#i like fem girls who are disruptively out of my league and have absolutely no interest in weird little guys

[bellaxgiornata]

Keep Coming Back to You (Series Prologue)

Pairing: Matt Murdock x Fem!Reader

Summary: Serena McKenna–that was the name you’d given yourself years ago. There was no point going by your real name, not when you’d lost your old life long ago. It’s not like you belonged anywhere, either. Not when you constantly traveled the multiverse–or rather you hid in the multiverse. From them. You’d been on the run ever since they’d learned of your existence, back when you’d been trapped on the hellish world of Nightmare 1, the place you’d spent years perfecting the control over your emotions just to avoid being pulled there against your will again.

Then one day you met him. Matthew Murdock. The only person you’d ever let get close enough to love, and the one who inevitably broke your heart. But for some damn reason you kept finding yourself right back in his path no matter how far you tried to run.

Warnings: 18+ for this series; angst, smut, horror, language, violence (& a brief comment about sexual assault in the prologue)

Word Count: 2,300

a/n: Just posted this up on AO3 (which is where I have posted all four of my other Matt Murdock series) but figured I'd try sharing a piece fully on tumblr for the first time ever and see how it goes. I figured the prologue of this new series was a good place to start. The entirety of the prologue is below the cut! And yes, this is the Matt Murdock series with zombies I shared a snippet of a bit ago on tumblr.

PROLOGUE

The heat was sweltering on your walk home, sweat dripping down your hairline as the sun beat down overhead. Your heavy backpack that was pressed to the back of your tee-shirt wasn’t helping, either; you were positive there was a massive damp spot hiding behind the bag. Each step on the sidewalk only jostled the heavy books you were toting on your back against the damp, clinging fabric as your feet took you back to your current foster home as if by muscle memory already.

But you weren’t too focused on your discomfort as you walked, your mind currently centered on one thought: Kyle Felton. You’d been partnered up with him for a grammar activity in English class today. While he hadn’t exactly been friendly and talkative with you, he hadn’t exactly been mean to you today, either. Which had only further grown your absolutely ridiculous crush on him. 

You knew it was foolish to feel this way, too. Kyle Felton was on the football team. He was one of the cool kids who was vastly out of your league with his perfect blonde hair and his stupid boyishly attractive face. His sarcastic jokes that he always had the nerve to disrupt teachers’ classes with had caught your attention on the first day of school, and you’d been surprised that he was so well-liked that even the teachers found his interruptions entertaining and delightful. It didn’t help that ever since P.E. class three days ago you’d glimpsed the six-pack of his abs that you hadn’t known existed until his gym shirt had ridden up just enough during a game of basketball that allowed you to catch sight of the muscle. And then you’d been unable to stop thinking about him shirtless ever since. It was a miracle you hadn’t been struck dumb working with him today in class.

But it didn’t matter how much you liked Kyle and it never would. And that was not just because you often got bounced around the system, moving from foster home to foster home your entire life and making it difficult to maintain relationships with anyone. No, it was because a boy like that would never take notice of you . It didn’t matter that you were the new kid at Glenview High School this year because you’d already been deemed an outcast. The weird, quiet girl. The one with no family. Even the art club kids you’d often always managed to befriend seemed to snub you at this high school. 

Despite how much your new foster family had been growing on you over the past month and a half, you honestly hated it here. At least you had friends at your last high school, even if your foster parents were too busy to ever notice when you were even home. You hated that feeling of loneliness that seemed to cling to you like a second skin wherever you went, as if you never truly belonged anywhere with anyone.

“Oh, there she is! I thought that was the new girl,” a voice rang out, interrupting your train of thought.

Your head whipped up at the sound of your name being called out. The moment you spotted the three girls pushing away from the side of the local downtown coffee shop–a place you learned most of the teens here hung out at–your hands instinctively gripped onto the straps of your backpack. Swallowing hard, you came to a stop on the sidewalk.

Lindsey, Marissa, and Deirdre were approaching you, each of them moving with an exaggerated saunter and sway of their hips. You felt your palms prick with sweat which was not due to the late afternoon heat. 

Mean girls were what they were. Always tormenting you any chance they got in and out of class, but their bullying had always remained in the confines of the school, so you certainly hadn’t been expecting them to ambush you on your walk home. 

“Well come on,” Marissa pressed, stopping just a few feet in front of you with both girls flanking either side of her, “aren’t you going to say hi? Or are you really a mute?”

“Did one of your previous foster parents really cut out your tongue?” Lindsey goaded, a cruel smile on her pink lips as she gestured to your mouth. “Because that’s what I heard.”

