Summer rolls in fast this year, taking over the late nights in a veil of uncomfortable heat that makes you squirm under your blankets in irritation. The sun sets at a later hour and rises earlier, making the days seem longer and more unbearable. But, all of the students in Japan are preparing excitedly for the summer break not too far ahead.
You stroll down the quiet street to the ramen shop on the corner. You finally accepted one of the squad's invitations to hang out. You're pretty excited. Not only do you have the weekend after the Sports Festival off, but also Monday and Tuesday. UA gave all of the students an extended break to reward them for their hard work.
The door to the ramen shop opens with a 'ping', alerting the workers of a new customer. The place smells of freshly grilled meat and seasoning that instantly makes you hungry.
You were surprised when the squad said they wanted to meet here. The place is relatively new, so they said they wanted to try it out, but you've been here before. And, while the ramen is delicious, it's completely overpriced. You thought that everyone in the squad was poor with how often they complained about money.
"Hey (L/n)! We left a seat for you!" Mina calls out from a booth in the back of the restaurant. She pats the seat to her left excitedly as you approach the table. You take a seat on the edge by Mina, Bakugo on the other edge. This is the first time you've seen him since the festival and from the glare on his face, you can tell he's still mad.
"Isn't this place great! And the food smells so good." Mina's head flops onto your shoulder as she drools, thinking about all the delicious food they are going to eat.
"Yeah, the food here is pretty good. I've been here once before," You tell her, gazing at the menu. The others try to engage you in a conversation about what it was like the first time you came here. You don't respond much but they seem satisfied with your short answers.
Meanwhile, Bakugo glares at you from the other side of the table, fists clenching the menu in his hands tightly, like he's fighting the urge to rip you to shreds.
"Need something?" You ask, your expression not matching the question. It's obvious you're being sarcastic. Your (e/c) eyes meet his red ones in a heated staring contest, the tension quickly rising at the table.
"Yeah. For you to go to hell," Bakugo responds, breaking contact and looking back down at his menu.
"With you here, I'm already there."
Bakugo's fists clench tighter around the poor menu, smoke leaking between his fingers. A waitress starts to approach the table but quickly runs away at the sight of you and Bakugo about to throw hands.
"What did you say Shrimpy?"
"Being around you is already hell enough."
"You want to fucking go?" Bakugo's voice gets eerily lower with each word.
His eyes start glowing from the golden light being let in through the window. A shadow covers half of his face, making him look like a whole different person. Maybe even a demon. Which only further proves your point.
You know Bakugo has had problems with you since you came to UA and you know why. You joined his class out of nowhere, challenging his strength and making him feel weak. For a man like him, that was hard. But you know the best way to help him is to let him release his anger and then talk after. Though, you doubt he'll ever have a civil conversation with you.
At least not without a death threat or two.
Bakugo stands up from his seat, you following right after him. "Oh c'mon guys calm down," Kirishima begs, grabbing Bakugo's arm and Mina doing the same to you.
"Yeah! Please don't fight! We came here to have a good time. And this is (L/n)'s first time joining us," Mina whines, pulling on your arm desperately to make you sit down.
You glance at Bakugo, seeing his eyes still burning into you. "Wednesday, I'll get permission from Aizawa to use the gym. We can face off then," You tell him. You square your shoulders and straighten your back, trying to look a little bigger. Bakugo angrily huffs and crosses his arms in response.
"No, I'll get permission to use the gym. I can't trust your shitty ass with anything," Bakugo argues, scowling right at you.
You match his scowl, but give him a firm nod in response. You know he won't budge, so you don't bother arguing over it. He accepts your silent response and sits down. A moment later, the waitress scurries over to take your orders.
•••••
"Wah! That was so good!" Kaminari moans, sinking into his seat. Mina sighs happily, patting her belly with a satisfied smile on her face. Kirishima and Sero have similar reactions to the filling meal, but you and Bakugo only sit boredly. You are waiting on the waitress to come back with the check so you can head out. You were hoping to go to bed early tonight.
"Here you go! You can come pay at the front," Your waitress cheers, placing a thin slip of paper on the table.
You feel bad for the woman, considering she had to deal with your crazy group all night. You have to admit the squad didn't make it easy for her.
"Alright, let's see what we have here," Kirishima says, rubbing his hands before grabbing the check. But when he looks at it, his face turns ghostly pale and his soul starts to leave his body.
"Dude? You alright?" Sero asks, plucking the paper from Kirishima. One glance at it and his soul also starts leaving his body.
"What the fuck? You're all useless, give it here," Bakugo says, snatching the check from Sero's limp hand. His eyes widen in alarm as he stares at the slip. There was no way this could be right. "Over three hundred dollars for ramen?! WHAT THE HELL!?" Kirishima and Sero are resurrected by Bakugo's scream as Mina and Kaminari join them in freaking out.
