Chapter 3

"Your cheeks look better without the pink"

"We were having fun," Bakugou spat, still in Todoroki's clutches, and gave the boy in front of him an urgent shove. Todoroki took a few steps back, and distanced himself away, watching as Bakugou soothed his throat a little. They were having fun? Todoroki didn't want to dive deeper into that comment but his mouth turned dry thinking about whatever that insinuated.

Bakugou steadied himself, his left hand leaning against the desk next to him. Toying with Todoroki's emotions was dangerously fun, he thought. It hadn't even been a minute and Bakugou was already enjoying his new-found experiment.

"Why do you care so much two-face?" Bakugou coughed out as he managed to flip his collar back to its original state, "For the record, pony-tail girl was the one who came to me, not the other way around."

Kirishima moved forward, wedging himself between the two in case things got out of hand again. At this time, the sun had almost disappeared below the horizon, leaving the classroom an eerie abyss.

Todoroki inhaled deeply and exhaled.

"What's your intention?" He asked, noticing Kirishima's uneasiness, and Bakugou let out a chuckle.

"I have no intentions whatsoever," Bakugou spoke with a sense of ambiguity, "But pony-tail and I seem to be getting along."

The blond swiftly grabbed his bag in one motion and slung it across his shoulders, a mischievous grin spread across his face. His red-haired friend placed a hand gently on Todoroki.

"It's late," Kirishima stated, eyeing the two, "Todoroki, let's leave this for another day." The Red Riot hero gave a meek smile, but deep down he was hoping that this was the end of it. In the back of his mind, Kirishima imagined the disaster that would be of Todoroki and Bakugou's full on fight, if it were to happen. Aizawa would for sure sentence the three of them to house arrest. Kirishima groaned inwardly. How unfair would it be if he was penalized, it's not even like he wanted to be a part of it! It didn't help that Bakugou had a crappy attitude too.

"We're going," Kirishima's voice trailed off, and saw Bakugou charge out the door, "See you tomorrow bro."

Todoroki answered him with a light flick of his wrist in the air as he turned away. His hair covered his expression but Kirishima was positive the heat he was feeling at the moment was from him.

"That's absolutely preposterous!" Yaoyorozu screamed into the phone, "You guys thought I had a thing with Bakugou?! Are you insane?!"

Jirou pulled the phone away from her ears, and closed her eyes, "I know, it was Kaminari and Kirishima! I didn't believe them but when I saw you and Bakugou coming back late—"

"Yeah, FROM HATSUME-SAN'S LAB," Yaoyorozu wanted to punch someone in the face, though of course, her mother would not approve. She should have known this would happen! Rumours come and go; if she wanted to keep her little 'project' undiscovered by Todoroki, she's going to have to keep the truth amongst a few people.

"I know now you were making something for Todoroki," Jirou muttered, "you should've told me earlier."

"I wanted to keep it a secret," Yaoyorozu explained as she pulled her stuffed penguin closer, "It'll be done within the next few weeks. Let's keep this between us. I don't want Kaminari's big mouth going around."

Jirou leaned back against her bed rest, "Alright, Momo, but for the sake of Todoroki's mental health….you should hurry it up."

"What do you mean?" Yaoyorozu questioned as her penguin fell out of her hands. Did something happen when she was gone today?

Jirou snickered and took a bite out of a chocolate bar. Swirling the piece inside her mouth, she waited a little before answering her best friend.

"Todoroki punched his desk super hard then walked out." Yaoyorozu can practically see her friend grinning like an idiot. Jirou was a closeted hopeless romantic after all.

"Wait, after he heard you guys?"

"Yeeeeep, after he heard us. Actually scared me a little too. It's so unlike him to lose his cool."

Yaoyorozu's eyes lit up and her heart started to pound. With dainty fingers, she clutched her chest, her pyjamas scrunched in the small of her palm.

Does this mean Todoroki was…was…

She needed to keep her head straight.

"He's probably jealous or something," Jirou finished her thought for her, and tossed the candy wrapper into the bin as if she was shooting a three-pointer.

She could hear Yaoyorozu's breathing but no response came. "Momo, you still there?"

