Chapter Text
Just to see you smile
I'd do anything that you wanted me to
When all is said and done
I'd never count the cost
It's worth all that's lost
Just to see you smile
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Things had seemed to get back to normal, or as close as they could be, after Bakugou was rescued from the League of Villains and All For One was captured. Seemed; being the key word.
Sure, the school had dorms now. And everyone was perfecting their special moves. Then the licensing exam on its way.
But as far as interactions between the classmates, now friends, went. . . It was normal. For most.
For Y/N, her quirk gave her an all access pass to see the inner workings of her opponent. More importantly, it gave a deeper look at how her friends were doing after everything.
Dubbed ‘Scanner’, Y/N’s quirk gave an analytical look at others’ stats like a video game, but more like a visual representation of their auras in different areas and colors. It covered the other person’s health, power, quirk type, level, emotional or mental state among other aspects. Each had a respective color and the depth of that color was the gauge of percentage.
For example, if she activated her quirk here in the common area of the dorms she would see a bright, sunflower-yellow around Kaminari that seemed to kind of flare and wane at random intervals but Y/N would also see a calming rose-pink that appeared kind of fuzzy, like looking at the air distortion above a campfire, trailing from behind his ears and down his neck to his chest.
(Currently, Denki was holding a couple friends’ devices to charge while he listened to Jiro talk about something or other with puppy eyes.)
Despite the fact that Y/N tried not to pry into her classmate’s lives and privacy she was still a teenage student. AKA, she was still learning control on parts of her quirk, and a factor of said control was when other people’s ‘stats’ fluctuated too much. This would activate Y/N’s quirk.
Aizawa theorized it was a defense mechanism from the secondary aspect of her quirk; being that she could take stat levels from one person (herself included) and temporarily give or put them on another person. Like a booster or an ankle weight, depending on what it was. The sleepy teacher thought her quirk would activate with great fluctuation because the other part of her quirk was prepared to swap out a threat’s strength or to “Mother Hen” someone to fix a sad or upset emotional or mental level.
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Now came the not-so-normal part of being back after the League’s attack at training camp.
Y/N had wanted to go help Bakugou.
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She had been found out cold in the forest when her quirk kept self-activating and trying to ‘help’ during the attack. The stress, fluctuating power levels, emotions and people kept her quirk popping on and off until she passed out.
Aizawa himself had found her, and had thought the worst when he found another young student pale, cold and unconscious on the forest floor. When the police and paramedics came he was told Y/N had blacked out due to a seizure.
In the hospital they were alerted to Y/N finally waking by an intense and pained screaming coming from her room. When staff rushed in they found Y/N crouched in the corner of the room with the IVs and other monitors ripped out and her hands over her eyes. Finally able to calm the girl down they got Y/N to safely let go of her tight grip on her own face, but saw her pupils growing and shrinking at opposite but erratic times. The doctor quickly decided to wrap over her eyes for some reprieve.
When the class came to see her after seeing Midoryia, they were shocked. The usually bright-faced Y/N was sitting in the corner she had refused to move from with stark white gauze wrapped tightly over her eyes and around her head. Kirishima had planned to ask Y/N to come along, knowing she and Midoryia were close friends and her brash nature would come in handy with their rescue mission.
But after seeing the broken girl, he made the most mature decision the young faux-red head would make that night and wished her well without mentioning it. He knew if he said anything Y/N would want to come regardless of whatever was going on with her. She was always that way; caring about all of them, others, too much.
“Aizawa-Sensei says they are making me some glasses or goggles. . . To help my quirk-sight. I can’t always control it, and apparently it’s affecting my health. So. . . It’ll be mandatory.”
No. He couldn’t tell you. Like Midoryia, you would only hurt yourself and he could only handle one of those on his conscience right now.
So they left, and later Y/N found out from Tsu. She had called in tears while All Might’s showdown was happening. Another thing Y/N wasn’t able to see. . .
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Back to the present, Y/N wasn’t required to wear the support goggles in the dorms or during personal rec time, but they were mandatory for training and other class/school activities. It just so happened that when everyone was ‘home’ in the dorms is when their moods and such would fluctuate most, but Y/N wasn’t going to tell Aizawa that and risk having the googles permanently attached to her face. Plus, she reasoned, ‘I need to learn to control this better.’
During down time is when Y/N began to notice her quirk flickering on and off around Bakugou more and more.
Now, Y/N had always had a. . . softer spot for the spiky-haired-boom-boom-boy. As in, she had a big fat crush but had tried to squash it down as much as possible, and even more now after what he went through. Apparently her quirk was having none of that.
They were all messing around out on the lawn one afternoon before the licensing exam when Midoryia did something klutzy and hurt himself. Everyone chuckled, Izuku included, and Y/N’s gaze flickered over to Bakugou while her quirk switched on of its own accord and she was disappointed in what she saw; both in her eyes and with her quirk-sight.
No smile. Nothing. His yellow power-level was bright and blazing as usual. His deep reddish-orange flares from his hands to signify a fire or explosive emitter type were the same. The deep green of his physical health level seemed to pulse from his core as normal. But his emotional and mental colors were dipping and spiking and intertwining like a sad dance. Blue, deep and roiling like the ocean in a storm, and a nasty grey-brown splashing along. Sadness, shame, frustration. Then deep black gashes with a dark red outline like deep open wounds across the other colors. Mental state, not good.
All Y/N could think was, ‘I just want to see a smile. Not at me. Not for me. Just to be okay. Smile like when that kid punched Deku in his junk. . . Anything. Anything at all.’ With that it was decided. Y/N was going to help him. Y/N would make him smile again. For him it didn’t matter the implications with her unstable power. Anything for him.
