A Ship and the New Guy

About a week had passed since Bakugou started living with Uraraka. And in that week he was just as much of a mystery as he had been the first day.

He had strange habits. Like how she had once found him sleeping on the roof and refusing to explain why. He never talked about any friends or family that he could contact, but he certainly thought of Todoroki and Midoriya as enemies. During the day he didn't have a job, and he only went out to go and walk around town. She didn't know what he did around town, but sometimes he came home with big pieces of metal. Whenever she was around, he either ignored her or asked her so many basic questions that if Uraraka didn't know that it was absolutely crazy she would have been sure he was from another planet. 'Who's in charge?' 'Of the country?' 'No, the world.' Take the conversation they had over lunch on Uraraka's day off.

"Why would the green-haired human ever subject herself to life with someone as weak and defenseless as Midoriya?" Truthfully, Uraraka couldn't figure out if he was really asking, or if he was just looking for another way to insult her best friend.

With a sign, Uraraka put down the pan she was make her eggs in. "Because she loves him. That's what being a lover means?"

"No," Bakugou started as if she was the idiot. "People get mates in order to get strong connections and carry on their lineage. Why the heck would she want to continue her legacy on with that fool?" Legacy? Mate? Just the term made her turn red. Where did he come from, the middle ages?

"No way! Things don't work like that Bakugou!" She insisted, even when Bakugou looked confused. "How do you not know what a lover is Bakugou? It's someone you love! Romantically?"

"Heh?" Uraraka couldn't believe she was even having that conversation. With someone her own age no less!

Actually… "Bakugou, how old are you?"

"In what context? Passing moons? Solar eclipses? Be more specific round-face!" Seriously, why did he have to keep up with that 'round face?' Couldn't he at least think up a better nickname? When she explained that she meant by years, he answered. "I'm 25 then." Ah. Older than her.

"And you've never been in love in 25 years?" In love? How was someone 'in' love? "Huh. I mean, most of the time things don't work out, but I'd have thought a lot of people would have fallen in love at least once before they turned 25." Talking about love gave Uraraka butterflies, bringing her back to feelings of giddiness and excitement. "You remember Jiro? She used to be in love with this one guy at our school. He was trying to be an electrician, I think. She and kaminari were so cute," Uraraka laughed, almost glowing when she remembered how happy her friend had been. "Things didn't work out in the end. They ended on good terms, but they just decided their relationship wasn't anything more than friendship." As the story ended, the glow around Uraraka faded as well. "Kind of sad…but Jiro seems really happy. And love is just a really powerful thing!" Bakugou didn't know why she went on to explain the story about someone he couldn't even be bothered to remember.

He was however curious when she seemed to go through a range of emotions just from the one story. Especially the ending, where even though it sounded sad, she came back as if there was triumph. And the mention of power? Were humans created to get stronger depending on a feeling? That would be interesting to know. If they were strong enough, he may be able to trick them into becoming his soldiers. They certainly weren't smart enough to outwit him or strong enough to beat him, but everyone needed henchmen.

That kind of theory was hard to test. He didn't recognize the signs of someone being 'in love.' "How can you tell?"

Uraraka seemed to return back to reality. "What?"

"How can you tell? When someone is in love?" Perhaps he could scout people out and study them for a while…

This plan seemed to be crushed when Uraraka shook her head. "It's different for everyone Bakugou. I mean, yeah sometimes it's easier to tell than others, but it really depends on the person! Love is complicated, so it's impossible to really pinpoint how it should look."

"Eh? How is one f #$%$g human emotion so complicated? That's stupid!" Uraraka, who had grown used to Bakugou's language and attitude, simply swirled one of the kitchen chairs around so she could sit with him.

