𝔸 𝕄𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣'𝕤 ℂ𝕣𝕪

[No Quirks]

Katsuki thought of life as something simple, wake up; eat, go to school, eat again, and sleep. But then he saw her for the first time. And then life wasn't as simple anymore.

--

Middle school--Katsuki wanted to gag, he hated his teacher, his friends were smokers, and his childhood friend was a wimp who cried when he got yelled at. The ash-blond frowned and crossed his arms as he waited outside his class for the so-called friends of his. Bored and tired, Katsuki let out a soft yawn, leaning back against the railing of the wall of windows. On the third level, he could see the entire front courtyard and the main gate, and a little bit of the neighborhood in front of it.

The sight wasn't too bad when the sunset cast shadows across the koi ponds lining the front gate. His focus was rudely snapped away when he heard a small yelp a few yards away from him. Lifting his gaze from the rippling water, he caught sight of a girl a bit older than him on the ground--she had her arms wrapped around her midsection in what seemed like pain before he noticed the papers clutched in her arms.

"You're a klutz, Ishikawa-Senpai!" A girl in his year teased, bending down to her level to help her. Katsuki couldn't care less--which was his first thought, but it morphed into a sickening worry he hadn't felt since his pet goldfish got sick when he was five coiled in his stomach.

"Sorry, Mariya, I tripped over my feet. Sometimes I think I have two left feet..." the senior muttered, cheeks a soft red. Katsuki took a second to take in her features, it could've been the orange hue that cast over them from the sunset, but he could've sworn that her body emitted a soft glow.

"AH! Bakugo--I didn't..I didn't see you there!" Mariya--whatever--exclaimed, blushing brightly at the sandy blond. But Katsuki would rather drown than acknowledge the girl who made fun of her friends in the middle of class. It disrupted their study hall almost all the time, stealing away his work hours. The girl behind Mariya gathered up the loose papers and stood her feet, patting down her rubbed raw knees and her belly absentmindedly--it caught the boy off-guard when they made sudden eye contact. Ishikawa was taller than him by a mere inch--which ate at his pride when he had to look up at her, but it hardly mattered when she sent him a confused smile.

"Hello," she bowed her head politely.

Katsuki huffed, turning away from her before crossing his arms again as he watched his friends come back from the classroom, laughing. "Oi," He called, the two buckled and turned to him--suddenly nervous. It made him want to beat some sense into them. But he refrained, glancing back at the older girl, he rolled his eyes.

"Later," he muttered.

She only smiled and nodded back, "Later."

His friends coddled him as they walked, throwing their arms around him as they asked about the older girl. He replied with a roll of his eyes and a mere shrug.

"No clue, I couldn't care less." He supplied and continued walking away. His friends groaned around him at the bland answer, but he just marched on forward. He didn't need to look back to know that the girl was watching him. The burning feeling only disappeared when they exited the front gates.

—

Spring break was followed by clamoring shop sales and new part-time job slots were open and for the taking. It wasn't uncommon for new freshmen to take up jobs to brag to their friends. But Katsuki wasn't expecting to see that girl before him taking his order.

(Y/n) Ishikawa, two years older than him and one of the prettiest girls that the boys fawn over when she was still at his middle school. A new freshman at UA. Katsuki sniffed absently and ignored the girl as his Dad started to order.

Smells sweet...Katsuki frowned lightly.

"Katsuki?" He glanced over to his dad, he was looking at him expectantly. His ears began to burn and he grumbled out his order, eyes adverted and shy.

"The spicy curry with a side of spicy pork," Katsuki tossed his menu down and his dad picked it up out of habit, the older and taller girl smiled softly and with crinkled eyes, glanced back towards the blond.

"And what to drink, Katsuki-San?" (Y/n) asks gently.

"Something good—" Katsuki starts, "whatever you like, I'm in the mood to try something new," He grumbles the rest, despite his attitude—the girl continued to smile and nod, "I'll make it for you, no worries," she adds, "How has school been?" She unexpectedly asked.

Katsuki frowned at her and leaned off of his hand to turn to look at her fully. She had her long hair in a ponytail and wore a black shirt with dark jean shorts.

"Fine," he puts simply.

(Y/n) hums and nods before turning back to his dad, "I'll have your order right out for you two," with a polite bow, she was gone.

