| CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR |

🎵 river by brkn love
***

ONCE YOU WALKED INTO THE MUSIC ROOM AND SAW BAKUGO WITH A RED NOSE SNIFFLING, you could barely stop your lips from stretching into a mocking smile. "oh, man. what happened to your superior immune system bakugo? i told you you'll catch my cold. or is it cause you cried all night from losing to me in mortal kombat?"

"just shut it, y/n" his voice was low and threatening, his stare holding so much intensity.

you motioned zipping your mouth before raising your hands in surrender. your smile was pissing him off enough, you didn't need to say anything more. you walked over and picked up your guitar, your voice still too scratchy to sing.

soon enough, everyone started walking in, breaking the silence with their loud chatter.

"hey y/n! how are you bakubro?" kirishima asked excitedly as he bumped bakugo's shoulder with his fist to which bakugo only growled.

"hey beautiful, you feeling better yet?" kaminari asked you flirtatiously as he wrapped an arm around your shoulder.

"y/n!" mina screamed and ran up to you, dragging ochako behind her.

what was she doing here?

"hey" you smiled at mina before your gaze dropped to ochako. she was smiling with closed eyes and waving at everyone.

"hey katsuki" she greeted him so sweetly. you scoffed at her tone but covered it up with a few fake coughs. bakugo caught on, giving you a quizzical look and arching a brow before looking down at his drums.

he had decided to ignore ochako, just like he did yesterday, so he continued pretending she wasn't even there and kept himself busy adjusting his crash cymbal.

she wasn't one to easily give up though as she bent down to meet his gaze with a smile "how are you doing today, kachan?"

he glared at her. "fine" he mumbled under his breath before catching you staring at them, holding your stare for a few seconds, then looking away with an annoyed expression.

ochako walked over to you, apparently not satisfied with only annoying bakugo "i hope you don't mind i stopped by again. it's just you guys play so well, i wanna watch every practice" ochako beamed, emphasizing the word 'every' as she almost smirked at you.

she seemed to hate you just as much as you were angry at her. "stop by again?" you asked a bit confused, furrowing your brows.

"she stopped by yesterday that you missed practice. and brought us snacks! it was great" sero explained excitedly.

"you brought more snacks, right?" you could practically see stars in kminari's eyes as he looked at ochako expectantly.

"of course!" ochako held up a bag, showing the different snacks.

bakugo tched and you just pursed your lips. so she was bribing them with food.

"you okay there, y/n?" ochako asked, sounding concerned, but you could see right through her facade. the corner of her lips almost tugging up in another smirk and the glint in her eyes didn't match her tone.

please stop talking to you. it's already hard enough suppressing my anger and not using my quirk on you just from you looking at me. that's what you wanted to say. but instead you only hummed "just a bit out of it from the cold"

she nodded understandingly before wishing for you to get well soon.

"let's fucking start already" bakugo groaned, annoyed and frustrated by her presence. she was an ex afterall.

everyone took their positions and kaminari sang:

.
.
.
shut your mouth, baby, stand and deliver
holy hands, will they make me a sinner?
like a river, like a river
shut your mouth and run me like a river
choke this love 'til the veins start to shiver

during the whole song, ochako's eyes were glued to bakugo's form, playing the instrument skillfully. when you briefly made eye contact with her, she once again smirked mischievously and you scowled. she was making it so hard not to punch her in the face.

all your anger from bakugo's hurt voice talking about their relationship at the beach, from when izuku told you about her using bakugo to make him jealous, from when you saw her in bakugo's room, remembering not feeling enough, the hurt, the pain, the confusion, the rage, it all turned into a big ball of distressed emotions, tightening your chest before coursing through your vains.

as soon as the song ended, you knew you needed to get away from her and that ugly smirk if you wanted to calm down.

so you excused myself and stepped outside. you leaned on the well with your hands behind you, head tilted back, eyes closed, as you slowly breathed in and out repeatedly, trying to relax.

get a hold of yourself y/n.

you felt another body thump onto the wall next to you. you didn't have to open your eyes to know it was bakugo, leaning on the wall right next to you. you could smell his distinct scent from a mile away.

"needed some space?"

"hmm. you?"

"needed to calm down."

"what? you're mad?" he sounded a bit surprised by your reason.

you lifted your head and stared ahead at nothing in particular. "izuku told me she's your ex. and you said how she treated you-"

he interrupted "that fucking nerd. it's none of his or your business" he pushed off the wall and caged you by the wall "you got that?", his eyebrows met each other as he towered over me.

you didn't even flinch, too used to his sudden movements. dropping your head, you exhaled loudly, hoping to get rid of the annoyance building up in you. "well, now i know. whether you like it or not". you looked up into his ruby eyes "and i'm pissed at her for what she did" your tone turned bitter and venomous.

"then she has the audacity to come here and act all nice" you didn't even realize you were banging your fists at bakugo's chest until he stumbled back a bit, but recovered quickly. he wasn't stopping or blocking your hits, so you continued as you made a frustrated sound "ugh".

"don't you dare pity me" his voice was low and husky, as if he had a lump in his throat. his eyes distant and clouded.

"did i say i pity you? no! i said i'm mad. at her."

"stop it"

"stop what?"

your fists hit him harder with every word, your voice increasing in volume, your body trying to let out the mix of emotions through every medium possible.

"stop acting like this. like you care." his voice was almost pleading, on the brink of cracking.

"so what if-"

he cut you off for the nth time today "don't fucking finish that. just shut up already." he raised his voice as it finally cracked. his tone was threatening, warning you of the consequences and daring you at the same time.

"don't tell me what to do. i shut up when i wan-hmph"

he shut you up the only way he knew how, by kissing you. your lips moved in synchron as you fisted his shirt, pulling him closer. once again, emptying your emotions with every kiss, as you felt tears of frustration roll down your cheeks.

one of his hands snaked around your waist pulling you closer as the other traveled through your hair, deepening the kiss.

you were pulled out of your little bubble when you heard the door a few feet away open and before you could pull away, you heard your name.

"y/n?" kaminari's voice caught in his throat, eyes watery. "bakugo" he called out next, sternly as his brows furrowed in anger.

***

i literally wanna cry. i love denki so much this hurts. ugh. anyways. i found this tiktok video of kaminari singing river and you best believe i'm here simping.
it's on @ 0circethewitch0's account. link:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMJGG56v8/

***

Where words fail, music speaks
-Hans Christian Andersen