"Bakugou, you were talking about lovers as if it was all just for power, but being in love isn't like that! Love is…" She paused, trying to come up with the words. Darn, she'd never really done to well in English. "It's like, finding one person in the whole world. No, the whole galaxy, who makes you feel good and like you matter. Romantic love is when there's another person that you know you can live your life without them, but you don't want to. When that person's needs come before your own, and all you can think of is what can make them happy because when they are happy, you are happy. Being in love is finding a person who makes you feel like the most important person in the world. A person that no matter what, you would do anything for." She paused, allowing the feelings to all rush over her in a happy wave. When she looked up at Bakugou again, he was startled to find her beaming. "Because you're in love. And no matter how much it may hurt or how hard it is, love is powerful."

Love. Powerful? No. No. None of what she'd just said made sense. Sacrificing what you wanted for someone else's needs? Wanting to be with just one person? All that crap about happiness? None of it made sense. It must be made up. No one does anything for anyone else except because it might benefit them. Love must have been a term human's used to avoid the truth.

"That all sounds like a load of crap," Bakugou determined. Uraraka just hummed, ignoring Bakugou entirely.

"That's just because you haven't been in love," she mused.

Bakugou snarled, angry at her insistence. "Have you?" he threw back.

To his surprise his human started turning red. She let out a little laugh and covered her cheeks with both hands. "W-well, ah…when we were kids, I may have had a thing for Midoriya." Had a thing for? As if reading his mind, Uraraka explained. "I was in love with Midoriya."

"WHAT?"

"Oh come on Mr. grumpy pants! But I know, it's so embarrassing. High school sweethearts, the girl in love with her best friend." No. No. Why was she talking like this? Why was his human getting…giddy talking about that weak human? "I mean, he's such a nice person, you know? And he's always willing to help others…and he's so determined…" What was she even doing? What was she saying? He didn't want his guide anywhere near that human, much less looking so joyful when singing his praises. If anyone, she should be singing his praises! He was the far superior being! "I mean, I really was head over heels…Thought about our future together and everything! When we would hang out, I used to think about how it was kinda like a date…" Shut up. Why was she happy? What was causing her to act like this over such a pathetic human? How come he made her feel so…good? What was even making her feel good?

"But, you know…he was always so busy with wanting to become a member of national security. And I totally respected that! But I just didn't want that to be…my life you know? And I wanted to be a firefighter so bad, but our lives just couldn't mix with that. So eventually, I forced myself to get over it. We're best friends now! I'm so over that! I'm just really glad that I got the experience. It didn't last long but…being in love feels really good."

No. Bakugou didn't want to hear about it anymore. He didn't care to hear about love, he didn't care what it was. If it made her talk about that freckled weirdo like he was a hero sent form above, then he wanted no part in it. Without another word Bakugou practically launched himself out of his chair, startling Uraraka. "I'm going back to work," he practically growled before stomping to the back doors. He didn't want to have to listen to his guide droning on about such a weakling.

It appeared his suffering for the day was not over. "Oh yeah, your project!" She jumped out of her seat and went rushing to Bakugou's side. "Wait up, I wanna see how it's going!"

"Why the heck should I show you my ship?"

That make Uraraka pause. Was he building a boat? Well they were pretty close to the ocean…"Because I just shared something about my life! Now it's your turn!" He'd never made that agreement! Where was the contract? Who was the witness?

Unfortunately Bakugou was completely helpless to stop the excited human as she skipped around him and out the back doors. Uraraka felt a little guilty that she hadn't come to check out his project since that first day. She'd been really busy, but she should pay attention to what was going on in her friend's lives. …They were friends, right?

When she went outside, she expected to see the wooden disk like thing that had been there the first day. Instead she found herself gaping at the large, metal bowl shaped contraption on top of the disk. It was a large bottom made of all the metal scraps that he'd put found in the last few days. A number of bike wheels were attached to the edge with metal pieces sticking out of them, making them look like they were giant fans or propellers to push through the water. "Wow…" she gaped openly. Bakugou's pride went up a few notches when he saw the human's awe. Not that he cared of course. "I mean…I'm not sure that would float to well in water, but wow…" Water? Float? There was no gravity in space, how could he ever fall? Uraraka circled the large metal contraption, coming around to see that the front was left open, incomplete. There was what looked like a big desk with numerous pieces of metal and wires poking out of it. "Wow. What's this supposed to be?"

