Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia or any other copy-righted material.

Caged

A/N: Please forgive me, this is going to be a sad, angsty, so in high-school chapter today, I felt like this needed to happen though. Afterall they are dramatic teenagers and they can't just TELL each other how they feel.

I promise there are better, spicier things waiting in their future.

Chapter 13: Confrontation

After counting the shadows on her ceiling more times than she could remember, gazing at the stars, and even downing an entire cup of sleepy-time tea like it was a shot of vodka, Uraraka found that nothing could make her idiotic brain stop short-circuiting.

She couldn't get her mind off of Bakugou no matter what she tried. SHE HAD NOW SHARED TWO KISSES with the explodey, ill-tempered, blonde, muscular, hot-head of class 1-A.

The weirdest part…she didn't hate it either.

Truthfully, she had rather enjoyed the experience and wanted to continue despite the fact that they hadn't had any singular discussion about any of it. Which was probably really irresponsible, but damn, she didn't know Bakugou had been holding out on her. He was pretty charming when decided to be. If he would just relax that damn scowl he always made he would be a lady-killer. His face was actually pretty handsome when he wasn't murderous.

"AH Ochako get ahold of yourself!" she yelled angrily aloud, bashing her head rather hard against the wall she shared with another classmate.

"Ow…" she rubbed the spot that was smarting, and flopped back onto her bed, a flushed heat spreading over her cheeks as she laid defeated.

She was so completely taken back by this new development. Sure, she'd always considered Bakugou a friend, even if he didn't agree with her on that, but she never thought…he would think of her like this.

She didn't think she was his type.

And strangely enough she thought he seemed like he was excited that she'd confessed her feelings on the fly to him. He looked almost happy that she'd told him he was dead wrong about her and Deku. Why did that make her heart race?

Did she want to be with Bakugou? Did she want that kind of relationship?

Oh… and Deku…

How would she ever explain this to Izuku. Katsuki wasn't the type to keep secrets, and she knew he detested lying about anything, to such an extent that the girls in her class went to him if they ever needed a truly honest opinion about an outfit.

Seriously, she picked Deku's childhood friend and also bully to be her…well she didn't even know what you would call a boy you'd kissed twice and confessed feelings too, but it was more than a 'friend'.

She wished that she could telepathically tell Bakugou to come and talk to her NOW, she didn't know if she could wait until tomorrow. But then again, she didn't know if her heart could take any more surprise lip-locking, she already felt like she was on the verge of a boy-induced heart attack. Her legs went to jello whenever he touched her for more than 2 seconds.

As Ochako continued to replay a layout of possible scenarios in her brain for every outcome that could happen when she told people, or when Bakugou told people, or how she would relay this information to Iida and Deku but still retain a strong friendship with them, she was oblivious to the slow rise of the sun outside. It wasn't until the streams of light began creeping across her carpeted floor that she thought about the fact that she hadn't gotten a lick of slumber.

She jumped when her alarm blared violently, signaling that it was time for her to wake up and get ready for the day.

Groaning Uraraka got out of the sanctity of her covers and began to get dressed, she ran a comb through her tangled brown locks and tried to look presentable even though her nerves were totally fried. She glared at the minimal set of makeup laying on her desk.

She didn't wear much makeup day to day anyway, but for some reason she wanted to appear attractive. It couldn't hurt to apply some lip-gloss and a few swipes of mascara, right?

Would Bakugou notice? Why did she care if he noticed?

Uraraka glanced at her phone, she still had quite some time before class, they had an afternoon lesson instead of an early one today, maybe she should take a long and hard walk to shake off some of her anxiety before she had to see anybody else. That would help, she thought to herself as she turned to door knob to exit her room and came face to face with a plain, curly-haired, and freckled boy that was all too familiar.

"D-Deku-kun…" she blurted out, starstruck by his sudden appearance.

She saw his complexion color itself darker and deeper shades of red as the seconds ticked by.

"U-Uraraka-san! Got a minute?"

Katsuki Bakugou awoke early, just as the sun was awakening itself. It was too damn early in his opinion as he growled hoarsely and rubbed the sleep out of his red cat-like eyes.

He'd been having a good fucking dream too. Lots of explosions and victory and Deku's admission of defeat. It was nice, but now he was faced with the blank and boring ceiling of his dorm room.

"Tch." His typical scowl graced his irritated countenance as he rose out of bed and slipped on a pair of black sweatpants.

He headed towards the community showers to wash the sticky feeling off of his body and destroy the germs that had accumulated in his mouth overnight.

