Chapter Text
Uraraka decides after this drill that she seriously has to work on her stamina.
Her chest heaves in confirmation, working overtime to fill her body with much needed oxygen. Still, she remains alert, ears perked for the slightest nearby sound.
The air smells faintly of dust and static, the particles around her electrified with the energies of everyone darting around on the grounds. Somewhere in the distance, Aizawa blows a whistle. The noise sharp and shrill as it slices through the air to signal it was time to call it a day. Finally having caught her breath, Uraraka slowly moves towards the edge of the building she's on. Crouching down, she brings a steady palm to her chest as she prepares to descend. That faint pink glow dances around her fingertips and her thigh muscles flex in anticipation.
Then, she vaults herself off.
The sky mixes into one big swirl of colors as she falls. Her eyelids flutter to a close as she gets lost in the feeling of the wind rippling around her body, her hair tickling her face as it whips around. Her heart seems to soar along with her.
She would never get over how freeing this was.
A shame it couldn't last forever.
Like clockwork, her gut instinct lets her know when it was time to start preparing for impact. Uraraka skillfully twisted her body in the air to face the ground, bracing her lower body before smacking a palm to her chest.
"Release."
As her center of gravity returns, she suddenly feels a small prickle on the back of her neck that brings her attention to something outside of herself.
Or rather, someone.
The moment her boots hit the dirt, another pair step into her line of sight. Orange and black, paired with the smoky scent she's come to grow familiar with. Bakugo stalks past her, jaw set tight in the way it always is, shoulders taut with the latent intent to send him ricocheting at any moment. She glances over as he goes, her hand settling across her stomach as if that would do anything to calm the odd feeling she's started to get around him lately. The feeling she can't quite yet name.
That she won't name.
A small, involuntarily sigh escapes her-that was all it took.
His attention was on her again, red eyes cutting into her as he glances backwards at the sound. His expression stayed neutral, mouth scowling in a way that suggested it was muscle memory, void of any real contempt. His eyes held the same whirlwind of unidentifiable emotion she'd been catching glimpses of for a while now. As the school year progressed, the two started to find themselves constantly tangled up in one another's presence at some point.
Friend groups that constantly crossed paths, team-ups in and outside of class. Suddenly, he was a constant in her life that she had now grown accustomed to.
Their brewing energy held a quiet question. Something unspoken taking shape in these small moments.
Just as quickly as the moment happened though, it ended. Her view was returned to his retreating back and she shook her head as if to deny what just happened.
As if it wouldn't consume her thoughts later.
Another whistle pierced her eardrums, meaning Aizawa was issuing a very thin warning to hurry up. Uraraka hustled to the main grounds, falling into line with Tsu as the rest of her classmates straggled in.
Voices fall over one another. Somewhere, someone lets out a boisterous laugh that echoes so happily Uraraka can't help the small smile that tugs at her lips. The energy quickly began picking back up as lunch plans started being made all around her.
Aizawa cleared his throat loudly, once. A hush fell over the area instantly.
"Good job today." he says, pausing to adjust the capture cloth around his neck. His good eye sweeps around the group, tired but meticulously studying. "Kaminari, Hagakure. Clean up duty before lunch."
Kaminari lets out a disgruntled groan before he could stop himself. Whatever pleas to be spared he had in mind died on his lips as Aizawa's hair shot up, ink-black strands pointed angrily like snakes in the electric student's direction. The red illuminating his pupil was a blaring caution sign.
Seems nobody had anything else to complain about.
With a wave of his hand Aizawa finally dismissed them. Chatter filled the group as they migrated inside, the last reserves of adrenaline Uraraka had quickly dissipating as she peeled into the girls locker room. In record time she shimmies out of her hero costume, shoving it into her gym bag, growing acutely aware of her sweaty bangs sticking to her forehead and her stomach beginning to grumble in hunger. She grabs a clean towel, dampening it with cool water before running it over her face and body. Her mind wanders back to Bakugo, heat creeping across the tips of her ears at how scandalous it was of her to think of him while she was currently half naked. He was her classmate, her peer, and she could probably count on one hand the number of real, actual conversations they'd had. Bakugo wasn't someone to waste time or breathe talking too much if he had nothing to say, so he floated around like an indignant enigma most of the time.
He was abrasive, sometimes downright crude, and yet...
That made him all the more intriguing to Ochako.
