"Okay…" Kaminari wheezed, releasing himself from the generator, "This is really starting to suck. I don't know how much longer I can do this…" He rested his hands on his knees and gulped for air, sweat dripping off his forehead.

"Tell me about it…" Mineta griped, his mountain of purple balls towering above him. "It's starting to feel like I'm ripping the skin off my head!"

"My tummy…" Aoyama whimpered and slouched to the ground, not caring that the dirt was getting his uniform dirty.

Kirishima's quirk had finally chipped away to nothing, "I think my quirk has given up completely on 'Plus Ultra' for the day."

Aizawa squinted at his students as they all began to collapse one by one. He debated continuing, as they still had an hour left to train but he acknowledged that everyone had been working especially hard all day. "Alright class, I think we have reached a good stopping point."

Cries of joy and relief echoed across the camp, a few of the remaining students collapsed to the ground. Aizawa sighed, "You all stretched your quirks effectively today so go get some rest before dinner."

Bakugo pulled his hands from the hot water, sweat gathered at his hairline. He grit his teeth at the weaklings that he called classmates and sneered at their self-reprieve. Only Todoroki and -ugh- Deku had managed to keep up with him within the final hour of their training. His bloodshot eyes fell on a certain brunette as she tried to hide the the tint of green on her face. She allowed her bangs to sweep down in front of eyes in order to form a mask.

Midoriya and Iida were already making their way toward her, but she waved them away claiming she wanted some downtime on her own. Bakugo snickered spitefully as the bushy-head dolt and the four-eyed freak shrugged unknowingly and wandered the other way. Bakugo knew he needed to confront her about the things that she had said about him and now seemed like as good a time as any. He wiped his hands on his uniform pants and started toward her.

She wandered into the treeline a few yards and settled on a shady rock, breathing deeply and begging her stomach to quit it's rolling. As the last of the class disappeared to mind their own business, Bakugo came up behind her. "Hey air-head," He jeered as she jumped in surprise. "I hear you have a fuckin' problem with me."

"Wha-?!" Uraraka whirled around and gasped in surprise, her tummy reeling again. She clasped her hands over her mouth as her face flushed green once more.

Bakugo rolled his eyes, agitated at her sickly state. "If you're going to hurl, you might as well get it over with. I don't have all day."

Uraraka released her mouth and gasped for air, her queasiness beginning to whittle away again. "Believe me, I do not want to puke. Give me a second and it'll go away."

Bakugo grunted impatiently, "Look round-face, that shit you fuckin' blabbed to your stupid girlfriends pissed me the hell off. If you have a damn problem, then you should tell me to my fuckin' face!"

Uraraka frowned, the green hue beginning to clear off her face. "What in the world are you talking about?"

Did he have to spell it out for her? Bakugo grit his teeth angrily, his eyes flaring up. "I know what you said last night and that shit is fuckin' ridiculous!"

Uraraka blinked obnoxiously at him, pondering what he was getting at. "You mean at the hot springs?"

"How stupid are you?!" Bakugo barked, his hand instinctively rose in front of his face. He clenched and unclenched it, sparks lighting up in his palms.

Uraraka was taken aback by his tone and a sour look replaced her sickly grimace. "Were you spying on us?"

Bakugo scoffed unbelievably at her remark, "Fuck no! You can blame that shitty purple-head pervert for that. He told all of us what you said."

To say Uraraka was shocked would be an understatement. She had said those things in confidence and she was feeling betrayed. Looking at the brutish blonde in front of her, she chose her next words carefully, "What did he say, exactly?"

Bakugo sneered at her ignorance, "Don't play dumb with me! You said that I was some kind of asshole to you and that I'm the reason we didn't win."

"And?" Uraraka asked pointedly, her face completely clear now and her stomach ache was replaced with a vaught of mild annoyance. Why was he picking a fight over this?

"And what?!" Bakugo snarled.

Uraraka let a silence hang over them for a few seconds, surprised by his outburst. "Well, am I wrong?"