Kirishima always chastised him for going through tooth brushes so quickly. But if any fucker alive had experienced what he had gone through in middle school they wouldn't dare to even crack a smile.

When you'd tasted and breathed in the stench of sludge, especially living sludge, you never came back from it. Sometimes, he still remembered that foul, vile odor and it made him queasy. He'd spent days trying to rid that scent from his skin.

He welcomed the mint-flavored paste on his pallet as he scrubbed away at his pearly whites.

When he'd finished, and splashed his face in the sink, he realized he moronically forgotten a towel and turned to stalk back and retrieve one from his room.

However, along the way he heard commotion coming from Uraraka's door only a few feet away, and paused before turning the corner. He had intended to speak with her after class that day, to figure out what the hell this thing they were doing was. He wanted to know why the hell she had feelings for him of all people when and figure out why that fact made him feel like his body was on fucking fire. But when he heard Deku's voice drift into his ear, he felt a pang of bitter disappointment.

"Uraraka-san I need to ask you something…and it's um…it's embarrassing." Katsuki resisted the urge to groan at the nerd's girly voice, and settled to roll his eyes instead. God, he was so irritating.

"Of course, Deku what is it?" Katsuki's ears perked when he heard her high-pitched voice, she must've just woken up because her tone was still groggy.

"Uraraka-san is true that you have feelings, for me?" Katsuki froze at the question. That little bastard! It felt like every second before Uraraka finally answered was like an eternity. The silence seemed to last forever.

"…yes." She squeaked timidly.

Katsuki felt confusion and a wave of heaviness overcome him. What the hell was she saying? Had she lied to him last night? Was all of it an act, all this time? Every single bit?

"I see." Deku responded vaguely.

"But! Deku it's not what you think anymore! I don't feel like that about you now…" Katsuki willed himself to continue listening, the weight that had appeared lightening.

"When we took the provisional license exams…no maybe even before that, I felt something for you. I thought it might even be love. But I realized no matter how much I admired you, and no matter how cool you seemed, those feelings were keeping me from fulfilling my dream."

There was another long pause and then he heard a quiet waver in Uraraka's voice.

"Those feelings for you were holding me back from becoming a great hero and my jealousy about others that you came into contact with was blinding me. I decided that I couldn't continue to have that distracting me. I knew you didn't let anything you feel, regardless of if you ever felt that way about me, block you from the path you set out on Deku. That's what makes you so amazing. And I want to be that amazing too." Uraraka was crying, Katsuki was too familiar with the sound for his own comfort. He wanted to pull her against him and silence her sobs with his lips.

"Uraraka-san…I didn't realize how much you were carrying this with you all this time. I'm sorry I didn't notice sooner. I think you know, I can't focus on anything except becoming the number one hero and meeting the expectations that others have placed on me…" Bakugou heard a slight shuffling of feet.

"If I could afford to wait and take time for other things, I swear I would see where this went…but I can't do this with you. And I can't ask you to hold out for me." Bakugou prickled once again.

"I-I guess, even though I have feelings for somebody else, it still stings to get rejected by you…damn." Uraraka laughed brokenly through her tears. Katsuki thought it was endearing when she swore. She only ever did it when she was upset.

"Uraraka-san, we can still be friends, right?" Bakugou heard an audible thud, like a fist hitting against a chest.

"Of course, you idiot!"

Bakugou thought over Uraraka's words carefully as he exited the scene, he didn't know Uraraka had felt something more than a stupid crush for the damn nerd. It bothered him to know.

He hadn't even stopped to consider why she had never done anything about her feelings for him. If her love life had hindered her once from being a hero, wouldn't it just be the same again if he and her decided they wanted this thing between them to become more than what it already was?

A sharp realization stung him.

He couldn't do this to Uraraka. He couldn't selfishly give in to what his own feelings were craving. When it came to the gravity-wielding girl he hated to think he had a soft spot. He didn't want to admit he had a weakness of any sort. But, he wanted her to succeed. He knew what her sheer strength was like first-hand.

He couldn't stand in the way of that…right?

She was one of the ones who he thought could actually make it as a pro. If he became a 'distraction' like Deku had, could he live with those repercussions?

Uraraka was abruptly startled later that evening by a rapid knock at the door. She was certain this time of who would be on the other side. When she opened the door and let him inside, she felt as relieved as she did nervous when he walked past her.

She'd been awaiting this conversation all day long, and was confused as to why he had skipped out on their training lesson that afternoon. The entire class, including Kirishima didn't know where he was. She wondered if it had been to avoid her. But pushed the thought away quickly.

