"There is No Restart Button" an ex Bakugo x reader fanfic

(Chapter 6) What's His Name?

With all of that aside, Izuku updated you on everything involving Bakugo: how he got first place in the practical portion of the entrance exam for UA, won first in the sports festival, "teamed up" with Izuku to fight All Might in their midterms (the exam sounded like a wreck from what Izuku described), even down to how Bakugo and one other student in their class failed the provisional hero licensing exam and now had to take a course to make up for it. It sounded like Bakugo had his ups and downs since being at UA, which did surprise you a little since Bakugo was great at everything. Sure, your middle school wasn't anything special when it came to outstanding students, but Bakugo's talent was still evident from the beginning. He dominated in every physical exam, aced nearly every test, everyone knew if someone in our school would get into the prestigious UA it was him. So to hear that even he wasn't perfect at UA was...a little confounding.

You reacted to Izuku's message with a simple "thank you", letting him know your appreciation for his reassurance. You had to remind yourself to give a more thoughtful text later on when you could work up the energy to dive back into your deeper feelings on the whole situation, but for now you wanted to enjoy your day without feeling your heart slump to your stomach. As you sat on the couch reading over that text, you began to wonder if Bakugo had done anything else during his time at UA. You had REFUSED to watch the first year UA sports festival when it happened over six months ago, knowing he'd be in it. It didn't matter much though, since after the tournament ended all people in your school could talk about was the "rabid explosion boy who got first place." You heard countless times he got chained up due to how enraged he was during the awards ceremony, and while back then that would've made you scoff in annoyance, the thought now made you snort in hilarity. You couldn't imagine your former boyfriend restrained like he went insane, and yet you knew the force was likely necessary for a personality like Bakugo. Still, you couldn't help but wonder...

Before you knew it, you had pulled up your internet browser on your phone, your thumbs typing out the name you somehow never been curious enough to look up. "Bakugo Katsuki..." you mutter to yourself as you type out his name. The search bar gave you five suggested searches after you typed his name, and each one left you a little more surprised.

"Bakugo Katsuki UA sports festival"

"Bakugo Katsuki UA sports festival awards ceremony"

"Bakugo Katsuki Kamino Ward Incident"

"Bakugo Katsuki class 1-A"

"Bakugo Katsuki Sludge Incident"

The last search made your stomach churn a little. The Sludge Incident. You remembered hearing about that like it was yesterday. The terror of finding out your boyfriend had gotten kidnapped and held hostage by a villain and had to be saved by All Might...you hadn't ever realized just how fragile someone like Bakugo could be. You shook the unwanted thoughts out of your mind, clicking on the second search result and watching the links pop up. You clicked onto the images section, opening out a barrage of different pictures of the sports festival, specifically of Bakugo. As you zoomed in on one picture in particular, you see the headline is labeled, "Psycho student gets mad at winning first place?!" There was Bakugo, hands chained in heavy, dense cuffs, straps tightened around his torso and thighs like a patient from an asylum, keeping him tethered to a thick cement pillar. The look on his face held so much infuriated rage you couldn't help but smile a little with amusement. He was like a spoiled kid getting the one prize he didn't want at the carnival, well...a very violent and destructive kid who could easily blow up that entire stadium if he wanted to. Still, the image made you snicker under your breath seeing the fit he was making. A part of you wished you had seen this picture sooner.

You let yourself click through the other images, scrolling through dozens of pictures of Bakugo. You were doing it mindlessly at this point but one photo caught your eye. This one picture was of him standing up on a stage behind a stand alone microphone, what you assumed was the before speech of the games. His mouth was open like he was speaking into it, and his expression looked focused and steady. The headline of this picture read, "UA Student Bakugo declares himself winner before tournament." You hadn't realized how furrowed your brows were until you felt them soften, staring at Bakugo's picture. He seemed...sure of himself, in a way you hadn't ever seen before. Bakugo was always bold, above average, powerful, but deep down you knew he lacked stable confidence. When you're told you're amazing all your life by everyone around you, of course you believe them. That's what Bakugo had: reassurance. Reassurance and power, but what he never truly had was proof. Proof that he really was as great and strong as he believed himself to be. You often felt that one day would be his downfall, but based on the picture of Bakugo lit up on your screen...he had already overcome that. The Bakugo you saw on your phone wasn't screaming, "I am obviously the best," it looked instead like he was saying, "I will be the best, and I'll prove it to every single one of you." You felt a pang of emotion in your heart you hadn't felt for Bakugo in a while: pride. Proud to see him overcome himself on his own. You couldn't help but hope, staring at that picture, that he would stay that way...