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Class 1-A was currently training in the gym, working on improving their quirks. Today, Aizawa had paired the students together to train with each other. It would help them analyze their opponent and could act as experience of dealing with different quirks. Most of the students were happy with who they were paired with, except for Tsu who was with Mineta.
Lena was especially happy, being paired to Bakugo. She enjoyed rilling him up and they were constantly competing with each other. She couldn’t forget about when they fought at the Sports Festival. Bakugou won, but Lena managed to get a good amount of hits on him. Her usual tactic of teleporting behind the person and going for a sneak attack wasn’t very effective. He was just too good at predicting her moves and she was at a disadvantage since there was barely anything to teleport in the arena. Soon enough she grew tired from using all her energy on teleporting her own body. The girl was going for one last desperate attack when Bakugo pulled some crazy fast move, creating an explosion between them, knocking her to the ground.
She was even more determined to become stronger than him.
“Oi, Wakami! Get over here so I can practice my AP shot on you.” He shouted at Lena, snapping her out of her thoughts. She grinned, already used to his unpleasant personality.
All the other students were joining their own pair to begin training and Lena did the same, jogging to catch up with him.
“I bet you can’t even hit me.” She scoffed arrogantly, attempting to provoke him as usual. This earned a growl from the blonde.
“I’ll fucking kick your ass, blinky!” He yelled, his lips curling so his teeth were visible. ‘Blinky’ was a nickname he sometimes used on Lena. When she uses her quirk to teleport objects or herself, a quick blink of light is seen right before the object is teleported, which was where the nickname had come from.
She rolled her eyes, then followed him to the area where they would train. They were in a large area surrounded by rocks. This would allow Bakugo enough space to create explosions without destroying too much and Lena would have a lot of freedom to teleport.
While walking to her spot, she noticed she felt a bit tired, but she ignored it. She figured it was due to staying up late, finishing a paper for another class. She knew she had to push herself though. That was the school motto after all; Plus Ultra!
Lena now stood a good distance away from Bakugou, watching as he situated his gauntlets and prepared for his attack.
“I’ve been practicing this. I bet you won’t even be able to dodge it!” He said cockily, beginning to aim his hands at her. His left hand was closed and in front of the other, his pinky finger facing away from him. He figured out this was the best way to get a stronger, more precise shot. Lena took her stance, ready to avoid the attack.
“Ha, like I’d…” Lena started, about to respond with some snarky comment, but she was stopped by a sudden dizzy feeling. She almost felt like vomiting and she wasn’t sure if she was imagining it, but her head felt a bit warm and fuzzy.
“What? Too nervous to say something now?” Bakugo sneered. Then he started to activate his quirk and his hands began to glow.
Lena could no longer focus on her opponent in front of her. She felt her balance fail her, causing her to fall backwards. Just as she was falling, Bakugou created an explosion, shooting the AP shot towards her. Fortunately, since it was a more condense explosion, it missed her, exploding the rock wall behind her.
By the time she was on the floor, she had lost consciousness.
“The fuck?!” Bakugo grumbled in confusion. He swiftly was at her side, unsure of what to do. People didn’t usually pass out when they were about to fight him.
He called for Mr. Aizawa, and this caught the attention of a few other students.
“Did you hit her, Bakugo?” Kirishima paused his training to question, concerned with his classmate. The gym seemed to have gotten quiet, it was obvious people were listening.
“I knew you two were competitive, but I didn’t think you’d actually shoot her, dude!” Kaminari chimed in from another area.
“I didn’t fucking hit her! She just passed out!” Bakugo barked, annoyed with his classmates’ accusations.
“Whatever. Just take her to Recovery Girl.” Aizawa instructed. The class went back to training since their teacher didn’t seem too concerned.
Bakugo groaned, not happy that he would have to lose precious time to take care of her. He shoved her shoulder carefully.
“Hey! Wake up, dumbass.” He growled, hoping that she would be able to take herself to the infirmary. But she, still unconscious, laid on the ground, not moving an inch.
Bakugo sighed, then removed his grenade gauntlets so he could pick her up. Once he did, he was surprised at how light she was. He couldn’t tell because of the holographic jacket she wore with her hero costume, but now that he was this close, he noticed how small she actually was. He carried her out of the gym, making his way to Recovery Girl.
They were outside when she had begun to stir. The blue haired girl was confused at first, staring up at Bakugo’s face, specifically his sharp jawline. She felt herself lightly bobbing up and down as Bakugo walked. Where was she? What had happened to the training?