"Three hundred?!?!"
"I only brought thirty! I thought even that would be too much!"
"We shouldn't have gotten seconds!!"
"WELL, IT'S TOO LATE NOW!"
"Everyone pull out your cash! We need to rack up enough to pay for this!"
The squad including Bakugo, empties their pockets, counting how much money they have on them. Their panic starts rising as they realize that they don't have nearly enough.
No one seems to notice when you sigh, grab the check off the table, and walk to the register. You quickly start a conversation with the employee, pulling out your debit card. Those idiots really should have checked the pricing of the place before deciding to eat here.
"Wait where'd (L/n) go?" Sero asks, being the first to notice the empty seat next to Mina.
"Did she dip?!" Kaminari exclaims.
Their heads all shoot to the door, watching as the worker lady swipes your card and hands it back to you, mouths open in shock. You walk back to the table with a blank face, returning to your seat next to Mina.
"Did...did you just pay for our meal?" Kirishima hesitantly asks. He nor anyone else wanted to know the answer.
"Yeah. You guys obviously don't have enough," You reply, shrugging it off as you take out your phone and scroll through some text messages from Toshinori.
Everyone stares at you in shock. Where the hell did you get that kind of cash? Their thoughts are voiced by Kaminari who's about to have a seizure. The poor boy could barely pay to go to McDonald's, and here you are paying for a 300 dollar meal like it's nothing.
"Where the holy hell did you get that kind of money?!?!"
"I work a night job, that's why I can't hang out very often," You explain.
Your response makes them feel worse, knowing it came out of your pocket and that you worked hard for the cash. Only for it to be spent paying for their ramen because they forgot to see if the place was expensive or not.
"Let us pay you back! It's not manly to let you pay for this by yourself!" Kirishima whines, sending you a pout from across the table.
"No need."
"But that was a lot of money!" Sero cries.
"It's fine."
"No!"
"Yes."
"NO!"
"Yes."
"Let us at least treat you to something!" Kirishima suggests. The others nod in approval at the idea, while Bakugo looks annoyed.
"I mean...I guess, but make sure you can actually afford it first," You respond. A small snicker comes from Bakugo as the rest of the squad sweatdrops. You can be too blunt at times.
The squad goes into a huddle, Kirishima forcefully pulling Bakugo in. They speak in hushed whispers, allowing you to only make out a couple words of their conversation. Kaminari elbows Sero to suggest something, and everyone nods in agreement. Surprisingly even Bakugo seems to agree.
"You're going to love this!" Mina cheers as she forcefully scoots you out of the booth.
"Where are we going?" You ask.
"It's a surprise!"
"Yeah! Just trust us!" Kirishima says, throwing an arm across your shoulders.
The mischievous smiles on their faces tell you not to trust them, but you follow along anyway. You came out to have a good night, and you're sure Toshinori would want you to tag along.
•••••
"A trampoline park?" You question, gazing around the large building with screaming children and elastic floors.
"WHAT THE HELL! THIS ISN'T WHAT I AGREED TO!" Bakugo screams, causing employees and parents to look over in concern. He tries to turn around and leave, but Kirishima grabs him by the arm and forcefully drags him to the front desk.
Bakugo pouts in line like a sulking child, pissed that the others tricked him. The squad told him that they were going to play laser tag at the arcade. He was looking forward to shooting you and getting an easy victory. But now, how was he supposed to win at jumping? Jump higher than you? That would just be lame.
"We didn't lie to you Bakubro! This place has a laser tag room, where you can bounce and shoot people. This is even better than normal laser tag!" Kirishima announces, slapping his back roughly.
Bakugo grunts in response, begrudgingly giving the man behind the counter his money. You go to do the same, but your hand is slapped away by Mina.
"What do you think you're doing?" She asks, crossing her arms and trying to look threatening. Her cheeks puff out, making her face look squishy. It's like being threatened by a cupcake, it's more cute than scary.
"Paying my share?" You say, uncertain about why she's mad.
"No way! We brought you here to treat you, remember?" Sero jumps in, throwing an arm over your shoulders and handing the guy some money.
You've never been to a place like this, so as the squad guides you around, you stare in awe at all of the trampolines. You've always wanted to jump on one. You feel like a kid on Christmas morning.
You sit on a bench to put on the special socks, then walk over to where the laser tag prep room is. You sit in a dark room with neon lights, there are eight other people in there. You are forced to watch a video on the rules before the workers let you into the 'weapons' area.
Lining the walls are vests with fake guns attached, they're off right now. According to your instructor, the vests will turn on randomly to select teams. There's going to be a red team and a blue team, both with seven people.