Bakugo was floored by her audacity, but he kept his fiercome composure. He wasn't at a loss for words often, but this time he had to wrack his brain. He wasn't the least bit prepared for her to have a comeback like that. Normally when he threatened people, they simply submitted and cowered in his shadow. "Fuck off!" Those were the only words Bakugo could surmise in his quest for a response, his eyes fuming with hooded disbelief.

Uraraka released herself from her frown and sighed loudly, her hands still resting on the rock she perched on. "Listen, I know that what I said was kinda mean but you are not exactly the easiest person in the world to work with. As soon as the matches started it was like you threw everything we'd worked on all day out the window! Not to mention the fact that you left me in the dust when it was our turn and tried to win all by yourself. It almost cost us the match! Actually no, it did cost us the match because I wanted to win too and we didn't."

Bakugo was definitely mad now, his fingers twitched and itched for a fight. That fact that she was remaining so cool under his deathly glare irritated him to hell. Was she really not afraid? "So what's your problem, fuck-face?!"

Uraraka's face twisted into a scowl at his ferocious barks. Was he not hearing a word she was saying? This was beginning to feel like a waste of her time and breath. "My problem is that you're too hopped up on your stupid ego all the time to listen!" Uraraka found the strength to stand and face him properly, her hands propped onto her hips. She felt a brush of sassiness creep into her tone. "If you really want to be the best, as you say you do, then you need to learn to suck it up and work with others sometimes. Even All-Might accepts help, you know."

Uraraka's cheeks puffed out angrily as she lectured him, irking Bakugo to his core. He huffed out an angry puff through his nostrils, his eyes blazing with animosity. "Shut the fuck up, you dumb shit! You're one to talk!"

"Me?" Uraraka was baffled by his retort. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Bakugo clenched the fist he was still hovering in front of his face, "You're complaining about my ego? At least I have one!"

Ouch. Uraraka bit her lip hard, trying to summon a smart-mouth response with angrily trembling hands but could find none to counter him. She shook her head dismissively after a few tense moments of silence. "Jiro and Ashido were clearly wrong when they said you respected me. I gave you the benefit of the doubt all day yesterday and you never really came through." Her voice shook with frustration, but her tone stayed low and sad. "I really want to think that you're a good person under all that hatred, but I'm beginning to think that beneath it is just more hate." Her eyes dropped to her shoes.

It was like a punch to the gut to Bakugo as he saw her give up her argumentative side in favor of her somberly judgmental one. He wanted her to stay mad and keep up their angery and passionate ruse but she just couldn't do it for him. He fought internally to keep his coarse fire lit in order to maintain his rage, but even that flame was flickering down to docile. He finally lowered his angry fist and moved to enclose his hands in his pockets.

"Whatever. Forget it." Bakugo spat half-assedly and turned to leave. Maybe his last comment was uncalled for, but he wasn't going to accept that. He was sick of people looking at him with those sad eyes, like he was some kind of kicked puppy. It was true that he respected her, although he'd never admit it to her; especially now. However, the last response she gave him made it clear that she did not reciprocate that respect. Did he care if she did? He told himself he didn't, but it was still unsettling. He clouded his mind with the same sentence over and over again as he went to leave, he didn't need anybody's approval.

Uraraka looked up from her shoes to see him begin his retreat. Was that it? He just wanted to berate her to the point of near-tears and then walk away? Bastard! At this point, she almost wished he'd picked an actual brawl with her instead of this trash-talking fest. She tried to stamp down her morals as she watched him start to leave but she couldn't fight her own standards. "Bakugo, wait." She called calmly but quietly. She wasn't going to just let this go without it being remedied. Her excuse was that it would distract her from her training.

He stopped but didn't turn back. She waited for him, but his back remained stoic and unmoved. She groaned loudly, regretting her call out to him. "I didn't mean what I said, okay? I know you're a good person. I just wish that we could get along better, especially when we have to work together."

Bakugo scoffed mockingly, "What is it? You want to be friends?"

