12 BONDING OVER BLOOD AND GORE

LOVE STORIES always seemed clique to you. You used to always hate how a romance plot, whether it was the main or side plot, would always appear in a movie or novel. It was an idea everyone adored, and you just didn't get the rage of simply liking someone.

Although, that ideal was before you found someone who made your heart beat ten times faster in your chest.

Every touch, every talk, every brief eye contact was like a flutter of joy that passed through your bones. You couldn't shake the giddy feeling, the chance, and the adrenaline. The idea became so much more apparent to you, and slowly (instantly) you opened up to the idea of actually liking someone. Perhaps it was even more than just a side plot.

You hadn't ever met someone who could make feeling something so... bittersweet, however.

One second, a single moment with him could make you feel like you're floating on cloud nine. The next, you dread every second and you blame yourself for getting so attached to something you knew you could lose so easily.

You used to question why it was Denki Kaminari that made you, an originally unshakeable force, fall head over heels for him. What was special about him?

But deep down you knew the answer.

It wasn't just a gap to fill, a chapter that needed to be written for the sake of clique, a puzzle piece folded in half to fit. It was inevitable. And you were lucky enough that it was Kaminari.

"What about this one?" Mina's cheerful voice chipped into your thoughts, breaking through your deep thinking and crashing it. "Oooh! Wait—this is so cute!" She gushed, holding up hangers carrying bikini suits. "Which one should I get? This is so hard!"

You looked over at one, a green triangle bikini with white and lime green stripes. It was definitely being out her eyes.

You then turned to the other one, a white triangle bikini with a blooming pink flower on one side of the top, and one on the front of the bottoms.

"I think the second one looks quite nice." You replied, your help in her choice a little half assed. You were still a little annoyed that she had forced you to go to the mall on your usual rest day.

"Thanks! I'll checkout now. Can you hold my other bags?" She grinned, sticking her tongue out as she practically dumped her shopping bags on you and walked off to the cashier.

You frowned slightly, but grabbed the bags and stepped outside of the swimsuit shop. You had been dragged into at least three different shops in order to look for bikinis for Mina, who needed some for an upcoming beach holiday with her family. You understood going to one shop to get maybe two, but seven? From three different shops? She told you that she was on a budget.

You stood outside of the shop, waiting for your friend to return. You placed one bag on the floor but kept the other hanging on your wrist as you took out your phone. Scrolling through the usually dry social media, you quickly grew bored and restless. Mina was taking forever, and all you wanted to do was get home as soon as possible and nap.

"Oi! Isn't that speedy?" A dauntingly familiar voice ticked into your ears. You could recognise that gruff, ill mannered tone from anywhere. Especially that nickname.

"Huh?" Kirishima raised on eyebrow, before his eyes following the trail of Bakugo's point, and a grin curled up in his lips at the sight of you. "Oh! Y/N!" He smiled. "What a coincidence, huh?"

"Oh, hey guys." You stuffed your phone back into your pocket, silently panicking on the inside as you turned to face the four boys. Your eyes met Denki's, and you quickly looked away, cheeks heating up from the memory of your sick day.

You were so embarrassed. You couldn't believe he saw you like... that.

"Hey, Y/N!" Kaminari smiled. "What are you doing here?" He said, trying to make quick small talk to brush off the slightly awkward atmosphere.

"You idiot." Sero then elbowed him, sending him a deadpan look. "Shopping, duh."

Kaminari held his side, face contorting in pain for a moment. He was about to reply, however, a sight before him made his breath catch in his throat.

Kirishima stepped closer to you, hooking his arm around you shoulder and pulling you closer with a grin. He knew it was only a friendly gesture. He knew that neither of you thought of each other like that. But the sight of him near you, talking to you, touching you. It drove him to near insanity.

"Whatcha shopping for?" The red headed boy asked, before his eyes peeked down at her bag on the floor. "Ooo! You bought something? Let's see!"

"Oh!—that's not—"

Kirishima froze when a pulled out a small, strangely stringy and revealing red bikini. Bakugo merely frowned, choosing to look away and not comment. Sero's cheeks heated up at the sight, and Kaminari almost short circuited, and not because of his quirk this time.

"Mine. That's not mine." You finished off your originally cut of sentence.

"Y/N! I got it!" Mina's cheery voice called out to save the day, and she skipped over to the five of you happily, a new bag in hand. Her happiness was numbed when she caught sight of her new bikini in Kirishima's hand, and she immediately grew angry.

After the red head faced Mina's wrath, and after Kaminari recovered from the thought that popped up in his head from moments before, the group joined together into the original friend group.

The six of you visited various shops, and instead of being just Mina's personal bag holder, you and Kaminari were. What an upgrade.

It was like a win, win for Mina. She got to see you and Kaminari talking, whilst her shopping bags were held by other people other than her. That was all she wanted, really.

You strolled behind the group with Kaminari beside you, and the two of you conversed happily. The awkward air from before had fully cleared, and what was left was an amusingly humorous conversation about the past few days.

"I didn't expect it to be you behind the door." You scoffed with a smile. "I just thought Mina was ambushing me again."

"Ambushing?" Kaminari raised a joking eyebrow. "That sounds exactly like her."

You let out a small chuckle, one hand moving over to rub your wrist, attempting to soothe the aching muscle.

Kaminari noticed from beside you, and immediately questioned the movement with poorly hidden concern. "You okay? What's up?" He asked. "Getting tired, huh?"

"Uh... yeah." You sighed, looking off in front of you to peer at the remaining four friends, all holding nothing. "Why do we have to hold everything?"

Kaminari passed the bags to his other hand, before he held the free one towards you. You quickly understood what he was offering, and you made a rush to decline and convince him that you could hold it by yourself, but you were quickly cut off.

After a couple moments, you handed the bags over to him. You felt guilty, watching him carry way more shopping bags than one man should carry.

But you were glad when he got to rest at the cinema. There was a screening of a new movie the group had anticipated for a couple weeks now screening at the very mall they shopped in, so they collectively chimed in to watch it.

It was part of a franchise, and despite the fact you actually didn't mind violence in movies, despite how brutal it was, you didn't enjoy watching a particular scene much. You could sense that Kaminari recognised that. He chuckled under his breath and covered your eyes for you, although, he would momentarily leave a peak hole to scare you teasingly.

Mina squealed loudly in the feature at a scene, and you could tell that it got to Kaminari as well. You smirked and leant over to whisper in his ear, not wanting to disturb anyone else. You teased him for being scared, and he sent you a joking glare.

With your eyes glued to the screen, you ate popcorn with one hand, your other on the arm rest. You felt something hover over it, and with an unsuspecting peek, you looked over to see Kaminari's hand hesitate over yours.

He hovered it over, fingers sweaty yet ready. He was about to lower, before a jump scare appeared on screen and shocked the poor boy so much he let out a girlish scream.

He gave up after that embarrassing moment and waited for the movie to finish.

The gore wasn't too bad over all though, and you praised the impressive cgi for making it seem and look amazingly real.

The blonde agreed with you, and although you usually weren't the biggest fan on gory horror movies, you definitely were after how much it brought you and Kaminari together.

You were mainly just glad that the awkward air between you two had fully cleared, and was especially happy that it was before the upcoming class reward trip to the carnival.