Chapter 39 - Stupid Team Name

You quickly became addicted to waking up in Bakugou's arms each morning, a sunrise pouring through your windows.

True to your routine you both jogged down the beach with the sun growing higher in the sky. The world was still quiet aside from the waves lapping at the shore. You reached a tall rock that had been your milestone to turn back for the last few weeks but Bakugou kept pushing on. You creased your brow, already feeling the fatigue of trying to keep up with his stride but followed suit.

Another kilometer down the beach Bakugou stopped and you spied the openings to a small beach cave. A shallow trickle of water emanated from the opening nearly hidden by a wall of vines. Even though you knew the bay better than anyone by now, Bakugou still seemed to find hidden places for you two to explore.

"You wanna go in, don't you?" You caught your breath. The blond smiled mischievously at you and took your hand, leading you to the entrance. "What if there're bats or something?"

"You're afraid of bats?"

"No. I'm more afraid of the 'or something'," you said, digging your toes into the sand.

"Then I blow the 'something' up. C'mon hero," he taunted, and you knew you couldn't refuse him now.

It was dark inside. You lit your fingertips and pushed forward, pulling Bakugou behind you. Slick limestone encircled you and thankfully no bats or other creatures moved. Your wet footsteps echoed in the hollow space until the sound seemed to amplify.

You took another step and the ground slipped out from below you. The darkness was instantaneous.

"Ah!" Water rushed up to your neck before you felt Bakugou's muscular arm pull you upward.

"You okay?" he huffed out, winded from the quick burst of strength. You took a deep breath and allowed yourself to lower into the water, releasing Bakugou's hand and lighting your fingertips once more. You found his face in the fresh light and squinted against the brightness. "Why are you so fucking clumsy Ashtray?"

"Guess it's a sea cave," you said, ignoring his remark. Your eyes flashed red and you sent a fiery haze around the space with your still dry hand, trying to map the cave. There was a limestone ledge encircling the large open pool which was certainly deeper than your modest height. The ceiling extended two, maybe three stories high, the cause of the amplified echo.

Once the shock of your slip passed away, you could appreciate its beauty.

***

Ten minutes later you were both in your bathing suits in the secluded pool. Bakugou had run out of the cave and collected sticks and branches to make a small fire so you wouldn't have to light the space.  

"How do you always manage to find these little hidden gems?" you said, treading water easily.

"What do you mean?"

"Like the trail at Fushimi Inari." You thought back to that gorgeous sunset. "Did... did you like me back then?" you asked before you could think twice, your question echoing off the stone.

"Does it matter?" Bakugou paddled toward you, his kicks lazy in the still water.

"I guess I wondered when you started to like me." You couldn't make eye contact. "Nevermind. You don't have to answer that. It doesn't matter. We're together now so-"

"Almost immediately." Your head snapped up at his answer. The fire light flicked through the cave and Bakugou's crimson eyes glittered against the water's reflection. "You didn't take any of my shit. I know I'm a dick, but you still stuck around and gave me a taste of my own medicine. Plus, you can make that curry. Then we became partners. I didn't know how to feel about that. And the night we got all the stolen shit back from the parrot..." A memory flashed of the two of you dressed in all black on the couch going through the stolen treasures. A soft smile danced on your lips. "It was one in the morning and we were laughing way too hard, and I felt truly happy for the first time in a long time. You touched my cheek and right then I knew I was fucked."

"But you swatted my hand away." God, it seems so long ago.  

"How was I supposed to know what the hell that feeling was!?" Bakugou turned away, his face in darkness so you couldn't see the blush that rushed up his neck and turned his ears pink.

You elegantly maneuvered to his side and cupped his face in your hands, your legs treading smoothly to keep you afloat.

"It's adorable that even someone as aggressive as you Bakugou Katsuki can get flustered over a girl touching your cheek."

"Oh, fuck off." He pushed your hands away and splashed you with the cool water.

"Hey!" You splashed back playfully, swimming toward the limestone ledge. You pulled yourself up and sat with your feet dangling in the water. Bakugou swam up to you, resting his arms on the shelf but leaving his lower half submerged.

"Your fucking turn." He looked up at you, a real question in his eyes. You took your time in answering, sifting through your memories. When had you first realized?

"There were a lot of little pieces, like putting a puzzle together. A training session here, a stupid joke there. I don't think I realized it at the time but what really got me was the night of the Sports Festival. I've never been that vulnerable with anyone and when you held me, when you took care of me..." You kicked your feet, breaking the surface of the still water, a ripple traveling to the other side of the pool.

The next moment you felt the limestone slide out from below you as you were yanked into the water.

