Just so you know...all of your theories on how Bakugo and you find out you're soulmates are wrong asghshhdjs

Anywho as you may have guessed, this is where very important things happen, so! This chapter shall be extra long and contain more pictures than usual :D

Thank you for your patience! Please enjoy ^^

·°·°·°·°·

Your next day at school was an actual school day with classes and such, much to your relief. You found school much easier when the threat of expulsion wasn't looming over your head. The first half of the day was normal classes like Math and English until you finally got to lunch. After going through the line and filling your tray with delicious food, you walked out into the crowded cafeteria. The place was huge and filled with people you didn't know. And the ones you did know...you didn't exactly know them well enough to just go sit at their lunch tables. You were about to just sit at an empty table by yourself when you finally spotted Koda waving you over. He was sitting next to a bigger guy with spiky brown hair. You recognized him as one of your classmates.

"Hey, Koda," you greeted as you sat down. "And you're Sato, right?" Sato smiled and nodded. Koda seemed to be ready to burst with joy. He was bouncing in his seat and grinning widely, which was quite uncharacteristic of him. "What's got you all smiley?" you chuckled.

"Look," he said. He raised his arm and rolled down the sleeve to show his soulmate mark you'd seen a million times before. Beside him, Sato did the same thing. On both of their arms were an identical image: a small cat face made of cookie.

Your mouth fell open in a surprised smile. "No way!" You stood and reached across the table to give Koda a giant hug. "I'm so happy for you, dude!" you exclaimed as you pulled away and sat down again. You turned to Sato and pointed at him. "You better treat him right," you teasingly warned.

·°·°·°·°·

The afternoon began with Foundational Heroics Studies. You had just sat down when in burst--

"IT'S MEEEEE!" All Might yelled as he entered the classroom. "Through the door, like a normal person!!!"

...why did he have to specify that exactly?

The class bustled with excitement. I mean, it's All Might! Everybody loves him, of course.

"Foundational Hero Studies!" he exclaimed. "For this class, we'll be building up your hero foundation through various trials! You'll get tons of credit for it! Let's jump right in with this!!" He held up a card with 'BATTLE' written across it. "The trial of battle!!"

Geez, it was like this man was only capable of speaking in exclamations. Wait, did he say battle?

"And to go with your first battle..." he continued as large shelves came out of the walls, each containing several compartments with numbers on them, "we've prepared the gear we had you send in requests for to match your quirks."

The class just about exploded with excitement. Hell, you were super excited as well! I mean, you were getting your very own hero costume!! How cool was that? Everyone rushed over to find their number and pull it out of it's slot.

"Get changed and we'll be ready to go! Everyone gather at Grounds β!" All Might instructed. "The garb you bring into the battlefield is vitally important! And don't forget! From here on out, you're all officially heroes!!"

And with that, you rushed off to the locker rooms to get changed. Once there, you quickly pulled out the costume to get a good look at it. You beamed happily. They'd met your specifications almost perfectly.

(Hi sorry quick interjection to talk about the suit! Yes, it does show a lot of skin, so if you are super uncomfortable with that feel free to imagine the costume however you prefer! I tried to make something that made shifting into animals and back quick and easy and resulting in as little damage to the suit as possible. Colors are completely up to you, but I like to imagine it as like a pastel green with yellow accents. The person drawn here isn't meant to be you btw, it's just there so I had something to draw the suit on lol. If you have any questions about it at all, feel free to ask!)

You got changed and took a moment to check it out in the mirror. Wearing it now, you realized just how much skin you were showing off. Granted, it showed off less than the average bathing suit, but this wasn't what you normally walked around in. It was comfy at least, even if it was skin tight. That little fact you did not enjoy, but loose fitting clothing wouldn't be able to work with your shape shifting. The sacrifices you made for practical hero wear...

You took a deep breath and left the locker room, headed for Grounds β, when you heard a whistle behind you. "Wow, that really leaves nothing to the imagination." You flushed red in embarrassment and rolled your eyes. Turning around, you found that short kid from your class who had what looked like grapes on his head. He looked like a small child, but gave off the worst of vibes.

"Buzz off, weirdo," you huffed.

"Aw, don't be so mean," he whined. He began reaching towards you, and you were about ready to punt him into oblivion when...

