The scene at the table was wearisome.

The female wearing a frown as she positioned her hands on her lap, peering at the male opposite to her glaring at her face, she tugged her hair behind her ears, visible eye bags and red lines showing at the rim, abnegating comfort while his carmine hued eyes were on her, louring balefully, then at the plate of half-eaten food she forced down her throat, it didn't feel pleasant.

"Why is your plate still full?" he firmly asked, splintering the tensity in the air surrounding them, she peeked at the voice, nervously embracing her lips together and her eyes unable to sustain persistent eye contact with the man sitting across the dining table. She replied, "I'm not feeling hungry..."

She made the mistake of tearing away her gaze upon completing her sentence, his dour expression displacing itself with irritation and he meanly mouthed, "Just say you don't like my cooking." she quickly shook her head, hoping to damage control of what even the safest option had landed her on and it seemed even silence didn't help her case.

"No, that's not it. I promise." she calmly reassured her outward appearance not coinciding with her inner mind, giving her word to his meddling tetchiness so their conversation wouldn't be needlessly hostile.

"Don't lie to me." he said, "You didn't sleep all night, did you? What were you doing, looking for something to help you with your escape?"

She had somewhat foreseen his statement, all the more insecure and parsimony when she was in question, craving to decipher what her quietude meant by less peaceful norms.

"No, I did sleep right after you left, I only woke up when I had to... puke." she hesitantly answered, he wordlessly tested the veracity in her response, sneering, but it did match up.

"Hmph, that's what you get for not eating in time, idiot." he scoffed, she excluded their exchange of words so he wouldn't misunderstand more than necessary, as it was in his nature to doubt her no matter what. She was the diffusor in their conundrum pair.

The stillness endures, the clinks of her spoon against the glass as she puts some rice into her mouth, dithering to ingest it with curry, katsuki quietly watched her chew, thinking if the medicine dosage he put into her food needed to be stronger whilst observing her swallow and slowly finish whatever lingered on her plate.

The girl uncomfortably shifted in her seat, fastidious to his sullen attitude, she gulped, her mood-altering and unnerved by his stare, coercing herself to devour the last portion of rice.

He immediately took the dishes, letting her inspect her whereabouts, looking out the large window on the kitchen side when all she noticed were trees and greenery, there was a huge casement window in the living hall, but getting out by breaking it would attract his attention, which wouldn't be ideal with his speed and experience.

If she could lessen his disciplining methods by being sensible, then so be it, she could not overpower him, but outsmarting him when the time comes is worth an attempt.

A silent predator with a renounced and notorious vulture can get the better of it.

"I have my patrol tomorrow, you better behave if you want to live." he suddenly announced, moving his gaze to the female's presence in the room, "if I see anything out of place, I'm going to make you wish you hadn't done it." He finished.

He would know. He did not install the cameras for no purpose, he was going to watch her, and she wouldn't know it. She nodded, rapidly blinking her eyes as she quietly resumed caressing her fingers, just knowing even if she was not trying to lie, he would think that because he always doubts.

"When will you come back?" She inquired, ceasing her movement and focusing on the male. He answered after closing the faucet and scanning for a hint of dishonesty. "When my patrol ends, I'll come." he flashed her a look, "You don't need to know anything else."

She pushed away from the table, leaning back, suppressing whatever she had on mind to not reveal itself on her face, hiding her folded arms under the furniture and close to her stomach, gently rubbing the skin. He approached her, sitting down for something more to say.

"When were you planning to leave?" he sternly began, tightly crossing his arms and glaring, she kept her eyes darting to the side, sinking lower into her seat, feeling whatever she was about to utter would end up as a canard.

"In June, 1st week." It would be a useless lie if he was aware.

He listened.

She stole a glance, at his expression, face slightly tilted back, then exhorted, "Give me your email address, phone number, everything. I will cancel it for you." He urged, opening his rough palms towards her.

She knitted her eyebrows, disliking his request, jaw jutting forward, straightening her posture, and answering, "No. I will not hand you anything of mine."

He pinched his lips up, giving away his need for control over her, otherwise, she would run loose, leave him as she did before, and who knows if he could ever see her. He would not let her have her way, not when he could indefinitely help, she was going to need him, whether she wanted it or not.

"Fine, I'll find it out myself." he challenged, which irked her the wrong way.

"No! You can't take hold of things that I need! You've done so much to hinder me already, how much more do you want to ruin my life?" she paused, her cries harsh and discordant, the softer edge of her voice still in place.

Drawing in a heavy breath and swinging her arm across to grip her elbow, "I'm not letting you take your place in my life again." she joylessly muttered, defiantly shaking her face, disgusted by the very notion of it.

"Too bad, I'm not going anywhere." he taunted with an angry smile.

She looked at him.

