Updated: 26/09/21 – spelling and grammar corrections using Grammarly.

My Dear Copycat
Chapter 5

Before long, everyone had got themselves ready for the evening, food had arrived not long after and it was a large mix of just about everything and everyone chipped in to cover it. The buffet was spread across two tables and the drinks stayed on the kitchen counter for people to help themselves. Card and board games were set up on the other tables and Toru's game console was hooked up to the TV in the sitting area. Chatter and laughter rang through the common area, everyone – even Bakugo- was either playing one of the many games or conversing. Bakugo was not originally going to attend this little celebration, he thought sleep seemed more appealing, but he had been drawn to take part because of a certain red-headed girl. Not that he had much choice with Kirishima around. While his participation in activities was minimal, Bakugo was enjoying himself despite trying his best to hide it. He was currently with Kirishima, Kaminari, Jiro, Sato, Ashido, May and Sero crowded on the green sofas with the game console with various snacks and drinks on hand.

May and Ashido were currently playing, they had headgear that immersed them into the game world the rest of them could watch on the television. With controllers in their hands that they could use to control their weapons in a scary zombie game, the group had opted to play. They would play in pairs against each other and when one died someone else took over. The boys had been whispering to themselves about how cute the girls were when they first put on the headgear and were fazed by the change, they giggled and had reached out for each other. Until Jiro had jabbed them in the ears with her jacks. "Oh, this is so weird…" May laughed, still trying to climatise to the virtual reality headgear as they traversed through the first game area, equipping their gear and still waiting to see any form of enemy.

"Have you used this kind of thing before Hata?" asked Kaminari.

May seemed to look around to answer him, her direction going all over the place and becoming disorientated. "Nope! First time…" with a grin on their faces, Mina pulled May through a doorway in-game and into a room with more collectable objects and this time, a few enemies. The girls squealed and giggled as they fought off the undead combatants. After roughly fifteen minutes of the girls playing, the group had picked up in their attitude and together they were laughing, toying with the girls and yelling directions. Bakugo found himself watching May more than half the time and had to stop himself from reaching out to help steady her when she stumbled, nearly tripping over the other's feet. His friends were already suspicious of his feelings towards May, and he didn't want to prove them right. They were unbearable when they were right.

The girls were both low on health and they had planned to not heal themselves so others could have a go when they died. Mina was the first to go when they haphazardly blundered upon a herd of enemies that swarmed them, and May tried her best to run away while Mina passed the equipment over to Sero. "No no no no no no...ahhh!" May's character had been caught up by the herd and promptly killed. The game was paused so May could take off the headgear and pass it on to Jiro. When she removed it, her green eyes were dazed and wide, she pulled a weird face as she tried to adjust to being without it. Bakugo found this both hilarious and cute, her unfamiliarity shining through as she blinked quickly to readjust her eyesight. Snickering to herself as she sat where Jiro was sat previously, between Bakugo and Kaminari as it was the only sit free.

They continued like this for a while longer and Jiro was absolutely rocking the game, she stayed in play even after Sero swapped with Kirishima, and he had swapped with Sato. They had decided to make a competition of it, the longest in-game wins. Jiro and Sato were making their way through an abandoned building when a huge monster burst through the double doors and charged at their characters. Most of the group had reacted to the jump scare, but May had covered her eyes and hid her face into the closet shoulder to her which happened to belong to an unsuspecting Bakugo. "Ahh I hate monsters," she mumbled with a hint of amusement in her voice. He was staring down at the back of her head, not knowing what to do and tensed up. How…why has she turned to him for comfort? He felt awkward and stunned, he had never been so close with a girl before, outside the context of fighting. Mastering his goals and becoming number one was always his priority, he had never even cared about looking at girls, let alone pursuing relationships with them. But here one was, throwing out everything he had become so accustomed too and deep down, he was enjoying this.

He glanced up to see Kaminari and Kirishima giving him quiet but enthusiastic thumbs up. He felt himself grit his teeth, there was no hiding it now. Idiots. Through all their faults, the one thing they did better than Bakugo was socialising. They were both social butterflies and had experience with people and girls. This included how to behave with girls and how to treat them. Either their knowledge was correct or they were all stupid enough to think what they thought was true. Kirishima gestured to him to put the arm that was currently on the back of the sofa awkwardly, to being around a supposedly frightened May. I am not going to hear the end of this…he did in a way do as his friend suggested and began awkwardly patting May on the back. Causing Kaminari to look at him dumbfounded and Kirishima to face-palm. He did not have the courage to do as they wanted, what if she retreated? What if she reacted in a way that would get the attention of everyone, and he would be made out to be the bad guy for touching her? It wasn't long ago that she was absolutely terrified of him and now she was using his shoulder as a shield from a fictional video game monster. "It's gone now," he whispered in her ear, he could feel a warmth rise in his cheeks as she looked up at him with those big green eyes and then to the television. She suddenly sat up straight, her cheeks turning pink as she hid her face from him with her hand as she watched the gameplay out with Jiro and Sato.

