The next day, as usual, I met Katsuki at our training place again.

This time, the training was quite special; I already passed the boy's second test of current state, so I was ready to train my quirks! Yay!

The first one that was going to be trained was my Super-Speed, and boy, if I thought that now that I made this far, everything would be easier, it was because I wasn't aware of what was to come.

He made me do things like: running around the perimeter while increasing the speed to the maximum that my body could withstand, running several meters every time in fewer seconds, having fun in the obstacle race full of trees and rocks that the walking-grenade prepared especially for me, or looking like a crazy and giant spring while doing various acrobatics... Practically a relaxing vacation getaway at a luxury hotel in Hawaii, as you can see.

"RUN FASTER, RAT, OR ELSE YOU'RE NOT GOING TO HAVE YOUR CHEESE!!" Katsuki usually shouted to me as a way to... make me give my all? He started to learn that if something in this life motivated me, it was food.

But that seemed more like of emotional blackmail to me, to be honest.

"NOOOO!! I WANT MY SANDWICHEEEES!! WHY YOU DO THIS TO MEEEEEEEE!?"

And I thought that my nightmare was over...

Though, noticing how my skills improved, it wouldn't be fair if I complained.

My legs and feet hurt a lot at the beginning, but by the time, I started to feel less pain when I landed on my feet. I also noticed how my reflexes improved as well as my flexibility; I wasn't a brick anymore.

And most importantly, I was gaining something that was the base to keep me standing on my feet without fainting: stamina.

'I'm much stronger now.'

But we're not finished there. Despite the fact that I kept as a secret that I was teaching myself some more movements, Katsuki helped me improve my acrobatics. He told me some tips and helped me to perfection the somersaults.

It's true that I had to ignore his countless peculiar and beautiful words of encouragement and his temper, but as I said, I couldn't protest. The boy never lost a day and if it weren't enough, he was always the first one to arrive.

'Sure he's a man of his word.'

It was hard for me to accept it at first, though I couldn't help but start to look at him in a different way. I would never deny that he was the biggest jerk in the world, yet there was something I found in him that was telling me that I should forgive his manners sometimes.

Forgive him even when he usually threatened me by saying that if I didn't improve my skills every day, he would stop training me.

Who were you trying to fool, Katsuki? I was sure that he enjoyed way a lot how I begged him not to do so...

"MOVE FASTER, WORTHLESS RAT!!"

"Th-That's what I'm trying! It's hard to hold back the urge to throw up when I'm doing this, you know!?"

"IF YOU DON'T REACH THE END IN LESS THAN 10 SECONDS, I'LL STOP TRAINING YOU AND LEAVE YOU ON YOUR OWN!!"

"What!? No way! Don't leave me, I'm not ready to take the physical exam yet!"

"THAT'S YOUR FUCKING PROBLEM!! KEEP RUNNING!!"

"Why are you like this!?"

"I SAID KEEP RUNNING, BITCH!!"

That fucking walking-grenade was the real bitch though...

- - - - -

And so, other three months had passed.

Like after the first three ones, the last day of the sixth month, Katsuki planned to prepare something special for me to test what I have learned so far. My eyes followed his figure as he walked around the place, waiting until he ordered me something to do.

"Uhm... what are you doing again?" I asked the ash blond boy as I saw him drawing a big circle on the ground with a stick. "Hey, Edward Elric, I'm talking to you."

"Just shut up and wait." He answered rudely.

So, yeah, there I was, watching how the hot-headed boy finished the... transmutation circle? I approached the big rock and climbed on it, hoping that I would have a better vision from there.

"We're going to do sumo? Damn, I can't imagine you wearing a mawashi..." I said with amusement as I crossed my arms. "Oh, my God, I'm dying hahaha! That would be hilarious!"

To my relief, Katsuki was intelligent enough to ignore my stupid comment; hearing me laughing at my own words seemed so sad to him that he let me be.

He closed the circle and threw the stick away. "Okay..." He muttered to himself while shaking the dirt off his hands. "Come here, little mouse."

I unfolded my arms and did as he said, entering the circle without erasing the lines by mistake; I didn't want him to yell at me for being so careless.

"So... what are we gonna do here?" I asked again while approaching him.

"How stupid are you? It's pretty clear that we're gonna fight inside the circle." He grunted. "The first to step outside of it loses. You get it, dumbass? I'm not repeating it again."

I rolled my eyes at the way he explained things. "Duh, of course I understand."

Katsuki gestured me to stand in front of him, a bit far from each other, but never leaving the circle. Honestly, I wasn't too nervous; if I was able to win once and only after three months of training, what could go wrong in this fight?

