NOTE: This chapter contains excerpts from a book that is not mine. I do not own the words or the characters. The book is titled Sweet Persuasion by Maya Banks (and is part of the Sweet Series). The link for the book is Sweet-Persuasion-Maya-Banks/dp/0425266966).

Chapter 20

Bzzz. Bzzz.

Uraraka was roughly awoken by her phone's intermittent vibrations. What the…?

Slightly disoriented and groggy, Uraraka picked up her phone to discover what the source of this disruption could be.

It turned out to be her alarm buzzing her awake at 6 am, reminding her that today was the first day of her second year as a U.A. student. She quickly hit the snooze and dropped back down to the bed, closing her eyes once more.

One might ask why she would set her alarm so early when she had already established that waking up at 7 am gave her more than enough time to get ready, eat breakfast, and get to homeroom.

Well, what one fails to understand is that Uraraka was a second-year student now. It was about time that she really stepped up her hero-in-training game. She had to do better in her schoolwork. She had to do better in her fieldwork. She had to do better. Period.

And that is why she has decided to start her days one whole hour sooner than the year before. There were endless possibilities of what this extra hour to her day could be used for. Training. Homework. Finishing her novel.

So many.

It just so happens that today she would use it to do the latter.

It wasn't like she specifically set her alarm an hour earlier than normal so that she could read her erotic novel because she was so close to finishing it and had planned on doing so when she got back to the dorms last night but ended up catching up with Tsu-chan and Deku in the common room until it was too late to read because she was already falling asleep on the elevator ride up to her room. No, it was definitely not because of that.

Her phone vibrated again, reminding her that she created this situation for herself.

With a small groan into her pillow, she got up from her bed and silenced her alarm. She then grabbed her blanket and her book and dragged herself down to the common rooms, the same as she did so many nights ago.

Thankfully, similar to the last time, the common room was empty. Quiet.

With a small smile at the tranquility that had enveloped her, she walked slowly towards the kitchen to heat up some water for tea.

This time, instead of reading while she waited for the water to boil, she turned to face the windows and stared outside. The sun had just finished rising over the horizon. If it wasn't because she thoroughly enjoyed her sleep, she might make it a habit of waking up early enough to see the sunrise. Something about it made her feel…assured. Like there was nothing she couldn't do. No hurdle too high. A gentle warmth that soothed her soul.

As she stared at the scenery in front of her, she began to feel a small sense of nostalgia. Second-year was about to start and with it, the craziness that All Might had promised would come. Would she ever know calm like this again?

Uraraka began nibbling at her thumb. Stop it Ochako! You're being silly! She admonished herself. Dropping her thumb from in between her teeth, she turned to check on the water. It still hadn't boiled.

She took the time to stretch. Interlocking her fingers and stretching her arms high above her head as she slightly bent backward. She could feel that satisfying popping sound, as she extended.

Uraraka continued her stretching until the kettle began to whistle softly. She quickly turned off the heat and began pouring the water into her mug.

"You still reading that trash?" An unexpected voice shattered through her quiet bubble. The sudden loud noise coming from behind her scared her, causing her to jump, jostling the kettle full of boiling water in such a way that it tipped her mug over the contents of which spilled down the hand that was holding the mug in place.

"Aahh!" Uraraka bit her lip to stop herself from screaming in pain. She quickly removed her burned hand and placed the kettle down on the counter. Tears began to involuntarily form in the corners of her eyes. She cradled her burned arm as she began to turn towards the source of the noise, but before she had the chance she felt a small but strong tug at the crook of her elbow. She let her body be guided towards the sink where she could hear the sound of running water. The hand that had led her there grabbed the wrist of Uraraka's injured hand and yanked it under the cool running water. Uraraka felt an immediate wave of relief wash over her. The cool water soothing her raw skin.

It was until then that she realized who was holding her wrist under the water.

"Bakugo?" She was still a bit bewildered by the occurrences of the last couple of minutes.

"How the hell do you still not notice when someone walks into a completely silent room?" He snarled at her. "Keep it under the water." He ordered, dropping her wrist and turning towards the mess she had left behind her.

With her hand feeling…numb, her brain was starting to clear the fog that the pain had caused. She was beginning to connect the dots of what had transpired.

Uraraka angled her body so that she could turn to see Bakugo behind her as she continued to follow his directive. He wore some navy blue joggers and a black muscle shirt. His hair was ruffled as if he had just woken up, but Uraraka knew that could not be true. His muscular arms glistened with sweat, confirming her assumption that Mr. Wakes up at the crack of dawn to work out, had, in fact, finished working out.

"I can clean it in a bit." She said simply. Bakugo grunted his acknowledgment at her words but continued to clean up the water from the counter and the floor.

After he had finished he walked back towards Uraraka and leaned against the counter next to the sink and glared at her.

