Notes: Well, after the depressing note that was the last chapter of my Villain Deku fic, I thought we could all use some fluff! Which means I'm embarrassing the hell out of everyone.
The movie had done its job in distracting everyone from the fact that Bakugou had allowed Uraraka to drag him around like a balloon that she'd won at a booth at a fair. Well, everyone except for Bakugou himself, who kept finding his eyes wandering to the pads on her fingertips during the walk back to UA. He'd never really noticed them before, but she had a habit of talking with her hands when she was really excited and it was like they kept flashing in his vision, dragging his attention to them and refusing to let him go.
God, maybe it would've been better if she'd let him float to space. Then he wouldn't have to deal with this shit, especially since he knew that the movie would only distract Kirishima for so long.
By the time they reached UA, Bakugou had worked himself up into a mental frenzy that was beginning to make his hands itch to do something. Usually that something entailed letting off explosions, but for some reason, he couldn't settle on anything. He'd kept his distance from Uraraka, making sure that there was always someone in between them, but it felt like either too much or not enough.
He stormed past everyone to his dorm, ignoring calls from Sero and Kirishima and definitely ignoring the odd looks from Uraraka. He was so busy thinking furious thoughts towards all of them that he crashed right into Todoroki, who took a few steps back to balance himself. "Get out of my way!" Bakugou snapped, brushing past him to get to his room.
Kirishima might have shouted, "That's no way to treat your crush!" but Bakugou slammed his door shut and locked himself in his bedroom. He finally let off a few explosions to get rid of the excess sweat on his hands and frustration pent up in his chest and then collapsed in his bed face first.
Tonight had been an unmitigated disaster.
Uraraka's bet had really done a number on him. She was so much better at this game than he was. How had she become so devious? He couldn't just let her win like this.
Bakugou rolled over and found himself staring at his full laundry basket. He'd been putting it off for a few days, but it was something he couldn't ignore anymore unless he wanted his room to start smelling. Besides, doing a few menial tasks would get his mind off things. He dragged himself to his feet and changed into a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, tossing what he'd taken off in with the rest of his laundry, and then gathered all the things he needed. No one would be spending their Friday night doing laundry. It would be as good as dead.
Of course he was wrong. The universe had decided that today would shit on him endlessly.
Midway through putting his laundry in the wash, Uraraka appeared, carrying an empty basket. She was still bloody wearing his shirt, but had taken off the boots and accessories and scrubbed her face clean of makeup. Somehow, seeing her like that, looking more like herself, made things so much worse. It was cute and it made him sick.
Her eyes lit up in surprise and a pleasant smile crossed her face. "There you are. I was looking for you."
Bakugou gave her a sideways look. "Why?"
"To give you your shirt back," Uraraka told him, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. She set her basket down in front a dryer. "This is perfect timing since I'm here to get my laundry from earlier."
In retrospect, Bakugou should have known that something like this was going to happen to him. The universe was clearly trying to fuck him over today. He should have realized that it wasn't done with him. He should've stayed in his bedroom so that he wouldn't cross paths with anyone.
Uraraka smiled, more nervously than he anticipated, which made him really suspect, and she started to untie the shirt so that it hung loose on her like he'd originally pictured. "I'll just give it back to you now so you can wash it with the rest of your other stuff."
Bakugou didn't question it, merely grunting in response, until he realized what exactly that entailed. His eyes widened and snapped in her direction just as she grabbed the bottom hem of his shirt and began to pull it over her head. He let out a strangled shout of "Uraraka!" and jumped forward to jerk the shirt back down. He caught a glimpse of the rest of her stomach that the shirt had hid, the creamy unmarred skin, and more of her sports bra before she flung the shirt in his face, blocking his sight. It was kind of a good thing, seeing as how his face was so red that he thought he might blow up.
She giggled awkwardly and he heard the sound of a dryer opening. "You can look now."
Honestly, Bakugou didn't know whether to trust her or not, but when he pulled the shirt away, she was wearing a loose white t-shirt that wasn't quite thick enough to hide her dark bra. He knew that his face was still red and hers was pink, but he didn't look away from her face. He had a feeling that if he did, he would be admitting some sort of defeat. This was definitely a new evolution in their game. He didn't know what it meant, but he'd be damned if he lost.
"I'm not afraid," Uraraka told him fiercely, though her tone didn't match the nervous look on her face. "I can take whatever you throw at me."
"I know that," Bakugou replied, much softer than he'd planned, maybe softer than he'd ever spoken. It caught him off guard and her as well, judging by the faintly surprised look that brightened her whole face up. He did not need that look directed at him, not with the way it made him feel light again. He needed to fix this somehow. "You better be ready the next time we play."
