A/N: Yep, chapter updates are getting longer apart now that the holidays have started and I'm being pulled in all directions with family now. I hope everyone is still enjoying this as much as I am. Thanks for reading!

The next morning saw a sea of bodies scrambling around Alliance Heights, some hastily grabbing breakfast, some running around gathering up their last minute items needed for the next two weeks. The elevator was in constant use, as was the stairs. The shuttle to take everyone where they needed to go was departing soon, and suitcases, bags, and other items lined the entryway.

Kaylee stood next to the kitchen counter, trying to stay out of the way, but also wanted to get a chance to tell everyone goodbye. She took her morning run, this time without Bakugou as he had to pack, and well, she thought she might just as well get used to being on her own. As silly as it sounded, even though she had been isolated for most of her life, she'd never been left alone-there was always at least one person guarding her. This time, she would be completely by herself, and she wasn't sure if she was excited to be alone and get a chance to read, watch TV, or just do whatever she wanted.

She was going to miss everyone, that much she knew.

"Here," Mineta handed her a sheet of paper with barely legible writing on it. "This is my list of films for you to watch while we're gone."

Well, some she'd miss less than others. "Thanks," she said, taking the list and scanning it. Eyebrows raised, she looked at Mineta. She wasn't familiar with any of those films, but the titles didn't look like there would be anything too objectionable.

"Oh!" Sero dashed by. "This is mine. Now, I know this is confusing, but this is the exact order you need to watch these. The series starts with Episode 4, then 5, then 6. Then like twenty years pass, and they film episodes 1, 2 and 3. Then, more years pass and you get the rest."

"Actually Kaylee," Kaminari strode up to her. "Ignore everything but episodes 4, 5, and 6. The rest is shit and you don't need to waste your time on them. Just start watching The Mandelorian series, and you'll be caught up on all the good stuff."

"Damn it, Kaminari!" Sero said angrily. "She needs to see all of it!"

Kaylee looked at the list in question. Star Wars. She heard of these before, so at least she had an inkling of what they were discussing.

"Text me if you have any questions," Sero said, grabbing the last of his bags and taking them to the entryway.

"Bullshit, you don't know anything. I'm a way bigger fanboy than you," Kaminari snapped. "Kaylee, talk to me if you have any questions."

The lights flickered on and off for a few seconds with an electric hiss, interrupting the argument. "Damn, what was that? Did we not pay the bills this month?" joked Ojiro.

"Kaylee!" Koda came down the stairs, bunny in hand. "Are you sure you're ok to watch Momiji while I'm gone?"

"Of course," Kaylee smiled as she took the white rabbit from him, cuddling him close and kissing him on the nose. "We'll have fun, won't we?" Long ears twitched in response.

"Here's the list for his daily diet," Koda handed her clip board with a list of approved rabbit food. "He's got plenty of hay in his pen, and you'll just need to scoop his litter box once a day."

Kaylee set down Momiji when he started to wiggle, and took the list from Koda. "We'll be fine, don't worry!"

"Thanks so much, he's much happier here than traveling with me. He said he'll be the best behaved bunny ever!" Koda gave her a huge smile and grabbed the rest of his bags, stopping to kiss Momiji on top of his head. Kaylee liked Koda, he had such an air of gentleness about him.

"Everyone, the shuttle is almost here!" Iida announced, arms flailing about. "Let's get ready. Kaylee, I'll text you my list of favorite films."

"Here's mine," Deku handed her a sheet of paper that had a lot of writing on it, some of it erased, some of it scratched out and written over. Kaylee saw a lot of "All Might" listed, with a few of "Captain America" dotted throughout.

"Tch. It's probably a list of All Might's greatest saves." Kaylee's heart leapt as she heard Bakugou's deep voice from behind. She'd not seen him since last night, as he needed the morning to pack. She could feel his big body behind her as he leaned over her shoulder to read Deku's list. As always, he smelled amazing, like a sweet smoky scent, but this time it was stronger, like he'd recently used his quirk. Kaylee had to fight the urge to lean in and inhale deeply. "Oh come on, Deku! The vinegar boy? Why is that even there?"

"I like it. It's not the most flashy save, but he's got the best one-liner!"

"My skin feels ten years younger!" Both Deku and Bakugou said at the same time and Kaylee couldn't help giggling, despite not having the slightest idea what they were talking about.

