Emote: Bakugo x OC Reader

Chapter 9

I felt strong arms wrap around me and I leaned back into him. I savored the warmth of his chest against my back and I tilted my head to the side while peeking up at him. Seeing his smile, I felt a warmth in my chest spread throughout my body.

"You're beautiful when you sleep, ya know that?" His word were like velvet and I could swear I felt my heart expand in that moment.

When he leaned forward to plant a light kiss on my neck I felt a shiver run down my spine. "I don't really remember what happened," I confess. I had closed my eyes for a brief moment and noticed the smell of something sweet drift through my senses. When I opened my eyes again, a single deep pink petal floated down from the tree we sat under and I realized that we were in a park.

He tilted my chin up so that our eyes met once again. "You just needed to take a nap, remember?" My mind felt fuzzy and all I could focus on was the red of his eyes. Seeing his hair this close made the blonde spikes look much softer than they did from a distance and I instinctively reached my hand up to run my fingers through his hair. He closed his eyes and leaned into my hand. "Stop," he said quietly.

"What?" I pulled my hand back immediately as his eyes flew open.

"Stop!" He said again, his voice raised this time.

"I don't understand," I said, shaking my head, losing focus on the boy in front of me.

"Sir, stop!" It was definitely a yell this time and my body was jerked back into reality, an involuntary gasp escaping my lips as I sat up in bed. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust as I realized that there was an angry boy in front of me being held back by a nurse who looked like she had seen better days. There was a deep scowl set on her face and her hand was on the boys chest, forcefully trying to push him from the room.

"See! Resting hours my ass!" He yelled, waving his hand at me. "She's obviously awake!"

The nurse turned around abruptly and her face immediately transformed into a warm smile. I could practically hear the mother hen switch flip on within her. "Oh dear, so sorry to bother you. This young gentleman was requesting to see you and I was informing him that these are your resting hours."

Before my brain could catch up to what my body was doing, I waved a hand casually and said, "No, no, it's fine, he's a friend." Why did I say that? I immediately thought, looking away quickly as I realized that Bakugo was glowering at me from the doorway.

"Like hell I am!" he yelled, practically stomping as he made his way into the room.

The nurse looked at Bakugo and then back to me, obvious concern showing in her sincere green eyes. "Really, it's okay," I said quickly, smiling at the nurse and silently willing her to walk away. She looked doubtful, but nodded once before heading toward the door.

"If you need anything, press the buzzer," she said, giving me one more quick glance before closing the door behind her.

My mind was racing. Why is he here? He seems angry, but that doesn't make sense, he won our match. I don't remember winning, so it's obvious given that I'm in the infirmary that he moved on to the next round. And what the hell was that dream? God, I feel awkward even making eye contact with him. He had been so kind in my dream though...

"Oi!" The boy yelled, waving a hand in front of my face. "What's your problem? You're staring at me like some kind of freak."

I instantly averted my eyes from him and felt my face get hot. "No, nothing, geez, um..." I covered my face with my hands to attempt to keep him from seeing the blush spreading across my cheeks.

"What the hell did you do to me out there?" Although I couldn't see his face to read his expression, I could hear the animosity in his voice. The words pierced me and the memory of my dream was quickly replaced with the reality of this bitter, angry boy.

I looked back at him and held his gaze for a minute before replying. "You mean, my quirk?"

Any semblance of patience he had seemed to be ripped away in that moment. "What the hell else would I be talking about?!" he yelled and I felt tears prickle behind my eyes. Oh no, not now... I thought, silently cursing the after math of overusing my quirk. The price I paid for using my quirk past my limits was that I didn't have any control over my own emotions. It was kind of like an extreme version of PMS and anything could set me off.

"Why does it even matter?" I said as the tears started to fall. "It's not like we're even going to have to interact after this anyways. I didn't make it to the finals, so why would anyone want me to transfer to the hero course? What a stupid dream, God, I'm such an idiot! And now I'm going to have to hear my father throw it in my face!" I was sobbing at this point and my shoulders heaved as I covered my face and cried shamelessly.

"Hah?" I heard him say. "I didn't come here to hear your stupid sob story, I want to know what the hell you did to me out there!"

I felt a fire burning in the pit of my stomach and I glared up at him. "Oh, I'm sorry," I said, sarcasm dripping with each word that I spoke, "Did you not like having to feel something besides anger? Oh, I'm just an angry, angry boy," I mocked him, swinging my arms and puffing out my chest, "Don't mess with me, I'm gonna win, blah, blah, blah!"

I hardly recognized myself as I made fun of this boy I barely knew. He initially looked shocked, eyes wide and bewildered. But he was quick to recover and when he did he took a step toward me, his stance threatening. "Man, you were a lot nicer in my dream," I said and a hand quickly shot up to cover my mouth from saying more.

This stopped him suddenly. "Wait, wha - " He looked flustered and I took the opportunity to try to get ahold of myself. How was I supposed to recover from that comment? Just brush it under the rug? Pretend like he misheard me? Press the call nurse button and ask for that kind woman to get him the hell out of here? I was beginning to reach my hand out towards the call button, liking this option best, when suddenly someone burst through the room.

"I AM HERE!" The man announced loudly and I gaped at him as Bakugo swung to face him. Before me stood All Might, the number one hero and someone that I had looked up to since I was a child. I knew that he was teaching at my school, but I hadn't run in to him yet, given that I wasn't in the hero course. There's no reason he would make an appearance to those in general studies.

"Young Bakugo, your match is coming up soon and you are to head to waiting room 2 to prepare." All Might's smile was absolutely dazzling and I sat motionless, completely mesmerized by him.

Bakugo huffed and started towards the door without giving me a second glance. "Until next time, emo chick," he said casually. "Oh wait, we're probably never going to see each other again, right? Considering you're not good enough to get transferred." I could just picture the malicious grin plastered on his face. I bristled at this and started swinging my legs over the side of the bed, ready to leap up and punch him in the back, when All Might took one swift step forward and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Young y/n," he said, looking down at me. "You fought bravely today and I was very impressed with how far you advanced. You should be proud of yourself."

At his words, I felt my eyes once again fill with tears. I looked down, shaking my head slowly. The pain of my losses, both emotional and physical, was starting to catch up with me and I felt completely exhausted. "But it's not good enough," I whispered. "I've always wanted to be a hero and this was my chance to show my worth...but it wasn't enough."

His laugh, somehow loud and booming but also like a warm hug wrapping around my soul, filled the room. His hand squeezed my shoulder briefly. "Doubt is the quickest way to failure, young y/n. You still have a chance to transfer to the hero course. Maybe not today, but if you believe in yourself and keep fighting for that dream, you can make it a reality someday."

The tears flowed freely down my cheeks as I bowed down in gratitude at his words. "Thank you, sir." Although I may not have fully believed his words in that moment, they gave me something to hold on to in the weeks to come.