"Always."
Turning away from him, Uraraka pulled the rest of her laundry out of the dryer and he went back to finishing up his wash. It was only a few minutes, but as confused and irritated as he'd felt before, the silence wasn't awkward. He didn't mind her being here. She was done before him, activating her quirk on her laundry basket so that it floated in her hand. Such a cheap trick. He wasn't sure what it was like to have a quirk that could be used for such menial tasks. It had always been to fight, to destroy, to win. He'd never really tried.
Uraraka gave him one last look before she left, this one more unreadable than the others. It was so soft that the thought to touch the pink circles of her cheeks popped into his head. Fucking ridiculous. What was up with those anyways? They were stupid. "I had a really fun time tonight."
"That movie wasn't bad," Bakugou grumbled.
She laughed lightly. "No, it wasn't."
"You should hang out with us more often," Bakugou said without thinking. The idea of her being in his group was more appealing. She added something to it that he hadn't realized was missing. What that something was, he didn't know, but it was there. Then he realized what he'd said and quickly added, "We're a lot more fun than those nerds you usually hang out with."
Uraraka made that unlady-like snort again and shook her head, but she wasn't mad at him. He could see the way she was biting her lip to keep herself from laughing again, even if she was hiding her face from him. "Goodnight, Bakugou."
"Yeah, whatever, night."
When she left and he was alone with his thoughts and the rumbling of the washer under his hand, Bakugou had the unfortunate displeasure of thinking about the conversation. He was excited about playing that video game with her, but the promise to find a bet that would cause her undue humiliation didn't feel like the reason. It had to be though. He couldn't just want to hang out with her just because. That was impossible. It was the game. It had to be.
Kaminari was beginning to question whether or not there was some force out there that had it in for him. Had he done something particularly awful lately? He could've sworn that he'd been good. He was focusing more on his schoolwork than ever before and his training to become a pro hero. He'd even (mostly) stopped all his antics with Mineta.
Of course that had been upon realizing that it was giving him the exact opposite of what he wanted, so maybe the universe was trying to tell him that being good for selfish reasons wasn't exactly good.
Some sort of cosmic karma had to be the reason why he kept walking in at the worst times ever.
He wouldn't say that he had good timing unless it came to using his quirk. With his quirk, he had learned to time when to use it and in which ways. With everything else, well… It was a work in progress. Like how he had a bad habit of underestimating how much time he needed to finish his homework or how long it would take him to get ready or even just arriving to things on time that weren't class related. He stuck his foot in his mouth more than he would like and sometimes said the wrong things at the wrong time.
However, walking in on Bakugou and Uraraka while one of them was taking clothes off had to be like lightning striking in the same spot twice. It shouldn't be possible. This was absurd. Why was this happening to him?
Kaminari had been rooting through his room for his favorite pajama pants when he'd realized that he'd never taken his laundry out of the dryer last night. What a dunce move. He had other things he could wear, but he was set on those pants in particular, so he went down to the laundry room, fully expecting it to be empty. Who did chores like that on a Friday night?
As he opened the door, he heard what sounded like Bakugou shouting, "Uraraka!" in the most conflicted and shocked voice that Kaminari had ever heard out of him. Like Kaminari hadn't even thought Bakugou of being able to sound like that. It was like his voice was caught in his throat. Of course, when Kaminari's eyes landed on Uraraka after he stepped fully inside, he got the shock of his life and understood why Bakugou sounded the way he did.
She was taking her shirt off right in front of Bakugou.
Oh my god, Uraraka was taking her shirt off.
Granted, because it had been a large cutoff, it had been impossible to miss the blue sports bra that she'd been wearing underneath, but that didn't change anything for either boy apparently. Kaminari practically bolted out of the room right as Uraraka threw the shirt at Bakugou's face. No way was he going to stay in there. If he did, then Uraraka would know that he'd seen her shirtless and she would probably send him floating to space.
He felt like his head was going to explode and the image was now seared in his mind forever. She was incredibly attractive. But they'd really come to be friends over the years. Yeah, Kaminari was part of Bakugou's group and she was a part of Midoriya's, but he liked being silly with Uraraka and everything always felt so light with her. She was always down for being goofy and her excitement was contagious.
Kaminari knew he could be an idiot, but he wasn't going to be a jerk.
Also, he was pretty sure that if Bakugou caught him looking at a shirtless Uraraka, he would explode Kaminari right to the fucking moon.