“Well I heard she let her previous foster daddy touch her,” Deirdre mused, crossing her arms and shooting you a sneer. “Her foster mom found out and had her sent away. That’s why she’s here now.”

You’d quickly come to learn that you faired better when you didn’t fight back with bullies. It’s not like you knew how to fight anyway. So instead of meeting their taunts with one of your own, you let that fear curl itself around you as you abruptly spun on your heel, turning back the way you’d just come. Fine, you would take the longer way home today. You’d just come up with some excuse for your foster parents about how you’d stayed after school trying out a new club.

Though you only made it two steps before something roughly yanked at your backpack, the gesture pulling you backwards. Looking over your shoulder, you spotted Marissa holding onto the handle of your backpack with a vicious smile on her face. 

“Well that’s rude,” she spat. “Just going to walk away without a word?”

She gave another sharp tug on your backpack, her effort managing to pull the straps halfway down your arms. With a chorus of laughter, the other two girls joined her until they’d tugged the backpack entirely from off of you.

“Hey!” you exclaimed, spinning back around towards them. “That’s mine!”

“Ohh, she speaks!” Lindsey squealed.

Marissa held up your backpack with one hand, her head tilting curiously to the side as she eyed the faded maroon bag. “What do you think is in here?” she asked the other girls. “You think she carries candles and some Satanic bible?”

Lindsey was nodding her head enthusiastically in response. “Oh, totally. I bet she summons the Devil after school,” she agreed.

“Bet she’d fuck him, too,” Deirdre snapped, her dark eyes scanning you up and down. 

Your heart was pounding hard in your chest, your hands clenching tightly into fists at your sides. It was taking everything in you not to begin crying from the fear and rage growing inside of you. You wanted to snatch your bag back from Marissa, your body shaking with the desire to just reach out and rip your bag back from her manicured hands. Instead, you helplessly watched her unzip the backpack before she turned it upside down, dumping the contents at her feet with a loud clatter. She toed the textbooks out of her way with her expensive looking sandals, a smile lighting up her face when she spotted the CDs on the pavement.

“Oh, wow, you would listen to this demonic shit,” she teased.

She placed her shoe over the top of one of the CDs and stepped down hard until you heard a crunch . You flinched, tears pricking at your eyes. You’d gone weeks at a foster home a few years ago not eating lunches at school just to afford those few CDs–the only possessions you had besides some clothing. The other girls only laughed, encouraging Marissa to crush the other CDs. 

When she placed her foot over another, you took a step towards her, your curled fist raising and drawing back ready to strike. You wanted to punch her in that pretty little face of hers. But you didn’t get very far, because the moment you began to swing your fist forward, something solid hit you in the side of your own face. Pain shot through the left side of your face as your vision briefly blurred from tears. You stumbled backwards at the impact, falling onto your ass on the pavement and scraping your hands as you tried to catch yourself. 

“Who the fuck do you think you are, Devil lover?” Deirdre growled. 

Your left hand flew to your cheek, wincing as the skin stung under your light touch. All three girls were towering above where you sat on the pavement. Deirdre was still raising a fist towards you as if she was intending to punch you again. You flinched when she drew her hand back like she was about to and that only drew out another round of laughter from them. 

“What a big baby!” Lindsey cried out.

“Look, she’s even crying,” Marissa mocked you. “Poor thing, we really upset her.”

Eyes snapping shut, you drew your legs into your chest, letting the tears flow freely down your cheeks. You just wanted to disappear, you wanted to get away. You were embarrassed and scared and hurt. Your heart was hammering wildly against your ribcage as you internally begged them to just finish smashing your CDs and lose interest in you for the evening. 

And that was when a strange sensation fell over you.

Something ice cold made its way up your back, snaking its way up the length of your spine despite the burning heat of the day. It felt like a pair of freezing cold hands had gripped onto your shoulders before you were suddenly and sharply pulled backwards.

Your eyes clenched tighter at the feeling of whatever was happening to you next. It felt like you were falling through the air while simultaneously being crushed. Your organs felt like they were twisting and squishing together inside of you as a high-pitched ringing hit your ears. 

Something solid hit your back hard and you cried out in pain at the unexpected impact. The sensation of falling had abruptly disappeared but you were hit with a sudden wave of dizziness that overtook you before you’d even opened your eyes. Flipping yourself over, you vomited right there on the sidewalk. You’d expected to hear more taunts and teasing as you retched, but you didn’t hear anything. After a moment, the spinning sensation slowly wore off and you opened your eyes, wondering if the girls had finally left you. 