"The rest of it is ok, I suppose," Bakugou said approvingly. "The order is fucked up though. No way is the Roppongi Incident below the one in Las Vegas."

"Kacchan, I keep telling you it's because the Las Vegas Incident is where he first used California Smash and was what made him become known in America! It's historic!"

'Yeah, whatever, nerd."

"Anyway," Deku told Kaylee, "Have fun with those and text me if you have any questions. Enjoy your break!" He gave her a big smile and a cheery wave, going to get the rest of his gear.

Bakugou snorted as Kaylee turned to face him directly. "Like you'd need him to answer any questions about All Might." Bakugou mumbled under his breath, watching Deku leave. "I know more than he's probably forgotten about." He turned to her, his fiery eyes suspicious. "Why are you giving me that look?"

Kaylee bit her lip, trying to suppress a giggle. "It's just cute. I think you might be a bigger fanboy than Deku."

"Tch," he growled, although there was a slight flush to his cheeks. Kaylee noticed he didn't try to deny it. More students rushed around them, and Kaylee suddenly felt the reality of the situation. She wouldn't see him for two weeks. Fourteen days. Three hundred thirty six hours. Oh, God she was going to miss him and she didn't know how to tell him that.

They stared at each other for a moment. Kaylee had to struggle to keep her eyes from going to the spot she kissed last night, the spot just before his left ear. She wasn't sure why she'd done it, other than she was still feeling happy and drowsy, and just wanted to touch him, almost like she'd wanted to make sure he was real. She'd been so comfortable curled next to Bakugou on the sofa, physically and mentally exhausted from the afternoon. She was safe and warm, and so she fell into a deep sleep. She hadn't lied when she said it was the best sleep of her life, and she was almost angry that the stupid movie ended when it did.

"Try and keep your training up while I'm gone, ok?" Bakugou was the first to break the silence.

"I will."

"Don't overdo it though. When your leg starts aching, then fucking stop and take a break!" His eyes were so intense, and Kaylee had the feeling it was just as hard for him to say goodbye as it was for her.

She nodded.

"Don't forget to charge your phone. The old bastard will have us doing shifts at all times of the day, but I'll talk to you when I can."

"Remember, young lady, no wild parties while your dad and I are gone, ok?" Kirishima placed an arm around Bakugou's shoulders as he shook a finger at her. Kaylee burst into laughter, especially as Bakugou really looked like he might kill the redhead.

"Goddamnit, Kirishima!" Bakugou went to punch him but he was too fast, dodging the hit as he cackled away.

"No boys over either!" Kaminari called out, passing Kirishima and grabbing the last of the bags in the entryway. "Your bedtime is at 10pm! Come on 'Dad-kugou,' the shuttle is here and we're loading up!"

Kaylee felt her stomach drop at that last part. There was more she wanted to say, but the words weren't coming.

"Ain't no sunshine when she's gone...only darkness everyday…" sang Kaminari.

"I'm coming, you assholes!" He turned back to her, and suddenly Kaylee was pressed tightly to him, his strong arms wrapped around her. She lost her ability to breathe as he pressed his forehead to hers, cupping her cheek, his thumb idly stroking the soft skin. "You better fucking be here when I get back, you got that?" he whispered, his deep voice sending shivers down her spine. His red eyes were so bright, hypnotic even.

"I will," Kaylee gasped, heart pounding in her chest. "I promise." Was she imagining his lips moving closer to her?

"BAKUGOU! WE'RE LEAVING!" Sero shouted from the entrance. Both of them jumped apart, faces flaming.

"I'm going to murder the son of a bitch!" Bakugou snapped. Kaylee almost wanted to murder Sero herself.

He grabbed his bags and headed for the entryway. "I'm coming, you bastard!"

"Bakugou!" Kaylee called out. He paused, turning back to her. "I – I-" she swallowed, now nearly overwhelmed with the things she wanted to tell him before he left. I'll miss you. I think I might be falling in love with you.

"Be safe," she finished, calling herself every kind of coward.

He rolled his eyes, "Like anything's going to happen to me."

….