Katsuki watched her leave from the corner of his eye before focusing back on the table, there wasn't anything special about it but he had the small habit of examining his surroundings for minor details, pointing them out, and fixating before moving on to the next thing while waiting for his food to arrive. But it doesn't seem like he'll be doing that anytime soon by the way his dad was looking at him.

Masaru smiled calmly and waited for the boy to start talking on his own, "I don't know her," Katsuki spewed.

Masaru lifted a brow in question, keeping his lips sealed.

"Fine, maybe I do, she's two years older than I am. (Y/n) Ishikawa, she goes to UA now. From what I heard," Katsuki hissed angrily, throwing his back against his seat with a huff as he crossed his arms in slight defeat.

"She seems nice," was all that Masaru said, of course, he would be telling Mitsuki later--but for now, Katsuki could have his peace. Katsuki rolled his eyes and didn't say anything else on the matter. The older Bakugo took it as a sign to let it go, so he hummed softly and stood up, "I'm going to the bathroom real quick, when the food gets here, feel free to dig in."

"Whatever..."

Katsuki didn't have to wait long for their food to get to their table, arriving in two separate batches since they both ordered complete opposites. When (Y/n) returned for the last delivery, she held a large glass of what looked like green tea, "It's a green tea with matcha cream on top, sweetened with milk." Katsuki examined it, "That's not on the menu..."

(Y/n) blushed and clapped her hands together silently as she covered her mouth, "I'm surprised you noticed, I like to experiment with drinks while I'm here, we have a lot of flavors to choose from so I usually find some good combinations."

Katsuki pursed his lips before nodding, "I'll try it I guess, don't expect me to like it. I'm not a fan of sweets."

The girl grinned, toothy and proud, "That's why I picked matcha! Green tea is the best with spicy food," she adds at the end.

The ash-blond hummed, glad to know that... not that he would admit it.

(Y/n) bowed her head again and turned to walk away before she stopped and turned back to him. "I know we don't have a lot in common, but could you come with me somewhere if you're free tomorrow? I need help picking out some hiking gear..." sheepishly playing with a loose strand of hair by her neck, the few pieces fell from her ponytail.

"It won't take long and I noticed a while back when you were walking that you had some hiking magazines." Maybe Katsuki lied about not knowing her well, they used to frequently visit the library together in study hall class periods. Katsuki only aced all of his tests especially his Japanese because of her helping him. Zero consequences and no comebacks, just quiet time in the library studying and talking about classes.

But she stopped showing up one day and that's when Katsuki started to ignore her too. She didn't explain herself and didn't try to come back to tell him why she stopped, but Katsuki just went on with his simple routine with a little less joy than before.

But he knew what she was talking about, "why should I help you?" the girl fumbled with her apron—moving on from the strand of hair and pursing her lips in thought.

"I want to buy my dad a gift...for his birthday and he loves hiking, but I don't know anything about it and I want to help him out..." She mumbled, but Katsuki understood every word, it struck him in the chest in an awkward way.

Katsuki mulled it over before leaning back and crossing his arms over his chest and sighing, "Give me your number again, I blocked you the last time you gave it to me."

The girl smiled once again and the pressure in Katsuki's chest lightened.

"Thanks, Kats, I'll be right back with a piece of paper—I got a job to finish today," with a small breathless laugh at the end she jogged lightly towards the counter right as Masaru came back from the bathroom.

"Sorry, I took so long! Your mother called right as I was getting finished up in there, how's the food?" The older Bakugo settled himself down, and without a snarky response back, Katsuki hummed, "It's good...really good." Masaru glanced up at the boy in front of him a little shocked before the words were taken right out of his throat at the sight of his aggressive and outspoken son who wore a smile on his face.

Masaru smiled back in turn and started to dig in as well.

"You're right! It's great," Masaru acquiesces.

Katsuki sat on the corner of his bed, back pressed up to the wall, staring at the small piece of paper in his hand. A neat and petite scribe of the girl's number sat in the center.

With calloused fingers, Katauki scooped up his phone and typed in her number, the older number of the girl's contact popping up in the search.

【ＵＮＢＬＯＣＫ　ＴＨＩＳ　ＵＳＥＲ】

[ＹＥＳ]　　　　　　　　　　    [Ｎ O]

Katsuki breathed deeply, before tapping his answer and renaming her contact.

[ Y E S ]

𝕊𝕦𝕟𝕜𝕚𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕕

Kats
Tell me where to meet you at.
Seen at 23:15

Sunkissed is typing...

Sunkissed
How about my place?
Read at 23:17