Chapter 23
Uraraka ripped into her chocolate bar and chomped it down viciously, avoiding the pointed glances from her friends as best she could. Her first day of school had been an amalgam of crazy with a sprinkle of insanity and it didn't seem to want to get any better.
The current conversation topic was not helping the situation either.
The rational portion of her brain knew what she was walking into when she stepped into Momo's room, but that did not mean she had to like it.
"Chako-chip?" Hagakure threw a popcorn kernel at the small gravity-quirk user to get her attention.
"I don't know, okay!" Uraraka huffed, irritation leaking into her words, causing her friends to flinch at her sudden brashness. "Sorry," she added softly, "I didn't mean to sound so rude, it's just, I don't know why he would blast the bench Tokoyami was sitting on, okay." Uraraka knew her friends meant well but for shit's sake could they just drop it!
"Well, are you two still...you know?" Mina probed lightly, sensing the growing tension within their small, round-cheeked friend.
"We were never anything. We just texted that one time." Uraraka sighed in defeat. She had desperately hoped that the girls would drop the subject but in hindsight, that was probably asking for too much. It wasn't often that Bakugo showed anything that could be construed as romantic interest on, well, anyone. Uraraka was not about to fan that flame by letting the girls know that they had spoken more than that one time...or that they kissed. The sheer chaos that knowledge would bring to U.A. was downright frightening. No, it was better they didn't know.
It's not like it meant anything anyway.
"Then who were you talking to…"
"Did Kirishima ever text you back Mina?" Momo spoke loudly effectively cutting Mina's questioning. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt." She said sheepishly. Uraraka caught Momo's eye and she could see recognition in them. Momo had interrupted on purpose and Uraraka was eternally grateful.
"That's right!" Hagakure squeaked, gossip was gossip no matter who it came from, "You were supposed to let us know if and what he texted back."
"Why are you so invested in my love life?" Mina rolled her eyes, dismissing the girls playfully.
"Says the girl who was pouncing on Ochako not even a minute ago," Jiro teased light-heartedly, readjusting herself from kneeling on the huge bed to sitting cross-legged.
"Don't you go thinking I forgot about you Miss Snapchat Queen," Hagakure turned, an armless sleeve pointing at Jiro, "Kaminari couldn't even look at you today without practically fainting." She added playfully, throwing another popcorn kernel but this time directed at the sound-quirk user. Jiro groaned, cheeks flaring red with embarrassment.
"Tequila is one hell of a bitch huh." Mina chuckled as she reached for the bowl of chips. The girls nodded in agreement. "And, to answer your question, yes he did text back." Mina admitted after swallowing down her chips with soda, "Well he called…"
"He called you?" Hagakure gasped, "When?"
"What did he say?" Tsu said off-handedly as she slipped out of the bed and began stretching. Urarka had noticed that every time the conversation turned towards this particular subject Tsu seemed to tune out. She had also been uncharacteristically quiet throughout most of Uraraka's interrogation over Bakugo and the case of the exploding bench. Uraraka made a mental note to talk to her about it once they were alone.
"He didn't really say much." Mina followed in Tsu's steps, slipping off the bed and extending her arms above her head, leaning into the stretch.
"That wasn't the question." Jiro gave Mina a fixed stare which Mina returned two-fold. After a couple of seconds locked in a staring match, Mina broke into a fit of laughter, which infected the rest of the girls.
"Okay, okay," Mina exclaimed, "Like I said it's not that serious really. If anything it kind of helped getting us to talk again."
"Wait?" Hagakure interjected, "Then why'd you pick Kirishima when we said to text the last nonfam if you all weren't talking at the time."
"He was the last person that texted me that day." Mina said pointedly, "I just hadn't been texting back."
Mina leaned against Momo's bed and turned her back on the girls. After a tense minute, she turned to look at them, "It was...I was just…." She struggled to find the right words, "I don't know what happened really. It was like one day he was Kirishima, one of my closest friends, and then the next he was Kirishima."
Uraraka faintly nodded in agreement, she knew exactly what Mina meant. It's funny how things change. How one person could go for being just another face in the crowd to being the face you look for in a crowd.
"Walk me through that one." Jiro's voice held a light timbre, easing some of the tension that had started to permeate through the room.
"Okay," Mina ran her fingers through her hair and closed her eyes for a second before continuing, "so you girls know how we were paired together for that hero history presentation," The girls nodded in unison. "Well, we started texting more, at first it was mostly about the project and then it was just like random stuff."
