Chapter 5
Uraraka was sitting at her desk listening to Kirishima when Bakugo walked in. He didn’t look at them too hard, just glanced past and started looking for Deku. Unfortunately, he heard his name being called from their direction. Looking back, Uraraka was already coming toward him.
“We need to talk.” She demanded before grabbing his wrist and dragging him off.
Their other coworkers looked at them strangely. The two of them weren’t enemies or anything but Uraraka had always been super close with Deku and not Bakugo. He would’ve snapped at them to stop staring but he was too on edge. She was the only person who knew about his Soulmark, so he was worried she’d said something to someone.
When they reached the middle of an empty hallway, she looked around before turning to Bakugo unusually close. He stared down at her waiting for her to say something.
“I don’t want to know who my soulmate is,” she finally said.
He simply raised an eyebrow prompting her to continue. She knew that he knew who her soulmate was but hadn’t brought it up until now. She had to have a reason for saying this now.
“You, man I hate saying this, you had a point. My soulmate doesn’t deserve to be a second choice. I never really liked Deku that much it just always felt like a natural conclusion until I found my soulmate but that’s pretty messed up. Lately though… I’ve been spending a lot of time with Kirishima and I like him Bakugo. I like him a lot.”
Well damn. That fool had done it. He finally got the girl, too bad she didn’t know they were soulmates. Since the redhead was his best friend he was inclined to tell him but he couldn’t break Uraraka’s trust like that. But he could still look out for his friend too.
“Would you stop liking him if you found out your soulmate wasn’t him?”
Kirishima was actually her soulmate but that wasn’t the point. If she’d switch up on him if he wasn’t then she didn’t deserve him.
“No! That’s what I’m saying. I wouldn’t want my soulmate or Kirishima to be a second choice. If I had to choose… I’d choose him. I don't think this is love or anything yet but, I really like him. I want to get to know him more. I know it’s selfish but please don’t tell me who my soulmate is.”
She looked determined. He gazed down at her face searching for some hint of uncertainty but there was none. She genuinely wanted to pursue Kirishima instead of a soulmate.
“Okay. I won’t tell you.”
The idiot would just have to tell her himself. Bakugo was proud of them both. Kirishima hadn’t given up on her and it paid off. Now she liked him enough to give up on her soulmate. Those two were definitely meant to be.
She hugged him, suddenly throwing him off. Her arms were wrapped around his middle squeezing with more strength than he thought she possessed.
“Alright Round Face, that’s enough” he grunted out patting her head instead of returning the hug.
It was strange. They’d never hugged before. He considered her to vaguely be a friend but definitely a rival when it came to Deku. Now, they had this new kinship since they both knew stuff about one another that no one else did. Strangely he didn’t mind it.
She didn’t let him go but instead mumbled.
“You know… I think Izuku would want to know that you love him,” he stiffened but she continued squeezing harder “Don’t worry I won’t tell him or anybody else how you feel or about the mark. I just think even without the mark Izuku would want to know how you feel.”
She was probably right. He’d been considering telling him more lately. Had numerous nightmares of how bad things could go. In any case, Deku deserved better than somebody like him.
“Maybe,” was all he said.
Despite him saying very little, Uraraka seemed extremely happy. She finally let him go to flash a quick smile before saying she was going back to find Kirishima again. He waved his goodbye and stayed in the hallway.
Leaning his head back against the wall he looked up at the ceiling. He was happy for his friends, they deserved to be happy. He didn’t though. He felt like he just didn’t deserve it. Even if it wasn’t about Deku he just felt like he wasn’t an all-around nice person. Usually nice caring people ended up with happy endings. Not people like him.
He wasn’t especially depressed or anything either. His life was okay. He had friends, he got to work with Deku practically every day. He was one of the top heroes in the world. They were called The Trinity after all. Most groups didn’t get nicknames from the public but they had. People felt like if one of them showed up then things would be okay.
People relied on him. They felt like he was a true hero even if he had a shitty personality. That was enough for him. Truly. All he had to do was get rid of these nightmares and figure out who was targeting his friends then life would be great again.
Despite his assurances that this was all he needed, when he walked back into the office to see Deku smiling as he talked to Todoroki and Iida, his heart ached.
Everybody wants something they can’t have though, right?
/ / / /
Another team had been attacked.
Exactly two hours into Ojiro and Sato’s patrol they were attacked. The attack was unsuccessful and neither man was harmed. The problem was, it was definitely connected to the other hits.
They started lying about who was going out on patrol. All the former members of class 1A who were a part of the agency had come together to discuss the attacks. Despite most of them thinking the attacks were a coincidence they’d collectively decided to lie about their patrols.
