Izuku was confused.
Very confused.
It had struck him as queer, but he had noted recently that Kacchan and Uraraka were talking way more to each other than before. Of course, Uraraka was always friendly to everyone, but this in itself was alarming. They shared no small talk, and their 'conversations' usually ranged from aggressive swearing to indirect insults (or direct ones). He had never imagined Uraraka to be capable of bickering with someone for so long- she complained, but she never argued. Izuku guessed Kacchan had become an exception.
And it puzzled him to observe such a sudden development between Uraraka and Kacchan's relationship. It was certainly unpleasant to watch them spitting at each other constantly each time they passed each other at the corridor, and it struck even more confusion into Izuku to remember that Uraraka would scarcely act so openly aggressive to anyone.
What had led to this change?
"You're blocking the door with your fat ass."
"What a surprise. Mr Anger Issues again."
Izuku watched the pair make a ruckus at the doorway of the classroom. They were at it again. Kirishima looked as exasperated as himself.
"Bakugou, now you're blocking the doorway, so can we just get in the classroom now?" Kirishima sighed, flinching as Bakugou delivered him his special 'you-shut-up-or-you-die' look, before turning back to Uraraka again. Kirishima felt slightly peeved. He appreciated Bakugou's company, and liked Uraraka well enough, but he wasn't about to put up with another stupid bickering challenge again. It had only been happening over the past two days, but he was already getting sick of it. He pushed Bakugou roughly into the classroom, and proceeded to manoeuvre the swearing boy to his seat with great difficulty.
"Dude, just chill. What are you getting so worked up about anyways?"
"What do you mean, getting worked up? I'm not."
"You've been bickering with one another each time you see each other. What the hell happened? Did I miss anything?" Kirishima noted the uncharacteristic flick of Bakugou's eyes as he mentioned this, and was just about to question further before being interrupted by an irritated Katsuki.
"Nothing happened." Bakugou glared at the girl at a distance. "She just pisses me off."
Kirishima stared.
"You mean she's pissing and you off everyday or what?"
"No, you fucking dunce. Don't you find her annoying?" Bakugou growled, glaring at Kirishima as if to gouge a reaction from him almost immediately.
"Nah." Kirishima looked thoughtful. "But I do find your constant banter pretty irritating, now that you mention it."
"It's not. Fucking. Banter. I'm telling you that she gets on my nerves! Every single thing she does gets on my fucking nerves!"
"That's why I'm telling you to chill, man. I mean, just do what you usually do. Ignore her or something. You do this all the time with the rest of the class, don't you?"
"I don't know how many times I have to repeat this, but she's so fucking annoying! She's an eyesore. She's on Deku level annoying! And-"
"Wow. That's an achievement." Kirishima rolled his eyes, muttering. Bakugou's head literally exploded.
"You know what? You're even worse than Deku. Now that's an achievement." Bakugou had slammed his palms onto the desk, tone dripping with poisonous sarcasm, and obvious dissaproval. Kirishima could only sigh at his childish retaliation.
"Look, Bakugou. I'm just saying. It's like you're giving her special treatment or something. It's not like Uraraka to bicker back either, so I guess it must be some skit between the two of you or something, but I'm only pointing the facts out, ok?" Kirishima raised his palms defensively as he heard Bakugou's low grumble of anger.
"Special treatment? It's mutual hate, Kirishima."
Kirishima dropped his hands. He scooted away from Bakugou's desk to sit at his own seat, without another word.
He was done with this.
He gave up. Kirishima officially gave up on talking to this stubborn, selfish boy.
"Ochako. Can I ask you a question?" Tsuyu had spoken after a moment of contemplating the girl that was sipping the carton of juice with contained curiosity.
"Hm-m?" Ochako looked up.
"What's going on with you and Bakugou?" Jiro almost choked on her own sip of juice as she cringed inwardly. Tsuyu was direct as always. She had spoken the minds of every girl present in the class, yet had not so much as hesitated to dig into the topic.
She watched Uraraka's expression freeze in blank surprise and shock, before removing the straw from her mouth cautiously and opening her mouth to reply.
"Nothing.." Her tone was unsure, almost as if questioning the question itself. "No, I don't think anything had happened.. Right?"
"That's what I'm asking you, Ochako." Tsuyu smiled faintly.
"I've been curious about it too, you know?" Mina had popped in casually. "I mean, who wouldn't after seeing you argue so directly with that asshole over there?" She indicated 'that asshole over there' exagerratedly with a jerk of her head, which dissipated Uraraka's attention towards the blonde boy who was currently slumped on the table ignoring a teasing Kaminari, and, of course, the green haired boy behind him.
"Checking someone out?"
"Hyaa!" A blush had crept up Ochako's cheeks as she pushed Ashido away from her ear gingerly. "N-no! What are you talking about?" She wasn't sure where this was all coming from. Sure, she was speaking more to Bakugou now, but she hadn't wanted their conversations to be hostile. She would've thought it natural to converse more casually with him after having had the rather 'interesting advising session' with him, but she definitely didn't mean for them to argue and bicker like this.
"Who is it? Bakugou or Kaminari? Or Midoriya?" Ashido wiggled her eyebrows playfully, laughing at at Uraraka's bright red face, prodding her playfully in the ribs.
