Chapter 18
He already knew they must be together. He saw them the other day together.
So why was he so surprised to see them together again? Was it because he had spent the day together with her yesterday? Because he had yet again felt like there had been a chance for something and then to just see his hopes crashing down. Cause right now they sure looked chummy with each other, her head resting on his shoulder, and what was that? Her hand was on top of his? Fuck this shit!
Bakugou stood there, hidden behind the bushes and trees behind the playground, watching as his rival and his crush were having a moment together, early in the morning and he felt like ripping all his intestines out of his gut. It had to feel better than the feeling he had right now, right?
He wasn't able to hear what they were talking about, but he could see that expression she had when she was talking, and how her cheeks were blushing, and Oh for the love of all that was explosive, why couldn't she look like that thinking of him? Why did it have to be that stupid nerd of all people?
And he didn't think it was possible, but she suddenly seemed to be blushing even deeper than before all of a sudden, and shit he wanted to know what got her so riled up.
He watched her when she climbed down from the dome and he watched as she almost tripped over her own feet and he watched her as she disappeared into the distance. And without really realising it, he had stepped out from the bushes and closer to where Midoriya now sat alone. And as soon as he saw that stupid smile on his lips, right before he jumped from the dome, Bakugou let out one of his explosions in his hands and Deku almost tripped. The nerd turned around at the sound of Bakugou's explosion and when he saw Bakugou, his eyebrows scrunched together in a mix of what Bakugou could only think was surprise and confusion.
"Bakugou? What are you doing here?"
Bakugou could feel a growl starting to erupt in the back of his throat as he did his very best to not cause any more explosions.
"What, I cannot be here? It's a fucking public place!"
"N-no you can! You absolutely can!" Midoriya put his hands up in defense.
Bakugou clicked his tongue in annoyance. Why the fuck did it have to be stupid Deku she liked? And why did they have to sit together right when he was passing by? Was the universe out to get him personally or some shit?
"It's not like I was fucking planning to walk in on your little moment with Cheeks," shit, just saying her nickname got his chest all tight.
"Kacchan, it's not like-"
"Like I give a fuck!" he interrupted as he stomped past where Midoriya was standing. He just wanted to get home already, maybe go blow something up at the gym.
He didn't let the nerd get another say as he completely tuned out whatever it was he was trying to mumble to him.
He swore that one of these days, he was going to have a full-out fight with him again, and he would blast him back to his mom's lap where he belonged.
xXoOoXx
As the new week started, Bakugou tried to get over what he saw that morning - and what he saw right after Uraraka and Deku's date the week before. But truth be told, he was stumbling through the days. He was more on edge than usual, and the frustration of trying to control his explosions as his sweat-glands were out of control, was taking its toll on him.
It wasn't like Uraraka or Deku was acting any different than usual. Actually, they were less annoying than usual. His mind just hadn't caught up with him yet. He just tried to shove it all down. It wasn't like it was that important anyway, right? He was going to be the number one hero. And nothing was going to stand in the way of that. Not even a silly little crush.
"So, are you just going to keep staring at her through the whole day, or what?" Kirishima asked in a playful tone, snapping Bakugou out of his thoughts.
Apparently, he hadn't realized his friend had been talking to him for the last couple of minutes.
"Huh?" Bakugou slowly tores his eyes away from Uraraka, who was sitting across the cafeteria with her friends, and raised an eyebrow in question.
Just try to act normal. Play it cool.
"What's going on lately? You've been totally out of it this week," Kirishima's red eyes looked at him with worry.
Bakugou scowled at his friend, looking the other way as he crossed his arms over his chest, "pft, it's fucking nothing."
Kirishima's eyes hardened as his eyebrows scrunched together. He stood up and grabbed Bakugou's arm in a strong grip, forcing the blond to stand up as well.
"That's it! You're coming with me," Kirishima said as he started to drag Bakugou away from the table.
"What the, what the fuck are you doing you shitty Hairs for Brain?! Let go of me!" Bakugou tried to get away, but Kirishima was relentless. He didn't answer Bakugou or give him an explanation of where they were going, he just kept a firm grip on his arm.