"The control desk," Bakugou huffed. "Isn't it obvious?" Obvious he says…

"Well this all looks really cool!" Uraraka exclaimed while she pulled herself up next to the ship. "You're going to have to show me this thing again when it's done." He had to do no such thing! "This is certainly really fancy for a boat. How did you…" Uraraka's voice slowly trailed off, catching Bakugou's attention. Normally she would be able to go on and on without any hesitation. He was beginning to wonder if he'd broke her when she started again. "…My record player."

"Eh?" She didn't respond right away. Her eyes were glued to a corner of the desk, filled with wires and some of the more complicated pieces of technology that he'd found. Somethings human's had called macs, iPod, microwaves….

"My record player," she repeated. Then, slowly, she turned on Bakugou, and he could see that there was a fire of anger. "My father's record player."

It took Bakugou a minute to realize what she was talking about. He'd almost forgotten how a day ago he'd taken the music playing contraption from that room full of books upstairs. It had the parts he'd needed in order to make a sonar to track other ships. Currently it was on his table, pieces torn out of it and meshed with the other pieces of technology he'd gathered. The only real recognizable part of it was the box that contained it all, and the speaker piece that was currently underneath the table, ready to be used later.

"Oh," Bakugou commented. "I needed it."

"You…" Uraraka stuttered, the sound different than when she stuttered out of confusion. "You needed my dad's record player."

He was beginning to get concerned that something was wrong with his human. Why was she repeating the obvious? "What's wrong with you?"

It wasn't until after she'd spun around and turned on him that Bakugou wondered if his question had been a mistake. There was a fire-an enormous fire behind her eyes that could have rivaled Bakugou's own flames. "What's wrong with me? You took my dad's record player! That meant a lot to me! You just took it, and tore it apart for parts and now it can't be fixed! That was my dad's favourite record player, he used to collect records all the time! We'd listen to the music at dinner and-did you even think about asking me?"

She was screaming. Her face was red, but not out of the embarrassment he'd come to recognize. Fists clenched, teeth gnashing together, Bakugou was wondering if he should be preparing himself for a battle. "No," he answered honestly. Big mistake.

"No!" She screeched. If there were other human's around, Bakugou was sure they would have heard her. "No! You just took it without even asking. Do you even think about how others feel? Did you consider at all that I would be angry at this?"

Immediately Bakugou went into an offensive position. He dropped lower, widening his stance and putting his arms up. It was about time he saw his human's true nature. Instinctively his tail twitched, but he kept it still just in case. He still needed her as a guide. Whether she was a willing guide or not it didn't matter, but it would be troublesome if she managed to find someone who recognized him. Uraraka didn't notice, busy ranting and trying to hold back her anger.

"That was one of my dad's favourite things! He'd be crushed if he saw it now! Now it's gone, just like he's gone and…" Uraraka panted, slowly losing the spark that had caused her to ignite. Instead of anger, a wave of hurt and pain crashed through her. "He's gone…And so is another piece of my memory of him." She sniffled, surprised when a tear trickled down her cheek. With her hand she wiped it away, turning so Bakugou couldn't see it. Bakugou didn't understand, but it appeared like the human was in pain. Why? He hadn't touched her yet. Her breathing was shaky as the anger faded.

It was fine, she tried to tell herself. It…it would be fine. Her dad would have been okay. He'd have said that it was just an old record player. Man-made items weren't made to last forever. It was gone, but the house was still there. As long as she didn't lose the house, she'd be okay. After taking a few deep breaths she was able to calm herself down. But the anger didn't go away in general. She was just able to control it again.

Spinning around, she turned to face Bakugou. He had been watching her, confused, but when she turned to face him he immediately tensed up. Slowly, she dropped down from the ship and walked over to him. Each step was agonizingly slow, and Bakugou wished she would just attack so he could counter. Should he attack first? If he did he doubted she would survive-

"Look." She pointed one finger at him, making him tense. "I know you don't seem to care about anyone else but yourself, but you're my guest! This is my house! Never-never do something like this again! If you do I swear you are out of my house!" He blinked, confused.