"They said get the fuck back, grapes for brains," a gruff voice warned suddenly, making you jump. Bakugo came walking up beside you, glaring down at the purple pervert as sparks crackled in one of his palms. Grape Boy started as if to fight back, but quickly lost his courage and scurried away. "Fuckin creep..." Bakugo muttered, then turned and began walking down the hallway. You quickly caught up with him.

"Hey, uh, thanks," you said. "I probably could've handled it myself, but I really appreciate what you did back there."

"Yeah, well, even I know enough human decency not to pull shit like that," he grumbled.

You left it at that. Inside, you felt all warm and fuzzy. Maybe Bakugo wasn't as bad as you first made him out to be? Maybe, just maybe, this soulmate thing could work out. If you were soulmates, that is. You were growing a bit less averse to the idea.

You eventually caught up with the rest of your classmates, and you all walked out onto the training grounds where All Might was waiting.

"All right!" he exclaimed. "Let's see what you're made of, you embryos!! It's time for the trial of battle!!! I'm liking everyone's styles! Very cool!!"

"Sensei!" Iida spoke up. "Regarding the performance ground we'll be using, is it the mock city from the entrance exam?"

"You'll see-- In fact, take two steps and you'll be there! This will be an indoor battle trial!" All Might explained. "Villain cleanup is usually out in the open, but statistically, the better part of it is an indoor job. Most acts of villainy are committed indoors. Imprisonment...house arrest...the black market... In this hero saturated society, why, any villain with intelligence is lurking in the shadows!! For this test, you'll separate into 'villain' and 'hero' groups for a two-on-two team battle!!"

All Might explained how the exercise would work, with the villains guarding a "nuclear weapon" and the heroes trying to find it to stop them. Instead of choosing your own teams, he drew names to decide who you would be grouped with. Everyone paired into twos. Except you.

All Might pulled out your name, realizing that he had nobody else to pair you up with. "Ah, right, we have an uneven number in this class," he said to himself. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he tried to find a solution.

"Um," you piped up, "maybe I can just go with Koda and Sato if that's alright?"

All Might turned to the both of them. "Is that all right with you two?" he asked. They, of course, were fine with it, so you were allowed to be on their team. "Alright, now that that's settled," he continued, "the first two pairs to do combat will be the following!" He reached his hands into two boxes marked 'Hero' and 'Villain' and pulled out two balls with letters on them. "Pair A will be heroes! Pair D will be villains!"

Those were Bakugo and Midoriya's teams, you realized. You didn't know what exactly happened between them, but they had a weird rivalry you couldn't really understand. Whatever the case, you knew this match would certainly be interesting.

·°·°·°·°·

Everyone was able to watch the match on the building's monitors, and, well, it was certainly interesting to say the least.

It started out fine until Bakugo ambushed Midoriya and Uraraka, which was a totally reasonable battle strategy (one guy found this very unmanly for some reason). It very quickly became personal, however, and soon it was just Midoriya and Bakugo against each other. Midoriya yelled something that really got Bakugo pissed for some reason. You really wished the surveillance system picked up sound.

Bakugo leapt and swung and exploded again and again, and Midoriya just kept dodging and running. For the millionth time, you wondered just what exactly was Bakugo's deal. He was so angry all the time, but somehow it was worse when it came to Midoriya. Eventually, Midoriya was cornered, and as Bakugo raised his arm, you heard All Might yell into the earpiece: "Bakugo, my boy, stop this! You'll kill him!"

Your blood ran cold as Bakugo let off a massive explosion, even taking out a good chunk of the building. What the hell was he thinking? More importantly, what the hell was going on?!

The fight raged on, and All Might refused to stop it. You didn't know how this fight would end. You feared the worst.

Bakugo and Midoriya faced each other head on once again, and that was when Midoriya finally used his quirk. He directed it upward, causing the floor above to crumble and give Uraraka enough debris to float and finally secure the core. The hero team had won.

Everything on Bakugo's face changed. The anger was replaced with complete shock, fear, and...sadness. You almost felt bad, but he'd also come close to killing his fellow classmate. Clearly these two had a very complicated dynamic, and you were determined to figure it out. Bakugo couldn't have been like that for no reason, right? Your possible soulmate couldn't be quite that bad...could he?

