Chapter 2 - New Girl

You woke up before the alarm. You pulled the curtain from the window, not like it had been any help, and looked out at the dark lawn. Contemplating if you should try to go back to sleep, you shifted back onto to the bed and grabbed the corner of the thin blanket.

"Eh screw it, I'm up now as it is," you huffed out quietly, your voice rough and cracked from disuse. You knew the jet lag would plague you for the next few days, but you might as well try to be productive in the morning.

After brushing your teeth and braiding your hair back, you pulled on a sports bra, green long sleeve t-shirt, leggings and the sneakers by the door before heading out. The hall was dead quiet, with everyone presumably still asleep. You did your best not to make any noise and chose the stairs over the elevator just to ensure you didn't wake anyone. Pushing open the large front doors of the dorm, you took in your first breath of morning air. It was crisp and cool, to be expected for April at this time in the day.

You did a few stretches on the front porch before beginning your run. Since you weren't familiar with the area, you opted not to make the route overly complicated. You zigzagged through the UA designated streets, keeping tabs on how far from the central glass building you had gone. The dorm was north of the glass structure, so as long as you could navigate your way back, you'd be fine. But you certainly didn't trust yourself going outside the bounds of the campus grounds alone. Definitely not anymore.

Before you knew it, your sports-watch beeped, indicating you had completed your 10K. You slowed to a jog, then a walk, trying to calm your breathing. It was still so early the sun had just barely started to rise. Finding a bench, you decided to watch it come up. The haze of navy turned into a rosy coral which peaked over the horizon. It was so peaceful, so quiet.

BOOOOM!!

Your head whipped toward the sound. You saw an explosion and smoke. It was directly behind your dorm. Before you could think twice you were sprinting toward the blast, the fatigue of moments ago completely gone, hands at the ready to absorb any and all the smoke if needed. Turning the corner to the back of the building, you crashed into something hard.

Fuck.

You quickly jumped up from where you'd fallen to the ground, ignoring the sudden pain in your shoulder, ready for a fight.

"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!" An angry voice snapped you out of your battle mode. You blinked a few times before focusing on the ash blond boy standing in front of you, also apparently ready to pounce. He was wearing black sweatpants and a black tank top, which showed his strong arms and shoulders. He was covered in sweat but didn't seem to be injured in any way.

Where did that explosion come from?

"Are you hurt?" were the first words out of your mouth. "I saw the explosion..."

"OF COURSE I'M NOT HURT. NOW WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!" His crimson eyes were serious and deadly.

"[Y/n]. Who the fuck are you?" you snapped back with the same intonation, once again raising your fists as you saw the boy wasn't letting down his guard.

"THIS IS MY FUCKING DORM YOU EXTRA. NOW GET OUTTA MY SIGHT BEFORE I BLOW YOU UP TOO!"

I swear it's too fucking early for this nonsense. Wait... his dorm?

"Are you... Bakugou?" you asked, your tone turning to one of genuine curiosity. If this was his dorm, then he was one of your classmates. You should have figured it out sooner. You had done a little research on UA before you joined, and this boy had won the Sports Festival with that explosive quirk. What a wonderful first impression you were both making.

The blond looked a little taken aback. And while his face still stayed in a snarl, his body relaxed just enough for you to know he wasn't going to actually attack.

"I'm [y/n], your new classmate." You dropped your fighting stance and held a hand out to shake but were thoroughly ignored. You laughed it off and combed it through your hair instead. "Sorry I startled you. I just saw the explosion and thought..."

"It's my quirk, you idiot. I'm training," he snapped.

BAKUGOU KATSUKI, HERO NAME: GROUND ZERO—QUIRK: EXPLOSION. EXPLOSION ALLOWS BAKUGOU TO EXCRETE SWEAT SIMILAR TO NITROGLYCERIN FROM HIS PALMS AND IGNITE IT AT WILL TO CREATE VARIOUS EXPLOSIONS.

"I see that now. Well... are you almost done? I was about to go in and make breakfast." You tried to ease the very palatable tension still in the air. Tucking your arms behind your back, you swayed from side to side coyly. "Would you like some?"

"Tsk. I don't want any of your shitty food."

"Your loss. It'll be delicious," you said, and left him to continue his workout. You could hear him muttering nonsense about 'letting more shitty extras into the school' as he dropped to start doing push-ups and rolled your eyes. You just hoped he hadn't woken too many people up with an explosion at 6 a.m..

Maybe they're used to it here.

You quickly dashed to the washrooms to shower and changed into your uniform for the day before making your way to the kitchen area on the ground floor. Iida had mentioned something about communal food last night, so you started poking into all the cabinets and refrigerator, looking for some kind of cereal or bread and jam. Then you had an idea.

The fastest way to a classmate's heart is through their stomach.

