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“The endless tower, they call it,” someone whispered from behind. "Apparently time gets all weird when you're in there."All twenty students from 1-A were standing in front of a cylindrical, thick steel building that went up way past the clouds. It might as well have been classified as a skyscraper because of how tall it was. It seemed that it had a five metre radius, and it didn’t have any windows or visible openings aside from a disproportionately small door at its base. A single lightbulb stuck out right above it. The entire thing was just a massive silver tube.It was yet another stupid fucking test meant to improve teamwork between them. Bakugou thought it was ridiculous - when the fuck would we ever be in a situation like this in the real world? But then again, he also wanted to prove the obvious - that he could overcome any obstacle better and faster than everyone else. So he went along with it without many complaints.“The entrance will disappear once you step inside. The only exit out of the tower is the top, where you will be greeted by a hot air balloon that will take you back down. The lamp above the entrance will glow green once you reach the top. Nothing within the building is permanent. Once you leave the tower, it resets itself,” Aizawa was explaining as he mixed the contents of a small bag. “You’ll be assigned pairs randomly. You and the person you’re paired with will step into the tower and work together to get out of it.“The aim of this exercise is to use a combination of your quirks - and your brains - in an unconventional situation. You’ll be graded on your resilience, ingenuity, and - more than anything - cooperativeness. There is also a time limit. No more than sixty minutes per team.” Sixty fucking minutes? That meant that the entire thing could last ten fucking hours. Were these people that incompetent that they needed that much time? What the hell.“Furthermore, if you can’t get out of the tower within that hour, you will fail the exercise and face penalisation. Partnered house arrest, specifically.”A feeling of dread coursed through Bakugou when he heard those words. He absolutely hated- no, despised the idea of house arrest. The mere memory of being confined to a house made him want to blow up the very house that he’d been confined to.A chorus of “what?!”s and “no!”s erupted among the students. Annoying as shit. Bakugou was about to tell them to shut their moaning traps when Aizawa continued.“Consider it as a bit of motivation for you to work together, rather than attempting to take the matter into your own hands to prove your superiority,” he was looking at Bakugou as he said this. “Not that that would be possible, anyway. We’ve made sure that the use of a single quirk isn’t enough to get you out of the tower.”Rolling his eyes, he muttered under his breath, “yeah, whatever.” Though the thought of just blasting a hole through the wall had certainly crossed his mind, he wasn’t about to give his teacher the satisfaction of being right. Screw house arrest. Like hell was he going to go through that again. If he had to cooperate for once in his life to avoid it, he would comply. Begrudgingly, of course, but he would do so nevertheless.“Understood?”“Yes, sir,” they said in unison.“Good. If I call your name please step forward and draw a paper from this bag. It will decide who your partner will be. Yaoyorozu.”Bakugou had stopped paying attention. He let his mind wander, thinking about which other quirk was as grand as his own and good enough to get them out of the tower as soon as possible.There was Kirishima, who could withstand his explosions as he blasted the two of them out of the tower. But then again, who knew how damn tall the tower was and how far his explosions would take them. Maybe Sero - they could take turns blasting and jungle-swinging their way out of there with his tape. But would it even be able to carry the weight of them both? Kaminari would go stupid after a good blast of electricity, rendering him useless. Maybe four eyes with his motor legs? But he probably can’t run that far up a wall - he’d get stalled halfway through even if Bakugou used his explosions as a boost. Ugh. This is bullshit. What he needed was something that would get him high enough in the air, something that would put enough distance between the ground and him so that his explosions wouldn’t get interrupted by the floor. Then he’d be able to blast them out of the tower like a cannonball.