NeonHorizon: Written on Bakugou's birthday. Hooray.
Shirayuki was trembling in her seat, her head down and her heart racing with unease. Beside her, Bakugou was seething as Kirishima continued to try to explain why sharing a spoon with her was no big deal. The way Bakugou's arm tightened around her made it clear that he was just getting more and more irritated.
Finally, it seemed to be too much for him. "Whatever. It's not like it actually means anything."
Kirishima tilted his head a bit to the side. "I mean, yeah, but no?"
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Uh…" The red-haired boy glanced from Bakugou to Shirayuki and gave her a questioning look, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Just spit it out! What's your problem?!" The other boy slammed a hand onto the table between them, glaring across at Kirishima.
His expression brightened and he grinned. "Hey, so how long have you liked Yuki? How'd you ask her out?"
Shirayuki shrank in on herself a little, fidgeting with a long strand of dark violet hair to the side of her face. "…I…c-could we…get back to studying…?" She lifted her gaze and shifted it to Bakugou, who tensed for a moment before he gradually calmed down.
"Yeah. Let's get this over with."
"Oh. You guys have plans after this?" Kirishima took on a surprised, almost anxious expression.
"So what? You're not going with us. When we go, you'd better keep working on this stuff. We don't have a lot of time before the test." Bakugou's arm dropped from around Shirayuki's shoulders and he shoved an open notebook toward Kirishima, lifting his right hand to point at something.
As he talked, his left hand dropped to his side and reached for Shirayuki's. The girl felt his fingers lace with hers and when she glanced over at him again, his expression had lost the terrifying ferocity it held before. She quietly chimed in when they came to topics she knew really well, her face still pink from having her hand held and from missing her mask.
The rest of the study session went smoothly, despite the occasional outburst from Bakugou. Shirayuki mostly sat watching. She was surprised with how well he knew the subjects. He's…really smart, she thought as she listened to him explain one of the equations. And he's trying to be patient. I can tell because he keeps squeezing my hand when he starts to get too…
He glanced over and, realizing that she had been staring, a faint hint of warmth rose to his face. Narrowing his eyes, he squeezed her hand again and tried to focus on the problem he was explaining to Kirishima. He glanced toward her again and smirked when he saw her face turning red as she looked away.
Shirayuki's pulse skipped when their eyes briefly met. "…I…have chores at home so…I-I can't stay for much longer…"
"Oh! Sorry, Yuki! Yeah; it's getting kind of late, huh?" Kirishima grinned and closed the notebook in front of him. "After the exams, we should do something fun! I mean, we've got the training camp after that, but I mean before we go there!"
"…y-yeah…that sounds fun…" She smiled, but quickly lifted a hand to try to hide the wide smile her mouth formed.
The girl expected to get her mask back from Bakugou and to walk home alone, but found that he had other plans. Still holding her hand, he started leading the way back toward her neighborhood. He made no move to take her mask out of his pocket and when he saw her looking toward it, he scowled.
"You don't need it. No one was even looking at you in that place. And didn't I say that I like your face? Don't keep it covered up all the time." His free hand lifted, ruffling his own hair and an irritated sigh escaping him. "That shitty hair Kirishima. What's his problem?"
"…um…y-you…did a really good job…tutoring him today…" Shirayuki bowed her head more when he looked over, letting her hair fall around her face. "…you…really know the materials well and…you were pretty patient with him…" To her surprise, she saw his face actually turn red from the corner of her eye.
"Whatever. It's not like he's gonna retain any of the stuff I taught him." His mouth twitched into a smirk and he gave her hand a squeeze. "What? Were you impressed?"
"Y-yeah!" She pushed herself, trying really hard to make eye contact and speak clearly without hesitation. I need to train this way, too! Not just studying or working on my quirk! If I can just…talk normally…Shirayuki swallowed the lump in her throat and made her crimson eyes meet his. "Bakugou-kun…you're really smart and the way you explained things-!"
His cheeks were an almost glowing shade of red and he lifted his free hand to his face. The girl frowned and bowed her head again, quickly losing her confidence. Did I embarrass him? I shouldn't have said anything. I just…wanted to be brave. I wanted him to know…
The boy quickly regained his composure and his smirk grew before he lowered his hand. "Of course I'm awesome! What'd you expect?"
When they reached her house, she wondered if she would get her mask back from him before he left. He had already taken her favorite mask as a souvenir and she only had so many masks. Instead of parting ways, he followed her into the house. "…Bakugou-kun…?"
"You said you had chores so I'm gonna help. What do you have to do?"
"Ume, are you home? Oh!" The girl's grandmother paused in the kitchen doorway and studied her granddaughter and the boy. Her eyes focused mainly on where Bakugou was still holding Shirayuki's hand. "Hello again, young man. Are you still studying for your exams?"
"I'm helping her with chores. What do you want me to do, Granny?"
The old woman appeared conflicted at first; a little put off by him addressing her with such familiarity, but also pleasantly surprised that he was offering to help. "Well, now. I'm sure I can find a few things for you to do."
Shirayuki once again found herself impressed. Her grandmother gave him all of the most physically demanding tasks; hauling the massive bags of cat food and juggling them as he poured the food into containers for later, dragging the guest futons out of storage and hefting them over a frame outside to air out, and making him wash the windows. The impressive thing was not that he did all of this without arguing, but that he put a lot of effort into all of his tasks and did them better than she could have.
