Notes: I really wanted to get this finished for Friday because it was my birthday, but I just ended up being too busy with work. Anyway, it's ready for you all now! :)
I hope you enjoy it! P.S. There's some art in this chapter! I had it commissioned a while ago and I can finally share it!
Credits for the artist are in the end notes 3
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter TextOnce the movie had ended, Katsuki and the others stayed to help Uraraka tidy her room, throwing away any garbage they had left behind and straightening up for her.
He would never admit it, but he had ended up having a much less shitty time than he'd expected. The nerd squad was bearable, the movie was actually one he secretly kind of liked, and the snacks Uraraka had picked out were exactly the ones he usually got for himself.
Plus, he'd gotten to spend the entire time pressed right up next to her.
He hadn't meant to sit so close at first, his nerves causing him to misjudge the space, but when he had and she didn't move he figured fuck it. He wanted to sit close to her so he did, and she didn't try to get farther or push him away. She was warm and soft and he liked being beside her; the feel of her skin on his was comforting in a way he didn't realize he needed. For the first time in his life he didn't feel the overwhelming pressure to be ahead of someone but rather craved being right beside them.
He also wasn't expecting Deku to actually move when he'd told him to, but that nerd had clearly been plotting something since yesterday. If things got out of hand, Katsuki would have to put a stop to it, but he didn't mind just yet since it had basically all worked out in his favor. But if Deku breathed even one word of their conversation to anyone, especially Uraraka, Katsuki would kill him.
Despite his way too obvious scheming, Katsuki supposed he'd have to thank Deku or whatever, because it was thanks to that scheming that Katsuki had had one of the most relaxing evenings he'd experienced since starting high school. Uraraka's room wasn't anything crazy but it was inviting and cozy. Despite not having a lot of stuff she still made the space feel like a home. It smelled like her, something he hadn't realized was so attractive to him until he was surrounded by it, and he honestly just enjoyed being there.
He enjoyed being with her.
They finished cleaning and though it was still relatively early for most of them Frog and Icy Hot left for the night, followed shortly by Four-Eyes and Deku.
"Goodnight Uraraka, Bakugou," their class rep said, stepping out of the room first.
"See you guys tomorrow," Deku said, following him. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do, Kacchan," he added with a grin before hurrying away.
"THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?!" Katsuki roared, but Deku was already gone and it wasn't worth chasing him through the halls. He ran his hand through his hair in embarrassment, grumbling to himself. That nerd was gunna make everything too fucking obvious. Even though he'd finally realized his feelings, Katsuki was just trying to do what Kirishima had said; go with the flow and do what felt appropriate in the moment, not rush into something and risk scaring her off again.
Fortunately, Uraraka either hadn't heard Deku or chose to ignore what he'd said. "So, uh, you're welcome to stay a bit longer if you want, Bakugou. I was just going to study a little before bed. I know you usually like to sleep around this time though."
He checked the time on his phone. It was a little after 8:00, and he was starting to get tired, but for some reason he didn't feel like leaving yet. He walked towards her bed and sat back down in the same spot he'd been sitting in before. "I ain't that tired. I'll stay, just in case you need help from someone way smarter than you."
"Too bad no one like that is here," she teased as she grabbed her bag and other study materials from her desk.
Despite what he thought he should be feeling, Katsuki couldn't bring himself to be mad about her comment; it was kinda hot when Uraraka got sassy, he decided.
Taking the chance to get a better look around her room now that they were alone, he noticed Mini Cheeks sitting on top of Uraraka's pillow and grabbed it. It really did look exactly like her, mochi and all. He smooshed its cheeks together and had the extremely overwhelming urge to do the same to the real thing, but he shoved it to the back of his mind for now. "Your room's kinda boring. I thought you'd have more of this kinda shit."
She looked up from where she had sat across the table from him on her floor. "Plushies and things? I mean I like them, but not nearly as much as Ashido and Hagakure. Toys are expensive," she said, scratching the back of her head, shyly. "I wanted her because I've never won one before. And because it was our first time really hanging out together outside of class and training, and you even helped me get her, so she's special to me."
"Hn," he nodded as he placed the rabbit back on her pillow exactly as he'd found it, careful not to let it fall.
Once she'd gotten comfortable, Uraraka started rummaging in her bag and pulled out what he recognized as one of her class notebooks. He was probably paying way too much attention to her if he remembered what her damn school supplies looked like, but it was too late to go back on that now. There was an identical notebook already on the table which said, 'Master Mathematics Notes' on the front.
"What're you doing?" he asked as she opened both notebooks and started writing in the 'Master' one.
"Copying my notes," she said. "Studying doesn't come as easily to me as to most of you guys, so especially since getting into U.A. I've been trying really hard to get better at it. I'm pretty slow at writing notes in math because I'm always trying to listen to what Ectoplasm sensei says, so they're often really sloppy and hard to follow. Last year I realized it was really helpful to redo them, so every night I copy them over into a home notebook that I can highlight and color code so I can study much easier. It also forces me to think back on the lessons to remember what I was writing the first time, especially when I miss something. And the repetition is good too. I didn't get a chance to finish yesterday because Todoroki and I spent a longer time at the store than I anticipated, so I wanna finish now while everything is still fresh in my head." She underlined something with a purple pen and drew a large pink box around some formula. "I know it might seem silly to you but I'm not just naturally talented at everything I try."