"Yeah. Um…Jirou I think I'll go now…it's…past my bedtime."

"O…kaayy…" Jirou said in a puzzled tone, eyes narrowing, "I bet your heart is going todorokiDOKIDOKI—"

"NO, STOP!" Yaoyorozu buried her face in exasperation and Jirou laughed so hard she choked on her own saliva, "GOODNIGHT!"

She hung up before a response came from the other side.

The lab was always in disarray, but today, it looked even more so. Trinkets were hazardously dangling from the edges of tables that looked scratched from wear. Hatsume's 'thought-of-the-day' projects (which really just seemed to be made on a whim) laid in a pile so monstrous at the corner of the room, that one would think it was a landfill.

Bakugou yawned, slamming the door as he stepped foot onto the concrete floor covered in histories of machine-made scratches and oil stains that melted into the covering. The room was especially dark in the morning, the only source of light coming from a desk lamp on his far left. Bakugou noticed the usual host of the lab in the middle of something, steps away from him. He squinted.

Hatsume was no doubt a gold mine of knowledge; a girl so creative and utterly inspiring that it made Bakugou shiver. And he wasn't the kind of person that'd be impressed that easily.

She was completely immersed in her tenth 'ground-breaking' project for the week, spine-curved, arms raised with tools, black and rusty, sticking out of her pockets. Her hair, a lovely colour of cherry blossoms, damp with sweat, held up with nothing but her usual goggles.

Bakugou grunted a few times to get her attention. Hatsume didn't budge, her pupils changing like a kaleidoscope and he realized she was in the process of using her 'zoom' quirk. Bakugou walked closer, observing her fingers twist and tug at every gear, apparent that her hard-earned skills were the cause of the familiar movements that she was performing.

"YO," Bakugou cried out. Hatsume picked up her head and gave a wide grin.

"You're here! Right on time with two minutes to spare! Come over here," the girl gestured to the empty space beside her, "I've improved the blaster as discussed with Yaoyorozu, you have no idea how much more thrust this thing has now."

"Un."

"And to think that I'd be spending at least three days on this, well guess what, I only spent a day! Hah! Talk about efficiency!"

"Un."

Bakugou side eyed the girl beside him. She was intoxicated in her work, her explanations feeding off of dedication. For a minute, watching the chatterbox in front of him, his mind wandered off. At this time on most days, he'd be out and about given his busy training schedule. Never a bad decision to squeeze in some physical activity before classes start, especially if he had to climb the ladder against people like Deku and two-face.

"I'm asking you a question, hello there," The inventor made a quick motion with her hand to his face clearly having stopped her tedious anecdote, "I said, what made you come here? Is it because of my amazing babies?"

Her arm waved to showcase what looked like junk behind her. He guffawed.

"No way IN HELL am I interested in your trash."

"Hey, don't disrespect my babies!" Hatsume made a pout and crossed her arms, "It's odd how a rude boy like you became friends with a lady such as Yaoyorozu herself. I'm just curious why you're willing to help us, is all."

A vein twitched on his forehead.

"Free English lesson's what that pony-tail bitch said I'd get. Like I give a rat's ass about being her friend and whatever else two-faced had to do with it. Y'all better watch yourselves or Imma leave and you'd be stuck with no one to test your shit out. I swear –"

His eyes shot opened when he was cut short with a bitter taste of metal and mint on the tip of his tongue which expanded towards the cave of his throat. His immediate attention turned towards a machine, though it appeared to have something similar to eyes and a mouth, propelling itself flippantly in front of his face.

Bakugou swatted it away with a painful snap of his palm rendering smoke from the robot's exhaust. Did he just bat at her creation as if it was a mosquito?

Hatsume watched devastated as her robot whizzed out of commission, twirling down to the ground with a loud bang.

"BLEH," Bakugou spat out the foam, eyes intensely glaring at the culprit, "did that thing of yours just spray some shit into my mouth?!"

He continued to spit out the remains.

"Aw why'd you do that!" Hatsume knelt down to inspect the corpse of her machine.

"Uh, oh wells, I made that machine for jokes last month, its purpose was to spray cleaning agent on people whenever they swore. Guess it's still working," Hatsume chuckled, brightening up, "It's great isn't it?"

