Notes: I had been considering it before things were brought to my attention, but I rewrote a scene in the last chapter that was very cringe-worthy. When I came up with the idea of their last few bets, it was supposed to be a lot sillier, with Bakugou regretting the bet he made and acknowledging that he wouldn't make Uraraka actually do it. For some reason, I didn't do that when I wrote it? I was half asleep, but that's not an excuse. I'd already planned the events of this chapter, but that doesn't make up for it either. Anyways, thank you for still reading and also for telling me! I have literally not stopped thinking about it.
At any rate, I'd like to call this chapter: Bakugou Regrets Everything Pt. 1. Because our boy is about to suffer some humiliation for our benefit.
By the time lunch came around the next day, Bakugou had the insane feeling that he himself was going to blow up. His palms were so sweaty that if one person said the wrong word he was going to let start setting off explosions and even he wouldn't be able to tell if they were on accident or not. It had been a while since he had used his quirk on accident, having mastered control over things like that even before attending U.A., but as loathe as he was to admit it, that whole kidnapping with the League of Villains and the rest had thrown him off and he'd slipped up a few times while he was sleeping.
Bakugou was fully awake though and felt just as dangerous.
As he walked into the lunch room with Kirishima and Ashido, he swept his gaze around the room until he found the person he was looking for. Uraraka was sitting with, of course, Deku and Iida, her tray of food already sitting in front of her. How so much easier it would've been to buy her lunch. He didn't know why she couldn't have done that bet. His first one had been about him. But no, she'd gone to the heart of things. Buying Todoroki's lunch was worse than buying Deku's and that was saying something. It was going to make Icy Hot suspicious as hell.
Bakugou stared Uraraka down until she finally moved her head, maybe feeling someone's eyes on her. The second they connected eyes, a huge smile appeared on her face. Some people might've said it was an innocent smile, but he knew it for what it truly was. That girl was secretly demonic. He'd known that she was competitive, but this was absolutely ridiculous.
Scowling back at her, Bakugou stomped his way through the cafeteria until he found Todoroki, who was picking his lunch with all the interest of someone staring at paint drying. Why was he like that? Would it kill him to show emotion when he wasn't in the middle of a fight for his life? It was so frustrating, if only because it was hard to get a read on him in any situation or figure out how he might react. Bakugou knew how he would react if Todoroki had bought his lunch. He would light it on fire immediately.
Wow, he was really starting to regret helping Uraraka get better at Mario Kart and deal with her motion sickness.
The only way Bakugou was going to get through this was by doing it fast and making a clean getaway. Screw eating lunch today. He was not staying around for this shit show. Standing in front of the section with drinks, he acted like he was indecisive when he was really peering at Todoroki to figure out the best time to strike. Sure, it kind of made him look like a creeper - which one glance back at Uraraka giggling into her hand uncontrollably showed him - but it was all he had. He didn't want to be around Todoroki any longer than necessary.
When Todoroki was second in line to pay, Bakugou tore away from the drinks and barrelled his way through the crowd towards him. Every inch of his mind was screaming at him to turn around - fuck this shit, he was out, he was not fucking doing this - but then he knew what would happen. Uraraka would tease him endlessly for chickening out. She might not even play with him anymore or do his bet if he didn't do hers. She would think he was such a coward and Katsuki Bakugou was not a coward.
This was just so stupid.
Right as Todoroki was reaching for his wallet, Bakugou knocked him to the side, shoved a handful of money at the woman behind the counter, and barked, "I got it." The woman looked taken aback by his sudden intrusion or maybe even the furious look on Bakugou's face, which didn't match what he was doing, but she took the money anyways and gave him back his change.
Meanwhile, Todoroki was gawking at him like Bakugou had grown two extra heads, his mismatched eyes wider than Bakugou had ever seen him and his mouth parted wide enough for a frog to jump in it. He was totally frozen on the spot, along with Kaminari, neither of whom seemed to know what to do.
"Shut your fucking trap," Bakugou snapped. "You look like a dumbass."
