Ch. 2
"So how are you liking U.A. so far, Ami?"
Ami looks up from her book and into the round eyes of Ochako Uraraka. The cheerful brunette had seemingly taken it upon herself to make Ami feel overly welcome, and despite it being appreciated, it was a little less so when she was trying to read. "The last week has been pretty good." She replies. "It's a lot less... tense than Seiai already."
It was Thursday, almost a full week since she'd transferred to UA and the difference was palpable. Seiai Academy was a prestigious school, known for it's all-girl status and the well-known heroes it pumped out every year. However, the school was too... tight laced. Ami had attended her first two years of high school there and hated every second of it, so when the opportunity to switch school arose she had jumped at it. It wasn't like she'd made anything other than enemies there anyway.
Like Inteli. That bitch.
Saiko Inteli was the self-named "Queen" of Seiai Academy. She was surrounded by a pack of followers at any given moment and had instantly decided that she hated Ami when she didn't "bask in her greatness" during their first year. Granted, it was already headed that way when Ami placed first in their exams, knocking the smug cunt out of her #1 spot. Thankfully, though, she was now miles and miles away from her, and that's a kind of peace she hadn't felt in years.
Mina plops down in the seat next to Ami, pulling her out of her thoughts. "I believe you! I heard Seiai almost seriously messed us up during the Provisional Hero License Exam," The pink girl recalls, a frown on her face.
Of course Ami knew all about it. Saiko had been irritable for days afterward over her "perfect plan" failing. She relied heavily on her quirk, and it was a slim to none chance that any plan she came up with would fail, which was why the girls from their class followed her into the exam field. Ami, however, had gone off on her own and passed the second half of the exam by taking on two students from Ketsubutsu High.
"I heard," Ami mumbles. "Saiko mentioned it."
The door to the dorms opens and in steps Kirishima and Bakugo, going back and forth about something, with the latter visibly enraged.
"WHY THE HELL SHOULD I CARE, SHITTY HAIR?"
Ami sighs and bookmarks her book, shutting it softly. Looks like reading is out.
Katsuki Bakugo had -in a record-breakingly short time, mind you- proven himself to be the loudest person in her new class. Angry, sarcastic, and easily irritated were the only other sides he'd shown. And yet...
Her eyes drift back to the angry blond, watching him sling his bag over his shoulder and plop down on the couch furthest from her.
He was nice to look at.
She didn't deal with ego, though. Nice to look at or not, she kept her distance. The last thing she needed was a distraction since she'd promised her uncle she'd keep out of trouble. Especially after she got caught sneaking into an empty classroom with the only girl at her school she could stand: Michiko Hikaru.
Michiko had been "nice to look at" too and almost equally as snarky as Bakugo. That's exactly what had landed her in a shit ton of trouble. So just like she ended up having to do with her, Ami would keep her distance from him, too.
Bakugo's red eyes flick up at that moment and meet hers, making her realize that she'd been staring. This time he doesn't grimace though, he just looks away with an irritated look. On her first day here he'd openly grimaced at her when their eyes had met at the pool, which loudly and clearly had said he wasn't having any of it or her.
At least that made it easier for her to stay away.
"-Ami?... Helloooo?"
Ami blinks hard and her eyes focus on Ashido's hand waving in front of her face. "Mhm?" She turns to see a concerned look on the pink girl's face.
"I can tell you right now, it's a bad idea." Mina lowers her voice and her eyes quickly flick to and from where Bakugo sits.
Snorting softly, Ami shakes her head. "I'm absolutely not even thinking about that." She lies, lightly tapping her fingers against the hard cover of her book. "I don't do ego."
Mina's shoulders visibly relax as she sits back. "Good, Bakugo doesn't really pay attention to girls anyway. Not that anyone's tried." She shrugs and waves a hand dismissively. "But anyway, are you going out with us this weekend?"
There was a fair coming to town that the school had been buzzing about for the last few days. Some big-shot from America had paid to bring in a bunch of rides, games, food stands, and staff to start a traveling fair that would be in their city this weekend. Ami had gone to a few when she was little, but aside from the festivals she went to with family after they moved, she hadn't been to a genuine fair in a long time. She'd been asked to attend the day prior, which she hadn't actually given an official answer to.
"Sure, I'll go."
Ochako smiles and gives a little cheer, "This is going to be so much fun!"
Once the girls retire to their rooms, Ami lays back on her comforter and sighs as her mind drifts back to the concerned look on Mina's face.
"Bakugo doesn't really pay attention to girls anyway. Not that anyone's tried."
She couldn't deny there was an attraction forming, albeit it was something she really didn't need. The day prior had been the fatal blow to her promise to herself to not endanger her word to her uncle... and unfortunately she let herself think about it way too much.
