anti-gravity girl's clutch. "Get off of me," he scolded despite the fact that he wished for such a gesture earlier that day. Peering down into her eager and friendly eyes, he lowered his shoulders. Bakugou took a deep breath before relinquishing his circumspect tension to hear her out. Without another word, she walked away, and he pursued her.

She didn't even look back as she exited the building like she knew that her faithful study buddy would follow. And Bakugou heeled within a fixed distance as if she held the chain to his collar.

A collar. On him? No wonder he had a lump in his throat. He wanted to berate her for such arrogance, but instead, he silently tailed her like a dog. He needed to end this game that very second.

"I want a rematch. Is that okay?" Uraraka said against the wind on that blustery afternoon.

Despite the noise of the weather, he heard her as he always did. And, she captured him with a rare offer he could not refuse. "For what? Video games? I'd kick your ass," replied Bakugou.

Twirling around back to face him, she pressed her palms together and looked up at Bakugou. "No, I want to fight you again - just like at the Sports Festival. I'm a lot stronger now, and I want to see how much I've changed." That glint of determination sparked through her eyes.

Tightening his frown, he finally fixed his brow to glare at her. Still, he could feel that his fire had yielded to the nervous tautness that dominated his body. His breathing hitched, and he held his hot breath. He needed to tell her to fuck off before he imploded. Instead, he scoffed.

Uraraka's gleeful smile faltered. Earlier that day, she had listened to Midoriya rave about his time spent with Tsuyu. Her jealous heart could not forget the enthusiasm in his voice as he talked about going to the movies with her. Bakugou's presence mollified that anguish. Well, typically he would, but that day, she could sense an unusual demeanor about him. Uraraka's lip quivered as she reflected on anything she could have said to alienate him. "We could just have a friendly spar as friends today, ya' know," she suggested.

Bakugou despised that acknowledgment of a friendship. They weren't friends - they were betrothed. The mere word knotted his stomach. From his perspective, she had too much audacity to fear him, but inducing that aversion may have been the only way to push her away.

He snatched her wrist and pulled it towards the sky. With the slightest bit of more effort, he could have dangled her above the ground. "I'm not your friend, Uraraka," he declared with a smirk and yearned for fear to appear in her eyes or posture or movement, yet any hint of terror remained completely absent.

Her eyes widened back at his darkened glare. She met his leer after a chill went down her spine. Naturally, her heart rate sped, and she gulped, but he struggled to entirely subdue her. The exposure of her body as Bakugou lifted her arm brought a sense of vulnerability without the company of fear. His secure grip on her wrist and his fixated eyes assured her safety. Reminiscing about the Bakugou of her dreams, she failed to anticipate harm. Instead, excitement lit her curious stare and sparked a true grin across her face.

Uraraka nodded, "Okay." She didn't need the title of a friendship with Bakugou. She just needed Bakugou, or else her mind would dwell on her distance from Midoriya.

At the training arena, Bakugou stood frozen meters away from his sparring partner. He crossed his arms across his chest. How did he end up in this trap?

"How does your quirk work again?" asked Uraraka as she stretched her legs before whatever kind of exercise they would do for that day. She could not read Bakugou's guarded demeanor for the life of her. To her, he had been behaving oddly all that day with terse replies and aggravated outbursts.

"Dumbass! You should have learned that shit when you fought me!" he shouted - his hair may as well have stood straight from his head.

Focusing on the muscles in her arms, Uraraka reached to the ceiling and leaned back to stretch as much of her upper body as possible before exhaling and letting out a drawn-out sigh. "Sweat, right? And then, you know how my quirk works," she assumed before a sudden pause in their conversation. Ceasing her pre-workout routine, she took a small step towards her sparring partner and watched Bakugou take a full leap backward as if to dodge an attack. She nervously laughed, "What'd I do?"

Bakugou had formed an X with his arms to assume a perfect defensive stance. His hair hung in his face, but even that was not enough to shield him from her overbearing presence. He panted, "Your hands. You touch things with your hands." And, in his waking daydreams, the enchanting Uraraka had touched him. "No!" he shouted aloud to silence his risqué desires - red in the face. But dammit if that pink and black fighting outfit of hers never looked that enticing.

Every damn curve of her body. He could see how smooth it'd be to palpitate her legs, for even those were accentuated by her large, white boots.

Puzzled, Uraraka tilted her head to the side. "Bakugou," she whined and stepped forward - he leaped backward again. "What are you doing? I'm not gonna start fighting yet." Raising her hands, she revealed her raised, pink spots on her fingertips. Furrowing her eyebrows, she studied his tremors and wasn't sure what to make of them. Maybe he was sick or maybe it was part of his technique. Regardless, she suggested, "How about I touch you?"

He breathed through his grimacing teeth, "What?" That witch could read his thoughts and used that knowledge to her advantage. He just knew it. Clapping his hands together, he snapped himself out of his raunchy stupor with a sharp and controlled explosion.

The anti-gravity fighter stopped reaching for Bakugou's arm and hit her fist to her palm. "Oh," exclaimed Uraraka with an enthusiastic glimmer in her eyes, "I know - you can float with me. Let's do it together. That way you can see how lame it really is." She extended her hand after realizing that touching Bakugou wouldn't be the best course of action. After all, he was just like a stray dog. She had to let him come to her. So then, she tapped the side of her abdomen and drifted from the pull of the earth.