Eventually, Bakugou let himself get dragged along.
They had walked for a while until Kirishima let go of Bakugou when they were outside in a secluded spot near the forest that surrounded the campus.
"Now, get on with it. Tell me what's been bothering you, because the way you've been acting has so not been manly at all!"
This had been one of the first times Bakugou had seen his friend, Kirishima be so affirmative about something that didn't have anything to do with hero work. It almost left him speechless.
"Nothing is going on at all," Bakugou avoided. He could hardly look his friend in the eyes.
Kirishima chopped his hand down on Bakugou's head, making him set off an explosion in retaliation.
"Bullshit! You're Bakugou Katsuki and you are not the type to act so unmanly as you do right now! So out with it! And make it quick before someone comes or class starts up again."
"There's nothing fucking wrong! Everything is perfectly peachy!" A few explosions were set off in Bakugou's palms.
"Tell me what it is," Kirishima pushed again.
"I'm in love with her! Okay?!" Bakugou finally yelled out in frustration. "I'm in love with her, and she's clearly in love with fucking Deku!" Bakugou could feel his eyes burn as tears started to flow in his eyes and his neck was tightening, making it more difficult to talk.
"Finally you said something," Kirishima almost smiled. "Alright, I'll help you get your frustration out," Kirishima smacked his fists together as he activated his quirk, "go ahead."
Bakugou wiped his eyes quickly as he punched Kirishima, letting go of an explosion at the impact.
"Good, good, again!" Kirishima encouraged while blocking some fast jabs.
Bakugou didn't hesitate to blow several explosions, as he was yelling: "die!"
Minutes went by, and Bakugou was slowing down after a while. They were both breathing heavily, sweat was dripping down their faces.
As Bakugou was punching Kirishima's hardened skin, letting go of a smaller explosion, he finally slowed down completely.
"Are you sure, that they're together?" Kirishima asked, panting slightly as he ran a hand through his wet hair.
"I fucking saw them, okay? Twice. I saw them kiss, and I saw them all snuggled up together holding hands. I saw how she looked at him, Shitty Hair," Bakugou's voice was rough from the struggle not to cry.
"Alright, alright. That sucks," was all Kirishima could say as he went in for a light hug, while patting Bakugou slightly, and Bakugou let him.
It took a while before Bakugou had calmed down again completely. They walked back to class in silence, thankful that nobody had walked past them in the time they had been by the forest.
xXoOoXx
"You're late," Ectoplasm said the minute Bakuguo and Kirishima entered the classroom. "And sweaty," he added with a sigh.
"Sorry, we didn't intend to," Kirishima said, holding his hand up in an apology.
"Sit down and be quiet, class is in session," Ectoplasm said as he turned back to the blackboard and continued his lesson.
Bakugou Katsuki sat back on his chair, pulling out his towel from his gym bag to wipe off the excess sweat, while he tried his best to ignore the stares from a few of his classmates. It was none of their business as to what had happened.
Luckily the rest of the day happened quite smoothly. Bakugou's mind was finally working somewhat clearly again, and he was able to focus on what was happening on the blackboard.
When the final class ended, Bakugou felt exhausted. What he needed right this very second, was to get home, shower, cook himself a nice dinner, and otherwise just turn off his brain for a day.
"Hey, Bakugou," Uraraka caught up to him on the way out of the building, and Bakugou instantly stopped in his tracks to look at her brown eyes.
"Cheeks, what do you want?" he could feel he was a little on edge still.
Uraraka almost jumped on the spot because of his tone.
"Would you be up for another training session one of these days?" She looked up at him with big eyes. Her cheeks were slightly flushed and her fingers were fidgeting with the brim of her skirt.
Bakugou almost forgot about all his negative feelings right then and there.
Fuck yeah, I'll be up for another training session! Any time, anywhere, whatever! Okay Katsuki, calm down. Maybe put those sweaty hands back in their pockets, and ease up on your posture. Now come on, play it cool.
