Chapter 13

"CHEEKS!? YOU THERE?!"

Shoot. Shoot. Shoot. Uraraka silently panicked on her bed.

"HELLO?!"

Uraraka quickly got off her bed and picked up her phone. Despite her obvious trepidation at the situation, it wasn't in her nature to be rude.

"He…" She squeaked. Uraraka audibly cleared her throat before she tried to speak again, "Hello?" Her voice came out more even.

Breathe Ochako. Calm down. She said as she took a couple of deep breaths.

"What the fuck was that?" The voice on the other end of the line barked. Leave it to Bakugo to get straight to the point.

"Aahh...uhm...Haha...what?" Uraraka was getting flustered. This was just too much. The book. The kiss. Now they were speaking on the phone. It was just too much, too many firsts.

"Don't play dumb it doesn't suit you." He scolded her.

Was that an almost compliment? She thought quietly. Regardless, he was right. There weren't many reasons why he could be calling her this late at night and she could almost certainly guess which one it was.

"Oh, you mean...haha...the uhm...the text?" Uraraka managed to get through it without much fidgeting despite really wishing the ground opened up and swallowed her whole at the moment.

Silence.

Okay Ochako, just explain. It's fine. She straightened her shoulders and nodded her head in determination. It's just Bakugo. His bark is louder than his bite...most times?

"Ah, well...it was…" She started. Fuck. Speak woman! She yelled at herself. She genuinely did not enjoy feeling this...meek?

"It was a typo Bakugo. I meant to send a happy face but well…" She trailed. The mini-Ochako's in her head were jumping up and down with pride. She had gotten through that and her voice didn't falter once.

"Oh." His voice said softly. Did he sound...disappointed? No. That can't be right.

"Uhm, well yea, I just kinda wanted to thank you for giving me back my book," Uraraka said, suddenly very thankful that she was currently alone in her room and he couldn't see the deep blush that permeated her cheeks at the moment.

"Don't mention it. Ever." He grumbled.

Uraraka laughed. She couldn't help it. His tone of voice was just...

"Oi. Stop laughing!" He snarled, but there was a hint of something else in his voice. Something Uraraka couldn't pinpoint exactly but it made her feel like he wasn't actually upset. It seemed he always barked louder when he was embarrassed or uncomfortable, but there was never any real bite behind it. Or maybe she was just immune to it because she'd heard him yelling for almost a solid year now. Whatever it may be, for some reason she had been finding his anti-social tendencies very humorous as of late.

"I'm...sorry...I…" She said through her laughter. "I'm sorry." She finally said in a much more calm tone of voice, but the humor behind it was still evident.

"Tch." He said quietly.

And then there was silence. The only sound came from their light breathing.

"Uhm well.."

"Okay by.."

They both started speaking at the same time and shut up when they heard the other.

They both waited for the other to speak but they were met with more silence.

"Go ahead, Chee…"

"What were you…"

They both spoke over the other once more.

Bakugo growled. Uraraka giggled.

"Fuck, do you think we'll ever have a none-awkward conversation." She said, still giggling. Her genuinely cheerful disposition and unaware bluntness coming out despite her nervousness.

"Since when do you cuss so much? Your fucking worse than me." He stated simply.

"For the five-hundredth time Bakugo, I can cuss if I want too and you are insane if you genuinely think I cuss more than you." She huffed.

He chuckled.

His easy laugh startled Uraraka slightly. It sounded so nice and carefree. He should laugh more.

"Last time I laughed you thought I was sick or something so I'll pass." He mumbled.

It took a second for Uraraka to figure out what he was referring too until she realized she must have said her last thought out loud. Her cheeks flared with embarrassment once more.

"I…" She started to say, feeling apologetic. How would she feel if someone thought she was sick for expressing genuine emotion. "I'm sorry." She said sincerely.

He was quiet for a bit, enough to make Uraraka think he might've hung up, but then she heard him take in air. "Don't be."

"I...uhm…" If she was already apologizing might as well go all the way right. "I'm also sorry I kind of just walked out on you after...after...uhm...you know…" Maybe she shouldn't have brought it up. He clearly seemed okay pretending it had never happened.

"Don't." He cut her off. They were both quiet for a bit. "I shouldn't have done it in the first place." He said through gritted teeth.

Is this Bakugo-language for an apology? She thought curiously. She smiled.

"It's uhm...well it's okay." She said before she even knew what was happening. Word vomit seemed to be running amok today.

"What's okay?" He asked with another emotion that Uraraka couldn't make out. Excitement?

His question sent her into a small panic. What did she mean by "it's okay?!" This was like a neverending nightmare where she was determined to make a fool of herself at every turn. She groaned audibly. Okay just answer him. You're making it worse by staying silent.

