Katsuki stares at the sunset. It's beauty was irreplaceable as soft hues of purple, pink, orange and blues faded into each other. The actual Sun lowered into the horizon and just under the surface of the ocean to make it comfortable enough to state for long periods of time.
It's been a long time since he felt comfort, he wasnt really the type to go asking for physical contact of affection. He never asked for words of affirmation, not even when he was a kid. He was praised heavily, but his dangerous quirk usually made people scared to touch him. His "friends" weren't actual friends to him, they were minions who followed whatever he said.
The only people who he ever allowed to touch him were the only people brave enough to give him a reality check, but not just any reality check. A successful reality check. So far that was only four people. (Five if you counted his hag)
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The first to ever earn his affection was Kariage. Kariage was a deliquant, really there was no other way to put it. He never cared for anybody else's opinions and often smoked cigarette and vapes. Katsuki had met him during elementary school. There was a valentines dance going on in the gym and it was noisy, so he decided to hide in the bathroom to avoid it. The black haired boy had already been in there. And when the blonde threatened him to leave, he had simply just declined.
"I have every right to be here, not like I'm breaking any rules. I'm in here to get away from everyone. Aren't you?"
Katsuki was shocked, nobody had every denied him anything. And here was some rando hobo declining his requests with a sort of soft casualty. He had tried his best to conceal it at the time but Kariage was able to tell. He was about to actually use his explosions to get the guy out but then the sound of keys jingling caught both their attention.
"We're gonna get caught skipping the party, cmere" and just like that the amber eyed boy pulled Katsuki out of the bathroom and dragged him up to the rooftop. Katsuki was too surprised to say anything, or to even pull away.
Once they were on the roof, they quietly observed each other. Katsuki ignored him, opting to sit on the ledge and let his feet dangle. When the bell rang, they didn't waste time with any goodbyes and just parted.
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After that incident, he wondered how he had never noticed Kariage before. He was in most of his classes, and they often passed each other in the hallways. Katsuki noticed himself paying more attention to the boy as the days went on. There was one day that stuck out to him, the day where they stopped dancing around each other and began talking.
Kariage has gotten into a fight on his way home from school. (Which was the same path Katsuki took when he was walking home. Really, how did he not notice this guy sooner?) he was bloodied and bruised. However when Katsuki saw him limping down the road, Kariage didn't care about that. All he cared about was that he won. Katsuki resisted to urge to smack him on the head, but he wouldn't have even hesitated if the boy was uninjured.
And here's the thing, Katsuki was training to become a hero, who would he be if he just allowed an injured person to walk home in such condition? It didn't seem heroic. So in the end, he ended up (dragging) politely requesting Kariage come to his house. There he used his medical knowledge to patch him up.
In between the trip to his house and Kariage sitting on his toilet as he sprayed disinfectant on his cuts, the barrack stopping them from becoming friends had broken. They joked easily and the smoke user was able to pull some genuine laughs out of Katsuki. Conversation flowed easily like a river, not one of those rushing rivers that eroded everything in its path. But more of a calm river that led to a lake, reviving freshwater and clear views that voided any sign of pollution. Katsuki had never felt more connected to anyone in his whole life.
So they didn't mention it when Katsuki let Kariage stay longer than he needed to, or when Katsuki slipped his number inside Kariages pocket when he was leaving, or the late night texts, and the early morning calls. They didn't talk about Kariage waiting outside of Katsukis house so they could walk together to school, or when Kariage started showing up to his house in the middle of the night.