For some reason, the more Mina talked the more unsettled Uraraka felt. It was weird. She was happy for her friend; it seemed like she had managed to fix things with Kirishima which was always a good thing. Uraraka did not like knowing her friends were at odds with one another. And whatever was happening between Mina and Kirishima seemed to be going well. Or at the very least, seemed to be moving in the direction Mina wanted it too. These were all good things.
Yet, Uraraka felt her stomach tighten as Mina continued to speak. Something within her was stirring and it didn't feel pleasant.
"I just...I don't know," Mina erupted into a bright smile, her sudden happiness proved infectious, the rest of the girls smiled warmly at her. Uraraka tried to mirror what she saw in the other girls but she couldn't seem to make it look authentic. She had never been much of an actress, unable to hold her true feeling and thoughts back for long. Thankfully, it didn't seem like anyone else could notice Uraraka's ever-growing agitation.
"I mean we've known each other for a long time and we've been good friends for a while now but I don't know, it started to feel…" Mina trailed off for a bit, she grabbed another chip from the bowl in front of her and popped it in her mouth.
"Different?" Momo volunteered, a small blush on her cheeks. Mina snapped her fingers and nodded in confirmation.
"Yea, different! It was like all of a sudden I would get a text notification from him and I would start getting ten types of excited. It was weird." Mina said as she pulled her knees up towards her chest and wrapped her arms around them.
"Why was it weird?" Tsu asked as she plopped back onto the bed with the rest of the girls.
"I don't know. It just was." Mina said with conviction.
"So why were you mad at him?" Uraraka spoke up for the first time since the conversation had shifted from her and Bakugo towards safer waters. Her plan had been to remain silent, lest the girls' remember what they had been talking about prior to this, but she was a curious girl and it was a well-known fact that it was incredibly hard to be mad at Kirishima. He was just so sweet!
"I don't know!" Mina said, throwing her head back and closing her eyes, "I mean I know but I just...okay, I'm sure you girls all know that Kirishima can be kinda...flirty."
"Mmmm," The girls gave each other knowing looks. It wasn't like Kirishima was a playboy, flirting up a storm. Most of the time he seemed to be genuinely unaware of his effect on the girl population at U.A. He was a sweetheart, nice to a fault, and extremely easy-going.
"To be fair, I don't think Kirishima knows he's flirting," Uraraka said with a small chuckle. She had been present when Kirishima actually attempted to flirt with a third-year support student last year. The poor boy was a mess of words and ended up throwing his drink on her. He did infinitely better when he had absolutely zero intention of flirting.
"I know that," Mina rolled her eyes playfully, "It's just, I don't know. I kind of exploded on him at the dance." Uraraka and Tsu's eyebrows shot up. They both had left the dance before them and this had been the first they heard about it.
"So that's why Kirishima looked like a sad puppy after you left," Jiro said, clearly amused.
"He did?" Mina's eyes twinkling with interest.
"Yea, he was sulking by a chair with Baku-bro for the rest of the dance," Jiro said as she shifted from Uraraka's lap onto her elbows. "They both looked pretty pathetic." She laughed.
"Jiro, that's not nice." Momo scolded, "But...they did look rather forlorn." She added pensively, turning towards Uraraka.
Oh no! I should have never opened my mouth!
"Why are you looking at me?" Uraraka started stuttering, blushing furiously as she rubbed her hand at the back of her neck. She couldn't help herself, thoughts of the dance always summoned up thoughts of her and explody-boy in his room…on his bed…Oh no! Get it together Ochako!
"That reminds me," Hagakure drawled, "What did happen between you and Bakugo at the dance? I saw you both leave and you were gone for a while."
"Aaahaa...uhm...ha...me...and...Baku...me and…no nothing happ...nothing…what…no" Uraraka started stammering, waving her hands around violently. The girls all gave her amused looks, adding to Uraraka's embarrassment.
"Relax dude," Jiro said, tapping Uraraka's knee softly. Uraraka began nodding furiously at Jiro who was giving her a mischievous look.
"Can we go through one boy drama at a time? It's getting hard to keep track." Tsu said through a yawn, turning towards Mina.
"Why me?" She said defensively.
"Because you were close to finishing anyway," Jiro said, shrugging her shoulders slightly.
"Fine," Mina grumbled, "but don't think I've forgotten about you and YAAAYY," shooting two thumbs up at Jiro and doing her best imitation of Kaminari when he short-circuits his brain after using his quirk too much. Jiro glared at Mina, but the rest of the girls exploded into a fit of laughter.
Looking very smug, Mina settled into a cross-legged position on Momo's bed.
"Okay, so you yelled at Kirishima at the dance, why?" Hagakure prompted Mina, still half laughing.
"I didn't yell at him. He asked me to dance and I very politely told him to fuck off and go ask one of the 1-B girls he couldn't seem to stop flirting with." Mina said, crossing her arms in front of her chest in residual anger. The girls waited for her to proceed.