The day prior was the first time she'd introduced her quirk to her class, undergoing the quirk apprehension tests they first went through when they were accepted. Her results were impressive in some areas and OK in others, and although she was allowed to use her quirk she didn't have one that was physical enough to give her much of an advantage. She did, however, get to see her classmates do their tests again to show their improvement.
Bakugo, Midoriya, and Todoroki had outshown their classmates, Midoriya more so than anything. His presence in the class was apparently a special circumstance. He'd already proven himself to be worthy of the hero title, so much so that he technically didn't even need to be in the class, but he had decided to graduate with his classmates as they all wanted to see their schooling through.
Ami remembered The Fall, when society had crumbled and they'd lost many heroes both to death and early retirement. She'd heard some UA students had been in the middle of it when so many from other schools had been ordered to stay put.
That was what made her really want to attend UA. The true heroism.
After her test scores were taken they moved onto one of UA's training areas, where Ami truly got to shine.
"From your records I know you're more than capable of holding your own," Mr. Aizawa notes. "So I take it you'll have no issue demonstrating how your quirk works since you didn't get a chance to use it during your tests."
Ami nods and smooths down the blue, red and white training uniform they'd given her to change into. She wasn't sure what he meant by "holding her own" but she quickly found out.
"Which one of you wants to help?" This was aimed at her classmates, and it's made suddenly clear that a fight is what their teacher meant.
Hands go up, but a loud scoff sounds as Bakugo pushes himself to the front of the group.
"Bakugo, why am I not surprised?" Their teacher's bored tone sounds unamused, so it was probably expected of him. Which in itself was unsurprising even to her.
Explosions fire up in his palms as he crouches low. "I've fought with and against everyone else, she's the only exception now." His red eyes harden, making Ami stiffen. He was trying to prove something. "Alright Shortstack," The blonde loudly calls, to her now "Show me why you deserve to be at U.A."
Without any warning he's suddenly flying at her, leaving a massive cloud of smoke behind him with a BOOM. Instinctively, Ami's hands fly up and she releases her quirk from her palms, the black smoke reaching him a second before he reaches her.
Bakugo hits the ground on one knee, skidding across the surface. He comes to a stop at her feet, gritting his teeth in anger against her quirk's mental prodding. Sparks go off in his palms as he strains to use his quirk regardless. "Fuck." He growls under his breath, red eyes flicking up to meet hers.
Of course he's stupidly fucking strong willed. The more strong-willed the target was, the harder it was to "overload" them. It took longer to find a weakness, and even longer for her to exploit it to gain control. That also gave them time to break free.
Ami pushes back, focusing harder. She can feel the neurons in his brain slowly giving way under her influence as her smoke flows steadily into him. The second she feels them lose hold, she shoves the mental vision of him breaking through her quirk and knocking her to the ground into his head. Almost immediately he stops fighting.
There we go.
Ami lightly shoves his shoulder, and when he doesn't respond she looks up at her teacher and then to her class. "So... that's how it works mentally." She says, shrugging. "Physically though...'" Raising a hand, she brings Bakugo to his feet and over to her side.
His movements are smooth, fluid now that she has control. It had taken her years to turn the jerky, puppet-like movements her targets' originally had when she'd first starting training into the smooth, natural movements Bakugo had now. However, the second he realized the reality he's seeing isn't real, he'll go back to fighting it. For now however, she can puppeteer him with ease.
"Right now I'm feeding his mind an alternate reality," She explains. "He thinks he beat me and that's why he's not fighting my control." Holding up her right hand she makes him mirror the movement. "He also looks calm because he's basically asleep, but the second I release my hold-" Retracting her smoke back into her skin, she slowly starts to back away and crouches incase he tries to rush her again.
Once the last bit of her influence is gone, the change in his demeanor is instantaneous.
Bakugo's face turns confused before twisting in rage. He whips around and scowls at her, "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?"
Ami shrugs, "You told me to show you why I 'deserve to be at U.A.', so I did."
He narrows his eyes, "I want a do-over."
"I'm sure."
The waves of rage radiating from him are almost visible as he clenches and unclenches his jaw. After a moment he spins around and stomps angrily back over to the group with a muttered "Get the hell out of my way."
"Your quirk is kinda like Shinso's!"
Ami turns her head to look over at the source of the voice.
Midoriya gives her a small smile and points at their purple-haired classmate who stands at his side. "He has a brainwashing quirk."
Shinso scratches the back of his head, obviously not liking being at the center of attention. "Mine doesn't work like yours through," He says after a moment. "I have to get someone to respond to me to brainwash them."