He groaned internally and crossed his arms. "I'm not just naturally good at everything either, Uraraka. I make myself good at shit. I put in a lot of work and give shit everything I've got, and then try to go further. Ain't any point in doing somethin' if you're just gunna half-ass it. No one is just magically talented at everything. Even fuckin' All Might had to borrow his power from someone else. Sure, I have a great quirk, but I could easily do nothing with it. I train hard as fuck and I bust ass in school because I refuse to accept anything lower than an A. That's bullshit and I know I can do better. I'm good at shit because I do more than the bare minimum required to succeed. I don't know why someone would try if they're not going to give everything 110%."
"I know," she said, looking up from her notes. "Sorry, I didn't mean to make it seem like I was complaining or that I thought you weren't trying your hardest too. I can see how hard you work, and it's because of you and Deku and everyone else in class that I'm so motivated to do the best that I can. And I'm actually quite proud of myself! I only ranked 13th after our first semester last year, but my rank for the second semester finals we took after the war went up! So I'm doing a lot better. And my rank is going to go up after our next midterms, too. I'll make sure of it. So I'm also giving everything 110%."
"Good," he grunted. He knew she was. He'd known it since their very first fight last year - he'd probably known since the second she'd gotten him with that jacket trick. But it was important that she knew it, too.
He watched her work for a little while, the sounds of pencil and marker on paper filling the otherwise quiet room. He liked watching her; she was so focused and determined. It was very calming. Before Uraraka, he had never considered that feeling calm and relaxed was something he actually wanted.
She looked really cute today, even though she was dressed normally in shorts, leggings, and a pink shirt he'd seen her wear a hundred times. He had spent so long earlier agonizing over what to wear, ultimately deciding that if he wore anything other than his normal clothes it would be too obvious he was nervous as shit. But she always looked nice, regardless of if she was dressed up or was in sweaty post-work-out gear - she didn't even need to try.
A strand of hair fell loose in front of her face and he wanted to fix it like he'd done yesterday but he was too far away. He hadn't done it for any reason other than he wanted to, but the reaction he'd gotten from her had nearly caused him to pass out from just how shocked and red and adorable she was. If things kept up like that he wasn't sure how he was supposed to keep going with the flow, so maybe it was for the best that he couldn't fix it for her again.
Without looking up from her notes she brushed the hair behind her ear and his focus switched to her hands. Kirishima's words rang through his mind.
'Do you wanna hold her hand or hug her or something?'
Probably, he found himself thinking in reply, despite the fact that he had never wanted to do shit like that with anyone before. If she wants to then definitely.
'Do you want to be closer to her?'
Obviously.
'Do you want to be with her?'
He still wasn't really sure what that meant - being in a relationship with someone. He had a hard enough time maintaining the platonic relationships he had; would it even be possible for him to 'date' or whatever? But a small voice in the back of his mind that sounded a lot like dream-Uraraka said, Only a moron and a pussy wouldn't want to be with her, dumbass.
She sneezed, snapping him from his thoughts, and it was fucking adorable. Who the fuck found sneezes adorable? Him apparently. She rubbed her nose with her fingers, scrunching up her face to look even more like that stupid mochi emoticon she kept sending him.
He liked her nose. It fit her. Her whole face was fucking cute if he was being honest with himself, which is what he was supposed to be doing now. He never used to care about it, just another extra face in the crowd. But he had been stupid back then. Blind.
Her pudgy, pink cheeks were his favorite part, of course, but he was starting to realize that he liked everything about her. Her chestnut eyes were big and beautiful, her long eyelashes accentuating her features. He liked the way her hair framed her face and matched her eyes perfectly.
Her tongue poked out of her mouth just barely as she concentrated on whatever she was writing. That was fucking cute too! In fact, she'd nearly killed him that morning when she stuck her tongue out at him.
He liked her smile, even when it was brighter than the sun, because that meant she was truly, genuinely happy.
He liked her lips.
'Do you want to kiss her?'
…
Dammit.
Katsuki was gunna kill Kirishima.
Because he was most definitely fucked.
Uraraka saved him from his extremely lame and embarrassing thoughts when she started mumbling about her notes. "I don't think… that looks wrong… I guess it could be this… But I think Ectoplasm Sensei said… No…"
"What," he asked, grateful for anything that would get his mind away from thinking about… all of that. "Lemme see."
He grabbed her class notebook and slid it over to his side of the table, reading through what she'd written. "This part," she said, pointing to a scribbled out formula near the bottom of the page. "I didn't have time to copy the whole thing so I just filled in what I thought worked but it makes no sense now, and I can't remember what it was supposed to be."
"Your handwriting is awful," he said, trying to make out what she was going for. Half the formula looked correct but the rest was just nonsense.
"I told you, I was rushing to write it! Look, this book looks better." She pointed to her 'Master' book which was in fact a lot neater and easier to read. "Can you just help me remember this one formula? Pleeease?" She clasped her hands together in front of her, her eyes bright and shiny as she looked at him with the most obnoxiously adorable puppy-eyed expression he'd ever seen. He wanted to scream and pinch her cheeks right there, but he figured that would be 'unmanly' or whatever, so he held back.
"Tch, yeah fine." He grabbed one of her pencils and erased her mess of a formula, rewriting the correct one in its place. "If you miss somethin' in class don't just write random shit down, you're gunna mess up that way. No wonder it takes you so fuckin' long to make sense of this."
"Thank you," she said as he passed back the notebook and she copied over the corrected version into her 'Master' copy. "This makes so much more sense now." She finished writing out the section of notes and closed her book. "If I don't try to write the stuff I miss then I'll just have blank spots and be even more lost," she said. "Isn't writing something better than writing nothing?"