“Okay. All ten students who were called - please go to your partners. And don’t try switching teams while I’m not looking. I will notice.”Bakugou looked around, partially uninterested, to see who would be his teammate. When no one approached him after a while, however, he frowned. There didn’t seem to be anyone left. Though clustered, you could easily point out the teams - Kirishima and Kouda, Kaminari and Yaoyorozu, Todoroki and Jirou, Shouji and Ashido… the list went on and on yet no one seemed to be left out. The hell? He spotted Aizawa behind the group, his back to him. Bakugou began pushing his way through the crowd to reach him, but stopped short when he felt a soft, light hand on his bare arm. He pulled away brusquely before turning around to meet the owner of said hand. Deku’s fan. Friend. Girlfriend? Whatever the fuck she was to him, Bakugou frowned at her facial expression. A poor attempt at a smile and slightly furrowed eyebrows told him more than words could.“What? Didn’t want to team up with me? Disappointed I’m not Deku?”Uraraka was visibly thrown off by his words. “What? I wasn’t- I just… I thought maybe you’d be the one who wouldn’t-.” Bakugou rolled his eyes at her. She had stopped talking, getting the idea before it was said. Those kind of things pissed him off - when people thought less of themselves without a valid reason to. He didn’t understand it.“Is everyone paired up? Okay. First team to go in is…” Aizawa looked at a clipboard that had not been there moments ago. “Yaoyorozu, Momo, and Kaminari, Denki. Please step into the building.” His voice was as unamused as it could get. “Oh, yes. Before I forget - don’t bother questioning your classmates on what the tower is like. It’s a different setting for everyone. Now, with that said,” he looked at Kaminari and Yaoyorozu, “you may begin.”As the first two students disappeared into the tower, the door closed behind them and then vanished.“Guess there really is only one way out,” someone said.The remaining eighteen students stared in silence at the tower, even though nothing could be heard or seen. After a few minutes had passed, Bakugou lost interest and stepped away from the group. The others seemed to lose interest as well, for they all began to disperse in groups of two.Bakugou sat on the floor, as there was nowhere else to sit. After a moment, he lay down, spreading his legs and resting his head on his hands. The grenades around his wrists were in the way. He readjusted himself until he was comfortable, opting for spreading his arms outwards. The sun’s bright light blinded him for a moment, but once he got used to it, he squinted his eyes. He thought that he could just barely make out the top of the tower.What if there are annoying ass traps set up in the tower? What kind of traps would they be? Or maybe we’ll have to fight pro heroes? That, I’d enjoy.“You look like an angry starfish,” a figure that appeared above him said, blocking the sun. He blinked. It was Uraraka. Without another word, she sat down beside him, crossing her legs. He didn’t look at her, instead focusing on the tower again.After a moment, she spoke slowly, “so… can we… start over?”He still wouldn’t look at her. “Start what over?” There wasn’t anything there to begin with.Uraraka fell silent. That’s what I thought. “Look. I’m sorry if I… somehow offended you or if…” she mumbled something that sounded like “I’m not your amigo”* which made him finally turn his eyes to her. She was slightly hunched over, her elbows resting on her knees as her hands dangled lazily in front of her.“Why the hell are you apologising? It’s not like I wanted to be paired up with anyone anyway.”Uraraka’s mouth went as flat as her tone. “Of course you wouldn’t.”Immediately, he moved to hold himself up on his forearm. Now at eye-level with Uraraka, he locked eyes with her with the intention of coming off as threatening. “The hell’s that supposed to mean?” he said viciously.Instead of flinching away either by the closeness or his tone, she rested her chin on one hand, unimpressed. “It means that you’re the most uncooperative person here,” she said as she cocked her head to the side. “That hostility of yours won’t get you out of that tower, you know?”Fuck is up with that sudden change in attitude? Bakugou grunted, lowering himself back onto the ground and looking at the sky. “Whatever. As if I even need anyone’s help.”From the corner of his eye he saw her expression soften. “That’s kind of lonely,” he thought she whispered. He rolled his eyes, wanting nothing but for her to stop looking at him.Any tension that had settled among the two of them seemed to vanish when a “bing” sounded from the tower. They both looked up simultaneously to see the lightbulb turn a bright green colour. The first group had made it to the top.