You froze instantly, utterly confused when you saw you were sitting on the floor of what looked like a destroyed gas station. The windows were shattered and broken, something like ivy snaking in through the shattered glass. A few nonfunctioning lights on the ceiling were dangling haphazardly above you. The tiled floor you found yourself on was coated in dirt and dust and now accompanied by the contents of your stomach. 

In a panic you crawled backwards along the floor, your eyes darting all around you as you moved. The shelves seemed almost entirely bare and you spotted a few empty plastic bottles littering the dirty floor. There were no lights running in the store, either. Not even the ‘Exit’ sign was lit. Your heart rate quickly picked back up.

Where the fuck am I?

You had just been on the sidewalk. Deirdre had just punched you in the face–you could still feel the sharp sting of where she’d struck you on your cheek. Those three mean girls had just been laughing at you, crushing your CDs. How the hell were you suddenly in a rundown gas station? 

Why the hell were you suddenly in a rundown gas station?

A shiver ran over you, your arms crossing over your chest as goosebumps dotted your skin. You realized it was cold in the store. Which didn’t make sense considering there couldn’t be any air conditioning running without electricity and it had been sweltering outside just a moment ago. 

Carefully you pulled yourself up to your feet, grabbing onto a nearby shelf to steady yourself as you moved. Your legs felt weak underneath you as you stood staring out of the broken windows before you. Your other hand flew over your mouth as you took in the sight outside.

There were rusted and paint-faded cars with their doors left hanging open outside, as if whoever had been in them had quickly abandoned them. Judging by the few trees you could see, it looked like late autumn with how sparsely covered in leaves the branches were. The parking lot and road just outside were cracked and worn, covered in potholes that clearly were in need of repair. As you continued to survey your new surroundings, your eyes spotted a bloody handprint on the hood of a white car. A nauseous feeling roiled in your gut at the sight.

Had you suddenly had a mental break? Were you delusional in an asylum somewhere? Being fed pills and hallucinating nightmares now? Was that what was happening to you?

A loud, choked sob fell out of you behind your hand, tears once again spilling out of your eyes and streaming back down your cheeks. You were terrified and confused. Alone yet again. The tears freely flowed out of you, hot and wet as you sobbed pathetically in the ruined gas station.

What was happening to you? Was any of this real? And how the fuck had you gotten here?

A noise in the distance caught your attention, breaking through the cries of your distress that were spilling out of you. The sound was unlike anything you’d ever heard before. It rang out again only seconds later, the sound sending a chill down your body and raising the hair on the back of your neck.

It sounded like some sort of animal you’d never heard before, something that was loosing a guttural screech that you heard echoing in the distance. As you stood there in the gas station, tears still quietly running down your face, you noticed it had gotten quieter around you. Even the bit of bird call you’d heard only moments ago had come to an eerie silence.

Where the fuck were you?

#matthew murdock x reader #matt murdock x fem reader #matt murdock x reader #matt murdock x you #matt murdock series #matt murdock fic #matt murdock angst #matt murdock fanfic

[patchofsunlight]

Stand You | Bakugou Katsuki x Fem!Reader

SUMMARY: Bakugou insists he can’t stand stupid Y/N, even while he changes his entire routine to fit her in it.

WORD COUNT: 5.1k

WARNINGS: if this doesn’t show up on tags for the fifth time i will simply give up on it, cursing, bakugou is a lil bitch but he’s also a softie, there’s a nosebleed at one point but nothing concerning tbh, aizawa and recovery girl find young love amusing, shouto is baby

Y/N wasn’t sure of exactly when she started thinking of Bakugou Katsuki as a friend. Maybe it had been during their first year, after the first time he allowed her to join his study group alongside Kirishima, Kaminari, Sero, and Mina; or maybe it had been a bit later, when she hugged him tight in the middle of a crowd, almost as if she could squeeze the pain being kidnapped by the League of Villains had brought him, and he let her — while All Might fought his last battle and all of Japan feared for its future, Bakugou let her hold him.

She was deeply aware of the fact he tolerated her at best, as he made that abundantly clear every chance he got. He didn’t exactly hate her presence, but she was on thin fucking ice, and, even though Y/N knew this, she still managed to somehow develop a crush on the angry ash blond, like the stupid idiot she was.

It was ridiculous, to be honest, especially considering how there was no way he would ever feel the same. She would go as far as saying he didn’t even know her name — “Stupid,” he called her (how enchanting!) —, so, yeah, there was absolutely no possibility of her feelings being reciprocated in any way, and the dumb hug they shared was nothing but a coincidence. He was a bit shaken, a bit shocked, and those few warm minutes didn’t really mean anything.

