CHAPTER 2: (un)even terms
A/N: Thank you so much for stopping by to read my lil' story! As always, kudos and comments are very much appreciated. 100% FUEL. Also let me know if you think these chapters can be longer and I can plan accordingly! Oh, happy birthday TODOROKI! (I share the same birthday as Ochako, and it's odd to me that Ochako and Todoroki are both canonically Capricorns...)
"Yuzu, wake up!" Nejire Hado whispered as she tried to shake her unconscious classmate awake.
Exhausted from making PostDash deliveries til the break of dawn, Yuzu went from slight head bobbing to deep REM slumber during English Class at UA. Her half-opened mouth leaked a string of drool that threatened to spill over to her desk. This was a far too common occurrence. Nejire sighed, she couldn't let a friend slack off in class again if she had anything to say about it.
Taught by Present Mic, English class was becoming Yuzu's least favorite subject. Today's lesson was especially difficult since it involved idioms and Present Mic made it a goal to fit any odd phrasing and vernaculars to his stylistic speech as much as he could. His favorite one recently was using "as cool as a cucumber" to describe his young and vibrant personality.
After realizing that light shakes weren't going to be enough to wake Yuzu from her deep slumber, Nejire forcibly pushed Yuzu's elbow off the table causing her face to slam straight on the table.
"OW!" Yuzu yelped, squeezing her red forehead in pain.
"YUZU, THIS AIN'T THE TIME TO CATCH SOME Z'S!" Present Mic shouted. His thunderous voice brought Yuzu back to reality and reminded her that she was still, unfortunately, in class.
"Did you catch that class? Catch some Z's? Write that down!" Present Mic instructed the classroom but no one bothered to pick up their pen.
Before Yuzu could regain full consciousness to come up with somewhat of an excuse, the bell to signal the end of the school week rang throughout the classroom and hallways.
"Saved by the bell!" Yuzu stretched her arms in relief.
And once that bell rang it was every student for themselves. The class started to shuffle and scurry to prepare for their departure home and the start of the weekend. To beat the crowded hallways, Yuzu teleported herself to the foray to exchange her indoor shoes for her outdoor ones. Seeing her vanish in thin air, Present Mic clenched his teeth in annoyance. He had hoped to hammer in his paternal lecture of how sleep was the most important duty of a hero. But Yuzu's probably heard that lecture more than two dozen times this semester alone.
"Hey Yuzu, there's some junior high kid asking for you by the gate," Mirio's beady eyes phased through the lockers curdling a slight squeal out of Yuzu. She could never get accustomed to Mirio's unsettling Permeation quirk of phasing in and out of objects, despite them training together for the past two years now.
"And he says if you don't come out he'll trigger our security system, so I think it's best to see him quick. He's really adamant about it from what I can tell," Mirio added.
"What did he look like?" Yuzu asked. The thought about it being the boy from last night crept up on her, "did he happen to be.. blonde? spiky-hair?"
"Red, angry looking eyes? A potty mouth?" Mirio added a few more traits to the list.
She cursed. Yuzu realized she only had two realistic options. She could either warp back home or she could face the kid and tell him off for stalking her on school grounds. It was to run or to fight.
She decided on the latter, despite preferring the former. It was better to nip these kind of things in the bud, she thought. She couldn't have a junior high kid ruin her reputation at this school, not like her reputation was something she cared deeply about. But it would look really bad if rumours were to start that she was friendly with junior high kids.
Hands digging deep into his baggy uniform pants and veins darkening his furious blood-colored eyes, Bakugou could be seen stomping around by the UA front gates.
"Oh no," Yuzu exhaled at first sight of him. His spiky hair and intense red eyes were hard to miss.
Closing her eyes, Yuzu used her quirk to warp directly in front him, invading his personal space and startling Bakugou enough to jump backwards.
"What are you, stalking me?" Yuzu placed her arms on her hips with elbows bent out.
"YOU LEFT ME WITH NO DAMN CHOICE YOU JUST FUCKING DISAPPEARED," he yelled as he leaned in to tower over her. He wasn't going to let her turn this around on him.
"You said you wanted to see my quirk! I showed it to you! What more do you want from me!" she yelled back defensively, trying to tiptoe to match his height. Despite being his senior, she was still a few inches too short. Yuzu saw Bakugou reach deep in his pockets and jingle a familiar sound.
