Chapter 32
Uraraka stared at her reflection for the one-millionth time in less than five minutes.
"You look beautiful Ochako-chan," Tsu said patiently from where she sat on Uraraka's bedroom floor.
"Yes, sweetie, that skirt looks amazing on you." Mina complimented her as well as she flipped onto her back on Uraraka's bed.
Uraraka looked at both her friends through the mirror, worry etched on her face.
"Girl, relax!" Mina chided softly, "You look smoking hot." She continued, turning to Tsu for reaffirmation. Tsu nodded fiercely in agreement.
Uraraka turned back to stare at herself and tried to analyze her outfit through an objective lens.
Hagakure had worked some magic on her hair once more, pinning her bangs back with two clips in shapes of stars and creating loose waves to the rest of her hair with her handy-dandy curling iron.
Mina had done her makeup. Uraraka wasn't sure if she should wear any at all but Mina promised to not do anything too crazy so Uraraka agreed, At the end, Mina simply filled in eyebrows, put on some eyeliner and mascara, a little bit of blush, and tinted lip balm and voila. For her outfit, Momo had lent her a teal-colored accordion-pleated skirt. Uraraka had been worried that it would be too long but Tsu helped her hem it a little so that it rested just below her knees. She paired it with a plain cream-colored long-sleeved shirt, her cleanest all-white sneakers, and a sand-colored coat.
She looked...what was the right word? Elegant? Cute? Adult? Like a Woman?
Uraraka couldn't find the right word to describe herself but she felt...pretty. Was she allowed to call herself pretty? Was that too conceited?
"Are you sure it doesn't look like I'm trying too hard?" Uraraka finally spoke. She knew she had told herself that this year she was going to work on her confidence but easier said than done.
Plus, she had never been on a date before.
Let alone been on a date with Bakugo!
For definitely more than just the first time since all of this had begun, Uraraka contemplated how in the hell she ended up in this position. If she sat down and thought about it too hard her head would start to hurt.
How does one even begin to make sense of this? How had U.A.'s, resident laid-back, bubbly, sweetheart end-up dating (they were dating right? She was pretty sure they agreed that they were dating...)
where was she...oh right, how did she end up dating the most corrosive boy in U.A.?!
"Ochako, even if you were trying too hard, which you're not. " Mina started speaking, effectively cutting off Uraraka's quickly derailing train of thought, "But even if you were," she continued, getting out of Uraraka's bed and walking towards her round-cheeked friend, "It's your first date with Bakugo. Actually, your first date ever!" Mina grabbed Uraraka's hand and spun her towards the door, "You're allowed to dress up and put in effort."
Tsu nodded getting up from the floor and walking towards where Uraraka had set down her pink crossbody purse on the dresser drawers.
"Here," Tsu said as she handed Uraraka her bag, "Stop worrying Chako. You look great and I'm sure you're going to have a great time tonight." She smiled warmly at her friend.
Uraraka was thankful that she had told the girls about this or else she feared she would've psyched herself out so much she probably would have skipped town and changed her name.
"Yes, for the five billionth time Baku-hoe has no clue what's about to hit him and I mean that in a good way." Mina said as she began lightly shoving Uraraka in the direction of her room door, "Now, go. You don't want to have him waiting too long."
Uraraka gave her friends one final glance, their supportive smiles helping settle the last of her nerves, before heading towards the elevators.
She stepped into the elevator cab and pressed the button for the first floor. They had agreed to meet at the front door at 7pm and it was now...7:05. Okay, not too bad. He was surprisingly unsurprisingly punctual and she didn't have any desire to start their first date with an irritated Bakugo.
The elevator ride felt like an eternity and a millisecond all wrapped into one. Every ding that sounded as she passed each floor made her heart skip a beat and her palms sweat.
When she had agreed to this she wasn't nearly as nervous as she was now. They had been playing tag all around the laundry room. Uraraka had made herself float at some point and seeing Bakugo jumping up to try and grab her, like a little kid would an escaping balloon, was by far and large one of the funniest things she had ever witnessed. She remembers laughing so much she was almost in tears. When Uraraka finally landed on the ground, Bakugo was pouting so much she was actually starting to feel just a teeny-tiny bit bad for teasing him...not bad enough to stop giggling though.
It was sometimes scary to think how quickly they both were able to get to this point. Even though they had only been doing this for a couple of months, sitting next to him that day in the laundry room felt like they had been together for years.
Uraraka had apologized multiple times for "cheating" but her giggling gave her away. She could tell Bakugo was milking it more than he ought too but she let him have it. After a couple of minutes, he finally looked her in the eye. She could see he was trying to look serious but there was excitement bubbling within. Nervousness.
"I'll only forgive you if you go out with me this Saturday." He said it so casually that anyone walking by would never have noticed the slight quiver in his voice, but Uraraka did. If not, then the slight blush on his cheeks would have given him away. Uraraka agreed before she truly caught up to what was happening and before she knew it he had said, "Kay, it's a date" then proceed to say he'd let her finish her laundry and that he'd text her later.
Uraraka woke up that Monday morning and almost immediately a wave of anxiety crashed through her. It was the first day of the school week. Nothing special really. Or well, it shouldn't have been anything special. Normally, it wouldn't be so nausea-inducing, but it wasn't any normal Monday.