Y/N didn’t mind. She was okay being Bakugou’s friend, satisfied with study group meetings and the occasional sparring. That way, at least, she could be sort of close to him, and that was pretty much enough.

Katsuki wasn’t sure of exactly when he had stopped thinking of Y/N L/N as another stupid extra. Maybe it had been when he found himself walking a little slower while she accompanied him towards class, or maybe it had been a bit earlier, when she hugged him tight in the middle of a crowd, almost as if she could squeeze the pain being kidnapped by the League of Villains had brought him, and he let her — while All Might fought his last battle and all of Japan feared for its future, Bakugou let her hold him.

He didn’t particularly like her. She talked too much, too fast, too loud; she insisted on walking him to and from the dorms everyday; and she was weak, stupid, useless. To be completely fair, Bakugou would say he despised her.

And yet, he found himself around her way more often than necessary.

“Hey, Bakugou, wait up! Let’s walk together!”

He groaned loudly at the sound of her voice, having been hopelessly hoping she wouldn’t be able to catch up. 

“Fuck, no. Get out of my way, Stupid!”

He slowed down nonetheless, soon walking by her side. Her smile was bright and excited as she kept on blabbering about something Kirishima had done when they were paired up on training that day.

He couldn’t fucking stand her.

“— and then he threw me off the training mat so easily! Who taught him how to do that? I wanna do that!”

“I don’t give a fuck, Stupid.”

“— but I won the second time we sparred, so I guess we’re even. It was fun.”

Y/N never seemed bothered by his harsh words. In fact, she usually either ignored them altogether, unfaltering and patient, or laughed and added some opinion of her own to his rage. It was maddening — she couldn’t take a hint.

Moments like this were common, almost routine. If Bakugou didn’t know better, he would’ve thought the girl had taken quite a liking to him. It was an obvious conclusion, considering she was always around him in some way or another, trying to spark up friendly conversation and letting him know how her day went.

(It was so, so calming to have her here like this. He would never admit it, but hearing Y/N’s endless rants brought him a sense of security he had never really felt before. She talked too much, that was for sure, yet he didn’t really care. It was okay if it was her.)

He couldn’t fucking stand her.

“Come on, try again. We’ve gone through this already.”

“I can’t, Bakugou. I—I’m sorry.”

The ash blond sighed, running a hand through his hair. The bite to his tone had disappeared after a couple of hours, red gaze intensely attentive to the frustrated tears gathering in the girl’s eyes. Every other student had gone back to their dorms, and the librarian seemed very intent on shooting the duo angry looks as if to tell them to hurry up and leave already, finally allowing their long afternoon shift to end.

“Yes, you can. I know you can. Try again, you’re almost fucking there.”

Katsuki had never been good at positive reinforcement. He was better at screaming and cursing and insulting, and, yes, he had tried that with Y/N a thousand times before, but he could see how hard she was trying. He noticed how disappointed and tired she was, and he couldn’t find it in himself to be anything less than what he recognized as incredibly soft. He was glad they were the only ones in the library — he wouldn’t know how to explain himself if anyone saw him like this, watching this random girl who he refused to call a friend mess up her homework in various different ways, talking quietly to stop her from crying.

“We don’t have all fucking day, Stupid. You can do this, go on.”

Yeah, definitely not good at positive reinforcement.

“Okay,” she inhaled deeply, pencil moving slowly through the paper, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration. 

There was a slight crease between her brows as she worked, and Bakugou felt the sudden urge to rub it away, which he rejected immediately. That was ridiculous! There was no reason for things like this to plague his mind — L/N Y/N was an idiot, and he didn’t deliberately think about her in any way, form, or universe. She wasn’t worthy of his thoughts.

“Is this it?”

His attention immediately returned to the equations and messy notes on her notebook while he looked it over, a surprised glint taking his eyes.

“Yeah, that’s basically it. It could be better, but you got it right.”

“I did?”

“You did. I told you you could do it, Stupid.”

Katsuki choked on his own air when the girl jumped towards his place on the table, hugging him tightly by the neck while spouting a great variety of thank you’s and praise, disrupting the angry librarian. Bakugou could feel his cheeks heat up under the worker’s glare, both with irritation born from their silent attitude and from the weird warmth growing in his chest at Y/N’s attention. 

It was the first time she hugged him since the kidnapping accident, and it felt different. It wasn’t a comfort hug like last time, no — it was almost like she had been so happy she couldn’t stop herself from touching him, and that thought alone was enough to send sirens flaring inside his head. Every single inch where her skin touched his seemed to tingle, a calming sensation flowing through his body.

He instantly decided he hated the feeling, pushing her off harshly but still a tad more carefully than he would’ve if it was anyone else.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, no need to freak out. Let’s just get done with this already and go back to the dorms.”