"You left these at my house," Bakugou dangled a set of keys in front of her. Attached to her keys was a unmistakable heart-shaped keychain. Printed on the keychain was a photo of a pre-school Yuzu smiling ear to ear with her mom's arms wrapped lovingly around her. She hadn't even realized her keys were missing because she never really needed them in the first place, with her quirk and all letting her teleport home without a need for doors. If he was seeking compensation, he was shit out of luck since Yuzu wasn't going to get paid for another few days.
"Yuzu, who's that junior high boy?" Nejire popped out of nowhere, "a new boyfriend? He's a bit young for you, no?" she pressed without hesitation. This was classic Hado after all, having completely no filters.
"Nejire, get OUT of here!" Yuzu threw her arms in the air to try and shoo her friend away. Bakugou's eyes narrowed at the bubbly blue-haired student in irritation.
"He has your keys, Yuzu? This looks really incriminating…is that even legal?!" Nejire was milking the situation for all it's worth. Yuzu shot back a warning death glare to her overly-nosey friend. Getting the hint, Hado went ahead and joined Mirio towards the exit, but not without looking back and leaving with the most sinister grin. Yuzu would definietely hear about this tomorrow.
"Crap, " Yuzu thought, returning focus back towards the ash blonde in front of her. "Thanks kid, I really appreciate it," Yuzu feigned a smile as she reached out a hand for her belongings, but Bakugou quickly swiftly yanked them away from her reach.
"I'll give this to you under one condition."
Yuzu's ears perked up in retaliation. He was in no place to be making demands.
"Give me a tour of the campus. Might as well get a head start knowing my way around here," Bakugou's crimson eyes glowered heavy, like all-consuming flames.
"Are you serious?!" her voice cracked at such absurdity. There was no way she could be caught ushering around a junior high kid around campus, nor could she have a guy she barely knew boss her around and make such unseemly demands.
That wasn't the reaction Bakugou wanted to hear, nor was he going to accept it as an answer. Continuing to dangle her keys in front of her, his palms sparked mini explosions, threatening to blow up the photo of her tiny self into smithereens.
"HEY!" Yuzu yelled, lunging at her keys only for him to dodge her with ease.
"This is the LEAST you can do," Bakugou red eyes seared over. Yuzu cursed under her breathe, embarrassed how she wasn't much of a match for his swift and agile reflexes.
She was cornered. Although she had no late-night shifts today, she was still exhausted from the previous night, no, exhausted from the whole week! She regretted not trusting her gut when it warned her of stranger danger, but her gut was also the reason she was in this situation in the first place. How could she refuse a free home-cooked meal?
But the quicker she could get Bakugou out of her hair, the quicker she could go home.
"Look, I'm only agreeing to this because you've done me a few favors, but after this please promise me you won't show up so uninvited like this. I barely even know you and this isn't a very good look for me," Yuzu begged, staring at Bakugou's incriminating black junior high uniform as she rubbed her temples in clear frustration.
"You've seen my fuckin' house, so I'd say we know each other enough, Yuzu," Bakugou's smug mouth emphasized her first name. That was indeed the label engraved on her custom keychain.
Yuzu let out a sigh of defeat. In a blink of an eye, she disappeared.
"What the fuck!" Bakugou yelled in rampant disbelief, thinking that she had changed her mind last-minute and bailed. His stomping feet were only a few centimeters away from tripping the school security alarms. He ran his hair through his spikey hair to try and determine the best plan of action, closing his eyes for a quick moment to refocus and cool down.
But once he re-opened them, Yuzu flashed before his eyes. She held a lanyard labeled "SPECIAL GUEST PASS" and placed it over his steaming head.
"Hurry, let's make this quick," Yuzu pushed Bakugou towards the UA campus from behind him, his feet dragging the dirt floor.
"This is the science building and also where my homeroom's located. If you get in, then your homeroom is most likely be in this building too," Yuzu explained.
"You mean when I get in, not if," Bakugou corrected her.
"Ah yes… when you get in," Yuzu rolled her eyes. It was only 20 minutes into the tour and she could already hear the giggles of some of her classmates as their meddling eyes followed them both. She had hoped the rumors would at least be sensible. Could she still be labeled as a cougar if she was only 2 years older?
