Up in Smoke (Soulmate AU)

I hope that meant change.

They were soulmates for a reason.

 

He saw that in the way they fought alongside one another. How each move she made complimented his and him the same. It was like dancing. A tango, swayed along the rhythm of their collective fury. The way her body lilt along the smoke of his explosions, love letters written in cinders. They enriched each other. Enhanced. Intensified.

She was his and he was hers. He couldn't be any luckier for it.

"Iida and Yaoyorozu: out! "

To say that they were excelling in this course would have been the understatement of the century. They were mowing through their classmates. Completely untouchable. Hell, you'd have better luck trying to bottle the wind than trying to get this dynamic duo to go down. Kirishima and Jiro were a slip-up, but now? Now they dominated.

"Are you feeling alright, Iida-kun? I know that last hit had to be pretty hard." She carefully knotted the rope against his chest.

"I'm alright." He nodded. "A little banged up but otherwise I'm fine. Though, your concern is very much appreciated."

She nodded. "Of course, bud."

Bakugou swept the dust off his gauntlets and approached her from behind. "Who's left?"

She stood to face him, pointing her nose up at the sky as she thought for a moment. "Team Todoroki's still standing. As well as Deku, Shoji, and.. I think Kaminari?"

Yaoyorozu shook her head behind Iida. "Kaminari and Mina were taken down while we were fighting I heard."

"Oh? Okay." (Y/N) nodded. "Then just those first three teams then."

"Let's get moving." He gestured her over with his shoulder. "Come on."

Humming as she glided behind him, she left the defeated with a short wave before turning and continuing on their scout for the remaining team's. Leaving the two to be knotted together until the recovery bots were there to pick them up.

Bakugou glanced down at her as she caught up with him, watching the collective curls of smoke and hair bounce against the sides of her face. The hand that tried to push them away failing miserably. Ponytails must be hell to manage. She looked ethereal. She always did. Like a wondering fay who had drifted too far from home. Casting spells and clouding his judgment, filling his head with smoke.

And then his eyes drifted to her lips. To the gentle bow that curved into a lingering smile. Pillowcases enclosing cotton and foam. He wondered how they'd feel pressed up against him. Burning holes into his skin. Telling him how much she-

"Is there something on my face?" She asked genuinely.

He nearly choked on his breath as he snatched his gaze away. Silently screaming at himself for letting her catch him looking like such complete idiot.

He let out a flustered cough into his gloves. "No.....Thinking."

"Thinking?" She repeated. "About what?"

He scoffed. "Wouldn't you like to know."

"Only if you're willing to tell me. -You don't have to." She shrugged at his hostility.

The space between them hollowing onto a cold silence, he bit at his cheek as he drifted into his own thoughts again. He was really bad at this. The whole fucking point of this team up was to win her over before that shitty Deku could get his nasty hands on her. But all he's done so far is yell in her face and otherwise act like a complete dickhole towards her. He was failing miserably. If anything, he was pushing her into the arms of that green headed freak. He could see it now: the two of them cuddled up in the rec. room, laughing and giggling ~ chopping it up on how much of a dipshit Bakugou is. Did you think he didn't notice? How chummy those two were getting all of a sudden? That shitty nerd always touching her in some way. Always too close. Always... Always where he should have been.

"So what's up with you and that shitty Deku anyway?" The question slipped out suddenly. Nearly surprising him as much as it did her.

And it was violent almost. How the smoke had suddenly engulfed her head, billows of it briefly tossed into the air as she reached to tame it. Her eyes widened a bit before she hid her surprise behind a dim grimace. "Why do you need to know that?" She turned to look up at him.

He furrowed. "Why are you being so fucking weird about it?"

"Because it just....doesn't seem like you to...care."

That hurt but whatever. "What the hell do you-" He cut himself off with a long sigh through his nose. "Just answer the damn question."

"We're friends." She answered.

He huffed. "You two don't seem like friends."

"And what do you mean by that?"

"The way that bastard's always hovering over you? Friends don't do that."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Kirishima does that? And you two hang out all the time." 

"Yeah, well this isn't about me and- Wait. What the hell are you implying?"

She bit her lip, stifling an amused chuckle. He suppressed the urge to glance at her lips again. "Nothing." She hummed. "You two are just...close. Nothing wrong with that."

"Wha- Okay. Now you fucking listen here. I-"

"Shoji and Sato: out!" The announcement came out louder this time. Almost like it was purposely cutting him off.

He sighed and pointed his chin to the sky. Regrouping in his head as he took a moment to ruffle his hair with his gloved fingers. He couldn't see it but she was tracing his jawline with her eyes. Silently sulking in the fact that an asshole like him could be this attractive. It was a pity really. How the juiciest fruits could be so bitter.

"Hey.." It came out breathy. (It had to have been the way she spoke when not dealing with a complete jackass like him.)

"Hm."

"I um... I wanted to apologize by the way...for what I did to your fingers."

He didn't respond for a while. His gaze steady and forward. She thought for a moment he hadn't heard her. Or worse, she had upset him.

"S'alright." He shrugged. "I had it coming anyway."

And that for some reason made her feel really good. Warm. She hid her smile behind a firm nod.

And he kept his head steady hoping she didn't notice the red in his cheeks.

"Todoroki and Tsu: out! "