A/N: Good morning! Thank you so much for all the follows, favorites, and reviews—I really appreciate all the support for this story and I hope you continue to follow along on this journey and enjoy everything it has to offer! There's so much more in store, so stick around and let's see what happens~!

Chapter Four: Friend or Foe?

Aisla lay on her bed with a stupid grin on her face she just couldn't shake. Part of her was still embarrassed about what she'd done on the bus, but the other part was elated that she'd been able to spend the whole day with Todoroki and Bakugo. They chose to spend the day with her, and treated her like an equal—like she wasn't a total freak of nature.

The stuffed bear that Bakugo had won for her sat next to her on the pillow. She poked the cheap plush belly and thought, this is the best gift I've ever gotten. They'd won it together, but without him, this bear wouldn't exist. She grinned and burrowed deeper into her blankets, closing her eyes as exhaustion set in. She hoped tomorrow would be just as great as today had been.

As it turned out, it wasn't.

Aisla had been so excited to get back to classes and see Bakugo again that she didn't even think about the fact that he was Bakugo. It wasn't going to be some magical scene in which Aisla found Bakugo standing next to her locker with a bouquet of roses and a proclamation of his undying love for her. She'd known him for less than a month and she understood that fact with perfect clarity.

Even so, that hadn't stopped her from hoping at the very least—not for some romantic show, but for just a little change. She hoped he would see her as a friend now, or at least a comrade. She was dead wrong. He didn't see her as anything and he wanted her and everyone else to know it.

Aisla was walking into the school building that morning with an extra pep in her step, excitement filling her as she searched the halls for either Todoroki or Bakugo. When she saw the blond standing near his locker, she kind of wished she'd found Todoroki instead. His face was filled with such intense rage, Aisla could practically feel it surrounding the entire hallway like a toxic gas. His hands were clenched into fists, and a very shocked Kirishima was flat on his back in the middle of the floor.

A crowd was gathered as everyone waited for a fight. Aisla didn't know what was going on—she hadn't heard what was being said before a loud thud had sounded from around the corner. At first, she'd thought nothing of it—it could have been someone dropping their books or getting tripped in the halls—but Bakugo's fist in someone's face? His friend's face? She hadn't anticipated that one.

"What the hell was that for, man?!" Kirishima rubbed the side of his face where Bakugo must have struck him.

"Don't ever say that shit again!" Bakugo's fist still shook as if ready to swing again.

What could Kirishima have possibly done to upset you so much? she wondered curiously. As if in answer to her inquiry, Bakugo's red eyes suddenly fell on her. He'd somehow picked her out in the crowd of people and transferred that anger onto her like she had it coming. She waited for him to speak.

"She's not my girlfriend," he said flatly.

Oh, that's what he said to you.

Aisla gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile before turning back down the hall so she didn't have to see the pity plastered on her classmate's faces. Bakugo was letting her know that he wasn't interested in her after her idiotic stunt the night before. He had every right to turn her down, but still…she kind of wished he'd done so in private instead of in front of the whole school.

I guess that's my karma for being so bold, she allowed. If she hadn't kissed his cheek, maybe they could be friends. Then again, based on her brief encounters with the boy, he didn't seem to want that with her either.

Aisla tried not to slump in her chair as Mr. Aizawa took attendance and gave them a rundown of what their day was going to look like. For the entire class period she could feel everyone's eyes on her as if they all knew what happened between her and Bakugo. Yet again, Aisla had made a fool of herself. She wasn't sure why she was so surprised. Back at Shiketsu, even the other social rejects hadn't been interested in befriending her. Who was she kidding, thinking that two of UA's most famous, budding heroes would actually want to be friends with her? She'd been dumb enough to think that a day at the fair would be enough to put poor, little, useless Aisla in the same league as those attractive and powerful boys.