Keeping a good amount of distance between them, Yuzu showed Bakugou most of the UA campus, including gym, pool, sports field, and her favorite place on campus, the school roof. Trailing behind, Bakugou didn't once remove his hands from his pant pockets the entire time, or say much for that matter. The awkward silences killed her and every step felt like a thousand with her sleep deprived body soon reaching its limits.
When the tour finally came to a close, not a single word of gratitude left his lips. But it wasn't like Yuzu expected any form of gratitude. There was an arrogant air to him that she could not fully understand. His eternally furrowing brows made it hard to tell if he was thoroughly enjoying himself or was just painfully bored.
"Debt paid?" Yuzu stretched out her right hand and bent her pointer fingers at him to hand over her keys. He grabbed the keys from his pant pockets and tossed it in her direction for her to catch. She sighed in relief. This very long day was coming to an end soon, and she wondered what was the best way to part ways. She didn't think just vanishing in plain sight was going to cut it this time. But Yuzu couldn't help disappearing, it was her quirk after all, and it was a hundred times easier than formulating tedious goodbyes.
As she brought Bakugo back to the school entrance, Yuzu felt his eyes scan her from top to bottom. Zeroing in on her wrinkled UA uniform, Bakugou was positive that it was the same one she wore from last night. His eyes locked onto a few grease spots that stained her skirt, inferring it was probably from the food most typical for late-night deliveries: fried food.
"Your uniform looks god awful. Don't you know how to properly remove stains... Or at least iron," he broke their long radio silence with a brutal tone.
She didn't think her uniform looked bad enough to warrant such a comment. His fiery crimson eyes took no hostages, she noticed.
"I'm a working girl, what more is there to say?" she shrugged, trying to play it off. What she really meant to say was that she was tired and broke and couldn't find the time to do laundry or even find enough quarters to make laundry happen that week.
"I don't get why you work so fucking much, you should be focusing on school when you go to a top hero school like UA."
Yuzu didn't respond, she wasn't going to entertain such personal questions when she felt her debt to him has already been paid. Her lack of response worried him. Not wanting her to disappear in thin air again, Bakugou tried to move the conversation forward.
"Do you have another shift tonight?"
"I'm off today, I have a lot of sleeping to do," Yuzu released a long yawn. She put her hands over her head to simulate stretching motions, but instead felt her stomach grumbled in hunger. Lunch was 5 hours ago and Nejire often made her an extra katsu sandwich for lunch. But today Nejire had forgotten her lunch bag on the bus, leaving Yuzu to go another meal without proper sustenance.
"I could hear your stomach growling, no, howling , for the last hour," Bakugo scoffed.
Yuzu's looked away with her cheeks flushing bright red, turning her back towards him and bending slightly forward to crouch her empty stomach. Despite her best efforts to leave a considerable amount of distance between them during the tour, Bakugou had still managed to find her out. What she hoped to be a one-time fiasco was now like an overplayed joke, and it was all so very frustrating.
Growing more tired, she closed her eyes preparing for her another abrupt departure, but this time she hoped maybe they wouldn't cross paths again. She didn't think a guy like him deserved a proper goodbye anyways.
"Wait"! Bakugou shouted, a bit of desperation in his voice. He didn't want her to leave. But he also didn't know how to soften his tone of voice to get her to stay. The only viable solution was to offer a deal he knew she couldn't refuse.
"I still have a bunch of leftovers at home," he added, "I have a laundry machine, too, if you wanted to kill two birds with one stone."
Hearing such considerable offer shot Yuzu's weary eyes back open and her mouth began to water like a dog. Just remembering the decadent smell of last night's beef curry was enough to make her knees quiver. No.. she wouldn't fall for it again. She refused.
But for some reason the words of rejection wouldn't leave her salivating mouth.
"This offer isn't going to last forever," Bakugou interjected after a few moments of silence, knocking Yuzu out of her trance.
"Isn't it weird to invite some stranger into your house for 2 consecutive days?"
"I don't think it's weird. And again, we're not strangers. I know your first name now. You've seen my damn living room."
"It's weird."
"For fuck's sake then don't fucking come over then!" Bakugou's words felt like burning venom.
Yuzu started to panic. Her golden ticket was slipping away. Some students around them began to stare and whisper as Bakugou's hellish voice echoed throughout the perimeter.
"How far is your place from here," Yuzu forced out of her, painfully swallowing the products of her overactive salivary glands.
At least her pride was easier to swallow than stale old bread she had waiting for her at home.