Emote: Bakugo x OC Reader

Chapter 25

Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. My thoughts were racing as I walked away from Bakugo. Did I really just do that?! Why did I do that?! I've never kissed a boy before, I mean, it was on the cheek, but that still counts, right? No. Nope. Not a first kiss unless it's on the lips. I'm not counting that.

I was still conflicted about how I feel about Bakugo. For starters, we barely know each other. Although from what I do know of him, he can be downright mean. The things that he says, especially during a match, are just cruel. But I've also witnessed him have moments of softness. My mind drifted to the memory of his fingers wrapping around my arm as I lay there on the ground. I had questioned his intentions initially and couldn't comprehend why he hadn't just left me there, so I had activated my quirk to read his emotions. I had been surprised to find that he was concerned. That was the primary emotion that was coursing through him in that moment.

As I took a quick shower and changed clothes, I noticed the ghost of a bruise starting to form on my shoulder where Bakugo had punched me. I wasn't surprised by this, but I was not expecting my entire body to ache. The pain was everywhere, sometimes dull and achy, other times shooting through a limb unexpectedly, causing me to pause and catch my breath.

When I was ready I began heading towards the entrance of the school. I wondered if Bakugo would actually be there waiting. Part of me hoped that he got too impatient to wait and left without me so that I wouldn't have to deal with the awkward aftermath of kissing him on the cheek. But sure enough, there he was, standing with hands buried deep in his pockets and a brooding look on his face.

"Are you always this damn slow?!" He exclaimed as I approached.

"Are you always this damn impatient?" I countered but didn't put much emphasis on it, given my pounding headache.

He narrowed his eyes at me and turned away as he clicked his tongue and began walking.

Okay, so we're just going to ignore the fact that the kiss happened I guess...

If it weren't for the pain radiating through my body I would have been more flustered and self-conscious as I walked next to Bakugo but the pain I was in made it difficult to concentrate on much of anything.

"So you're not going back to the hospital then?" he asked after a few minutes of walking in silence.

"Oh, I should text my mom," I said, as I pulled my phone out of my pocket. After sending her a message to let her know that I was headed home and would likely go to sleep right away, I slipped it back into my pocket. "But, no. Not going back. I will probably just pass out when I get home anyways."

"So what's the deal with your pops? He's just an asshole, or what?" Bakugo asked.

I sighed and watched a breeze ruffle the leaves of a nearby tree. "Pretty much."

Nobody had ever really asked me about my father. Those who knew he was a pro hero typically just ranted about how cool his quirk is and that he's so strong and blah, blah, blah. But few people knew how he was outside of the public eye. Shinso was one of those people. Although, I'd known him a long time and had come to trust him enough to be able to talk about something so painful. Could I really trust Bakugo to talk with him about this kind of thing?

Bakugo hadn't said anything and he looked forward with a neutral expression.

"He wanted a son," I found myself saying. "He so badly wanted a son. But instead he got me. I was a bit of a miracle baby given that my mom had a hard time conceiving. They tried after I was born, but no luck. Throughout my early years he held on to the hope that I would at least have a powerful quirk. But joke's on him!"

I looked over at Bakugo and grinned sarcastically. He met my eyes for a moment before scoffing and facing forward.

"My mom is quirkless," I continued. "And my father just assumed that I would inherit a quirk similar to his. My mom was adopted so she doesn't know much about her biological family. I don't think he actually knew that she was adopted until my quirk activated. I remember hearing them argue about it a lot because her adoptive family has some pretty strong quirks, like control over elements. So what I gathered through the arguments is that my father figured I would inherit a strength quirk like his and if all else failed I would get a quirk on my mom's side - or, what he thought was my mom's side of the family."

Everything hurt as we continued walking but in that moment I felt a jab of pain in my heart and I clutched at my chest.

He glanced over to me as he said, "Are you having a heart attack or some shit? What are you doing?"

I took a few deep breaths and the pain eased, but walking was beginning to take a lot of effort. What had started as a dull ache in my legs had begun to turn into a shooting pain that ran up my leg every time I took a step.

Ignoring Bakugo's comment, I continued speaking. "I remember a time when I was younger and my mom was brushing the tangles out of my hair. It was just me and her, my father was at work at the time. And she told me that she thought my quirk likely was from her side of the family. She said that she only remembered bits of pieces about her own parents. She wasn't taken away from them immediately, but from what I've heard from my grandmother, her adoptive mom, there was some pretty significant abuse happening. But I remember my mom telling me that of all the fuzziness of her childhood, she remembers her grandmother, who would hold my mom's face in her hands and my mom said she would immediately feel calm, no matter how much chaos was happening."

Bakugo was silent as I spoke. The sun was beginning to set and the sky was turning to a beautiful array of pink, orange and smudges of purple. There was a slight breeze, which felt good against my face. My head felt as though someone was squeezing it, trying to crush my skull. I wasn't sure why I was telling Bakugo so much. Maybe because talking was a good distraction to the pain? Or maybe because I was sleep deprived and have overused my quirk over the last day? I was surprised that he hadn't inserted his opinion yet or some smart ass remark, which encouraged me to continue.

"Anyways, my father has always made it clear that I'm a disappointment. That my quirk is useless and I'm never gonna make it as a hero and I'm generally this giant, worthless waste of space."

"Tch," I couldn't tell if this response was meant to communicate, 'Well, yeah, that's what I think too,' or 'What an asshole, he doesn't know what he's talking about,' and then what he said next made me stop dead in my tracks.