She did the smaller chores of dusting the sitting room, washing dishes, and changing sheets. When he finished, Bakugou looked annoyed, but still made no complaints. The girl brought him a glass of cold barley tea in the sitting room and tried to hide the pink tint to her cheeks. "…th-thank you…for helping today…"
He smirked and reached up for the glass, his fingers intentionally touching hers briefly. "Yeah, whatever. It's stuff that had to be done."
"Well I'm impressed, young man. You really did a good job." Shirayuki's grandmother came shuffling into the room and seated herself, reaching for the remote so she could turn on the television to watch her shows. "Oh! Ume, I have some groceries that I need to get for dinner tonight. Could you-?"
"Give me the list." Bakugou held out his hand expectantly.
He's…really trying to make my grandma like him. Shirayuki stepped outside with him, fidgeting with the strap of her bag. "…Bakugou-kun…thank you f-for helping so much today…I-I really appreciate it…"
The boy noticed the warm hue on her cheeks and grinned wickedly. "You're blushing over something that lame?"
"…n-no, I mean…um…you're just…I-I'm surprised…you helped me with the chores and…"
"Tch. Don't act like it's a big deal. I just don't want that old lady to hate me."
Even though he was trying to act nonchalant, it was clear that he really did care. It had been bothering him that Shirayuki's grandmother disliked him so he was going to great lengths to try to win her over. Bakugou rubbed the back of his neck and frowned.
"We've been going out for a while," he commented.
She blinked slowly, having not realized that it had been a while. A while since he had firmly told her that they were going out. At least two months, which was longer than her romantic relationship with Shinsou. Shirayuki had never agreed, but no matter how many times she tried to correct him, he insisted. "…y-yes…?"
He gritted his teeth for a moment, conflicted. Bakugou grabbed her shoulders and pulled Shirayuki closer, staring down at her quickly reddening face. "That idiot asked how long I've liked you so I'm just gonna tell you. I know you're not gonna tell anyone else."
"…I...um…I-I don't…know what to say…"
The hold on her shoulders tightened. "You remember the first day of school? You're the only one that recognized how awesome my quirk is! You were totally blown away and nobody else cared! That's the day I started liking you!"
Before she could speak, Shirayuki's lips were covered by his and her eyes half-closed. The girl was shaking a little and there was an explosion of butterflies in her stomach when she felt his arms wrap around her. Nervousness was still there, but it was slowly being overshadowed by a sweet, happy feeling that was spreading through her.
His lips felt warm and surprisingly soft against hers. The kiss held the faint taste of sweets from the café. Shirayuki's trembling grew more intense when she felt him pulling her chest against his, but she hesitated to pull away. It felt nice. She felt like she was being protected when he held her like this, even if her stomach was doing flips.
He was the one to break the kiss and smirked down at her bright red blush. "You'd better pass your exams, got it? The summer training camp is gonna be lame if you're not there."
"…I-I will…" She finally stepped back and lowered her head, fidgeting with the hairband on her wrist. "…could I…have my mask back…please…?"
"Tch. Fine. Whatever. I'll put it on you. Come here." Bakugou got closer and reached behind her head to tie her mask in place. His arms were momentarily around her neck as he did this, his chest against hers again and enjoying the embarrassed look on her face.
"Shirayuki?"
The girl jumped a little at the sound of the familiar voice. She quickly stepped away from Bakugou and looked toward the gate, her face taking on a whole new shade of red as her pulse sped up. "…Sh-Shinsou-kun…?!"
He looked from her to the boy with ash blond hair now standing beside her and holding her hand. "I wanted to see if you had to run errands today," he explained as he leaned an arm against the bars of the gate. "I thought I could help you shop. Like I did last week." As he said this, his indigo gaze slid to Bakugou and narrowed.
"She already has help!"
She bit the inside of her cheek, a bad sort of feeling settling in her stomach. A heavy, guilty feeling that only grew when she glanced toward Shinsou. "…a-actually…um…Bakugou-kun…I-I need to…talk to him…"
Though he was clearly annoyed, he released her hand and growled. "Fine! I'll come back later for dinner." As he mentioned dinner, he glared back at Shinsou through the bars of the gate. "Don't touch my girl, got it? If you even think about touching her-!"
"Your girl?" Shinsou looked past him at Shirayuki, who now had her head down to try to hide the wet sheen of tears in her eyes. The indigo-haired boy softened his expression from the glare and simply moved aside as Bakugou stormed past him to the sidewalk.
I…feel bad. I don't like this. I feel like I did something wrong. Shinsou-kun broke up with me so why do I feel like this? Is this right? Should I feel bad about Bakugou-kun holding my hand? She hiccupped as the tears started to roll down her cheeks and soak into her mask.
Shinsou watched Bakugou disappear around the corner and gingerly approached Shirayuki. "Are you okay?" He saw her nod, but her head was still down and the wet spots on her mask were very obvious. "Is he still bullying you?"
"…he's not…bullying me…um…h-he's actually…been really nice to me lately…" She wiped at her eyes, trying to make her tears disappear, but it did nothing to make that anxious, squirmy feeling in her stomach stop. "…I-I'm sorry…you're probably u-upset…and it's my fault…I'm sorry…"
His mouth fell to a frown and he stepped even closer. Completely disregarding what Bakugou had shouted at him, Shinsou wrapped an arm around Shirayuki in a loose hug and brought her against his chest. "I'm not mad."
"…wh-why do I…feel like my heart is sinking into my stomach…?"
Shinsou knew it was guilt and it made his frown deepen. He half-closed his eyes and held her closer. He liked her and it hurt to see her with someone else, even after the breakup. What hurt worse was to see her feel this guilty over moving on.