It was the first day in school since Bakugo and her had agreed to start dating.
True, her and Bakugo had talked the night before in the laundry room and it felt like they had agreed on...something, but now that she looked back on the conversation she wasn't quite sure what?
How does dating someone even look like? Am I supposed to eat all my meals with him from now on? He probably won't want to eat at my table because of Deku? Do we walk to class together? Hold hands?
Uraraka felt like her head was about to explode and she smacked her cheeks before that could happen.
Ultimately, it turned out she had worried over nothing. Bakugo took the lead by treating her exactly like he had before last Saturday's confessions in his room, with one minuscule exception.
He insisted on holding her hand when they walked back to the dormitories after class ended.
No biggie. Right?!
And yet, somehow the entire school went up in flames. All it took was a couple of students seeing them walking hand in hand and the news spread like wildfire. By the time Bakugo and her got back to their rooms, it was all anyone could talk about. Uraraka thought she'd get used to it...surely it would die down in a day or two, but it was already Saturday and it showed no signs of stalling.
Everyone had questions!
Somewhere excited and happy for them. Others were shocked and concerned. She had a random third year ask her if she was being held against her will which made Uraraka's blood boil, but thankfully Iida came to her rescue by reprimanding the girl for blocking the hallway before Uraraka could snap on her. She wasn't one too normally snap on anyone, but this girls' assumptions just...Ugh! Uraraka knew that once she became a pro-hero situations like this would be, unfortunately, pretty normal but it still didn't make it any easier.
At least there was a positive that came from everything - if Uraraka had been worried or confused as to what their conversations over the weekend meant, she had gotten her answer that Tuesday evening.
Most of her class were lounging about the common room, studying, eating, talking. She was sitting on the sofa with Jiro and Momo watching some television and lightly discussing their internship applications when Kaminari, Sero, Kirishima, and Bakugo walked in. All four were in workout clothes and they looked like they had been training. Bakugo nodded at her in acknowledgment and she smiled up at him before both resumed what they were doing. Within seconds, Kaminari and Sero were approaching the girls on the sofa with the goofiest smiles plastered on their faces.
"This is probably going to be annoying," Jiro mumbled to them before turning her attention back at the TV. Momo worried at her lip but didn't have an opportunity to decide what to do or say before Sero was already speaking to Uraraka, "Hmmm you're going to let him get away with a weak hello like that Uraraka." He tsked in mock disappointment.
Uraraka knew the boys meant well, and even though she didn't particularly liked being used to tease Bakugo, she smiled warmly at the taping hero-in-training, nodding her head to try and convey to him that he was poking the bear right now.
"Mmhhh, bad Kacchan," Kaminari turned towards Bakugo with a mischievous smile, "You should be nicer to your girlfriend."
Uraraka stiffened at the choice of word. In fact, the whole room seemed to be holding their breaths to see if Bakugo would confirm or deny Kaminari's statement. If the rest of U.A. was not shy about their questionings, at least her class had been a tad bit more discreet. Acknowledging the slight shift in hers and Bakugo's relationship, but never pestering (too much) or asking too personal of a question. And for that she was thankful. However, although they had agreed to start dating...did that mean they were official? He hadn't asked her to be official.
Does it matter? Is it the same thing? Is that what he meant by dating?
"I am nice to her." Bakugo's voice came loud and clear from the kitchen, interrupting Uraraka's brain before it could implode from all her questions.
The red-eyed blonde slowly began walking towards Kaminari. It almost felt like he was stalking his prey...toying with it. The look on his face was too calm to mean anything good. Kaminari quickly began backing away in half-mock half-real terror.
"Here we go," Jiro muttered from beside her but Uraraka wasn't really paying attention to her surroundings. Not anymore at least. Her brain had gone into full meltdown mode - HE DIDN'T DENY IT! WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?! WHAT! DOES! THAT! MEAN!
By the time she had come too, Iida and Momo were scolding a not nearly as sorry-looking-as-he-probably-should-be Bakugo and a probably overly-exaggerating-the-pain-in-his-right-shoulder Kaminari, where Uraraka assumed Bakugo must have landed a hit.
Either way...maybe she should ask Bakugo today to further clarify what he thinks they are doing here because he seems to be the only one that knows what's been going on.
Ding.
Uraraka looked at the number one displayed on the elevator screen and felt her heart rattling against her ribcage at the sudden influx of adrenaline.
It was time.
No turning back now.
Before the elevator doors finished opening, Uraraka took one deep breath to help center herself and then stepped out onto the hallway.
Okay, Ochako. You got this.
AN: You're allowed to yell "Shame! Shame" at me in the reviews. :(
Sorry for taking so long with this update and I hope you all are still interested in the story (but if not I understand!). I think I have a good layout now of the rest of the story so that should help make the next updates move a little bit faster. I'd say we're at the halfway mark right about now so I suppose that's good news if you like long stories.
Also, I created an inspo board on Pinterest for Uraraka's looks so you can see what I see. www dot Pinterest dot com/HighlyGlamorous9/firsts-inspo/. It has the end-of-year dance outfit and the first date outfit.
Lastly, thank you all for your patience and support for this story. As always, it is truly appreciated. Sending you all huge hugs!