For the next half hour you scrambled eggs, toasted bread, flipped pancakes and crisped up bacon and potatoes - everything needed for a typical American breakfast. At around 6:45 a.m. you heard the first few students trudging down the stairs, only to notice their footsteps quicken as they approached the delicious smell of, you're assuming, the bacon.

"Oh my goodness! What is that smell?!" the cute brunette, Uraraka cooed. She was followed by the punky Jirou and the invisible Hagakure.

"Take a plate. Help yourselves. I woke up so early I figured I'd make breakfast for everyone. Sort of a thank you for welcoming me to the class." You gestured for the girls to start at the toast end of the table and work their way down.

"Did you say you made us breakfast?" the sparky blond Kaminari chimed in from the stairs (Huh? Cute. He has a little lightning bolt in his hair), followed by the redhead Kirishima, the flame wielder, Todoroki, and a black-haired boy with oddly bulky elbows, Sero.

SERO HANTA, HERO NAME: CELLOPHANE—QUIRK: TAPE. SERO CAN EJECT ADHESIVE TAPE FROM OPENINGS ON BOTH OF HIS ELBOWS. HE CAN FIRE LENGTHS OF TAPE THAT STICK TO ANYTHING HE AIMS AT. THE TAPE IS STRONG ENOUGH TO IMMOBILIZE OPPONENTS, HOLD LARGE STRUCTURES TOGETHER AND SUPPORT SERO'S OWN WEIGHT.

"Yup. Grab whatever you'd like. I have some more pancakes coming up soon."

"Would you marry me?" The blond boy gave his best puppy dog eyes and dropped to one knee, while Sero and Kirishima sniggered from behind.

"Well, since you asked so nicely," you joked back, returning the wink he had sent your way the night before. A small dusting of pink coated the boy's cheeks.

You handed each of the boys a plate with a smile. Todoroki quietly thanked you while the other three immediately started scooping food onto their empty plates, only thanking you once their mouths were already full.

"How did you learn to make all this?" Kaminari asked, shoving another piece of bacon into his mouth. "I can barely pour my own cereal."

"He makes me pour the milk." Sero jerked a thumb toward a milk jug on the table.

"Bakugou punched me for spilling it the last time! It's for my own safety!" the blond retorted.

At the mention of Bakugou's name you perked up. Before all the food could be gobbled up by your fellow hungry teenagers, you filled a plate with a bit of everything and grabbed a bottle of ketchup and hot sauce. You found a scrap of paper, jotted down a note and left the plate on the back porch, returning to your new classmates as more joined the table for breakfast.

By that point, the whole dorm was up and sharing in the meal. They all complimented your cooking and thanked you for such a wonderful surprise. It seemed your plan to get in their good graces had worked.

"These pancakes are amazing [y/n]. Can I get the recipe?" asked Satou, a tall, broad boy with large lips. You nodded, promising a list of ingredients later to the sugar lover.

SATOU RIKIDOU, HERO NAME: SUGARMAN—QUIRK: SUGAR RUSH. SATOU CAN MULTIPLY HIS STRENGTH FIVE-FOLD FOR THREE MINUTES FOR EVERY 10 GRAMS OF SUGAR HE INGESTS.

"I don't think I've ever had an American-style breakfast before. Everything is so tasty!" Uraraka practically bounced up and down while nibbling on another slice of bacon.

"Well, don't get too used to it. I don't think I could pull this off every morning. But maybe we can make class meals a thing now and then," you stated between bites of egg on toast. Eyes lit up at the thought of starting a new dorm tradition.

"I can make ramen sometime!"

"My mom has an awesome beef curry recipe!"

"... I'm only really good at making rice..."

"We could make a gyoza assembly line!"

You were glad you had taken this initiative. The loneliness of the night before ebbed away. This was exactly the way you wanted to start a new year.

***

"Aizawa's going to fucking roast me for setting off a blast so early in the morning. If those damn birds hadn't snuck up on me out of the trees, I wouldn't have jumped. And then that stupid girl ran up..." Bakugou grumbled to himself.

Bakugou was sweating and panting. He pushed the spiky hair from his face to wipe his brow. His shirt had been tossed off to the side once the sun had come up, leaving his defined upper body to glisten with sweat as the morning light hit his skin. He had finished his conditioning and was ready to head in when something caught his eye. There was a plate of food on the porch with a note.

Bakugou - Sorry I interrupted your training this morning. I'll learn to ignore terrifying explosions at 6 a.m. in the future. I'm sure you're hungry after all your hard work, so please accept this super not shitty breakfast as a peace offering. - [y/n]

Bakugou scrunched up the note and scoffed to himself, glancing over his shoulders for passersby before dumping the hot sauce all over the eggs and nearly inhaling the delicious breakfast.

"Fucking new girl."