But the one place he wanted to work above all - because it was the best - didn't want him... And instead it wanted someone who'd walked into the hero world only a few months ago with falsified talent-
*
Early October was such a lull compared to the month they'd had before. The only thing really keeping the students going was the upcoming school festival and dance in December, and that more of them had taken up work studies upon their return from Okinawa. Deku was still at Sir Knighteye's old agency, Kirishima with Fat Gum, Tsu and Uraraka with Ryukyu. Kaminari and Jiro had been accepted by Present Mic's agency, Iida was occasionally popping in and out of his family's agency and Bakugo had the privilege of choosing from any agency in the country. Well, all except one much to his deep disappointment.
There was one agency that hadn't sent an offer to any heroes in training aside from two on the sly, and that agency was the Endeavour agency. Kirishima had told Bakugo to cheer up, that he could join him on his work study or at least work with Hawks, the number two hero. But Bakugo only wanted the best... And so the news that arrived on that fateful Tuesday afternoon was going to both irritate and confuse him intently.
As usual for a Tuesday, the day wrapped up with English class with Present Mic. He finished the lesson with some kind of bad English pun that only a few them who could speak the language well enough half chuckled to. Ren packed her goods into her satchel backpack while chatting with Uraraka. She watched as Bakugo and Kirishima sauntered out of the class together, an endless flow of words coming from Kirishima while Bakugo kept his eyes forward and his hands in his pockets.
Todoroki and Deku joined the two girls out of the classroom, joining in on their conversation about plans to go dress shopping for the dance. The little group stopped when they heard Aizawa coming down the hall and calling out to Ren. "Chinami." He glanced between Ren and the others, indicating that their conversation needed to be private.
"Uh, you guys go ahead, I'll catch up." She waved to the group with a little smile. Deku and Uraraka nodded before heading down the hall. Todoroki's gaze lingered between Ren and Aizawa, almost as if he knew what was going on. He turned after a couple of awkward seconds and caught up to the bubbly brunette and awkward broccoli.
Aizawa held out a neatly pressed envelop with gold pressed writing and a deep red wax seal. "This just came in. Your house arrests been lifted." He explained as Ren took the beyond perfect envelop from his gangly fingers. Ren eyed the envelop carefully, already knowing what was noted within it. "It's not the only one that did, countless agencies are interested in working with you, including Hawks, but I know this was your first pick." He sighed and rubbed his head while Ren picked at the wax seal. "And you know my offer still stands."
Ren glanced up at Aizawa's dark, deep-set, tired eyes. "I know." She swallowed a dry gulp and slipped the beautiful envelope into her blazer pocket. "But I need to learn how to control it with practice, so I can use it. I can't just keep... Cancelling it out." She shook her head slowly. "But thank you, sir." Aizawa nodded once, the trace of a small smile spreading over his thin lips.
"Get outta here." He barely gestured his head down the hall. Shoving his hands in his pockets, burying himself deeper into his scarf and slouching over, Aizawa left in the opposite direction to her.
*
Ren skipped convening in the common area with the others to go over the homework and instead headed straight for her room. She slammed her door shut, quickly locked it and dropped her school bag onto her desk before pulling the impeccable envelop from the sleeve she'd slid it into. Ren placed it upon her desk neatly, ensuring it was centre on the wood, and stepped back until the back of her socked legs hit the edge of her bed. She knew the contents of the letter before needing to open it and devour every word inked into the paper, and yet she felt scared to open the envelop.
Ren flopped back onto her bed, the mattress bouncing lightly from the impact. Her phone buzzed in her blazer pocket and she checked the home screen to find a couple of messages from Uraraka and Ashido asking where she'd gone off to. As she stared at the messages, her phone erupted with her ringtone to Kirishima calling.
"What's up, Spikey?" Ren asked casually and clicked the phone onto speaker.
"Hey girl, where you at?" Kirishima's rough yet bouncy tone echoed on the other side. "We just opened the English homework and there's a question here that's got even Yaoyorozu stumped."