Aisla decided she needed some air during her lunch period. She wasn't feeling particularly hungry anyway and the afternoon heat would help to clear her head. When she rounded the corner outside, she found a familiar shape sitting against one of the pillars. Todoroki held a book in his lap with a tranquil expression on his face like he didn't have a care in the world. It was probably rude to disturb him but…

She went up to him and plopped down right next to him, ignoring her inner warning to leave him alone. Bakugo had already rejected her, so it would follow suit for Todoroki to be equally put off. Still…if there was even a chance that she could make a friend—a real friend—at this school then she had to take it. So, even though the likelihood of rejection was high and she was still wounded by Bakugo's denial, she blurted out: "Hey, let's be friends," because she really needed one of those, and beating around the bush had never proven to be useful.

"Alright," he agreed without hesitation. He didn't look up from his book, but she noticed a small smile flit across his face when she asked her question—like it pleased him that she would want to be friends.

"I don't have many friends," she repeated her words from the fair, even though they made a blush color her cheeks. Todoroki was so cool and put together. In comparison, he probably saw her as someone lame and pathetic.

"I actually don't have many friends either," he told her.

This surprised her; he seemed like such a nice guy. "Really? But you're so nice." She couldn't help but echo her thoughts aloud. He was a kind person with an awesome quirk, and his performance at the Sports Festival was all anyone could talk about for weeks. She'd just assumed he was popular.

He laughed. "I'm not that nice; you're just weird."

"That's the rumor," she quipped.

"I didn't mean it in a bad way," he assured her.

"Oh, I know!" She served him a wink.

They sat in silence for a few minutes as Todoroki read his novel and Aisla threaded a simple blue ribbon into her hair so she wouldn't pull on it—she had a habit of doing that when she was embarrassed or anxious or bored. Pretty much all the time.

Finally, she couldn't hold it in another moment. "I think Bakugo hates me," she blurted.

He sighed. "Look, if you want to talk about boyfriend drama, go ask one of your girlfriends," he said without looking up.

She ignored him. "I've tried so hard to get him to be my friend but he won't even pay attention to me!"

"Sounds terrible," he agreed flatly and flipped another page as if he barely even noticed her chatter.

"I'm being serious!" she exclaimed. "I don't know what to do! Should I just leave him alone since he clearly wants nothing to do with me? Or should I try something else? Should I ask him outright like I did with you?"

Todoroki sighed, placed a marker in his book, then let it close. He turned to face her, expression serious. "Look, Bakugo is an ass, okay? If you want to be friends with him for some ungodly reason, then you have to decide for yourself how important his friendship is to you." She pouted. He rolled his eyes and picked up his book again. "Why do you care so much anyway? You can probably be friends with anyone at this school. Why him?"

"I don't know…" she began thoughtfully. "I guess because I see something inside of him that probably a lot of people never will. I can see something past the angry exterior and I want to get to the bottom of it. Something about him just really makes me want to get to know him."

"Whatever you say," he agreed flatly. "Can we be done talking about girl stuff now?"

She grinned. "Sure."

With renewed spirit, she went back to classes and hoped that maybe something good would happen. She set aside her friendship-with-Bakugo dilemma for now, since she still didn't know the best way to approach it. She would just leave him alone and focus on training for her provisional license exam. She'd spent enough emotional energy on him, at least for the time being. It was his turn to find her.

Over the next few days, Aisla spent most of her time training. She was behind her classmates in terms of her quirk so she needed every extra minute she could to improve. She was worried about her chances of success, but she was determined to do her best and give it her all. Todoroki helped a lot. He was patient, kind, and had really good advice on different approaches to old problems.

Another, more surprising, ally on her side was their homeroom teacher, the Eraser Head. Since she shared a similar quirk to the man, he was able to offer her an entirely new perspective.

"You have to imagine your opponent's quirk in your mind, even if you don't know what it is," he was saying. "Some are obvious based on their appearance, others you'll find out just from sparring with them. Others you'll just have to guess."

