Aesthete

Chapter 12.

I was in my waiting room, counting how many specks of dust were on the table when the door flew open with a sharp kick.

With a bent leg, Bakugo glowered at me. "This is my room, you ugly fu-" He paused, glancing at the sign next to the door that proved I was in the right place.

He dropped the scowl, looking away and muttering how I was still an idiot. "Crybaby, you know you're going to lose, right?"

I snapped my head upwards, "So your quirk is fortune-telling? Go to hell, Bakugo."

His face remained deadly serious. "You can try your best, and it still won't be good enough." His voice wasn't loud, that was what tugged at my anxiety that had been sky-rocketing since I found out he won the battle against Tokoyami.

I could be uneasy of the deathly quiet Todoroki, but Bakugo's vindictive determination to win was what kept me rooted to my chair, keeping me silent.

"Don't try making a strategy against me, I'll shut it down." He just wasn't stopping today, huh?

I brought a palm to my face, dragging it slowly to stop myself from insulting him. With a sigh, I rested my forehead against the table, humming a soft tune my mother used to sing when I was younger.

I had no time to waste on this blonde boy with anger issues. I was trying to remember the month of torture that I endured back when I trained with the QAP. That month was especially grueling because they were using each day to test the limits of my quirk. The farthest I had gone was wiping an acre of forest clean before restoring the land, then creating a landslide in an unpopulated area all in the same day.

The angrier I was, the more my quirk would amplify its strength, but how would that help me in the final match? I already guaranteed my family's safety net by making it to the finals, but I wanted more. I owe it to myself to give nothing but my all.

His presence was still in the edge of the room, he was watching me, probably trying to assess what he needed to do to beat me. I didn't have the energy in me to tell him to leave, so I only continued humming.

I was startled when his finger pressed on my arm that was bent, covering my face. "Ugly, if you don't bring everything to this fight, I'll hate you forever."

"Wow, I thought I already had that guarantee, I guess I'm going to half-ass it then." I muttered, lifting my head slightly to roll my eyes.

His palm swung at the back of my head lightly, "You're such a shitty person," he said in boredom. I only nodded, tapping the metal table.

"Florence, do you-" Izuku's voice broke through the air, I turned to see him standing in the entry. "Oh, Kacchan, I didn't know you were here, too!" His voice was nervous, Uraraka spilled the beans to me that Bakugo used to bully Midoriya but they had been childhood friends. I didn't understand the depth of their relationship to one another, but I wouldn't crack my skull trying to figure out why Bakugo mistreated Midoriya when it was obvious.

"Get the fuck out of here, Deku. I'm trying to show this ugly girl that trying to fight like you is pointless." Bakugo's voice was finally revealing that deep rage that always gets strung out when the green-haired boy is around him.

"Hey, Izuku," my tone was passive, but welcoming. He smiled at me, walking to sit at the opposite end of the table.

"So you've made up with him even though he called you weak?" Bakugo boomed, causing Izuku and I to wince at the harshness.