"This means that I can use my quirk now, right?" I asked excitedly, even if I knew that precisely using my quirk was most likely something obligatory. I was on fire with the stupid questions today.

"Don't forget I can use mine, too!" He replied as he made some little explosions with his palms, smirking triumphantly only by hearing the cracking sound.

I gulped at the moment that the explosions illuminated his scary face; if he looked as if he were crazy at first, now he looked like a psychopath. "I-I won't."

'Oh, fuck.'

I totally forgot about that super minor detail also known as Katsuki's quirk. What I mean by that, you say? Well, it's quite simple: what could do my Super-Speed against someone whose reflexes were way better than mine and could totally avoid my blows or, in the worst case, grab any of my arms and legs and cause me a first degree burn? Yeah, yeah, I know it sucks.

The only solution I could think of: I had to move faster and not give him time to react.

C'mon, if without training I was capable to match a fucking train's speed, now that I even knew how to use my quirk for more things than only running, what could go wrong in this fight!?

"Are you ready, supersonic rat?" The red-eyed boy said, breaking the silence and snapping me from my thoughts.

I couldn't help but burst into laughter at the way he called me. "Holy shit, how many nicknames do you have for me, Bakugou? Hahaha!"

However, the boy's expression was far from amused.

"I wouldn't be laughing if I were you." He said with an unexpected husky voice.

"Mmm... What?"

Suddenly, his face became strangely serious, giving me unpleasant chills through all my body. Something was telling me that I wasn't going to like what he was going to say next...

"If you lose, I'll stop training you." He said bluntly, pointing at me with his index finger. "And I'm fucking serious, shitty face."

A wide smirk formed on my lips as I tried to hold my chuckles. "Pfft! Yeeeeaah... That's always what you say."

But Katsuki didn't respond; he just locked his piercing crimson eyes with my (e/c) ones.

"Everything is up to you."

'Uh?'

The words left his mouth with no emotions, as if nothing mattered to him and left all responsibilities to me.

It was true that lately, he was behaving quite weird; he acted as if he were in a rush, telling me to finish everything he ordered me to do in less than a few seconds. I always ended up more tired than usual and we had to come back home sooner due to my unavailability to continue.

Now that I was in front of him, it was when I started to realize something that went unnoticed for me during all this time...

'How many times have you said you would stop training me, Katsuki?'

It was so obvious. So fucking obvious...

I was sure that he never wanted to waste his time with me in the first place... What came through his head to agree with this? He must be bothered by that decision...

That's why he looked as if he wanted to end it as soon as possible.

I was unable to explain the odd feeling that was growing inside me. The strange feeling of the awareness of his true feelings, but still pushing him as well as the fact that what I offered him in exchange for his help wasn't enough at all...

Everything was hitting me at the same time...

"On the count of three!" The boy exclaimed, decided to keep up with all of this even if I knew he didn't want to.

I did the same as Katsuki and prepared myself for our last fight. Something was telling me that he would announce the end of our meetings when the battle was over; too much time of his has been wasted here already.

Though at least, I needed to show him how much I had learned thanks to him.

"One... two... THREE!!"

I had no time to push away my thoughts and get ready when the ash blond boy propelled himself towards me by using his explosions.

"W-WHAT!? WAIT!!"

I was panicking; I didn't know what to do. Katsuki was going to reach me in less than a second and the stupid me was just petrified. Even if moving fast was my specialty, as much as paradoxical it sounds, I sucked at thinking fast...

"DIIIEEEE!!"

'Just run away from him and avoid being hit, (f/n)!' I desperately thought in an attempt to get myself out of there.

I waited until he came close enough and I ran to my left side; that way, he would have difficulties to catch me when he was still in the air.

But of course, I had to be so stupid that I left many clues to where I was going to go...

"DON'T BE SO OBVIOUS!!" He shouted as he saw how I moved my eyes to his right side, taking it as an evident hint.

"S-Shit!"

When I thought that I could leave some space between us, the boy appeared right in front of me again, preparing an explosive punch that was frankly directed to my face. However, I managed to quickly avoid it by doing some acrobatics.

'Dammit! That was so close!' I internally screamed, realizing how lucky I was for being able to avert him even if he had already screwed my plan up.

"SEEMS THAT YOU'RE SCARED, RAT SCUM!!" Katsuki commented while taking a little pause, that psycho smile of his never leaving his lips.

I didn't know if it was me, but he looked like a serial killer. He was utterly aware that my legs began to tremble at the exact moment he went to attack me so savagely, making him have a hard time hiding how he was enjoying showing superiority by using fear.