She nodded. "Todoroki kind of suggested the same thing and it seemed to help."

"See if you can block my attack," he said before his eyes glowed red and his scarf flew out toward her. She could see his eyes clearly and knew what his quirk was but… he was Eraser Head. How was Aisla supposed to stop his quirk? She didn't think anyone could stop him, especially someone with a quirk like hers.

"What are you doing?" he snapped impatiently as his scarf wrapped around her. "You're thinking too much about it. Clear your mind and focus."

"But sir, I can't stop an erasure quirk. The whole point of your power is to stop me from using mine."

"That's true," he agreed, "but if you're quick enough, I believe you can still reflect my quirk back, temporarily erasing mine. If you're able to do that then you'll have a momentary advantage. You'll have to use your wits as well as physical attacks."

He swung a leg out and clipped her side, sending her toppling to the ground. It hurt but he'd definitely gone easy on her.

"You can't deflect physical attacks," he explained. "You need to train hard and build up your body strength. Midoriya would probably be the best person to ask for help in that area. He's patient, and he's good with physical combat."

She nodded again, taking in all the information.

"Don't forget to keep practicing deflecting a person's quirk as well," he repeated. "You can't rely on one or the other. When you have a quirk that focuses on reading someone else's, then you need to exercise all your options. Bakugo!" He suddenly shouted.

The blond glanced over from where he was sparring with Kirishima. Mr. Aizawa waved him over but Kirishima got in a good hit while his back was turned. He swiveled around and threatened him with an explosion but he never got the chance to throw it. Mr. Aizawa wrapped him up in his scarves and yanked him forward.

"Spar with Miss Haru," he commanded.

"Why?" Bakugo's tone suggested he'd rather do anything else.

"Is that defiance I detect?" Mr. Aizawa's eyes blazed again.

Bakugo grumbled something under his breath.

"It's fine," Aisla chimed in. "I don't mind working with someone else. I should practice my combat anyway."

He turned his gaze on her now. "I don't remember asking your opinion, Miss Haru."

Aisla blanched.

"Fine, whatever," Bakugo mumbled. His arms were crossed and his face turned away as if the very thought of looking at her pained him.

She sighed. "Ready when you are," she droned.

His lips curled back and he turned just slightly to the left, palms coming up to meet briefly before they opened and released a blast. Aisla watched him and the way his eyes locked on hers victoriously like he'd already won this match. She gave him a winning smile of her own and let the blast come at her. Don't get cocky yet, Bakugo…

A moment later, Bakugo was being thrown backward by his attack. He thumped into Mr. Aizawa's chest, who snorted in either approval or annoyance.

"Never underestimate a defensive quirk," he told Bakugo with a smirk of his own. "Reflection doesn't mean you're powerless." He gave Aisla a knowing look before turning away to survey some of the other students.

Bakugo got to his feet and readied another attack. "Let's test that theory," he said through clenched teeth, then threw two blasts in her direction. She knew they were coming and her quirk immediately activated to reflect them back at him, but he'd tucked and rolled, already anticipating her defense. A loud series of smaller explosions were aimed with precision while she was focused on the first two. Her eyes widened—she was about to be obliterated. She was going to be a pile of ash. She couldn't reflect that—it was too fast, too strong, and her eyes were already drifting closed of their own accord. They burned like lava as she desperately tried to force them to stay open just a moment longer.

With a crisp roar, an ice wall materialized just before Bakugo's attack struck, and Aisla was forced to blink. The bombs slammed against the ice, leaving Aisla unharmed but breathing hard.

"Thanks," she voiced as Todoroki came to stand beside her. She glanced up at him and saw rage in his eyes that made his normally handsome features hard and kind of scary.

"Are you insane?" He demanded of the explosive blond. "You could have killed her! This is a training exercise; she's not some villain you need to destroy."

Bakugo sneered. "If she wasn't so damn weak she could have deflected it."