Bakugou flipped her a middle finger. Realizing what he just did, he turned around to scan if any more of these artificial intelligence were coming his way.

Hatsume straightened herself, arms on her hips before dragging Bakugou's extended hand to the counter before them.

"Let's get this going, shall we?"

This bitch is cray, Bakugou wanted to voice out loud in the middle of class.

It was the second period, right after lunch, and the smartest girl in class was already all fired up, spewing whatever nonsense he deemed to be a hodgepodge of bullshit. It irked Bakugou's ears to hear her talk. With such quick wit, no less.

The time he spent at Hatsume's wasn't the best either, and his mind refused to let it go.

Aizawa watched intently as the VP of the class stood up, with such dignity that seemed limitless, and continued with her half-way finished explanation.

"….And that is my theory as to what would happen if three black holes were to ever collide."

Finally she's done, Bakugou thought. He held his chin in his hand and shifted back to the instructor standing behind the podium.

Yaoyorozu sat back down, lips upturned, eyes glazed over. Everyone was dead silent as Aizawa's jaw-dropped expression transitioned into a soft, 'what-the-heck-just-happened' face.

"Uh…excellent, Yaoyorozu," their teacher coughed out and cleared his throat before he grabbing a chalk to scribble some formulas on the board. The other students were silently praising their Vice President though no one had a clue.

After what felt like a decade (it didn't help that Kaminari and Ashido had to ask a million questions in between each new question), Aizawa handed each student a worksheet. Bakugou chewed at the back of his pencil, teeth grinding harder into the wood at what was written beside his name.

"This assignment is due in two days and you each have a partner to work with. I've written down your partner's name at the top," Aizawa said and sighed, "Now get started. If you have questions, you can ask later, I'm going to take a break."

And with that, their teacher crawled slowly into his yellow silkworm-esque sleeping bag at the corner of the room.

Bakugou kicked his feet onto his desk, arms crossed in anger.

What the heck were the chances that it's her again?!

"Bakugou-san! What are the chances, eh?" Yaoyorozu appeared to be thrilled as she verbally repeated what he was thinking and he replied with a dissatisfied 'TCH'.

Yaoyorozu didn't seem to care. Or rather, she seemed to be used to his antics already. Her hair swayed with every movement as she sauntered over, apple-cheeked and smiling. She pulled up what used to be Midoriya's chair and sat crossed legged beside him.

Flipping the page over, she began, "So," she leaned forward a bit more, "How was the improvement?"

Bakugou saw her scan the surroundings before adding, enunciating every word, "I'm so sorry, I apologize for not being there this morning, I had a meeting with the Cooking Club and I couldn't miss out. Hatsume-san said that you seem to approve the changes though? Is that true?"

"Well, it's not totally shit." The blond closed his eyes, and pushed his legs back down. The two was probably in everyone's radar now seeing how suspicious they were acting.

"I do think that the power is great but the precision of the blast is not quite there. Octopus knows. She's gonna fix it up a bit and get it up and running in a few days," the boy promptly said and his brows scrunched together at the sudden thought of the unpleasant occurrence that morning.

Yaoyorozu caught on.

"I also heard from Hatsume-san that you got 'mouth-washed' by one of her swear-bots."

"DON'T REMIND ME!"

At that, Shouji turned around to hush the two with a finger to his lips. Mineta was disgruntled.

"Sorry, Shouji-san," Yaoyorozu nodded an apology behind her, and gave Bakugou a sneer right after.

"Must've tasted like toothpaste," she teased in a hushed voice, having no thought of how dire the situation could get if a Bakugou's rage awakens.

"More like shit mixed with shit. Fuck, y'all piss me off!"

"Aw, don't be like that-"

"Hey, don't touch my hair!"

Bakugou contorted a frown as Yaoyorozu attempted to give his spiky hairdo a pat resulting in more giggles from the girl beside him.

This was not the kind of relationship that he wanted to have with anyone or expected to have with anyone. Ever since entering UA, Bakugou had felt somewhat of the same conviction as Todoroki. He wasn't here to make friends nor was he here to establish any kind of passive connection with his classmates, let alone this girl, whose preppy demeanor could blind him in a split second.

