Notes: Oops! I forgot to post yesterday's entry! I thought I did. I'm really glad I checked because ya'll would've been confused at the jump between Day 4 and Day 6. Silly me. I got distracted posting chapters for both of my long fics.
Day Five: Kings and Queens
"There's something different about you, something I can't put my finger on."
The last thing Katsuki needed was Kirishima in his face at eight in the morning, but here they were, him sitting patiently in his desk while the redhead peered at him closely. Katsuki didn't dein to give him a response and Mako yawned as if they hadn't been up since 5:30 a.m. and gone for their morning run.
In between their desks, Kazumi prodded Mako, who merely laid her head down. Kirishima's daemon had never been afraid of Mako, even when she should've been. Kazumi was just as fearless and hardheaded as her human, but she was a good soul. It did help that she could roll up in a protective ball that not even Mako's powerful jaws could break easily. The fact that she was not easily hurt was one of her selling points. Mako loved it when another daemon put up a fight, just as much as she loved it when daemons quivered before her. They both did.
"Maybe it's not him," Kazumi suggested. "Mako seems different too."
Kirishima tapped a finger on his chin. "You've been like this for two weeks, ever since that rescue mission during our last internships."
"Wasn't aware of it," Katsuki finally said as Aizawa stepped into the classroom. His daemon was tucked into his scarf on his shoulder like normal, only her head and long tail poking out. It had taken two years before anyone had learned her name, even though she had barked and howled at all their daemons for holding their humans back. And people thought that Aizawa was the distant and harsh one.
Kaminari leaned in his seat on the back two legs. "You didn't hear, Kirishima?"
That caught Kirishima's interest immediately. "Didn't hear what?"
The second Katsuki met Kaminari's eyes, he knew. Somehow or another, that blonde little shit knew. No one else in their class had been around to see what had happened. Out of politeness and because it had been a huge taboo, Uraraka hadn't told any of her friends either. He thought she might've felt guilty or ashamed, even though her action had saved his and Mako's life, even though he wouldn't trade what he'd felt for anything. It could've been awful. It could've been so revolting that it would've made him sick.
Instead Katsuki couldn't remember ever feeling more connected with someone and alive .
"Don't," Mako warned, not moving from her spot or even opening her eyes.
Kaminari's daemon had a little more sense than him, but even Hikaru had a bad habit of prodding Mako. The worst part was that she could get away with it most of the time. The last time Mako had snapped at her during a combat exercise, Hikaru had stabbed her with her ankle spurs and, shit, had that been painful for the both of them. Mako had howled for what felt like an entire hour as the venom worked through her system while Hikaru and Kaminari apologized profusely. Ever since then though, Mako had kept her attitude to a minimum.
Kazumi cleared her throat and stared right at Mako. "Uraraka touched Bakugou's daemon."
The tentative peace was shattered as Kirishima and Kazumi simultaneously exclaimed, "Are you shitting me!"
Katsuki clenched his hands into fists on top of his desk. "I'm not fucking talking about it."
"Bro," Kirishima said, much more tentatively, even being so bold as to put a hand on his shoulder, "that's a big fucking deal."
Of course it was. Katsuki didn't need to be told that. He knew that. Mako knew that. Everyone knew that. You didn't touch another person's daemon. Not even villains did that with their victims unless they were truly a sick fuck. It was against the very nature of the world. People only touched another person's daemon if they were extremely close lovers or something even deeper than that. Had his parents touched each other's daemons? He didn't know. He didn't fucking know.
"You need to talk about it," Kazumi added gently.
"I don't need to do shit," Katsuki growled.
Even without opening her eyes, it was as if Mako could sense the armadillo daemon opening her mouth to argue and coldly cut in, "You heard him."
It was enough to silence the other daemon, who glanced at her human and then rolled into a ball that Kirishima could tuck into his lap. Contrary to what others might think, the action didn't meant that Kazumi had her feelings hurt; it meant that she was pissed. Mako worked at her jaw, trying to work out a strain. It was a subtle move, but enough to make even Hikaru shift uncomfortably.
However, when Katsuki glanced to the front of the class, he made the accidental mistake of catching eyes with Uraraka, who immediately blushed and looked away. In response, despite hating every second of it and being far too old for some silly bullshit, his cheeks flushed too. The thought of how it had felt when she'd touched his soul popped into his head and he nearly broke his pencil just thinking about how much he wanted it again.
"You know, it's okay to admit that it affected you," Kirishima told him in a low voice as Aizawa started class.
"Who says it did?" Katsuki demanded, not looking back at him.
Kirishima chuckled under his breath and even Kazumi tutted from her ball. "Hey, Ground Zero aside, you'll always be King Explodo Murder in this class. But what's a king without his queen?"