You and Mina randomly select a vest from the wall and group back up with the boys. When the vests turn on, you see Mina, Sero, Kirishima, and Kaminari were blue. You send a glance at Bakugo who's red like you.
"OH HELL NO! Dunce face switch with me!" Bakugo shouts, attacking Kaminari to take his vest. The poor boy lets out a scream of terror as he is strangled by the blond.
"Teams have been decided, there is no switching," An instructor butts in, having to help Kirishima separate the two. Bakugo scowls at you, not waiting as he turns to enter the door where the red team will enter the field. You turn silently and follow.
The team with the most surviving players at the end of the match will be the winner. There is no friendship in war.
"You better not fuck up," Bakugo growls, sending a nasty glare at you. You only nod boredly in response
As the buzzer goes off, both teams rush through the doors on opposite sides of the playing field. You have 30 seconds to prepare for the second buzzer that will officially start the match.
After the second one goes off, Bakugo rushes forward. Knowing he's likely to get himself "killed", you follow him through the maze of walls. You both silently pass structure after structure. You're surprised at how good Bakugo is at sneaking around. Quiet never seemed to be part of his vocabulary before.
You hear two people approaching you, you and Bakugo both flattening against the nearest wall in response. You listen as the teammates speak in whispers, only being able to make out part of what they say. An elbow angrily digs into your shoulder, making you look at Bakugo, who's glaring at you. You glare back, elbowing him in the side.
The whispers of the other team stop, their steps coming closer at a slow pace. Just as you know they are about to turn the corner where you and Bakugo are hiding, you jump around the side, shooting one of the blue players. Bakugo seems to have the same idea, shooting the other blue player at the same time and smirking as they whine in defeat.
You send a sly smirk at Bakugo who scowls back, "Don't fucking grin at me. I didn't need your help."
"Yeah, but you have to admit we make a good team. Let's call a truce long enough to shoot everyone in here, how does that sound?" You say, sticking your hand out for him to shake.
His glare doesn't waver as he hesitantly grabs hold of your hand and shakes it firmly. You know he'll do anything to win.
Within two minutes, you and Bakugo tracked down the last of the player you don't know. One look at the screen shows you two are the only ones left on your team and the rest of the squad is still in.
You bounce down the pathway to annoy Bakugo. His angry scowl is making you happy for some reason. Suddenly, Bakugo slams you into a wall, roughly covering your mouth with his hand. He leans against you, his warm breath hitting your forehead. You listen carefully, hearing the squad talking and making plans. They aren't far from you two.
"Wait so do you think Bakugo and (L/n) are the two left?"
"Of course they are, we shot everyone else and there are two left."
"Yeah, and they are going to be the hardest to find. I've played with Bakubro before and he's amazing at this game."
"And (L/n) is great at sneaking around."
They continue to talk about using their numbers to ambush you. Silently, Bakugo pulls his hand off your mouth and stares down at you. You're chest to chest with him, it must have been an accident in his hurry to shut you up.
Bakugo stares into your (e/c) eyes with his red ones, not trying to move away. His head moves down, so his mouth is near your ear. "I have a plan," He whispers. You nod along silently, letting him whisper his idea to you.
•••••
You carefully crawl on top of the playing structure, silently approaching the squad from above. Bakugo follows you below on the trampolines.
Since they are planning on ambushing you guys, Bakugo decided it was best to ambush them instead. You might not have had the numbers on your side, but Bakugo has a good strategy. You're sure you are going to win.
You creep along the edge, holding a hand down to Bakugo to warn him to stop. The squad is right under you and around the corner from him. He sends you a thumbs up in response, changing to hold up three fingers as a count down.
As the last one meets his palm, you jump from above with a battle cry, shooting at the poor boys and girl. Bakugo bursts around the corner also shooting at them. When you land on the trampoline ground, you are sent flying back into the air and flip to avoid Sero's shot. The sound of four vests turning off meets your ears, and you notice you got all of them.
You send a proud smirk at Bakugo who wears a matching one. You walk over to him and give him a high five. The squad watches in stunned silence at the two of you working together.
"Eat shit losers!!" Bakugo shouts, happily flipping them off. You follow suit and the squad sweatdrops. It's dangerous to let you two hang out together unsupervised. An announcement goes off, reporting the red team as the winner and asking us to exit the field.
The squad groans, shuffling behind you and Bakugo to the exit as you high-five him again. You smile as your hands meet, a happy smirk on his face as well. For once, the two of you are getting along.
- • - • - • - • - • - • - • - • - • - • - • - • - • -
Hope you liked it Dumplings! We're starting to finally see some cooperation between you two! ❤︎
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