I've been planning the previous chapter for literally so long you have no idea :0

The video above is for ambience, it's a thunderstorm which is happening during the chapter. It's what I was listening to when I wrote it sooooo
I VERY MUCH RECOMMEND LISTENING IF UR NOT AFRAID OF THUNDERSTORMS ITS MAKES IT LIKE 100 TIMES BETTER

Enjoy~

(y/n)'s POV

"I cannot believe he said that to you. It just doesn't make any sense," Mina said brushing through my wet hair. She had suggested I take a shower and take off all my make up and in the process I had finally stopped crying. I felt dry sobs hop up into my throat every once in a while, letting Mina take care of me.

"It doesn't," I said, sniffling slightly and she handed me a tissue, afterwards gathering up my hair in the towel.

"I am still sure he likes you, it just doesn't make any sense. You said he was freaking out when he replied?"

"Yeah...I told him and he said 'I thought I told you not to have a crush on me'..." I continued on as Mina pat my hair dry. She began brushing it again before I sat up. "Wait Sero."

"He knows where I am, it's alright," she replied and I sank again. "Don't feel guilty, we would've spent another 20 minutes together, that's all."

"But what if he--"

"Kissed me goodnight? Honey we took care of that earlier," she said and I felt my face flush. I laid back against her legs, thinking of Kacchan which caused my stomach to get sick. I gripped it while she ran her hands through my still damp hair. "Honestly (y/n), I don't know what happened with him. Boys are so dumb sometimes."

"I guess..." she sighed. She sank from the bed to the floor beside me.

"You know, no good story is too easy," she said and I glanced her way. "Too easy is boring. We fight and we make up, it's just the way it goes. Maybe you two just weren't meant to be together romantically. I have no doubt in my mind that he considers you a friend and honestly I don't think he meant to hurt you."

"It's not like he hasn't done it before," I said. That was a low blow, even in a room with just Mina and I. I was frustrated and felt like giving up on just about everything.

"There's many ways you could look at this." I was silent, watching through the slats in the blinds that half covered my window. I could hear the gentle roll of thunder across the sky and there were a few flashes of lightning here and there. The rain pounded against the walls of the school and it made me feel a little more calm in the situation I was under. Thank All Might it had began to rain, otherwise I might've been as angry as the thunder sounded. "Bakugo doesn't like you that way and doesn't know how to express his feelings. Maybe he does and still doesn't know. Maybe he thinks he's not good enough for you."

"If he thought that he wouldn't have said that about me." she watched me with careful eyes.

"If his feelings are as strong as yours are, which I really truly believe, then something slipping out like that isn't strange. Bakugo's a tough guy, but everybody knows he's not emotionally prepared for a lot of new situations like your relationship. Hearing that from you, topped with his pretty obvious need to hide his insecurities...I think he was just trying to push you away to protect himself...and you."

I listened to Mina and the slap of rain for a while, letting her ideas sink in.

"You know, I spend every waking moment of my life thinking about the hypothetical. I can't fucking stand it," I hissed. "I'm so tired of it and when I tried to be straight forward this happens. It's just so...shitty! I mean I can read Kacchan pretty well I'd like to think. Obviously not all the time, he's not an open book and I get it. I thought I understood him better than other people did and that maybe with my help he'd open up but clearly that was just a shitfest and at this point...I'm a little tired of just trying to read the situation."

"I understand."

"Moral of the story. He said something extremely hurtful and I cried over him. Cried. It happened and until I can get something straightforward out of him for once in his goddamn life, I'm not dealing with it anymore. I just want something straightforward. I thought he could do that, even with my help, but no."

"So what are you saying?"

"I don't want him in my life anymore." she was quiet and saw that I was firm in my stance. She brushed back my hair for me.

"Alright," she said, softly. "You should really get some rest. Do you want me to stay here?"

"Yes."

"Okay, I will," she said, offering a hand to me so that I could stand and sit down on the bed. By the time she fell asleep on the usually empty side of my bed, it was ridiculously late. All forms of social media had things about the dance and I hardly wanted to think about it. I was sat up in my bed, unable to sleep due to the burning in my chest and throat. It just wouldn't go away.

Fuck Kacchan.