"What-why should I care about something like that?" Apparently that was also the wrong thing to say.

That anger flared up again for a moment. "You selfish- gah! What is wrong with you! How can anyone be so self-centered and prideful! You- you're just one guy! You are no better than anyone! You're worse than most people, you know! At least most people know common decency to ask before they take other people's stuff!" Bakugou wanted to disagree with that. But he was so stunned by the situation, he couldn't even form the words he needed to retort. Why? Usually it was so easy to snap back at her. At any human. How was the anger of this…this extra enough to make him pause?

When he didn't say anything, Uraraka wondered if she'd gone too far. Unfortunately, she was still too angry to take back her words. Instead she huffed, turning away so that she could stomp back to the house. Just as she wrenched the door open, she stopped. "Remember this Bakugou," She called back at him. "People cannot live without others in their lives. If you can't figure that out, then you'll be stuck for the rest of your life." Then, with that, she slammed the door shut behind her. Leaving Bakugou there, stunned, with nothing to do but ponder her words.

…All he was sure of was that this meant he couldn't use the oven anymore either.

It took Uraraka an hour of convincing for Jiro to finally agree not to come over and pulverize her 'guest.'

After Uraraka had calmed down a bit, she'd called Jiro to rant. When Jiro got the jist of what had happened she was furious. That record player meant a lot to Uraraka. Who did that guy think he was to just…tear it up like that? For some kind of project that he was building in her backyard? She had half a mind to go find that police officer Tokoyami and tell him to go lock the guy up. Or even contact Todoroki and ask him to look into the guy. She knew from talking to Momo that Todoroki had certainly been tense after meeting him. It wouldn't take much convincing on her part to get him to go and kick him out of Ochaco's house.

Only Ochaco's words were able to convince her to let it go. Uraraka was strong, and she knew what she could handle. Jiro was sure of that after training with her and working together for years. If Ochaco could handle him, she could handle him. But in her opinion, the guy didn't deserve the number of chances Ochaco would likely give him. She told her as much this after they finally ended the phone conversation and Jiro was returned to her current daily life.

It was Jiro's day off as well. She'd met with Momo at her lunch break when she'd got the call. Before Uraraka, Jiro had been helping Momo figure out her situation with Todoroki. They were…well, to everyone else in the world, it was obvious they should be dating. But Momo was constantly worried about if he really liked her or not. Which was stupid. Jiro knew that any guy would be crazy not to like her. Unfortunately the only way Jiro knew Todoroki was through friends, so she couldn't really go to him. Maybe she could message Midoriya, see if he would be able to get through to him.

Specifically that evening though, she'd been talking about how worried she was. Her being a lawyer and him being a detective meant their jobs crossed a lot. She often would take on cases that he had been working on anyway. But over the last week… "He's been so tense lately," Momo explained. "I mean, he's normally very stoic, but lately he just… He seems so preoccupied. I've tried asking him about it but he says not to worry about it." Sadly, she had stared down into her soup. "It's hard not to though…"

Jiro hadn't been able to say anything before Uraraka called and Momo had to head back to work. But Jiro had promised to help her deal with it later. Now, with both conversations currently on pause, Jiro was heading back to her apartment alone. Other than her lunch with Momo, she didn't have any current plans. Maybe she'd call Kaminari later and see if he wanted to play video games online. That is, if he wasn't busy with boyfriend that day. Actually, he'd better be busy with him. Jiro had been his wing-woman for weeks when the fool had tried to get the attention of that over jacked tetsu tetsu guy. (That HAD to be a fake name). When they got married, Jiro called dibs on being the best man.