"Friday after class," he said in a gruff voice, patting her head as he went past her.
There you go.
"I'll make sure to be ready!" She called back in her cheerful voice.
xXoOoXx
In order to not attract any attention from their classmates, Bakuguo and Uraraka had agreed to meet up in a different location than the usual gym. And they made sure not to walk the same road. It hadn't been because Bakugou wanted to hide the fact they were training together. Midoriya already knew, and he would guess some of the girls did too. He was just more worried about the stupid comments Kaminari, or Sero would make if they found out. Or worse, Mineta.
So they tried to keep it under wraps when there was a chance anyone from the class could see them. Which was why they would hide in the forest around campus. As long as they didn't stay until after dark, they were told it was okay to do so.
"Okay," Bakugou said as he walked up to their agreed spot where Uraraka was already waiting for him, "you ready to get your butt kicked once again?" He let go of his bags on the ground as he flashed her one of his feral grins.
Uraraka changed position into a ready fighting stance, lowering her body, as she was breathing lightly from her warm-up.
"I am not going to get my butt kicked today, but I am ready to start training," she said in an awkward way and Bakugou couldn't stop himself from feeling his heart throbbing gently.
"Okay, same rules as last, get five points by levitating me and you win," he said with a cocky grin on his lips, "if you can that is."
Uraraka didn't hesitate to go in for an attack with a roundhouse kick, but she was easily blocked by Bakugou.
After a few kicks, and then she started to try to grasp after him in the hopes to get her quirk to activate, but to no avail. Bakugou was sure to avoid her hands every time.
"Not yet, I'm gonna work hard just like Deku," Uraraka mumbled and Bakugou let go of a small explosion.
"Come on Cheeks, give me a challenge," Bakugou growled as he went in for a right-hand hook and a kick, which Uraraka barely avoided before she stepped back.
She looked around her to find something useful to at least just get one point from Bakugou. Her eyes fell on a couple of rocks, sticks, and corns from the trees, so she ran around to activate her quirk on them, all the while she did her best in trying to avoid the small explosions Bakugou let go at her. - well, small considering it was Bakugou Katsuki making them.
"It won't work on me a second time, Cheeks," Bakugou said with a cocky smile, as he used his A.P-shot to pulverize the small pieces of forest debris one by one before Uraraka was able to release her quirk.
In the few seconds, Bakugou was preoccupied, Uraraka took the opportunity to rush toward him with the intent to activate her quirk on him.
"Just like Deku, just like Deku, just like Deku," Uraraka mumbled as a mantra to herself while she got closer to where Bakugou was standing.
And that was when Bakugou had gotten enough. He faced Uraraka head-on, ignoring the last stick still floating in the air.
"You must be fucking joking!" He almost laughed, as small sputters of explosions went off in his hands.
Uraraka stopped in her tracks as she looked at Bakugou, confused by his sudden outburst.
"What? What's the matter?"
Bakugou ran his hand through his hair in frustration and sighed heavily, "You need to be your own fucking person!"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Uraraka cocked her hip to the side, raising her eyebrow as she tried to get her breath under control again.
"You're focusing so much on Deku and how he's trying to become a hero, instead of focusing on yourself and finding your own way!" Bakugou's voice was already raspy from trying to strain himself. Holding the frustration of this in for so long had been difficult and he could feel himself imploding by the memory of all the times Uraraka had mumbled about Deku at their sparring sessions - and in their hero classes whenever she was in a bind.
Uraraka stood for a moment in silence as she clenched her hands into fists slowly, "that's really none of your business, it has nothing to do with you."
Bakugou could feel her words like a slap in the face. Sure, he knew she was right. It really didn't, but it still hurt to hear.
"Oh please! I don't care who you're in love with," Bakugou lied through his teeth, "but you should be your own person, Cheeks!"
"I cannot believe you," Uraraka scrunched her eyebrows together in fury as she walked away in anger, stomping through the grass after she had picked up her bag again and went her own way, leaving Bakugou alone in the forest.
