Torn Down The Middle Chapter 21: Hopeless Case

As the day progressed you were feeling more and more torn about how things went down with Bakugou and you warred with yourself over whether or not you had said and done the right things.

“I just…I’m sick of this whole girlfriend charade…I don’t know if I want to be his ACTUAL girlfriend or not but having this ‘on and off’ kind of relationship is killing me and especially when I kinda like Shouto as well.”

You ducked your head under the water as another wave passed over you.

“It’s embarrassing enough that I kissed him! I certainly didn’t want to admit my feelings right there and then, what if he had laughed in my face?!”

You scowled at the water and sighed.

“Hey. I’m….sorry.” A masculine voice said from beside you.

You jumped. You had been so deep in thought you hadn’t realized that Bakugou had waded you beside you.

“O-oh, I didn’t hear you coming.” You replied as you looked at him then back at the water. “It’s ok, I’m sorry too…WAIT?! DID YOU JUST APOLOGIZE?!” You screeched, your wide eyes flicking across to him, settling on his face.

“Tch. Yeah I did, what of it?” He grumbled.

“Well…I mean, you’re the last person I would have thought would apologize for something.” You said with a light laugh.

He smirked. “Yeah, I’m fucking hardcore but I know when to apologize.”

“Fair enough.” You said with a smile.

“I still wanna know what that kiss was for? I mean…I hugged you and all…” he said, slightly softer than his usual abrupt tone. Almost like a tsundere wall had been half knocked down and you could see a bit of vulnerability peeking through from the other side.

“I just, I felt close to you so my body kinda just acted on it’s own without me thinking.” You mumbled with, swishing your fingers in the water while you kept your eyes down.

He stole a glance at you from the corner of his eye. “Fuck, she’s super cute like this right now.”

“Ok.” He said. He didn’t want to push his luck, and to be honest he was happy with that reply for now. “Yeah well… I hugged you because I wanted to show you that I don’t find you annoying enough to not have you…inmyarms.” He stated quickly, before turning and making a hasty retreat away from you.

You whipped around and watched him leave. “W-w-what?! Is that his round about way of saying he wanted to hug me because he ACTUALLY wanted to?? Is there a chance we could actually be together??” Your mind was going one hundred miles per hour. “What if he asks me out for real?! What would I say???”

…………….

That night Mina suggested dinner by a fire which you all thought was a great idea.

“Bakugou! Y/N! Can you get us some firewood?” Mina called as she set up stuff for dinner and Kirishima collected rocks to make a circle pit for the fire.

“Sure!” You called back, waiting for Bakugou to walk over to you before you both headed off into the bush nearby.

“Should we get big sticks or lots of small ones?” You asked Bakugou, making small talk.

“A mix, I think.” He replied, holding back a tree branch for you to walk past without it smacking you in your face.

“Awww, he’s trying.” You though with a smile.

“Hey uh… Do you have a type?” You asked him suddenly as he walked past you to push another branch back.

“What? What do you mean?” He asked, looking back at you.

“I mean, do you have a type of girl you like?” You asked again, a little annoyed at having to repeat yourself. The question was embarrassing enough as it was…

“Yeah.” He replied gruffly, not looking at you.

“Well…uh…what’s your type?” You asked in a soft voice.

“I like a girl with balls.” He said.

“So you like dudes then?”

“What?!”

“Or transvestites?”

“THE FUCK?!”

You cackled. “I’m messing with you, go on.”

“Chick with balls, speaks her mind, not too girly but shows a soft side every now and again…”

You were feeling quite flustered by this point and your brain was asking a million questions, “I….Is he describing me???”

“Why?” He grunted, turning to look at you.

“Oh…no reason…” you replied, rubbing the back of your neck and looking away. “Hey uh…how do you think it would go if we did…actually date for real?”

Bakugou’s heart leapt into his chest. “Fuck?! Is she asking me to be her boyfriend?! How do I respond to that?! Fuck! I like her but man…I’ve never had a girlfriend before.”

His pause made you sweat bullets. “Shit, shouldn’t have asked…time to yeet myself out of here, asap.”

Trying to play it cool, Bakugou replied in the most tsundere Bakugou way possible and started with a sharp laugh. “Ha! We would suck as a couple, right? Always fighting like we do now, I don’t even like you like that anyway.”

His heart sunk as the harsh words came out of his mouth. “Fuck…shouldn’t have said any of that…”

“But y’know…” he started to say.

“Ok, just stop.” You said in an emotionless voice. “I’ve heard enough.”

He looked at you. You had your head down, shoulder slumped, complete dejection swallowing your entire form.

He had hurt you.

You turned and walked away, picking up sticks as you went.

He exhaled through his nose softly. “Damn I think I did the wrong thing?”

It’s funny, you were hurt, definitely, but it’s like  it was the last straw and there was no pain? You just felt, dead. Void of emotion. Like you just didn’t care anymore.

You got back to the others at the makeshift fire site and gave them a big fake smile, handing the sticks to Kirishima who set about making an arrangement with them.

“Where’s king explosion murder?” Kaminari asked as he helped Jirou chop food.

“Getting bigger logs, I guess?

“Figures.” He replied with a snort and a laugh.

Bakugou returned later with arm loads of wood. You guys didn’t look at each other. You had made up your mind to move on.

“Room for one more?” A velvety smooth voice asked from behind where you had sat down on the sand and you spun your head around to see who it was.

Shouto Todoroki was standing behind you in causal gear. A soft white button up shirt, that was left unbuttoned, covered some of his torso and blue and red boardies completed the outfit on the bottom half.

You smiled brightly, “come and join us!”

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