"What the fuck!" you coughed as your head broke through the surface. Bakugou pinned you against the side of the pool, the pressure of his body keeping you afloat without kicking.

His lips found yours, passionate and greedy. You tasted the salt on his tongue as it roamed your mouth.

"You mean I could have had you sooner you idiot?" he breathed against your lips. You couldn't help but chuckle at the insulting way he could deliver affection.

You kissed until the fire burned out.

***

Over the next week and a half, you found yourself shepherding your friends around the beach town. Even though you'd walked the beach dozens of times and ridden the same bike trails day in and day out, doing them with Kirishima, Sero and Kaminari's constant jokes, Jirou's dark sense of humor contrasted with Mina's upbeat demeanor, and of course Bakugou's Bakugou-ness, made everything seem fresh and new.

Yaoyorozu and Todoroki had opted to stay behind on most of your adventures, no doubt making memories of their own. You had to constantly smack Kaminari every time he said something inappropriate about their new relationship. Bakugou hit him enough for commenting about your own.

"Yaomomo! Can we have a slumber party for our last night?" Mina called into the large open kitchen as you returned from a bike ride to the town shopping center after dinner. So as not to begin the cook-off saga again, you'd opted to end the rivalry at a 5-5 win streak, much to Bakugou's chagrin.

Yaoyorozu appeared over the railing of the second floor a moment later, followed by Todoroki. Her cheeks were red and his hair was disheveled. You used one of your many silent communication hand signals to indicate that he should wipe the lipstick off his face. His eyes widened and he turned his back a moment later, aggressively rubbing at his mouth.

"A slumber party?" Yaoyorozu asked.

"Yeah, lets throw all of our blankets and pillows in one person's room and hang out and watch movies and stuff," Kirishima chimed in. He looked over his shoulders for Kito-san. "Denki found some ooze-bay downtown." Yaoyorozu watched as his eyes flicked toward Kaminari holding a brown bag.

"Ooze-bay?" Todoroki said confused and you shook your head.

"It'll be low-key Yaomomo. We can use my room?" you offered. She looked thoughtful for a moment but finally conceded.

Twenty minutes later the floor of your room was littered with blankets, couch cushions, open cookie tins, bags of chips, half drunk bottles of soda, a smattering of cups and plates, and all your friends. Kaminari had decided to build himself a pillow fort.

Mina carefully poured drinks for everyone as Kirishima flipped through the TV channels, looking for a movie. You stole a handful of Bakugou's pocky and he playfully wrestled you to the ground, snapping all the sticks in the process. Your head upside-down from your pinned position you glanced at the television screen.

"Kiri, wait. Go back." Something on one of the news channels caught your eye. You shoved Bakugou off you and pushed yourself to your knees. Kirishima looked over his shoulder at you skeptically before reluctantly clicking back a few channels. "There!" you yelled when you saw the ticker.

'Police officer mysteriously turns to stone during a robbery call in Roppongi'

"Turn it up!" Kirishima's eyes were wide as he increased the volume.

"Heroes apprehended a suspect involved in a convenience store robbery early this morning. Officer Saito Ryou, who works for the Roppongi police department, was called in to help with the arrest. His partner, officer Kabana Sasuke, said that after placing the suspect in his patrol car, officer Saito answered a call on his walkie talkie and suddenly turned to stone," a dark-haired newscaster announced. "We now take you live to the Roppongi station press room."

The footage shifted. A police spokesperson stood at a podium. "We cannot say what caused Saito-san to suddenly turn to stone, but we are exploring every possible angle. The robbery suspects did not possess any stone quirks. There will be a full investigation at the scene. We assure you, we are taking every precaution to keep the rest of our officers and the public safe. In the meantime, Saito-san has been sent to the hospital to see if we can reverse the effects of the stone. That is all at this time. Thank you." The cherry-haired man collected a few papers from the platform and stepped away from the cameras. 

"Stone?" Kaminari peeked out from his pillow fort.

"That's way worse than paralysis," Kirishima said offhandedly. You exhaled, not realizing you'd been holding your breath throughout the video. Your gaze bounced between Kirishima and Bakugou.

"You don't think they could be connected, do you?" You bit your lip, hoping you were being paranoid. Bakugou furrowed his brows as he thought about it.

"They said he turned to stone after he used a walkie talkie," Yaoyorozu spoke up. Your and Bakugou's eyes grew wide. "Is that important?"

"That shaky idiot Hermes said The Hacker was forcing him to put out fucked communication equipment, right?!" Bakugou angrily mumbled, eyes scanning the carpet furiously in thought, trying to put the pieces together.

"But how could a walkie talkie do that to someone? I've never seen or heard anything about inanimate objects having quirks," Todoroki chimed in. Everyone looked puzzled.