I heard thunder crack again, hearing it crackle and echo as if it were bouncing around the clouds. The sky lit up with a brilliant purple color as lightning struck down behind the gray and down-pouring clouds. Normally I would be sleeping like a baby, water was such an integral part of my life and to listen to it fall heavy in splatters against the walls and concrete, pooling up in the streets and trickling down the drains was so soothing to me. I could sometimes hear the rustle of the wet tree leaves outside too, quite violent but calm at the same time. I could tell it wasn't a warm rain, but that was fine as I was inside. Normally when a warm thunderstorm happened I liked to sit out and listen, sit out and smell it. There was something cathartic about the rain to me, it felt as though I was the one violently crying, rather than the sky. My connection with it ran far deeper than anyone else's and I was glad to have this side of my quirk. I could use the rain as a release in times I couldn't or didn't want to cry. But now, having let out more tears than I had in a long time, the rain was providing even more of a cathartic release and I felt so exhausted. Yet I couldn't sleep, simply thinking 'it wouldn't rain again after this, it would most likely be snow soon'.

I noticed my shoes, which Mina had carried back and thrown aside and I stood up to put them away. I remembered the photo strips there and felt my stomach sink for about the hundredth time that night. I pulled them out, flicking on my desk lamp as I sat down there. It was dismal and yellow, but provided enough of a source with which to see. There were the ones with the girls, the one with Izuku, Izuku and Todoroki, Mina. I picked up the one with Kirishima and Kacchan, feeling tempted to petty scratch out his face. He looked grumpy in all the photos, just like he always did.

I took the Bakusquad one out, smiling slightly at the photos with the wonderful group of people. The last one made my lip quiver slightly as I finally saw it. I hadn't even looked at it before, too busy taking too many and then too busy with my mistaken confession. I was fit comfortably against Kacchan with a grin on my face and there, for what I believed was the first time I had seen it, was Kacchan genuinely smiling and looking right at me. I placed a soft finger against his face, disappointed when it met paper and not his skin.

How could he look at me that way and say those things? Was he really that good of a liar? And I took Kacchan for being blunt, never one to lie. I glanced around the rest of the picture to Kirishima. He too was caught with a smile and I squinted, holding it better in the light. I saw his eyes were trained on me, but that had been because I made him laugh. Right?

I took both pieces of dancing out of my memory. It felt so much more different with Kacchan than it had Kirishima. Kirishima was fun and carefree, but had I felt something there? Did he? All this time had he? Kacchan was so serious but warm and at home. I held back a groan of frustration as to keep from waking Mina. Why was I still thinking of Kacchan as an option? It just wouldn't work and for some horrific reason I couldn't get it to sink in. I looked back at the picture, my eyes flitting in between the boys.

I stood up suddenly, slipping on some sneakers. I glanced back at Mina to make sure she was sleeping. I was about to do something utterly idiotic and I knew it was. I knew I shouldn't ruin 2 friendships in one night, but I couldn't help myself. I snuck out and past the hall monitors to the boys hallway.

This was most definitely a mistake.

I knocked on his door, anxiously awaiting him to answer. My eyes flitted around to keep from getting caught out this late. How late was it? Although I hardly think they could hear me through the ridiculously loud echo of rain. This was silly, Kacchan was most definitely going to be there with him so why would I want to show up at his door. Kirishima opened it and from what I could see there was no Kacchan in sight.

"Hey...(y/n)? What's up?" he asked. He was already wearing his pajamas and his hair was down which I just adored. He cocked his head to the side. "(y/n)?"

"Can I talk to you?"

"Yeah, of course," he said, stepping aside. So Kacchan wasn't here. Odd. Maybe be really didn't care. "What's wrong? It's like 12:30."

"Has Kacchan talked to you?" I asked and Kirishima furrowed his brow.

"About?"

"Me?" I asked.

"Not tonight no," he replied. "What happened? Have you been crying?" I subconsciously rubbed at my face, but it was dry. I shook my head no, but that was an obvious lie.

"I told Kacchan that I liked him romantically."

"Seriously?!" I nodded and Kirishima led me to his bed to sit down. "Well what did he say? Why didn't he say something to me? It can't be good if you aren't together right now."

