Battle of Wills ~ (bakugou x reader)

Chapter Twelve

Over the next few mornings, you and Bakugou trained in silence. Occasionally, he would try to spark conversation, but you would reply with one-word answers, typically resulting in Bakugou becoming irritated before stopping his attempts at talking. You could also see him sneaking glances at you when he thought you weren't looking; you weren't sure why--maybe he was wondering how to make you talk. Whatever it was, the heat of his stare was unnerving.

It wasn't until Friday that he cracked.

"Fuck this bullshit!" the blond yelled, shattering the silence that had enveloped the both of you. Bakugou punched the swinging bag especially hard, and you noticed a small tear that formed from the force of his fist.

He turned to you, eyes blazing. "Fucking talk to me, (Y/N)! Just say something!"

You hold up your hand to stop the momentum of your punching bag. "I do talk," you responded curtly.

"Bullshit," Bakugou growls, walking to you. "One second you're making out with me, the next you're blowing me off! What the hell is going on inside your head?!"

You shut your eyes, feeling slightly overwhelmed as he brought up the subject you had been hiding from for days.

"Bakugou..." you sigh, opening your eyes. You knew your arrangement was shaky from the beginning. Bakugou wasn't the type to concede so easily.

He snarled. "Don't give me that crap." You could feel his body heat rising given your close proximity. It would only be a few moments before his skin started smoking.

"You obviously feel something for me. And, for whatever reason, you are fighting it. You're fighting me. But if you never fucking tell me why, what the hell am I supposed to do?!"

Bakugou was surprisingly perceptive, you realized.

The blond's breaths were coming out in hard pants as he looked down at you, awaiting a response. There was a stroke of anxiety visible underneath his steely expression.

You felt your heart rate pick up as you tried to think of a response. "I thought you agreed not to do this," you muttered quietly.

Smoke started to rise off Bakugou's arms as his irritation grew. "Hah?!" he spat angrily. "When the fuck did I say that? All I agreed to was leaving you alone at school, but apparently that wasn't fucking enough for you!"

You knew you weren't being fair to Bakugou. However, your overly evasive answers were only to protect you from revealing worries you had never shared with someone before. You didn't want to give in to Bakugou's pressuring and end up airing your secrets to a man you didn't know if you could trust.

"I'm sorry," you murmured. Bakugou's face showed confusion before you continued. "But I already told you, I can't do this with you."

Bakugou grimaced, as if he was in pain. As you turned to leave, his warm hand clamped on to your shoulder. "Do you not think I'm fucking trustworthy? After all that's happened?" His voice came out quieter than you had heard him speak before.

You gently lifted his hand off your shoulder, diverting your eyes away from his. "I should go."

To your surprise, Bakugou didn't move from where he stood as you left the building. You glanced back for one last glimpse of the man as the door closed behind you. Bakugou had his fists clenched tightly to his sides, and his head facing the ground.

For once, you couldn't quite tell what he was thinking.

***

You trudged through your classes feeling numb. You hadn't intended to hurt Bakugou, but his pained expression kept drifting through your mind as the day went on.

You knew he wasn't the type to give up without a fight, so you had been anticipating his questioning for a few days. However, in the moment, you couldn't remember any of the responses you had rehearsed to yourself. And you had hurt him.

As you walked slowly through the hallways on the way to your next class, you kept your head tilted down, staring at your shoes. You didn't have the energy to deal with other people today.

Suddenly, you felt a small hand tap on your shoulder. You turned around, popping out one of your earbuds to face the person behind you.

"(Y/N), can I talk to you for a second?" Kyoka asked.

You weren't as close to Kyoka Jiro as Aika was, and the two of you were generally the quieter of the group, so you were surprised to see her asking to talk.

"Sure," you mumbled, following behind Kyoka as she motioned for you to follow her into an empty classroom.

Once you had entered the classroom, the dark-haired girl shut the door. After the door closed with a clink, Kyoka turned to face you.

"I'm not here to dig into your personal life," she started. Immediately, you grew nervous.

"However," Kyoka continued, leaning against the wall and crossing her arms. "You should know that Bakugou has blown up three desks, sent a kid to Recovery Girl, and is snapping at everybody," she said in a matter-of-fact tone.

You froze. Why was she telling you about Bakugou?

"Okay..." you started hesitantly. "What does that have to do with me?"

Kyoka sighed, obviously hoping you would have picked up on the hidden insinuation in her words. "When he's not blowing up something, he's muttering your name under his breath."

You started to talk, but Kyoka cut you off with her hand. "I'm not going to ask you questions. But you should consider fixing whatever happened between the two of you before half the school ends up in Recovery Girl's office."

Before you could respond, Kyoka stood up and swept out the door. Still shocked by the unexpected topic of conversation, you stood rooted in place. A million different questions flashed through your head, but you realized your friend was right.

Bakugou deserved an explanation.

***

That night, you stared up at your ceiling from your bed, ignoring your still-unfinished homework. The internal debate that had started from when Kyoka left you in the empty classroom continued on in your head.

Should I tell Bakugou the truth? How should I tell him? What should I tell him?

For starters, even if you wanted to talk to Bakugou now, you had missed your chance. You wimped out on waiting for him after school, and, while you knew he lived in the Hero Course dorms, you obviously couldn't pull a Bakugou and demand the staff to tell you his room number.

You rolled over, rubbing your eyes, before noticing a piece of paper wadded up on your nightstand.

Todoroki's phone number.

You debated whether or not to use it after the days the paper had spent sitting unused beside your bed. Eventually, you worked up the guts to draft a text. Moving your fingers over the screen before you had a chance to wimp out.

Hey, this is (Y/N), you finally typed. You stared at the blue bubble hovering dauntingly on your screen before a gray typing symbol appeared.

What's up?

You bit the nail of your thumb before deciding on your next message.

Sorry, I know it's kind of late, but...

Your fingers came to a stop on the screen as you mentally worked up the courage to ask your question.

Do you have Bakugou's number?