Her heart was stuck still in her throat when their eyes met. Brown clashing against red.

Bakugou fought every single instinct in his body to grab Uraraka and ravish her body in all of the vile ways his imagination could conjure up. He wanted to kiss her, to feel her. He didn't want to have the conversation coming. That slightly afraid look inside her brown orbs coupled with her still looking right at him, made him fucking crazy. He wanted to take her now. Skip ahead and hit the jackpot.

But…that was not what he came to her to do.

"We need to talk." He said bluntly trying to deaden his expression so her acutely perceptive abilities wouldn't see through his bullshit lies that he was about to spout off.

He couldn't stand in the way of her future. He…cared too much about it.

"Okay." She stammered, her arms crossed under her ample chest nervously. Bakugou sighed and resolved himself to speak, knowing it might be the last conversation he had with Ochako.

"What the hell do you want from me Uraraka?" he hadn't intended for the tone in his question to come across so frigidly cold and indifferent, but he was certain the only way he could get this girl to continue chasing her goals was too make her hate him with every fiber in her being.

Uraraka was too forgiving and understanding for him to approach it any other way.

If she hated him then maybe he would be able to contain and sacrifice his own desires for her sake. Her hatred would help him suppress his longing for her company.

"What?" she asked, clearly confused.

"I'm sorry, let me get to the point here. I'm not the one shoving my tongue down everyone's throat round-face." He steeled his crimson orbs when hurt flashed across her expression, cutting into him like a sharpened knife.

"Y-You're the one who kissed me earlier Bakugou." Her voice was eerily calm but also grating on edge, he could tell that she was trying not to show him how upset she was. He could feel that this was not what she had expected from him.

"Look…" he started, tearing his eyes away from her incredulous expression and instead scrutinizing the floor.

"…neither of us need a distraction like this anyway okay? So just leave me the fuck alone and I'll do the same." He was a fucking coward for not looking at the pain in Uraraka's delicate features, and the tears that were welling in her eyes. He should have forced himself to see what kind of shock he had created in her.

"W…What did you say?" her voice was disbelieving and quiet. His hands clenched into fists so tight that his knuckles paled.

I don't mean it. He thought to himself, his jaw stiffening.

I'm doing this for you.

"Katsuki!" he felt Uraraka's small slender fingers grip his t-shirt tightly. Her arms were vibrating in a jumbled mix of anger and confusion. He finally looked back to her to see the tears staining a pathway down her pinkish cheeks and dripping carelessly unto her tank top.

The tears only intensified the look of betrayal that lingered in her normally bright chocolate depths. He wanted to punch himself square in the face.

"You're so full of it. Don't tell me that you honestly feel this way when…when you…" He placed a hand solidly around her shaking wrist, and looked at her straight on.

"It's not a lie, I'm fucking serious. I don't have time for this kind of shit anyways." That statement was the final straw it took to make her completely fall apart. He was certain that she hated him now for making her feel like she didn't matter. Like everything, all the tension between them, the kisses, and even the brief brushes of their skin, was all nothing to him.

He deserved her malice and her anger. He deserved to suffer terribly for making Uraraka feel this way.

"Liar…" she whimpered pitifully, every strain in her words torturing his mind.

His resolve was crumbling away as he felt every tremor that ran throughout her petite body. He knew she was trying to appear strong and undeterred, and that broke him.

He pulled her hands away from his torso and let them drop to dangle by her sides loosely as he exited the room without another word, leaving her in the stormy atmosphere he'd created all alone.

He was such an asshole.

When he finally shut the door completely, he let out a quivering breath he didn't realize he'd been holding in. Anger seared hotly through his veins as he replayed what he had done in his mind. Flashes of Uraraka's face playing across his lids.

His frustration melted away and turned into an all-consuming guilt as he heard Uraraka's sobs choke out from behind the door, tearing down the mask he'd put on to face her. Every cry she let out only made him sink further into a hole he'd dug for himself.

She would never forgive him for this.

A/N: Just posting this note here at the end temporarily, but I wanted to let anyone know that this story will be on a brief break. After reviewing the first several chapters to this fic I'm really frustrated with how they were written. So I'm going to go back and edit all of them, and probably tweak some minor details in the process.

I'll put a reminder of this in the next update with Chapter 14, but for anyone already progressed this far, my edits shouldn't call for going back and re-reading this fic in it's entirety, unless you want to :)

Thank you for being patient and understanding!