After all, Kaminari knew things that the others didn't. He had seen Bakugou take that shirt off the other night and throw it at Uraraka, just as she'd done to him now. The moment Uraraka had stepped out and Kaminari had seen her wearing the shirt, he had known that it was Bakugou's because he'd seen the other boy give it to her. He'd noticed the way Bakugou's eyes had followed Uraraka all night, like she was a magnet that kept pulling him towards her.
Not to mention the whole Bakugou Balloon thing, which Kaminari had thought he was hallucinating until Sero and Kirishima had flipped out over it. Plus, Kirishima and Mina conspiring so that Bakugou and Uraraka would sit next to each other during the movie.
Still, it felt like he was missing something. He knew more than everyone else, but he couldn't put the pieces together. Were they dating? They had to be secretly dating. But they weren't doing a good job at making it a secret seeing as how they were sharing clothes, holding hands, and throwing compliments in class. However, no one but Kaminari knew about them playing video games together after everyone had gone to bed. And where did Bakugou buying Todoroki lunch fit into all of this?
It didn't make sense. None of it did. Kaminari's brain hurt just thinking about it.
"Hi, Kaminari!"
He nearly jumped at the sound of Uraraka's voice, catching himself at the last second, and then looked down at her. He'd left the laundry room, but his brain had frozen him outside of the room as it had attempted to put together the puzzle that was Bakugou and Uraraka's relationship. She was finished with her laundry, the full basket floating in front of her as she kept a hand on it.
"That's convenient," was the first thing to pop out of Kaminari's mouth as he stared at the basket.
Uraraka gave him a sheepish smile. "It's kind of a cheap, lazy trick, isn't it though?"
"Nah, it's cool." Yes, stay calm, think about something as boring as laundry. Kaminari looked down at her and thank gods she was wearing a shirt. Of course he hadn't expected her to walk around without one on, but then he also hadn't anticipated her halfway stripping in front of Bakugou. That white shirt was probably a little more see through than she realized, but he was not about to point that out.
"Thanks again for inviting me to the movies with your group!" Uraraka told him, looking and sounding about as bright as the sun.
"Ha, yeah, of course, any time!" Kaminari replied, maybe with a little too much enthusiasm, but Uraraka didn't seem to notice or mind.
"Well, I've got to sort these out before bed," Uraraka said. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"See ya."
Wow, he'd survived. He hadn't said a word about seeing her shirtless, even though it was still very much on his mind. Bad. This was bad. He'd seen her in a swimsuit before. Why was this any different? Oh, man, Bakugou was going to kill him. Kaminari honestly didn't think he had it in him to keep quiet for much longer. He had to tell someone. Jirou? She was good at keeping secrets. Sero? He would refrain from saying anything if Kaminari asked. Definitely not Mina. She would tell everyone. And not Kirishima because he'd tease Bakugou so mercilessly over it and Bakugou would find out his source and then Kaminari would be dead.
"What the fuck are you doing just hanging outside the laundry room, Pikachu?"
This time, Kaminari did jump. Bakugou had come out of the laundry room while Kaminari had been thinking and had promptly zeroed in on him. "Uh, nothing! I mean, er, I need my pants. My pajama pants. In the dryer."
Bakugou narrowed his eyes suspiciously. For a second, Kaminari was certain that Bakugou knew that Kaminari had walked in on them and seen Uraraka in a less than appropriate state of dress, but then the other boy made a "tch" sound and walked away, uninterested in discussing Kaminari or his pajama pants any further. Kaminari didn't breathe out a sigh of relief until Bakugou was gone.
Man, that had been close.
Saturday was not a day of rest. There was never a day of rest, as far as Bakugou was concerned. He got up early and went to the training gym as he did every Saturday unless he was deathly ill. Besides, a hard workout was exactly what he needed. He'd been distracted lately and his mind was absolutely frazzled after last night, what with the whole holding hands thing, the shirt thing, and the every Uraraka thing. He couldn't afford to be distracted by anything, least of all a girl.
Maybe that was why he was doing so poorly in this game against her. What had started out as just playing Mario Kart had clearly evolved into something else and he needed to catch up. No way was he going to let Uraraka, Little Miss Round Face, get the best of him. A long and unforgiving session in the gym would get his head back into the game and he'd kill it. Uraraka wouldn't know what was coming.
Unfortunately Bakugou found that he wasn't the only one that had thought it was a good idea to get an early morning workout in. There, in one corner stretching, were the last people in his class that Bakugou wanted to see: Deku, Iida, and Todoroki. Of course they would be in here. Had he thought the universe had eased up on him because it was a new day?