"N-NEITHER! I-IM NOT CHECKING ANYONE OUT! W-WHAT?" She had lost control of the volume of her voice, and was dying of embarrassment as the whole class drew their attention towards her direction. Even Todoroki at the back had directed his blank gaze towards her. There was a noticeable blush on Izuku's face, as Mineta had begun hopping about excitedly shouting a jumble of odd words consisting of "me" and "whips". Without noticing, she had begun to float slightly, steam literally puffing out of her ears.
"Ochako. Ochako. You're floating." Tsuyu pinched her lightly on the cheeks to snap her out of her trance. She began to panic , and only floated higher and higher as she felt the class's attention on her intensifying. She struggled for a few seconds as she awkwardly collided with the ceiling, with a loud 'thump', before releasing herself at last and crashing into a table with a clatter of noise. The room had become silent.
"Uraraka!" Izuku and Iida were the first to cry out. They hurried to from their seats to help her, as Todoroki had awkwardly offered her a hand to pull her up, with Yaoyorozu dusting and tidying her. There was a burst of laughter from all sides, and Ochako could only burn up in embarrassment. Her eyes were on the floor, as she clenched her fists with bottled frustration. It had taken a Yaoyorozu and Iida a long, long time to calm the fumbling class down properly, yet no amount of reassurance from anyone (Tsuyu, Deku, Jiro, Yaoyorozu and even Todoroki had given her some words of sympathy) could have muffled the scream of humiliation that was dying in Uraraka's throat. She caught a red glimpse at the corner of her eyes as she turned away to hide her burning face, yet ignored it blatantly. She felt the crimson gaze scorch marks at the back of her shirt.
Ugh.
"Hey Uraraka?" She looked up shyly at the speaker. Sero grinned.
"So who were you checking out, huh?"
Uraraka swore she almost slapped his flat face to the floor.
Ochako tapped her chin thoughtfully, as she contemplated the math homework before her with distaste. She struggled with maths as an average student with average grades and average potential, and this particular topic was just too much for her to handle. She's normally ask Iida or Deku, but neither were currently present (they were apparently out shopping for cooking books) in the dormitories. It was a pain to think about it herself, and she could feel her own concentration slip away second by second. There were more people in the common room now, and the noise was making her tempted to just shift rooms and work in her bedroom, but she decided against this.
She strode towards Yaoyorozu, determined.
"Yaomomo?"
The girl looked slightly surprised. Ochako hadn't noticed Todoroki was also beside her, sipping on a mug of tea carefully, scrutinizing her with his icy eyes.
"Yes? How may I help you?"
"I don't really get the maths, y'know... It's so harddd... I hate it..." Uraraka had begun to whine, waving her hands with frustration and shifting her weight on one leg and the other, causing Momo to laugh lightly, and take the worksheet from her hands delicately.
"Oh... Yes. I can help you with this." Momo smiled genuinely at her. "Would you like to work here? Or somewhere more quiet?"
"Really? You'll help me? Yay!"
"Would Todoroki want to come too?" Yaoyorozu had directed her kindly smile to the boy beside her, who was still staring at the math worksheet blankly.
"I've done the sheet already, so I'll pass. Thanks though. I think I'm going to train some more."
"Oh. Of course." Uraraka caught a glimpse of what seemed like disappointment in Yaoyorozu's eyes, as Todoroki turned away and left abruptly.
"Is something going on between the two of you?" Uraraka had found herself mumbling her thoughts out loud. Momo jumped.
"N-no! Not at all! Nothing!"
"You guys seem a lot... closer than you were before. But I don't know... You also seem more distant than before too..." Ochako laughed in exasperation. Yep. She was making a lot of sense right now. "Oh just forget what I just said. Sorry."
They had already left the room with a tight shut of the door, and were now going down the corridor outside. Yaoyorozu seemed to have thought for quite a long time, before forming a reply.
"Uraraka... I'd like to ask you something in return.."
"Y-yes?" They had settled to studying outside under the shade of a row of trees. Ochako sat down slowly.
"Are you-" Momo cut herself off abruptly, as Uraraka stared at her expectantly.
"What's wro-"
"Bakugou?" Yaoyorozu moved towards the back of the tree cautiously. Uraraka had frozen at the mention of his name, eyes travelling warily to find the unmoving tuft of hair half hidden by the shade of the towering tree. She watched Momo approach the figure silently, observe him for a few seconds, before gesturing to Uraraka casually.
"He's asleep." She spoke softly, a small smile playing on her cheeks. Uraraka could not contain her curiosity, and decided to take a glimpse for herself.
A muffled noise had burgled in her throat as she watched the boy leant on the trunk of the tree nod on and off his shoulder. His breathing was surprisingly light, and it seemed... strange. His usual intense, or contorted expression was absent, replaced by just an expressionless, almost as if peaceful demaneour.
Definitely strange to see this on Bakugou's familiar face.
But it had even more strangely brought a bright, gentle smile on Uraraka's cheeks. A blush had intensified on her cheeks slightly, as she found it extremely hard to tear her eyes off the boy before her.
He had a pronounced jawline. And his dishevelled hair fell neatly over his closed eyes. His chest was rising and falling slowly, rhythmitically. His palms lay open on the ground next to him, muscles relaxed.
"You're..." Ochako looked up, startled. "You're 'checking him out'?" Momo looked unsure, but was also tempted to laugh.
Uraraka blushed a fiercer red. She offered no reply.
She won't lie.
She had been checking him out. It was a fact.
For a second she wondered what on earth was happening to her logical reasoning abilities recently.
Sorry for a late update! Thank you for reading, and please leave a review. Hope you've all enjoyed the chapter!