The reminder of all that she had done for her friends was both a joy…and a bit of a sad prick at the back of her head. Lately it seemed like her life was centered on her friend's lives. Momo's not so secret crush on Todoroki, Uraraka dealing with this crazy guest and trying to keep her house, Shinsou trying to get higher in the department and sometimes even Midoriya coming to ask about different music bands that Tsyuu liked. Heck, she'd even helped her ex-boyfriend new best friend find his current boyfriend. She was happy with all her friends lives sure, but it got her thinking a bit. They were all working to make their lives better or just getting ready for the next stage in her life. What was she doing?

As she walked through the streets, she pondered this question herself. She was fine with her job. It paid enough for all she needed, though would it always? Should she start looking into getting a side-job like Uraraka had? Maybe work at a record store or something fun. What about her future plans? She didn't want to leave the city, all her friends were there. Her love life? Ha! That was a good one. There was no one in her life that she was interested in. The last boyfriend she'd had was Kaminari, and they'd quickly decided they were better off as friends. Shinsou was pretty cool, but she wasn't sure she could live with someone that…dead to the world all the time. Should she be looking…?

Ugh. What was she supposed to do with her life? Shaking her head, Jiro decided she needed to get her mind off things. Instead of taking the right turn to her apartment building, she took a left turn towards her favourite music store. If she was lucky that album that she pre-ordered would be in already.

As always, the store was relatively sparse. Most people didn't come during the day unless it was a weekend. Perfect. Just like Jiro liked it. After nodding politely to the owner, she headed over to her favourite music section. She expected the area to be empty, but she was disappointed when she found three people standing in her favourite rock area. There was one man with long, dark hair, a big white scarf and scruffy looking black clothes. Another man was wearing all leather, had pointy blonde hair and big sunglasses. The third had spikey red hair and was wearing old jeans and a jacket. Quite the mismatched group in the music store. Either way, Jiro was just annoyed that they were taking up most of the space in the rock music section. Trying not to grumble she trudged over to look for a spot she could still see in.

While looking for the Shinedown band album, the three people mumbled to each other. "Mic…how does music affect our mission at all?"

"Now now Aizawa! How do you expect to understand people without knowing about their culture? Music speaks to the soul!" His companion let out a snort of derision. Jiro did her best not to eavesdrop as she tried to reach the albums on the shelf.

What was supposed to be her alone time however was interrupted when the red-headed one noticed her trying to reach. "Oh hey! I'll get that for you!" Before Jiro could protest he grabbed the album from the high shelf and handed it to her. He read over the cover before handing it to her. "Skillet? Good music?"

"Uh, yeah…" Jiro replied, surprised at the man's cheery expression. "I'd say so. Haven't you heard about them?"

"No," he answered honestly. "But the picture looks really cool." He leaned over to get a look at the cover in her hands.

"I really thought that everyone was knew about this band," Jiro commented, looking over the man skeptically. He was a little strange. His teeth were…oddly pointy. His hair was such a bright shade of red that it almost seemed to shine like flames at the tips. And he had a strange red belt that looked like it was similar to the one she'd seen Bakugou wearing with that weird costume he had. Maybe they got it at the same store. His eyes were very wide, and despite the warm weather he was wearing long jeans and a big jacket. When she scraped his skin, it felt rather hard. Maybe she'd just imagined that.

He tilted his head, seeming to debate this. "Really? I guess I'll need to listen to them." Jiro smiled hesitantly. She really wasn't sure how to talk to these overly friendly guys.

It appeared his friends weren't too happy about his attitude either. "We aren't supposed to be conversing," the scruffy one tried to say, but was elbowed in the chest by the other.

Jiro, not sure what to do, offered to help. "If you want I can recommend you some of their music. I have a few songs on my phone…" The stranger's smile widened, showing off his pointed teeth.

"Really? Awesome! That's really manly of you."

Manly? "I'm a girl," she told him. It wasn't the first time she'd had to remind people of that, with her short hair and somewhat boyish features. It was normal, but it still made her a little annoyed.

To her surprise, he just nodded quickly. "I know. But being manly is for everyone!" Uh, Jiro wondered if the guy needed to get a dictionary and figure out what that name really meant. To her surprise, he held out his hand for her to take. "My name is Kirishima. It's nice to meet you!"