While Alliance Heights was decidedly empty, and eerily quiet at night, Kaylee found that she was enjoying the time to herself. That first night, Kaylee ended up falling asleep on the sofa, the TV playing in the background. Instead of choosing a film from one of the lists, she ended up watching some old American sitcom about life in an office, laughing at the Japanese subtitles when the translations were off. She kept to her usual routine of training early in the morning, then cooking breakfast, where she quickly realized that even without Bakugou there, she actually enjoyed cooking. She spent the second day in the kitchen, looking up recipes on her laptop, watching various cooking shows–she found a British baking one that she particularly enjoyed.

The second night was when she discovered what had happened in her bedroom. After turning off all the lights, she gasped when she realized she was in total darkness–the stupid security lights that tormented her so were off. Outside on her balcony, she noticed that black scorch marks and empty light sockets were the only reminders that the lights had been there. Smiling tearfully, she'd pulled back the bed covers only to find a slip of paper with Sleep Well had been placed on her pillow. Silly though it was, she'd held the thin sheet to her nose, trying to see if any traces of a smoky sweet scent remained. She'd slept like a baby that night, and dreamed of him.

Bakugou. She missed him terribly. True to his word, he hadn't been able to text her much during the first few days, other than a quick good morning or good night. She knew he was going to be busy, and with all that he'd told her about Endeavor, she knew the old bastard (Bakugou's words) would be keeping the three students occupied. She was just glad to know he was safe, and she would still send him random texts throughout the day just to say hi.

The third and fourth nights she'd spent with Mr. Aizawa and Eri, in their apartment where the UA faculty lived. It was much like Alliance Heights, but on a smaller scale, and surprisingly much cozier. Kaylee and Eri had a blast watching some of Eri's favorite movies. Frozen, Tangled and Moana quickly became Kaylee's favorites as well and she and Eri stayed up all night learning all the songs, much to Mr. Aizawa's annoyance. Eri taught Kaylee more about her phone, particularly the camera and she found that she loved taking pictures of random things that caught her eye, making sure to send some to Bakugou, hoping he'd like them as much as she did.

Kaylee was using her time alone to discover who she was. She loved musicals, especially Hamilton and knew it by heart. She liked singing, and with no one in the dorms, she was able to sing as loud and as off key as she wanted. She discovered that she really liked the anime recommendations that Mina left for her, especially Fruits Basket–Kyo reminded her of Bakugou in some ways. Other than the heavily censored reading materials that her tutors gave her, and the ancient encyclopedia set in Hong Kong, Kaylee hadn't read many books. In addition to the many light novels she discovered, there was also the bookcase in the lounge just off the girls' showers–Kaylee worried that her face would stay permanently red once she'd seen those covers. She may have read a few of those, but she'd never tell.

"Are you ready, Kaylee?" Eri hopped up and down in excitement as she waited for her by the steps to Alliance Heights. She looked adorable in a blue and pink striped swimsuit and a straw hat. "We're going to have SOOOOO MUCH FUN! Present Mic is going to meet us there and we're going to build sand castles and have a picnic and ride the waves!" The week was nearly over, and Eri was beyond excited to go to the beach, even if it was an artificial one at the USJ.

Mr. Aizawa stuck his head out from the trunk of the car where he was currently loading up things like umbrellas, blankets, baskets, and other things Kaylee guessed were necessary for a beach trip. She'd never seen him dressed so casually before, with a pair of black shorts, a black t-shirt and his hair was pulled back at his nape. He looked different, softer.

"You ready?" he asked. Kaylee nodded.

The beach at the USJ was much as it was during Kaylee's first training session, however the entire roof of the USJ had been removed and bright sunlight now shone directly in. Apparently, Present Mic had arrived earlier and set up lounge chairs, a large beach umbrella, and a cooler. Along the shore were three huge floats; a unicorn, a T-Rex, and a banana with various other smaller floats, some with holes through the middle like a donut.

The water was a beautiful turquoise color, and Kaylee wished she had some sunglasses to cut the glare from the sun. The waves were somewhat gentle, although Mr. Aizawa mentioned that the intensity could be changed at will to accommodate Present Mic's surfing.

Eri was beside herself with excitement, running about to various parts of the beach and back to where Present Mic and Mr. Aizawa were lounging, the opened cooler between them.

"Come on, Kaylee!" Eri cried as she grabbed a bucket and spade. "Let's make a sandcastle!"

An hour later, Kaylee took a picture of the finished product. Ok, so the sandcastle was a little lopsided, and Eri wanted to stick her action figures of Present Mic, Fat Gum, and Mt. Lady on top, but for someone who'd never made a sandcastle, it wasn't a completely horrible job. Eri was super proud of the work, and she posed next to it.