"You'd be correct. I don't know...maybe you can make it more clear to me." He nodded. "When I told him he stuttered quite a bit and at first I thought he was nervous but he said things like 'you can't like me' and 'it's not fair' before he totally freaked and told me that he doesn't date girls like me."

"Oh Bakugo," Kirishima said, dragging his hand down his face with a sigh.

"So...obviously I'm upset and I don't exactly want to talk to him...ever again," I said, crossing my arms. Kirishima looked up at me with wide eyes, spluttering.

"Wha--no you can't!"

"Why?"

"Because--ugh I don't want to be that person mixing in relationships." Kirishima was struggling with what information he could tell me. I sighed, wrapping my arms around my stomach. "Look, I'm 5000% sure that Bakugo did not mean to say something so rude. Bakugo is...he's scared of this kind of stuff. He's never had these kind of emotions put in front of him, especially by someone who's been with him his whole life. He didn't know how to handle it and pushed you away."

"And? Don't you think I've been trying to help him? He's got all the help he needs and yet he refuses it." Kirishima struggled to keep something extremely important to himself, I could tell. I watched him carefully, my eyes trained on his face. Was I really going to do this?

"Can't you just talk to him?"

"Why would I do that if he's just going to push me away?"

"Because there's something that I need him to tell you. I can't tell you," he said. "Please?"

"Kiri--"

"You must've come to me for a specific reason and this is how I'm going to help and this is going to help! I swear," he said. He grasped my hand suddenly, forcing my pinkie into a lock with his. "Pinkie swear."

"Why do you want to help him so bad?" I asked. He made motion to unlock our fingers and I gripped it. He looked up at me with a nervous look on his face. "Why?"

"Because it has to work out between you two."

"Why?"

"Because, (y/n)."

"Why?!" I gripped his face suddenly, our pinkies still locked.

"Because if it doesn't then there's no reason as to why I can't have you!" I didn't think the words that he so suddenly blurted out to me, would ever come out of his mouth. It was foreign. His face was in a hard grimace and I let go of his finger, still holding his face so that he couldn't look away, but his eyes were glaring hard at his lap. So the photo had me suspecting right. "I shouldn't have said that."

When I saw his lips open again to say something else, I leaned in suddenly. I tugged his face towards my own, expecting our lips to touch, but instead greeted with the sensation of his hand over my mouth and his chin ripping itself from my grip. I glanced up, my eyes open now to see him startled and still pushing me away slowly.

"What are you doing?!"

"Trying to kiss you, isn't that what you wanted?" I asked.

"Wh--you can't! We can't do that!" The rain picked up again, though I didn't think it could considering how hard it was pouring outside.

"Why is that a bad thing?"

"Well for one, we both know you only want to kiss me to get over Bakugo which is extremely unhealthy. And for another, it's because I know you're not meant for me. I know that for a fact," he said. "You would've never known or felt anything for me if I didn't tell you and Bakugo hadn't pushed you away."

"Ei, how do you know that? What about dancing earlier? How do you know I didn't feel anything then?"

"Because I know you felt more when you danced with him."

"But Ei--"

"Look I might like you and you might like me, sure, but we both know it's not the same with you and Bakugo and I've come to terms with that," he said. He placed his head in his hands. There was a long drawn out sigh. "Please just talk to him. There's someone else out there for me."

"Okay..." I said. I felt the guilt of the situation begin to settle in. It was obvious I had pushed Kirishima way too far and I was the jerk who didn't know how to handle my feelings. I suppose I had more in common with Kacchan than I thought. I stared at my lap and I could feel Kirishima's eyes shift to me. They stayed there for a long time before I heard him sigh again.

"You don't have to feel bad. I like having you as a friend," he said. "Sometimes it's a little hard, but seriously it's fine. I'd honestly rather see you with Bakugo than me. That makes me feel more at ease."

"I find that hard to believe."

"Too bad it's the truth then. I'd feel too guilty for keeping you from where you're supposed to be. Hard pill for both of us to swallow," he said. I glanced over to him, chewing at my lip.

"I'm sorry."

