Chapter 41 - Date with Red

"So how did things go down with Bakugou?" Kirishima asked.

Him and Y/N were sitting at a small booth in the cafeteria together. He'd bought them some rice balls and steak, a favorite of his, and he was desperate for details on her and Bakugou's interaction.

"About as good as you'd expect," Y/N grumbled, taking a bite. "He pretty much just sat there. I'm not dealing with it anymore. He can talk to me when he figures his shit out."

Kirishima chuckled. "That's fair." He took a moment to shovel food in his mouth, then looked at her questioningly. "Are you hurt?"

Y/N looked down at her plate. "I think it's more... disappointment, I guess. But it was on me for getting my hopes up. I mean... it's Bakugou we're talking about. I doubt he's ever had feelings for anyone."

"We thought he was asexual for a while, actually," Kirishima said matter-of-factly. He took a swig of his orange juice. "Until you came along. It confused all of us when he started showing interest in someone."

"Showing interest?"

"C'mon Y/N, you can't pretend you haven't noticed," he deadpanned. "We've known him for three years, some of us even longer than that. Kat has never touched a girl outside of a fight, let alone gotten a crush, and then suddenly you come along and now he wants to do that stuff."

"You sure about that?" Y/N grumbled.

"He kissed you!" Kirishima scoffed. "Of course he wants to!"

"Then why is he fucking ignoring me?!"

"He's scared!" Kirishima huffed. "This is all new to him. He doesn't know what he's doing. He's probably confused with all those new emotions, man."

Bakugou? Scared?

Y/N wanted to argue, but Kirishima had a point. If this really was his first experience with... whatever this was, then it was bound to be weird for him. "I shouldn't have confronted him. I'm an idiot," she groaned. She put her face in her hands, her face burning red. "He's never gonna talk to me again."

Kirishima laughed and leaned back in his seat. "Don't stress, Y/N. I'm sure everything's gonna be fine." He took another swig of his orange juice, still smiling at her. "Maybe you need to make a move."

Y/N almost choked on her food. "Huh?"

Kirishima shrugged. "Show him what he's missing. Seduce him or something."

"I don't know how to fucking seduce someone! Let alone Bakugou," she hissed. Her cheeks warmed and her ears pounded with embarassment. "Even if I wanted to, I don't think Bakugou can be seduced."

Eijirou found that hilarious for some reason and barked out a laugh. "Are you kidding? You should've seen him at the agency event. His eyes nearly popped out of his skull when he saw you. Trust me, anybody can be seduced."

Y/N shook her head. "Absolutely not. I don't know the first thing about that shit, and even if I did... whatever, it doesn't matter. Not happening."

"Suit yourself," Kirishima sighed. "That would've been hilarious."

~~~

"We learned this shit two years ago, Pikachu! You should know this!" Bakugou snapped, jabbing his finger at Kaminari's textbook. "It's basic formulas!"

"Dude, that was so long ago. I don't even remember what I had for breakfast this morning," Kaminari said as he shrugged.

Bakugou was fuming. Denki was impossible sometimes. They'd been in the common room for two hours now, Katsuki trying his absolute hardest to get Kaminari to understand the math homework but failing miserably. "Did you even read the damn textbook?"

"Well no, but–"

They were interrupted by the front doors to the dorm opening. Kirishima and Y/N walked in with ice creams, laughing together about some meme on Kirishima's phone. Bakugou rolled his eyes, but Kaminari shot up, grateful for the distraction. "We're not done, fuckface! You have two more pages of problems still!" Bakugou hollered.

"Give him a break dude, he's been working hard," Kirishima beamed. He putting his arm around Denki.

"No, he fucking hasn't. He's not listening to a damn thing I say," Bakugou retorted, crossing his arms in frustration. "Why do I even bother?"

His eyes darted to Y/N for a moment, but she wasn't paying attention to him. She shrugged off her jacket and slipped off her boots before looking at him, and when she did, she looked away without a reaction.

"Were you two on a date or something?" Kaminari teased. He elbowed Kirishima suggestively.

"Yes we were!" Kirishima he said proudly. "I bought her dinner. Lots of flirting, for sure." He shot Y/N a wink, giving her a look that said play along. Make him jealous.

Both Y/N and Bakugou gave him a hard glare, but he paid them no mind, grabbing Kaminari and slumping into the couch. "Y/N, I've been practicing my Super Smash Bros. Wanna play?"

"You sure you wanna get your ass beat again?" Y/N teased. It was enough of an answer for Eijirou to hand her a controller.

"Bakugou, play with us," Kirishima said, pointing to the empty spot next to Y/N. "Unless you're scared we'll beat you."

Bakugou growled and sat down next to Y/N. They were close enough that they were pressed together; he had never realized how small the couch was until now. Was the room always this hot?

He tried to watch the game between Y/N and Kirishima, but her skin was so soft pressed against him and he could smell her perfume. The scent brought him back to kiss, the feeling of her lips pressed against his flashing in his mind and making his body tense up. He crossed his arms to keep himself from doing something dumb.

"Yes!" Y/N cackled. Her laugh brought him back to reality. He watched her laugh at Kirishima and tried to bite back a smirk at how excited she was. That idiot radiated light.

They were sitting much closer now. Her legs were draped over the side of the couch and she was leaning on his arm. Her head was practically on his shoulder. The realization made his heart skip a beat; he'd never sat this close to her, and it was making his mouth dry.

They took turns playing for a few hours, but were interrupted when Y/N's phone rang on the floor. Denki picked it up to read the caller name. "Inasa, huh? You guys an item or something?"

Bakugou's chest burned.

"No, we're not. He asked for my number back at the precinct... I'll be back in a sec," she said apprehensively. She took the phone from Denki and walked out of the room to answer the call.

"I guess they have a similar quirk, don't they? I wonder if they'd be a good match," Denki thought aloud. "What do you think?"

"Nah. I don't think he's her type," Kirishima said, glancing at Bakugou for a moment and giving him an odd look. Bakugou only glared at him.

A few minutes later, Y/N walked back into the room.

"What did he say? You guys going on a date?" Kaminari teased.

"I can't really tell. A lot of it was him yelling very loudly about quirk stuff... there might've been an invitation to something in there? I don't know. That man is chaotic," she joked. "I told him maybe another time."

Bakugou did not want Y/N to hang out with Inasa. He didn't want Inasa anywhere near her, let alone on a date.

"He's the guy who got the top score on the entrance exam, right?" Kaminari asked. "I'm pretty sure he beat Todoroki and Bakugou–"

"He's not that fucking great," Bakugou spat. "And he's annoying as shit."

Y/N shrugged. "I thought he was nice," she said softly. 

"Then go on that damn date with him," Bakugou retorted, glaring at her.

Y/N only stared at him. Kirishima's eyes were darting between the two of them, trying to figure out what the hell was happening. There was a thick tension in the air that only made the silence worse.

"I'm patrolling tonight. I'm filling in for Kirishima."

"What the hell? Why aren't you coming?" Bakugou demanded, glaring at Kirishima. "You look fine!"

"I have homework to do," Kirishima lied. Bakugou saw right through it– Kirishima had used his puppy dog eyes to get Y/N to cover his shift so that her and Bakugou would be forced to spend time together.

Bakugou scoffed.

"Don't be a baby. I'm not that bad," Y/N grumbled. She got up to leave, grabbing her jacket as she walked down the hall to her room. "I can drive us there if you meet me outside at 8."

"Whatever."

Y/N rolled her eyes at how dramatic he was being and left to her room.

Patrol was going to be a nightmare.