His words stung, like a needle through a blister. In an instant, she was back at Shiketsu, sitting bruised and beaten on the gym floor, Shishikura's finger pointing at her and his mocking laugh echoing off the walls. 'Maybe if you weren't so weak with that useless quirk of yours.'

"She's not weak and you know it," Todoroki said in her defense, startling her and ripping her from the painful memories. "You're just embarrassed because she put you on your ass in front of the whole class so you had to show her up. Which makes you a coward and an asshole."

Todoroki gripped a shocked Aisla by the wrist and pulled her alongside him. "Come on, Aisla. Mr. Aizawa's right, you should work on your combat, too."

Aisla noticed said teacher staring at them with an unreadable expression as the two boys bickered. He said nothing as he watched the argument unfold.

"HEY!" Bakugo hollered after them. "She's supposed to be fighting me!"

Todoroki kept walking but turned and gave Bakugo a dark look that even Aisla arched an eyebrow at. "Well, now she's working with me."

She could feel Bakugo's rage even as Todoroki dragged her away. She had half a mind to pull away and just let Bakugo beat the crap out of her if that was what he really wanted. Todoroki was right, though, he had been kind of cruel about the whole situation. He wasn't trying to train with her, he'd been trying to hurt her, to get revenge for making him look stupid in front of a teacher. So she allowed herself to be taken away by a boy who was turning out to be a better friend than she'd bargained for.

"Sorry," he mumbled when Bakugo was out of earshot.

Aisla looked up at him in surprise. "For what? Saving me back there? For defending my honor?"

"For saying all of that stuff. I should have asked you before embarrassing you like that." He turned a serious look her way. "And I'm sorry for physically dragging you away, but that asshole was seriously pissing me off. Still…I shouldn't have gotten involved."

"I'm kind of glad you did," she admitted. "I like having all of my organs inside my body."

He gave her a small smile. "I may have been a little dramatic about that. It wouldn't have killed you, but it would have hurt like hell and you'd probably be out of training for at least the day while you recovered."

"You're such a good friend, Roki!" She beamed.

He rolled his eyes. "You just remember that when I need saving. Even boys can be damsels, you know." His face was perfectly straight.

Aisla fought back a smile. "Not this one. You're too badass to be a damsel in distress."

"Well, that's true," he agreed. "You want to try some hand-to-hand combat?"

She smiled. "Sure."

He showed her a few moves and they worked on mastering those until the end of class. She was not good at hand-to-hand combat. She was going to have to work even harder on that than her quirk. How embarrassing. She hoped her fellow classmates had been too busy with their own training to witness her pathetic failures.

I'm never going to get my provisional license, she inwardly whined, not even caring that she was sulking. Aisla didn't even deserve to be in a school with all of these amazing classmates with a quirk like hers.

"Never underestimate a defensive quirk. Reflection doesn't mean you're powerless."

Aisla wondered if that was true and if so, how could she make that her reality? How could she prove to not only herself but all of her fellow classmates, teachers, and whoever was judging the exams that she was capable of so much more than it appeared?

'Work hard, stay strong, and never give up.' That was her family's motto. Sometimes she forgot that saying had been burned into her brain since she was a child. Even Airi, who was just five-years-old, could recite the words by heart.

UA had a motto of its own, which essentially held the same principle. There's always room to improve and you should never stop trying to do your best.

As if on cue, Midoriya whizzed by with a shout. "Way to go Plus Ultra, Haru!"

She smiled to herself as she followed her classmates out of the training area.

On Friday, Aisla was feeling a lot better about herself. She'd put her all into training and had improved much more than she'd thought she could in just a week's time. That wasn't to say that she had suddenly become a badass, but she was at least improving, which gave her a much-needed confidence boost. It made waking up early—which was decidedly not Aisla's preference—much more bearable. She was feeling more motivated every day.