Bakugou gritted his teeth; though he had this at the back of his mind, he still couldn't unravel the mystery that is Yaoyorozu, who seemed to be gradually stripping him of the façade that he wasn't sure if he could hold up much longer.

"Bakugou and Yaomomo is so loud over there," Kaminari exclaimed, "it makes you wonder what they're talking about, doesn't it?"

Kaminari nodded his head slightly as if agreeing with his own ideation of what was happening over to the far side of the room. His partner was hard at work, hand gripping onto the pencil tightly. He didn't seem to hear what Kaminari was saying. Though to be honest, it was more like he didn't want to hear.

"Yo, Todoroki," Kaminari gave a nudge with his elbow and Todoroki rewarded him with a stony gaze that he was notorious for.

"Why don't you mind your own business and get this done," Todoroki said, sounding peeved, "and you wonder why you're almost failing the class."

"Dude!" Kaminari dramatically clutched his chest as if he got a stroke from his friend's mindless accusation, though it had no effect on his partner.

Todoroki's eyes did not peel away from the paper, and continued, erratic writing left as a product of his frustration. Kaminari gave a sigh. The electric hero observed the scene with a curious gaze across the bustle of the students, and after another peak, sensed Mineta crying over to his side.

"I just heard Yaomomo and Bakugou talk about 'bitter tastes' and something to do with his mouth," Mineta could barely make it through the whole sentence without snot streaming onto his own lips, "Save me Kaminari! Why would Yaomomo …choose…someone like that?!"

The bawling boy laid his arms onto Kaminari's lap like a pitiful beggar, and the latter tried to console him with a few soothing strokes on his back. Kaminari felt as if someone landed a punch to his gut as he realized that his partner was seated only inches apart from what was said. He didn't dare shift his attention to the fire and ice hero, silently praying he wouldn't trigger any harsh emotions from Todoroki again.

Todoroki cleared his throat at the wretched scene in front of him. He already had a difficult time understanding what was going on between Yaoyorozu and Bakugou, though of course, he really should ignore it. The night before, he had strived to reach an appropriate conclusion; perhaps the two were merely making friends and truly bonding with each other. Yaoyorozu was a very friendly person; amicable and so easily well-liked so that shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone if she was able to 'tame the beast' that is Bakugou. Or what if it's more? This was driving him up the wall! He had no reason to be this miffed about it anyone yet he could practically feel his muscle tense every time someone said their names within the same sentence. Yaoyorozu was a grown, mature lady who could make her own decisions, but he wanted so badly to comprehend this; this was beyond irritating.

"What if they like each other? Oh my god-"

Todoroki had had enough of this commotion.

"Could you stop whining for once?!" Todoroki's voice howled and Kaminari jumped a little.

"Wh-" Mineta couldn't even finish his thought before Todoroki began again, causing the purple-head one to shrink into his arms like a makeshift cocoon.

"Whatever you're so worried about can wait till later. We have work to do!"

Todoroki slammed his textbook to a close for added emphasis. Mineta stared at him and then back at Kaminari as if to ask for help, and decided that his fate had already been set; eyes filled with red veins, Mineta scurried back to his seat, briny tears smudged away with both of his hands in case Todoroki scolded him again with words as heated as fire itself.

The second period onwards was a dreary train of mundane tasks. Time lapsed by twice as slow and Todoroki ended the day without roundhouse kicking anyone in the face, which was great news according to Kaminari. The fire and ice hero really didn't want to dive further into what Kaminari had meant and rationalized that training at the UA gym prior to heading home for a power nap was the best way to refuel.

That was his decision a few seconds ago, and he had even texted Iida and Midoriya to join him as well, until his curiosity sank in.

The black haired girl, with her yapping partner, was in the middle of the classroom.

"The best is if we worked on all of it together and get it done early." He heard Yaoyorozu insist.

"Shut 'cher trap. We should fucking go home and do this on our own and then compare the answers tomorrow!"

"Who's the one that's getting straight A's right now?"

With that, Bakugou snapped his jaws shut, staring at the nothingness beside him in vain.

The girl smirked triumphantly and tapped her foot, like an unspoken challenge. The boy didn't utter a syllable.