She smiled widely as she picked her things up, shoving them inside her backpack and patiently waiting for him to do the same. Strangely, the explosion boy couldn’t find it in himself to meet her eyes, avoiding the light blush he feared would coat his features when he saw her staring at him like that, with that pretty — no, not pretty, no, he didn’t think she was pretty in anyway — with that stupid smile on her face.

“I’m glad we can walk back together,” the girl declared cheerfully the moment they left the big and lonely library, strolling through the empty path side by side, the sun nowhere to be seen. “It’s late already.”

“Whatever,” he groaned back, refusing to look at her yet still maintaining a pace he was sure she could keep up with.

He couldn’t fucking stand her.

Bakugou felt hyper-aware of every movement beside him. For a few days now, his heart would pump a bit faster whenever she smiled, and his skin would crawl with what he could only describe as the craving to have her hold him again.

It made him weak, and he wouldn’t have it. Bakugou Katsuki was a lot of things, but he refused to be weak.

Specially because of someone like Stupid.

“What grade did you guys get on last week’s math test?”

They always sat next to each other during lunch. It wouldn’t be that bad if it wasn’t for how her knee touched his ever so softly, her body too close for comfort because of Kaminari’s presence on her other side, pressing onto her enthusiastically each time he spoke. Kirishima had asked her once if she wanted him to exchange places with the electric boy, but she simply laughed it off — Kaminari’s manners were endearing, in a way. For some reason, those words gave Katsuki the urge to break Kaminari’s nose.

“I got an 87,” Y/N declared, delight dripping from her words while she played with the food on her plate.

“Y/N!” Mina’s smile was so big it almost didn’t fit on her face. “That’s almost 30 marks higher than you got on our last test!”

“I know!” Bakugou scowled at her excitement before she turned her head to look at him, a sunny grin directed entirely to him, stealing all the air from his lungs. “Bakugou is an amazing tutor!”

“Damn right I am,” he managed to rasp out, clearing his throat loudly before shoving a bunch of spicy noodles in his mouth. Kirishima and Sero exchanged a look.

He would never admit it, the raw pride that consumed his chest at her happiness. He knew how hard she had worked for that test, and was glad to see it went even better than she expected. 

“Maybe now you could tutor me, Y/N,” Kaminari wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, causing a laugh to escape the girl’s lips while she turned away from Katsuki to stare at him.

“I would love to, but I’m pretty sure I would make your grades even worse.”

“Hey,” Bakugou barked angrily, fighting off the blush creeping up his ears, “don’t sell yourself short, Stupid. You’re not that much of a dumbass.”

A heavy silence fell down on the group, surprised stares pointed to the ash blond. He could feel his stomach twist in anger at the unwanted attention, yet something about the way her smile widened at his words caused his irritation to decrease exponentially.

“What are you idiots staring at?” he lashed out despite the calm settling inside his heart at the sight of her, rolling his eyes at the bunch of morons he called his friends.

“No, nothing,” Kaminari’s voice was high-pitched in obvious lying that brought out snickers from everyone else on the table but Bakugou himself. “Nothing.”

“It better be nothing, Dunce Face, or I’ll kill you.”

“Of course,” Kirishima bit down on his lip to contain his laughter, “don’t worry about it, Bakubro.”

The day went by slowly and way more often than not Bakugou found himself stealing glances towards where he knew Y/N’s seat was. There was a weird whispering in the back of his head, reminding him of how her arms felt around him when they hugged in the library the week before, reminding him of the warmth that invaded his skin and implanted itself in his brain, reminding him of how bright her smiles were and how nice her laughter sounded.

Oh, there was something wrong. Did she have some sort of secondary quirk guilty of making him feel like this? Never before had he ever given her much thought, even though he had to admit his mind wandered to her sometimes and he did try to somehow be nicer to her, but it wasn’t because he cared for her or anything, right? Of course not! He just thought she wouldn’t be able to take his usual self and he didn’t want to deal with her crying or whatever. It wasn’t because he cared about what she thought of him, hell no! Bakugou didn’t waste his time worrying about others, that wasn’t like him at all.

Bakugou Katsuki didn’t think about L/N Y/N, he didn’t, he wouldn’t.

The ash blond forced his gaze away from her once more, trying to make sense of what should’ve been neat notes instead of the mess of scribbles staring right back at him. He snarled to himself, immediately considering his disorganization as entirely her fault. How dare she play with him like this? How dare she think herself worthy of his time like this?

He couldn’t stand her.