"He started stuttering something about not knowing what I was talking about and I don't know I just got really mad. It's hard to explain." She said meekly, "I told him to leave me alone and then I kind of just left. I didn't feel much for socializing after that."
"So when you texted him on my birthday…" Uraraka let her question trail off.
"He had been texting me since the dance. Asking if I was mad at him and that he was very sorry, and just stuff like that. I hadn't responded until well," She turned towards the invisible-girl, "until Hagakure sent that text."
"He called me the next day, once I was home." Mina continued, "He said he knew we were probably playing a game or something but he was glad that I at least texted him and he told me to please tell him what he had done so that he'd never do it again."
"But he didn't really do anything." Jiro's forehead creased as she reflected on Mina's story and her own observations of the red-head at the dance.
"I know." Mina bellowed, sounding annoyed.
"Did you tell him?" Uraraka questioned softly.
Is that how these things worked? Could this crush thing really be this easy? Could you just tell the person what you thought? What you felt?
"I did. Kinda...I told him I don't know why but it bothered me that he kept complimenting every girl he talked to, especially that Kendo chick." Mina's lips soured as she mentioned the Big Fist quirk user.
"What'd he say?" Momo asked, breaking her silence on the current conversation topic. It seemed she was just as invested in the story as the rest of them. Well, all except Tsu who was already clearing out the snacks near her to make space for her to lay down.
"He kind of didn't say anything for a bit and I…it was soooo...I was almost gonna tell him to forget it, but then he kind of just." Mina paused as she wrestled through a variety of emotions before settling on one, "He said that he'd be more careful of how he talked to other girls that weren't from our class." Mina's smile shined through the room. Happy.
"Oh?" Hagakure's voice perked.
"I told him he could do whatever he wanted but he said no, not if it upset me." Mina was practically bouncing on Momo's bed. "And then he said that I had to stop flirting with guys too then because he didn't like it either."
Uraraka finally realized what the feeling that had been stirring within her throughout the duration of the conversation was.
Jealousy.
She was jealous of her friend for being able to be so direct with the boy she liked. Why couldn't she have crushed on a boy like Kirishima? Why did she seem to crush on boys who were exclusively not interested in her?
"So what now? Are you two, like, exclusive?" Hagakure questioned.
"NO!" Mina shouted, pushing her palms up in an attempt to quiet the group of girls, "No, we aren't like dating or anything like that. We're just...talking."
"Talking?" Jiro raised her eyebrows up in disbelief.
"Yes. Talking." Mina concluded with definitiveness, "Okay, so who's next..."
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-
Uraraka was grateful that by the time Mina finished her story it was already close to midnight and Momo insisted that the girls go to sleep since it was still a school night. The girls had protested slightly but there was just no budging Momo when she assumed her authoritative role. She didn't think she could take much more "boy talk."
The sleepover had left Uraraka on edge. Frustrated at herself for developing a crush when she specifically told herself she would never do that again. She was angry that she was wasting precious time trying to figure out a boy who clearly didn't like her.
Thankfully, the rest of the week came and went without any more unexpected lunch guests or exploding benches or blonde-haired angry boys. Uraraka mostly stayed within her circle of friends and used the little free time she had to practice her quirk and look over potential internship locations. Focus. She needed to focus. Boys and crushes should be dead last in her list of priorities.
All in all, the weekend arrived in the most uneventful and ordinary manner a weekend could. It left Uraraka feeling uneasy. There was just no way things in her life could have settled into such a basic routine. No life-threatening situations. No villain attacks. No kidnapped students. Deku hadn't broken a single bone all week. Even the commotion that had occurred amongst the boys earlier that week seemed forgotten.
It was all a little too ordinary.
Uraraka shifted her attention back to the present. There was no use getting all worked up over nothing. If anything that was exactly why she was here, to punch away her stress. Being U.A's resident "bubbly and cheerful girl" meant she couldn't really go around sulking or cussing people out, she had to wait until she was alone to do that.
Feeling nice and limber, Uraraka approached the punching bag and began to work through a combination of moves. It felt really nice to hit something.
The sleepover could have easily been forgotten, if it had not become a turning point for many of her friends. Uraraka began to notice little changes in the dynamic of the now 2-A class. She had noticed that despite all the awkward stares and furious blushing, Kaminari and Jiro had begun to partner up for most projects. Or how Kirishima and Mina would stare at each other and smile when they thought no one could see them. Even Momo had somehow managed to engage Todoroki in a steady stream of conversation once or twice.
All her friends seemed to be taking steps in the right direction.