Katsuki was definitely not going to answer that and, at least this time, Kirishima knew better than to push it. They both got absorbed in the class, although Mako's clear disinterest kept distracting him. He willed at her to give a shit about the class, but she absolutely refused. It was frustrating. Her distraction was causing him to be distracted and he didn't like it.
Talk to her, Mako told him.
No.
Why not?
The Katsuki of the past would've nudged her and said that there was no point. He couldn't do that now, not when he knew it would've been a lie. More than anything in the world, he wanted to talk to her. He wanted to pull her aside. He wanted to hold her. He wanted to kiss her. He wanted everything about her. It had to be a consequence of her holding his soul, some sort of residue, but deep down, he knew that wasn't it. He'd wanted these things for a long time, but he'd been holding back and lying to himself. It wasn't like him to lie.
It wasn't until Ochako was wrapping up at the gym did Bakugou show up that night. He hadn't been coming since the daemon incident and she could understand why. He didn't want to be around her. She'd broken the ultimate taboo and it had made things incredibly awkward between them. She knew that he wasn't mad at her. Mako had said he wouldn't be and she trusted her to know how he'd feel. During the years that she'd come to know Bakugou, she had learned that his daemon was as bluntly honest as he was.
Still, things had been unsettled between them since then. Hayato had noted it immediately. He had implored her to speak with Bakugou, but she couldn't. She felt so ashamed. It was supposed to be something incredibly special between two people that fiercely loved one another to touch each other's daemons and she had robbed him of that. Yes, it had been to save him, but that wasn't the point. She'd committed a serious taboo in order to keep him alive. It was worth it, but there had been a cost.
Now, staring at Bakugou in the Gamma Gym, Ochako wasn't sure that she could afford it. She tightened her grip on her gym bag and muttered, "I was just leaving."
She took two steps, determined to barrel through and never look back, when Bakugou cut in with a simple, "Wait," and she froze on the spot. Hayato hadn't even moved from his position on the bench, the little traitor, and Mako walked around the edge of her in a way that made Uraraka want to shiver.
Not unpleasantly though. It was impossible to deny now - how much she yearned to touch the wolf daemon again. It had been a feeling unlike anything else.
Ochako swallowed. "Bakugou, I-" She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I never apologized - for what I did. It must have unsettled you and I'm sorry, but-"
"I'm not sorry."
Her eyes snapped open and she gasped when she found Bakugou standing right in front of her. My god, he'd been quick and silent. He must have been working on his stealth skills. Having him so close took her breath away as she gazed up at him. There were a hundred things she wanted to say to him, but she couldn't get a single one out of her mouth. All she could do was stare up at him as he gazed down at her with an intense look in his eyes.
"You're...you're not?" Ochako finally managed.
Bakugou licked his lips, as if his entire mouth had gone dry from what he wanted to say. It drew her attention though and made things that much worse. She pulled her eyes back up to his, but the damage had been done. He knew exactly where her mind had gone and a smirk twitched onto his face because of it, which made her scowl a little. There was no need for him to get cocky.
"I'd be dead if you hadn't saved Mako," Bakugou told her, straightforward as always. "There's no arguing that."
"I know, but still-"
"I don't regret it," Bakugou interrupted. "Do you?
Ochako stared into his eyes and then, despite everything in her screaming to deflect, she whispered, "No."
A smirk pulled its way onto Bakugou's face and he said, "Then I'm not going to regret this," before cupping her face in his calloused hands and leaning down to press his lips against hers. Automatically, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer so that his chest was snug against hers as they kissed. Lights burst inside of her, similar to when she had touched Mako for the first time, but he only pressed against her closer.
It had to have been a few minutes before they pulled away, both of them gasping for air, but she didn't care. She could have kissed him for half the night in the gym if both of them hadn't known that Todoroki came in after them and while he might not say anything, his Shizuka sure as hell would. She'd proven to have a very sardonic personality upon opening up. Ochako snuggled against Bakugou's chest, letting him wrap his arms around her, and she peered over to see Hayato rubbing against Mako's legs in a pleased way while the wolf rubbed her snout against Hayato's side. It was such an obvious sign of affection that it brought tears to Ochako's eyes.
"You gonna cry?" Bakugou asked in a low voice.
Ochako laughed, a little hysterical, but then clung to him and pressed a kiss against his chest where his heart would be, causing him to take a shuddering breath. "I'm just happy, is all."
"We're happy too!" Mako called out from the side of the room and Ochako laughed. Leave it to Bakugou's daemon to speak the words that he couldn't. He seemed to know that just as well as he growled irritably and then buried his face into the crook of her neck. He was happy too. She couldn't ask for anything better or more.