And yet, less than two hours later, there he was, listening to her rant about this one movie she desperately wanted to watch while they walked beside each other after class. It would be so easy for Bakugou to pick up his pace and leave her alone, but his body refused to obey his mind’s wishes, and so he kept himself slow enough for her to stay with him.

He couldn’t fucking stand her.

His whole body was sore, barely able to move his arms after overusing his quirk all evening. Bakugou knew he shouldn’t push himself this hard, but he refused to falter, refused to stay behind and risk being weak again. He needed to get stronger, smarter, and, for better or for worse, that involved long training hours. 

The path back to the dorms was strangely lonely without a certain girl keeping him company — not that Katsuki minded, he obviously didn’t. Some loneliness was very much appreciated after the last couple of weeks, which were filled with study group sessions and stupid walks. 

He sighed heavily when the 2-A dorm finally came into his range of vision, causing his tired figure to relax. He was almost there — he would soon be able to eat something, take a nice shower, and then fall straight into bed. He would soon be able to rest, and that was the only thing in his mind.

The ash blond kicked his shoes away the moment he reached the door, tossing them aside without a second thought. 

He would’ve liked to say he bee-lined to the kitchen.

He didn’t.

“Stupid, what the fuck are you doing?”

Y/N looked up from the common room coffee table, startled by the sudden interruption. She studied him for a second before answering, “I’m just looking over some homework. Why? Did something happen?”

He grunted in distaste, unable to stop himself from sitting down next to her on the couch. Every single one of his muscles felt like it was on fire from overexertion.

“It’s fucking late. Didn’t we study yesterday? Did you even have dinner yet?”

She tensed slightly at his angry questions, returning her stare towards the papers in front of them. “Yeah, but I just thought it’d be good to go over everything once more. I’ll just eat some crackers for dinner, it’s fine,” she shrugged nonchalantly, missing the way his eyebrows furrowed at her words, “where were you anyway?”

Katsuki simply rolled his eyes, arms crossed. “It’s none of your fucking business, Stupid. And you can’t have crackers for dinner, that’s not a proper meal.”

“What are you gonna do about it, Bakugou? Will you cook me dinner?” Her tone was teasing, joking, but he stood up immediately, snatching all the papers and notes from her and walking to the kitchen without a second of hesitation. “Hey, what the fuck!”

“Come with me already, you dumbass,” he snarled angrily, a tint of red covering his cheeks, “what do you want to eat?”

Her voice suddenly went soft, “Bakugou, I was kidding. You don’t need to get me dinner, I can just heat up some ramen or—”

“Shut the fuck up, Stupid. I was already going to cook dinner for myself anyway.”

He wasn’t, actually. He planned on eating leftovers from lunch, but he knew there wouldn’t be enough leftovers for both of them, and it was good to prepare some lunch for the next day, anyway. It wasn’t like he was doing it for her, of course not! It was just… Mutually beneficial. Yeah, it was mutually beneficial, not—not special treatment. He didn’t care about Stupid, he didn’t.

“Can I help with anything?” she asked nervously, face flushed from bashfulness and hands fidgety. Katsuki shook his head, ignoring the twitching pain on his forearms as he stirred the pot.

“Just sit down and wait.”

“Are you sure?” Y/N bit her lower lip with furrowed brows. “You seem tired, I don’t want you to do everything by yourself.”

An angry remark sat on the top of his tongue, but the ash blond hesitated. Well, if she helped with the simpler things this would be done faster, and he could go back to his room and rest earlier. Besides, the idea of cooking and spending time with Y/N in the kitchen caused some type of warmth to take over his chest — a warmth that wasn’t exactly insufferable.

It felt strangely soothing, hearing her hum while slicing vegetables and waiting for the noodles to cook through. It felt even more strangely soothing to sit before her on the kitchen table, staring anxiously while she took the first bite of his food. The worst, however, was the way her smile brightened up the room when she started rambling about how good it tasted and how much of a good cook he was and how he now had to cook for her more often. He disagreed loudly, the tip of his ears burning with embarrassment, saying he didn’t cook for her — he cooked for him, and she just happened to be there too. She cackled, and his heart seemed to burn.

He couldn’t fucking stand her.

Seventeen minutes. Y/N was seventeen minutes late.

Had she forgotten about it? God, she was the one who brought it up in the first place, and now she was the one making him wait. Katsuki felt incredibly stupid sitting in his dorm floor, a bunch of her favorite snacks neatly organized next to the nightstand and pillows on the ground for them to sit on. It was supposed to be a study date or whatever, even though he repeatedly refused to call it that (“it’s not a date, Stupid, it’s just one of our homework sessions like always!”). 