Because under that gritty surface, she's had her fair share of glimpses of Bakugo as a person. The way his lip curled right before he was about to give you the best training advice of your life if you ignored the harsh delivery, the way he leaned almost imperceptibly closer to people talking to him since his quirk made him hard of hearing, the way there was this one tiny crease between his eyebrows when they were furrowed in concentration. How he liked to let his chopsticks hang out of the side of his mouth in between bites of food, how he would never admit it but he started making a conscious effort to adhere to dress code once they got back to some sense of normalcy.
How soft the colors in his eyes actually were because for the past few weeks they had been accidentally playing eye tag.
At least, "accidentally" is what she liked to tell herself.
She knew she had started becoming prone to sneaking glances at him ever so often. Guilty as charged, but it was because she had began to notice things. The war changed him, as war tends to do when the reality of it settles into your bones and reminds you how fragile life really is. She saw it in every part of him. In how differently he carried himself.
At first, she thought it was just curiosity on her end. A girl's allowed to wonder after all.
But there was one day she couldn't get off her mind.
That day, Uraraka had tuned out the lesson long ago and at that point her secret little glimpses had become second nature to her. She had shifted a loose curl behind her ear, drumming her fingers idly as she decided she would take a peek at his side of the classroom.
He was already looking right back at her.
She all but jumped out of her skin when their eyes met, his body was slumped down in his seat and his body language screaming boredom. Yet, he was fully turned to face her direction. One arm rested on his desk, tapping a pencil in his hand rapidly as the other arm draped lazily behind his head. The rolled cuffs of his uniform sleeves squeezing around his bicep in a way that ignited more than just her interest.
He had that look on his face, that tell-tale crease of concentration, giving away that she was the object of his pondering.
Uraraka had sat up so straight her body went rigid, the movement pulling him out of his own trance as recognition followed by alarm flitted over his face. She watched intently as he too rapidly sat up, turning himself completely away and averting his eyes from her. His eyes darted around trying to find somewhere to rest before finally settling on something in the corner of the room.
Ever since that day, there was this invisible force drawing them to one another, yet repelling them just as equally. Never too close, never too far-simply always observing the other from an arms length away.
Uraraka splashed cold water on her face as the memory drew heat into her cheeks, much to her annoyance. She needed to focus-school, internships, training was where her thoughts belonged. Not dwelling on interactions that she didn't even know what to make of. Throwing on her uniform, she finally exited the lockers, blending into the sea of people headed back to the classroom.
That smoky, amber wrapped scent hits her once again. She silently curses the way her heart reacts to it, fluttering wildly enough to convince her the entire hallway could hear it.
A flash of Bakugo's ash blonde hair makes its way into her peripheral. Her pace quickens, and she's not even entirely sure why.
She pretends she doesn't feel his eyes burning into the back of her head.
As soon as she enters the class she grabs her backpack and exits again with such speed she must've seemed like she was absolutely ravenous to anyone that saw her. Tsu met her in the hall shortly after and they made their way to the cafeteria, arms linked as they talked about the day's menu.
"Y'know 'Chako-chan, I think today is mochi day isn't it, kero?" Tsu pressed a finger to her mouth in thought, and Uraraka nodded eagerly.
"I always mark mochi day on the calendar! I wanted to get an extra piece today, so I made sure to walk with enough yen!"
She patted the side of her backpack for emphasis; that's where she kept her wallet. So, imagine her surprise when her palm brushed against nothing but flat surface. No bump to confirm her wallet was where it's supposed to be.
Uraraka stopped walking.
Lowering her bag off her shoulder, she could see the side pocket was completely unzipped. Just her freakin' luck.
"Shoot! Ah, I'll catch up with you Tsu. I think my wallet might've fell out back in the classroom."
Tsu nodded in understanding, a tinge of worry in her face.
"Ok, I hope you find it. We can report it to Aizawa if it's missing."
Uraraka gave her a thankful smile before turning around, jogging back to class and hoping it would be waiting for her right underneath her desk chair somewhere. Most of her money and her emergency credit card from her parents were in there. She really could not afford to lose it.
She slowed to a stop as the 2-A doorway came into sight and someone comes walking out.
Bakugo's presence makes her momentarily forget what she came to get as her stupid heart does a little backflip into her throat. She barely even processes that he's walking directly towards her with purpose, until he's standing right in front of her.
