Kiss of Life | K. Bakugo

Chapter Ten

My goal tonight was to have a good time. A group of us had gathered at Shoto's penthouse apartment to get ready and pregame together. It felt a lot like we were kids getting ready for prom, to be honest.

Mina practically force-fed us green tea shots while prancing around in her skin-tight black dress. Kirishima and Denki played Smash while waiting for us to get ready. Shoto took calls, too preoccupied by business and the upcoming mission to have fun. Momo spent ages meticulously doing Jirou's makeup, despite the fact that Jirou would probably wipe it off before we even left the apartment. And Bakugo brooded in the corner, staring out the floor to ceiling window at the cityscape and night sky.

"Whatcha thinking about?" I asked lightheartedly, coming up beside Bakugo with two drinks in hand.

He huffed out a breath, seemingly frustrated with something. "It's nothing," he said gruffly, "go back to the party."

"I know you better than that now," I said, handing him the spare drink and playfully pinching his cheek. "You don't have to talk about it, but you do have to come back to the party with me. I'm not letting you sulk all night."

He groaned in response, rolling his eyes and pulling his face away from my hand.

"I hate this kind of thing. I'm not cut out for social media and status and all of this bullshit," he admitted.

I asked a pointed question in response, "How did you end up being the number three hero if you don't play into their game?"

Bakugo, caught off guard, nearly spit out the sip he had taken. "I don't know dumbass, can you not piss me off this early in the night? At least wait until we're at the gala."

I laughed at his response, his bark had no bite. "I just mean... Shoto works so hard to please everyone and he's only number four. I see Midoriya doing all of those interviews too. Hell, he didn't even come pregame with us tonight, so I figured that's how he made number two. No offense, but how do you get to skip out on all of that stuff and still get to be number three?"

He scoffed, taking a sip of his drink before answering. "Because I'm actually the best. I get almost no public opinion points, but I save the most people. If the whole system weren't rigged I wouldn't even have to compete with that ancient asshole or the damn nerd. I used to think being number one was everything, but I'm not gonna give into their bullshit. You'll never see me dragging an employee to an event, putting on a show to boost a few points in the ratings."

I winced a little, realizing he was talking about Shoto and me.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I'm being an asshole, it's not your fault you got swept up in their manipulation tactics. You're gonna do good work someday when they let you off their leash."

"It's okay Bakugo," I assured, standing next to him, leaning my head against his shoulder. "You're only speaking the truth." I joined him in staring out of the window wistfully, feeling pathetic for being part of Shoto's charade to try to knock Midoriya and Bakugo out of their spots.

"Katsuki..." he breathed.

"Huh?"

"Call me Katsuki. You said it yourself, you know me well enough now."

My cheeks warmed. "Okay Katsuki," I said, chancing a look in his direction despite my obvious blush. I could have sworn his cheeks looked a little red too. "Wanna get back to the party now?"

Despite his protesting, he ended up coming back with me anyway, mostly because I physically dragged him back by the arm.

Katsuki and I did a shot together upon Mina's insistence, and then another upon mine, and then another upon Kirishima's. By the time the limo rolled up, we were positively hammered. Shoto sighed beside me as I did my best impression of Hizashi, or Present Mic as they called him, ordering a coffee at Starbucks, earning roaring laughter in response from the group.