"Why do you hate me so much, what have I done to you? Are you holding a petty grudge against me for rejecting your feelings? Or was it because I did not praise you like everyone else!" she raised her tone, firmly planting her feet, she fumed, "Must have been nice being at the top, looking down on everyone." she glared back with the same intensity he held in his eyes and clenched her fist.

"How would you know how hard I've struggled to keep up in life." she continued.

"You wouldn't know how much I hated myself, every day even if I'm not in that forsaken place, it's always in my dreams, reminding me that I can't forgive you no matter how hard I try!!"

"Don't you get it? We are not made for each other, I... couldn't try even if I pitied you, I'm willing to put this behind us if you will stop and achieve your dreams that I have no place in. It's still not too late, please, let me cope with my issues." she voiced her worries, wrinkling her face and eyes as a means to show her grieving, grasping her clothing tighter and stifling down the tears from materializing.

She needed to be strong when crying is assumed to be nothing but a weakness.

She's learned it the hard way, displaying emotions is a hurdle to overcome so that she can preserve. The male was silent, speaking with a voice that eventually cracked if anyone were keen enough to hear it.

"Why can't you forgive me?" his knuckles turned white, paring down his tensed muscles and furrowing his brows.

"Is it so hard to look at me every day?!" he screamed, squinting his red eyes and loudly exhaling, his chest pounding, biting his lips till it would bleed, looking down and hiding his face from her, "I've been doing so much, only to hear that you not only can't bring yourself to forgive me but love me as well."

"I don't care if you hate me or not, I don't care about anything you say about me!!" He yelled, his fist on the rigid wood, she quickly stepped in, but his resentful eyes halted her in her tracks. "I'm the best choice you have, only I can fill in the place beside you and nobody is going to take it."

"I'm not letting you leave me again, ever." she came to take note of the slight nuance in his voice, "So you better get used to it." he ended, looking at her, and her face explained all the things she felt understanding him, dismay.

Getting up from her chair, she shouted, "You can't keep me here!! I have my family to go to, my own life.!"

She went on to criticize.

"This is wrong and you know it! You have no right to keep me here against my will!!"

"You better shut up your mouth!" he yelled, his voice reverberating in the entire house, drowning out her own, shutting her up from saying anything more, her fist loosened, involuntarily leaning back from his person with big eyes, teary, and staring down.

"If I hear another word out of your mouth, you'll regret it!"

She hushed her sentiments. Not let out anything when he rose to his feet, rushing to her weeping frame and grabbing her as hard as possible, brushing her struggles off as if it were nothing more than a minor hassle he had to deal with.

Quickly unbolting the entrance to her room and hurling her inside, closing it, and walking away with loud footsteps.

Leaving her mind to wander through her unquiet thoughts alone.

She sat before the window, deep in thought as she observed the orange skies aloft, rarely blinking at the same spot, she decided to get up and look at the door with a distant look.

Taking baby steps to move toward it, pausing in front of it and watching, softly resting her ear to it and hearing for any sounds, there weren't any.

She makes an effort to open it, but it doesn't budge, he locks it every time.

The incident in the morning had left them both wounded, distancing from one other and eschewing. He hasn't confronted her yet, she was praying, he wouldn't.

There was no other way she could escape if there were no faulty features to utilize. The bathroom didn't have any safe points, the windows even if broken, no one could go in and out due to the cross-fenced iron bars, all she could hope was to drop a note and hope someone other than her kidnapper would discover it.

She did not give up yet and launched at the door with what strength she currently had, it didn't move, just the painful sound of her body crashing against it. She wasn't going to break it in a million years, not until she dislocated her shoulder before it.

She groaned, searching the room the third time that day and trying again after coming up empty-handed. Most of whatever was placed inside were just harmless objects, if she stole a knife and hid it she could succeed but going unnoticed was impossible.

She needed to get out before he confiscated everything.

She plonks down on the mattress, disheartened eyes, and dimmed down from all the stress she's putting up inside her, thinking through her decision and crouching her torso further down and skimming through her early recollections.

"Hey, loopy! Forgot to bring your toys again?" One of the five boys teased in the lounge, the six children circled amongst each other, the single girl in the group looking away and scooting a little closer to the green-haired boy beside while curling within herself, wide innocent eyes soaking in the simple and modernized home.

"It's fine! We can share our toys!" The greenette exclaimed, she gazed at him with happy eyes, unknowingly forming a smile on her tiny lips.

"Birds of a feather flock together must be true for these two losers." The blonde-haired kid grinned, instantly goading laughter from the other kids gathered next to him, even though they hadn't truly understood the meaning behind the statement.

The two meek children wordlessly listened, not saying as they thought hard about what he said, it's true, boys at this age are following one another's trends as they haven't developed their sense of understanding. They are still learning, and in their younger years, no one realizes how wrong they were.