"That doesn't mean this Hacker guy doesn't have a quirk that can interfere," Bakugou spat, still staring at the ground.

"And if there's even a chance this could happen again because of faulty tech, we have to tell someone," you said, eyes fixed on the television which had now switched to a new story.

"Let's go to the station right now!" Kirishima jumped to his feet, as if he were ready to run all the way to Roppongi. Jirou pulled him back down to the floor.

***

You re-watched the news coverage each time Saito-san's segment was shown, looking for any hint or clue. It played nearly every hour, and before you knew it, it was morning.

Everyone dispersed to collect their belongings. As you packed up your small duffle and backpack you took in your last view of the room. The sun was just rising, and you watched it come up as you had every morning for the past two months.

The Suruga house had been where you spent easy days with your friends, where you'd trained on the beach, where you'd somehow learned to surf, where you'd woken up with Bakugou by your side. It felt wrong for him not to be standing there next to you as you watched this final sunrise.

A knock. Bakugou slid open the door, his luggage draped effortlessly over his shoulder. He leaned against the doorframe.

It's like you knew.

You held out your hand and he walked toward you, joining you as you sat on the edge of the bed staring out the panorama of windows. He dropped his bag on the ground and wrapped an arm around your waist, pulling you to him.

"I don't want to leave like this," you finally said, eyes still on the sky.

"Like what?"

"The last thing I'm going to remember is seeing that poor man turned to stone. I've been here for two months and that's my final memory." Your tone was sad, quiet.

"That's easy." His manner was light. You looked up at him perplexed. "Don't let it be your last memory." He cupped your chin and pulled you into a gentle kiss. As the seconds ticked by you leaned in, the kiss deepening, becoming more passionate. Not sexual, but loving, intimate. He kissed you like he cherished you, like he'd always keep you safe, like he never wanted to let you go. You smiled into his lips.

Your lips parted and he pressed his forehead against yours. You exhaled but kept your eyes closed, taking in the moment. He placed one more kiss to your hair and then turned to the window. His crimson eyes shone with the light of the morning.

This would be your last memory in the house. It was the place you fell in love.

***

You began scribbling notes on scrap pieces of paper as the train whipped through the countryside. Your head was full of ideas on Saito-san, the stone transformation, the walkie talkie. You drew desperate connections between what had happened in Kyoto with this incident in Roppongi, hoping you weren't forcing too many wild assumptions to make the pieces fit.

You arrived back at the train station near campus several hours later. Bakugou invited you to dinner with his parents, as he wouldn't return to the dorms until the following day, but you waved him off. You knew you wouldn't be good company in your current mindset.

When he protested, you pressed a deep kiss against his lips in front of the squad. Kaminari and Sero whooped and whistled which only caused the blond boy to chase after them shouting expletives and popping fresh explosions from his palms. You chuckled as you said goodbye to the rest of your friends and headed toward the dorms.

***

The classroom was lively on your first full day back. Everyone told stories of their summer adventures, trips, and work studies. Having seen everyone at some point during the break you happily recounted your time together and pried on details of their escapades after the beach house.

Aizawa walked in a few minutes later and everyone instinctively scurried to their seats.

"Welcome back," your teacher deadpanned, not a hint of excitement in his tone. "I said you'd be able to choose your own partners after break. Please take the next ten minutes to discuss amongst yourselves. If you would not like to partner with someone you worked with previously, I will assign teams randomly. Go at it." He zipped himself up into his bright yellow sleeping bag and laid on the ground, tucked behind his desk.

The room filled with lively chatter. People started pairing up near instantaneously. You smiled down at your desk. You knew who you wanted.

"Ashtray!" Bakugou's back was twisted as he looked over his shoulder toward your seat. You raised your eyebrows and pointed at your chest coyly. Bakugou rolled his eyes and rose from his chair. "Go write our names on the board."

"I thought I only had to partner with you again if you won the high heel bet? And if I recall correctly, you lost that one spectacularly. Maybe I'll go with Kiri again?" You grinned as a vein started to pulse in Bakugou's neck.

"YOU'RE MY FUCKING GIRLFRIEND AND YOU'RE NOT GOING TO PARTNER WITH ME?! WHAT THE FUCK?! AND WITH SHITTY HAIR?! OVER HIS DEAD FUCKING BODY!" You stood from your seat and pressed a gentle peck to Bakugou's cheek. You didn't necessarily approve of PDA at school, but it was so fun to watch him crumble.

"Of course I'm with you Kitten," you mocked and sauntered to the board.

'[l/n] [f/n] + Bakugou Katsuki – Team Smoke Bomb'

Bakugou huffed as you added the stupid team name. You returned to your seat, a teasing smirk painted on your lips.