"Are you sending that to Bakugou?" Eri teased, giggling madly as she ran to the water to splash about in the waves.

"Maybe," Kaylee grinned, feeling her face heat, and knowing it wasn't just from the sun.

"He's loud," Eri pouted. "And he shouts a lot. But he's nice to me. He ruffles my hair and calls me 'Squirt.' And he's nice to you too."

"He's very nice," Kaylee agreed. She brought up Bakugou's number and sent him the picture. If nothing else, he might get a good laugh. The figure of Mt. Lady had fallen over on Present Mic and now looked a little risque.

Eri splashed around in the waves, trying to catch some of the small silver fish that swam in between her legs. "Come on, Kaylee! Let's go swimming!"

Kaylee took a deep breath and rose, dusting the sand from her legs. She knew sooner or later today she'd have to at least face her fear, head on, and all alone. Determined, she strode straight into the waves, stopping when the slightly chilly water reached her navel. She turned her face to the sky, feeling the warmth of the sun shining down. She fell back, immediately trying to remember Bakugou's instructions on floating. She still didn't like getting water in her ears, but she kept her back straight and arms and legs out and there she was, floating in a large volume of water.

"How do you do that?" Eri asked, trying to copy Kaylee's moves.

"I just learned last week. Bakugou taught me."

"Can you teach me? I wanna learn!"

And so, Kaylee did her best to teach Eri how to swim, or as much as she could remember.

….

Aizawa sighed as he popped open another beer, settling back against the lounge chair. American rock music from the 1980s played in the background from the speaker Mic brought. He looked out to the beach, keeping an eye on both his charges. The mixture of heat and alcohol was giving him a pleasant buzz, making him drowsy, but he fought to keep at least one eye on the girls while they played. They were each in one of the oversized floats, Kaylee in the dinosaur and Eri in the unicorn, each trying to ram the other. Both girls were safe, happy, and loud. He winced as Kaylee let out a scream and tried to charge Eri, who let out an equally loud battle cry. Very loud.

Mic popped open his own beer, holding it out to Aizawa in salute. "You know, man, it's days like this that remind me why we do what we do." He glanced out to where both Kaylee and Eri, their peals of laughter and screams drowning out the music. "I have to say, you've done a great job with those kids. I've never seen them smile so much."

"Can't take much credit for Kaylee," Aizawa replied. "But yes, they do look happy. Happier than I've ever seen them."

"Who knew that such an arrogant, hot-tempered little asshole like Bakugou would have been able to bring shy, quiet, little Kaylee out of her shell?"

"Hey," Aizawa admonished. "That's one of the best students in UA history."

"Even so." Mic shook his head. "I would have never guessed…" He trailed off, sitting up straight as he studied the girls, who were now out of the water and running in their direction, still laughing.

"Sensei!" Eri cried, digging in the cooler to get out the water. "You promised we could bury you in sand!"

"Here Kaylee," Mic tossed Kaylee a can and she caught it deftly.

"Thanks," Kaylee opened her can and took a long sip, then spat it out, coughing. "Poison!"

Mic erupted into laughter.

"What the hell, Mic? You're trying to get my student drunk?"

"Sorry, I thought it was a soda!" Mic sputtered, still chuckling.

"She's underage!"

"We're on private property!"

Aizawa turned to Kaylee, who apparently had recovered enough to take another long swig from the beer. "Kaylee, give me that back!"

Kaylee frowned, clutching the can to her chest. "It's already been opened."

"Oh come on, man. I remember when we were their age and our entire class managed to get a hold of a keg–"

"I think Mic said he wants to be buried in sand," Aizawa interrupted him before he could go any further.

"Yay!" Eri jumped up, and Kaylee followed, downing the last of the beer and crushing the can like a university fratboy in one of those silly American movies.

"Oh come on, man!" Aizawa settled back as he watched the girls drag Mic off the lounge chair and started digging. He should feel bad for setting Mic up like that, but the bastard had it coming. And Aizawa knew more than anyone it was hard to disappoint Eri. Kaylee had a shovel and soon enough, had a decent sized hole. She was laughing at some story Mic was telling, most likely something from their own days at UA. He studied her for a moment, trying to reconcile the girl before him with the one that cowered and jumped at the slightest provocation. The therapist at UA mentioned that she still had occasional flashbacks and probably always would, but her mental state had much improved since she started working with Bakugou.