And then there was her.
Annoyed and frustrated, she began to hit the bag with more force. At the top of her "Reasons Why I Want to Scream as I Hit Things" was the fact that Bakugo seemed to have fallen back into treating her like he always had. It wasn't like the first day back, at least then she could tell he was actively avoiding her. No, now, he acted as the last couple of weeks never existed. He was aware of her like he was of Shoji or Koda. Like she was back to being an extra in his life. It made her want to scream. Or cry. Or both.
She was angry. She didn't like being angry. She hated feeling like this. Uraraka always tried to be understanding of others, but it was near impossible understanding someone like Bakugo. Her friends had always joked that she seemed to be more in tune with what Bakugo thought or felt but clearly that couldn't be the furthest from the truth.
She was upset that she had even allowed this to happen. To be fair, it had all happened so suddenly. She wasn't even entirely sure how she ended up here, punching and kicking the bag so hard the stand it hung from began to creak loudly.
Uraraka could feel her muscles screaming for a break. Sweat trickled down her face, stinging her eyes, and still, she continued to attack the punching bag with vigor.
"What the fuck did the bag do to you?" She heard a familiar voice call to her, causing her to freeze with one foot halfway up in the air.
Uraraka was convinced that she must be cursed. There was just no way that every time she found herself alone and thinking about a certain foul-mouthed boy, said foul-mouthed boy would magically show up.
Uraraka finished her kick and continued to practice her moves, ignoring him and his unnecessary commentary. He seemed to be content with ignoring her all week so why should she acknowledge him. She was about to punch the bag again when two hands appeared on either side of it, holding it in place. Uraraka took a step away and stared until a mop of blonde hair peered out from the side.
"You deaf Cheeks?" Bakugo sounded annoyed.
Uraraka could feel the irritation bubbling within her. She wasn't sure if it had something to do with the fact that she had been imagining his face as the punching bag but seeing him acting normal made her fume with indignation. No. He can't just do this. He can't just talk to me whenever he feels like it and ignores me the rest of the time.
She found that it was easier to redirect her frustration of the last couple of weeks on this one person. Admittedly, it was fairly easy. There was no shortage of reasons to be upset with Bakugo.
Calm down Ochako. Don't engage. Bakugo thrived on confrontation and she just didn't feel like playing along with him today.
Instead of exploding, Uraraka rolled her eyes and chose to turn her back on him. She began walking towards the entrance of the gym where she had dropped her gym bag earlier.
"Yo!"
Don't do it. He's ignored you for days. Keep walking. Uraraka reached the entrance, she grabbed her bag and tossed it over her shoulder.
"I'm talking to you." He growled.
Don't.
"Moon face?!" Bakugo's voice sounded closer but she refused to look at him.
Fuck it.
"I heard you." Uraraka hissed.
"Then what the fuck?"
"No." She said flatly. Uraraka could feel her emotions boiling within her; she was reaching her limit. There was only so much a girl could take. She hated feeling unsure and Bakugo always seemed to pull the rug from under her. She had worked too hard to get where she was and she was not about to go tumbling back into "insecurity land" because of some boy.
"No?" Bakugo sounding thoroughly perplexed.
Uraraka closed her eyes, inhaling deeply before exhaling quickly. She turned to Bakugo, really looking at him for the first time.
He was in his usual workout clothes and it didn't look like he had been sweating so he must have just gotten to the gym. He looked tense, uncomfortable even. His hands were in his pants pockets and he couldn't seem to make eye contact with the small brunette in front of him. Despite her not-so-pleasant feelings towards him at the moment, Uraraka couldn't help but take him in. He seemed to enjoy wearing sleeveless shirts to work out in and she was definitely not complaining.
Stop checking him out! You're mad, remember! Uraraka chided herself. She quickly turned her back on him again and took one step forward. Distance between them, however small it may be, seemed to help shake her back to reality. He couldn't just toss her and pick her up when it suited him. She'd had enough of this…whatever this was. It already was a mess and they weren't even anything. Just…
"No," Uraraka repeated through gritted teeth, trying desperately to hold on to some composure, "You don't get to act like I don't even exist when we're in class and then try and talk to me when we're alone." Despite her best attempts, she could hear the slight tremor in her words.
Uraraka felt very exposed suddenly. She needed to get out.
As she reached the handle and pushed the door open, Uraraka felt a sudden pang deep in her chest. Apparently, a small part of her had been hoping he would call out to her; stop her. But he didn't. So she walked out the door and kept walking.
AN: Sorry for the wait, this chapter did not want to cooperate with me, but thank you for your patience!
Also, doing research on Kendo I found out we have the same birthday. I knew I liked her :)