"You don't have to--"

"I know, but I am. I shouldn't have tried to kiss you or pressure you just because I'm hurt. I'm such an idiot. I don't want to lose you." He was quiet for a while. "I'll consider talking to Kacchan, but I don't see how this is going to work out if he said those things. If he even likes me."

"Just...trust me." I glanced at Kirishima and I knew for a fact that he knew. He knew Kacchan's intentions and feelings and even if he wasn't going to tell me, he was making sure I'd find out. Find out from Kacchan like I'm supposed to. I had the greatest respect for Kirishima, putting his feelings aside for the best. And for me of all people. I knew, deep down, that I wasn't meant for Kirishima and he wasn't meant for me. It was like months ago with Todoroki, as much as I appeared to want it...it just wasn't right.

Kirishima was straight-forward, open, warm, loving, funny, and all sorts of things I could list out all day, but the one thing that seemed to trump it all was his loyalty. He was level-headed and he knew what had to get done, whether it hurt or not. That was why I leaned it to kiss him on the cheek, my hand light against the other side of his face.

"Thank you," I murmured, my voice drowned out by the storm outside. I knew he had heard me nonetheless. When I pulled back I felt him grab around my wrist with his left and grasping the side of my face with his right. He pressed his lips to mine and my eyes opened suddenly, staring at his eyelids for a moment. I eventually let my eyelids slip down and I kissed back, placing a hand on his leg. He was so soft, despite his quirk, and dared not to move any farther than this. He pulled back, a look of slightly regret on his face.

"I'm sorry...I just couldn't help it."

"That's okay," I replied, feeling my stomach churn. I leaned in again fitting our lips on each other's again before pulling away and setting my forehead against his. "The least I can do considering what you're doing for me."

"It's really not that big of a deal."

"Still..." I replied. He again kissed me, this time the both of us knowing it was the last. I took his hand lightly when we had separated and he stared at them.

"Not how I thought it would be."

"Oh?"

"Yeah...I thought it might be more magical."

"Wow okay Kiri, way to drag me," I joked and he smiled.

"Trust me, it's better that it wasn't," he replied and I nodded. "I'm sorry Bakugo hurt you and as much as I hate to admit that I'm not your match, I'm not." His hand ran down the side of my hair. "It'll be fine. I'll find someone."

"No doubt."

"Thanks." I opened my mouth to speak before there was a knock on the door, causing the both of us to tense. Kirishima glanced up, standing up to answer.

"Kirishima open up." The voice was distinctly Kacchan and I leapt up from the bed, plastering myself against the wall next to his door so that when it opened Kacchan would not see me. Kirishima looked at me strangely.

"Talk to him," he whispered and I shook my head violently.

"Not yet and definitely not in your room!" I hissed, quietly. I still wasn't up for forgiving him and on top of that, him seeing me in Kirishima's room at 1 in the morning wasn't going to bode well for discussion. Not that Kacchan had any right to say anything to me about it. Kacchan knocked again and Kirishima swung open the door, nearly hitting me in the process.

Bakugo's POV

I stared at my ceiling, watching the shadow of the blinds flash with light as the lightning struck down somewhere. It was ironic considering it was causing less damage than I had just a few hours earlier. I couldn't describe the feeling in my stomach, nor the look on her face.

I hadn't meant to say it.

That always seemed to be the case with me. How could I be the person for her when I do things like this. This is why she should've stayed away from me. I was...terrible. My entire goal was to keep from hurting her again and yet in my feeble attempt to keep her away properly, I had hurt her more than if she were injured in a villain attack for me. How stupid.

How stupid to think she couldn't handle herself and yet that's how I felt. I was too concerned with getting hurt myself. I placed my hands over my face, before sitting up. I had no idea what I was supposed to do. Would she even want to listen to me now that I had ruined it?

I wanted to tell her what was going through my head and get her forgiveness. When had I become so soft? So distracted? I couldn't tell her, I could barely get a few words out as it was. I felt my stomach squeeze as the idea prompted itself in my head.

I knew I had to talk to someone, and I despised the person that came to mind. So now...now that I wound up in front of his door...I felt so idiotic. I swallowed, hearing the thunder crack loudly outside the school, and gathered up the courage to knock. I knew I wanted to go to Kirishima, but I knew this person was the right one to talk to. I was going to have to share some