“Holy smokes! They made it out of there in twelve minutes!” Bakugou heard Deku say. He was with Ojiro not that far away from where Bakugou and Uraraka where sitting. Deku’s keeping time? What a fucking nerd. “Alright, up next are…” Aizawa called. “Uraraka, Ochako, and Bakugou, Katsuki. Please step into the building.”“Ah- it’s our turn,” Uraraka said as she sprang upwards. “We didn’t get to strategise…”“So what?” Bakugou stood up. “It’s not like we know what the inside of the tower is like.”He started walking towards it, barely picking up a “still… we could have come up with something” from Uraraka. He felt the gaze of every other student on him as he approached the building. Once he reached the there-again entrance, he waited for Uraraka to catch up to him. When she stood next to him, the door slid open to reveal a very dark room. A strong, cold breeze blew outwards, ruffling his hair.“Oh-” Uraraka squeaked as they got pulled in by some unknown force. The door slid shut, turning the place pitch black.They stood there in silence, assimilating their vacuum-like surroundings. This was not what he had expected. He couldn’t see anything nor hear a single sound aside from their breathing.Bakugou blinked several times in an attempt to get his eyes adjusted to the darkness, but no matter how much he blinked, he still could not see a single fucking thing. For fuck’s sake- “Hey, Bakugou?” Uraraka said from beside him. Her voice was low but it echoed around the room, filling his ears with much needed sound.“What?”“Sorry about the way I acted out there.”He turned towards where he thought her voice had come from and made a face even though she couldn’t have seen it. “Why are you apologising?” Why the hell did people always fucking apologise for every fucking thing? “Well… I don’t know. Being mean to you felt weird. It was really out of character… I suppose it’s not exactly my thing. I mean it’s kinda your thing and I guess it’s okay because sometimes you just have to accept people as they are but I just wanted to see how it would-”“Can you stop?” he said, irritated.“Sorry.” He heard the cringe in her voice at her own apology, but finally, finally, got the gist of it and didn’t apologise for freaking apologising.He looked up, expecting to see at least a dot of light, but blackness was all there was. Also… was it him or was the temperature gradually getting lower?“If you’re going to do or say something, mean it. Don’t… fuckin’… don’t do shit that you’ll regret afterwards.” He probably would not have said this had there been light in the room. Had she been able to see his face. Had there been other people around. Hell. He didn’t know why he’d said it to begin with. “Pisses me off,” he added through clenched teeth.Uraraka’s silence unsettled him more than he would have cared to admit. He could feel her staring at him through the darkness. “What?”“Nothing.”“What?” he demanded.“Well… I… uh- thanks. For that,” she said awkwardly, though he heard a smile in her voice. He didn’t respond.After a pregnant pause, she spoke quietly. “Um… could you… make a small explosion? Just so I can see where you are. Please.”Instead of responding, he extended his hands out in front of him with the intention of doing what she had asked for, when he felt his middle and index fingers press into something soft, yet…. Uraraka squeaked. Muscular? Something muscular underneath something soft? Her squeak was followed by the scuffling and clacking of the heels of her hero costume’s boots.
Is there muscle in the ti-?
“You poked me in the stomach.” It was more of a statement than an accusation.“You were in my way.” Bakugou never thought he would appreciate the absolute darkness as much as he did at that moment.He shook his head to clear it. Now that he knew that Uraraka wasn’t right in front of him anymore, he extended his hands out again, activating his quirk with a degree of restraint. And then… nothing. The fuck? He activated his quirk again, this time without holding back, and… Nothing. “What the hell.”He heard Uraraka’s shiver as she asked, “what is it?”“It’s fuckin' cold in here.”“You’re cold? Doesn’t your quirk heat you up or something?”“It’s not that - I’m not sweating with the temperature being so low. And I can’t make explosions without sweat.”