Now, most people typically wither under Bakugo's infamous scowls but Uraraka was too tired and already uncomfortable due to being burned that she did not falter. She stared at him right back.

"What." She said sounding almost bored.

"What do you mean what?!" He snapped. Bakugo folded his arms in front of his chest, his face seemed to be frozen in a permanent snarl.

"How does you scaring me so bad I burned my hand translate to you being upset with me?"

"Pay better attention." He said, ignoring her question. Uraraka narrowed her eyes at Bakugo before she rolled them and turned back towards the sink. There was no rhyme or reason to Bakugo's anger and trying to figure it out at 6 something in the morning was not something she cared to do at the moment.

They fell into an uneasy silence.

Uraraka couldn't help but think how different he was acting now. Or maybe this is the real him and he was just acting differently during the break.

-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-

She had awoken relatively early considering she had fallen asleep at almost 3 am. She felt more than saw that there was someone cuddled up next to her on her bed. It was Hagakure. Mina must have deposited her into Uraraka's room after the invisible girl had disposed of the contents of her stomach.

Uraraka began to quietly maneuver her way out of her bed, she had almost made it over the invisible girl when a sudden wave of nausea hit her like a runaway truck. It made her jump the final stretch, jostling the bed so violently Hagakure fell off it.

"Hey!" Uraraka heard her friend exclaim in shock at such a sudden and rude awakening but she was already halfway to her bathroom. She opened the door and quickly fell to her knees in front of the toilet. As she knelt, she braced herself for what was to come but it thankfully never did. Using techniques she had picked up while she trained with her quirk she managed to control the sudden need to hurl everything she had ever consumed down the drain.

It was until she had calmed the storm inside her body that she noticed that she was not alone in the bathroom. Laying with her legs half in the tub and half out was a snoring Jiro. Weird.

Uraraka got up from the ground like a baby deer learning to stand on its legs for the first time. Still wobbly, she took the short walk towards the tub. With as much grace as her hangover brain could muster, which admittedly was not much, she jerked Jiro awake.

The sound quirk user startled and the two friends stared at each other for a couple of breaths. Both girls' eyes were a bit glassy like they were still trying to figure out if this was all some convoluted dream. Uraraka motioned in Jiro's general direction in question, still wary of opening her mouth in case her tenuous control over her vertigo broke.

Jiro looked at her surroundings as if she was a newborn taking everything in for the first time. She looked back at Uraraka and shrugged. She extended a hand and Uraraka took it instinctively tugging at it to help Jiro get out of the tub.

Together, both friends stumbled into the living room.

"There you are," Mina said slowly, the normally perky girl looking deflated and almost grey.

Tsu was sprawled out where she had been sitting during the Truth, Dare, Drink game they had been playing the night before.

"Shhhh!" Momo said as she rubbed her temples together and closed her eyes. "Does anyone else feel like they're head is going to explode and implode all at the same time."

"Mmmm," Jiro responded as she turned towards Uraraka's kitchen and began pouring herself some water.

Uraraka plopped down next to Mina. The room had started spinning again. She closed her eyes and laid down on the pillow Mina was on. With a small grunt that sounded like "my head" Mina scooted down the pillow enough to give her some space.

The girls had all somehow fallen asleep again because the next time they all woke up was to the sound of Uraraka's mom making breakfast. All six girls were feeling slightly better than they had at 6 am when they all had first woken up. But only slightly. Each girl still looked a little like they had all wrestled death and barely made it out. Uraraka kept wrestling with her stomach, it wanting to throw up on the kitchen table, she was inclined to wait until they were in the privacy of her bathroom.

Somehow though, they all made it through breakfast and cleaning the living room without actually dropping dead. By the time the last girl had left for home Uraraka was feeling significantly better. Her head was still pounding and she was still having trouble getting food down, but she no longer looked clammy or felt like she regretted every minute bad decision she had ever made because surely this was retribution for all her past sins.

If her parents suspected anything or had heard Hagakure retching at two something in the morning they made no mention of it and for that Uraraka was eternally grateful.

Due to the fact that she had spent the whole day battling her first hangover she had not had time to truly process the events of last night. Or better, a certain specific event with a certain specific person.

However, once she awoke from her umpteenth nap of the day, without the loud thumping that had taken residency in her head the whole day, her brain was finally able to have some peace and quiet to actually think.

And with it came a sudden wave of embarrassment. One so strong she wanted to crawl under her bed and never come out again.

Could I be any more stupid! She chastised herself. Why the hell were you crying!? Things could not get worse. She probably sounded so idiotic. And she was flirting with…with…I can't even say it!

Her heart fell to her stomach and this insane need to cry swept through her. It's official I hate emotions and I never in a million years want to drink tequila again.

