Serendipity (Bakugou Katsuki x Reader One Shots)

la douleur exquise (angst)

pairing: Todoroki Shouto x reader x Bakugou Katsuki

la douleur exquise - the particular agony of wanting someone who doesn't want you

Italics indicate past events.

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"I like you," you had said, your heart beating loudly in your ears. "I really, really like you, Shouto-kun."

"I'm sorry," he replied, "I can't accept your feelings."

It was replaying over and over in your mind. That one conversation has been haunting you for a while now, and you couldn't help but think about it constantly. You recalled the way it felt after he had responded to you, and you still felt it now, even to this day.

You remembered every single detail of his rejection; the shock and pain that followed; how you had to force out that cheerful smile in response.

"It's okay," you said, but you felt anything but that. The cherry blossoms were always beautiful at this time of spring, but there was something particularly upsetting about the way they fell down one by one today. "I just wanted to let you know about my feelings."

It was bitter. It was awful. You kept reflecting over the reasons why he rejected you. Maybe it was because you were his classmate. Maybe it was because he didn't want a relationship at that time. But you knew that it was because he was already in love with someone already.

"I like someone else."

Were you too naive to think it was you who he was in love with? You were always someone he had confided in, his closest friend. You thought you were the one who he had trusted to most. You thought it was you. It wasn't though, and that was what hurt the most.

"I hope we can still be good friends," you then said, trying to hold back your tears. Your heart was aching at how concerned he looked over you, and you felt like your feelings were going to explode at that very moment.

"Yeah," he simply just said back, "I hope so too."

It had been several years since that conversation. You recalled how agonizing it felt to pretend that everything was okay whenever you two hung out. When you two were paired during classes, you had to force out that usual smile and pretend that you were still his best friend.

"Y/n?" Todoroki's voice brought you to a startle. "Are you alright?"

You quickly wiped away your tears before turning around and giving him the brightest smile you could muster. "I'm fine!" You told him.

It didn't look like he believed you. Not one bit. Not when your eyes were that swollen and how your voice was trembling. He never said anything about it though and continued acting like how he normally did.

After you two graduated high school, you naturally started to drift away from him. With the demands of hero work, it was difficult to see each other often, but you had figured that it was for the best. You weren't sure if he even wanted to still be friends.

You watched as he took her by the hands, staring softly into her eyes. It was gut-wrenching and painful. As he held her hand, walking over to you with a small smile on his face, that same smile that he has rarely shown to anyone, you knew you were screwed.

You tried your best to forget about him completely. You took on more hours than necessary as a hero, and you were deemed as hard working as the current top heroes. It became a habit for you to overwork yourself, and you felt that it was a good escape from all of these thoughts that plagued you.