Uraraka thought about her response, "I guess, yeah."

Bakugo laughed haughtily, "Fuck no, loser. I'm not interested."

Uraraka twisted her mouth determinedly, "I guess we'll just have to see about that." She regretted that sentence the moment it left her lips because it held an unspoken promise within it. 'I must be crazy if I'm thinking I can make Bakugo my friend!'

Bakugo grimaced threateningly, his back still turned to her. He could almost laugh out loud at her arrogance and that stupid proclamation. The last person he would be friends with was some ditzy girl that said this kind of stupid shit. No, he admonished her lunacy. "You're a damn moron," Were the only words that left his lips before heading back to his cabin for some much needed R&R.

She remained glued to her spot as she watched the audacious blonde strut away cockily. She could think of a million reasons to dismiss her own proposal of friendship to him, but one weighed heavier in favor of it. She needed to learn if there really was a good person in there, for the sake of her own curiosity of course.

…

Bathing and dinner came and went in a blur for Bakugo, his mind replaying his encounter with a certain gutsy brunette. He was becoming intensely bothered that he didn't seem to intimidate her whatsoever during their entire exchange. Dealing with people used to be so easy for him! All he had to do was threaten to kill them and they usually ran away or left him alone but ever since he started at UA, more and more of his classmates were no longer fearsome of his wrath. It was despicable to him.

Bakugo's head swam as he and his two bunkmates hung out lazily in their cabin, spending the rest of the evening relaxing. Kaminari was laying in the bunk underneath Kirishima with his eyes closed, earphones jammed in his ears and his head bobbing slightly with the beat of the song playing. Kirishima was flipping through a gaming magazine on his top bunk, smacking a piece of bubblegum in his mouth mindlessly.

Unable to take the annoyance anymore, Bakugo glared menacingly at the boy in the top bunk across from his. "Kirishima, if you pop one more motherfuckin' bubble I swear I will blow your damned head off."

The redhead's eyes widened momentarily, debating if he was feeling like pestering the blonde tonight. He made the decision to relent to Bakugo and went to spit out his gum. Normally, he would intentionally push Bakugo's buttons to elicit an over-reaction, but something about Bakugo was off tonight. Normally the blonde would be invested in playing games on his phone but tonight he was rather lackluster about it.

Kirishima settled back into his spot on his bunk before taking the hypothetical leap. "Dude, what's up with you?"

Bakugo glared at the redhead, clearly miffed by his question. "Fuck off, rocks-for-brains." Bakugo dropped his glare and focused his attention back to the poker game on his phone.

Kirishima understood Bakugo well enough by now to know this was deflection. He pushed ahead, despite the blonde's previous response. "Seriously man, what's going on?"

Bakugo slammed his phone down on his lap, "What do you want, ass-hat? If you're looking for some kind of gushy girl chat, then go ask somebody else." Bakugo snarled snidely at his bunkmate.

Kirishima felt despondent by Bakugo's response. He supposed he shouldn't be surprised by Bakugo attempting to avoid a conversation that required any level of vulnerability. He inwardly sighed about the blonde hot-head's incessant and undying need to act macho all the time. He had definitely picked up on some kind of weird tension brewing between Bakugo and Uraraka because she kept glancing over at the blonde during dinner. He wanted to say that she appeared determined, but that didn't seem like the right word. Maybe confused? No, it was more like she was curious. He glossed over that in his mind for a minute but he couldn't figure out what her deal was exactly. All he knew was this: Bakugo disappeared after the training had ended that afternoon and ever since he showed back up, he seemed distant and somewhat muddled in his thoughts. Whether Uraraka's stolen glances and Bakugo's aloofness had anything to do with each other, he couldn't be sure.

After realizing that Bakugo wasn't going to give in, Kirishima pushed himself off his bunk and tugged his sneakers on. He didn't want to stick around if Bakugo was just going to be such a wet towel all night. He noted that the blonde didn't even give him a glance as he walked out of the cabin door.

