Bakugou could not leave Midoriya alone, even though he kept saying that he would not help her if she was stubborn again and did not come to her senses. In the past few days, he had often been the observer of her actions, in thought. Bakugou would try to stealthily take over at least half of the work if she took on too much. When Mina pestered him with questions, a sly smile on her lips, he would just brush her off and say that he wasn't worried about Midoriya at all. The reality, however, was a little bit different. The others seemed to see it quite clearly at a time when he himself refused to admit the feelings he now had for Midoriya. The others seemed to understand much more about their relationship than Bakugou and Midoriya themselves, at least according to their words.

"Stupid!" Bakugou shouted and took the pile of notebooks from Midoriya's hands. They stayed in the classroom and agreed to help the teacher.

Clouds obscured the sun, heralding another cloudy evening. The weather was getting worse by the day.

"Kacchan," Midoriya said, taking the second pile in her hands. "Thanks, but you really shouldn't have helped me."

"Stupid," Bakugou muttered instead of answering and was the first one out of the door.

A few days ago, when Midoriya had fallen asleep with her books again, Bakugou had gotten really annoyed and promised to call her stupid every time she did something stupid. From then on, Bakugou practically never left Midoriya's side, commenting on almost everything she did.

"You guys are so cute," Mina said one day. Midoriya and Bakugou were sitting together in the living room, watching something on the phone. Getting no reaction to her words, Mina approached Bakugou unhappily. "Hey, are you ignoring me?"

Midoriya jumped when she heard the voice directly above her ear. She pulled out her earpiece and finally turned her attention to the approaching Mina. Bakugou reluctantly followed her.

"Oh, Ashido-san?" Midoriya greeted her. "Sorry, I didn't see you coming. Do you need anything?"

"She doesn't need anything from you, don't get distracted," Bakugou reacted immediately, shooing Mina away.

"Wait," Midoriya called, trying to free herself. "I'll at least find out. Maybe I can help."

"Stupid!" Bakugou reminded her, looking at Mina reluctantly anda motioning for her to hurry away.

"Stop it," Midoriya said. "What did I do now?"

"If you're busy, I won't distract you," Mina said with a mischievous smile. She played with her eyebrows, hinting at Bakugou, but he just looked at her in confusion.

"Are you sure?" Midoriya clarified and stood up.

"Yeah, good luck with that," Mina chuckled and slipped out of the living room.

Midoriya closed her eyes in surprise, but didn't insist on continuing the conversation. Especially not with Bakugou sitting next to her. As for the guy himself, he offered to go up to the room so that he would definitely not be distracted by "those annoying idiots" anymore. Midoriya shooed him away, but agreed to move to another room. An English assignment would be best there. They could prepare an assignment for Nakayama and then send it to Aizawa for approval.

They decided to stay in Midoriya's room. Bakugou went to the back of the room and closed the curtains. It was late enough that the sun had begun to sink below the horizon, sinking into the dark, low clouds. It was supposed to rain tomorrow morning, so it was all the more desirable to ward off the bad weather as soon as possible. Midoriya switched on the light and walked over to the table, pulling out a chair. They often started tasks together, even if they were individual, sometimes Bakugou just came over to sit next to her. They did not talk about anything in particular, preferring to remain silent most of the time. Surprisingly, Midoriya found it easier to concentrate when Bakugou was around.

Midoriya sat at her desk and continued to scribble in her notebook. Bakugou sat on the bed and typed on the laptop he'd borrowed from Izuku. A light breeze blew in from the open window, blowing the curtains into the room. The posters of All Might moved slightly in the same breeze, creating a strange symphony of sounds. Bakugou glanced at the alarm clock on the bed's headboard and walked over to Midoriya, slamming the notebook shut. Izuku jumped in surprise but did not take offence. Bakugou had also been keeping track of time these days. Though he couldn't keep track of it when he left her room, so it wasn't particularly effective.

"Thank you, Kacchan," Midoriya said with a smile. "I couldn't have done it without you."

"It's too early to say thanks," Bakugou replied, putting the notebook and pen down. "There's still more than half the work to be done."

"Indeed. Besides, I wanted to practice."

"Stupid?!"

"No," Midoriya replied firmly and shook her head. "Kacchan, you understand everything. Wouldn't you have done the same in my place?"