You weren't really able to focus on watching the rest of the matches, even after finishing your own. You kept glancing over at Bakugo, trying to figure him out. He seemed pretty distracted himself. He didn't even say anything the one time he noticed you looking at him. Instead, he just turned away, becoming lost in his own thoughts.

·°·°·°·°·

Back in the classroom, you took your time packing up. Your brain was fried, if you were being honest, and your thoughts had become a jumble of worry and curiosity. You glanced out the window, surprised to see none other than Bakugo and Midoriya talking in front of the school. It must have made an impact, as Bakugo soon walked off wiping tears from his face.

Bakugo? Crying?

You felt the sudden urge to go after him. You couldn't explain it, but you just felt like it was something you absolutely had to do. But what would you do when you caught up to him? It's not like he'd want to talk to you...

...but maybe he'd talk to a dog.

It was a stupid idea, sure, but you didn't think he would be too cruel to a dog. You'd already texted your mom, saying you wanted to walk home today. So what if you took a little detour?

You hurried out of UA, trying to find Bakugo. Just when you thought you were too late, you found him sitting on a bench in a nearby park. He seemed deep in thought. You ducked down into some nearby bushes, thinking again about how absolutely ridiculous this plan was. You took off your jacket, socks, and shoes, not wanting them to get destroyed, and stuffed them into your backpack. Then, you took a deep breath, and concentrated on becoming a dog.

Well...it was now or never. You hoped beyond hope that maybe you'd get some answers. You trotted out from your hiding place and up to Bakugo, sitting down patiently about a foot away. He looked up and scoffed. "Go back home, dog," he grumbled. He then really looked at you, realizing this dog was wearing clothes. He rose an eyebrow. "The fuck kinda person puts their dog in human clothes?" You whined and tilted your head, trying all the classic cute dog moves to get him to talk to you.

Bakugo sat up and looked around the park. "Huh," he muttered, looking back at you, "did you run away or something? Hell, I would too if my owners dressed me up in ridiculous shit like that." Ouch, but hey, this was already going better than you'd anticipated. You flattened your ears and whined again, giving him the infamous puppy dog eyes. He sighed and leaned back on the bench. "Guess we've both had a pretty shitty day." You perked up at that. You were getting somewhere!

Bakugo noticed your excitement and scoffed. "What, you interested in that?" he asked, amused. "Not like you'd understand a word I say." He leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees. "Your family's probably worried about you. I should get you home. Do you have a collar under all that crap?" He leaned forward more to get a good look.

And placed his hands on your cheeks to lift up your head.

You froze, panicked, causing you to shift back to yourself out of pure shock. This, of course, surprised Bakugo, who quickly pulled his hands away. His now normal colored hands.

"What the FUCK?!" he shouted. All you could do was stare back at him in shock. It felt as though your heart would beat out of your chest. The marks on his hands were gone. Which meant the ones on your cheeks were gone. And that meant...

You raised a shaky hand to point up at the fuming boy. "Oh my god, you're--"

"Don't you dare say it," he interrupted.

"Bakugo, I-- We're actually--"

"If you finish that sentence, I am going to fucking explode," he warned. He looked just as shocked as you were, only angrier. "What the hell were you doing? Trying to make me seem like a goddamn idiot?!"

"No, I...you looked upset and I just wanted to help," you tried to explain. He was your soulmate. Holy absolute shit, he was your soulmate!

"Help?! How the hell was that supposed to be helping me?"

"Dogs make people happy and, well, I don't know, I didn't think this through very well!"

Bakugo ran his shaky hands through his hair. "Fuck, I didn't need this shit today," he muttered angrily. "Today, of all fucking days. God DAMMIT." With that, he turned and quickly walked away, leaving you still sitting on the ground. When you finally processed things and turned to call for him, he was already gone.

You stood up on unsteady legs and walked back to your things. Once you'd fixed your clothes, you pulled out your phone to make a call.

"Hey, Koda? Could I come over for a bit? I really need to talk to someone."

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2447 words

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It was so fucking funny to see everyone being like "oh no he's gonna slap/explode our faces" and know that wasn't even close. I love subverting expectations lol

Also holy shit this is the longest chapter I've ever written.