He gave a rare smile as he watched Kaylee and Eri lower Mic into the substantial crater they'd dug. Eri's arms and cheeks were starting to get a little pink; he'll have to put more sunblock on her. Aizawa sat up straight as he studied Kaylee, who was now laughing uproariously as she and Eri began throwing sand at each other, and at Mic. It was so subtle that it was easy to mistake for a trick of the light, or the way the water reflected off her pale skin, but Aizawa knew it was neither of those things. Kaylee was glowing.

….

The one thing they don't teach students at UA is that sometimes hero work can be boring as shit. Bakugou stood on the rooftop of one of the taller buildings along with Endeavor, Icy-Hot and Deku watching the city below. The first week at Endeavor agency had passed and Bakugou was exhausted. Besides being the number one hero, Endeavor was a world class bastard, and had them on an insane schedule, since, in his words: "Heroes don't have the luxury of a typical office shift." They barely had three hours of sleep before waking up and heading out again.

Bakugou stifled a yawn as he kept an eye out for any sort of criminal activity. The past three nights were insane, with a flurry of the usual crimes such as pickpockets, theft, and attempted robbery, followed by an illegal smuggling operation that took over sixteen hours to get taken care of, especially after the police investigators showed up and Endeavor wanted the three students to learn how to handle all the necessary paperwork and "behind the scenes" bullshit, such as dealing with asshole cops and even worse, the press, which Bakugou despised.

Bakugou spared a glance at both Icy-Hot and Deku, who also looked just as bored and exhausted as he was. Endeavor was droning on to his son about something to do with his quirk, while Icy-Hot pretended to ignore him. Deku was alternatively trying to keep a lookout while playing around on his phone. Bakugou walked around to the other side of the building, wanting to be alone for a second.

For lunch, they'd grabbed imagawayaki from one of the street vendors down below, and as Bakugou bit into it, the sweet custard hitting his tongue, his mind immediately thought about how much Kaylee would enjoy one. He could show her around the city, take her shopping, restaurants….fuck, he forgot she can't leave the campus. Goddamn it. Bakugou frowned at the now crushed imagawayaki in his hands, as though it was the pastry's fault. He fucking missed her, to the point that he was starting to get pissed off at how much he missed her.

He'd not had much chance the past week to do much more than text her a good morning or good night. Kaylee, however, had no such problem and would send him texts and pictures of what she'd been up to while he was gone. Apparently, she and the squirt had several pajama parties–Kaylee sent him a picture of Eri, her hair in all sorts of crazy braids, with a scowling Aizawa in the background. They'd been watching Disney movies. At odd times of the day, she would randomly send him pictures of things – apparently she loved taking pictures of butterflies, flowers, food she'd made, the fucking rabbit that she was babysitting, a lopsided sandcastle. Some of them were out of focus, off center, but he saved every single picture and would often scroll back through them, cherishing each one because it meant that Kaylee was still safe at UA.

He had nightmares about it, especially this week during the few times they were allowed to get more than four hours of sleep. He'd wake up, drenched in sweat, panting, the images of running through the halls of UA, Alliance Heights, and the entire campus replayed in his mind. His throat would be sore, as though he'd been screaming, calling her name, searching for her. She would be gone.

Fuck.

Throwing the food down in disgust, watching pigeons quickly swarm over the remainder, he took out his phone and pulled up her number.

Hey, he texted her. Damn it if he didn't want to jump for joy when the three little dots showing that she was typing something back almost immediately popped up.

Hey! How are you? Are you having fun hero-ing?

At the moment, it's boring as hell. Last night was busy.

Was it the smugglers? I'm almost positive I saw you on TV, but the camera cut away. You looked like you were talking to an officer. Did you get hurt?

Yeah, it was probably me and I'm fine. Fucking dickhead police. What are you doing?

I'm watching Han Solo fight Nazis.

Bakugou didn't even bother fighting the laugh bubbling in his chest as he realized what she'd said.

Raiders of the Lost Ark? Is that it?

Yes! I like it. It's a really old movie, but it's fun. After this, I'm going to look at Mineta's list.

His list? WTF did that pervert give you?

Oh, I don't think it's that bad. It's mostly dancing movies. He also texted me some links to some other movies that he forgot. I hadn't looked at those yet.

