The mist coiled tighter around them, swallowing up the forest path until it felt like they were walking in circles. Every breath tasted heavy, metallic. Y/n's chest tightened with unease, and even Bakugou loud, brash, reckless Bakugou had gone quiet, his eyes darting through the fog like a predator waiting for prey.
Then the silence shattered.
A shadow lunged from the haze, massive and jagged. Metal claws tore through the dirt where Y/n had just been standing. She stumbled back, heat flaring in her palms as her quirk surged. Bakugou was already moving, an explosion cracking through the fog as he launched forward, blowing the attacker away.
"Villain!" Y/n gasped, her pulse spiking.
But the first wasn't alone. Figures emerged from the mist too many, too fast. Masks, twisted grins, gleaming weapons catching the dim light. The League of Villains.
"Shit," Bakugou snarled, backing toward her without even thinking. "This isn't training." The ground trembled again, this time deliberate. A black warp gate ripped open, oozing darkness across the earth. Y/n's stomach dropped. Kurogiri.
"Bakugou Katsuki," a smooth, mocking voice cut through the chaos. "And… a friend. What a delightful surprise." She didn't even have time to answer before the ground yawned beneath them. The world tilted, spun, and in an instant they were dragged down into the void.
They landed hard in what looked like the remains of a collapsed structure, concrete slabs and twisted rebar enclosing them like a tomb. The only light came from a thin crack overhead. Dust clung to Y/n's skin, her arms trembling as she pushed herself upright.
"Are you—" she started, but Bakugou cut her off.
"I'm fine." His voice was sharp, but there was a faint tremor beneath it. He glanced around the ruins, jaw tight. "Damn it. They warped us away." Y/n pressed her palm against her ribs, wincing at the ache blooming there. "Great. Trapped underground. Villains outside. No way out but… us."
Their eyes met. For a moment, the weight of it all pressed down dust, blood, fear and neither of them looked away. Bakugou scoffed suddenly, breaking the tension with a sharp laugh. "Figures. Out of everyone, I get stuck with you." Y/n bristled, snapping back automatically. "Like I'm thrilled about it! Trust me, if I could choose, you'd be the last person I'd want down here."
"Good. Then we agree."
But the words didn't sting the way they should have. Not when his knuckles were already scraped bloody, not when she caught the faintest flicker of worry in his eyes when she stumbled earlier. Dust shifted overhead, showering them in grit. The villains' voices echoed faintly, searching. They didn't have long before they were found.
Y/n swallowed hard, flexing her hands as energy crackled faintly across her skin. "…We're not getting out of here unless we work together."
Bakugou's gaze locked onto hers. For once, he didn't argue. His explosions sparked, lighting the cramped space with a glow that reflected in his crimson eyes. "Fine," he said, voice low, steady. "But don't slow me down."
Something unspoken lingered in the air between them something dangerous, something electric. And as the ceiling rumbled above them, Y/n wasn't sure what burned hotter: the fight waiting outside, or the way Bakugou was looking at her.
She forced herself to look away, pressing her hand to the cracked wall. Her quirk buzzed faintly against her skin, trying to read the energy in the rubble. "We need to figure a way out of here before they realize we're not dead."
Bakugou snorted, crossing his arms like the concrete cage was nothing more than a minor inconvenience. "You think I'm just gonna sit here and wait for them to find us? Hell no."
"Then stop glaring at me and start blasting," Y/n snapped, though her voice wavered. Her ribs still ached from the fall, her chest tight with dust and adrenaline. Bakugou's eyes flicked to her, narrowing. He noticed. Of course he noticed. "You're hurt."
She stiffened. "I'm fine."
"Bullshit," he growled. He stepped closer, his shadow cutting into hers as his hands sparked faintly with leftover nitroglycerin. "If you can't keep up, you're dead weight. And I'm not dragging your ass out of here."
Normally, she'd snap back without hesitation. Normally, she'd call him every name under the sun. But the words stuck in her throat. Because under all that sharpness, there was something else in his voice, something she wasn't used to hearing from him.
Concern.
Her pulse quickened. She shoved past him roughly, focusing on the wall again. "Then stop wasting time worrying about me and figure out how to blow us out of here." Bakugou let out a sharp laugh, but it was softer than usual. "Tch. You're impossible."
"And you're insufferable," she shot back automatically.
Yet neither of them pulled away. The air between them buzzed, hot and dangerous, as if the confined space was too small to contain the heat of their rivalry and whatever it was morphing into.