The schedule in the system was no longer the real schedule. They texted the fake schedule in the group chat in case their phones had been hacked. Yaoyorozu and Iida came together to make a new schedule that they gave out physical copies of. Some of them felt it was overkill but if nothing happened they would go back to regular patrols. Better safe than sorry right?
Turns out their idea paid off. The list said that Iida and Ashido would be on patrol. The villains seemed to have a plan that involved taking out Iida and Ashido but that plan was useless against Sero and Ojiro.
They doused Sero in water as soon as he shot out his tape. They attempted to water down his tape. When questioned they said that the plan was to water down Ashido’s acid and the quirk user had extremely tough skin that wasn’t as easily affected by the acid. They planned to neutralize her acid and then use physical strength to overpower her.
For Iida they had an elemental quirk, they produced something similar to mud that hardened into rock. They had released the substance around Ojiro’s feet and then hardened it. The attack would have disabled Iida but since it was used on Ojiro he was able to use his tail to break free of the substance before it could fully harden.
The villains weren’t as tight-lipped as the previous ones. They didn’t even know much. They said some man with blue hair and soulless black eyes had paid them to attack Ida and Ashido. They told them exactly what to do, so they did it. They just weren’t expecting Sero and Ojiro which is how they got caught.
The person they described matched the telepath that Bakugo and Uraraka had faced. Unfortunately, that person wasn’t found yet and wasn’t in the police database. They had no leads just like before. This time though they prevented any injuries and they were certain that somebody was targeting them. They also had a mole somewhere. The villains had access to their schedule but it wasn’t the real one. They also didn’t know that they even made two schedules to begin with so all the former members of class 1A were loyal. Knowing they could only trust each other helped too.
Now that there had been another attack they decided that everybody needed to look over the cases again. They broke off into pairs of two, each group with a copy of the files to see if they could find whatever they were missing.
This was how Bakugo ended up cooking dinner for him and Deku. They got paired together even though Bakugo had specifically tried not to work with him. After what happened last time at Deku’s apartment plus the dream Bakugo had insisted that they work at his place.
He was setting the food on the table when the knock came. His heart skipped a beat but he ignored it, going to the door he opened it then walked back to the table.
“Hi, Kacchan! What did you make? A-ah!! You made Katsudon! That’s my favorite.”
“I know, eat before it gets cold,” Bakugo replied, keeping his eyes firmly on his food.
Ever since his conversation with Todoroki, he’d been avoiding Deku. He couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that those two had went on a date. Even though Todoroki openly told Bakugo that he didn’t like Deku, that didn’t mean Deku didn’t like Todoroki. What if Deku viewed it as a date? Knowing Deku was bisexual didn’t make him assume that he liked Todoroki but the other facts did.
- per the conversation he overheard, Todoroki sometimes brings Deku breakfast
- Deku lied about Bakugo being in his apartment
- Deku also called Todoroki by his first name
- Deku agreed to go out with him even if he didn’t think it was a date.
Those two were often extremely close and had been since UA. Often Bakugo was jealous of the friendship Todoroki had with Deku. Now he’d started to consider if Icyhot could be the person Deku said he liked. That would hurt a lot…Putting these thoughts aside he tried to enjoy the food and avoid looking at Deku too much.
“Uh b-before I forget, did you want to go to that arcade bar I mentioned? With me and Shoto of course.” Deku said between bites
Instantly his irritation spiked. He was at it again, calling icy hot by his name, mentioning that fucking date. Plus what did he mean of course?
“What do you mean of course? Y’all a package deal or something?” he snapped, finally looking at the other man.
Deku’s face briefly looked surprised then happy. Why would he be happy about this? He was about to snap at him again but the man interrupted him.
“I just meant Shoto showed me the place so it makes sense to go back with him and well I don’t know. Uh, why do you seem so angry though?”
Because I am
“I'm not angry”
“You sure? You seem angry. A-anyway, this food is really good. Thank you! I wonder…” green eyes looked at him nervously, at the food, back at him “if Shoto knows how to make Katsudon too. I bet his would taste good.”
He slammed his cup down harder than he intended. What the hell was he getting at and why did he keep bringing up that bastard?
“You want his Katsudon so bad. Stop eating mine and ask him to make it for you.” he kept his voice composed. He didn’t want to completely lose his cool again. He was livid though. Obviously, Deku would rather be having dinner with fucking Todoroki.
“I was just wondering that’s all. Your Katsudon…”
He didn’t finish, he was just staring down at his food. What? Was it bad? Bakugo never made bad food so it couldn’t be that.
“Your Katsudon is my favorite,” Deku said with a bright smile and red cheeks.
“Damn right it is,” he grumbled.