If only she could master hand-to-hand combat…

That day, she was out bright and early with Midoriya, who had graciously agreed to spend two mornings a week with her. The rest of the days she would focus on training with her quirk. Today, he wanted her to focus on strength training. This, he'd said, was going to be essential in learning any type of physical attack.

"If you don't have the strength to back up your attack," he was saying, "then your hit won't even phase them. I spent months doing strength training before I came to UA so don't feel bad if it takes a while! I'm pretty excited to be training with you, though! It makes it feel more motivating when you train with your friends, right?" He gave her one of his dorky smiles that she couldn't help but reciprocate.

Friends. There it was again. Was she really making friends at this school, or were her peers just being nice out of pity?

"Yeah," she agreed. "I really appreciate you helping me with something that's probably so second-nature to you at this point. It has to be pretty boring for you…"

"Didn't you hear what I just said?" he asked, still grinning. "It's not boring for me! Someone I'm close to helped me through all of this, too, and he never complained once! Besides, you can always improve more, right? It doesn't hurt me to keep training my body like this. I workout like this on a daily basis!" The look on his face was full of pride, though she wasn't sure if it was the fact that he was still training every day, or that this "friend" of his continued to help him do so.

A brief image of blond hair and an angry expression flashed through her mind before she pushed it away. Now wasn't the time to be thinking about that guy. He didn't want to train with her, and he didn't want to be her friend, so it was totally irrelevant.

"You're friends with Bakugo, aren't you?" Aisla asked as casually as she could manage, deciding to ignore her own advice to not even think about that infuriating boy.

"Kacchan? Oh, yeah! He and I have been friends since way back! Well," he turned thoughtful for a moment, "I guess we're not exactly friends, but we do have a lot of history together."

"Really?" Why did that statement make her feel sad? Was it the simple fact that Midoriya and Bakugo weren't friends, or was it because she wished she had a history with the ticking time bomb?

"Yeah, when we were little kids I used to follow Kacchan around everywhere." A bittersweet look crossed his face. "I was always in awe of his quirk. He was so amazing, and me…" he shrugged. "Well, I didn't have a quirk for a long time, not until recently."

"I didn't know that," she said in surprise. "What happened between you two?"

He gave an uncomfortable laugh. "I'm not too sure, honestly. One day he just stopped letting me hang out with him. He treated me like I was an enemy. I think there's a lot more going on inside of Kacchan's mind than he'd ever let anyone see. He's not a bad person; he's really great! I still admire him and want to be strong like him. I think a lot of people can't see past his anger," Midoriya's large, green eyes shined with feeling, "but he's one of the best heroes I know."

She smiled. "I think so, too." She sighed. "Bakugo is amazing."

Midoriya grinned back. "Wanna head back now? I bet it's almost breakfast time. Maybe Kacchan will let us eat with him today if he's in a good mood!"

Aisla laughed, though she didn't think there was a possibility of that happening. Even so, she couldn't help but hope. "Sure. Let's go!"

During class, Aisla tried catching Bakugo's eye a few times but he wouldn't meet her gaze. She could tell that he was upset about something, but she wasn't sure how she knew this. His face wasn't exactly calm, but he didn't have his usual angry expression. She wondered if something happened in the last few days while she'd been training with Midoriya and Todoroki. Maybe he heard some bad news and he was just sitting there dwelling on it alone.

What's going on with you, Katsuki? she wondered, then flushed slightly when she realized she'd thought of him by his given name. Was she even allowed to do that? He'd probably be offended if he knew she thought of him by first name.

As if in response, he let out a soft sigh.

Mindreader, she thought at once. She really hoped this was not accurate, however, because she'd thought about that kiss on the bus at least a dozen times in his presence. If he was reading her mind, then it was no wonder he wanted nothing to do with her. She was an embarrassment.

"It's time to move on," Mr. Aizawa was saying, then his lips pulled back in a sinister smile. "We're going outside for some endurance training."

