PAPER FLOWERS ( k. bakugou )

chapter 6

' midnight boys and girls '

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Wisps of smoke emanated from recyclable coffee cups, pristine silverware, two slices of blueberry cheesecake, potato chips with the extra spicy dip and pet names scribbled on the white surface of the cups for identification.

Crybaby and Asshole.

It was a sliver of fiendish from Kaede, volunteering to order the coffee while he went to the restroom to dry himself off, and naming the coffee owners with those ridiculous nicknames they gave each other.

Imagine the nerves bulging out of Katsuki's face as Kaede informed him that Asshole and Crybaby was the two of them and watch as they bury their heads on the table and the pastel colored pillows on the seats to ward away the unwanted attention from the other customers.

"I thought you wanted juice," Katsuki had said, pointing at the cup of coffee in front of her, a plethora of potato chips in his mouth.

Kaede shrugged. "I changed my mind," she said, primly, never bothering to put a teaspoon of creamer or sugar on the coffee. "It fits perfectly with the weather and all they had was apple juice- I hate apple juice."

"You have a fucking thing against apples?" he asked as he sipped on his coffee, eyeing her with that almost neutral look on his face.

Kaede shrugged. "Just apple juice. I like my apples as fruits or cute bunny slices."

He looked at her again, raked his eyes all over her and with her damp clothes, she feels a lot more hot. "You don't look like the type to like cute things," he said.

"There you go being judgmental again," she said, and put down the coffee. "But I guess it's an observation this time. I'm more of a go with the flow person, so you're right."

"With that get-up," he begun. "Anyone could guess that."

She inspected her clothes. Black and white summer dress stopping eight inches above her knees partnered with white shorts, soggy charcoal black tennis shoes and draped over was a latex yellow raincoat. She didn't see what was wrong with it, so maybe everything was wrong to his eyes.

"Jeez, why do you have to be so cryptic in your insults?" she said and played with the fork before slicing a chunk of the cheesecake. "Makes it harder for a comeback."

But then he didn't respond so after swallowing a euphoric chunk of the cake, she places both hands on her lap and looks at him with cordial red eyes. "So what do you want to talk about? We barely know each other." That was a lie. She'd never tell him, but he knew her in more ways no one did. He saw all that sorrow underneath those smiles and the scorching firestorm in her eyes. He saw her demons.

"Let's get to know each other," he said and she held back a laugh at his words. He had such a neutral expression that it was almost impossible for Katsuki Bakugou to possess such a face.

"What is this? A blind date?" she asked.

"If you want to think of it that way," he said, stabbed a fork through a slice of blueberry cheesecake. "Be my fucking guest."

Instead of responding to the threat, she only put on a pissed expression. "That's my fork and my cake," she accused. "First thing you have to know about me"- she took the fork back with force, pointed it at him- "is that I'm dangerous."

Amusement crawled on his face, capturing every single nerve and he leans his head on a palm and looks at her.

"Shall we begin?" she asked, ignored his stare and how the particular image- two buttons unbuttoned in that almost tight shirt, sweatpants tucked tight, grey rubber shoes, hair messy and that sexy smirk- almost took her breath away.