'Fucking Chucky!'

Minutes passed and we were still playing the game of the cat catching the mouse. Unfortunately, this time I couldn't avoid all of his punches and explosions, though I was also able to kick and hit him.

My attention wasn't fully focused on the fight, to be honest; I was still thinking about what Katsuki said before about stopping training me if I didn't win. But what could I do? All the effort he was putting in this battle in concrete, plus all the things I've realized about how he must feel were truly making me think that he was giving his all only to finally stop wasting his time.

'He's been telling me thousands of times...' I thought, feeling a sharp pain of guilt inside me. 'How fucking selfish I've been...'

"OI, DIPSHIT!!" The ash blond boy yelled all of a sudden with irritation. "I'VE NOT BEEN HERE WASTING MY FUCKING TIME SINCE SIX MONTHS AGO JUST TO END UP WATCHING HOW YOU'RE ONLY RUNNING AWAY LIKE THE COWARD YOU ARE!!"

"... Wha-?"

"IF YOU DON'T ATTACK ME, YOU'LL LOSE, TOO!!"

And that was the last strain for my breakdown.

I stopped in my tracks abruptly, staring at the floor with wide eyes and mouth half agape. I didn't see the point of keeping up with the fight if all he wanted was just going home and stop coming here.

'This is just stupid...'

"TAKE THIS, SHITTY RAT!!" Katsuki didn't wait any second and took the opportunity to attack me, sending me far away with an explosion, though not enough to pass the circle.

I was so deep in my own thoughts that I didn't notice the moment that his hot palms burned my (s/c) skin. I was lying on my stomach and didn't care about standing up. My vision was blurry and my head hurt; it must have gotten hit when I collided with the ground.

"STAND UP, LAZY BITCH!!"

"..."

Silence.

The internal struggling I was suffering inside my head was preventing me from hearing anything.

'Why did he agree if he didn't like me since the beginning? I don't understand...'

"RAT!!" He called again, but still, there was only silence.

'And how is that he has been putting so much effort on training me well after the shit I offered him for his help...?'

"THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM!?"

'Why didn't I notice I was pushing him too much...?'

"HEY!!"

'I'm a damn egoist...'

"(L/n)...?"

Katsuki put his battle mode off after getting slightly concerned. It seemed odd to him that I wasn't standing up, and he believed he didn't use too much force in his blow. He was now standing beside me and didn't take long to notice that my body was shaking.

'I feel like shit.'

Without noticing it, my eyes were already filling with tears, and as much as I tried not to make a sound, my sobs caught the hot-headed boy's attention.

"What the- oi! (L/n), are you okay?" He asked nervously. "I-I didn't even punch you too hard, dammit!" He truly never knew how to deal with these kinds of situations.

But finally, I decided to speak.

"I'm s-sorry, Bakugou, f-for all this time I've been bothering you..." I managed to say while trying to stand up.

Katsuki was just staring at me, feeling too confused to even move. "Huh? The hell are you saying?"

"Yes, now I understand." I said without hesitation, my face still facing the ground. "I know how much you want to end this waste of time. I'm a damn waste of time for you."

The boy had never been more confused in his entire life, he didn't even know if I was really talking to him. "What the fu-?"

"BUT... I won't lose." I stated with determination. "I want to show you how much I've been working and I want you to feel proud of me!"

He took a pair of steps forward and gestured me to calm down. "Shit, (l/n), I don't know what the hell is going on in your fucking head, but you're terribly wron-"

"I DON'T WANT YOU TO LEAVE!!"

[Katsuki's P.O.V.]

"Huh?"

After hearing so, I didn't need more clues to finally understand what was happening.

(F/n) started to cry louder and that awful image of her while crying left me startled, making me lose all the strength I had left.

When was the moment when she managed to make me cross the line of the circle? I was just hypnotized; I never knew I would get to see her like that and that it would provoke me this surprisingly unpleasant sensation.

When I decided to come down to reality I realized I was lying on my back and had a big pressure on my chest. I didn't really care about the results of the fight, to be honest; I thought that everything would have ended better if I only shut my fucking mouth...

"I-I'm really sorry... *Sniff*" I heard the (h/c)-haired girl mumble between sobs while hugging my shirt on top of me.

I took a deep breath and sighed tiredly, closing my eyes after that. 'You're so stupid, little mouse...'

Without even noticing, I slowly put my right arm around her small frame, and the other hand went to her head to caress her soft hair. It was an odd movement coming from me, to say the least, but I wasn't really aware of what I was doing.