"Not if you're gunna confuse the fuck outta yourself. If you miss somethin' just put a mark next to it and ask me after class, I'll help you if you're genuinely trying to work on shit."
She quietly stared at him for a few seconds, her expression odd. It made his insides squirm, but he couldn't look away. "Thank you, Bakugou," she said, a soft smile appearing on her lips.
Her lips that he liked.
Her lips that he wanted to-
"Whatever, Mochi Face, stop thakin' me for shit. I'm goin' to bed." He got up and made his way to the door, trying very hard to turn off his brain so he could actually sleep when he made it back over to his room. "Don't stay up too late, I'm not cuttin' you any slack if you sleep in tomorrow."
She giggled, a sound that he was quickly realizing he wanted to hear as often as possible. "I won't. Goodnight, Bakugou."
"G'night."
It was Monday afternoon and Katsuki was at the gym finishing up his after-school workout. Normally he'd ask Kirishima and maybe Kaminari and Sero to go with him, but today he had a suspicious feeling that he should be avoiding them instead. They had all been more obnoxious than usual in class and he didn't like it. Something stupid was going on, and he was going to do everything in his power to avoid finding out what.
That morning, Uraraka had practiced the move he had suggested again but she'd still made no progress on her own, so she'd probably need some type of propulsion gear like he'd suspected. He'd taken for granted that he could just do that without needing to care about if he was weightless or not.
After he'd finished his cool down he showered in the locker room and made his way back to his dorm, pulling out his phone to text her on the way.
Katsuki 17:37
Tomorrow let's go to support to get you some gear
Pink Cheeks 17:39
Ok (๑ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° ๑)
Katsuki 17:39
Stop
Pink Cheeks 17:39
What kind of gear should I get? I don't wanna change my costume around too much if I don't have to
Katsuki 17:40
With the way you carry yourself a boot upgrade would probably be best. I'm sure they can work around the shock absorption
Won't get in the way of your wires either
Pink Cheeks 17:41
Okay, sounds good! We can go after class
Hatsume kinda scares me though, so I'm glad you're coming with me
Katsuki 17:41
Who the fuck is Hatsume
Pink Cheeks 17:42
You'll know when you see her
The elevator dinged as it reached the fourth floor and Katsuki stepped out, putting his phone in his pocket as he made his way down the hall. It was quiet - almost eerily so. Much too quiet for a Monday right before dinner.
Whatever stupid thing he'd sensed earlier was probably still going on, but he had no patience for that shit today. He unlocked his door and stepped into his room, dropped his bag on the floor, and set his keys on his desk, not bothering to lock his door; he never locked it while he was in there, it just wasn't a habit he was in, and he'd never really had a reason to before.
He'd have to start.
Within seconds his door was slammed open, Kirishima leading the way followed closely by Kaminari and Sero, the latter of who locked the door behind him.
"The fuck are you idiots doing-"
"Hold him down, Kirishima!"
"Give us your phone bro, we just need to see something."
"FUCK OFF! GET OFFA ME, I'LL FUCKIN' KILL YOU, YOU BASTARDS!"
Kirishima tackled Katsuki to the ground as Kaminari wrestled with him, trying to get into his pockets. The scuffle couldn't have lasted longer than a minute but involved a lot of yelling, plenty of cursing, many punches and kicks, several explosions, and even a few small electric shocks. Finally, Kaminari emerged from the pile, his left cheek swollen and his right arm slightly burned. "I GOT IT!" He held up Katsuki's phone victoriously before a frown slowly appeared on his face. "Wait, there's no charm."
"THE FUCK IS YOUR DAMAGE, DUNCE FACE?! GIMME MY SHIT!"
"Damn," said Kirishima, still holding down Katsuki, "I really thought he would have put it on. I can't believe I was wrong."
"FUCKIN' DIE, THE BOTH OF YOU!"
"Oh, gentlemen, gentlemen, gentlemen," came Sero's voice from the corner of the room where he had remained, steering clear of the danger zone. "You weren't wrong, Kirishima, you were simply looking in the wrong place." He casually held up a set of keys, letting them dangle from his finger to reveal one single pink and black Saturn keychain.
"WHAT THE FUCK?! PUT THOSE BACK!"
"Sero, you genius!"
"Bro, I could kiss you right on the mouth."
"No thanks, Kaminari, I'm not looking for anything serious right now, but I appreciate you," Sero said, laughing as Katsuki broke free and snatched his keys back. "I'm not as pretty as Jiro, anyway, so you'd be downgrading."
"GET THE FUCK OUTTA MY ROOM!"
"So she has a keychain of him," said Kaminari.
"And he has a keychain of her," finished Kirishima.
"That's true love," nodded Sero.
"DON'T FUCKIN' IGNORE ME, BASTARDS!"
"Man, Bakugou, I'm so jealous," whined Kaminari, flopping backward onto Katsuki's bed. "You didn't even know what a girl was a month ago and now you've got a whole entire girlfriend and I'm just here wasting away into nothing."
"To be fair, Jiro would probably give you a chance if you acted less like a fool around her," said Sero, taking up residence in Katsuki's desk chair. "Or, you know, if you actually asked her on a date."
"GET OUT!" Sparks erupted from Katsuki's palms, but just like his outbursts they went ignored by his so-called 'friends'.
"I've tried! But she always thinks I'm joking around."
"I wonder whose fault that is," said Kirishima sarcastically from his spot on the floor.