"Busy. What is it?" She asked bluntly.
"Okay, in what context do we use who versus whom-" Kirishima has barely finished the question when Ren chuckled to answer.
"Ah! The age old question that's got even the best of speakers a bit stumped." She chuckled again. "Who is the subject, whom is the object. Make sense?"
"Aaaaah... Not really." Kirishima chuckled awkwardly. "Can you come down?"
"Just repeat what I said, Momo, Rep or Katsuki will work it out." Ren smirked at the thought of her spiky-haired friend trying to make sense of the confusing language that was English. "Catch ya later alligator." She hung up just as Kirishima protested a 'wait'.
Ren chuckled again before looking back at the envelop on her desk. Her smile fell. Why was she so nervous? Maybe because this letter represented her accepting the other parts of her she tried so hard to hide? Maybe it was pure fear of being bad at using those other parts of her? Maybe it was because actually training in a sidekick role went against everything her father tried to instil in her? She didn't care about his wants and his intentions for her use as a weapon. She wanted to do things her way.
More time had past than Ren had realised, and deep gold was spilling through her sheer curtains. Ren glanced out of her window and stared at the brilliant sunset that painted the mildly clouded sky. Gold, coral, lilac and petal pink blended and spread over the horizon. She let her lids grow heavy and her lips part slightly. She looked at her phone, still in her hand from earlier. This time the screen was plastered with messages asking if she was feeling okay and what she was up to. There was even one from Bakugo asking if she was alright.
Ren clutched her phone tightly. She wanted to tell him so badly what the contents of the letter would be. She got to her feet and stood strongly, dropping her phone to her bed and clenching her fists together. "Bring it on." She muttered.
Ren dove at the envelop, ripping the neatly folded closure open and discarding it to the floor. The letter itself was as impeccably presented as the envelop was. Folded in perfect thirds with perfect calligraphy printed in perfectly spaced lines, not a single character had a slightly wobbly line or drop of ink out of place. It could have passed for digitally printed if there wasn't a faint smell of ink wafting from the page. Ren took in a deep breath before allowing her eyes to glance over the words and take in what they meant.
Dear Miss Chinami-Ren Arakawa,
We are writing to you today to inform you that your application to complete your out-of-school work study has been approved by the Endeavour Agency. The number one hero himself, Endeavour, would like to personally welcome you to the program to train under his guidance as a sidekick.
Your presence is requested this Sunday at 10am to further go over the details of your time with us. Your contract and schedule will be discussed and you will be required to sit through a physical health exam with one of our onsite doctors.
Endeavour looks forward to working with you as a teacher and mentor.
Kind Regards,
The Endeavour Agency
Ren clutched the letter against her chest, crinkling the perfect page into an imperfect crumple. She felt tears welling in her eyes and a small smile spread across her lips. To think that she, Chinami-Ren Arakawa, the girl who'd been fed with her fathers manifesto about right and wrong, heroes and villains, would be training with the number one hero in the world. The man who helped to save her.
She wanted to tell Uraraka and Yaoyorozu, Deku and Kirishima but there was one person who she wanted to share the news with more than anyone, and of course that was Bakugo. Ren knew he'd be in the gym at this time of the afternoon and hopefully she wasn't too late and he hadn't already made for the showers.
She stepped out of her dorm room, shoving the crinkled note into her blazer pockets and completely forgetting to step into her house slippers. If Iida caught her in her school uniform with only socks on, he'd lose his mind. Ren practically glided down the stairs from her place on the second floor to the ground floor. She dashed through the corridor, almost bumping into Hagakure's outfit as she flew past.
"R-Ren..?" The invisible girl stammered. She turned to the little group of her friends in the common area. "You guys think she's okay?"
"Who?" Ashido popped her head up from her phone, a stream of tinder messages clogging her screen.
"Ren, you idiot." Hagakure may have rolled her eyes but it was clear that she'd crossed her arms from the way her hoodie folded over her chest.