“Bakugo?” She breathed. “What happened?”
He noticed that she had awakened and turned his head to look down at her.
“You passed out. Aizawa said to take you to Recovery Girl.” He said. Her eyes widened at his words.
“No. Don’t take me to Recovery Girl. I’m fine.” She told him quickly, then tried to get out of his arms.
He gently set her down, slightly worried she would collapse again.
Lena tried her best to make herself seem steady, to convince Bakugo that he didn’t need to worry. This was difficult because she still felt a bit nauseous.
“If you’re fine, then why did you pass out on me like that? You didn’t even use your quirk!” He questioned her. He was aware that overusing her quirk would eventually lead to her passing out, but they hadn’t even begun their training yet. So that was an indication that something was up.
“I was just… really tired. I didn’t get much sleep last night.” She said, which wasn’t exactly a lie. Bakugo didn’t believe this though.
“And where have you been during lunch? You usually sit at that damn Deku’s table. You weren’t there today.” He stated. Lena was surprised that he noticed her absence. Bakugo was always very observational though, so it made sense.
During lunch, she usually did sit with Deku and his friends. Sometimes though, she would be with other groups, like Kirishima, Sero, and Denki, or occasionally, with Jirou, talking about various things. That was probably why Deku didn’t question why she was missing.
But she actually hadn’t been in the cafeteria in a few days.
“I was uh.. finishing work in class.” Lena lies, although not very convincingly. She fidgeted with her fingers, avoiding Bakugo’s intimidating red eyes and pretending to be interested in the bushes to her right.
The truth was, she had skipped lunch to sneak out to the forest by the school, where she went for a quick jog. She felt uncomfortable telling him this though. Maybe he would think something was wrong with her. Maybe he would scold her for being irresponsible? That’s what her mother would do. But her mom didn’t know she was somewhat responsible for Lena’s problem. Since her mom was a fairly popular pro hero, Lena constantly felt like she had to be perfect. This led to her pushing herself, sometimes too much, in order to consider herself as great as her mother. She would often skip consecutive meals to have more time to train. She figured she didn’t need to eat anyways.
Bakugo finally put the pieces together. I mean, he wasn’t stupid.
“When’s the last time you ate?” He demanded. Even though she wasn’t looking, she felt his eyes investigating her nervous expression. The question had caught her off guard.
“Uhm, what?” She managed to utter. She heard his question, but her brain was still trying to process the situation. What should she say to him?
“You heard me.” Bakugo said impatiently.
Lena knew she couldn’t lie to him. His intense glare and presence made her even more on edge.
She wracked her brain, trying to think. It’s not like she actually kept track of when she ate. Then, she remembered.
“I… I ate breakfast like 2 days ago.” She admitted, keeping her eyes focused away from him.
Bakugo was stunned, and obviously upset with her answer. His eyebrows furrowed.
“You passed out because you haven’t been fucking eating you dumbass!” He snapped. “You need to eat if you wanna get stronger. How else are you supposed to have energy to use your damn quirk?!”
She furrowed her brows, knowing he would react like this.
“I told you I’m fine. I don’t need you lecturing me. Why are you so concerned about me anyways?” She said, feeling defensive. Lena wanted to be confident in her decision. She wanted to know this was the right thing to be doing if she wanted to be good enough.
“You haven’t fucking eaten in days, of course I’m gonna be concerned!” He raises his voice. “I consider you a rival. I won’t be able to compete with you if you keep passing out all the time!”
Bakugo has just admitted that they were rivals. That meant that she was worthy of even being a challenge to him instead of being some extra that he was better than. He didn’t mean to actually say that, but Lena needed to hear it to hopefully knock some sense into her.
She had nothing left to say. Bakugo noticed the change in her expression.
“I’m sorry.” She almost whispered. She rarely said those two words, but in this moment it just felt necessary.
Bakugo began walking, right past her. Lena was unsure of what to do. Was he angry with her? Would he not want to be competitive with her anymore? Then he stopped, his back to her.
“Come on. Let’s go for a walk. I can buy us some food. I’ll eat with you.” He demanded. Lena’s stomach growled at the mention of food and she realized how hungry she was. She was constantly ignoring that feeling, but now it was almost unbearable.
She caught up to him so she was walking at his side.
“W-what about training?” She stammered.