By that point, Bakugou managed to compose himself enough to not overreact to that innocuous double entendre of "let's do it together." He took a deep breath and bore his fangs. If he did not reach for her, then he would miss his chance. Her pleading, wide eyes peered down at him like an immaculate angel. As she strayed further from him, his heart sped until he finally reached to touch her fingertips before she floated too far.

"Soft." That was the last thing Bakugou thought before he abandoned the earth and joined her in the air. Every joint in his legs and arms bent to a 90-degree angle. He scowled up at her as she giggled to her heart's content. Had he thoroughly recounted what it would mean to throw in the towel and separate from her?

"Not even Iida floats like that," laughed Uraraka. "You're doin' it like a robot."

Bakugou failed to break their eye contact to observe his posture. He knew how he appeared. "I have to keep my body rigid when I fight or else I might fuck my arms up," he explained.

"Really?" she exclaimed. "But, we're not gonna fight right now, so you can relax."

"Nice try, I'm not going to let my guard down." Especially not around her. He repeated that in his mind until he began to recall the light and dizzy sensation of flying through the air without the binding of the earth. That was not to say that gravity had completely left him. In fact, he began to notice in the middle of the air that he gravitated towards the lovely light of Uraraka. His abdomen tensed as he realized that he spoke too soon - he had indeed slightly yielded to the supernatural relaxation of her presence.

He didn't like that she floated above him. She literally looked down to him.

Uraraka held her hands out for him once more and bit her lip. "What if you gave me some of your sweat and I made that float? Would that work?" As gross as it may have sounded, she could not stifle her penchant for their quirk harmony.

Of course, he had considered that, and he had plenty of fresh sweat that coated his palms. Sliding his hand against hers, he watched the nitrous oxide bubble up in the air. "Get back," he commanded firmly enough for her to hear and soft enough to not inspire an ounce of fright. Once she had backed away a distance, he flung glycerine to meet the nitrous oxide in mid-air.

The collision caused a crackling explosion a distance away. Orange and red light sparkled while suspended in the air.

"Amazing!" squealed Uraraka. She pressed her knuckled against her pink cheeks. "They're like fireworks!"

Bakugou only witnessed the interaction for a fraction of a second before his crimson eyes abruptly shifted to his "sparring partner." Her eyes glowed brighter than the chemical reaction, and he loathed them. Pressing a fist against his chest, he ground his teeth. Had he forgotten the euphoria she incited in him? The corners of his mouth twitched as he watched her cheer and beg for them to do it again.

Met with his silence, Uraraka's face slowly dropped into a frown. "Bakugou," she whispered before she knew what to say. She cursed her thoughts for straying back to that dream she had of her happy family life with Bakugou. As she floated - weightless and free from the burden of gravity - her heart fluttered under his softened glare. "There's gotta be somebody else that's better for you. Somebody prettier and with a better quirk. Somebody that you actually like, dontcha think?" Her accent had thickened at the tail of that question like it often did when she became unnerved.

That somebody that she spoke of simply did not exist. Her classic, simple beauty drew every last breath from him. She was the best. Therefore, Uraraka was the only one for him. In that moment, Bakugou could not fathom parting from her. While he had coined the plan to sever all connections to her earlier that day, he was far too close to her to think clearly. Therefore, he wouldn't waste his energy. "Do it again," he demanded as he stretched his arm to grab her hand.

She grazed his hand with hers before he gripped her fingertips with his.

Abruptly, he pulled her towards him, for he wasn't sure if he could reach. Accompanied with his somewhat limited knowledge of physics, she accelerated towards him to his surprise.

Bakugou caught Uraraka against his chest and in his arms.

And.

Terror faded the background to white.

And.

Instinct or fate or some force beyond gravity dominated them.

And.

Their hearts pounded against each other's chest. The flames of their cheeks bonded. Their moist, frazzled bangs intertwined. Eyes, completely awake, made an unbreakable connection. Bakugou's lips met Uraraka's. By the second, they set into their frozen shock and stayed embraced in the middle of the scorching atmosphere. The only course they could follow led to them yielding to their innate hunger for more.

Pitch black darkness possessed them as their eyes closed. They lost themselves and found each other.

Who slipped their tongue first? It didn't matter. Both would swear it was an accident in the aftermath.

The tip of Uraraka's tongue grazed the inside of his cheek in a way that excited his core. He gripped her waist.

She pushed away upon the sudden, additional contact. Pressing, her clammy hands together, she caught the smirk on Bakugou's mouth through the tears in her eyes before she beckoned gravity to bring them down to Earth. Did he plan everything? How could he be so smug after stealing something so precious?

They dropped to the ground - Bakugou fell on his back as Uraraka gracefully landed on the heels of her boots before she took off running.

Engulfed by the flames of the moment, the blond combustible fighter shoved fingers through his sweaty bangs and laughed. And laughed. And laughed. Fate had strung him through a hell of a lot, but now he knew that he couldn't give up. "I'm gonna kill that woman!" he roared loud enough to rock the entire arena. He could guarantee that the dork known as Deku had not gotten that far with her. He had successfully reached a milestone that no man had ever been before.

Such a proper sign lit a beacon of hope for Bakugou. Uraraka was meant for him.

A/N: I don't know if I made Sero too serious, but I like the role he plays since Kirishima is kind of gaga over Ashido - not in a romantic way, maybe, idk. Bakugou realized his feelings on his own. Kinda. A lot of other fics have Kirishima or someone spell it out for him, so I felt like I could do something a little different. I think it's kinda in character for him to at least know what love looks like.

Also, dragonpigeons made fanart of this story! I'm super happy. I really like it. The link will be on my profile. You're totally free to draw some, too.