"Be Still, Just for Me" {Bakugo x Reader}

Exhale and Breathe

so, i kinda wanna clear up something in case some folks were confused or jumped to conclusions regarding the revelations of chapter 39 (which was a LOT, to be fair)

with the whole soulmate quirk that the villain revealed, she was absolutely exaggerating how she wanted him to feel in order to exacerbate his own misery because that's what she wanted from the beginning. her quirk brought them together, yes, but there's nothing stopping either of them from finding love or happiness elsewhere or in other people after this. it's not as though she was the only one for him ever and the only person that would ever make each other happy bc i dont like that really limiting definition of "soulmate" because it eliminates consent and autonomy, it's more along the lines of... "if you happen to meet this person, you'll click and have the ability to be happy together. you can't read each others minds, it doesn't magically make you attuned to their attitudes and all relationships still require communication and work in order to succeed, BUT the quirk just puts you in their path and its up to you whether or not you want to choose that path." it's a gentle push, not a tug-of-war with Gigantomachia that you'll always lose

i've just seen folks on various platforms and in comments kind of allude to "oh no, he'll never be happy again if they never see each other" and i just wanted to clarify that's NOT TRUE. yes, their feelings for each other are very strong, but Bakugou is also making his life harder than it needs to be by keeping it all to himself in an unhealthy way. so, he created his own sadness to some extent and then had a bit of a crisis when the full truth came out

a lot of this will be touched on in the upcoming chapter, but i did want to kind of explain things and assuage fears that "they're made for each other and will be forever miserable." trust me when i say future chapters will hopefully show and explain where things will go from here :)

That being said, please enjoy the chapter!

______________________________________

Mar stood on the busy Tokyo sidewalk, feet tapping to the music pumping through their earbuds as they waited for their mentor to show up at the gym for their scheduled training. In his own words, Bakugo wanted Mar to "shape up" and continue both physical and quirk training outside of patrols. He was never one to go easy on those who slacked off, and Mar knew what they were getting into when they applied for the sidekick position months ago.

Half an hour later, Bakugo still hadn't appeared.

"Where is he? He's never late..." Mar glanced up and down the sidewalk to look for his familiar blonde hair, but puffed out their cheeks at the strangers waiting for the bus or walking with shopping bags.

Even though he wasn't the best at texting back, he at least read most of what Mar sent, so they tried calling and texting Bakugo to find out where he was; both went unanswered. Maybe there had been a villain attack somewhere? But when danger alerts went out, their phones were pinged with vital information and location data... so if he wasn't in danger, then why wasn't he here?

After another fifteen minutes, Mar got the sinking suspicion that something was definitely wrong. While it was true that his temperament had been questionably short since returning home and the tiredness more evident in his eyes even at the start of their patrol days, Bakugo had seemed particularly terse recently. He valued his privacy, sure, but Mar wasn't exactly the "sit back and wait" type of person; it was probably part of the reason Bakugo took them on in the first place.

"Pick up," they mumbled while they called the first person they thought of who might know what was going on.

"Hello? Mar? What's up? Need somethin'?" Kirishima's helpful voice echoed through the phone speaker attached to their earbuds.