Above, footsteps echoed faintly. The villains were searching, their voices low and distorted through the rubble.
Bakugou finally cracked his knuckles, his explosions sparking brighter. "Alright. We blast through, we fight whoever's waiting, and we don't stop until we're clear." Y/n nodded, flexing her hands as red energy shimmered around her palms. "Fine. But if you get us killed, I'm haunting you."
He smirked, sharp and dangerous. "Good. I'd expect nothing less." And as their quirks lit up the ruined space fire and sparks against crimson energy Y/n couldn't deny it anymore. The war between them was changing. The spark wasn't just there.
It was spreading.
Bakugou barked out, "On three! Redirect your energy at the weak point, and I'll blow it to hell!"
"Got it," Y/n muttered, setting her stance despite the ache in her ribs. Her hands glowed red, the raw hum of her quirk vibrating up her arms.
"One—two—THREE!"
The cave lit up in a violent explosion of fire and scarlet light. Dust and shards of rock blasted outward, the impact deafening as the wall gave way only partially. The rubble collapsed inward instead of outward, and before she could react, a chunk of concrete caught her side.
The breath was knocked clean out of her. She crumpled to her knees, clutching her ribs as white-hot pain shot through her chest.
"Y/n!"
Bakugou's shout cut through the settling dust. He was at her side in seconds, hands still sparking, eyes wide with something that looked dangerously close to panic. "Damn it, I told you to keep your guard up!"
She grit her teeth, trying to push herself up. "I'm fine—"
"Shut up," he snapped, but his voice lacked its usual venom. His hand hovered near her side, not quite touching, like he wanted to check but couldn't bring himself to. "You're not fine. You can barely breathe." Y/n tried to laugh, but it came out as a pained hiss. "Wow, you almost sound like you care."
"Almost?" he bit back, though his voice cracked with the effort of keeping it sharp. "You're a damn idiot, you know that? Taking a hit like that—"
Her eyes softened despite the ache in her chest. "…That's rich, coming from you."
He froze, staring at her through the settling haze. His jaw clenched, his crimson eyes conflicted, torn between anger and something else, something raw, something unguarded. Outside, the villains' voices grew louder. They didn't have much time.
Bakugou cursed under his breath, then slid an arm under her to hoist her up. "Come on. You're not dying in some stupid pile of rocks."She bristled weakly. "I can walk—"
"Like hell you can."
And for once, she didn't fight him. Not really.
As he half-carried her toward another section of wall, his explosions sparking just enough to light the way, Y/n couldn't ignore the shift anymore. His insults weren't hitting the same they were laced with worry, threaded with care he didn't know how to show. And she wasn't sure what scared her more: the villains waiting outside, or the way Bakugou Katsuki was looking at her like she wasn't just a rival anymore.
Bakugou set her down gently against a slab of stone, his jaw tight as he scanned the fractured walls for another weak point. His palms sparked faintly with controlled explosions, throwing flashes of orange across the shadows.
"Tch. There's gotta be a way out," he muttered, more to himself than to her. "I'm not letting some knock-off bastards trap us like rats."
Y/n leaned back, pressing a hand against her ribs. "You mean us as in 'me too,' right? Or just you, Katsuki?"
He paused mid-step, glancing over his shoulder at her. The sharpness in his eyes softened just a fraction. "If I meant just me, I wouldn't have dragged your reckless ass this far."
Her lips twitched despite the pain. "Wow. Almost sounded like gratitude."
"Don't push it."
For a moment, silence settled between them thick, but not suffocating. His explosions crackled softly in the dark, her energy still pulsing faintly in her hands. Two opposite forces, humming in uneasy harmony.
"You know," she said quietly, "for someone who yells all the time, you're not as heartless as you pretend to be."Bakugou froze, his back to her. His shoulders tightened like he'd just been struck. "…Don't read into it." But when he turned, his expression betrayed him. It wasn't anger, not fully. It was something more complicated.
Y/n met his gaze, holding it even as her ribs screamed with every breath. "Maybe I already have."
The words hung there dangerous, unspoken, raw.
And then—
CRACK.
The wall opposite them splintered, rubble shaking loose as a jagged hole tore open. Dust billowed into the room, and harsh, mocking laughter poured through with it. "Well, well, what do we have here?" a voice sneered from the shadows beyond. "Two little heroes cornered like mice." Bakugou instantly flared to life, palms sparking with violent light, his body instinctively shifting to shield Y/n. His voice was low, dangerous, every word dripping with promise.
"Good. I was starting to get bored."