“In other words, you can’t blast us out of here… So much for my master plan.”Bakugou wasn’t immune to the cold, but she seemed to be severely more affected by it than him. He could hear her rubbing her hands against the fabric of her costume to warm herself up. Still shivering, she moved around the room. “There’s gotta be something we can do…,” she mumbled to herself. The echo made it difficult for him pinpoint the direction her voice was coming from, but he assumed she was now farther away.“Hmmm…” she hummed. “I could attempt to float us out of here,” he heard her take another step… forwards? Sideways? She’d moved somewhere. “But from here I can’t even see the top. I’d probably drop us to our deaths halfway through.” A pause, and then, “who would have thought the great Bakugou would be rendered useless in a situation such as this one?” Now her voice was dripping with sarcasm.“Don’t get fucking cocky. You’re just as useless as I am.” He said this with his usual dry tone, but the corner of his mouth twitched upwards.He heard her say “kidding,” under her breath.As silence fell between the two of them again, he let his thoughts drift.Uraraka, huh? He hadn’t spoken to her much - this was probably the most they’d talked. Hadn’t exactly had much to say, even after their battle at the sports festival. Honestly, he’d been wary of her ever since, though he would never say that out loud. He didn’t know how to act around her. She was… fuckin’… unexpected. Or some shit.Bakugou grimaced. I mean, look at her, for fuck’s sake! Looks could be freaking deceiving as shit. Even in absolute fucking darkness. Despite her cute appearance, he knew that she wasn’t as frail as she seemed.And weren’t girls supposed to be all delicate and flowers and candy and that kind of shit? Girls could be fucking scary, man. How the fuck had Uraraka withstood so many blasts to the face that day? How the fuck had she been so close to crushing him with the debris? How the fuck-Now that he thought about it, it had been a good fight. He’d enjoyed it. She’d kept him on his toes ’til the very last second. Ah- fuck it. Truth was that he kind of respected her as a fighter, but he didn’t exactly know what to think about that, either. That was also part of what unnerved him so damn much.The girl in question sighed, defeated. Bakugou was grinning now. He had an idea. Uraraka must have sensed it, too, because he heard her approach him.“Fight me.”“Kiss me.”“What?!” they said in unison again. The echo made it seem as if they kept saying “what” over and over again.Bakugou jumped back a good two metres, the back of his head bumping against the wall. The thud resonated dully throughout the tower. He thought his mind was spinning. “Stay away from me you lewd woman.”“Lewd? What? No. Ah-” she was rambling again. She was either uncomfortable or embarrassed. Or both. Exasperated, she rushed to explain herself. “Look. When Tsu kissed Izuku she said he started swea-”“DEKU MADE OUT WITH FROG GIRL?” His mind was definitely spinning now. I can’t believe that bastard- he cringed, his exclamation resonating over and over.“Jeez, don’t yell. And her name is Tsuyu, not frog girl.” He heard her sigh before she continued, “also… yeah. But… I don’t think it counts? I mean we were playing a g-”“When?”“What?”“When did it happen?”“Does it matter?”He raised his voice again, “YES.” He closed his eyes, inhaling slowly. Then, calmer, “just- when did it happen?”Uraraka was quiet for a moment. “Like… two weeks ago,” she murmured.Bakugou stood there silently, blinking in the darkness. He balled his hands into fists, digging his fingers into his hands until he felt a twinge of pain. How had he not even fucking heard about that? He didn’t know what to think. He also wanted to punch himself in the face. He’d just made it very evident that he cared about something as ridiculous as dumbass Deku’s first fucking kiss. What the fuck. WHAT THE FUCK! Uraraka’s silence wasn’t fucking helping, either. Say something, for fuck’s sake! “Bakugou?”
…Did I fucking say that out loud? Did she just fucking read my mind? Am I seriously that obvious? What the FUCK is going on!!!!!
