At the Core | Bakugo Katsuki | S/H

17 Clouds

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     She sat by him yet again.  Bakugo cocks an eyebrow as she waves to her father at the front of the bus, giving him a thumbs up to indicate that all the students were accounted for.
     "What's up?" she asks quietly.  He shrugs.  "Looks like nobody wanted to get bombed," she laughs.  He gave a half-hearted chuckle.  It wasn't really a sore spot—he'd actually been pretty happy he had the two-seat row to himself.  He didn't know (Y/N) was even coming with them.
     "Look who ruined it," he jokes back, but his voice was more mellow than usual.  He only noticed when she did, eyebrows knitted as her head moved about like a snake to observe him.
     "Oh, I see," she hums lowly.  She sat back against her seat with a light huff, but remained silent.  He glances over at her.  He wasn't mad at her, but that's what it seemed like she thought.  He leans forward a bit, subconsciously turning towards her to try to talk her down.  He looks down as she reaches out to push him back slightly as she pushed against his shoulder.
     "What's that look for?" he asks as he obeys.  Her eyes slid over towards him in an eerily smooth motion.  Her head didn't even move.
     "Calm down," she whispers to him.  "I won't say the word but I can see it.  Don't stress about the test so much.  You have plenty of chances."  He frowns with an almost harsh glare, prompting her to mouth the words, 'You're anxious' to him.  He sits back again, now himself with the light huff, and crosses his arms.  He was.
     They were on the bus towards the test that would determine if they got their hero license or not.  Well, for today.  He could take the test 3 times throughout his high school years at least, but he wanted it now.  He knew he'd do well with all the fighting, so he shouldn't be anxious, but he was.  Something felt wrong.
     He looks over as she leans closer to him, her left hand pressed against her soft cheeks as she whispered directly into his ear.  "There's 17 clouds, Katsuki."
     "What does that mean?"  She gives him a gentle smile, her eyes darting to the window and back.  She never leaned back.  He looked over to see the scattered white sky.
     "2 will fail.  So work hard."

     The class disembarked as soon as they arrived to the arena.  It was a bit out of the way, about a 2 hour drive out, giving them plenty of land for the aspiring heroes.  A boy had interrupted their chant to join in despite being from another school, and had apologized with blood on his forehead as he slammed it into the ground to bow.  The class was unnerved by his demeanor and his stature, towering over the rest of them, and became even more agitated when Aizawa said they should be wary of him.
     And then she showed up.
     "Eraser!?  I know that scowl anywhere!" came a shrill voice (Y/N) wished she didn't know.  Bakugo almost chuckled at the identical expressions on her and Aizawa's faces.  It was so evident they were related once he knew it.  "I saw you on TV at the Sports Festival but it's been a while since we were this close in person!"  She approaches, one hand on her hip and the other waving between them.  "Let's get married."
     "No."  She pouts at his harsh response.  (Y/N) could only roll her eyes which made Bakugo furrow his brows.  Fukukado Emi, professionally known as Ms. Joke, and one of the few non-villain people in the world who (Y/N) openly hated.  She was the type of woman who couldn't take 'No' for an answer, as evidenced in this moment.  This had been an ongoing problem, despite Aizawa telling her blatantly that he was married.  She refused to believe him, claiming she wanted proof like it wasn't common knowledge that many pro-heroes had anonymous marriages.  That didn't even get into the fact that she was ten years his junior.  What made her think Aizawa would ever choose a wife like her?  Or a wife at all?