"FUCK ALL OF YOU!"
"But wow, Bakugou, I'm really impressed. I honestly didn't think you had it in you," said Sero.
"Yeah, bro, good for you, Uraraka is really sweet," added Kaminari. "But man, I still can't believe that two of you have girlfriends now."
"SHE AIN'T MY FUCKIN' GIRLFRIEND!"
The room finally got quiet, Katsuki's heavy breathing the only audible sound. He was seeing red, on the verge of blowing his own room to pieces just to end this.
"That's what I figured," said Kirishima, finally breaking the silence.
"But you like her," said Sero.
"Get the fuck outta my room," Katsuki hissed.
"Dude, you should just ask her out," said Kaminari. "I'm pretty sure she'll say yes."
"You should ask Jiro out then," said Sero.
"Listen, we are ruining Bakugou's day right now, okay? Please leave me out of this."
Katsuki had had enough. He wrenched his door open, rage leaking out of every pore of his body. "Leave."
Having accomplished their mission, the three boys seemingly decided they'd done enough damage for one day and did as they were told.
"Later, Bakugou," Sero said, leaving first.
"I can't believe you're gunna have a girlfriend before me," Kaminari grumbled, following Sero in the direction of the elevator.
Kirishima left last, stopping briefly to place his hand on Katsuki's shoulder. "Who knew you were secretly this cute, bro?"
Katsuki blasted Kirishima out of his room and slammed the door, not forgetting to lock it this time, just as the others burst out laughing on the other side.
He really fucking hated his friends sometimes.
"So I remembered something," Uraraka said, hoisting her backpack more comfortably on her shoulders as she and Katsuki made their way to Power Loader's workshop. "During the cavalry battle at last year's sports festival Hatsume and I were on the same team, and she had made these boots that had, like, hover thrusters or something in them. I was able to use those to push off and float us really high."
"Yeah, I remember," Katsuki grimaced. "It was annoying as hell. Those things were pretty weak though, it was mostly you doin' the work."
"I know," she nodded, "but Hatsume's always working on new 'babies', maybe she's already improved them since I sort of broke one thanks to Mineta. Or maybe she could at least build on her past idea."
He grunted in agreement, still struggling to remember who the hell this Hatsume person was. Honestly, he didn't even think there was a fourth person on Deku's team; she must have been so extra he blocked her out. The only people he'd really paid attention to during the cavalry battle, besides his own teammates, were Deku, Uraraka, and Tokoyami, Icy Hot and Four-eyes, and that Copycat fucker from class 2-B. Mononucleosis or whatever his name was.
They reached the studio and he was about to open the door when Uraraka grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back behind her.
"What the-"
"Hold on." She stood off to the side of the door as far from it as possible and stretched out her arm to lightly knock just once. Almost immediately the entire door exploded outward, a giant smoke cloud appearing in its place. "See -cough-? Told you -cough cough-," she said, trying not to breathe in too much smoke. He looked at her, confused as to how she knew exactly what would happen, and she simply shrugged. "Deku's forgotten every time."
A soot and oil grease covered girl with pink hair and huge goggles poked her head out of the newly emptied doorway. "Who's there? Power Loader sensei isn't here right now." She looked like some kind of crazy mechanic, and, much to Katsuki's dismay, he was hit with the sudden realization that he remembered exactly who Hatsume was.
He had been right; he'd definitely blocked her out, but not because she'd faded into the background.
"Uh, hi, Hatsume," Uraraka said, waving awkwardly.
"Oh. You're not Midoriya," Hatsume said, finally noticing Uraraka. "Do I know you?"
"Yes, my name's Uraraka. We've met several times. Were you expecting Deku?"
"No, but he's always needing new gear with that crazy quirk of his, so he's our best regular!" Hatsume looked Uraraka up and down, clearly still unsure of who she was, when she suddenly shouted out, "Oh yeah, you're the gravity one! You broke my baby at the sports fest last year."
"Yeah, sorry about that," Uraraka said, scratching her head. "But we were actually here to see if you could help me with a new support upgrade."
"'We'? Oh, you mean you and… this one?" Hatsume asked, gesturing vaguely in Katsuki's direction as if she'd only just noticed him standing there.
"You got a fuckin' problem with me?" he asked, scowling.
"Wow, someone's feisty! I would have never pegged you for being into the bad boy type, Floaty. I sort of thought you and Midoriya were like, together or something."
"I'm not! I mean, we're also not- It's not like that," Uraraka squeaked, defensively. Katsuki chanced a peak at her out of the corner of his eye only to find that her face was bright red. Was that a good sign or a bad sign? He wasn't sure, but he couldn't really say anything since it technically wasn't like that, and he had also denied it just last night to his own friends.
Hatsume burst out into unnecessarily loud laughter. "What, I think it's kinda cute. Everyone loves the unexpected."
Katsuki was already sick of this damn girl; she was getting on his nerves worse than Deku going on a rant about Pro Hero lore or Icy Hot literally just existing too hard. "Can you fuckin' make her rocket propulsion boots or not?"
Hatsume smirked, her hands on her hips as she said, "Of course I can, Spiky, who do you think you're talking to?"
"Great, that would be awesome," Uraraka said, stepping in front of Katsuki and stopping his oncoming insult in its tracks. "Will you be able to do it soon?"
"Normally I could have them within the day, but if I don't finish this current project Power Loader sensei might actually kick me out of the workshop this time. I can get them done by like… what day is today?"