Dancing movies?

Kaylee sent him an out of focus picture, but Bakugou could make out enough of the pathetic excuse of penmanship that Mineta called handwriting to read at least the first three titles of movies. Last Tango in Paris, Showgirls, Striptease….oh fuck no! Bakugou was going to murder that little shit the moment he saw him again.

Don't watch any of those! Burn that fucking list. And don't even look at the texts he sent you, just delete it before it gives your phone some sort of virus.

Really? They didn't look that bad.

They are and I will rip out his throat when I see him again. The links, do they have XXX anywhere in the text?

No, they all go to . Is that bad too? He also sends me a lot of eggplant emojis, which is weird.

Bakugou growled. Fucking pervert. I will fucking annihilate him! Do not watch anything he gives you!

Well, now I kinda want to see what the links show.

Bakugou groaned out loud, startling some pigeons that had landed nearby. He did not want to think about Kaylee watching porn right now.

"Bakugou!" Bakugou nearly dropped the phone as Icy-Hot came around the corner, followed by Deku. "Come on, we're moving to a new scouting location."

Fuck. I gotta go. I'll call you ASAP.

He put the phone up and followed the others.

"How's Kaylee?" Deku asked, kicking off the side of the building as they all launched themselves in the air.

"She's fine – wait, how did you know I was texting her?"

"You were smiling at your phone," Icy-Hot interrupted them. "It was pretty fucking obvious."

Deku nodded in agreement, laughing. Bakugou wanted to beat the shit out of both, but settled for a large blast that propelled him forward leaving both of them behind.

….

"H – hello?" Bakugou wanted to fucking sigh at the sound of her raspy voice. He knew it was late, but goddamn it, he needed to talk to her, even if it was for a few minutes.

"Hey, you ok?" Fuck, she sounded upset.

"I'm ok. I thought I'd pick a film from Koda's list, and it got really sad," she sniffled.

"What was the movie?"

"Charlotte's Web," she paused for a second and he could hear her blow her nose. "I thought it was going to be a sweet film about a pig and a spider…." she trailed off with a small hiccup. "I wasn't expecting it to go that way though."

"Yeah, that's not a movie I'd expect him of all people to recommend," Bakugou replied. He stretched out on the decently sized bed in his dorm at the Sidekick Station, small apartments and dormitories Endeavor's agency provided to all the sidekicks, and in this case, the three work-study students he supervised. Surprisingly, it was nicely furnished and comfortable. Bakugou thought Endeavor had seen or heard enough about Alliance Heights and wanted to compete. "What else is on his list?"

He heard the rustling of paper in the background. "Um, Hachi. The Fox and the Hound. Old Yeller. Marley and Me. Bambi. The Lion King. Where the Red Fern Grows-"

"What kind of sadistic, sick, son of a bitch," Bakugou muttered. He was definitely having a chat with Koda when he got back. What the fuck was wrong with that guy? "I'm surprised John Wick isn't on there."

"That's at the bottom."

"Mother fucker. Ok, so all of those movies involve a very sad and tragic animal death. I'm not saying they're not good movies, but son of a bitch, why would someone like Koda suggest those is beyond me."

"Then I'm going to just watch Hamilton instead," she said. "How was the rest of your day?" He could hear some clicking sounds then what sounded like some hip-hop playing in the background.

"Boring as fuck. We've got some sort of team up mission tomorrow with some loser hero I've never heard of," Bakugou replied. "Reisu. Even the nerd hadn't heard of him, and there's very few that get by him."

"Have you ever done those before?"

"Not at this level, with a real pro and during an internship. I looked the guy up and he's not even on the hero ranking list. Endeavor seems to think the dude is solid, so we're going to see. He said the mission could take several days to complete."

"What're you going to do?"

"Dunno," Bakugou adjusted the pillow behind his head. "He said we'd get briefed tomorrow." He could hear sounds from her end that suggested she also might be in bed, and then the reality of his situation hit him. He was talking on the phone. With Kaylee. And they were both in bed. Holy fuck.

"Um, so what did you do today?" Fuck all if his voice didn't sound nervous.