“Don’t be an idiot. Class is gonna be over soon anyways. And you need to get something to eat.” Bakugo said, shoving his hands into his pockets. They were both still dressed in their hero costumes, but Bakugo didn’t seem to mind.
They left campus and walked in silence for a while. It seemed as if they were unsure of what to say after what had just happened. Lena felt a bit guilty. She felt as if she was dragging Bakugo into her problems and now he was going out of his way to fix her mistakes. Why was he doing this?
They walked into town and Lena studied the shops and buildings as they passed. She wasn’t exactly sure where they were going, but she just followed his lead. Once in a while, she’d catch people staring, recognizing them from the Sports Festival. It didn’t help that they were fully dressed in their hero costumes, making them really stand out.
“It’s those two from the Sports Festival.”
“Isn’t that the lunatic who got 1st place?”
“And that’s the girl who got 3rd. I heard her mother is a pro hero.”
She and Bakugo heard the whispers and ignored it. Even though he had heard it hundreds of times by now, it still annoyed him. These damn extras needed to mind their own business.
Finally, he was sick of the silence between the two. She wasn’t being her usual annoying self and for some reason, it bothered him.
“How long has this been going on?” He asked, trying to get her talking for some reason. Lena didn’t understand what he was talking about at first, as she was busy looking at a restaurant that they were passing.
Then it registered in her mind. How long? She hadn’t really thought about that. It felt like it’s been going on for so long, and it slowly got worse and worse. Maybe it was when she started at UA. She thought about her first week at the school. She was intimidated by all the other strong students there who made her look down on herself. They were all friendly and she got along with most of her class, but that didn’t stop her from comparing herself to them. You could say that this was all her own doing. She was the one who kept telling herself she wasn’t good enough.
She especially admired Momo, who was a great student, had an amazing quirk, and was extremely pretty. Lena was envious of her, and she thought that maybe if she kept pushing herself, she could be as admirable as the tall girl. She supposed that’s when it began.
“It started getting bad during the first few weeks of school.” Lena said, scratching at her elbow nervously.
Bakugo was surprised by her words. How had he not noticed all this time? The two hadn’t exactly been close friends, but they still had the same classes and they were constantly butting heads. Was she really struggling this whole time?
He thought about their fight during the Sports Festival. If she was struggling then, did that mean she wasn’t even at her strongest? This angered him. It was a well known fact that he wanted to win against an opponent giving it their all to prove that he was the best. Now, he was determined to do something about this situation so that she could fight against him again. And when that happens, she would be at her strongest. He would still beat her anyways though, he assured himself.
Lena bit her lip, uncomfortable with the silence after her response. She turned her head to look at the blonde and noticed the hesitation in his face. He wanted to say something, but didn’t know exactly how.
“Take care of yourself,” he finally spoke. Lena was surprised. For once, Bakugo wasn’t yelling or cursing. The words that came out of his mouth were unexpected and somehow comforting. Did he actually care about her?
Lena nodded and was about to say something when Bakugo suddenly stopped.
“We’re here.” He said. The two were stopped in front of a small cafe. Bakugo opened the door and walked in, not bothering to hold it open for Lena. She caught the door before it closed and followed him in.
Inside, it was very cozy and not very busy, Lena only counted maybe 3 other people sitting at a table.
The two looked at the menu, reading the list of drinks and baked goods that they had. It had been a while since Lena had eaten at a place like this, so she wasn’t sure what to get. They seemed to have an assortment of meat buns, bowls of noodles, and rice plates.
“They have good pork buns. I come here after class sometimes.” He told her. She nodded, guessing that she would just get a pork bun since he thought they were good. They ordered at the counter, Bakugo getting extra spicy buns along with an ice coffee. Bakugo fished through the pockets in his hero costume until he found money to pay for the food. Lena offered to pay but Bakugo said something along the lines of “shut up and put your damn wallet away.”
Then they took a seat by the window. With Bakugo sitting across from her, she felt awkward. Usually, the only time when they were in front of each other like this was when they were sparring. Now, they were sitting at a table, waiting for their food that they would eat together. Why was he doing all of this for her?
Meanwhile, Bakugo was resting his chin on his hand with his elbow propped on the table. He was looking at something outside while his thoughts wondered elsewhere. Then he turned to look at Lena, making eye contact with her.
“Why are you trying so hard to change yourself?” He asked, genuinely curious. Lena was uncomfortable with all the questions. She hadn’t talked about her feelings this much ever in her life. Everything stayed bottled up with her and she intended to keep it that way. That is, until today.
