meant to be. (KiriBaku/Bakushima Soulmate AU)

2

Bakugou was pissed. Actually, pissed didn't even cut it. He was fuming. He was annoyed, irritated, infuriated, angry, frustrated--

"Hey, Kacchan! We're in the same class again!" a familiar greenette greeted with his annoying fucking smile as if everything was perfect.

Which was wrong. Everything was not perfect. Bakugou was still fucking pissed. And Deku was the reason why. The guy just showed up at the UA Entrance Exam with no quirk whatsoever, trembling in a way that just screamed I DON'T BELONG HERE!. And then suddenly, out of nowhere, he just got his fucking quirk like it was some kind of bullshit magic trick. Bakugou thought he could stop Deku from following him wherever he went and yet, Deku still managed to cling onto Bakugou as if they shared a lifestyle. They weren't even soulmates!

He thinks so, at least. Deku also made precautions to hide his mark, which made no sense. Bakugou always saw him as the type to go all lovey-dovey for someone who didn't exist.

The only reason why Bakugou remembered him was because the fucking bastard thought he was better than him. Stupid Deku thought he was the best, helping people when he didn't help himself, looking down on him when Bakugou should be the only person he shouldn't be looking out for. But Deku just continued following him everywhere, like some kind of guardian angel. They've known each other since kids.

That means Deku's been following him everywhere since they were kids. Until high school, the one place Bakugou's been counting on to keep that broccoli away. Then he suddenly just obtained the quirk, ruining Bakugou's chances of keeping him away. What's worse was that the quirk was actually pretty awesome, no lie. Bakugou doubted Deku would be able to actually know how to manifest the quirk properly, but if it was done properly, the quirk could almost rival All Might's.

Plus, what was Deku even thinking, keeping that quirk secret for so long? That quirk would've been awesome if Deku was already training since 4 years old.

"Kacchan?" Midoriya asked, tilting his head as if he was talking to a small child that didn't know how to respond.

Bakugou scowled. "I heard you." And another thing that pissed him off: Kacchan. Deku kept on calling him that as if they were friends. Well, sure, they were kind of friends, but Deku didn't have to give him a nickname. It was annoying to keep hearing that same whiny voice repeat the same thing over and over again.

"Oh. Well, it's good to see a familiar face," Midoriya said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

Bakugou continued to glare at him, so he finally got the hint and sat behind him.

The next person who walked into the Class 1-A classroom was some guy with spiky red hair and a goofy smile on his face.

Bakugou frowned. It wasn't like him to actually take note of people he didn't care about. Filing the guy's face for future references, he made sure to avoid the boy. He could be a threat or something.

"It's so cool, right? I can't believe All Might is going to teach here! He's probably gonna be the manliest person ever. Did you see him save those kids from the villain downtown last week? He was carrying those four kids and fighting the villain as if they were nothing! Well, not really. I mean, the kids weren't nothing. But the villain was! And All Might gave such a cool speech about always being there for everyone and was super friendly with the interviewer person even though he clearly should've been angry by how close she was to the fight scene; she could've gotten hurt," someone said.

Ugh, whose voice was that? Like yeah, he got it—All Might's awesome. Bakugou honestly preferred what All Might did yesterday with the school bus of children he saved, but hey. Everything All Might did was awesome, no argument.

Anyway, that voice was... not annoying. But it was irritating that Bakugou kept trying to listen in on that voice. Whose voice was that?

No. He wasn't at UA to make friends.

"So, what's your name?"

Bakugou looked up, finding the red-haired guy in front of him. He still had that smile, but he decided it wasn't as annoying as Deku's.

The red-head smiled even brighter—Bakugou debated wearing sunglasses for tomorrow so he didn't get blinded by the absolute sunshine this guy and Deku were both sporting—and held a hand out. "I'm Kirishima Eijirou!"

Bakugou blinked, realising he was talking to him. Scrunching up his eyebrows in confusion, Bakugou took Kirishima's hand. "Bakugou Katsuki."

Kirishima removed his hand and seemed to think for a while before saying, "Oh! The guy who went super crazy during the Entrance Exam. I heard you got one of the most points. That's super cool, dude."

"Uh, thanks?"

There was a small gasp from behind him, so Bakugou looked back to find Midoriya clamping a hand over his mouth. "What, Deku?"

Midoriya shook his head. "It's just... I haven't seen you accept a compliment since forever."

Bakugou rolled his eyes. "I get compliments all the time."

"No, I never see you accept them like that. Like you actually appreciate it."

So the fucking bastard was still analysing him. It was his own fucking problem if he accepted the damn compliment. Actually, you know what? He was going to accept every fucking compliment he was getting from now on, just to spite Deku.

"So, anyway, Bakugou, what's your SIM? I bet it's really cool, like a dragon or something," asked Kirishima, putting his fists together. Bakugou saw his hands--they hardened when that happened. Transformation quirk.

"None of your business," Bakugou retorted. He didn't know how Kirishima managed to get it spot on. He'd made sure to wear a jacket--Hawks' merch--so he could hide his SIM properly. He just knew some of those brain dead idiots would be looking out for their soulmate. He was gonna wear that fucking jacket for the whole week just to avoid those crazy people.

To be honest, he was considering to wear the jacket for the whole school year. The jacket was just right; not too cold and not too hot, baggy enough to allow him to put his hands in the sleeves, not too tight that it was snug. Plus, the design was cool. The jacket was a dark red to match Hawks' wings, and there was a small "Hawks: The Winged Hero" in yellow printed on the top left on his chest.

It wasn't so cringey that people would think he was a Hawks Stan, and Hawks was actually Bakugou's second favourite hero. He might be Third in the hero rankings, but Bakugou honestly saw Hawks do more humble acts like helping old ladies up the stairs and saving cats from trees more often than he saw Endeavor do anything heroic, so Bakugou definitely preferred Hawks. Besides, it made it easier for him to hide his mark.

"I got it wrong? Damn it. Is it a pheonix?" Kirishima continued.

Bakugou sighed, then decided to divert the conversation in case he slipped up. He pointed at Kirishima. "What's yours?"

Kirishima laughed. "Okay, you got me there. I'm not telling anyone my mark yet. I'm gonna try to find the emotional connection before the physical mark, so I know it's real."

Ah. He was one of those brain dead idiots. "Okay, so stop asking about the soulmate mark, it literally doesn't matter."

"What's your quirk? I heard it was explosive, but I'm not sure--"

Raising his palm, Bakugou shot some miniature explosions. "They are explosives, idiot. It's called Explosion."

Kirishima blinked. "Holy shit, I'm so stupid."

"Yeah, you are," Bakugou chuckled, then gestured at Kirishima's hands. "Transformation-type quirk, right? Something to do with hardening?"

Kirishima beamed-- as if he wasn't smiling enough already. "You're right, it's Hardening. You're actually really smart."

"I'm taking that as an insult," Bakugou said, even though pride was swelling up in his chest. He hated compliments--it was a handicap; he shouldn't be getting those until he was Number One--but yeah, when he got them, he got that inevitable feeling of pride. It was bad but addicting. Like a drug.

"It wasn't an insult!"

"That doesn't change anything."