"Here."
He shoves his arm out, in his hand a bright pink little item. Uraraka blinks once. Twice.
"What's that?"
She regrets it as soon as it leaves her mouth. Bakugo lets out a sound, something between a laugh and a scoff, before shaking the item in her direction.
"Roundface, is this not your damn wallet?"
"Yes! Sorry I-yes." She bows slightly in thanks, ignoring the lingering feeling of his rough fingertips sliding against her own as she takes it. "I just...forgot."
"You forgot what your own wallet looks like?" He raises an eyebrow at her and she pointedly ignored his gaze as she hyper-focused on getting her wallet back in her bag. Was her zipper always this damn hard to move??
"No I mean, I just forgot it in class!"
Amazing save.
She finally looks him in the eyes, giving him a smile that ended up shyer than she meant it to be. "Thanks for getting it back to me."
Bakugo looks away, whatever he was thinking showing up so loudly in the micro-expressions he wore that Uraraka had half a mind to pry. He moved past her with a "Tch", headed towards the lunch hall and she followed suit.
They walked together in silence, the only sound being the occasional squeak of a shoe sole.
Uraraka noticed that he had slowed his stride so he'd be walking directly alongside her. She told herself it meant nothing.
That thread between them was beginning to buzz around within her core so loudly she opted to break the silence, rather than deal it any longer.
"How'd you know that was my wallet?" She blurted out, instantly cringing inwardly at how loud she sounded in the empty halls. It left her mouth with the clumsiness of a toddler trying to fit shaped blocks into holes where they don't quite belong.
He'd honestly probably ignore her, he hates small ta-
"It's bright pink and has space stickers all over it." His voice was low, a hint of bemusement lurking underneath if she listened hard enough. "If I couldn't have deduced something so damn obvious, I would make a shit hero." He shoved his hands into his pockets, his arm brushing against hers in the process.
When had the small gap between them closed?
"Oh...well I mean it could've been Mina's." she countered, for no real reason other than to keep the conversation going. As subtly as she could, Uraraka shifted her proximity to him to be closer, to the point where they now bumped shoulders a bit as they walked.
Bakugo did not move away.
In her mind, a quiet film reel of moments where Bakugo almost skinned someone alive for being in his space played on loop. She gently shook her head, again, this probably meant nothing.
"Fair point. Except unfortunately for me I know Racoon Eyes doesn't even have a wallet, she keeps everything in her damn bra." he said that last part with such disgust coating his words Uraraka couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"What, do you have a vendetta against bras or something?"
Bakugo rolled his eyes, playfully shoving her in a way so purposefully gentle that her stomach flip flopped wildly in response. Warmth simmered underneath her skin from the contact, a trail of heat prickling up her arm to her chest. She bit the inside of her cheek hard, willing her body to stop reacting as if she was in fight or flight right now during a totally NORMAL and FRIENDLY conversation.
"No, my problem isn't with bras smart ass. I just won't be taking any fucking yen from Pinky for any reason unless I see exactly where she got it from."
"I keep money in my bra sometimes." Uraraka shrugs nonchalantly, her careful filter knocked loose by the smell of food growing stronger. They rounded a corner and the cafeteria doors greeted them; she genuinely was starving right now. Bakugo's silence in response brought her back to the reality that what she just said was actually beyond TMI and would absolutely haunt her later.
She glanced sideways at him, expecting an irritated comment at the very least. He looked straight ahead, expression unreadable, tips of his ears pink and growing pinker by the second.
The air suddenly felt a bit tighter.
They pushed through the swing doors, immediately greeted by the easygoing racket of their schoolmates' conversations. Trays clanged as they met the table, seats groaning under the weight of adolescents who spent almost all their free time pushing their bodies to their limits. The savory tang of grilled meat ghosted by her nostrils and for a split second Uraraka considered buying extra meat today instead. She could use the protein.
But when her eyes landed on the assortment of mochi, gleaming like a holy offering at the end of the food line, the thought left her mind entirely. Her attention jumped back to Bakugo, who had for some reason unknown to her, decided he was not tired of her just yet. He continued on with her to the lunch line, quietly handing off a tray to her.
"Thank you!"
"Mhm."
They moved down the line in tandem. Rice, miso, fish; a checklist of the basics before she could get to what she really wanted.