"Oh! Did you see the sandcastle? I went to the beach with Eri, Mr. Aizawa and Present Mic. Eri and I had a pirate battle in these big floaty things, and then we buried Present Mic in the sand." He smiled at the excitement in her voice. He thought about actually Facetiming her, but didn't know if she knew enough about how to work it, since he didn't have much time to show her everything on her phone. He wondered if she'd be glowing right now.

"Who won the battle? And how did you manage to bury a teacher?"

"Um, I think we may have both lost. We ended up laughing too hard and flipped over." She let out a giggle. "We were supposed to bury Mr. Aizawa but he got mad when Mic gave me a beer–"

"Wait, you got BEER?!" What the fuck was he missing out on? For probably the first time in his life, he wished he wasn't out training as a hero so he could go to the beach and drink beer, and ok–watching a lot of musicals and Disney movies might be the most fun, but if it was with Kaylee…

She giggled again, and damned if the sound didn't do something to him. He wasn't even in the same goddamned room with her and she still could affect him.

"It actually tasted horrible at first, but then it was ok. It made me feel funny for a little while, but it didn't last long."

Now he fucking had to chuckle at the image of a slightly tipsy Kaylee. What would she be like? Would she be a fun drunk, one who laughed at everything, or would she be a clingy drunk? "What else have you done this week?"

"I watched some of the All Might clips that Deku sent."

Bakugou sat up, wondering what she thought of his hero. Kaylee wasn't in their actual hero courses held in the afternoons, so he didn't think she'd ever met All Might. "What did you think?"

"Oh, they were great! But…" her voice trailed off. "I have a question about all the smashes he does."

"Oh yeah?"

"He's got a Texas Smash, California Smash, Detroit Smash, Carolina, New Hampshire….all these smashes, but which one is the most powerful? Does he go by land mass or population size?"

Bakugou held the phone away from his ear to stare at it dumbfoundedly. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Which smash is the most powerful? I mean, if he goes by land mass, it would be Texas, then California, although Alaska is really the biggest state, but if he goes by population size then California goes before Texas. It doesn't explain the Detroit Smash though, since that's not a state at all. And he says Carolina but there's actually a North and a South. Does he combine those?"

Bakugou paused for a moment, thinking.

"It's hard to judge on the clips because he used a California smash and the villain went flying through about seven brick walls and when he used a Detroit smash the guy caused a massive crater. I guess I could figure out the force if I knew the weight and size of the villains, but I thought I'd ask you."

"Um. Yeah," Bakugou began. "I'm sure there's a good reason for those names…"

There was a long moment of silence as Bakugou tried to wrack through his entire All Might knowledge to figure out what the hell Kaylee was talking about.

"You don't know do you?"

Bakugou scowled at the phone, even though she couldn't see him. He knew this, he knew he did. He wasn't exactly sure what was a state and what wasn't, but he was sure there was some interview that explained this.

"It's ok if you don't know," Kaylee said after another long silence. "I can ask Deku."

"Fuck no! You don't need to text Deku anything! If I don't know, then he most certainly doesn't know!"

"I don't think any less of you," Kaylee told him, and Bakugou could hear the smile in her voice. "I still think you're the best ever."

"Tch." She once said he was perfect, was "best ever" better than that? "Are you sleeping at night?"

"Since someone took out the evil security lights? Absolutely!"

Another scowl at the phone. Did she really not know it was him? He nearly got caught by several of their classmates trying to sneak into her room to see what he could do to get rid of those damned lights and then nearly took out the power to the entire building when he realized he'd have to blast them.

"Thank you," she said softly. "I sleep like a baby now."

"You're welcome." A large yawn followed his reply, nearly splitting his jaw open.

"It's late, you should probably be getting to bed," she said.

He looked at the clock: 3:37 am. He'd probably slept for six hours in the past two days. "Yeah, I've got to be in the old bastard's office tomorrow morning."

"Be safe. Sleep well."

"Yeah, you too."

"Goodnight, Bakugou."

"'Night, Kaylee."

He went to swipe the red button, then heard her say softly, "I miss you."

"I miss you too."

Bakugou went to put his phone on the bedside table, but quickly sent out a text.

Nerd, what's the most powerful smash, a California or a Texas smash?

...

A/N: I tried to find a good selection of Japanese films for Kaylee to watch, but unfortunately the few I researched didn't fit what I wanted, other than Hachi, which is actually one of the saddest films I've ever seen and refuse to watch again.

I actually had the All Might smash conversation IRL. We decided he's just calling out names at random.