Down The Aisle (Bakugou x reader medieval au)

Chapter 9 - Hidden Feelings

Bakugou pov - the next morning

     I wake up to the sound of giggling and hushed voices. Squinting my eyes open, I give them a moment to adjust to the harsh brightness of the rising sun.
     Glancing down, I notice (y/n) is still curled up in my arms, fast asleep. I blush slightly thinking about how she almost found me out when she woke up in the middle of the night. I told her I didn't know how we had ended up cuddling, but I had positioned us that way before I fell asleep.
     The giggles continue and I tear my gaze from (y/n), making eye contact with Kirishima and Deku. My eyes widen before I glare at them, trying to hide my embarrassment. I'm tempted to get up to save my pride, but I'm too afraid to wake her up.
     Shitty hair does that for me though, shaking her awake as I continue to glare at him. She looks up at him and groans. "Not very manly Kiri," she says as she sits up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
     I sit up as well and watch as she finally takes in her surroundings. Her eyes widen as she looks from me to Kirishima and back, her face turning as red as his hair. I admit her being flustered is amusing, but I'm still too embarrassed to tease her about it.
     "So... you guys sleep well?" Shitty hair smirks, and Deku bursts out laughing a second ahead of Kirishima. I stand up, ready to start throwing punches, but
(y/n) beats me to it. She hits both of the still-cackling idiots hard on the back of their heads and grabs one of each of their ears, yanking them down.
     They fall to their knees and cry out in pain before begging for mercy. (Y/n) looks at me, still holding their ears, and we smirk at their suffering. She lets them go a moment later and I walk off to take a piss.

(Y/n) pov

     I watch Bakugou walk away into the forest while Kiri and Midoriya stand up, rubbing the soreness from their ears. "So we're just going to ignore the fact that you were cuddling with Kacchan?" Midoriya asks and I nod.
     "It was an accident, so yes. Now we should pack up and get breakfast out before Bakugou gets back," I know he told me to call him Katsuki, but I feel like he mostly meant when I'm addressing him personally.
     We pack up all our things and line everything up along the edge of the clearing. I took care of Bakugou's things. He comes back and we all sit to eat breakfast. Our knees are all touching due to the space being so small. Thankfully most of the awkwardness from earlier is gone.
     Kiri finishes up first and turns to Bakugou. "Do you think the waterfall we used to stop at is still there Bakubro? It might be a good place for us to make camp tonight, and we'd get to the Branch by noon tomorrow."
     Katsuki rolls his eyes. "Of course it's still fucking there Shitty hair! It's a guan ass waterfall, it's not just gonna get up and walk away. And I was already planning on heading that way," Bakugou says as he finishes up his breakfast and stands up. Midoriya and I do the same and we all grab our things.
     We travel all day, only stopping for lunch. It's been easier today. I really did sleep well last night. "Are we almost there yet?" I ask for probably the thousandth time. I'm surprised Bakugou hasn't snapped my neck by now.
     I've been getting impatient. Katsuki and Kiri refuse to tell me what the waterfall looks like, although Kiri did say it's beautiful. That just makes me even more curious though.
     "It's just around this rock," Bakugou points ahead to a gigantic boulder. It's probably a food 20 to 30 feet tall, and I too big around for me to mentally measure.As we approach it and begin walking around it, I can hear the sound of rushing water. Despite being a little tired from an entire day of walking, I begin to walk with a skip in my step from excitement and anticipation.
     We make it around and I almost drop my food basket. Beautiful was a huge understatement. I expected it to be something like the lagoon, but boy was I wrong. If someone were to fall from the tip of this waterfall, they would surely die.
     There's a large area around the water that doesn't have many trees, and as the earth gets closer to the shallow end the grass disappears, leaving a sand area resembling a small beach. I don't know how we weren't able to see the top of the waterfall from behind the rock, it's much taller. The body of water it falls into looks to be almost 3 times the size of the cave we were sleeping in too.
     We all set our things down and Kiri removes his socks and shoes, rushing into the water, still in his shorts. He goes under and resurfaces immediately after, his usual tall and spiky hair now down. "Come on guys!"
     I look to Midoriya and Bakugou. "It's okay, you guys can go without me."
     Katsuki just looks at me, seemingly deep in thought. He snaps out of it quickly and takes off his socks and shoes as Midoriya makes his way into the water, having already done so. "At least dip your feet in," he smirks, getting closer to the water.
     I nod. "Okay."
     I get my socks and shoes off and walk next to Bakugou towards the water. Suddenly he turns around and hoists me up over his shoulder. I scream as he runs into the water and drops me in. I resurface and gasp for breath while everyone else just laughs.
     "Come on Katsuki, now my clothes are all wet!" I splash him and he just keeps laughing. I give in and join him. He goes to splash me back and ends up getting Midoriya instead.
     He laughs harder. Ha! Stupid Deku."
     I grin and splash Kiri, bringing us all into a giant splash fight. Midoriya and Kiri are just rapidly splashing while Bakugou and I create big waves to overpower their little ones. After a few minutes, we stop to take a break.
     "We should race next!" Kiri suggests and I frown. So far we haven't gone that far in, the water is at my stomach. Racing would probably involve going deeper, and I'm not a very strong swimmer. I probably would have drowned when I fell in at the lagoon if it wasn't for Bakugou saving me.
     "You guys can have at it, I'm gonna go for a walk," I say as I start making my way out of the water.
     "You really should be wandering around here alone, you could get lost. Why don't you go with her Bakubro? Midoriya and I will stay behind and set up camp for the night, the sun's going to set soon. And we'll eat when you guys get back," Kiri says as they all follow me out of the water.
     "Tch, whatever, but we're changing out of these wet clothes first," Bakugou says as he grabs his backpack, digging through it for a clean set of clothes. The rest of us do the same and I frown when I see that I don't have any more clean shirts. Bakugou notices my concerned expression and walks over to me, a clean set of clothes in hand. "Oi dumbass, what's wrong with you?"
     I shrug and sigh. "I don't have a clean shirt to change into."
     He rolls his eyes and throws his clean shirt at me. I catch it before it lands in the dirt and look at him, confused. "Just use this one. I have another and we can do laundry at my folks' place when we get there tomorrow."
     I smile at his back as he walks off to grab another shirt. I go around the enormous rock and double-check to make sure none of the boys are heading this way before changing into my clean shorts and underwear, along with Bakugou's shirt. I hope this walk will be nice and relaxing.

