I Pine Like Trees

9

"So, how's it been going between you and Deku?" She casually asked, taking another bite of the coikie in her hand. Bakugou only hummed in response and stayed staring up at the ceiling. Nothing about his expression really changed, though his muscles seemed to tense and his permanent frown seemed to grow deeper.

"It's-" He started but cut himself off. "You can keep a secret, right?"

"Yeah." Uraraka swallowed. "I mean, who would I tell? You have my respect, remember?"

"Hm." He paused, contemplating. "You're right." He sat up and looked at her with intense eyes. "Tell anyone this and I'll kill you!" He announced, some smoke appearing from his hands already.

"I'd rather not die so I would never tell." She did an impression of zipping up her mouth. He seemed to relax somewhat.

"Okay." His glare softened incredibly. "It's like we're growing distant. Slowly but surely, we've been talking less and less. At first, I thought it was all him but then I thought it was that half-and-half asshole because he seemed to be getting real close to Izuku. Almost like he was trying hard to get between us." He sighed. "But then I really thought about it. It's Izuku's choice if he wants to be around him and not me. And it's not like I was any better, I've been turning him down for things lately because I kept baking with you. It's the both of us growing distant. And I feel like an ass for not really minding that at all."

"Well..." Uraraka paused for a moment trying to gets her thoughts in order. On one hand, she was overjoyed. He had wanted to hang out with her over Midoriya. On the other hand, their ever growing distance was making him upset. He was beating himself up over the idea. "It's how you feel, right? I don't think you should really beat yourself up over it because you're confused. Feelings are incredibly complex and I don't think there's a person in this world that can fully understand their emotions. Emotions are a powerful thing that can bring people together and tear them apart."

A long pause. The intensity of his glare grew once again. She grew nervous at that. Her throat was growing dry and choked.

"You're right." He said causing her to almost fall out of the chair. "I am confused about some things but I'm not very confused on other things." He leaned forward, his expression softening once again. "For one thing, I'm not confused about you."

"What?" She choked out trying her damnest not to let her voice go up an octave too high.

"You really piss me off sometimes." His eyes narrowed as he slid off his bed. "And I never understood why. Just the thought of you makes me a little bit angry." In two long strides, he was standing over her. "But also a little bit thrilled." He leaned down, his hands jerking up to cup her cheeks gently. His hands rough against her skin. Their faces mere inches apart. "It mostly makes me curious about you. I want to know how you're so strong and just how the hell you could make want to be around you." He closed the space between them. Uraraka could almost scream if it were not for the fact that he was kissing her.

Her mind was bit slow to react still processing such a long winded confession. Still, she managed to sink into it with vigor.

~

Shouto found himself outside sitting on a bench outside just watching the sunset. Most of the day had been fairly boring. Nothing a good nap couldn't help. Dare he say, he felt well rested. Maybe it was just the atmosphere. He couldn't tell.

The sunset was nice. He tended to forget the little things and this was one of them. His eyes shifted to a nearby tree with birds bouncing from branch to branch. It was calming. A little amusing as he watched two birds chase after each other. It brought a bit of a smile to his face.

"Hey." He suddenly heard. He turned his head to find Izuku's standing by him.

"Hi." He responded. Izuku's sat down on the bench and looked odd onto the sunset. There was distant look in his eyes.

"The sunset's nice."

"Yeah." Shouto looked back to the sunset.

"It's easy to forget it exist sometimes which is weird because it's the sun. It's literally the biggest thing in our solar system."

"Well, it's easy to get caught up in the life we live down here on Earth."

"If I was ever a villian, I'd steal a space ship and live up there in space."

"But then you wouldn't see the sunset anymore."

"But I'll never be able to forget the sun."

"Okay, seriously, what's wrong?"

"Kacchan broke up with me."

"Oh."

"Is it bad that I don't feel anything over it, like, I expected this."

"Well, if you expected it then it's not too bad to feel numb about it."

"It's just weird."

"A lot of things are weird but here we are."

"Yeah, I guess we are." Shouto's eyes twitched to the birds as they tweeted out to the sky. The two that had been chasing after each other now sat side by side. His lips twitched up at them. "What are you smiling about?"

"Birds."

"Birds?"

"Birds are kind of funny if you think about it." He looked at Izuku. "They have to hold themselves up with their arms. It's insane design that makes you wonder how they've survived for millions of years."

"Maybe we should ask Tokoyami." Izuku's face lit up, an amused smile playing on his face.

"Who knows where that could lead us."

"Probably back into scientifically investigating how everyone's quirk works."

"To be fair, that was fun."

"That actually reminds me of something I wanted to ask you."

"What is it?"

"If you tried, could your pee come out frozen?"

Shouto laughed, "What the hell kind of question is that?"

"I'm just curious!"

"I've never tried it and I don't think I want to."

"I guess it would be pretty painful."

"What the hell are we doing? Talking about my pee? How did my life come to this?" He shook his head, a toothy grin on his lips.

"There are weirder things, you know."

"You're right, we do live in the same building as a guy with a literal shadow living in his body."

"It's a crazy world we live in."

"A crazy world with weirdly normal problems."

"Do you ever wonder how regular people live?"

"Sometimes, but I wouldn't want to live that type of life. I found that I like almost dying all the time."

"The words of a true hero in the making."

"That sounds like something All Might would say."

"It is something he's said-I think."

"Don't you start mumbling on me."

"I won't, I swear!"