Ever since the whole training camp fiasco, Midoriya and Kou had gotten pretty close. She might even say they'd become friends, but she knew Bakugou would probably kill her if he found out they were on equal ground in terms of their relationship to Kou.

The unlikely pair had been training together at Gym Gamma, trying to find their ultimate moves and bouncing ideas off each other. Kou had so far been unsuccessful with picking up large objects with her quirk, and she was pretty much stumped on what else she could do.

"This is so stupid," she grumbled, kicking at the piece of cement she tried breaking with her Nen. She was supposed to be picking up Cementoss' entire towers of stone, but so far she was only able to carry the small pieces she broke off. "Why can't I just use my usual moves? Who gives a shit about a special one?"

Midoriya tried his best to reassure his friend, but he was feeling pretty defeated too. He couldn't think of a unique special move for his quirk that wasn't related to All Might in some way. There were only a few weeks until the licence exams started, and the both of them were lost on what to do.

Kou sighed, sticking her hand out towards the green haired hero. Thankfully he'd gotten used to her reaching for him without blubbering like an idiot at the thought of touching a girl. He activated One for All, lending her his power for the time being. Kou smiled brightly, like she always did when she managed to do something new with her quirk. She punched the wall of cement, breaking through it completely in one hit.

"Hell yeah!" she yells excitedly, "That's what I'm talking about! If I had a quirk like yours I wouldn't even have to worry about an ultimate move."

Midoriya flushes, frantically denying her words, "N-no, that's not true, Kou-chan! I'm really nothing special...plus you could probably punch that hard with just your quirk alone anyways!"

Kou rolls her eyes at her timid classmate, knowing he was just trying to be humble. There was no way he didn't know how strong he was; he'd definitely be in the Big Three next year along with Bakugou and Todoroki.

Just as she was about to continue talking to him, she felt an arm wrap around her neck, keeping her in a headlock and pulling her closer to somebody's chest. Before she could turn around, she heard Bakugou's voice rumbling from above her.

"The hell are you doing with this idiot?" Bakugou growled, his chin propped up on top of her head. She could feel the vibrations while he talked resonating through his chest and on her back.

"What the hell are you talking about?" she groaned, trying to wiggle her way out but he only tightened his grip on her and pulled her closer. Since he was wearing his hero costume, his gauntlets were getting all up in her face and pissing her off.

"How is shitty Deku supposed to help you with anything? He's fucking useless." He spat out, and Midoriya only laughed nervously.

"W-we were just working together, Kacchan...We're both pretty lost with what to do for our ultimate moves." He stuttered out, and Kou grimaced at how uncomfortable her friend made the green haired hero.

"Yeah, it's none of your business, Bakugou." she finally pried herself away from him, ignoring the disappointed look on his face when she did. "Just go back to exploding shit if you wanna be an asshole."

She turned around to rejoin Midoriya, but the explosive blond grabbed onto her wrist before she could go away. "I'll help you then."

"Huh?" she turned back around, eyebrow raised in question.

He looked away shyly, quieting down a bit. "I said I'd fucking help you, idiot. Just come with me."

Kou smiled at his immaturity; he was unable to handle the thought of his friend spending time with his childhood rival. She turned her gaze to Midoriya, who was observing the pair with his mouth slightly agape. "You okay to practice alone for now?"

"S-sure!" he stuttered out, embarrassed to be caught staring at them, "I was going to ask All Might sensei for help anyways."

Bakugou promptly dragged her away by the arm, his grip feeling weird because of the gloves he was wearing.

"Did you find your move yet?" Kou questioned, leaning on one of the rocks splayed around the gym. Bakugou smirked, standing beside her and holding his arms up. He placed a hand in front of his open palm, creating a smaller circle with his fingers. Activating his quirk, he managed to concentrate his explosion into a smaller beam, creating a hole in the cement in front of them.

"I call it an AP shot," he announces proudly, and Kou can't even bother pretending she isn't impressed.

"Yeah, yeah, you're quirk is amazing," she says dismissively, "Now fucking help me with mine before I regret coming with you."

The two spent the next couple minutes brainstorming and strategizing, before Bakugou snapped his fingers. "You should do that shit you did to me after internships. The stupid coin thing?"

Kou shoves him, "It wasn't fucking stupid, you asshole!" she crosses her arms across her chest, "But that's a pretty good idea."

Ignoring his shit-eating grin, Kou puts his theory to the test: instead of trying to absorb big objects with her Nen, she focuses on breaking them into smaller parts and creating a flail-like weapon with them. Sending the rocks flying at lightning speed towards the wall, they break past with almost no effort. Turns out the blond haired idiot was right after all.

"Bet you shitty Deku would've never helped you figure that out, huh?" he smiled victoriously, and Kou rolled her eyes at his childish antics.

_

It was lunch time: Kou's favorite part of the day. She was currently in line, stacking up her tray with as much food as she could get.

"Kou-chan!" Midoriya tapped her shoulder, and Kou turned around to see him and Uraraka behind her. "That's sure a lot of food, huh?"