Her words stuck with him. More than he thought they should have. All that stuff that she'd said about him- it shouldn't have matted. But it did. For some reason as he went through his day, what she'd said continued to run through his brain. For most of it, the specific words she said didn't matter as much, though they did stick. It was the way she said them. Anger. Hurt. And somehow-trying to hurt him. How come his chest felt tight? She hadn't hit him. Were human's capable of using their voices to damage the internal function of their victims?

The last thing she'd said really was caught in his mind. If you can't figure that out, then you'll be stuck for the rest of your life. What did that mean? Was he going to be stuck on the planet without this secret that was apparently so valuable? Did he need some form of human access code in order to leave earth's atmosphere? He was so focused on this he barely got any work done on the ship. Stupid, annoying human. Breaking his concentration. What did she know?

The earthen star had fallen by the time she finally came down the stairs. Bakugou heard her footsteps coming down the stairs, and every sound was like a drum getting closer. He was instantly on alert from the time he heard the door upstairs opening. When she finally got down the stairs he was so tense that the metal cutlery he had been using was frozen in his hand. She walked over to the table, slowly, and he did his best to appear like he didn't care. But even with his eyes focused in the distance, he was paying close attention to every sound that she made. At first there was silence, and Bakugou's pounding heart made him wish he'd never met this human in the first place.

After too much time had passed, the human finally spoke up again. "…Look, Bakugou…" he remained still. Instincts told him that it was better not to address the other unless he knew what they were doing. If it was a fight it would be easier and he'd just attack her before she'd get a word in edgewise. But this wasn't a battle…At least not with fists. It was hard to be impulsive in this situation. He didn't know how these were handled. "I…I don't apologize for yelling or getting mad. But a lot of what I said was uncalled for. I apologize for that."

…What? A…an apology? Why? What was she doing? What strategy was this? This didn't help her win, it was damaging her own pride. Why was she doing that? Suddenly he realized that she was waiting for an answer. "…Ok."

A small smile appeared. "Thank you. And...For the future, can you just…promise me that you won't take anything from my house without my permission again? Okay?" Initial instincts told him that he should have told her to shut up and that he could do what he wanted. But as soon as he turned his head to say this, he was caught by the look in her eyes. There was a strange…earnesty behind her eyes. A hopeful light that made Bakugou…stop. She wasn't forcing him to do anything. That wasn't…wasn't normal. Why…

"…Fine." The words came out of his mouth before he knew what he was saying. "I don't want anything else from this stupid place anyway." That was a lie. He'd needed the oven. But now that plan was…gone.

He didn't understand why he relaxed when she beamed happily. "Great! That's awesome!" Before Bakugou could really register what was going on, she had rushed over to him and wrapped her arms around him, squeezing tight. He immediately tensed, preparing for her to try and choke the oxygen out of his system. But when she squeezed it…it wasn't harsh. It was soft and warm. It was a feeling that he couldn't describe. He didn't have the words for it. But when she pulled away…He kind of wanted her to do it again.

"Come on! Let's do something fun!" Searching through the kitchen, she pulled Bakugou out of the chair. "Let's make something. I think I've got enough stuff to at least make something fun. You wanted to cook stuff before, right?" Bakugou, confused, followed her when she brought him to the counter and started pulling out materials. "I'll teach you! I bet you'll have lots of fun with it."

"What?" At first he was going to ask what she could possibly teach him that he didn't already know…but the first question that came out of his mouth wasn't that. "Why would you do that?" It was Uraraka's turn to pause. When she turned to stare at him again, he was shocked at the wide smile on her face.

"Because I want you to be happy silly! We're friends, aren't we?"

In case anyone asks, I am not the biggest fan of Ochaco/Izuku or Jiro/Kaminari, but I don't hate the ship or the shippers so while my stories likely won't have them I'm not going to hate on them either. I mentioned them since I wanted to give the characters some past experience with love, but I won't bash the relationships at all. (Unless you count Bakugou getting annoyed.) I seem to have an issue with shipping any main ships in this manga…