Todoroki would choose now of all times to show emotions, except he only capable of utter confusion right now. "You… Why would you buy my lunch?"
"I don't have to tell you shit!" Bakugou yelled before storming away.
So many eyes were on him and he did not give a shit. Kirishima was bursting out into laughter even as he tried to reach out to stop Bakugou, but he shrugged the red hair boy's hand away and kicked the doors open so that he could leave the room. By the time the doors shut, his face was bright red and he had to let off a handful of mini explosions so that he wouldn't completely erupt, causing more than a few students to step further away from him in wariness.
What the fuck? What the fuck? Bakugou could barely breathe. Why had he agreed to do that? Was this how Uraraka had felt the other day in class? No, this was way worse. It had felt like the entire school was in there. He hadn't even had the chance to see Uraraka's reaction. All he could think about was getting out of there as fast as possible or someone would've been forced to go to Recovery Girl's office. Holy fuck, he'd looked like he bought Todoroki's lunch like he had some sort of deranged crush and was then too embarrassed to talk about it.
Bakugou clenched his hands into fists hard enough for his nails to dig painfully into the palms of his hands and he let out of a furious growl. Uraraka was going to pay for this.
The next two days were spent glaring at Uraraka so heatedly that there seemed to be a permanent blush set on her cheeks, mostly because he looked anywhere else besides her or Aizawa, all he got were weird looks. Everyone in their class still seemed to be reeling from the fact that Bakugou had bought Todoroki's lunch the other day. Every time someone tried to ask him something, he would shut them down with either a scowl or a variety of two word comments that ended in "off".
Because things were such a mess by Thursday still since Bakugou had refused to explain anything, he had decided to skip Mario Kart Party Night and stayed in his bedroom to do homework. Whatever. He didn't know those idiots. It would be better to focus on his homework anyways.
Especially since he heard a knock on his door and Kirishima call out, "Sure you don't want to challenge your boyfriend tonight?"
"Piss off!" Bakugou roared back, falling back to his usual reply. He heard Kirishima and Sero cackling and then the two of them walked away to the common room. If Uraraka questioned his absence, it was all her fault. There was no way he was going to subject himself to that. Besides perhaps Kirishima, he had a feeling they would mostly be over it by tomorrow, so that the movies would be too much of a big deal. That one was never going to let him live it down.
By the time their usual time of playing came around, Bakugou sat in his room and wondered if he should go out there. A part of him was kind of mad at her, even though he had been the one to agree to the bet, and she had only used her big bet because he'd made such an absurd one. His face still threatened to turn pink when he thought about how he'd bet her to take her shirt off. What had he been thinking? He'd known it would embarrass her the most, but still, he shouldn't have said it.
They hadn't really talked since that night either. All they'd done was share a few glances, mostly him glaring at her and her giving him a look like he'd deserved the humiliation. What if she didn't want him out there?
Bakugou found himself walking to the common room area anyways. The game was on and Uraraka was sitting on the couch, but she wasn't playing. She was facing the tv, staring into it, but didn't seem to be watching, the colors on the screen washing over her like a rainbow. Taking a deep breath, Bakugou steeled himself and made his way over towards her. An introspective Uraraka felt just as dangerous as an angry one.
Only when he dropped onto the couch next to her did she stir and turned to face him, a small smile on her face. "I didn't know if you were going to come tonight." Her voice was far too soft. It was too gentle. He didn't like it. People did not talk to him like that. They knew that they had to be hard with him in order to get a decent response.
Bakugou shrugged his shoulders, his mouth feeling dry. What the hell was wrong with him?
"Still mad?" Uraraka asked, as if trying to gage how much trouble she was in for.
Clenching his hands at his side, Bakugou determinedly did not look at her as he said, "Look, the bet I made last night… It was fucking stupid, okay? It was something that little grape shit would say." That was an apology, right? I mean, sure, he hadn't actually said the words "I'm sorry," but she knew that. Still, there were lines that he didn't cross and in the heat of the moment and his competitive spirit he had gone too far. "If you don't want to do the bet tomorrow, it's whatever."