Man, he was so soft when it came to Izuku Midoriya. All his anger from before melted away. His heart decided to focus on his food being Deku’s favorite. Instead of being angry like his brain was telling him, he was fighting off a smile. Your Katsudon is my favorite, his heart repeated. He kind of wanted to ask the other man to say it again. Instead, he shoveled food into his mouth.
After eating they got right into the case files. Looking at them again was going to be time-consuming because it included all the police reports as well. They added other villain attacks as well to see if there were any other attacks related that happened prior to the first one. They were able to narrow it down to villains who attacked their former 1A class but it was still a ton of shit to go through, Bakugo set them all out in order and they decided to talk through each one.
Taking a seat on the couch Bakugo was startled when Deku sat right next to him.
“What are you doing?” he questioned with narrowed eyes.
“Sitting next to you?” He said it like it was an innocent question but he was purposely avoiding eye contact.
“Cut the crap Deku. You always sit in the chair when you come over.”
He’d offered the couch numerous times but the other man would always turn red and profusely refuse. Deku would stay in the chair until he fell asleep and Bakugo would move him to the couch on the rare occasions he stayed over.
“Well…,” he took a deep breath and rushed the next part out. “I always thought that you didn’t actually want me on the couch, you were just saying it to be nice. I was too nervous to sit by you. But now I'm trying to… I’m just… I don’t know…” he started to get off the couch.
Ah shit, that’s not what he wanted. Making Deku feel like he had to get up wasn’t the goal. He was just surprised by the sudden change, that’s all.
“Wait, I didn’t mean you had to get up. I was just asking,” he said, pulling Deku back down to sit next to him.
Deku shot him a happy smile and picked up the first case file. Bakugo was surprised he didn’t keep the conversation going or say more but they did have a job to do. He was looking at the first file over Deku’s shoulder when he realized something.
“Why were you nervous about sitting by me? We sit near each other all the time.”
The shoulder he had been leaning over tensed up. He tried to catch the look on Deku’s face but the other man was hiding behind a head of fluffy green hair.
“Y-yeah we do but not in your apartment.”
“Okay and? What’s the difference between at the office or those stupid parties?” He pressed.
Realistically he should probably let the subject drop. But it felt important, very important. Deku turned to him, big green-eyed staring at his own. His cheeks were stained with a soft blush yet again. Deku blushed so often that he had learned long ago not to read into it.
“Kacchan… the reason you always make me so nervous is because I…”
🎶 A phone call is here. A phone call is here. A phone call is here. 🎶
Deku’s ringtone interrupted whatever he was about to say. He hastily picked up the phone to see what it was. Bakugo saw Uraraka’s name flash across the screen. Unable to hear her, he waited for Deku to tell him what the call was about.
It didn’t take long for Deku to relay the message: so far one of their files was missing a detail. There was an older case that involved Uraraka and Tokoyami. They both remembered there being a second villain with blond hair but for some reason, the report only named one villain.
Previous conversation forgotten Bakugo hunted through his drawers looking for his sticky notes. When he finally located them he started writing the key facts on them before pasting them onto his kitchen table. As he was writing everything out he realized something that was missing.
“Put Uraraka on speaker”
“Ochaco, it’s on speaker. Kacchan needs you.”
“What’s going on Bakugo?”
“How many people attacked us? The four fake cops right?”
“Yeah and… oh man… the guy who stabbed you!”
The police report only listed four villains, the fake cops. But the only issue was at the moment Bakugo was stabbed, the blue-haired telepath was knocked out. Meaning whoever stabbed him was still on the loose.
“Can you recall what the guy looked like?”
“I saw a flash of blonde hair before I passed out when I screamed your name. The doctor said I had already damaged my throat too much so screaming hurt so bad I passed out. But… if he had the knife, why didn’t he just stab me too?”
She posed a good question. Even if the knife was coated in the poison meaning it would only affect the first person stabbed, it was still a knife. Whoever it was could have still killed Uraraka if that was the goal. Why didn’t they? The entire thing didn’t make sense.
“I think they might be former heroes” Deku said suddenly. “Hear me out, in order to know patrol routes and plan the most recent attack based on our patrol schedule they have to be a hero, former hero, or working with a hero. They also picked out villains that perfectly opposed our heroes and had a plan yet none of them actually tried hard to kill us. The poison knife suggests they considered killing whoever showed up but they didn’t kill when given the opportunity. Think about it, they aimed for Uraraka but Kacchan got in the way yet they didn’t try to keep stabbing either one of you despite you both being vulnerable.”
He had a point. A hero of some kind had to be involved that was the only way to have gotten some of this information. It would also explain the inconsistency in the attacks as well.
“It’s the only explanation we have right now, hey Uraraka spread the word to everyone else. We’ll keep going through the files.”
As they went through the files they only found one other discrepancy. A time Midoriya and Iida apprehended two villains but the report only mentioned one villain even though two people were arrested.