Rejection

"So...how it going?" Y/N asked, holding a bit of Midoriya's shirt from behind getting tired of all the jumpscares, "We haven't talked in a while huh?"

"Uh.." he stopped by his tracks hearing the rustle of leaves and a head popping up, his heart raced for a while and he continued walking, "yeah. We didn't exactly find much time to talk. You made a new friend, huh?"

Y/N sighed knowing what that tone meant. "I don't think so," she chuckled, "I don't know what I was thinking. I thought maybe we finally put all of our differences aside and started being friends after the villain attack in U.A., but turns out I was only being....delusional."

He pulled her by her hand beside him, pacing her speed and said, "Hey, I think you're misunderstanding. I mean, I know he absolutely hates me but I can see the way he acts around you. He doesn't tolerate you-"

"Wow, thank you dude-" she pulled her hand away and looked around the area, trying to find the section B students.

"Listen," he interrupted her and said, "he can't tolerate most people, and I said that he doesn't tolerate you because he doesn't need to. You're...kind of an honest neutral ground to him. You get what I'm saying right?"

Y/N blushed lightly hearing that and muttered, "Yeah he doesn't think so."

"But something has happened between the both of you recently, right?"

Y/N turned to look at him in surprise, "How do you know?"

"It's the most both you have stayed away from each other...I mean judging by how much time you spend together these days. I didn't mean to pry."

"Well, you always do Midoriya and not everyone likes it," Y/N sighed, "Stop."

"What-" he sniffed the air, "What is-"

"Cover your nose," Y/N's voice deepened as she said in a serious tone, "Didn't they say that we are not allowed to use our quirk?"

Both of them looked at each other, the worst possibility coming to their minds. They have been facing this a lot these days, aren't they?

"We should go back to the starting point Midoriya."

[ TIME SKIP ]

Mandalay informed everyone that two villains attacked and there are likely more coming. When Y/N and Midoriya reached the Beast's Forest, they found Pixie-Bob pinned under the two said villains, her head heavily injured.

As Iida was assigned to take everyone back to the camp while two other heroes stood to fight the villains, Midoriya went ahead to find Kota since he was the only one who knew about his location. Y/N sneaked back in the forest hoping to find any of the other classmates. If they sniffed whatever that was in the air, it was a possibility that most of them were unconscious.

As she took one of the students on her back, she turned to go, hoping her friends and him to come back to the camp safely. There wasn't much that she will be able to do with unconscious students like that. Just as she was about to take a turn, a strong gust of wind along with a huge crash shook the ground, making her fall. Taking a close look at the figure, she realized it was Dark Shadow, Tokoyami's quirk that went out of control due to darkness.

"Forget about me, go! Help our classmates instead!" she heard Tokoyami say.

Using her quirk to quickly to go towards Shoji and Midoriya, she stopped to hide behind a tree. "Midoriya how are you so beat up?"

"Y/N?" he said, "Nevermind, we have a worse situation in our hand. The villains aren't here to hurt us. They are...they are here to get Kacchan!"

A pang of fear covered her chest. They were here to get him.

Bakugou.

A sense of desperation took over her as her brain started running through miles going by the possibilities Bakugou might run into. Sure, he's strong but....

....for how long?

[ TIME SKIP ]

Midoriya's plan of baiting Dark Shadow towards the fire in the camp, was not complete and landed a hit on Y/N's stomach, but it did help them when Dark Shadow broke Moonfish's teeth and launched him through the forest. The villain was busy attacking Bakugou and Todoroki, and Midoriya spotted the ice from a distance, and connecting the dots they knew the boys were together. Bakugou and Todoroki instantly reacted to the villains' defeat by using their quirks to create light and weaken Dark Shadow back to its normal form.

Tokoyami thanked his peers for saving him and apologized for allowing Dark Shadow to take over. Midoriya informed the group that they needed to protect Bakugou and get him back to camp.

"I don't need your protection dammit!" Bakugou shouted in frustration as everyone surrounded him and started walking back to the camp. "Don't ignore me!"

"We hear ya, Baku~" Y/N sighed clutching her stomach, spitting out a bit of blood in her mouth.

"Shut up! I don't need-"

"Yeah, I know you don't need anyone," she said and muttered the next words only for him to hear, "but I do, so please just go along."

Bakugou looked at her tired face as she carrying the unconscious student. He walked closer to her, maintaining a bit of distance and said, "Then stop." He slowly took the classmate from her back and said carrying him, "Stop caring about stupid things."

"Are you calling yourself stupid Bakugou?" she teased and looked at him. He was watching the road and clearly ignored her little comment. She laughed and looked forward.

Tokoyami took the classmate on his back after a while from Bakugou saying, "You are their target and your protection is our top priority," to which he received a series of insults from the blonde.

"Look, I don't have the time for this," Bakugou said and looked back at her, "this."

Y/N's ears reddened in realization. His eyes. He never, once, looked at her this way.

He knew.

They walked in silence for a while, as Y/N processed the words he said.

"I know," she looked forward with a smile, "I just want you to be cautious. Stop being so reckless. It...scares those who really care about you."

Oh, it hurt. The rejection. The worst part is that she didn't even get to confess and lighten up the burden of her heart.

It felt heavier than before. Maybe being an extra was better than this. Being close and still having him out of reach.

"When did you find out?" she asked.

He looked almost zoned out, his ear reddened and he said, "That's unimportant."

"You can't just...drop this on me suddenly and then expect me not to ask questions. Bakugou I'm not even going to ask why," she coughed and tightened her fist on her stomach, "I'm just asking how."

"I told you I'm not saying," he said and looked at her.

She didn't want to look back. Her stomach was in pain and so was her heart. She didn't want to cry like a little girl because of a dumb rejection when villains were attacking their camp. But that's the thing. She couldn't remember the last time she cried her heart out. It was always "heroes don't cry" that stopped her. There's gonna be a day when these waves of emotions burst out of her and it's gonna be ugly.

She just didn't know it was going to come so soon.