His voice was a lot quieter than his thoughts. “What?”“Um… don’t- ah… Not- not everything has to be a competition. Between you and Izuku… Or anyone, really.”“Whatever. I don’t give a shit about Deku. Much less who he exchanges spit with,” the stubbornness was clear in his tone. “And we’re wasting our damn time.”Instead of pressing the matter any further, Uraraka complied. “Then we should analyse any other options that we have.”“Our option is to have a fight.” Bakugou was already riled up.“No - you’re not seeing the bigger picture. If we have a battle in here we’ll probably get zero points on cooperativeness. And you just said that you can’t even use your quirk to begin with, remember? How am I supposed to trick you into setting your own trap if you can’t blow the place up?” He could practically hear her grinning when she said that last part.He grunted, both in acknowledgement and to show his lack of amusement at her comment.“…Maybe the higher up the tower, the higher the temperature will be.”“So what?” He said this even though he already knew where she was going.“So… if I can get you high enough to a point where the place isn’t as cold as it is down here, then you could probably get all sweaty and blast us out. But you’ll have to go up there alone first to verify this. If I float myself up with you and it turns out that it doesn’t work, I’ll make myself sick and then we’ll both be stalled down here…” she sighed. “What do you think?”“I’d already thought about something like that even before we got teamed up,” he said arrogantly.Bewildered, Uraraka began, “well- why didn’t you say so befo-?” She exhaled. “You know what. Never mind. Where are you?” She started walking around, the clacking of her boots resonating around the room. The sound stopped suddenly, replaced by a loud thud and then immediately after that a high pitched “ow!”.Bakugou snorted.She started walking again. “Don’t laugh! I could have broken my nose,” she sounded like she was about to cry and laugh at the same time.Bakugou laughed louder. The sound boomed and echoed, making it seem as if several Bakugous were all laughing at once.“It’s not that funny,” Uraraka hissed next to him, making him jump.“Are you stupid? Don’t freaking sneak up on me - I could have blown your face off,” his heart was pounding, making his tone less aggressive than he’d intended.“You could have, but you’re quirkless right now.”“Whatever,” he huffed. “Just get me up there already.”Her fingers brushed his chest ever so lightly, but retracted almost immediately. “Wait.”“Now what?” he was starting to grow impatient. How long have we even been in here? “I mean- What if it doesn’t work? What if you’re already like fifty metres up and the temperature hasn’t changed? Then what? I just drop you? I don’t think even you would survive a fall like that,” her voice was hushed, troubled.“Yeah, I would-” he started.“No. You wouldn’t.” She sighed. She sighs a lot. “But… I’ll catch you.”At that Bakugou cackled dryly. “How? Are you even strong-” he stopped himself. She could probably catch a falling cow. “You wouldn’t be able to see me,” he corrected.“Think of it as a... super hero trust fall. I’ll just have to make sure that you stay on the same track the entire time,” she paused. “But you’re not going past forty metres. If it doesn’t get any better by then, we’ll just have to think of something else.”Bakugou remained silent for a moment. …Was he seriously about to trust this chick with his life?“Fine.” Yes. Yes he was.Uraraka wasted no more time. He felt her press her fingers into his chest and he began to float as soon as she retracted them. The aftertouch of her fingers lingered on his chest a second longer. His feet left the floor and a feeling of weightlessness overtook his entire body. He felt himself start to incline backwards until he was almost completely horizontal.“Try not to move around so you don’t disturb the course I’m keeping you on,” Uraraka said from below.The cold air grazed his skin. He could practically feel the particles around him dispersing themselves as he rose higher and higher, though it seemed to happen in slow motion. The higher he went, the more he slowed down.“Are you always this slow?”She scoffed, “no. I lifted all that cement without you even noticing, remember?”Yeah, I freaking remember. “Then why the hell-”“Because. What if there’s a roof or something that’s blocking our way out of here? You want to break your head?” Her voice sounded more distant now.“You’re way too precautious.”“So? Better be safe than sorry.”“So it’s annoying.”She ignored his comment. “Is the temperature better yet?”“No,” he called back. “Keep going.”Uraraka said something that he didn’t understand.“What did you say?” He nearly yelled.“I said, you should already be about thirty metres high. Are you sure it isn’t getting any warmer?”“Fuck,” he said under his breath. It’s only getting colder. “Get me down.”He was suspended in the air and then he wasn’t. The sensation of falling was indescribable. His breath hitched. He felt his stomach sink into him. His feet were desperate to hit something solid but were met with nothing.And then- “OOF!” She broke his fall.Her knees gave in when he crashed into her open arms. The sound her body made when she hit the floor was amplified by the echoing tower. “Ouch…” he heard her say beneath him.Bakugou groaned as he rolled off of her and onto the ground. “You- could have- warned me,” he said between gasps. He was panting, the adrenaline rushing through his veins at full speed.