"Kacchan! Let's play some games today! How about tag and run?" Promptly a boy with black hair suggested, earning a couple of agreeing and eager nods.

She appeared like she didn't want to stay there anymore.

"Yeah let's chase these losers!"

The girl sheepishly gazed down, indecisively following behind the rowdy chaps, both brows uplifted and lips compressed into a thin line, stepping out the sunny afternoon.

Walking behind her friend and timidly inspecting the small playground at the back of the house, she came to play with izuku since her parents wanted her to avoid staying at home when she was still so young, sadly for her, the greenette mostly hung out with these unfriendly kids, so it was inevitable.

"Okay! Who's out?" asked kacchan.

"Who came last?"

All heads turned towards her, anxiously standing far behind the group, and did follow them a little later, so as per the on-spot rules, she was out. They chuckled, "Wow! Guess we are gonna get caught by Loopy!"

"Loopy! Catch us if you can!" they mocked running from her figure, her friends shyly smiled and put up some distance, she didn't want to play.

Eventually, after much thinking and hesitance, she trailed after some of the ones nearest to her, taunting her to catch kacchan who quickly dodged upon spotting her coming his way, at long last, she caught her only friend and desperately ran without drawing in any breath.

Then, it came to some of the blonde's friends and shortly, himself.

She was supposed to be an easy target, according to kacchan's logic, however, she simply managed to slip out of his grasp at the last moment, until one of them cried out, "Whoa dude!! You are losing so hard right now!"

"Shut up!!" he shouted back, he kept chasing after her as others stopped when they weren't being pursued anymore, enjoying the unexpected show.

"ARGH! You stay still loopy!!" yelled the boy, clenching his teeth and stretching his arms, just an inch closer to her and he would win, when she began putting more space, he jumped forward, tackling her to the dirty ground and mounted on top of her back, his fall cushioned by the girl who fell face-first to the concrete.

"Hah! I win!" kacchan cheered, perking up whilst still squashing her tiny body with his.

The small spectators gawked, unsure whether to encomium or applause him after that sudden shift in behavior, soon, they nodded and agreed, somewhat shocked.

One of them whispered to the other, "Do you think he has a crush on her or something?" the only response was their rapid blinking, sealed lips, and squinted eyes at the scene.

An unspoken sentence stuck inside their mouths.

In the next few days, as they were nearing parent's day, the teacher had decided to arrange a quick but cheerful performance by the kindergartners. It was a fun time, at first.

The brightly colored classroom had most of the children pacing back and forth, bickering and chattering, the girl was attempting to draw a picture of her teapot, only to cease as a loud emollient voice called out to them, innocently glanced up from her efforts.

"Kids! We have an announcement to make, settle down!" calmly urged the teacher, gently motioning her hands to the children who silently gaped at her.

"We are going to host a special celebration for your parents and we need your help, it will be lots of fun preparing for it!" said the female teacher, grinning at the astonished younglings who probably might not have known what exactly this day for surprise was.

"We will select all of you one by one, so please let us know if you can't do it!"

First, she was elected by the teachers to be a queen in one of the skits, it only made her nervous, waiting beside the elder as they swiftly gave each student a role, in the end, who she was paired up with, regrettably, turned out to be her blonde nemesis, the prime excuse was that he suited the role and was similar to the character he had to play.

It was the story of a king and his queen, the emperor was a bad-tempered man with a queen unlike him, one day, she was upset with his stingy manners and decided to perform mischievous acts to infuriate him, it was a comical relief tale aimed to make jeers and have the audience laugh by the cute and faultless children, one of the scenes included the queen sneaking a kiss to make the king lose his dour, it was cut off until replaced with another idea.

A small peck to the cheek. That's what she had to do at the very end of the enactment.

"Katsuki, you shouldn't push her too hard, gently!" scolded the teacher, shaking her finger while suppressing her awe from watching the two-act.

The kid glared but didn't say otherwise.

On the day of the spree, she had been dressed in a gaudy red gown, which she found extremely difficult to amble around with. Katsuki was given a crown, and a blue royal suit, and instructed to smile a little.

When the two of them entered the stage everyone seemed so taken aback and awestruck, grinning at the bunch of them, her favorite was when she stepped on his shoe and he couldn't do anything about it, the crowd chortled.

Their skit went without a hitch, the last part just doubled the cheers as his reaction was so unpredictable even for her, he blushed.

In the final scene, he held hands even without her forcing her hand around his, from then on, the bullying worsened.

At times, he suddenly would pull up her skirt, she recalls immediately walking away feeling some sort of way her mind at that time couldn't comprehend, it was humiliation.

"Kacchan has a crush on Loopy?!" The boy exclaimed, fortunately, was deterred by the other kids around him, terrified by his audible tone.