Bakugou pov

     Shitty hair, Delu and I have finished changing, and I am not waiting at the edge of the trees for (y/n). I didn't see where she went to change and it has me a little worried. I relax slightly as I see her walk out from behind the rock. She notices me and makes her way over after discarding her dirty clothes in the pile the rest of us started.
     I get tunnel vision as I watch her approach me. I didn't expect her to look so good in my shirt. It's just a regular t-shirt, no different from the one she was wearing before. Except it'd my t-shirt. On her. Seeing her like this fills me with pride and satisfaction.
     She stops in front of me and I put on a serious expression. "Never wander off without telling us where you're going, your father could have guards looking for you, remember?" I scold her while gripping the collar of her, well my, shirt. I let go and blush slightly when I just so happen to notice that she isn't wearing a bra.
     She nods in apology and vids temporary farewell to Deku and Shitty hair before following me into the woods for our walk. We travel in silence as I lead her up the large hill that goes to the top of the waterfall. She's walking af a slightly slower pace than me, so every once in a while she'll speed up, skipping to my side.
     My thoughts wander to tomorrow as we continue the hike. I'm not overly ecstatic about having to see my parents, but staying with them while we're in the Branch is the most convenient option. The old hag will likely flip out when she sees (y/n). I can only imagine all of the embarrassing comments she'll make about us in front of everyone.
     I'm especially worried that my mother may discover my possible feelings for (y/n), seeing as I can't help but act soft around her. If the old hag does find out she won't let us leave until she's convinced (y/n) returns my feelings. Then even if she does let us go, she'll most likely send me off with an engagement ring, even though I've only known the girl a few days.
     We reach the tip of the hill and stand in the middle, taking in our surroundings. "You can see the top of my father's castle from here." She sighs.
     I watch her with curiosity and concern. "Do you miss it there?"
     "Not the place. I miss some of the people though. My father's advisor and my maids especially. They were my best friends." She looks at me and smiles. "But I'm alright. I have you guys now."
     She walks over and wraps her arms around me. I just stand in shock for a moment before slowly embracing her back. "Thank you Katsuki, for everything."
     My heart flutters hearing her say my name. "Tch. You don't have to thank me for anything dumbass." We stay like this a while longer, neither one of us wanting to let go. Every once in a while she buries her head deeper into my chest, and I lose my breath every time.
     She has no idea the effect she has on me, and if I get my way, she'll never know. She's already had to deal with so much, the last thing she needs is someone like me asking her to return romantic feelings. She said so herself, we're her friends now. I'll just have to make do with being her friend, nothing more.
     I pull away from her and back up a step. "We should head back, the sun's almost set." She looks up at me for a moment before nodding. 
     "Thanks again Katsuki."
     "Yeah yeah, whatever. What are friends for?" I cringe internally at the word. It was hard to say, and I can tell it's going to be difficult to keep my growing feelings at bay, but I have to at least try. I look at her and notice she seems a little sad. I just shrug it off and we make our way back down the hill.