Chapter 2
Summary:
Y/N tries to help heal. Bakugou walks in on a conversation.
Chapter Text
"To be fully seen by somebody, then, and be loved anyhow—this is a human offering that can border on miraculous."
—Elizabeth Gilbert, from Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage
It would seem Y/N hadn’t been the only one to notice Bakugou’s subtle differences. He and Midoryia had gotten into a fight at Ground Beta and now both had house arrest. Despite Eraserhead being their homeroom teacher he wasn’t feeling forgiving enough to help gather their missed homework; so while Iida and Ururaka gathered Midoryia’s papers, Y/N decided to be in charge of Katsuki’s. Not that he was grateful or anything.
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“I could have figured it out myself,” he muttered as Y/N handed over a pile of papers the other students had all completed throughout the day. “Yeah, sure.” Y/N said with a slight roll of their eyes. Yes they liked him, and yes they wanted to see him smile, but they weren’t about to be walked on. However, they knew the little ways to word something for someone like Bakugou. “I actually didn’t finish a few and knew I’d need help so I figured I’d bring yours and you could help me as payment. Then we’re even.” Two (more annoying) things about the explosive boy were that he liked to believe he was better than most, and he didn’t like to owe anyone anything. “Fine.” he grunted and opened his dorm door wider, “You can come in. I’ll help you when I get to whatever it is, since you can’t even do the work yourself.”
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That went on for the four days of his house arrest, and Y/N was no closer to getting that smile. She had thought the fight with Midoryia would have alleviated things a bit, but the blond was still more closed off and introspective than before. And now Y/N felt like they were running out of time; like not having a reason to go to Bakugou’s room would further their divide again. The situation came to head the week after he ended his house arrest and had gone to his first extra class for his provisional license.
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Y/N was sitting in the common area on her favorite cushioned chair with some homework and papers for her internship strewn around. Scanner wasn’t really paying attention though as her mind wandered and her gaze moved to looking out the window to the colorful sky as the sun set.
“Y/N..Y/N!” With a start Y/N zoned back in to see her classmates looking vaguely concerned. Tsu and Kirishima were standing with slightly tilted heads, and had apparently been there calling to her for a while.
Y/N gave a light smile as she scratched her head embarrassed, “Uh, hey guys. Sorry about that. Lost in my head. Heh.”
“Apparently! Ribbet!” Tsu remarked while Kiri nodded along. “Are you doing okay Y/N?”
“I-”
“‘Cause you and Bakugou have both seemed off now,” interrupted Kiri. “He’s been a bit different since Camino, but then you guys were doing homework together… And now you both are acting… Ya know?”
“Did he do something?” Added Tsu. “If so we-”
“Woah! Woah! Woah!” Y/N stopped the overlapping talk while waving their arms in a panic. “No, he didn’t do anything. He- I-. . . It’s just- We did homework together since he missed out, but now he is back. So, he doesn’t need me there. Or- Or want me there probably. Didn’t seem to like it all that much anyhow.”
“Y/N…” Tsu sighed. “Do you want him to want you there?”
Red-faced, Y/N looked down at her lap as the other two sat down on the couch across from them. “I-I just… wanted to make him feel better, but I don’t think me being around was what he needed.”
“Why did you think he needed to ‘feel better’? Ribbet.” The frog-girl asked.
“Well, I mean, you guys noticed he was off too,” Y/N said defensively, but a couple raised eyebrows had her sighing. “I may have accidentally scanned him. I just wanted to see… To see…”
Tsu and Kiri stayed still, waiting for the empathetic hero to finish what they were saying. But Y/N had clammed up.
“Ya know Y/N,” Kiri started. “You may not have noticed being so close to the situation, but when you guys were doing homework together Bakubro was starting to seem a bit more normal. At least, to me and the guys.”
Y/N stayed silent but a small well of pride was rising in their chest. Hopeful that Kiri was right, and they had at least helped a little.
“If you don’t mind me asking,” continued Kiri. “What exactly were you wanting to see? Want to see if his levels had changed with your quirk?”
“No. Not.. It’s kind of embarrassing.” Y/N mumbled. Then muttered. “And a little rude to Midoryia.”
Y/N’s friends laughed a little and Tsu said, “Now we gotta know, Y/N.”
With a drawn out sigh Y/N started with, “You remember when we first made it through the forest with the Wild, Wild Pussycats and their nephew was there?”
They both nodded.
“And the kid totally took Deku out with that kick?”
Tsu snorted while Kiri winced. Both letting out a small, “Yeah.”
“I- I felt bad, but that smile he had, Bakugou.” Y/N looked out the window again. “It was at the cost of someone else, but he hadn’t ever really smiled like that before. Not that I saw. And now, he hasn’t since…”
Kiri and Tsu had soft smiles understanding where Y/N was going.
“I just-” Y/N turned back to the two on the couch, head tilted back to stop the melancholic tears that were building up. “I just want to see him smile like that again.” Y/N began to bring their gaze back to their two friends, “He deserves it-”
The end of the last word was cut off in a choked gasp. T
here, behind her two friends, stood the boy himself. Brows furrowed in question of what he had heard, and mouth starting to open to ask what he had walked in on. Y/N wasn’t going to give the perpetually rude boy the chance though. In a blink the young hero had sprung from the chair and bolted.
Kiri and Tsu had eyes wide in surprise when they heard it.
“What the hell?” Bakugou barked out as the two turned towards him. Then he was off in the direction Y/N had disappeared to. “Get back here shitty soft-eyes!”
The frog hero and red-head didn’t think Bakugou knew that wasn’t the insult he thought it was.