"It's fuckin' Tuesday," Bakugou barked, his irritation growing by the second.
"Come back Thursday," Hatsume said, turning back into the workshop. "Byeee!"
Before Katsuki could even think she had disappeared behind the smoke that had started reemerging through the now-vacant doorway.
"That was awful," he grumbled, turning back the way they came.
"She's scary, right?" Uraraka asked, wiping down her uniform in case any soot had gotten on it.
"She's a damn nightmare! Super fuckin' annoying."
"Well, at least I'll have my boots soon!" She smiled brightly at him and he felt himself grinning back, any negative feelings he'd had while talking with Hatsume vanishing almost instantly.
"Okay, I got all my stuff," Uraraka said, plopping down on the couch across from where Katsuki was scrolling through hero news sites on his phone; he'd already set up his notes and taken out the homework that Ectoplasm had assigned them earlier that day, but he had yet to start working. She'd asked him if they could work together in case she needed more help with that formula from Sunday, and he was genuinely enjoying the whole 'spend more time with Uraraka' thing, so he'd agreed. Knowing that he didn't often like people bothering him for help she'd offered to come to his room, but Kirishima had once warned him that a boy inviting a girl to his room alone could be 'looked down upon' and considered 'unmanly' or whatever, so he'd suggested the common area instead. "Have you looked at the problems yet? Do they look hard?"
"Dunno, was waitin' for you," he said with a shrug.
"Oh," she said, her natural blush darkening a few shades and only serving to make her cheeks even cuter. Katsuki had the overwhelming desire to squish them again, but just like the previous night he was too far away. Ashido had been right; Uraraka was just like a cute little animal you couldn't help but want to squeeze.
They began working on their own, though Katsuki found himself often looking up to check on her. The work wasn't particularly difficult in his opinion, but then again math did come fairly easily to him. Uraraka, on the other hand, looked like she was struggling a fair bit. Inevitably, after around 20 minutes she started fidgeting and he knew it was only a matter of seconds until...
"Bakugou, I think I'm messing this part up, can you look at it?"
He reached out his hand, indicating for her to give him her book, but instead she got up and moved to sit on the couch next to him. It was probably just so that she could see what he was doing, and she didn't sit as close to him as they had been during movie night, but he still felt himself getting slightly nervous. Luckily no one else was around because he didn't need to explain to some extra why an act so simple as sitting next to a girl was giving him literal goosebumps.
Her work was good and, though she wasn't as far along in the problem set as he was, she'd gotten all of the answers correct so far. That is, all of them except for the problem she was currently working on which was a hot fucking mess. "What the fuck were you trying to do here, Uraraka? This isn't even real math!"
"I really don't know," she said, scratching the back of her head in embarrassment. "I messed up at some point and just kinda… went with it?"
"I told you not to just write random shit! Erase it and start over." He passed her back her book so she could do as he'd asked and as the problem passed his eyes again he immediately noticed her error. "You got the formula wrong again, it's this one," he said, opening his notes to the right page and showing her. "Try it again."
He passed her his book and leaned back, not wanting to start a new problem knowing he'd have to check hers in a few seconds. He relaxed into his seat and set his hand down on the couch in preparation for another minute or two of scrolling on his phone.
However, his hand never made it to the couch cushion; instead, it landed directly on top of Uraraka's.
They both froze as she let out a tiny squeak which she awkwardly tried to cover up with a cough. He was about to pull away but she didn't move her hand and continued to work on the problem as if nothing had happened. What now?! Should he stay still, too? Should he move? Should he explode his hand off right then and there?
He honestly wasn't sure what to do, but her hand was warm and he didn't want to distract her further from the assignment by making it a big deal - and his brain may have combusted just a tiny bit - so he left his hand where it was.
As she worked he propped his chin up with his free hand, his elbow resting on his leg, hyper-aware of the building heat in his face and the sweat in his palms. Hopefully she wasn't grossed out by that because he sure as hell couldn't fucking stop it. Thankfully, he hadn't accidentally set off his quirk while awake since he was a kid.
When she was finished she angled her book towards him, silently asking if her work was good while doing everything she could to avoid eye contact. Her face was flushed the same dark pink as the accents on her hero suit and her expression was nervous, but he knew her well enough now to know it wasn't a bad nervous. That was good. This was good.
God, she was so fucking pretty.
He had to snap himself out of it before he spent the rest of the night just staring at her like a fucking moron, so he forced himself to tear his eyes away. Just glancing at her answer was enough to inform him that it was correct so he nodded into his palm. "Try the next one, it's similar."
Despite the slightly awkward and unnatural position their hands were in she still hadn't moved at all, even as she started the next problem, so he decided to test the waters by giving her a small squeeze. She paused, turning towards him, her eyes wide and her cheeks brilliantly crimson. Katsuki was so damn embarrassed that when she turned back to her work and shifted her hand he almost set off an explosion on his own damn self.
But she didn't shift her hand away. Instead, she flipped it over, laced her fingers between his in a much more comfortable position, and squeezed back. Her hand was soft and gentle, and she even made sure her pinky finger pad didn't make contact with his hand.
Someone without fucking ears would probably be able to hear his damn heart beating from at least a kilometer away.
She was taking her time on the problem, whether on purpose or not he wasn't sure, but he didn't really mind. Holding hands was… nice. He didn't hate it like he'd used to think he would, but that was probably because it was her. He didn't even mind that he was completely prevented from doing his own work if they stayed like this. Honestly, if she let him, he'd probably hold hands with her a lot more often. She scooted a little closer to him, keeping their fingers interlocked, and showed him her completed problem again. He nodded and gave her hand another tiny squeeze and she started working on the next one, a small smile on her face, neither of them saying a word. They stayed like that for a few minutes as she worked, silently holding hands as if it wasn't the first time - as if they'd been doing it all along. It was bizarrely peaceful.
