She felt a pair of red eyes scrutinize her as if morally condemning scum that had crawled from a sewage. She flinched nervously.
"Sh-should we start? We only have like, an hour left of class with All Might, you know?" She decided to keep friendly and casual, so as to tread carefully and avoid setting off Bakugou's shouting fuse.
"..." He glared at her lazily, neither replying nor showing any sort of acknoledgemnt to her proposal. Ochako wanted to sigh.
"Well, I'll start, then... Bakugou... Hmm..." Uraraka furrowed her brows pensively. Bakugou was a flawless combat master, and she doubted there was anything she could advise him on in regards to that aspect. He was also intellectually superior to herself, as much as she hated calling herself stupid, and she could only conclude that Bakugou was an amazing prodigy in his own explosive ways. But if there was anything Bakugou wasn't good at, it would be teamwork.
Uraraka opened her mouth testily, before speaking with slight hesitation.
"I think you need to work on your communication skills.. You know, its kind of hard to get team cooperation when you're part of a group.." She spoke tactlessly, before observing Bakugou's darkening expression confusedly and tilting her head with a slight nod. "I mean, don't tell me you haven't noticed... All you do is get pissed, and... scream all the time, don't you?"
Uraraka swore she saw a premonition of her getting pounded into pieces before the glowering boy beside her, and she scooted apart from him to adapt a defensive stance in fear.
Yet it confused her. Was he mad? She supposed she could be quite direct with her words sometimes without meaning to, but it seemed like a worthy aspect to work on, at least in her opinion.
"...So..?"
She blinked. Her eyes lit up in surprise to the boy's begrudgingly reply. She nodded twice, straightened a lock of her hair enthusiastically and gave him the brightest smile she had ever offered him before.
'What is this bitch getting all worked up for? ' It vexed Bakugou to see her expressive display of emotions change so abruptly, and it pissed himself even more to find himself appreciating this random gesture of friendliness and liveliness Uraraka always had to offer to the people around her.
"I think you could first, work on expressing yourself more?" She suggested on instinct. "Maybe, just clearly say what you feel more? Not like you aren't direct enough already, but sometimes... I don't know, you seem like you hide some of your inner emotions too much. Like fear.. or happiness.." She raised her eyebrows slowly. Bakugou scowled. She was spouting the usual shit on "voicing your inner thoughts", and he didn't normally take shit like this.
Until he met this troublesome twinkle in the brunette's eyes. Her enthusiasm was brimming to the very top, and her fists were curled up in a motivated pose, almost as if anticipating every one of his answers with the greatest attention.
He resigned himself to resisting her annoying 'It's all good' demaneour.
"Right."
"So you could start off by telling me what you feel right now. Like randomly." Uraraka nodded quickly, before resuming her position.
Bakugou grunted.
"I'm about to wipe that stupid smile off a certain bitch's face yes or yes within the next few minutes." He spoke monotously, as if reciting a line from a textbook. "And I will walk out on this stupid social coaching lesson within the next ten minutes."
Uraraka was unfazed by his threatening statement. Instead, she looked visibly disturbed.
"... Right. I think we need to resolve your anger issues first."
Bakugou slammed a fuming fist at the wall, sending cracks around the region with the explosion.
"WHAT ANGER ISSUES?"
"I can't even have a proper conversation with you without a certain someone shouting their guts out as if the other person were deaf."
"That's your problem, I didn't ask you to shout at me!"
"I'm talking about you!"
"What the hell? I don't shout most of the time, unless some idiot like you pisses me off."
"Well, I can't even talk to you like a normal human being. You know, I've observed you communication skills quite thoroughly up till now, and I can conclude that you have three Bakugou modes." Uraraka spoke heatedly, strangely fired up and full of energy.
"Bakugou modes?" Bakugou was staring at her as if she had suddenly drawn a naughty picture on her own forehead out of the blue.
"The three ways Bakugou Katsuki expresses himself." She spoke matter of factedly. "Mode one, ignores you, but expresses discontent with eye contact. Inflicts emotional turmoil, and causes stuttering and loss of self confidence to the other person. Mode two, grunts a lot, or swears a lot, making you feel like you're talking to an elementary school student who think he's all grown up now." Bakugou was about to blast her face in. " And mode three, just screams around like a madman, causing people to avoid him because anyone would want to save their eardrums, and also because he gets all scary, like a bear or a wolf."