"Shut up, Deku!" she screams defensively, "I'm fucking hungry after all the training we did today!"

Uraraka scolds him for commenting on a girl's diet, and Midoriya blushes for the hundredth time today. He apologizes for his insensitivity, but Kou only chuckles at his nervousness.

"It's fine, Midoriya." she reassures, "I don't care."

He seems to cheer up at that, "Hey, do you wanna eat lunch with us today? It's been a while since we all sat together."

Before she could tell him she was planning on sitting with Bakugou today, she saw Midoriya freeze up while looking behind her. She looked over her shoulder to see Bakugou glaring murderously yet again at the poor kid.

"Fuck off, Deku." he growled, and Kou swore he almost pissed himself at his threat.

Once again she was dragged off by the angry blond, who practically pushed her into her usual seat beside Mina, going to sit on her other side.

"Damn Bakubro," Kirishima laughs at his friend's scowling face, "What happened to you?"

Kaminari laughs harder, "Yeah, who pissed in your ramen?"

"Shut up!" he yells, digging into his food aggressively. "None of your business, extras!"

Everyone was already used to his attitude and continued their lunchtime conversation, paying no heed to his little temper tantrum. Kou shrugged and started eating too, not noticing Bakugou's arm that was propped up possessively behind her seat, mimicking having his arm around her actual shoulder; as if trying to tell everybody to stay away from his friend.

_

"Okay, this is getting ridiculous." Kou mumbled to herself. It was the end of the day, and she was walking to the subway on her way to work. For some strange reason, Bakugou had decided to walk with her; something he never did.

"You have a problem or something, Shinobu?" he glares down at her, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Not really," she says, "It's just really weird for you to come with me after school."

"Whatever!" he sassed, "Stupid Deku would've come if I didn't."

He wasn't necessarily wrong. Midoriya had offered to walk her to the subway station, saying he needed to get some stuff on the way anyway. Of course Bakugou had dragged her off again, leaving the poor guy in the dust.

"What's wrong with you?" Kou had finally had enough of his weird behaviour, "You've been acting crazy all day."

"Am not!"

"Seriously? You've been pulling me away from Midoriya all day, for literally no reason. I get you don't like him, but don't you think-"

Bakugou glared at her, "What, you his girlfriend now or something?"

"You're such a baby," she sneered, "What the fuck are you even talking about? Just because I'm friends with you doesn't mean I can't have other ones."

"Why does it have to be him? Why fucking Deku, of all people?"

"He's nice, okay?" she yells, walking faster to avoid him. He catches up easily. "Stop trying to control me!"

"I'm not trying to control you, idiot!" he screams back, grabbing onto her hand.

Kou frowns, sighing in defeat. "You know I like you more than Deku, right?"

Bakugou's eyes widen and he starts blushing slightly, turning his head away from her. "T-the fuck are you saying?"

"I said I like you more than Deku," she tightens her hold on his hand, "So stop being such a pussy and trying to keep me to yourself. I'd choose you over him anyday, you big baby."

He seems temporarily appeased by that, but his frustrations still come through in a broken mumble. "Then why can he call you by your first name...?" Kou almost misses his question; he's saying it so quietly she thought she was just hearing things.

Kou snorts, shaking her head in disbelief. "Seriously? That's what you're worried about? You're so fucking lame."

Bakugou glares at her, but he clearly doesn't have the intimidation factor right now with the question he just asked.

She lets go of his hand, slapping him on the shoulder in encouragement. "Go ahead, Katsuki - you can say my name if you want to so badly."

His cheeks deepen to a bright red when she says his name, groaning a bit and rubbing his face with a sweaty hand. Kou waits patiently, tapping her foot while he uncharacteristically looks around in an attempt to avoid looking at her. He called her Kou-mi all the time- that was close enough; it shouldn't be so hard.

" Kou ." He mumbles out a couple seconds later, his voice low.

Kou's heart drops to her stomach. She doesn't know what it is about him saying her first name that makes her heart stop and palms start sweating, but before she knows it she's spun on her heels and running up the stairs to catch her subway. "What the fuck? Come back!"

"See you later, Bakugou!" she squeaks out, not bothering to look back in fear that he'll see the furious blush covering her face. Embarrassed as she is, Kou finds herself hoping she can hear her name coming from his lips again.

__

A/N: Okay a few housekeeping things that are like kind of important:

The next 3-4 chapters are gonna be kinda darker and more family-centric so if you guys don't like that I'm sorry 🥺 It's the last of all the depressing stuff before we only do romance for the last 10-15 chapters I promise Since this book is almost coming to an end, I'm already working on other story ideas- I'm thinking of doing a story with hella angst would that be good? Or would romance be more preferred...Actually IDK why I'm asking my next story is gonna be FUCKED UP LMAO and I'm really excited to start writing it but lemme know your thoughts or wishes!Check out my new story, Chinese Takeout! It's a lot shorter than this one and I'm probably going to finish writing it within this week lol