The (e/c)-eyed girl became stiff after feeling my sudden touch and she tightened her grip on my shirt. "P-Please, forgive me... but don't leave!" She begged with a high pitched voice, clearly trying to fight against the fact that she knew she sounded too selfish.

I couldn't help but let out a little laugh at all this situation. "You're so fucking stupid. Who told you I was going to do that?"

(F/n) then, turned her head up and locked her puffy eyes with mine; the poor girl had tears still running down her red cheeks. "Uh?" She tilted her head like a confused puppy and oh, man, I thought that something just squeezed my heart.

'Oh, for my fucking existence, that was fucking cute.' I thought without even checking the words I was using. 'H-HUH!? THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ME!? STOP THINKING THINGS LIKE THAT!!'

The sudden and bothering rush of warmth that appeared on my cheeks was very inopportune, though the girl was too occupied wiping away her tears to notice.

And I was glad.

"Y-You've said it a lot of times during these months, and even during the fight..." She answered.

I rolled my eyes, thinking that using that threat too much was a bad idea after all. "I didn't mean it, moron, I just wanted you to take this training seriously and don't see you lazing around as you love to do..."

I never knew that (f/n)'s giggles would be music to my ears in this situation. "Yikes, seems that I've been exposed again."

"Besides, I remember I promised I would help you join the U.A. Academy, right?" I reminded her.

The girl's expression saddened after my words, that sensation of guilt coming over her again. "Yeah, but... I'm sure a waste of time..." She sighed.

I left her hair and began to poke her forehead playfully, still wondering if I should say it only to change her mood. "Don't get a big head, little mouse, but thanks to these fights, I'm also improving myself." I slightly admitted. "So, stop thinking weird things or I'll get mad."

(F/n) let out some giggles again, and her face finally brightened up. "Thank you, Bakugou!" She exclaimed, unable to contain her happiness after feeling so relieved.

My expression softened at the image in front of me, and as much as I wanted, I couldn't hide the little smile that the corner of my lips was forming. "Don't mention it."

[Your P.O.V.]

I felt so relieved and happy!

Taking into account Katsuki's personality, sure that I didn't expect this result at all. Needless to say that I also didn't expect he would show me a part of him where genuine smiles were included.

I thought they didn't even exist!

"You know, you should smile more, Bakugou." I said out of the blue, a tiny pink blush adorning my features. "You look very cute when you do so!"

Wow, wow, slow down, (f/n). Where is all this confidence coming from?

The boy's eyes shot wide open at the moment that my words reached his ears and couldn't help but feel his face explode in a deep shade of red.

"W-W-WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU SAYING, RAT!?" He yelled while pushing me away carelessly; he quickly stood up only to leave some good space between us. "THAT SHITTY HEAD OF YOURS MUST HAVE GOTTEN HIT HARD!!"

'Aaaand... he's back.' I thought with amusement.

The walking-grenade's reaction was just priceless, he truly was about to explode. I had to cover my mouth to prevent the boy from hearing my laughter and so prevent my own murder.

'This Katsuki...'

While the boy was still growling and cursing because of my comment, I managed to get up and shook the dirt off my clothes.

"We should come back home." I suggested as I noticed how the sunset was almost over.

Katsuki, who was still giving me his back, tilted his head a bit to his right side, enough to take a glimpse of my frame by the corner of his eye. "Hurry up, rat. I'm walking you home." He said in his usual voice tone all of a sudden.

'What the-'

That was unexpected, to say the least. But it was really sweet gesture coming from him.

"Ah, don't worry! I know it's later than usual, but you don't have to! I can go by myself." I said as I flexed my right arm playfully, trying to show him that I wasn't scared and that nothing would happen to me.

"Don't care." He stated. "I insist."

Katsuki grabbed my left wrist and pulled me to the direction of my house, completely ignoring my calls and behaving like a real stubborn kid.

"Haha, alright, alright... Thank you very much!"

"Shut it."

Obviously, the walking would be weird as fuck. The atmosphere was so awkward due to the fact that we were walking together that we made a long gap between us. We looked like some strangers that were walking down the street and had nothing to do with each other.

But the silence... Ooooh, the fucking silence. That made everything more awkward if it were possible.

"So, uhm... Tomorrow you're going to help me with my scythe, right?" I said in an attempt to break the ice.

Katsuki took a few seconds to respond. "Tomorrow. Yeah."

"Mm?"

I was somehow confused after the way he replied back; I was aware that the situation wasn't the best for the both of us, but even though, his behavior seemed more... different? I was used to that boy full of rage 24/7, but now he was surprisingly calm... or more like spaced out.

