One Way Track

As Star Skyline sat on the train, she let her head fall onto the window and watched her friends go their separate ways.

Mashirao had been recruited by his favorite hero, the Lion Hero, Shishido. Hitoshi had been allowed to train under Aizawa, despite being in General Education. Todoroki had chosen his father, Endeavor, in order to work on his fire and see how the number two Pro Hero works. Momo had chosen the Dragoon Hero, Ryukyu. Iida had chosen Team Idaten, trying to help run it in his brother's absence. And Star had chosen the Wing Hero, Hawks, in hopes that he chose her for more than her name. Slipping headphones into her ears, she decided that now was as good as ever to test out Jiro's theory.

After the party, Star had been… hesitant to drink much. In fact, if it wasn't in an unopened bottle, she wouldn't touch it. It severely limited her choices, and left her in constant stress with the voices flooding her. When she had mentioned to Jiro that she liked being in the woman's mind because of the constant music playing, Jiro had suggested maybe she could use music to drown everything out.

It hadn't been a bad idea, so she had downloaded a music streaming service, and bought earphones while packing for the trip. Noise canceling earphones, to be specific, picked out by Jiro herself. Jiro had also favorited some albums for her to try, happy to have someone to recommend music to. They weren't sure it would work, but it was worth a shot.

Bringing her knees up to her chest in the seat, Star pressed play on the device. Turning it up all the way wasn't pleasant, but it did help distract her from the mental voices around her. Though, no one was super close to her, so she wasn't sure if it would be loud enough to drown out someone near her.

Star sighed, feeling better as the train started moving and the music continued in her head.

She hadn't been listening for long before one of her earbuds was pulled out of her ears, causing her to jump in a panic and swing her fist as she spun around.

It was easily caught in a larger, warm calloused hand, and she relaxed upon recognizing the person next to her. Katuski Bakugo stared down at her, raising his eyebrow as he chuckled.

Thrust into his mind at the contact, she saw a series of images play. It wasn't like watching 6 movies at once anymore. More like one movie was center screen, while the others were playing in the background. Weeks spent training and with him being next door allowed her to slowly start to familiarize herself with his mind, making it less and less hard to navigate. She wondered if falling asleep next to him a week ago had helped as well.

"Thought you were ignoring me there, Red. What's with the sudden music interest?" Bakugo asked, done chuckling at her startled reaction.

Star frowned though, noticing something in his mind. "You chose Hawks too? Isn't that a bit obsessive in keeping an eye on me? Even Mashirao chose somewhere else."

She felt his genuine shock, before he quickly released her fist, letting it fall between them. "Tch, of course you're going to the same damn agency as me. Whatever, just don't get in the way."

"Get in the way? How on earth would I get in the way?"

"I chose the number 3 hero to get the best experience possible, Sweet Cheeks. Anything else is a distraction."

Star tried not to let his words get to her, not sensing any malice from his mind. His reason for choosing the agency suddenly made sense, making her reason feel a lot less professional.

"What about you, Red? Why'd you choose the guy?" Bakugo asked, scrutinizing her.

She looked away, uncomfortable. Bakugo used his pointer finger to turn her chin back in his direction, annoyed at her lack of response.

When their eyes met, she looked away again before giving in and answering. "He was the only one to not request me based on my real name."

Hugging her knees, she looked outside the window again, not waiting for him to respond. His tangled mind processed this, trying to find something snarky to say, but ultimately deciding not to.

She felt him scoot closer, nicking the earphone he pulled out of her ear and putting it in his own. Not seeming to mind the volume, he followed the earphone cord until he reached her phone, tugging it out of her pocket. She didn't say anything as he did, allowing it. Soon, a new song filled her ears. Looking away from the window, he was scrolling through the music, favoriting some of his own.

They didn't say much the rest of the train ride. In fact, they haven't said a lot to each other since the night of the party. Unlike what he had thought would happen, Star didn't forget about when he had woken her up from her nightmare, and she hadn't attacked him for sleeping near her. She had stayed in his room while the police searched hers, not wanting to look at it. He had stayed in his room as well, getting too angry the guy had gotten away whenever he looked into her room.

No one had commented on it, surprisingly. Then again, no one had said much of anything that morning. It was a hard thing to swallow, Class 1-A's cozy home together not being as safe as they thought.

They had gone through the students, checking if any of them matched the description, but had found nothing. Some of the officers had even accused Bakugo and Hitoshi of orchestrating it, due to Bakugo's presence in the room and Hitoshi's quirk being able to cause memory loss.

The school had stood strong behind their students though, demanding a toxicology report. When the drug had been found in her system, they had stopped exploring that possibility, to everyone's relief.

Hitoshi had brought up something else to ponder though. He had noticed the needle mark in the crook of her elbow first, due to their own experience with being injected during the incident. The toxicology report had not come back with any other drugs identified, though. Which brought up the question of why someone would use a needle in the first place.

Star wished she remembered, but she was having trouble identifying the difference between the pieces of actual memories and just imagination in her dreams. Occasionally she ran them by Bakugo, trying to piece it together with his own recounting of the night, but hadn't found much of anything so far.

She glanced over to him, listening to the rock ballad he was playing on her phone. She wasn't sure where they stood, honestly. She had been looking forward to the time apart to figure it out, but it looked like that wouldn't be possible now.

Despite what he said at the Sports Festival, they had come to a strange peace. He came down to join her as she drank hot cocoa more often now, after what happened at the party. Hitoshi had pointed out that he hovered around her more during the day, too.

If she was being honest with herself though, she was glad he was here now. Doing things alone recently, with the threat of the Hero Killer and the mysterious student looming over her head, put her on edge more than she'd like to admit.

She still hadn't told anyone about the Hero Killer. Everyone assumed her hyper-vigilance and jumpiness was because of what happened at the party. Maybe it was a silly thought, but Star felt like if she was alone in her worries, it would feel less real.

Bakugo had also let up on her a bit after the festival. She wasn't sure how or why he had come to a sudden understanding, but was thankful he had given her back the alcohol. Annoyed that he had given it back at the same time she developed a fear of drinking from open containers… but thankful, nonetheless.

Things between them seemed calm. Like they were finally starting on the same page, and she was scared to disrupt the newfound peace between them.

Bakugo suddenly looked up to meet her eyes, and she jumped, having forgotten she was still looking at him. As her face flushed, a smug smirk graced his lips, and she felt that same feeling radiate towards her. Huffing at his mental response, she looked away.

The music suddenly stopped, and he spoke up, "We're here, Sweet Cheeks."

Turning back to look at him, he held her phone out, pulling the other earphone out of his ear as he did. While she was putting it in her pocket, he held out her bag for her while he put his own over his shoulder. She looked at him in surprise as she took it from him, and he scoffed, offended at her reaction.

Standing in front of her as the train doors opened, Bakugo grinned.

"Birdbrain agency, here we come."