At least, it was for a little while. Just as Uraraka reached the last section of problems a loud voice behind them called out, "Hey look, Ochako and Bakugou are down here, too. What's up guys?"
"N-nothing!" Uraraka screamed, tearing her hand away from his so fast you'd think he had actually set off his quirk against her palm.
"Oh, math homework?" the interrupter, Invisible Bitch, asked, her floating shirt leaning over Uraraka's shoulder. "We haven't started that yet, right Mashirao? Is it hard?"
"It's a little tricky," Uraraka said quietly, her newly freed hand clenched tightly in her lap.
"Sorry for interrupting then," said a voice Katsuki recognized as Tail Boy from somewhere behind the couch. "We were just grabbing some dinner, did you guys want anything?"
"No, I'm okay," Uraraka said. "Bakugou, did you want food?" she asked him, chucking awkwardly.
He turned towards her, his head still resting in his palm. Her face was the brightest red he'd ever seen - it was astounding that Invisible Bitch was either too air-headed or too blind to notice. "The fuck do you think?"
"Okay then, grumpy," Invisible Bitch huffed from the empty space directly next to Urarakas head. "See you later, Ochako."
"Bye," Uraraka said quietly.
The footsteps faded behind them as Uraraka got back to work, her fist still firmly situated in her lap. He sighed quietly to himself as he grabbed his book and finished up the last two problems on the page, his hand feeling very, very empty.
Katsuki decided he'd rather be unmanly and invite her to work up in his room next time.
Training had been going well that morning, but just like the past two days Uraraka was making no progress in trying to propel herself on her own. Until her rocket boots were finished Katsuki would just have to help her so she could get a feel for it.
After she'd released herself from her most recent attempt with a huff and a frown he turned away from her and said, "Get on my back."
"Huh?"
He looked back towards her, scowling slightly. "You ain't doin' shit by yourself and that Nightmare Mechanic said your boots wouldn't be ready till tomorrow. But you should still practice bein' launched while weightless so that way you can get used to the feeling - it's not fuckin' easy the first time around. I'll be your propulsion and blast us across the field. Activate your quirk on yourself and then get on my back."
"Like a piggyback ride?" she asked, clearly still confused.
"Yeah," he said. "Then activate it on me. I'm the engine and you steer; make sure we don't fuckin' flip all over and shit."
She hummed. "Okay, I see what you're saying. Are you sure that's… okay, though?"
"What," he smirked, "think you can't handle it?"
"No, it's not that," she grumbled, shuffling awkwardly. What the fuck was she so embarrassed for?
"Just get on, Uraraka, quit fuckin' around we don't have all day." He turned back around and, after hesitating for a few seconds, she sheepishly wrapped her arms around his shoulders. He knew she had activated her quirk on herself when he felt her weight disappear just before her legs wrapped around his waist. He instinctively grabbed hold of them, trying to readjust her so she wouldn't slip once they took off.
Katsuki had gotten so used to training with Uraraka that he'd long ago stopped paying attention to what she wore in the mornings; it usually wasn't anything flashy, just practical workout clothes or her gym uniform. She always looked good, so individual details didn't really register to him anymore. He'd also failed to take into account that it was almost May now and the weather was getting a lot warmer, especially for people who spent at least 2 hours every morning running and sparring and just generally being very active. His focus was on training and improving, not on these seemingly inconsequential details.
However, the second his hands made contact with her thighs he was suddenly hyper-aware of the fact that today she was wearing shorts, not pants, and the legs now tightly wrapped around his waist were very exposed.
Oh.
Oh.
Of course she just had to wear shorts today of all fucking days. He let go just as quickly as he'd grabbed on, doing his best to hide his internal panic, his hands more than sweaty enough to blast them to fucking Mars if he wanted (even without her quirk). He took a deep breath and exhaled through his nose; he couldn't allow himself to be distracted and embarrassed right now. He needed to focus.
"O-okay," she mumbled behind him, her breath tickling the back of his neck - something else which he made an extremely conscious effort to ignore. "I'm going to activate my quirk on you now. You ready?"
He grunted, absolutely not trusting himself not to say something dumb as fuck, and readied his hands behind them. The second he felt the now-familiar peacefulness of her zero gravity take effect on his body he activated his own quirk, a large explosion launching them forwards at top speed.
Despite warning her that it would be rough the first time around, Katsuki had failed to consider the possibility that Uraraka would be scared as shit and scream at the top of her lungs directly into his ear.
"AHHHHH! BAAAKUUUGOUUUUUUU!" She squeezed him tightly in fear, her entire upper body pressing more firmly against his back than before.
Sure, Katsuki hadn't cared about relationships until now. He hadn't paid attention to girls or guys or anyone really. It hadn't even been on his radar, and he frankly didn't understand why people were so obsessed with love and… the rest of the nasty shit that came along with it. But he was still a damn seventeen-year-old with stupid fucking hormones and an instinctual, dumb monkey brain. And Uraraka was different from everyone else; Katsuki would be straight out lying if he said he didn't at least consider all of those things with her when he was alone with his thoughts. She was strong as shit and fit as hell but she was still soft and round in some pretty fucking nice places. And she definitely didn't need the help of gravity for him to feel that.
