Emote: Bakugo x OC Reader

Chapter 2

I sighed deeply after a long day of classes, putting my head down on my desk in defeat.

"Hey, you okay, y/n?" I felt a hand on my shoulder and knew before I lifted my head that they were words spoken by my lavender haired bestie. "You look like you need some coffee," Shinso said as I looked up.

"You beautiful angel, how did you know?" A grin engulfed my face as I stood from my desk.

We walked together towards our favorite coffee shop in companionable silence. I was drained from school and not looking forward to the pile of homework that I had waiting for me this evening. But there was more on my mind that had been eating at me for the past few weeks.

"You okay?" Shinso asked suddenly.

"Not really," I answered honestly. "I've been thinking a lot since the attack on the USJ. It bothers me that while all of that was going down, we were just chilling, completely unaware and working on freaking algebra equations. I mean...I should have been there."

Shinso looked thoughtful as he responded, "There's no way that we could have known. You're taking on a lot of weight and responsibility for something that's not yours to carry."

Damn it, why is he so wise? I thought. But whereas he was driven by logical thought, I tended to be driven by emotion. It often got me in trouble. Feel first, think later. When I found out that our school had been attacked by villians a few weeks ago, I was furious. I had felt like such an idiot, having found out after the fact and immediately wished that I had been there to help. Although the news had made it clear that the attack was meant to target the number one hero, All Might, there had been students at the USJ as well.

"It's not yours to carry, y/n," Shinso interrupted my thoughts.

"There were kids there, Shinso! Kids our same age and they must have been terrified! Not only could I have fought but I also could have used my quirk to bring them some peace of mind." I gritted my teeth as I continued, "If they wouldn't have stuck us in the goddamn general studies course then maybe we could have been there. I'm so fucking sick of this general studies bullshit!"

I escalated quickly as I spoke and because I was so worked up I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings so I didn't realize that we had already arrived at the coffee shop. I unexpectedly shoulder checked a passerby who had just exited. The motion made the coffee cup he was holding shudder and about half of its contents spilled out. The boy holding the cup was able to dodge slightly, but a lot of it ended up spilling down the front of his school uniform.

I gasped and immediately started fussing, "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, I apologize! I didn't see you there," I instinctively reached out and grabbed his arm, stopping my word vomit when I made contact with him. I was suddenly filled with rage. The emotion sat in my stomach like a hot, molten ball of burning lava until I released the boys arm. Sometimes, when another persons emotions are overpowering, I don't need to activate my quirk to actually feel them. I gulped as I locked eyes with the spikey haired blonde. He was wearing headphones and held his phone in one hand, his coffee in the other. Well, what was left of his coffee...

His crimson eyes bore into mine as he screamed, "WHAT THE FUCK?! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

I held up my hands in a surrendering position. "I'm so sorry, let me get you another one! I didn't even see you there."

As he took a menacing step towards me, Shinso held his arm up in between myself and the boy, "Hey, what's your problem, man? It was an accident."

"I WASN'T TALKING TO YOU, YA DAMN EXTRA!" he yelled at Shinso.

"Let it go and walk away," Shinso said it so calmly it was disarming.

The boy stopped abruptly and turned. He began walking away as though nothing had happened. I let go a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. "Ya know, that was slightly unnecessary," I said, meaning for it to sound light hearted, but it came out with more of a bite than intended.

Shinso and I had both been social outcasts growing up. Our classmates had been scared of him because of his brainwashing quirk. All he had to do was get someone to respond to a question he was asking and he had the ability to make them do whatever he requested. "Promise you won't make us your slaves," I overheard someone say once. Our peers also used to say that it sounded more like a villainous quirk, which I knew started to slowly eat away at him. But Shinso was a good guy and he too wanted to be a hero. I remember the first time we met.

During lunch one of my classmates claimed to accidentally trip, causing her to spill some milk on my shoulder as she passed behind me. I bit my lip and held back the tears that started to well in my eyes. "Whoops, sorry about that," I heard her say, but there was menace in her tone. She leaned closer to my ear to whisper, "Sorry I couldn't dump my whole carton on you."

"Hey, what's your name?" I heard someone say and I turned around to see a slim, purple haired boy standing by us.

"Why do you care?" she snarled.

He took a step closer with a smile on his face, "You're looking kind of sick. You need to go to the nurses office and tell them you're not feeling well and that you need to go home."

Her eyes seemed to glaze over and to my amazement she walked away without another word. She didn't return for the remainder of the day. Shinso and I ate lunch together that day and continued to do so for the remainder of the school year. By the time middle school rolled around, we were best friends. We always looked out for each other but at times I didn't like how powerless I felt compared to Shinso. Maybe that's why I got a bit irritated when he told the boy to walk away.

"I can take care of myself ya know," I said quietly, looking at the retreating back of the boy he had ordered away.

"I know," he said casually, "That guy was pretty intense though and the screaming?" he waved his hand dismissively, "I don't have time for that right now."

"Yeah, I suppose," I said, turning towards the coffee shop and trying to put the unpleasant interaction behind me.

"About what you said," Shinso said, "The sports festival is coming up soon. And you're gonna kill it. We both know that if we do well in the sports festival there's a chance that we can be transferred to the hero course." He looked at me with a determined face, "And that's what's gonna happen, right?"

He held out his fist, looking to me for confirmation. "Damn right!" I said, as I excitedly brought my hand up to connect for a fist bump.