-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-

Uraraka's hand was starting to feel uncomfortable under the cool stream of water. She no longer felt the burn but her hand still pulsed.

Uraraka stretched out her other hand towards the faucet to turn it off when she heard Bakugo snarl next to her, like a rabid dog signaling a warning. Don't move. She turned towards the blonde, giving him a puzzled look.

"You're supposed to run a burn under cool water for at least 10 minutes." He glared at her hand.

"It feels better now though," Uraraka said simply.

"So." His tone was meant to leave no room for rebuttal.

"So, it feels better and the cold water is making my hand uncomfortable." She rebutted anyway as she proceeded to turn off the water.

Bakugo was next to her in a flash, turning on the water again. "Don't be stupid." He said as he lightly grabbed her wrist and led her burned hand under the chilling flow.

"Don't call me stupid, Stupid." She retorted but she did not move her hand. Uraraka became painfully aware of the feeling of Bakugo's calloused fingers wrapping gingerly around her wrist. He was barely touching her and yet she felt him in every nerve ending.

"Real mature Moon-face." He snorted. Uraraka pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at the explosive boy next to her causing him to chuckle. She was no stranger to hearing him express some more positive emotions recently, having heard him outright laugh not that long ago, but it was no less captivating. It was like seeing an endangered animal in the wild, a mixture of awe and wariness.

Uraraka's pout quickly transformed into a small smile. A truce. Bakugo dropped her wrist and crossed his arms over his chest, leaning against the counter once more, only this time he was closer to the small gravity-quirk user.

"Tch." He said turning his face away from her, but she managed to see a small blush appear on his cheeks.

Uraraka bit down into the inner corner of her bottom lip to keep herself from smiling even wider. It might be the lack of sleep or the passivity that came with being the only two people awake or maybe even the soft, early morning glow that lightly trickled around them, but she felt a warmth caress through her whole body. Like drinking hot chocolate on a cold rainy day surrounded by friends and family.

Funny, how the most corrosive boy in U.A. could make her feel such things.

-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-

After spending the better part of the evening simultaneously trying to delete the memories of her alcohol-sponsored phone call and obsessing over every detail, down to the way she held her phone, during the said call she finally decided to check her phone to see if the humiliation was as bad as she remembered.

When she checked her phone she saw that she had a significant amount of notifications. More belated birthday well-wishes, texts from her friends confirming that they were home and very much still in pain, and a text from Deku asking her how the sleepover went. But no messages from Bakugo.

Uraraka felt relief and disappointment course through her in rapid succession, to the point that she could not decipher which she felt most. Although up until that moment she had been trying to bury the chaotic whirlwind known as Katsuki Bakugo in the deep recesses of her mind, it wasn't until she saw that he had, in fact, not reached out to her, that she realized a part of her actually wanted him too. Wanted him too…check in on her? Too care?

Everything was so convoluted now. What did she expect from an enigma such as Lord Explosion Murder?

Well, whatever this was or wasn't it doesn't matter anymore. She sighed setting her phone back down on the desk.

No sooner had she released her phone from her grasp that it flared back to life. Uraraka picked up the phone again and the sight of the name attached to the new message had the air rushing out of her lungs as if she had just been punched in the gut.

She quickly opened the messaging app.

Bakugo Katsuki: how's the hangover Drunky?

Uraraka's face lit up like a Christmas tree but she would have to overthink the implications of that at some later time.

Uraraka Ochako: *thumbs down emoji*

She wanted to say more but without the effects of tequila, she found herself obsessing over her response. Uraraka had come up with about 50 variations of her response before settling on one lonely emoji. She sat down on her chair as she placed her phone on the desk in front of her in a small act of defeat. Since when had texting become this difficult.

Bakugo Katsuki: that's what you get

Defiance swept through her. Somehow Bakugo managed to flare an inner flame within her. That one flame that wasn't so innocent and sweet as the rest of her was. In the complete opposite of just short minutes' prior, Uraraka responded almost immediately. Like a knee-jerk reflex.

Uraraka Ochako: rude -_-

Uraraka Ochako: you were much nicer last night

Leave it to explody pants to shake her out of her inner turmoil by simply being…himself?

Bakugo Katsuki: ditto Sweet Cheeks.

-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-

Sweetcheeks. Uraraka thought to herself. It was impressive how many variations in nicknames he had come up for her. She would feel special if they all were not offensive and slightly inappropriate. Well…not all. She smiled remembering her favorite nickname.

"It's not trash." She said suddenly, breaking the silence that had fallen between them.

He shot her a contemptuous look.

"The book." She said gesturing with her free hand toward the island behind her where her book still lay, "It's not trash."

Bakugo rolled his eyes and began walking towards the island. Towards her book.

"May I remove my hand from the water now or do I have to wait until it turns blue from the cold?" She said in a mockingly sweet tone.