Bakugou almost growled in frustration, but then hiked his gym bag further onto his shoulder and went to an area out of their way and sight. Luckily they hadn't seemed to notice him enter, lost in their own little conversation as it was. The gym was separated into areas so that he could train privately, but it was still frustrating when he was used to this time being his alone and he could still hear those idiots talking. And of course they had to be talking about the last thing Bakugou wanted to think about right now.
"That's what Hagakure told me," Deku was insisting, sounding positively flabbergasted. "They were holding hands."
Iida scoffed. "That's preposterous. Uraraka would never hold hands with Bakugou."
"And he let her use her quirk on him and pulled him around while he floated!"
"That sounds even more unrealistic," Iida said. "I think Hagakure is playing a prank on you."
"She also said that they sat together during the movie," Deku added. He sounded confused, maybe even conflicted, like he didn't know what to think. He was probably too nervous to actually ask Uraraka outright about it. "Do you think it could have been...a date?"
Bakugou snorted to himself. Not fucking likely. Deku sounded like his whole world had been turned upside down. It had probably looked like that to everyone else though, even if the most they'd done was hold hands for five minutes and then sit in silence next to each other at the theater. He bet that everyone thought that was how he did dates. Which he didn't. He didn't do dates at all. There was no time.
"Definitely not!" Iida exclaimed, sounding almost horrified. "Uraraka would have told us if she was going on a date with Bakugou!" There was a pause that bordered on almost uncomfortable. "Wouldn't she?"
"I hope that she knows that she can confide in us…" Deku said so quietly that Bakugou almost missed it. He had to get closer to the wall to hear. "Maybe she's embarrassed? But then I've never seen them hang out together unless we're all in a group."
"I can't see Uraraka...having a crush...on Bakugou," Iida managed, this time very uncomfortable. Of course he would find be uneasy about it. He'd probably never had a crush in his life. Bakugou bet that Iida wouldn't think it proper to have a crush while in high school or something ridiculous like that. Like you had to wait until you graduated and be mature enough to know you liked someone. "She's never shown any signs, as far as I know."
There was a thoughtful hum, which Bakugou recognized as Todoroki's. Only he was able to make a noise that sounded like things just barely mattered. "There was her outburst in class the other day about Bakugou becoming the number one hero…" The other two muttered in confusion over that. Bakugou allowed himself to smirk at little. At least their confusion was a little amusing. "I don't understand why Uraraka would holds hands with him though or why Bakugou would put himself in such a vulnerable position with her."
A flash of irritation streaked through Bakugou. He didn't like the fact that Todoroki was able to cleanly pick apart something like that. It almost made it feel like Todoroki understood him on a level that he wasn't comfortable with. Once you understood your opponent, it was easier to take them out. Not that Uraraka was a weakness or he was weak around her, but by letting her place that bet against him and then losing, he had put himself into a vulnerable position that he never would have before.
But then Deku had to say something so insanely awkward that Bakugou almost lost his cool. "Todoroki, you're not...erm… You're not jealous, are you?"
"Huh?"
"Wh-what I mean is- Well, you know! A-after lunch the other day!" Deku was starting to stammer and babble over his sentences to the point where Bakugou was having difficulty understanding him. Either that or he was so mad that the blood thumping in his ears was making it impossible. Had Deku really just asked Todoroki if he was jealous that Bakugou had held hands with Uraraka? He had to clench his hands to keep from letting off explosions, which would alert them to his presence across the gym.
"Why would I be jealous?" Todoroki asked, not getting it at all. "And of who? Uraraka or Bakugou?"
That just made Bakugou's head spin even further. He should be jealous of Bakugou! He was going to beat that stupid Half and Half Bastard at everything! He was going to be the better hero! He was going to grind that jackass into the dust! Besides, Todoroki wasn't the one that Uraraka was hanging out with twice a week. He was really missing out on that.
Shit, what did that thought even mean?
"Oh, nevermind!" Deku laughed anxiously. "You just sounded… Ha, sorry, I read into that way wrong. That was pretty ridiculous to ask."
"I think we've done an appropriate amount of stretching before our training session," Iida cut in, officially ending all talk outside of hero work. What a relief too because Bakugou had about had it. He didn't even want to be here right now. All thoughts of his workout had left him mind, leaving him with nothing but rage and discomfort. So much for coming here to clear his head. Now it would one big cloudy mess.
Bakugou shook his head. "C'mon, get it together. You've got work to do."
And he did. He had a lot of work to do if he was going to become number one. After finishing his own stretches, he pushed himself hard in his workout, forcing himself to think about the next step and how he could work on any more improvements. He always said that he was best so that he could make sure that he was. He was never going to have a moment of weakness again. He was never going to lose again.
That included at freaking Mario Kart.