ALWAYS || Katsuki Bakugo

44- Worth It

Bakugo woke up extra early that morning since he had to get his gauntlets repaired and wanted them back by evening. He held one of his gauntlets under his arm, making his way to the support department to ask Power Loader to fix his gauntlets. Another reason why he came to school early was to study in peace. Tutoring his friends made him want to rip out his hair with how stupid they could be sometimes.

Unknown to him, a certain silver-eyed girl had the same plans. Sort of. Yoshiko sat on her usual seat in the empty classroom, math textbook and notebook opened in front of her. She arrived at class early to avoid running into Shinsou. She wasn't sure she wanted to bother looking at him just yet. And then there was Bakugo.

She couldn't get the way he gently held her out of her mind. Just thinking about it made her insides a mush again. She rarely cried in front of anyone. She refused to let her tears out. But when Bakugo suddenly pulled her into him, she couldn't hold back her tears anymore. He was so comforting.

She started daydreaming about his handsome face again, his maroon eyes, fluffy and spiky hair, and his delicate touch that wiped her eyes. Yoshiko grumbled to herself when she realised she'd begun daydreaming instead of focusing on the books in front of her, willing her heart to calm down.

He's so stupid. She aggressively jotted down formulas. Who does he think he is, making my heart race like that. Not that I'll let it happen again. He can't keep making me feel like that.

Yoshiko had moved on from thoughts of Bakugo and finally focused on her work, going along with the flow of the study session. That's until the boy she was daydreaming about a few seconds ago decided to show up. She felt the desk behind her shift and glanced back to see Bakugo. She gave him a blank look, expressions neutral.

"We havin' a staring challenge now?" Bakugo grimaced, annoyed when she simply stared and said nothing.

"Why are you here so early?"

"Had to get my gauntlet repaired." Bakugo huffed, taking out his math textbook from the bag.

"You're going to study math? I'm doing that too. Maybe we can study together." She said, getting up and turning her chair so it faced his desk.

"Nice try, I 'aint tutoring ya."

"I don't need tutoring." She scoffed, putting her notebook on his desk. Bakugo looked up from the pages he was flipping, taking a quick glance at her face. She looks pretty. She had her hair in two dutch braids, lazily sitting on her chest. He couldn't help but admire how the braid shifted from black to white. Then his eyes lingered on her clear-gloss-coated lips. Oh, God, that shine made him want to devour her lips.

"So, what chapter are you doing?" Yoshiko asked.

"Huh?"

"What chapter are you going to do? Or should I say it in English?" Bakugo rolled his eyes at her sassy attitude.

"Watch your mouth. I'm gonna do the third chapter." Bakugo skipped over to the topic exercise when an idea popped up in his head. "Oi. Let's do this exercise and see who gets the most answers right."

"And what does the winner get." She asked, clicking her pen.

"Free lunch from the loser, which, by the way, is you."

"Uno reverse, bitch. Bring it on."

"Heh."

They two fell into silence, solving the math exercise, doubling-checking every answer twice to make sure they got it right. Yoshiko liked the idea of studying with a challenge. It riled ber up. She also knew Bakugo was the only one with whom she could study like this. Because he, too, like her, had a love for challenges.