"Not only so loud! If he hears us, we are doomed!" Fretted the boy, "What should we do? He always looks so different after seeing her man, I get so many bad feelings about it." Confessed another lad, placing his fingers on his mouth.

"Yeah, he's always looking at her!"

"I think we should do something guys, let's help kacchan!" Determinedly shooting his arm up in the air, then, their plan was in steady action.

"Hey, kacchan I heard something from the girls!!" Shouted one of the chubby boys in the bundle, leaning in to whisper.

Instantly the boy widened his eyes, saying.

"Are you sure?!" Implied the blonde kid. The other boy gave a big nod, flaring his nostrils.

"Yeah, that's what I heard! She has a crush on you dude, I saw her looking at you too!"

The kid's heart sped up, his gaze going to the girl who sat alone watching everyone.

She staggered up from her place on the bed, throwing her attention to the unlocked door, soon, Katsuki stepped in with a neutral expression, locking the entrance as he shot her a glare devoid of its usual enmity, he looked at her face, pointing his eyes downward and fist at his sides.

He begins.

"I'm sorry." He mumbled, peering at her body gradually faltering, gazing with wide eyes, he proceeded.

"I'm sorry for bullying you."

He noticed her reluctance to deny his statement, stiff and stuck to the spot, blinking and deflecting her eyes from him, jaw clenched. Then, muttered clear enough.

"I don't get it... Why are you apologizing all of a sudden?"

He kept his eyes open.

Not daring to blink as he soaked in her facial display, he didn't say anything, striving to close the distance between them, he walked towards her, she instantly backed away, putting up her hand to soundlessly convey, 'Stop'

He didn't.

She hastily shunned herself into a corner, he gave in to the temptation and tightly embraced her, dismissing her hands seeking to push him away. Not allowing her to put more space between them, let them grow apart, and lose her yet again.

Her restlessness grew apparent, as she thrashed in his hold, but he wasn't affected by the slightest. They both settled down on the floor, her tiny painless strikes beginning again.

Shoving the girl closer to him, nuzzling his face Into the nook of her neck and softly breathing in her scent, he loosened his strained muscles, facing her, giving her an unstable sad smile.

"You used to love me... So much, I know you did, you would always look at me, smile at me and now, you act like... Like you hate me when I'm so in fucking love with you."

He whispered close to her, she whimpered, still, hell-bent on nudging him away, his tight grip pressing into her waist and ripping out more pain, she lifted her head from his eyes.

"Look at me." He ordered. She wasn't going to obey his beck and call. He breathed in a little heavily, speaking a little louder, "I said, look at me." He sternly murmured.

She did.

He put on a small smile, her fearful eyes now in touch with his distressed yet hardened gaze. He lowly chuckled.

"Why do you look at me as if I'm about to hurt you? I'm just trying to protect you." He emitted, his gruff voice ringing in her ears, his eyes seeming scarier now that the light was withering away. She swallowed her nerves, finding it hard to commemorate his demands.

"I wouldn't ever hurt you willingly." He confided in her, drawing closer.

"I'm not letting you leave me, what if you get injured by someone, a villain no less, or worse try to avoid me as you've always done!" He didn't say, but, she could almost sense it from his miserable expression.

'The paranoia will kill me.'

"I don't care about your opinion, I just can't let you wander off to the outside world and never let me see you again." He pressured, his focus was only on her, staring into her pupils, the room had gone dark, barely any light rinsing from the impenetrable windows.

"You need me!" He raised his voice, and a few tears slipped past, she curled herself further away from him, and looking into his frightening eyes made her heart pound and drive her insane to get as far away as possible.

"I won't let your parents take you away from me, not them, not anyone!"

"We are stuck together now, I know you've had a big fat crush on me ever since kindergarten, you like me." He smirked, clamping around her flesh harder.

"I know you do. Don't try to deny it."

He made her completely face him, believing what he needed to hear, to fix into his brain, that she and he weren't just lovers, they were something more intimate than that.

His smile dropped upon hearing nothing in response, she gulped, inching away from him despite how close they were.

It didn't please him.

"Are you still running away from the fact that you love me?" He brusquely started, causing more anxiety to flood her mind, not looking into his eyes from how warm he was and how there was no space to breathe, she felt dazed, light-headed.

"Come on, say it don't make me choke it out of you." He smilingly imperiled, strengthening his maiming clutch.

She did not answer.

"Say it." He nagged, tilting his face, letting there be no vacancy for her to evade his blood-red eyes. With bated breath, she peered up, parting her lips and acknowledging under her breath.

"I like you." It came out robotic and uncertain, but it elated the male nonetheless, he grinned wide.

"Say it with my name."

To elude a fight, she replied.

"I like you Katsuki."