Emote: Bakugo x OC Reader

Chapter 16

I began to feel a bit stalkerish as my eyes lingered on his back a while longer before I swiftly turned away. This is crazy. I thought. Why do I feel so...giddy? It's like all of a sudden there is a swarm of butterflies dancing in my stomach. I tried taking a few deep breaths to steady myself but the pitter patter of the butterflies continued. It took me a moment to realize that the sensation was my phone buzzing in the pocket of my jacket.

Checking the caller ID before I answered, I immediately felt guilty when I saw Shinso's name flashing across the screen. "Hey!" I said, as my feet began rushing me back towards the school.

"Hey," His voice was warm but I sensed a weariness to his tone.

"I'm so sorry, I totally forgot that we were going to meet after class. I'm on my way right now, I'll be there as soon as I can. Soon! I'm headed your way right now," My words were rushed and breathy.

"What were you doing?"

The question was innocent enough but my stomach immediately began twisting in knots. "I needed to get some extra help with my English homework. So I had to stay to go over it with Present Mic, and you know how he is, so dramatic and he took forever to explain it in a way that made sense to me."

What are you doing?! My inner dialogue screamed at me. You're fumbling and lying and it's so obvious. Why are you lying to your best friend?! But a part of me already knew the answer. I didn't want him to know about the proposition I had made to Bakugo and the fact that he had accepted. Shinso had made it obvious that he didn't like him and I worried about the concern he would have with me doing this "experiment" with Bakugo.

"Ah," he said.

I winced at his response. It was clear to him that I was lying but he wasn't going to push me into telling him the truth. To others, Shinso appeared cold and distant, scary even. But he was actually incredibly warm and gentle. He was loyal and often showed me more kindness than I felt I deserved. Sometimes it was to a fault, such as ignoring this obvious atrocity of broken trust that I was casually using to protect my own interests.

"I'll see you soon, okay?" I couldn't stand another moment of his silence and I hung up the phone quickly.

It didn't take me long to get back to the school and meet up with Shinso. I apologized again and he pretended that it wasn't a big deal but I didn't miss the glimmer of pain that crossed his eyes before we began making our way towards the gym. The awkward tension hanging in the air between us slowly evaporated as I began to tell him about my first day in the hero course. I excitedly told him about my hero training in the afternoon, which had consisted of a mock rescue mission. I had done okay but was clearly behind when compared to my classmates. During my work out with Shinso, I didn't go as hard as I usually would have because of how drained I was feeling after my afternoon class.

After parting ways with Shinso, I made my way home. My body ached in a way that told me I had been working hard and I felt pleased with myself for how my first day had gone. My mind kept drifting back to Bakugo despite my consistent attempts to redirect it to anything else. He was infuriating to say the least, obviously arrogant and full of himself, and so angry. I don't know why I kept thinking of him and the way it had felt when I'd grabbed his arm. It was like a shock to my system, something I'd never expereinced before.

I tried to push the memory away as I stepped through my front door. "Mom, I'm home!" I called.

"Welcome home, honey!" My mom popped around the corner with a smile on her face. "How was your first day in the hero course?"

I took off my shoes and heard the tinkling of a bell as my cat Kiko approached. "It was good," I said, as I picked Kiko up and rubbed the soft fur behind her ears. I expected to hear a sarcastic remark from my father, but none came. "Where's father?"

"Oh, he's on duty right now." She fretted with her hair, which was an immediate give away that she was feeling anxious. "He got called in. The city is currently on high alert because recently Stain, that hero killer, took the life of one of your father's colleagues." She lost any sort of composure she had at the mention of Stain, at which point her face appeared to crumple and fall in on itself.

"Oh mom, it'll be okay," I said, giving her a warm smile. "He has to face villains all the time and he always makes it out just fine. I know it's hard for you not to worry but his quirk is basically being tough as hell so it'll be okay."

The words tasted bitter on my tongue as I said them and I had to consciously stop myself from wincing. I hated talking about my father, particularly during moments like these when I had to convince my mom that he wouldn't get himself killed while on duty. There was a part of me, a horrible, ugly, blackened part of me that wishes he would. He had never laid a finger on me and yet his words over the years had left me bruised, beaten and scarred. As I had grown up I began to see that my father was just as much of an ass to my mom as he was to me and yet she stuck by his side. I never understood it but I had no control over it either and therefore had come to a place of acceptance. This is my life. Keep your head down, do your work and get out. That was my ultimate goal. I continued to resent my mom, but the harshness I had felt towards her as a child simmered over the years, whereas the resentment towards my father did nothing but grow and fester.

My mom seemed to sense how uncomfortable I was and turned away while attempting to wipe at her eyes discreetly. "You're right, you always are about this! Let me get dinner started, okay?"

Before I could respond she was already scurrying away and I was left with Kiko, who continued to purr ferociously in my arms.

Later that night I sighed deeply and pushed back to balance on the back two legs of my desk chair. My English homework was really pissing me off and the irony was not lost on me that I really should have gone after school to ask Present Mic for help on it. I was about to give up when I heard a shriek shatter the silence I had been sitting in. I nearly fell backwards from the shock of it but righted myself immediately, the front two legs of my chair slamming into the ground as I stood and began running towards the source of the sound.

As I rounded the corner into our living room, I saw my mom, her hand frozen mid-air and a look of shock plastered on her face. I looked around instinctively. Why is she so upset? Are we in danger? Why isn't she moving? I thought frantically before I became aware of a low rumbling. I noticed her cellphone on the ground before it clicked that the sound I was hearing was a voice on the other end.

I swiped it off the ground and held it to my ear, doing my best to sound in control. "Hello? Who is this?"

"Mrs. Nakano?" The voice said. "I know this must come as a shock and it's possible that he may be able to regenerate the damaged muscle tissue, but I also don't want to provide any false hope here."

I felt all of the air leave my body in that moment and it was as though time stopped moving.