aerie (bakugo katsuki x oc)

chapter 77: the beginning of the end

"What if we get caught?" Katsuki says, but I can tell that the thought excites him.

"That's the fun part," I say with a wink.

He shakes his head with a happily flustered look on his face. "You're crazy."

"Crazy for-" I say, but suddenly, my senses are hit with the scent of smoke. "Do you smell that?" I ask.

Katsuki takes a step back and sniffs the air. "Yeah, actually. It smells like something is burning."

I look beyond my clueless boyfriend, and see billows of thick smoke rising from the trees in the distance, along with the faint light of a fire.

My heart sinks.

Could it just be a forest fire? An accident? A campfire gone awry?

I do everything in my power to convince myself that my worst fear has not come true in order to calm my panicking mind, but in my heart, I know what's really happening.

"Oh, shit," I whisper, heart beating out of my chest. I look back at Katsuki, and grab ahold of his hands. "Okay, where do you wanna go? Ritz-Carlton?" I say, in a desperate attempt to save him.

"What?" he says, "We can't leave now. There's something wrong."

   "Who cares? Let's just go."

   "Dude, no. We can't just leave. The forest is on fire. What if someone comes looking for us?"

Why is he so difficult?!

"Who gives a shit?! We don't have to come back!" I cry in a panic, then lean in and lower my voice. "Run away with me, Katsuki," I plead, "We can go anywhere, do anything. Forever. You and me. Just name your place."

He looks at me like I'm insane, then pulls his hands away. "What the hell has gotten into you? I'm halfway through my first year of the top hero university, I'm not just gonna leave that all behind. Besides, we can't just leave. Something's up."

Of course. Of course he's thinking about stupid hero shit. He has no idea how much danger he's in right now.

I bury my face in my hands and begin to pace. "We're dead," I mutter, too quiet for Katsuki to hear, "We're dead and it's all because of me. I had a life and Shiggy's finally come to take it all away."

"Dude, what's your problem? I thought you said you're not scared of anything."

He has no idea.

"Katsuki, you don't understand, we have to get out of here," I plead as I start to hyperventilate, completely losing my cool.

"Whoa," he says, placing his hands on my shoulders as an attempt to comfort me. "Calm down. If you really want to, you can glitch back to camp, or wherever you want to go."

As sweet as an escape seems, I know that it's not an option.

"No," I say, shaking my head. "I'm not leaving you by yourself."

"Okay, great. We'll do this together. And look, who says it's villains? It might just be a fire."

Suddenly, we get a telepathic message.

Everyone! We're under attack by two villains, and there might be more out there! All those that can should get to camp at once! If you encounter an enemy, do not engage, just retreat!

"O-kayy, let's just glitch back to camp," Katsuki suggests.

Camp, yes. There's pros there that can protect us, right? We can just hide!