He ignored her taunt and nodded his acquiesce as he picked up the book and hopped onto the island so that he could sit. Uraraka turned off the water, the sudden shock of not having cold water run atop leaving her a bit unsettled. She shook her hand to remove some of the water droplets on it and reached for a kitchen towel to pat her hand dry. Uraraka turned around to see Bakugo with her book open to a random page.

My how things have changed in a couple of weeks. The first time they had found themselves in this position Uraraka had launched herself at the boy sitting in front of her, doing everything in her power to prevent exactly what she was allowing to happen now.

"Her orgasm began as a slow curl, a heated wisp rotating deep within her core then fanning out as it grew and billowed, a storm gaining power. Swelling like a symphony on the cusp of a crescendo, her release built until she could bear it no longer." He recited the words printed on the page as if he were reading a math book. Dry and analytical all in one go.

Yet, Uraraka could not help the erotic pulse that raced through her body, sending goosebumps down her body, perking her nipples, and reaching its end goal deep in her core. Hearing his voice reading those words aloud should have felt wrong, embarrassing even, but it didn't. Insanity gripped her brain as a small thought began to formulate, I want him to read more.

But just as quickly as it came she shook her head in an attempt to rid herself of it. What was she thinking?!

"This shit is cringe as fuck." He said, snapping the book shut and tossing it back onto the counter. He looked down at her from where he was perched and gave her a cocky smile. Like he was somehow intimately aware of what was going on inside of Uraraka at the moment.

Despite her body's current race to betray her by outwardly displaying her arousal, her mind was more cooperative, wanting to wipe that smug look off his face.

"Oh, and you know how a female orgasm feels right?" She said mirroring Bakugo's self-assured, borderline maniacal, smile he usually flashed in the heat of a fight.

Bakugo's eyes faltered if only so slightly under the implications of Uraraka's words. Hopping off the island and landing back on the kitchen floor he managed to regain his composure and most of his edge back.

He walked towards Uraraka with a sneer planted on his face, like a predator toying with his prey.

"Do you?" He said, his face so close to hers she could feel the warmth of his breath engulf her senses as he spoke. He was trying to intimidate her. He was bigger than her and he clearly had an effect on her. Bakugo was anything if not an efficient tactician in the battlefield, and this, whatever this was between them, was no exception.

But Uraraka had the upper hand and she knew it. She was no stranger to these feelings, having felt similar, albeit a lot more innocent, feelings for Deku throughout the majority of their first year. She wasn't sure what Bakugo felt, in general, and more specifically towards her, but he kept coming back for more, so that had to count for something. Right?

With determination, she straightened out and angled her face upwards towards the snarling boy. Gaining a couple of centimeters in height, she was now a lot closer to Bakugo's face. Their breaths mingling together until she wasn't sure if she was breathing in air or Bakugo.

"As a matter of fact," She said softly but the effects of her words on the uncharacteristically quiet Bakugo were palpable. A light shudder. A catch in his breath. "I do." She smirked up at him, her face inching closer to his. A sudden game of chicken. Who could last the longest encroached in each other as they were?

Bakugo took a slight step backward and turned his face away from a now very smug-looking Uraraka.

Releasing a slight chuckle, in triumph or relief she was unsure, Uraraka stepped around Bakugo to walk towards her book and grabbed it off the counter. There was still time to read a bit but she was much too wired to be able to concentrate. Plus, the fact that she could now breathe in air that wasn't Bakugo's made her instantly retreat back into self-doubt land. What the heck was I thinking?! Omg! I just told him I…I need to get out of here NOW!

It was like her mind fogged when Bakugo was near, causing her to say and do things she didn't know she was capable of but as soon as she had some distance, clarity set in and she could not believe that the person who had done and said such things were the same person.

Uraraka turned to see Bakugo staring at her intently. His red eyes drawing her in like a moth to a flame. There was an intensity so tangible that she could almost see it materialize in front of them. A small, thin line of electricity connecting both of them.

Abort! Abort! Abort! The little Ochako's in her head were working overtime to get her to leave.

They broke eye contact at the same time, both visibly shaken and out of breath.

With one final huff, Bakugo began marching out of the kitchen.

"Put aloe Vera on it." He said with finality, disappearing down the corridor that led towards the boy's bathrooms and leaving a very bewildered Uraraka behind.

AN: I know I've said numerous times that I am kind of writing as I go, with no real plan, and that's still true, BUT I can't seem to shake an ending that came to me like 5 chapters ago. I've been trying so hard for it to go away because I know ya'll gonna hate me for it, probably, but it just won't go away :( I think my subconscious wants it to end that way because I would then feel the need to write a part two and I've been having so much fun writing this story that writing a part two would only extend the feeling. I wanted to warn ya'll now in case the ending does turn out that way lol

Stay safe & I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!