Uraraka could feel the presence of a looming werewolf towering over her now, yet she tactlessly plunged on.
"Its hard to communicate with you, Bakugou... That's what I'm saying... Hey, now! Don't get into mode three, ok? I didn't mean to offend you... Mode two is fine." She smiled reassuringly, as if talking to a toddler. Airhead bitch.
He had no idea why his personality was being recounted like attack skills from an rpg game, and it confused him even more that strangely all the features described sounded familiar.
Or maybe it was just that annoying girl.
It was that annoying girl. Definitely.
What the fuck. What the hell was the deal of 'The three Bakugou modes'? Who did Uraraka think she was?
"So do you wanna work-"
"Uraraka Ochako's flaws." Bakugou overrode her speech with overwhelming force. "1) Combat incapabilities. Claims she's got special close quarter combat training from gunhead, yet only knows basics and doesn't know how to utilise them in combat situations. Useless skill. Blockhead. 2) Mentally impaired. Has no idea how to get out of tight situations without panicking like an idiot. Does not know the difference between heroic efforts and reckless stupidity. Cannot tell the difference between a pig and herself, because they look too much alike. 3) Extremely annoying. Has a squeaky voice and is annoyingly happy everyday. Has a stupid grin which makes people want to slap a pig. Squeaks like a dying pig. Round faced and a glutton."
Ochako winced.
"Wow- that hurt-"
"4) Is a fucking Deku obsessed Dekutard. Can't spend a day without him. Can't take an hour without mentioning his name. Can't stop copying him and imitating his idiotic actions. Equally stupid as fucking Deku. Fucking Dekutard." He snapped. Uraraka looked close to exploding, her face flushed brilliant red. "5) Has a big round face and fat red cheeks. Looks like a-"
"Thank you Bakugou that's quite enough." Uraraka's voice was clipped. She had hardly ever felt so insulted before. She had been fine with all the insults and all the flaws Bakugou had thrown at him from flaw 1 to flaw 3, albeit with a little annoyance and irritation, yet flaw 4 had completely caught her off guard.
And Bakugou was right about that. She didn't like admitting it, but she did seem like a 'Dekutard', or whatever Bakugou liked to call it. Although she wasn't.
She admired Deku, that was all.
Whatever Bakugou had meant when he had rudely remarked upon Ochako and Deku, it angered her. Strangely angered her. She was, without doubt, annoyed. Furious. As if Bakugou had uncovered a hidden side of her without her permission.
A side she had never chosen to explore before.
"What's wrong now, huh? Getting all stingy, bitch?" Bakugou seemed satisfied at Uraraka's static change of expression, proudly admiring his handiwork as if it were the first thing he had ever achieved in his long life. "Hit a sore spot, right? Bitch." He spat tauntingly.
"What the fuck. Says the dickhead that has anger issues." Uraraka had begun to swear without hesitation now, frustration and growing anger bubbling up inside her. She had stood up, as if rising against a challenge, taunting Bakugou back with equal animosity, and even greater ferocity, like a lioness.
Bakugou scrutinized her with a broad, challenging lopsided grin.
"Guess we've both got uncorrectable flaws, yeah?"
"Unlikely to correct flaws, please." Uraraka jeered back at him, slamming a hand on the small table beside them. "I'm sure I would be able to aid you to correct that rather... unsightly attitude of yours and your poor communication skills."
"Oh really? I'm not sure I feel the same... I'm no magician. Pigs stay pigs. Dekutards stay Dekutards." He deliberately flicked a crimson eye down to glower at her with a leer.
"We've both got a long way to go, right?" Uraraka replied, refusing to back off. "A challenge to overcome! Mr Anger Issues will need to do something about his attitude."
"Miss Pig will need to fucking get out of her Deku box." Bakugou was virtually cackling at this point.
"Jerk.'
"Bitch."
Without consciously knowing, they had both suddenly agreed to help each other 'correct' their own 'flaws', to form that 'unlikely' likelihood of a perfect, reformed hero.
That day, Uraraka Ochako and Bakugou Katsuki had formed an unhealthy obsession to bickering with one another constantly as they met.
And from that day onwards, they spoke more to each other too.
Much more than they had before.
Thank you for reading! I hope you liked the chapter! Sorry if the swearing bothered anyone.
Please leave a review! I love reading them so much!
Thanks for reading!