"That's different," Bakugou replied emphatically and moved his chair closer to Midoriya. "You need your rest."

"No," Midoriya stretched and leaned back in her chair, looking at Bakugou. "I need to pull myself together and try a little more. I've lived without a quirk for a long time, so I have to work harder than the others to keep up with you. I want to be a hero with you. I don't want to be the only one who ends up behind you.

"Stupid," Bakugou insisted.

"What's that for?" Midoriya laughed and stretched. Bakugou slapped her outstretched hand and leaned against the back of his chair.

Nothing seemed to have changed since his childhood. As much as Bakugou hated to think it, Midoriya always seemed to be ahead of him. One moment she was laughing with him, the next she seemed so far away. Sometimes, she seemed too mature for her age. Her actions seemed to put a barrier between them. Even now it often felt that way. It was as if he could not stand next to her because she had long since moved on. Could he catch up?

"She's all business again," Uraraka said sadly as she watched Midoriya leave the dormitory in her gym uniform.

"When I look at her, I feel like I'm doing something wrong," Kaminari echoed.

"Yes," Mineta agreed and went into the living room, bumping into Yaoyorozu.

"Is that Midoriya?" Yaomomo asked, looking out of the windows.

"Yes," Uraraka confirmed. "Has something happened?"

"She lent me an umbrella a few days ago. It's supposed to rain today. She better not get wet."

Another clap sounded from the side of the front door, this time letting Bakugou out into the street. It wasn't long before he heard Yaoyorozu's words. Grabbing his jacket just in case, he followed Midoriya. There was no need to walk for a long time. As soon as the lightning had flooded the area with bright light, Bakugou spotted a lone figure.

She was standing in the middle of the street. Her back was completely soaked. In fact, it looked as if she had slipped and fallen into a puddle. Considering the weather of the last few days, that wasn't too hard to do. Midoriya's shoulders trembled slightly, as if she were crying. But another peal of thunder calmed her at least a little. The trembling stopped and Midoriya bent down to pick up the phone lying at her feet. The downpour began suddenly. After a long series of thunderclaps and blinding flashes of lightning, the cold, heavy raindrops finally hit the ground, turning the street into a huge puddle within seconds. Midoriya lowered her eyes and clenched her hands, risking nail marks on her palms. All sounds around her were gone, just the falling drops and the slow, unhurried footsteps approaching her.

The footsteps stopped as the same soaked cloth descended over her head, clinging uncomfortably to her body. Midoriya raised her hands to her eyes and rubbed them, trying to wipe the water from her face. Unsure if it was just drops or tears.

"I look pathetic, don't I? What kind of hero would I be if I had such a hard time with a little hardship? Don't look at me, Kacchan, please.

The footsteps, frozen for only a second, continued on their way, circling around Midoriya and stopping again right in front of her. Bakugou crouched down and looked up to meet Midoriya's eyes.

Izuku let out an intermittent breath when she noticed Bakugou in front of her. It was too unaccustomed for her to look down at him. It felt wrong to her. Somehow, it only made the tears roll down her face harder, getting lost somewhere between the falling raindrops.

Bakugou's face showed no particular emotion that would make it possible to understand what he was thinking. Midoriya tried in vain to look away, but eventually her eyes were fixed on his face. It was too unfamiliar, but no less beautiful.

Bakugou sighed, clutching Midoriya's palms in his hands. He straightened, leaning closer to her face so that the jacket on her head completely covered them both. Midoriya, who had just stopped crying, sighed intermittently.

"You stupid Bae," Bakugou said quietly and pulled away. - What if you get sick?! Do you want to die?

Bakugou habitually broke into a shout, causing small explosions in his palms.

"Annoying!" he shouted one last time and turned sharply to walk away. Midoriya was left standing there, gazing confusedly after the departing Bakugou. Realising what had just happened, Midoriya blinked and brought her hands to her face. There was still a slightly sweet taste on her lips. Now, neither the rain nor the jacket that had fallen onto her shoulders bothered her. It was too insignificant compared to what was happening now.

Bakugou walked back, not even bothering to check if Midoriya was following him. How could he even think about her leaving. She was too helpless for Bakugou to just leave her alone.