Ami stands up and dusts off her uniform, "My control isn't instantaneous once I get a hold of someone. I have to fight against their will to gain it first." She looks over to where Bakugo is seething. "I could've lost the fight a couple of minutes ago, but I pushed what he wanted to see into his head and that gave me the advantage I needed."
"Yeah, and you owe me a rematch." The blond chimes in, irritated. "Don't forget it, Shortstack."
Ami rolls her eyes. He'd given her that nickname on the third day when he was forced to interact with her in class. Apparently it was something he did to everyone in the class in the beginning when they'd first met, so she wasn't special nor was she an exception.
On the way back to her dorm at the end of the day was the first step towards what made her resolve on keeping her promise crumble. While walking down the sidewalk, she's roughly shoved against a wall and pinned in by an arm above her head.
"You never fucking answered me."
Bakugo. Of course.
The first thing she notices is how tall he is compared to her, maybe 6'? The second thing she notices is how goddamn close he is.
Ami crosses her arms and does her best to level him with a glare, shoving down the stupid butterflies that've gone into a frenzy in her stomach. "What? You can't accept that you lost?" She was basically poking an angry bear with a stick at this point, but nothing was going to calm him down either so it didn't matter. "You were the one who walked into it."
He grits his teeth, "That doesn't answer my damn question."
"Because you never asked one."
His eyes harden with irritation, "Don't play fucking stupid with me. A rematch. I want one."
Ami sighs and turns her head, breaking eye contact. "Fine. Whatever."
Seemingly appeased for the time being, Bakugo leans back and shoves his hands in his pockets. "After class Friday, same place." He says roughly before walking away.
Since then, Bakugo openly glared at her or his face twisted in irritation whenever they made eye contact. It had been a day since she agreed, so his anger had visibly diminished, but she knew he still hadn't gotten over it.
Sitting across from him on the couches earlier she could feel his lingering irritation at the loss as well as his impatience. All she could think about, though, was being pinned in against that wall.
Ami puts her book away again and rubs her hands down her face in frustration. I've been reading too many books.
She blamed her love of books for her tendency to run head-first into situations that could turn out less than favorably. Too many times had she read books about girls ending up with the moody, angry guy that hated her in the beginning. Only difference was that this was real life, so there was a very small chance things would turn out like they did in her stories.
But...-
"No." She says aloud to herself. "Absolutely not. He's stubborn and rude and I need to get my shit together." She hops out of bed and strips down so she can change into some pajamas. She couldn't afford to let her mind keep dwelling on that small confrontation. The hardest part wasn't even fighting that, though. The thing that was giving her the most trouble was trying to squash down the small spark of excitement at the fact that tomorrow was the day of their rematch.
Pull it together. Fuck.
She plops back down on her bed and grabs her phone off her nightstand, looking for a movie to get into to take her mind off of it all. If she was lucky, tomorrow would make her feelings change in favor of wanting nothing to do with him.
Here's to hoping.
The school day is over entirely too fast, and when class is dismissed Ami can feel the anticipation creeping up her spine.
It's because we're going to the fair, She tells herself. NOT because of this stupid ass rematch.
She stands up and glances over to where Bakugo sits next to her. It was already bad enough that she'd had to go the whole day sitting beside him, but now he was watching her again too.
He climbs to his feet and gives her a pointed look before walking out of the class ahead of everyone else.
Ami sighs and picks up her bag, following suit after a couple of their classmates leave behind him. Let's just get this over with.
"We're gonna meet up in my room to head to the fair!" Mina says excitedly, suddenly popping up beside her. "Kaminari is driving."
"I'll keep that in mind. What time?" She hadn't told anyone about the "rematch", so she had to find a way to get that done and still go to the fair with the others like she'd promised.
"We're leaving at 6. Don't be late!" Mina waves goodbye as she runs ahead to join Asui and Jiro where they wait.
As soon as they're out of sight, Ami turns and heads towards her first destination. She still doesn't know what he expects from this rematch. The second her quirk gets a hold of him it'll be over with, and it's not like he can hold his breath forever.
Bakugo's stretching in the center of the training gym when she gets there, clad only in some sweats and a black tank top. He barely acknowledges her arrival at first, not even looking up to say anything.
"So..." She begins, shifting her weight to her left foot after a few seconds. "What-"
"You plan on fighting in a skirt?"
Ami frowns and looks down at her uniform, lightly touching her skirt. "No? I brought a bag with something to change-"
"Then go do that."
She bristles and narrows her eyes. He's such an asshole. Without another word, she turns on her heels and walks to the girl's room to change. She'd brought some grey sweats and a black sports bra to change into incase her body overheated during this fight. After a while of overusing her quirk it would take a physical toll on her body as well as mental, so she hoped he'd accept the next loss better than he did the first.