"My driver's waiting, come on, you can get a ride with me and I'll tell my mother to have the hall ready for us."

"Ugh, not that hall again," the blond rolled his eyes in response and slid off his seat, the front of his sneakers landing on the floor with a distinct tap.

Todoroki jutted his arms through the handles of his canvas bag, the New Years charm Fuyumi gave him dangling with a slight jingle. Without much of a thought, he felt his legs carry him over to the two, the rustle of his backpack alerting them of his arrival as he swung it across his tense shoulders.

The word tense was an understatement.

"What d'ya want two-face?"

The first to shift their attention to him was the master of explosions and curses. The wrinkle on his nose seemed to scrunch tighter with each step Todoroki took.

Yaoyorozu picked up her head, welcomed him with a winsome grin, and straightened her posture. "Can I do something for Todoroki-san?"

He marvelled at her joyous expression; her smile never disappoints.

The girl's question, however, immediately clicked into his mind; why did he interrupt them? This was his subconscious' doing and now he had to pick up the pieces.

"Uh," Todoroki started and felt his temples ache, "I'm just wondering if I could get help with the class assignment?"

His tone had a doubtful spin, each word slowly formed as if his tongue wasn't functioning and from the clever glint of Bakugou's eyes, Todoroki could tell that the blond knew that it was fabricated on the spot.

"But isn't that Pikachu your partner?" Bakugou teased, "In other words, fuck you and we ain't gonna do jack to help 'cas it ain't our responsibility two-face!"

Bakugou's chest rose as he filled his lungs with yet another exasperated breath and proceeded to snicker, one of his fangs reflecting pearly white.

Yaoyorozu cocked an eyebrow, hearing her companion's odd but exaggerated response, though Todoroki feinted indifference at Bakugou's provoking attempt.

"We'll help of course," Yaoyorozu beamed, "you could join us at my house! The more the merrier!"

Todoroki didn't exactly agree with her last statement. He nodded anyways, imagining for a second what it'd be like to have Bakugou be 'merry' and decided that the indignant snort that he just did was enough to support his original standpoint.

Bakugou began heading out the door, draping the coat of his uniform over his arm.

"Let's get going then," he muttered and held the door ajar with a kick, "My mom's going to kill me if I miss dinner."

Yaoyorozu's driver, an old man with maybe ten pieces of hair on his balding head, was sitting inside an off-white limo outside the campus when they walked out. Todoroki locked eyes with him in the rear mirror as they sat in silence during the whole ride, the scene outside replaying itself like a broken reel of film. The fire and ice hero fished out a carton of orange juice from his bag, seeing Yaoyorozu's small nod of approval, before poking the straw into the foiled hole on the top.

It was delicious and refreshing, a feeling he was craving for given his sweaty palms and ragged heartbeats since watching the two in front of him interact. Todoroki stared at Bakugou intently, wondering why he hadn't spoken after entering the limo.

Ten minutes in and the duo-haired boy began to scan around for an appropriate place to secure his juice carton before Bakugou conveniently pushed the button under his arm, not realizing that Yaoyorozu was reaching for it as well.

Their hands brushed up against each other, though a wooden ring popped out as a result along with Yaoyorozu's pinked cheeks.

"Here's the cup holder, dumbass," The explosion hero said, and reverted back to pushing his chin against his hand, observing the idle curious out the window.

Todoroki murmured a 'thanks' and focused elsewhere.

"S-sorry, Bakugou-san." Her voice came, sounding strangely feeble, and she retracted her hand like she just felt something dangerous.

"K," the messy blond replied, static, as if more than one utterance would've been wasted. His fingers began to play with the rim of the window, pressing one side of his head against the glass, fogging from his breath.

Todoroki wasn't one to be so opinionated but at the moment, he was compelled to voice himself.

"Don't feel so," Todoroki paused, his eyes fixing on her hand, "embarrassed. It's an accident."

Yaoyorozu touched chin gingerly with a nervous smile. "You're right Todoroki-san." Her voice trailed off, still feeling awkward.

Needless to say, the rest of the fifteen minute ride for Todoroki was as bleak as the cloudiness outside.