"Well...it's okay. The kiss...It was okay." She managed to stutter softly. When this phone call from hell was done she was going to have to practice talking because clearly she was becoming incapable of speaking in a calm and level manner.

Bakugo remained quiet for a beat before opening his mouth. "Well, thanks for that lovely boost to my ego." He said, trying to sound annoyed when it actually came across more disgruntled. Uraraka could hear he was slightly hurt.

Uraraka blinked twice, confused by his statement until it hit her.

"Oh no! I didn't mean...The kiss was more than okay...I mean...It was really...it was nice...Haha...I haha...yes….your lips...they were soft...and warm...and you smelled so good...like cookies...yumm...it was really...I didn't mean…" She started babbling, face redder than a tomato.

"Uraraka." He said sounding mortified. "Please stop."

Uraraka stopped babbling but she couldn't help the nervous chuckles that came out of her mouth.

"I just...I'm sorry." She said again, slightly out of breath,

"And I already told you you don't have too." He grumbled, annoyed.

Uraraka could just imagine him, arms crossed, eyebrow furrowed, eyes etched in a glare. Despite the crazy, she smiled warmly. He really needed to relax.

"Well, I can say sorry if I want to, Bakugo. You don't own me." She said teasingly. Her deep-rooted attitude always shined through despite the situation.

"Isn't that what you're in to?" He scoffed.

If Uraraka thought she was redder than a tomato before, it was nothing compared to how she looked currently.

An awkward silence hung heavy between them.

"Shit...Uraraka?"

"Stop calling me by my name it's weird." She snapped suddenly. It was weird. It was making this whole situation feel even more uncomfortable...having him apologize (in his own way) and call her by her name more than once was just...giving her the heebie-jeebies. Plus, it was a heck of a lot easier to be snapping at him than address the elephant in the room.

"I can't call you Cheeks and I can't call you by your name. What the fuck am I supposed to call you then!" He said, halfway between a whispered growl and full-on yelling.

"I don't know. Get creative." She said with an attitude. Yes, being mad was better.

"Round face it is."

"You already used that one and I hate it."

"Why? It fits."

It was Uraraka's turn to growl.

"What if I called you...Uhm...Loudy McExplody. Huh! You wouldn't like that very much." She huffed, pouting lightly.

"Loudy McExplody? You serious Cheeks. That's the best you got?" He said tauntingly.

"Stop calling me Cheeks!" She squeaked. Her annoyance and frustration subsided slightly when she heard him laughing again. It was the same laugh from before...the genuine laugh one hears people make when they are having an immense amount of happy fun.

"Oh so you can laugh at me but I can't laugh at you?" She said with mock irritation.

"Pretty much." He said sounding relaxed.

"Whatever Bakugo. It's late and I still have to pack." She said, her tone light as she got up from her bed to grab her duffel bag.

She looked at the clock and was shocked to see it was a couple of minutes past 11 pm. She had been on the phone with Bakugo for a little over half an hour.

"Plus, isn't way past your bedtime old man." She teased as she began to pick out the clothes she would take. She didn't have much, so packing wouldn't take long.

"Who are you calling an old man?!"

Uraraka giggled.

"You. Who else?"

"You wanna die Cheeks?" He threatened, but it sounded almost mellow.

"You're the one that's going to end up dead if you don't stop calling me that horrible nickname."

"HA! You wish."

"Don't forget I almost beat your ass at the sports festival." She said, voice sounding confident.

"Almost doesn't make a number 1 hero." He said plainly.

"I call a rematch!" She was fired up now, "Unless you're too chicken."

"Don't make me laugh angel face." He said, so fired up by the promise of a fight that he didn't realize his slip.

"Angel face?" She questioned softly. Uraraka was once again glad that she was alone in her room so that no one could see the stupid goofy grin that broke out on her face. "Now that's a nickname I can get behind off."

"Tch."

Uraraka laughed again.

"We'll rematch once we get back from break." She said still smiling, "So you better not slack off!" She knew her warning was wasted on Bakugo of all people but she was finding that making him flustered, embarrassed, and annoyed was quite fun to do.

"What did you say?!" He barked again. She could just see his forehead veins popping out in anger. It made her laugh once more.

"Goodnight Bakugo!" She said merrily.

"Night." He humphed but Uraraka could almost hear the smile in his voice.

She clicked end on the call as she stood next to her bed, clothes laying in disarray in her bed, her duffle bag in the middle.

She couldn't help the smile that broke out on her face.

Uraraka had just had a semi-decent, kind of fun, more normal than she'd care to admit, phone call with Bakugo.

She stood there for a brief moment trying to make sense of everything that had happened in the last 48 hours. Uraraka quickly realized that she was better off finishing her bag and going to sleep because there was just no way she'd be able to understand what in the world was currently happening.

All she knew was that she wasn't particularly opposed to seeing how this played out.