"Hey May! Want to play with us?" called out Toru. May breathed out a substantial sigh of relief and jumped up almost instantly, leaving Bakugo's side without a word – her body was rigid and tense as she scurried away from the group and instantly relaxing when she reached Toru, Momo, Ochaco, Deku and Asui at one of the tables now set up to play a new game. Her reaction and the sudden cold air flooding into where she was sat against him felt like a dagger to the heart. The now-empty space was quickly filled by his two friends trying to cram themselves in, they seemed hopeful, but he was embarrassed and hid behind a scowl.

"Not sure why but she definitely likes you bro…" Kirishima uttered to him quietly so nobody else could hear, a big toothy grin plastered on his dumb face. Kaminari's even dumber face over the redhead's shoulder, nodding viciously and giving more thumbs-ups.

No…how could she? "Yeah whatever…" he rolled his eyes and got up. Sato was now out of the game and offered the headgear to him. "No thanks," he left the group than to get some fresh air on the porch. He hoped his friends would leave him alone, but they followed him as they always did. There was a time when he relished in others tailing after him, treating him as their leader but now it was an annoyance; he preferred the peace of being alone. "Can you guys never take a hint?" he snarled at them as he leaned forward onto the white railings.

"Sorry bro, just seemed like you could use our help is all," Kirishima and Kaminari joined Bakugo against the railings. Kaminari had his back to the rail, so he could make sure no one would sneak up on them during a time when their friend was clearly vulnerable.

"I don't need your help, I just needed some air idiots!" biting back, trying to act cool but his true feelings were obvious. He had no idea what was going on with himself, he had never experienced anything like this before. Girls had pined over him in middle school sure, but he was never interested back.

"Well too bad man, cause May is a total hottie! You can't waste this opportunity! We will be your amazing wingmen!" Denki exclaimed in his usual way, fist in the air and getting a death glare from Bakugo in response.

"Look bro, it's pretty obvious that you like her-" Bakugo's death glare turned to Kirishima and was about to yell at him, but Kirishima continued, unfazed by his friend's rage and a soft, understanding look in his eyes. "But you gotta calm down man. We're not in elementary school, you can't vent your frustrations on a girl you like. Totally unmanly!"

Bakugo groaned, banging his head against the railing. "What the hell is going on Eijiro?" he sounded defeated, his mind was replaying May rushing to get away from him over and over again. Like she had been caught doing something she should not have been.

"You like her man, and by like her, I mean like like her."

Bakugo had to admit it to himself, he knew he needed their advice. He had felt a pull towards her after the first night they met when he had saved her from those two guys – he had ignored it, thinking he would never see her again. Nevertheless, the universe has a funny way of playing tricks on him lately and she joined their class and turned out to be this adorable, cute little bubbly girl despite her initial timidness and weakness in the field. "Fuck…I've never…" he started but couldn't bring himself to finish. He felt so ashamed, this whole thing was a situation he had never experienced before and now he was having a heart-to-heart chat with his friends – a concept that made him want to die from embarrassment.

"Have you never been in a relationship before Bakugo? Wait…have you not liked anyone before?"

He groaned loudly, he was hating every minute of this, he took a deep breath and straightened, mustering his pride. "No…no, I haven't," he begrudgingly replied. His friends reacted like this revelation was the cutest thing in the world and Kirishima put an arm around the spikey blonde boy's shoulders and Kaminari got closer too.

"Don't worry Bakugo! You're in good hands!"

"Oh fuck sake…"

The three was them spent the rest of the evening outside wandering around the grounds close to the Alliance dorm, with Kirishima and Kaminari attempting to teach Bakugo the ways of treating women and teasing him. They finally had something that they were better at than he was, or so they all believe anyway. For the most part, Bakugo listened to them, the way he has been feeling, the sensations in his chest, his guilt, his weird growing infatuation was making more sense now. He appreciated them taking this time and effort to help him understand over enjoying the evening with everyone else playing games and stuffing their faces – only, he couldn't tell them that.