"Since when did you get so showy with your quirk." If it was supposed to be a question, he said it more as a statement. Uraraka felt her brows come together in confusion as she leaned forward slightly to reach the salad tongs.
"What do you mean?" The beginnings of a witty remark climbed up her throat, and she didn't bother to fight it, "That's kinda rich coming from the guy who's a walking fireworks show."
"Shut up, being showy is like my whole fucking thing, you know that." A small smirk formed on his face and she had to pull her eyes away to avoid staring. He was dangerously attractive when he actually smiled.
"Didn't answer my question." She sing-songed to him, clapping her hands together in glee as they finally reached the object of her desire. Perusing the selection, Uraraka wiggled her fingers as they hovered over each individual mochi like a claw machine about to pull it's prize.
"That little spin in the air you did at the end of drills today, you've never done that before." He watched her carefully make her final decision, plucking a strawberry mochi as today's winner. "Which by the way if you want energy to keep doing that you won't get it by eating that shit."
"I didn't realize anyone was watching me." She said smoothly, ensuring it came off as non-accusatory, but she noticed the way his body tightened in response anyways. Holding the piece up to her face, she tilted it around a bit for inspection before nodding in satisfaction and dropping it onto her tray. "Mochi day is my favorite, so I guess I'll just have to make peace with the horrors of having a sweet tooth."
Turning, she stuck her tongue out at him in jest, earning a scoff from him. There was a pause, a beat that was held for longer than she expected while he glared down at the mochi as if they insulted him.
Then, without a word, he plucked another piece of strawberry mochi from its place and plopped it onto Uraraka's lunch tray. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise, eyes bouncing back and forth between the 2 mochi now in front of her.
"You can have mine."
Bakugo finally moved out of line, the warmth of his body leaving an ache in his absence. Then he was gone, sliding into his seat at the self-proclaimed Bakusquad table which erupted into hoots and hollers at his arrival. Uraraka remained where she was, staring after him, feet planted and legs feeling like lead. Her body finally kicked into autopilot and she made her way to her own table, the greetings around her sounding muffled as she sat down. Her mind was racing, a hidden part of her desperate to tie a feeling to what should just be a passing interaction.
"You got your extra mochi! You must've found your wallet then, 'Chako?" Tsu's crackly voice broke her train of thought.
"Oh...oh yeah I found it! Well, Bakugo found it actually." At the mention of his name some heads at the table turned, intrigued. Deku smiled warmly, clasping his hands together at the end of the table.
"Well that was nice of Kacchan to return it!"
"Yeah it was! And he gave me his mochi portion. I guess he's in a good mood today."
The energy at the table abruptly fell into stillness, conversations screeching to a halt as invisible questions hung in the air around what Uraraka had just said. She suddenly felt her nerves heightened, like a live wire was running through her. Shoto was the first to cut the silence.
"That's unusual for Bakugo." He took a sip from his yogurt drink as he said it, a small smile hiding behind the carton. Jirou elbowed Momo as discreetly as she could, a mischievous look on her face but she quickly turned her head once she realized Uraraka was looking her way. Tsu stares back at her friend, wide-eyes curious before she fully turns around to look at Bakugo's table. The rest of the table does the same.
"That is unusual for him." Tsu, ever observant, adds on, "He must think you guys are good friends then."
It doesn't take long for Bakugo to notice an entire table staring over at him. He freezes, chopsticks halfway to his mouth before he sets them down, such immense irritation on his face that the table would've combusted if he willed it enough. Everyone swiftly turns back around as Bakugo's table now starts peeking over to see what is pissing him off.
Red eyes sweep over Uraraka, then circle back. She was going to ignore it, she'd already accidentally caused a scene by even mentioning him. But when the heavy weight of his eyes doesn't disappear, she lets her eyes drift upwards.
The surroundings seem to blur at the edges of her vision as they lock eyes. Uraraka held his gaze for another minute, sipping her miso as she tried to read what exactly was going on right now. He broke eye contact first, shoulders tensed up to his ears as he went back to shoveling food in his mouth.
Pink built up into his face, the color scrawling over his cheeks before the back of Kirishima's head blocked her view.
She was imagining things. His quirk made him run hot, that's why he was flushed, it had nothing to do with her.
But there was a chance.
A slight chance that she wasn't entirely in her head about this. Uraraka bit into her mochi to distract herself, chewing thoughtfully. She really was happy she had an extra one.