“Well, my mom is a pro hero… and she’s just so great. I have to be perfect so I don’t disappoint everyone.” Lena explained.
“Yeah, I’ve heard of your mom. Not that great if you ask me.” Bakugo grumbled. He was sure everyone in their class knew about Lena’s mother. He once heard Uraraka telling Deku about how cool she thought the girl’s mom was.
“Hey!” Lena exclaimed.
“I didn’t mean it like that, blinky. I’m just saying, we’re gonna be way better than all of them, so why care what those extras think?!” He said confidently. These words, no matter how arrogant and ‘Bakugo-like’ they were, seemed to make something in Lena’s head click. They were going to the most prestigious school in Japan and had survived attacks from the League of Villains. Maybe she really had nothing to worry about.
Lena smiled.
“Cocky as always, I see,” she laughed.
“Whatever, you know I’m right.” He grumbled. It seemed like things were almost back to normal. Lena was annoying again, and Bakugo would hate to admit that he was glad.
A worker called out their order and Bakugo got up to retrieve their food. He came back with a small tray. On it was the pork buns and his drink. They looked delicious and a mouth-watering aroma filled the air. About the size of a hand, the bun seemed like a good portion.
Once he sat back down, Bakugo immediately took a bite out of his bun. Lena was nervous though. She didn’t exactly enjoy eating in front of others. Even during lunch time in the cafeteria, she was shy to eat in front of the group. She would usually get to the table before Deku and the rest of them, so she could eat the majority of her meal with the table to herself.
“You good?” Bakugo took another bite.
Lena nodded.
“Yeah. I’m.. good.” She assured him, then picked up the bun. She brought it to her mouth then took a bite. It was still warm and the flavor was so tasty that she felt the urge to smile.
Lena felt a lot better now. Eating again was a bit scary for her at first. But with her and Bakugo eating together, it was surprisingly a lot more enjoyable. Now she had something other than her thoughts to keep her company.
She continued to eat.
“Remember when we fought at the Sport’s Festival?” Lena asked him before taking another bite.
Bakugo chewed the food in his mouth before answering.
“Ha, you mean when I kicked your ass?” He snorted.
“That wasn’t fair! You literally exploded me. Don’t you know how to hold back?” She complained, remembering the pain she was in days after the festival.
“That was me holding back,” he goaded. Lena rolled her eyes dramatically.
“Anyways, I’ve been meaning to ask you. How did you predict my attacks so easily?” She questioned.
“Well,” he started, stuffing the rest of the bun into his mouth. “I’m just that good.”
“Come on. Seriously, Bakago.” Lena prodded.
“Yeah, yeah. Fine. First of all, you should try different attacks. If you do the same shit all the time, of course it’ll be easy to predict. Even if you are fast, it doesn’t take a genius to predict what kind of attack you’ll do, especially with your quirk.” He explained, sipping on his ice coffee. Lena nodded, making a mental note of this information. She would have to experiment with her quirk more.
“Okay, got it! I’m gonna learn some new strategies and definitely beat you next time.” She sassed. By then, they had finished their food.
“You wish! I kicked your ass then and I’ll do it again!” He threatened. Lena smirked, leaning across the table to pick up the plastic cup of coffee and take a sip, enjoying the familiar angry look on the boy’s face.
“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?! That’s mine, idiot.” He growled.
“I know, but I’m thirsty.” She smiled at him innocently.
“Then why didn’t you get your own fucking coffee?” He crossed his arms.
“I didn’t think of it, jeez. Don’t have to yell about it, drama queen.” She joked, then slid the cup back across the table to him.
“You can have it. I don’t want your disgusting backwash.” He said.
“Aw, how nice of you.” Lena beamed.
After chatting for a few more minutes, they headed back to the school. Lena thanked Bakugo for taking her out, he didn’t seem to be listening though. He just shrugged it off and said “whatever.”
Before separating to go to their own rooms, Bakugo demanded for Lena’s phone number and she happily gave it to him. Now she could annoy him over text!
Later that day, he sent her a text, reminding her to eat dinner. She smiled at his thoughtfulness and decided to listen to him. At the end of the day, she laid down in her bed, just slightly more comfortable with herself. It’s like a weight was lifted off of her shoulders now that she had told someone. There was someone other than herself who knew her problems and secrets. She wasn’t sure if this was a good thing, but it felt like it was.
Maybe now she would have someone to depend on for once.