As they headed back to the dorm building, Bakugo suddenly stopped in his tracks and pulled out his phone. His friends stopped, confused. "What ya doing man?" Kaminari raised his brow, he wanted to get back and hoped there was still some grub left for him.

"I'm getting her something…"

"Our little boy has all grown up!" Kirishima and Kaminari hugged each other, "we've taught you all young padawan!"

"Shut it!" turning his attention back to his phone, his friends huddled around him and the three hunted together for a perfect gift – for he had a lot to be sorry for.

The majority of Class 1-A spent the following day enjoying their time off. May decided to have a relaxing day, her body ached from all the physical activity the day before and staying up till late. She was lounging on one of the green sofa's reading a book with her feet up and a cup of tea in hand. She had opted for comfort clothes over fashion, she wore her beige boot slippers, simple black leggings and top with a taupe, oversized woolly cardigan with her hair in a messy bun instead of the usual sleek ponytail. Momo, Aoyama, Koda, Kirishima and Kaminari were also loitering around the common area doing their own thing. Bakugo and Todoroki had left for a meeting at UA about the training program they needed to attend to obtain their provisional licence while the rest of the class were either still in their rooms or had gone out. May turned the page in her book, she tried to focus on the story, but she was distracted and couldn't truly immerse herself. She felt anxious, perhaps even guilty over last night. She had leaned against Bakugo and hid her face in his shoulder -which to her surprise he didn't whack her upside the head and tell her to get off. Truth was, she wasn't scared of the monster on screen, she just wanted to see how he would react and get close to him. But it was a stupid, spur-of-the-moment plan that caused her to practically run away in shame of her foolish actions. In doing so, she had hurt him. No doubt about it, why else would he leave shortly after? She remembered watching him step through the door and the guilt building in her chest until Ochaco gave her a reassuring squeeze on the arm and a knowing look. I should've just played it cool. He probably would've liked that.

A knock came at the door demanded their attention, this was a rarity but not an unusual occurrence. Momo was the one that answered the door, her eyes dazzling at the sight of what the delivery man was holding. "Good afternoon ma'am, I have a gift for a Miss Hata." All the others left in the common area -except for Kirishima and Kaminari- were confused and looked to May who was even more puzzled. She put her mug and book down and strolled over. She wrapped her thick cardigan closer to her body, feeling exposed from all the eyes on her and not noticing Kaminari secretly filming the events on his phone. "Are you Miss Hata?" she nodded, with a low bow the deliveryman extended arms to reveal the gift he was holding, "a gift for you Miss!" She blinked, mouth agape at what the older man carried. He held a luxury, a circular black box filled with exposed rose heads and gold ribbon. She slowly took the box from him and bowed, mumbling a thank you. Without another word, the delivery man in a nice suit left the dorm building. Leaving everyone in shock.

The speechless tiny girl took the box inside, Momo closing the door for her. Everyone was interested and watched May place the box of roses on the table. Momo was close to her side and May couldn't help but give her perplexed, yet intrigued look. She noticed a black card sticking out from between the roses and she plucked it, the card had writing in cursive and shimmery gold ink, 'look inside' and a heart drawn beside it. She noted that the box did look too deep to hold just the rose heads, but she didn't think anything of it as she had never received anything like this before, she had never even seen anything like this before. She was frankly bewildered; the note had no name and the delivery man had not given her that information. Who would get her such a lovely gift? "I think you have a secret admirer…" Momo had her hands on her cheeks as she grew more excited for her friend as she swung side to side, "oh you're so lucky! I wonder who it could beeee?"

May gave a nervous laugh, she did not know how to respond to her or the situation. Except for looking for the way to open it as the note said. She found some small black ribbon tabs that pull up. The seam had been hidden by the gold ribbon, she carefully opened it and placed the rose-filled lid on the table. Taking a big excitable gasp and hearts in her eyes, May couldn't stop herself when she caught sight of what was inside. "My favourite!" she lifted one of several iconic purple packages and opened it straight away. Without hesitation she took a big bite out of the milky chocolate and settled into the nearby stool – she was in heaven. How on Earth…?

"What is that Hata?" queried Momo, who was still looking over her shoulder.

"It's a chocolate from the UK, my absolute favourite."

"How merveilleux!"

"But it's so hard to get here. I wonder who…" May glanced up and noticed Kirishima and Kaminari then. Who was watching intently and secretly -but not very well- filming the whole thing.

They stiffened up having been caught, Kaminari put the phone away and they very suspiciously left the common area, heading towards the male dorms calling behind them. "How lovely! Lucky you! I wonder who got it!"