May it be because his rage mode was turned off at night?

- - - - -

After some minutes, we finally arrived at my house.

The feeling was quite odd; I never thought I would bring him to where I lived and my inner kid was hard to hold back. The fact that he was analyzing the house without missing any part was exciting, so I waited for his opinion about my design tastes.

*Cough*Eveniftheownerwasactuallymygodmother*cough*

"So, you said you live alone?" The boy asked with a hint of curiosity, breaking the silence.

I nodded as a reply. "Yup! And it's pretty cool because you can have your own rules, hehe!"

Katsuki just turned his head to my direction and send me the 'are you serious?' look, obviously not believing what I said. He was about to ask why I didn't prefer living in that supposed luxurious mansion that my godmother owned with her, but he remembered that the emotional shit wasn't his type and decided not to touch the topic.

"Aww, c'mon, I'm not lying!" I exclaimed after witnessing his reaction.

"If you say so..."

Believe me when I say that I would have loved inviting him to come inside, but I knew he had still a long way to go back to his house, and I didn't want to keep him here for much longer. He already acted like a sweetheart today, and that was something I was sure he needed to use a lot of mental energy to not faint for behaving so much out of his character.

"Thank you for walking me home, Bakugou." I said with a calm and sweet voice, a genuine smile painting my lips.

The boy jumped a bit after hearing the way my words left my mouth and had to clear his throat before speaking. "M-Mhm, yeah... No problem." He replied while rubbing the back of his neck, trying not to find my gaze.

'Seriously, why is he behaving so weird?' I thought as I felt that something was up with him since we left our training place; this couldn't be only a Katsuki in calm mode.

Maybe was he just tired?

"Well, uhm... See you tomorrow!" I said awkwardly, not really knowing how to say goodbye at that point.

"Yeah... See you tomorrow."

I would be a bad liar if I said I was done there; a simple 'see you tomorrow' felt so empty that my body didn't want to walk to my front door, plus the fact that the boy was still staring at me without moving any muscle didn't help much either.

'Wow, w-why does he look so attractive all of a sudden...?'

I didn't know what came up to me to think something like that when clearly it wasn't the moment to do so.

'A-And when did my heart start beating so fast...?'

The full moon was illuminating very well Katsuki's features, and I couldn't help but think that he looked like a beautiful piece of art. His expression, his eyes, his closed lips... all of that made me feel so small, so shy to even look directly at him...

And it was so funny; who could have said that the one and only Katsuki Bakugou would be with me in front of my house at night? There was no one in the streets, only the whistle of the wind keeping us company.

But all these thoughts were only trying to hide the strange urge that was growing inside me; I really didn't want to leave him yet, just... not yet.

'Would he let me...?'

I didn't have enough time to think well about what I wanted to do that, without noticing, I was already walking towards Katsuki, stopping right in front of him. Close.

'What's happening to me...?'

I wanted to speak; I felt that it would be a better idea if I just said what was in my head, though I was too shy to even explain verbally something that gestures did much better.

The boy surprisingly didn't struggle when I wrapped my arms around his neck, pressing my body against his. I slowly rested my head on his left shoulder, with my lips slightly brushing his collarbone. His scent was captivating; I didn't have enough strength to pull back, but I knew that the situation would become more awkward if I didn't do so.

Then, I hesitantly brought my lips to meet his cheek and made a little pressure, leaving a gentle kiss on his soft skin.

'Thank you.'

Katsuki tensed up at the feeling of my touch; I didn't know what may be happening in his head after my sudden impulse, but his reaction was enough for me to understand that I had to stop there.

"Thank you for everything, Bakugou." I said with a quiet voice near his ear. "Good night, and please, be careful going home."

My body left his warmth slowly, still unable to look at him in the eye; finally, I thanked him the way I liked all that he did today for me.

"Mm... Good night..." He whispered, almost inaudible.

I quickly turned towards my door. I tried to stay cool all the time, but it seemed that I couldn't hold my embarrassment for much longer.

I entered the house with desperation and closed the door, falling to my knees while panting heavily when all realization started to hit me at the same time. I cupped my face with my hands in attempting to cool it down and also tried to understand why the hell I did that.

"W-What the fuck is wrong with me!?" I wondered aloud. "Why!? Why did I kiss him!?"

I was too scared to even look through the window and see if he was still there. I just wanted to crawl into a hole and die; my heart was beating so fast that I thought that it was about to break out my chest.

"How am I going to look at him tomorrow...?"