They had been spending a lot of time together between studying at the library, walking to the dorms, and cooking and eating dinner, and Bakugou had to admit he didn’t absolutely hate it. Don’t get him wrong, Y/N was still annoying and stupid and insufferable but—but something about her made him come back every single time, ignoring the knowing looks from his friends and the snickers from his classmates.

Despite his anger, a bit of worry started to blossom inside the boy’s chest. Stupid Y/N (and he hated how affectionate the mean nickname sounded to himself at this point) was rarely late — he had been seeing her after school hours enough to know. The girl was always on time and, when she wasn’t, she made sure to let others know why.

There was no text from her, though, and it made his fingers twitch uncomfortably with the urge to make a phone call and check if everything was alright.

Not that he cared if she was alright or not, because he didn’t. She was just—just some girl who decided to invade his life with no permission whatsoever and then stayed. He didn’t care about her.

And yet— 

“Hello?”

“IcyHot? What are you doing with Y/N’s phone? Where the fuck is she?”

Bakugou couldn’t muster any reason for why Todoroki would’ve been the one to pick up the call instead of her. They weren’t even friends! Yes, they knew each other and he was vaguely aware of the fact the two had sparring sessions every once in a while, but not enough so for Todoroki to feel comfortable using her phone or for Y/N to bail on their study date.

“Oh, Bakugou,” Shouto’s tone was as casual as always, almost as if this was a common occurrence (which it wasn’t), “hey. Y/N is with Recovery Girl right now. She got into a fight, but she is okay, just a few cuts and bruises. I was the one to stop the fight, so Aizawa asked me to wait around while she gets checked up on. Do you want me to tell her anything?”

Bakugou had been out the door when he heard the words “Recovery Girl”, speed walking to the nurse’s office while Todoroki rambled. He could feel his heart picking up its pace. Why would Y/N get into a fight? God, this wasn’t like her, and the prospect of someone purposely picking a fight with her filled him with the most raw type of anger possible.

“What the fuck did she get into a fight for?” he voiced his concerns, and he was pretty sure Todoroki just shrugged.

“These two boys were saying things about—”

“Todoroki? Who are you talking to?”

“Miss L/N, I’m still not done with you—”

Katsuki furrowed his brows at the commotion heard from the other end. He could easily recognize her voice, even though it sounded raspy and tired, but the next bit of conversation was too muffled for him to understand. The future hero could already see Recovery Girl’s office a few meters away, and it made him walk a bit faster.

“Give me the phone, Todoroki.”

“Miss L/N, you are still bleeding—”

The door opened violently. Y/N met Bakugou’s glare and felt a bad shiver go down her spine.

Shit, they were supposed to have that study date today. God, did he come all the way over there just to scold her? 

Heavy silence fell over the small group of people. Aizawa and Recovery Girl exchanged a quick look, the small lady’s arm still extended towards the girl in a failed attempt to grab her and drag her back to the hospital bed, even though she was definitely not as hurt as they made her out to be. Yes, she had a bunch of nasty bruises after throwing hands with two random guys from the year above her, and, yes, her nose hadn’t stopped bleeding yet, but she was mainly okay. Todoroki had gotten there pretty quickly and stopped her from making things worse, so she was fine.

“What the fuck did you do, Stupid?”

Yeah, he definitely went all the way there to scold her.

“Uh. Now, that’s a good question!” She consciously chose to ignore the smirk on Aizawa’s face, pulling her phone from Todoroki’s grip a bit more violently than necessary. “You see, I’m sorry for my tardiness, I know we had plans, we still can—”

“I asked you what the fuck you did, Stupid. I’m waiting for my answer.”

“Miss L/N picked a fight with two third years after hearing them talk about one of her colleagues in public. Thankfully, Mr. Todoroki intervened,” their teacher cut in, crossing his arms and staring as the girl cleaned up a stray drop of blood on her lips with the back of her hand. “She’ll be getting a written warning and will hopefully stay out of trouble.”

“Yes, sir,” she muttered, frowning when Recovery Girl started fussing over her again, sticking band-aids all over the small cuts on her face. Y/N had refused to accept Recovery Girl’s quirk treatment, aware that she was very busy and that it wasn’t necessary for the school nurse to tire herself out for just a few bruises. She was so intent on glaring at her elders that she didn’t notice the worry swimming in Bakugou’s red gaze.

“Good. Can you two get her back to the dorms?”

“Yes, I—”

“Fuck off, IcyHot, I’m taking her back by myself. Find something to freeze or whatever.”

Katsuki grabbed her by the arm, dragging her out of Recovery Girl’s office without a second’s worth of hesitation. He wouldn’t even look at her, fuming the whole way to the dorms. Still, he walked slow enough for her to not struggle to keep up.