"What a mystery!"

May and Momo looked to each other and back in the boys' direction. They had now disappeared, and they heard the slamming of a door. "Weird…" She couldn't help but chuckle. They were such adorable guys. She turned back to the present, and picked up the care instructions for the roses, they were so lovely that she wanted to try and keep them for as long as possible. She nearly choked on her own breath when she read that they were 'eternal roses' – these are crazy expensive! With no tampering and not being in direct sunlight, they would last anything from one to two years, maybe longer if they didn't get damaged. "I better get these to my room and the chocolate in the fridge! Because that is where it belongs, I don't care what anyone says!" She carefully put the rose lid back on the box and headed to her room. She lightly stroked the top of the rose petals, the deep red roses that matched her hair felt velvety to touch, a wide smile forcing its way onto her lips.

Bakugo and Shoto were silently walking back from UA campus when his phone buzzed. He found himself to be in a terrible mood, angry at himself for failing the exam in the first place and having an extra training program put on top of their already busy schedules. He had been too distracted by the same things that have been gnawing at his very existence for a while. May, Deku's growing power and All Might's retirement because he was too weak and got caught, leading to All Might overexerting himself to save him and losing his power. It was all his fault. He pulled his phone out to see who could be bothering him now and saw that Kaminari had sent him a video. He adjusted his earphone when he saw the thumbnail – he couldn't stop himself from watching it now despite Shoto being with him. He remained emotionless as he watched, but the twitching of the corners of his lips when May found the chocolate gave him away to the ever-observant Shoto, "what is that?"

He hid his phone away, "nothing you nosy bastard!"

Late that evening, Bakugo had finally appeared out of his room and approached the common area and that had several of his classmates chilling out there. Including May, who was at one of the tables having a girly conversation with Toru, Ochako, Momo and Mina about the gift she got today and was still giddy about. Kirishima and Kaminari watched Bakugo as he walked over, hoping for the next chapter of their love story. Only, Bakugo didn't go near May, he didn't even acknowledge her. Instead, he stopped by Deku, causing everyone to go silent and tense. He told Deku to meet him outside with a dark, but calm look in his eye. Without another word, Bakugo left and waited on the porch for his childhood rival.

Midoriya's classmates voiced their unease and told him not to go, but he assured them and went anyway. Unlike before, the two didn't stay on the porch, Bakugo walked off and Deku followed.

It would be some time before they would return to the dorm again. It had gotten so late that everyone had gone to bed other than May and Ochaco who was passing the time by playing a board game together – neither had wanted to settle in for the night while those two were still out. When the two did return, the girls almost jumped out of their skin when Bakugo burst through the front door the way he did, and Midoriya silently toddled in behind him. Bakugo stormed off towards his room, ignoring May asking if he was okay. The two were pretty beaten and dirty but had been bandaged up. Cuts and bruises decorated Midoriya's babyface, and he smiled at his two worried friends and told them not to worry before heading to his room.

May and Ochaco glanced at each other, "those boys are an enigma," May retorted and Ochaco agreed.

They would discover the following morning what happened and the repercussions of it. The two had gone out after curfew and fought in the same training ground they had their first fight in. They were both under house arrest and had to clean the dorm for the duration. Bakugo had four days for instigating the fight while Midoriya only had three. They would miss everything from training to classes and would have to catch up when they returned. Their classmates were forbidden to tell them what they had missed.

Early morning on day five, when Bakugo could finally return to classes, he did his usual morning routine of enjoying some peace having breakfast alone at the kitchen counter. He was an early bird, no matter what time he went to sleep he always woke up roughly the same time every day. Which, luckily for him was too early for most of his classmates, especially May, who he knew enjoyed her sleep and lie-ins. So, when she dragged her feet through - he was shocked and watched her silently. She had on that same dressing gown and slippers from the other night. She placed a notebook on the counter and headed back to her room with a big yawn and stretch without a word. It was like she was sleepwalking. She stopped at the entranceway to the girls' corridor and looked over her shoulder at him with the same warm smile that made his heart skip, "thank you for flowers and chocolates," and with that, she disappeared, no doubt to try and squeeze in an extra couple of hours sleep before classes.

He felt himself smile then and glance down to the notebook in front of him and flicked through. It was a mostly unused, fresh notebook, but the first chunk of pages was filled with notes from the past four days of missed classes and training. She had scribbled funny messages around and little doodles that made him chuckle to himself. She's really growing on me.