"DROP US," he choked out, stopping his quirk before they could get any higher.
She shifted as much as she could at their insane speed and just managed to press her fingertips together. "RELEASE!"
They fell the few short feet to the ground, landing hard as gravity's hold on them returned.
Uraraka didn't need weight for Katsuki to feel how soft she was pressed against him, but having weight definitely added an extra element that both terrified and excited him in 50 different ways all at the same time. He stumbled forward and grabbed her legs again without thinking, not wanting her to fall, because his brain had short-circuited too much from her boobs to remember that she still had very nice, very exposed legs.
His fingers sunk into her warm, perfect, gravity-affected thighs and he was done for.
He dropped her immediately, his entire body on fire as his blood practically exploded from the inside out, and she grunted slightly as she hit the ground somewhat hard behind him. "Ow, Bakugou, that hurt," she said, annoyed. "You could've warned me and I would've just gotten off myself."
He didn't respond as he ran his hands through his hair and a strangled growl escaped his throat. He was so pissed at himself right now, embarrassed at his own reaction to her and his inability to control himself better. He'd have to stop spending so much time with Dunce Face and Racoon Eyes, those fucking perverts.
She must have mistaken his internal trying-not-to-pop-a-fucking-blood-vessel as anger because after a few seconds he heard her stand up as she quietly said, "I'm sorry for screaming in your ear, I'll be more prepared next time. Are you mad at me?"
"No," he grunted out. He still couldn't face her so he started pacing in order to try and clear his head, but he still heard her shuffling her feet nervously. Her feet that were attached to her legs which had felt so good - FUCKING STOP!
"Are you sure?"
He growled again, his head still in his hands. "FUCK! YES, CHEEKS, JUST GIMME A FUCKIN' MINUTE!"
She silently watched him pace back and forth, her face stained with worry. He knew that he needed to make her understand that he wasn't mad at her but he still wasn't trusting himself to talk.
"Sorry," she said again, quietly. "We can just wait till I get my-"
"STOP APOLOGIZING!"
"But-"
"YOU JUST HAVE REALLY FUCKIN' NICE LEGS, OKAY?!"
Whoever was in charge of Katsuki's idiot fucking brain needed to reconnect the wires to his damn mouth immediately, because he had absolutely not meant to say that out loud. He knew that concussion had given him permanent brain damage.
"What?" she asked, her voice changing from worried to confused.
The look on her face had him spiraling, and Katsuki had reached the point in his panic where human speech no longer made any sense to him. "I-! You-! Fuck, Uraraka!" He gestured wildly towards her mostly-bare legs, hoping that it would make any kind of sense to her.
"Oh. Oh no," she said, realization finally dawning on her. "Sorry!" she squeaked, burying her face in her hands. "That's why I was worried before…"
It took another minute or two of pacing, but Katsuki was finally confident that he had calmed down enough to talk to her without erupting. "It's fine," he sighed. "You're fine. I'm not mad." She did have really fucking nice legs and at least now she knew that he thought so. All of her was really fucking nice. And soft. And - SHUT UP, KATSUKI, YOU FUCKING MORON!
"Hold on," he said as he started rummaging through his gym bag until he'd found the spare sweats he kept with him in case it got too cold to use his quirk. "Just - put these on." He held the pants out to her, still avoiding eye contact.
She took them without saying anything and he turned away while she pulled them on over her shorts. When she quietly announced she was ready, he turned back around to face her. The black joggers were too big on her so they bunched up at her ankles, even after she'd rolled them up, and she had to tie the waist so tight it looked like there wasn't any more string left. Her entire body was stiff, her arms straight at her sides, and her face was as red as Deku's ugly ass sneakers.
She was the most adorable thing Katsuki had ever seen.
He laughed before he could stop himself, his previous hormone-induced meltdown all but vanishing from his mind.
She grew more visibly embarrassed as he laughed at her, grabbing the bunched-up pants in her fists. "Bakugou! That's not nice…"
"Looks cute, Cheeks," he said, turning and offering his back to her again. "I told you; you're pretty fuckin' tiny. C'mon, let's try one more time."
She mumbled something that sounded like, "super embarrassing," and "dumb, tall boys," but arranged herself like before and activated her quirk on them both. He was able to blast them through the air more successfully than the last time, his mind firmly on their goal and not anything else; she even kept her word and didn't scream again. They made it completely across the field in only a few seconds, faster than he ever could have on his own, and she released them both safely. It'd happened exactly as he'd pictured and he was thrilled; she truly never let him down.
"Bakugou, we did it!" she cheered as she hugged him tightly from behind, not having let go yet from her piggyback ride.
Fuck.
He'd forgotten about that part.
Uraraka Ochako really was trying to fucking kill him, wasn't she.
"They seem easy enough to use," Uraraka said as she put on her new rocket boots. Katsuki had to admit, Hatsume had actually done a pretty good job with them. They resembled her old boots quite closely but had an extra inch or so of platform where the propulsion mechanism was located. The cheeky bitch had even put a small explosion decal on the soles around the rocket opening that matched his mask. Not that he'd complain about that - in fact, he kind of liked it. You couldn't tell unless you were really looking at it, anyway.
"How do you work 'em?" he asked, stretching before their zero-gravity training. They'd wasted no time, having both decided it would be best to practice using them first thing Friday morning.
"Hatsume's a genius; all I have to do is angle them in a specific way to get them going. And they won't work if there's too much weight on the soles, so I can't accidentally set them off without my quirk active! I'll just have to get used to handling them, which could take a little while but shouldn't be too bad."