"That was Chinami?" Sero asked through a mouth full of gummy bears. "It was so fast I thought it was Iida."
Ren's speed certainly did rival their bespectacled class representative. She almost slammed into the wall when she slid across the polished wooden floors to a halt in front of their dorm room gym. Through the glass cut into the door, she could see a few of her fellow classmates working their bodies or quirks on the equipment.
Shoji was sequentially lifting dumbbells in all six of his hands, Ojiro was slamming his tail against a heavily chained down punching bag, and Kirishima was spotting for Bakugo as he bench pressed far more weight than she'd ever consider trying herself. Ren could see his immense effort and concentration from the way his brow creased so heavily over his eyes and how intensely his barred teeth crept past his snarl. Kirishima's Hero sense must've picked up that she was staring at the two of them and his gaze wondered over to the gym door for just a second.
He caught Ren beaming at him with slightly flushed cheeks both from the running and seeing Bakugo's toned arms as they lifted the heavy weight. He waved at her and gave her a sparkling toothy grin. Bakugo dropped the dumbbell onto the bench stand and barked at Kirishima; Ren guessed it would have been something to do with why he wasn't he concentrating on spotting him. Kirishima's awkward chuckle of a response was pointing at the door where Ren gave Bakugo a little wave and gestures for him to come outside. He huffed and grabbed his gym towel, wiping his face down of his dangerous sweat before swinging it over his neck and shoulders.
Bakugo slipped through the gym door and joined Ren against the other wall just out of sight of those still working out. "What is it, Freckles?" He rolled back his right shoulder before plopping against the wall, his caramel scented sweat engulfing Ren's senses and almost making her lose touch of why she was there in the first place.
Ren smirked and pulled the crinkled letter from her blazer pocket. "Have you chosen an agency for your work study yet?"
Bakugo groaned as he reached for the once perfect letter. "Hawks was my best offer. Why? You get an offer?"
Ren hummed. "That's kinda a pity, I was hoping we'd get to work together." She patted the letter in his hand.
Bakugo's darted his eyes between her crystal blue ones and the perfectly printed letter before he let them trail over the characters on the page. His brow crinkled as the contents settled into his brain. He tried to hide his growing irritation but Ren could easily read the angle his brow was arched at. He was aware that he'd been reading the page for far too long but the mixture of anger, jealousy and pride swirled in his gut, making it hard to concentrate on the words.
He was one of the top students at UA; he'd come in the top three two years in a row at the sports festival, he had near perfect grades and high recommendation from other agencies he'd worked for, agencies all over the country were fighting to get him as a sidekick. Hell, even the League of Villains had wanted him.
But the one place he wanted to work above all - because it was the best - didn't want him... And instead it wanted someone who'd walked into the hero world only a few months ago with falsified talent- NO. Bakugo bit the inside of his cheek for thinking the way he did about Ren, cursing himself for allowing his jealousy to take over the care he had for her.
"Katsuki?" Ren questioned softly after he'd been reading the letter over and over for several minutes. "You okay?" She furrowed her brow and nibbled on her bottom lip.
"So," He tried not to make his voice sound raspy and irritated but that was it's natural state these days. "What does this mean?" He handed the page back to her like it was a worthless spread of homework notes.
Ren brushed his attitude to the side of her mind. Maybe he was just tired from working out, this was just how he was most of the time, though, he didn't really treat her like this normally. "It's mainly so I can learn to control whatever my Flame related quirk is." She explained with a shrug.
'Oh...' A bulb lit up in Bakugo's mind.
"I don't think I'll do much sidekick work considering I have three quirks I can't control unless I'm really pissed off." Ren let out an uncomfortable chuckle. "But it also means my house arrest is over as of today!" Her tone lifted and she shoved the letter back into her blazer pocket. "So if you like..." She tugged are her hair awkwardly. Why could they chat so causally and have sex so easily but as soon as they crossed into the world of romance they both got shy?! "If you like, wanna go on that date this weekend... It'll be my treat." She smiled and squeezed her eyes together.