The sun was halfway hidden behind the mountains, painting the camp in a musky orange hue. As Kirishima wandered out toward the main camp area, his shadow fell in a long line in front of him. When he arrived at the center of camp, he saw some students lounging around the mess hall and the bathhouse while Uraraka skipped rocks at the lake's shoreline. It was easy for her with her anti-gravity quirk. They'd bounce all the way out to the center of the lake, making whisking noises as they went. He recalled her troublesome ambiance at dinner and decided to approach her.

"What's up, Uraraka?" Kirishima called out, his boyish tone was light and fun.

She turned to see who had called her and she smiled boisterously, "Hey Kirishima!"

He approached her and picked up one of the many smooth rocks bordering the shoreline. "Damn, you're pretty good at this, huh?"

She laughed lightly, embarrassment in her inflection, "Without my quirk, I suck at it pretty bad."

Kirishima bent his knees and sent a rock fleeing over the water. It skipped three times before sinking. "Well I guess it's a good thing we don't get graded on skipping rocks then, huh?"

The joke went over Uraraka's head as she applauded his skipping efforts. "It's weird seeing you by yourself, Kirishima."

The redhead shook his head, surprised by her observation. "How do you mean?"

"Well," Uraraka pointed a finger toward the sky matter-of-factly, "Normally you're with Kaminari or Bakugo. Seeing you by yourself doesn't seem quite right, I guess."

Kirishima rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "Yeah, I guess you're right. Bakugo is just being a downer tonight, so I sort of left him alone."

Uraraka sighed mournfully, "Yeah, that makes sense."

Kirishima eyed the brunette inquisitively, urging her to continue. "Do you know what his deal is or something?"

Uraraka laughed awkwardly again, "I wouldn't know the first thing about Bakugo!"

Kirishima wasn't the least bit convinced and he gave her a prodding look. "Spill it, Uraraka."

She frantically waved her hands in front of her, "It's totally nothing! He just started yelling at me after training about some stuff I said at the hot springs last night." She closed her eyes, embarrassed with herself. "I know it wasn't nice for me to say those things, so I guess I kind of deserved it!"

Kirishima raised his eyebrows at her flustered response, "That's it?"

Uraraka sighed in humiliation, "Well no… I kinda yelled back a little. I told him that I didn't think he was a good person and I feel really bad about it. I wish I knew how to be his friend."

Kirishima patted the brunette on the head and looked down at her new and somber expression. "Trust me, you don't want to be that guy's friend. It's like trying to tame a lion that's been permanently dosed with LSD." He cracked a goofy grin down at Uraraka.

She just shrugged in response. "I just hope he can prove me wrong about not being a good person."

Uraraka was surprised with herself for blurting all this out to Kirishima. Normally, she'd go straight to Midoriya about her complaints, but this time she had kept them to herself. She supposed it was because she didn't want to burden him with more of her frustrations with Bakugo. She knew he'd feel obligated to say something to Bakugo and that was definitely not what she wanted. She didn't want to have to rely on Midoriya to stand up for her.

"He will," Kirishima comforted her. "Bakugo can be a real hard-ass sometimes, but he's got a heart somewhere in there." He paused and pondered his words. "Well, at least I think he does."

Uraraka thanked Kirishima for lending an ear to her and claimed she was heading off to her cabin. As he watched her walk away, he asked himself if Bakugo might be bothered by whatever she had said to him during their conversation earlier today. Given Bakugo's moody timeline, he supposed that was probably the case and even though he felt somewhat sorry for the blonde, he knew it probably had affected him for the better.

As the sun finally disappeared on their second day of camp, a blonde and a brunette went to bed with busy minds.

Author's Note:

Gaaahh! I hope this turned out okay... I've re-written this twice and I'm beginning to worry I might have over-edited. It's definitely a longer chapter than I planned for, but hurray! We finally have a tiny bit of progression! I guess it's time I just call it quits on this chapter and let you guys be the judges of it's success...

Thanks for reading! I'll try to have an update soon :)

~NumberSixteen