A smile split across Uraraka's face. "Was that an apology?" Bakugou glowered at her. She laughed. "I'll admit that I was peeved about that one, but…" Jumping to her feet, she put her hands on her hips. "I lost that second one fair and square and I'm going to go through with it with pride." She sat down next to him, sideways on her legs, far closer than before, to the point where their knees were actually touching just barely. For some reason, his first reaction was to jump back, but he didn't move. "I appreciate it though. You know, Bakugou, you've really grown since our first year."
"Oh screw that," Bakugou ground out, looking away from her so he could snatch up the controller. "Don't get all mushy on me now."
"I wasn't planning on it," Uraraka told him as she did the same. "I plan on being merciless. Consider this payback for that low blow."
"I wouldn't have made you actually do it," Bakugou grumbled under his breath.
Uraraka seemed far too pleased with herself, as if she'd spent the past two days trying to come up with a bet that would make him so wholly uncomfortable that it would make him squirm for days. As long as her bets no longer included Todoroki or Deku, then he would be fine. He had a high tolerance for these things. But if she was trying to build some sort of rumor about him and Todoroki with these bets, he was going to demolish her. She could not possibly come up with anything more ridiculous than that.
"Okay." Uraraka picked the track this time. As she did so, he picked up the glass of water that she had set out and took a swing of it. "If I win, when we all go out tomorrow, you've got to hold to hold my hand and let me activate my quirk on you, so I get to drag you around like a balloon."
Bakugou choked on the water and nearly spewed it out. "What the hell is up with you and these outrageous bets?"
"You're the one that bet me to take my shirt off," Uraraka shot back.
"It was a mistake! I didn't mean it!"
Uraraka made the most unladylike snorting sound he'd ever heard in his life. "Oh, the great Katsuki Bakugou admits that he makes mistakes?" For some reason, her saying his entire name, even if it was in a sarcastic tone (maybe especially since it was in a sarcastic tone), had his brain short-circuiting for a second like he was Kaminari or something. "Seeing you float like balloon will be hilarious. I bet you'll pout the entire time."
"I will not," Bakugou snapped.
"Or you'll scowl, like this." Uraraka did her best to imitate his scowl, which...wasn't half bad if he was being honest. It looked a little strange on her what with her angel face and all, but it was better than Kirishima's. And she wasn't wrong either. He probably would scowl the entire time. The idea of having to rely on anyone to get anywhere made him uncomfortable. He could propel himself around with his quirk, but with hers on him, who knew if he'd be able to control himself right away and they'd be out in public.
Just them holding hands out in public with him floating behind her like some sort of fucking cherub or some shit.
"How long?" Bakugou asked.
"Is five minutes too long?"
Not long enough-
Wait. Where had that come from? It was definitely long enough. Five minutes of holding hands with her around their classmates sounded like a terrible idea. How were they going to explain that one? Well, it was probably easier than him buying Todoroki lunch. (No, he wasn't going to let that go. Icy Hot and Deku kept giving him the weirdest of looks.) Besides, they didn't have to explain shit. Neither one of them had answered any of the questions lobbed at them for their sudden weird behavior. It wasn't anyone else's business that Bakugou and Uraraka were involved in a high stakes Mario Kart game.
"Yeah, whatever, that's fine." Bakugou reached over to press the x button on Uraraka's controller to start the race. "Let's play."
"What about your bet?" Uraraka asked.
The race started before he could answer and he blew past her immediately. "You can pay for my movie ticket."
He said it without really thinking about it and he was so focused that he didn't catch the startled look on Uraraka's face. The bet itself didn't really matter right now, not when he was busy trying to focus on this damn race and not think about what it would feel like to glide through the air like a cloud. That sounded fucking ridiculous. He hated it. He wasn't about to do that bet; he had to win.
So naturally, because the universe was a tricky bastard, he lost.