Five hours later, Aisla was heaving for breath and nauseous from the impromptu hell run. She didn't have the best stamina in her class, so she'd been one of the last ones to finish, but she'd done better than she had anticipated. At least she didn't pass out mid-run, which she was half-expecting when her limbs greatly protested the effort.

"Class is dismissed for the day," their teacher drawled as he stood before them with a bored expression. "Get out of my sight."

Groans and sighs of relief filled the air as he turned and started walking away from them. Bakugo was among them, chest heaving, and face angry as ever. Bakugo, along with Todoroki and Midoriya, and a few others, had decided to make a race out of the endurance training exercise. Mr. Aizawa had told them they just needed to run the obstacle course Cementoss had created for them and there would be no reward for finishing first, but of course some of the more competitive boys in her class had to make it a competition. Bakugo had finished in third place, which was partly the reason he wore such a murderous expression now. However, Aisla still remembered seeing how upset he'd been back in the classroom, so she knew something else was what fueled his current anger.

As soon as Mr. Aizawa told them class was finished, Bakugo took off toward the dorms at an impressive speed she didn't think was possible after the hell they'd just put their bodies through. He was gone in the blink of an eye.

You really are upset, Katsuki… she thought with a small frown.

A hand clapped her on the shoulder, interrupting her musing and giving her a start. She glanced back to see a shark-toothed grin. "What's up, Kirishima?" she asked, surprised that he'd sought her out.

"Look, you seem to be pretty tight with my boy Bakugo."

"I don't know about that…" she muttered, recalling all the times the angry blond told her to leave him alone.

"Can you do me a favor?" he asked, still grinning. "Can you go find him for me? He seemed real upset during class this morning, and I'm afraid he's gonna go sulk or something. Can you go check on him?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Sulk? Why can't you do it? He's your friend."

And he hates me, she silently added.

"Because I'm swamped! Come on, Haru, please!" He pleaded with her, lip puckered.

She rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll go look for him."

"Thanks! You're the best!" He ruffled her hair, then took off running before she could protest the action.

Aisla smoothed her hair back into place. Stupid boys…

She went back to her room first to change out of her sweaty clothes, then set out to find Bakugo. She had a feeling she knew exactly where to find him. The only question now was…what should she say when she did?

A/N: So Aisla overcame her insecurities to make friends with our Shoto. Good on her! We all know how difficult it is as teens/adults to make friends. Aisla's tactic might not work for everyone, but with someone like Shoto Todoroki, it was the perfect way to initiate a friendship. Now, who likes the idea of Aisla and Mr. Aizawa training together? With their similar quirks (and both being shy little cuties as teens), I thought it would be interesting to put them together and see how he could help her strengthen her quirk and become more confident in her own abilities. Any theories on how that will go between them?

Well, what should our sweet Aisla say when she finds brash Katsuki Bakugo? How do you think that meeting will go? Will it end in Aisla's favor, or will she be left feeling similar to how she did back at Shiketsu?

Betas: rubyxblade; yellowchikadee

Test Audience: Ashteriax; yellowchikadee

Thank you to my good friends for their continued support in beta reading this fic for me, even though they probably have better things to do! You all have helped me so much!

PS: I'm also on AO3!

Reviews:

Wynterlace: Thank you so much for being the first reviewer for this fic! I appreciate you getting the ball rolling and taking time out of your day to say a little something! Your support is priceless! Also, I recognize your name from some of my other stories, so I really appreciate you coming back to check out another one!

Zachary Boyd: Emotionally confused Bakugo is the best one, indeed! He's extra adorable! I also love the sweet, gentlemanly Todoroki in this story. I know he's not like that in the anime, but I think he has the potential to be if he just sets his mind to it! Aisla IS precious, thank you for noticing! I know she can be super sassy and a pain in the butt sometimes, but she really is the sweetest thing. I hope you'll grow to love her as much as I have!