But all that proved easier said than done. After 30 minutes she was only starting to get used to activating them on her own and had managed to spend more time flipping through the air without control than getting to where she actually wanted to go.
"Release," she said, pressing her fingers together and dropping the 10 or so feet to the ground. "I think that's enough for today."
"You sure?"
She nodded, sitting down and replacing the boots with her regular bright pink sneakers. "I'm starting to feel a little sick. It was much easier when we were practicing together, honestly. I feel like we were more in sync than I am with these boots."
"Hn," he grunted. "You said it yourself, I ain't gunna follow you around just waiting for one of us to need the other's quirk. If it works out that doing shit together is what we need to bring down a scumbag villain then that's what we gotta do, but you still gotta practice your own shit."
"I know. I'm not giving up." She smirked at him, confidence radiating from her, and he knew she meant it. "I just want to make sure there's time for me to kick your butt, Bakugou."
He smirked back, ready for his absolute favorite part of the day. "Bring it on, Mochi Face."
This she was getting better at. Sparring. It was no longer a question of how many punches she could dodge, but rather if there'd be any she wouldn't. He was still the undisputed champion, no questions about that, but she was definitely putting up more of a fight every day.
Katsuki couldn't remember exactly the first time he'd taunted Uraraka, but the annoyed and determined expressions it pulled out of her were what he fucking lived for.
"That was weak, Uraraka! I thought I was fighting a hero, not a weak little brat!"
She swung at him again, narrowly missing his side.
"You can do better, don't be a pussy!"
She grunted, her jaw clenched tightly. "Don't call me that!"
"Then stop acting like one and fuckin' hit me." He was grinning wildly and he knew it made her even angrier, but he just couldn't help it. Fighting her was fucking amazing; he couldn't be unhappy right now even if he wanted to.
"I'm trying!"
"Try harder! Pretend I'm some pissbaby villain."
"Then stand still," she growled, barely missing his arm and whirling around, quickly trying to reach her leg out and trip him. He jumped over it cleanly, backing up as he went further on the defensive.
Katsuki shoved his hand over his face, leaving only his eyes visible between his fingers. "Hit me, little girl," he said, his voice raspy as he attempted to mimic Shigaraki.
She snorted despite the fact that her brow was still furrowed in concentration and annoyance. "What are you doing?"
"I'm motivating you," he said. "Pretend I'm a villain."
"That's ridiculous."
"Then hit me you shitty hero! If you don't get me I'll disintegrate all your precious little friends, Uravity!"
She scowled again, diving forward with each punch. He continued to move backward to avoid her attacks, though it was only getting harder and harder, especially with his vision disrupted.
Tired of only having one hand, he decided to change course. "Oh, Uraraka," he said, his voice as high pitched as he could get it, "please let me be nasty as fuck and drink all your blood so I can pretend to be you again!"
She snorted again, a smirk slowly appearing on her lips. "Nice try. You've got the right hair color but Toga calls me 'Ochako'. Is that the best you've got?" she grunted as she swung for his head. He managed to duck in the nick of time, her fist brushing through his hair, but that had been much closer than anything before. So Toga really set her off then - good to know.
"Fine," he said, setting off a few tiny explosions in his palm to simulate fire. "How about this?"
"Cheater! No quirks!" She swung at his arm, trying to get him to stop, but missed again.
"Why not, princess? I'm Dabi now and I don't follow any rules," he sneered, enjoying himself immensely. "I've got so many damn daddy issues that I think I can do whatever I want, including killing all of my brother's weak little frie-"
Katsuki hadn't seen it coming - that was the whole point - so when Uraraka's fist made contact with his jaw he was caught completely off guard.
The force sent him stumbling backward, his villain impersonations completely forgotten. That shit had fucking hurt - he could tell the full force of her strength had been behind it.
He looked up, his hand on his cheek, as she wiped her fist against her mouth with a grimace as if what had just happened hadn't registered yet. Which, he realized based on the way her expression slowly started to change, it hadn't. Within the span of three seconds her face morphed from angry to confused to blank back to confused and then to pure, unwavering excitement.
Her eyes sparkled as her cheeks stretched upwards in the cheesiest grin he'd ever seen. "I did it," she breathed. "Bakugou, I got you. I finally did it!" She jumped for joy as she cheered and danced around, singing and laughing like she didn't have a care in the world, "I did it, I got Bakugou, I did it!"
Nothing in the world could rival her beauty in that moment, and he knew he was a fucking goner.
He walked over to her, taking her hand in his as she grinned up at him, pure, beautiful, ethereal happiness exploding out of her as if she was getting ready to replace the sun in the sky. "I got you, Bakugou."
When he kissed her he didn't have to think twice.
Notes: The art in this chapter was done by beahppy on instagram. She's an artist I have been following for years (my favorite show besides MHA is Miraculous Ladybug, which is what she primarily creates art of). I've always wanted to get a piece from her but never had any 100% solid ideas for what I wanted. However, after writing the scene where Bakugou and Uraraka hold hands, I knew exactly what to ask her for because it's one of my favorite scenes I've ever written, and she created something better than I could have ever imagined 3
This art has been my desktop wallpaper for months and I'm so glad to finally share it with you all! I really love so many aspects of this chapter and I hope you guys did too
Writing from Bakugou's POV is so fun tbh As always, thank you for reading, commenting, leaving kudos, and just being wonderful 3 you guys are awesome