"Took you long enough." He says as she reappears, examining her clothes now that she's changed. "You ready or not?"
Ami rolls her eyes and crosses her arms, "Let's just get this over with, Bakugo. I have somewhere to be."
"You're going to that lame ass fair too?" He raises an eyebrow at her. "Figures. Girls like stupid shit like that."
Although it irritates her, his jab gives her an idea. "How about we make a bet then?" She proposes. "If I win, you come to the fair with us 'girls'. If you win..." She shrugs. "I guess you decide whatever it is that you want."
Bakugo scoffs, "I don't want shit from you, I'm going to win anyway."
"So you agree?"
"Whatever."
Ami holds up her hands, "Then do your worst."
He grins and before she can blink he's coming at her again.
She sends her quirk out, the smoke barreling forward towards him to take its hold. This is exactly like last time. He didn't learn.
Bakugo holds his hand down below him and sets off a blast at the last second, sending himself upward and over the black cloud. He aims his other hand at her and sends an explosion her way.
"Shit-" Hitting the ground, she rolls out of the way quickly and gets back to her feet in a crouch. Looks like he's serious this time. She'd been wrong, he wasn't underestimating her again.
Crackling sounds up again almost before she fully regains her footing, sending her to the right to dodge another blast. Heavy smoke from the explosions makes it hard to see him, but she can see the light from his palms shine through it before another attack is sent her way.
She dodges again before running into the smoke, mixing her own with it and sending it towards the last place she'd seen his sparks. She was blindly searching at this point, but at least he couldn't see it coming this time.
"Nice try." His voice is suddenly next to her ear, and before she can react, hands grabs her wrists, pin them behind her back, and push her to the ground.
Her breath rushes out of her and she turns her head to glare at him out of the corner of her eye.
The smug grin on his face is wide, the triumph in his eyes even brighter. "I wi-"
She hooks her legs through his and knocks him off balance, sending him crashing to the ground as she breaks free and sends her smoke directly into his face.
He turns his head away but it's no use, he let himself get too close
Ami climbs on his back and pins his arms behind him like he did her, straddling his waist to keep him down. "You could've killed me!" She yells, fighting to take control again. If she lost it for even a second he'd be able to overpower her again. "You didn't know if I could dodge that shit!"
He fights against her hold, getting angrier every second he can't break it. "But I fucking didn't, and yes I did." He grunts. "Now get out of my head!"
She rolls off of him and jumps to her feet, pulling her quirk back with her.
He sits up and glares at her, staying silent as he rubs his wrists.
"...Looks like I win again."
Bakugo grinds his teeth together, "So fucking what?"
"So, it looks like you're coming to the fair."
He grimaces."Tch. Fine." He looks away and crosses his arms, almost sulking. "This is fucking stupid."
Ami walks over and holds her hand down, "Come on then, we're leaving at 6 and Kaminari is driving."
He ignores her hand and climbs to his feet, walking off towards the exit to grab his own bag from the floor before exiting.
So he's really just going to be a sore loser about this too then. Figures.
She goes to grab her bag before following after him, then has to run to catch up. "What the fuck is your problem?"
He scowls, keeping his eyes trained straight ahead, "I don't have a damn problem."
"You're acting like an asshole, so obviously you do."
The annoyance is loud on his face even from this angle. "Next time we're going to keep going until I can break out of your stupid quirk." He mutters.
She blanks. Next time?
"So I expect you to show up."
"...Excuse me?" She feels anger start bubble up. "I have shit to do that doesn't involve feeding into your fucking complex."
"Then make some damn time, Shortstack. What else do you do besides read and gossip?"
"Uh, study? And train. This is a hero school, just in case you've forgotten, not a 'Stroke-Bakugo's-Fucking-Ego' school."
"You'll train with me then. Easy fix."
"You-... I can't just fucking-... WHAT? Why?" Ami sputters.
"I've done all the physical training I need to do. You can help with the mental. I don't need to get killed out there if a lame ass villain with a quirk like yours comes along and I can't break out of it."
Ami balls her fists up at her sides, "Then you can fucking ask if I'll help, you can't just order me around."
They reach the stairs of their dorm building and he finally looks at her. "Figure out your answer then, then tell me." He says before turning and walking up the stairs. "Don't keep me waiting."
Once he disappears into the building she's left standing there alone, shocked. Looks like her hoping wasn't for nothing after all. He'd cut her off when she was talking, pissed her off, insulted her, and expressed just how little he cared about her other obligations.
Bakugo Katsuki was a narcissistic dick.