“Are you mad?”

He snickered humorlessly, “of course I am, Stupid. How the fuck did you get yourself into this? And you fucking left me waiting, too, you idiot.”

Usually, Y/N didn’t care about his harsh words. Y/N didn’t mind his angry remarks. This time, however, she felt tired, and she had just gotten into a fight because of him, so she refused to take it. She had tried so hard to get close to him, to make him like her. The girl could feel tears gathering in her eyes from fury and sadness — how stupid was she to actually believe he would ever like her, be it as a friend or more? She should’ve known better. Dinner and studying and walking together meant nothing to him. She was just a bother, and she should’ve noticed earlier.

Y/N halted, pulling her arm away from his hand with rage and deception coating her every feature, “shut the fuck up, Bakugou. I don’t have to give you any explanations, you piece of shit. If you’re so pissed about it, why don’t you just leave me alone, huh? I’m done keeping up with your bullshit. I always try to be a good friend to you and you just keep doing this! You keep pushing me away and treating me like an idiot, and I deserve more than that!”

The explosion boy had a crease on his forehead, a cold feeling going through his body. The angry look in her eyes was something he didn’t recognize, and suddenly she felt so unreachable, so far away. He quickly decided he hated it.

Why did he hate it, though? They had nothing to do with each other. They were barely friends. Wasn’t this what he wanted? He couldn’t fucking stand her, he didn’t care about her. This was what he had wanted for months now — for her to tell him to leave, for her to not stand him too. Why did it feel so wrong, then? Why did he feel the urge to collect her in his arms like she loved to do with him? Why did he just want to hold her and tell her he was worried and that he couldn’t wait to spend more time with her, that he couldn’t wait for their stupid study date? And, yeah, it could be a date if she wanted it to. God, he’d accept any name or title she gave their meetings if only they could go on forever.

How long had this been going on? When did she make him so attached to her? Why hadn’t he noticed it before?

“Fuck you, Bakugou,” she muttered, slightly out of breath after her short outburst, face dark with frustration, “those idiots were talking about you and about how you should be a villain or whatever, and I got mad. That’s how I fucking got myself into this, because I care about you. Thanks for caring, asshole.”

The girl turned to walk away, and panic bloomed in the boy’s chest. He didn’t know why exactly, but he knew he couldn’t let her leave. He couldn’t let her leave him, couldn’t let her think he didn’t care, because he was just now seeing he did — so, so much. Of course he cared about her and all her silly manners that made their way into his heart and stayed there, on the edge of conditioning him to feel better whenever she was around. Of course he cared about her and the study dates and the sparring sessions and all the stories she loved to tell, of course he fucking did. Of course.

Katsuki was quick to grab her arm again, pulling her so close to him their chests bumped. Y/N furrowed her brows in confusion.

“Bakugou, what the fuck are you—”

“I like you. I really—I really do,” he shook his head, trying to gather his own feelings. “A lot. I was worried. I’m sorry.”

Y/N blinked.

“You were worried? About me?”

“Yes,” he scratched the back of his neck, looking away to hide his blushed cheeks, which didn’t go unnoticed by her attentive eyes. A smile played on the corners of her mouth, and Y/N let herself enjoy the rapid bumping of her heart, the flustered sight of the one boy she had fallen for. Flustered because of her. She could feel a rush of confidence building inside her chest. “I guess… I guess I care about you, too. Even if you’re absolutely insufferable,” he added clumsily, causing her smile to widen considerably, “I can’t fucking stand you, to be honest. You annoy me to no end.”

“Now do I?” she took a step closer, so close that he could feel her breath on his face and it made his head spin. “You don’t seem very annoyed to me, Bakugou.”

“Katsuki,” he corrected thoughtlessly, feeling his face warm up even more when he took notice of his own words.

“Right,” Y/N nodded, smirk on her face, “Katsuki, then.”

He opened his mouth to make a mean remark that would push her away enough to give him space to breathe, but he was suddenly interrupted by her lips on his. Before he could register it, she was gone, speed walking back to the dorms. After a few shocked seconds, he started running after her, calling her name angrily and trying to conceal the dark red on his face, neck, and ears.

“Hey, come back here, Stupid! What the fuck was that?”

Bakugou couldn’t have ignored the way his heart fluttered at the sound of her laugh even if he tried, a lazy smile taking over his lips immediately.

“I can’t stand you either, Katsuki.”

“Oh, shut up.”

#bakugou katsuki x reader #bakugou #bakugou x reader #bnha x reader #bnha #bakugou katsuki #mha x reader #mha