Gravitation | A Bakugo & Uraraka Story Pt2

CHAPTER 8: REAL

Uraraka

"We were here, right?" Mina asked, pointing the remote at the screen.

"I think so." I said.

She played the movie and placed a bowl of popcorn on her lap. I let the movie play a bit before hugging my knees in nervousness. There were so many emotions and thoughts going through my head and I didn't know how to handle them. I should tell Mina.

...

I should.

...

...

Any moment now.

...

...

"What's wrong with you?" Mina was looking at me like I just ate a live snail.

"ITHINKBAKUGOLIKESME!" I blurted it out so fast I could barely understand myself.

Her eyes went wide, and she slowly put the popcorn bowl on the ground next to her. "What??"

"Maybe not. Never mind!" I was freaking shaking.

"Uh, NO! You can't just say something like that to me and not explain!!" She leaned in.

I took a breath. "I think he does. How do you tell??"

"Well," she said, "What makes you think he likes you?"

I swallowed. "He has said and done things that normal friends don't do...?"

She stared at me for a long beat. "What things??"

"Um," she was making me way too nervous. "Well... on Tuesday during class, he..." What words do I use?? "He... informed me that... uh..."

Mina's hands were clapped together with her pointer fingers against her mouth. Her eyebrows were raised as she waited for me to answer. "Spit it out before I slap you."

"He said he likes my..." I gestured my hands over my chest.

"He said he liked your tits?"

"Not exactly?"

She sighed sharply. "Well, how did he say it exactly?"

"It started out as a joke but then," I looked away in the distance to remember. "He's like, 'take it as a compliment'."

She squinted at me. "Okay...?"

"And then yesterday when we were training outside," I felt myself blush thinking about the moment I was about to tell Mina. She noticed and leaned in more. "We were up in the air practicing our move and it was dark, so I noticed the city's lights and I said, 'wow, it's beautiful!' and he said, 'yeah, it is.' But, Mina, he was looking at me when he said that."

Her jaw dropped. "AAAAWWWWWWWwwwwwWWWwwWWwWwWww!! That's so cute!! Yeah, he likes you."

"But he can't." I told her.

"Why not?!" She was so ecstatic.

"Because I—I don't..."

"You don't like him back?" She asked. "Yesterday you said—"

"I don't want to have to push him away!" I felt my throat tighten. Wow, I didn't think this would hit me so hard once I said it out loud.

Her face switched to concern. "Why would you... push him away?"

I hugged my knees again. "I want to be friends with him, but I can't let my feelings grow anymore. I already promised myself to focus on my training to become a hero. I wanted to improve myself and be my own, independent hero. And to do that, to focus, I stored my feelings for Deku away."

She blinked in surprise. I could tell she was holding back a smile. She had her suspicions.

"If I let myself feel for Bakugo, I would be breaking my own promise! And betraying Deku because I liked him first!" I covered my face with my hands. "But if Bakugo likes me, and I keep to my promise, I would have to store my feelings for him too." My throat twisted and I could hear my voice breaking. "It would hurt him—and I don't want to—I don't—"

Mina wrapped her arms around me as I choked on unwelcomed sobs. I didn't want to cry! Why was I even crying?? This sucks!!

"You don't want to lose him as a friend." She finished for me.

I nodded.

"I get it," she said. "Bakugo is a rare person to be friends with. I wouldn't want to piss him off either."

I sighed.

She rubbed my back. "But I think... you might like him more than you realize."

She was so right. I did like him, but I didn't know how much until now. I wiped my face and she let go of the hug. "But why?? I don't even know him. I know what kind of guy he is, but I don't know him personally!"

"I'm pretty sure that's what relationships are for." Mina pointed out.

"What do I do?"

She thought for a moment. "Hmm... tough spot. What do you want to do?"

I shook my head and dropped my chin. I wanted to focus on my hero training, I wanted to like Deku, I wanted to like Bakugo, I wanted to be in a place where no ones would get hurt, I wanted to not feel so hurt already. "I don't want to fuck up."

She giggled. "Well, in that case, befriending Bakugo is probably your best route, just don't friendzone him. No guy likes to be friendzoned. Keep him a distant friend."

"What if he makes a move?" I mentioned.

"Has he already?" She asked.

"I... think so." I thought about his foot touching mine not even an hour ago. "I'm not sure."

"Now I'm curious, has Deku ever made a move on you?"

"No!" I laughed. "He's too shy! That's what makes him cute!"

"Hmm," she thought. "Well, you don't want to reject Bakugo, that will probably end bad. So, we are just going to avoid close, personal contact!"

"Yeah," I rolled my eyes. "Until we get partnered for a week-long project again."

"Is that how this all started?" She asked.

I thought about the time we were branded.

I shook my head. "It's when it became real."

She nodded.

I laughed at myself. "Thanks for listening."

"Oh, yeah! I love this stuff!" She cheered, "And I promise not to tell anyone! Even if they already know!"

Hold up. "What do you mean by that?"

Her eye bulged in 'oops'. "Um, well, I guess I'll tell ya. Eijiro might have noticed Bakugo checking you out. He's a pretty smart dude you know!"

I gaped. "Kirishima-- knows?"

"He's Bakugo's closest friend, is it that surprising?"

I huffed. "No. ... But you can't let him encourage Bakugo! If Kirishima tells Bakugo to—or not to—Bakugo might make more moves on me and I don't know if I can say 'no' right now!"

"Okay! Okay! I'll talk to Eijiro." She reassured me. "Now let's just sit back, relax, and watch this movie that we are an hour in and haven't got a clue of what's going on!"

She picked up the popcorn bowl and set it on her lap.

"Movie," I said.

"Movie!" she cheered, tossing a huge handful of popcorn at her face.

I laughed as popcorn went everywhere. "Movie!"

...

Yeah, we had no idea what was going on in this movie.