“If I had wasted any more time, it would have been an even longer fall,” Uraraka said almost matter-of-factly, which seemed completely out of place considering that she’d just caught a falling body going at like one hundred and twenty kilometres per freaking hour.Bakugou got on his knees, placing his hands on the floor as he waited for his heartbeat to slow down. Goosebumps had risen all over his skin. He felt… giddy. What had they been thinking? He snickered, first. Then it grew into a chuckle. Then, before he knew it, he was belting out a laugh that thundered around the entire tower.“What are you laughing at?” Uraraka grumbled next to him. She still seemed to be spread out on the floor.He didn’t- couldn’t answer her. He was still laughing, throwing his head back, unable to stop. The adrenaline coursed though his body, making him feel as if he were still falling.Uraraka chuckled, which then became a giggle, and then she was laughing along with him. She moved to sit up, tips of her hair brushing his upper arm faintly in the process.As their laughter finally died down, Uraraka spoke, her voice a strange mixture of desperation and amusement, “how are we ever going to get out of here?”Bakugou rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. “Fuck if I know.” He stood up swiftly. Suddenly he felt as if his energy had been completely renewed. The adrenaline was still coursing through him, enhancing his senses. His pupils had dilated even further, allowing him to catch the faintest silhouette of Uraraka’s body. At the very least he could make out his surroundings now. He reached down to grab her hand, pulling her up easily.“Ah- thanks,” she said, not questioning how he had known where her hand would be.Bakugou saw that he towered over her - easily a good twenty centimetres. She’s that short and yet she caught me. What the hell. Bakugou frowned. See what I mean? Looks are deceiving assholes meant to completely dupe you like you’re stupid. …Whatever. Fucking concentrate on what matters right now. He replayed her question in his head. How are we ever going to get out of here? How the hell are we ever going to get out of here?He thought about her suggestion from earlier and suddenly it sounded tempting.
Wait- what the fuck. No.
…More like it’s the only shitty option we have left.
Truth was that merely thinking about kissing her made his hands a bit clammy and his heart beat faster.
Oh, for fuck’s sake. Don’t be disgusting.
…He had told himself he would comply, hadn’t he?“AAAAARGH!” Bakugou roared, grabbing tufts of his hair with both hands and pulling at it.“What happened?!” Uraraka said, alarmed by his sudden outburst.He ground his teeth together, not liking at all the fact that his thoughts weren’t making any fucking sense. His brain was a mess. He wanted to smash his head against a wall. Maybe that would make him think clearly.He did a one-eighty and took a step towards the wall just in front of him. Placing both hands on the cold surface and resting his forehead against it, he told himself breath- no. Think. You’re waisting your damn time. Think, dammit! How the hell are you going to get out of here without your damn quirk working?!He was about to punch the wall when Uraraka asked tentatively, “Bakugou? …Are you alright?”“’M fine,” he muttered.He put his forehead back on the smooth wall, balling his hands into fists and pressing them against it as well.
Fuck it.
Uraraka took a cautious step, “where did you go…?”
Fuck. It.
Bakugou whirled around and came face to face with her. She was unaware that they were standing directly in front of each other.He inhaled slowly, exhaled quickly, and then grabbed her shoulders roughly.“Wha-” she began. But before she could speak, before his courage would abandon him, he cut her off by pulling her towards him and crashing his lips down onto hers.He felt how Uraraka froze in place, processing what the fuck he had just done. Their noses were smashed up against each other. His eyes were tightly shut. His heart would probably pound itself out of his chest at any moment. He dug his fingers into her shoulders, desperate for a reaction.
Do something, dammit! Push me away! Smack me! Something!! Anything-
Then, almost as if by some miracle, she reciprocated.