Bakugo's jealousy and anger subsided as he observed her sweet smile, flushed cheeks and flushed ears. "You're not working yet, babydoll."
Ren's eyes popped open. "I think you're severely underestimating how much of my father's blood money was left to me." She quirked a brow. "You choose the activity and I'd be happy to flip the bill... Just... Don't be ridiculous."
Bakugo gave her a toothy grin and leant closer to her against the wall, his right hand slid up so he was almost pinning her down. Another strong wave of caramel hit Ren. The scent had become something she associated so strongly with Bakugo, more specifically; sex with Bakugo, and so anytime she smelt it on him or in the chocolates Ashido would horf down, it instantly turned her on. Her eyelids drooped and her chest rose and sunk a little faster than it had been before. Bakugo's smirk got wider and cockier, if that was even possible.
"What's up with you, babydoll?" He leant in a little closer, this time moving their bodies so Ren's back was flat against the wall and Bakugo was hovering over her.
Ren shivered. That name again... "You just..." She closed her eyes for a second, drinking in the sickly sweetness of his body to the point that it was almost too rich but she couldn't get enough of it. Her eyes flickered open to his dark, lustful gaze. "You just smell really, really good."
Bakugo let out a low growl of a chuckle before he dipped his head even closer to Ren's. "You make me feel like this when I see you in your skirt..." Ren felt Bakugo's warm finger tips linger on the exposed skin between the bottom of her skirt and the top of her thigh-high socks. His lips met the space below her ear, grazing over it lightly, letting his tongue trail over her heated neck. "And these damn socks." His fingers trailed to the seem of her thick white cotton sock. He pulled at it and let it snap back against her tanned skin.
Ren let out a little whimper. "Hm.. Katsuki... N-not here... Someone might see..." He ignored her cries and responded with a little nip on her neck. She yelped again before Bakugo pulled away, a shit eating grin plastered on his flushed face.
"This weekend, then." Bakugo sauntered back to the gym door, giving Ren a lazy wave with the back of his hand. "Looking forward to our date." He gave her a quick toothy grin before disappearing into the gym.
Ren's chest heaved up and down as she tried to calm her breathing. God, he knew exactly how to drive her crazy with irritation and lust at the same time. She peeled herself from the wall, trying to steady her wobbly legs before she floated back towards the elevators. She was so in her own world that she didn't notice her friends calling out to her from the living area.
"Ren's just sooo outta it today, huh?" Ashido commented as she painted a think layer of glittery nail polish on one of her toenails.
Ren slid into one of the elevators, her mind occupied by the lewd thoughts Bakugo had put into her head mixed with what kind of things they'd get up to on their date and what was in store for her at Endeavour's agency. The steel doors had almost slid shut when a ding rang through the elevator and the doors slid back open.
Tsu hoped in with a little, "Sorry to delay you, Chinami."
"Hmm?" Ren glanced at her, still in her own world. "Oh. No problem, Tsu."
The ride up to the fourth floor was dead quiet, Ren lost in her world and Tsu trying not to laugh at her friend's estranged state. The silence was broken by the ding that sounded in the elevator as they reached Ren's floor. She hummed as she left the elevator without exchanging a greeting with Tsu.
"Oh by the way, Ren." Tsu called out to her, propping her arm against the steel door to stop it from sliding shut.
"Hmm?" Ren hummed as she stopped a few paces away from the elevator doors.
Tsu chuckled. "I know you're tryna keep it a secret..." She let out a croaky chuckle. "But you smell just like Bakugo."
Ren's eyes widened and a deep flush immediately spread over her cheeks and to the tips of her ears. "W-w-what?!" She stammered as the steel doors slid closed again. Tsu's chuckle rang in her ears as she heard the lift ascend to the floor above.
*
"Father, it's Shoto. Fine, I accept your offer."
*