What the fu-
She went from solid to liquid in a matter of seconds. She cocked her head slightly, immediately making the entire thing feel much less awkward. He softened his grip on her as she rested her hands on his chest. She could probably feel the alarming rate at which his heart was beating. Her lips were even softer than he would have imagined. He… He wanted to bite her lower lip. He did.Abruptly, she pushed him back. Just enough to separate their faces from each other. “Hey-! You bit me!” she exclaimed as she brought her hand to her mouth.The other one hadn’t left his chest.Their breathing was uneven, erratic. His heart was still pulsating like mad.He was speechless. Frozen. He didn’t know what to think or do. What now? What the fuck do I do now? The silence that proceeded felt out of place. Like it needed to be filled yet he did not know how to fill it.He stared down at her silhouette, still between his hands.It took all his strength to release her. She dropped her hand from his chest, though the place where it had been felt like it was still burning through his shirt and into his skin from her light touch. The sudden lack of contact overwhelmed him. That kiss- whatever the fuck that was, it wasn’t enough. He needed more.Finally, the quietest voice seemed to fill the entire place. “Can you… can you use your quirk now?” she asked.It took him a moment to find his voice, and when he spoke, it was low and rough. “Maybe, but… just… to be sure…”That was all it took.Uraraka reached up just as he reached down. Her soft hands caressed his flaming cheeks as he crushed her into him with his arms. Her lips moved along with his, in tune, in complete sync. Her arms embraced his neck, almost as if clinging to him. He turned them around so that she was in between the wall and him. She threaded her fingers into his hair as he caged her in. He didn’t know what he was doing yet his instinct told him to slip his tongue into her mouth the moment he felt an opening, twining it with hers. Fireworks were going off, exploding, burning everything up in his head, in his heart, in his stomach. He let himself get lost in the kiss.She gasped for air. It was over before he knew it. Before he would have liked.Bakugou opened his eyes slowly. The elation felt like electricity in him. His breathing was ragged, his heart chaotic.He let go of Uraraka to support himself against the wall. Bakugou rested his arms on the flat surface above her head, involuntarily imprisoning her with his body. He needed to catch his breath. His knees felt weak, his palms undoubtedly sweaty. Uraraka had been right. It worked. She knew it would work. And yet… she’d waited for him to assimilate it.In the absolute silence that surrounded them, he could now hear a light yet quick thumping sound emanating from her chest.It seemed like an eternity went by before Uraraka spoke again. “Um- We should probably get out of here.” Her voice was soft.He gulped audibly. “Yeah.”Taking a couple of steps back, Bakugou extended his hands outward and activated his quirk with great moderation. White hot light erupted from his hands, shooting upwards and illuminating the room for no more than two seconds.It was enough, however, for him to catch a glimpse of her. Uraraka was still up against the wall. Her eyes were wider than ever, her hair slightly disheveled. Her naturally rosy cheeks stained a deeper shade of pink. He wondered what he looked like at that moment.Schooling his features into a neutral, bored expression in the hopes of not looking how he felt, he said, “what are you waiting for?” He accentuated the impatience in his voice to mask his jitters. Fuck, I hate that word. He activated his quirk over and over again in small doses, like strobe lights, for her to see where he stood, taking the opportunity to look upwards. The tower seemed to go on forever, but at least now they had a light source.Once Uraraka was in front of him, he ceased the explosions on one hand. A small red dot had formed in the centre of her lower lip. He looked away, though his flushing cheeks were inevitable.Without another word, Uraraka’s fingers ghosted over his chest. He was up in the air in a matter of seconds. He began shooting small explosions up along the tower that illuminated it’s long cylindrical form, almost like flare lights. The light from these seemed to last longer.Bakugou looked down to see Uraraka leave the ground as well.“We need to be quick; I’ll make myself sick if I use my quirk on myself for too long,” she said as she approached him. “And I can’t catch you this time,” she said half-jokingly.Bakugou nodded, reaching down to grab Uraraka by the arm and pulling her up with ease until she was at eye-level with him. She was lighter than a feather thanks to her quirk. They must have already been past the forty metres - they were certainly going faster than when she had sent him up alone. He sent a final flare of light.“You-,” he cleared his throat. “Grab onto me.”Uraraka blinked. The fading light from his last blast lit her features dimly. Strands of her hair floated around her face as if she was underwater. As she extended her arms towards him, he thought he saw her cheeks redden, but the light faded completely before he could confirm this.He felt her arms wrap lightly around his neck, though the rest of her didn’t touch him. And yet, the mere reminder of where her arms had been when they’d kissed set his heart racing again.Bakugou rolled his eyes at himself. Oh fuck this; this is nothing in comparison to earlier. He reached around her waist with one arm and pulled her towards him, their bodies now flush against each other.“Ready?”She tightened her arms around him in a reassuring manner and nodded. Her hair tickled his face.“I’m not holding back,” he warned her.Uraraka buried her face in the crook of his neck, holding onto him like there was no tomorrow. “Go,” she whispered just as she deactivated her quirk.The gravitational pull lasted less than a split second. He ignited his free hand immediately. The blast was so instantaneous and strong that it felt as if they collided with the air and then broke through it, soaring upwards at an incredible speed, and then finally, fucking finally, out of that endless tower.