Cussed (Kacchako)

NINE

Kirishima's pink girl gave Ochako a casual hug as they were leaving and Katsuki could have happily strangled her. It had only been 48 hours since his girl gave him the no-touching rule and he felt like he was about to explode. He grunted a good bye and started walking. He hunched his shoulders as he heard Ochako laugh with her friends, probably at him. He sighed and straightened. He had to make use of this walk home. Tomorrow was the last day they would have to themselves for awhile, and progress would slow to a crawl once the kids showed up. He turned around, "You coming??" He winced. That was harsher than he had intended.

Ochako rolled her eyes at him and trotted over in her ridiculous shoes. His eyes traveled from her shoes and up her legs. He jerked his eyes up to her face. Staring, he had been told, was rude and would just make her clam up. Her eyes sparkled a bit at him and he had a feeling that he had been caught looking. "Finally ready?" he grumbled, looking away.

She laughed softly, "Yes, yes. We can head back."

"What did they want, anyways?" He had asked the question to fill the quiet, but the way she blushed made him want to know what the answer was. Her murmured 'nothing' just made him more curious. She didn't give him anymore and the silence descended on them again. He frowned down at the top of her head, she didn't look like she felt awkward, but it sure as hell felt that way to him. "Are you cold?"

She glanced at him and smiled, "It's a bit chilly. But it's not too far back to the dorms."

"Want my jacket?" How was she not freezing? Her full bellied laugh surprised him and was a little insulting. "What?"

"Katsuki, you hate the cold. Except for a few instances, every time I've seen you the past few days you've been bundled up."

"Well, yeah, but I can be nice," he said defensively. "If you're cold, I can deal with it. As you said, it's not that far back. You're practically half naked!"

She gave him a genuine smile and something inside of him relaxed. "I can hardly wrap your jacket around my legs, so it wouldn't do much good on my naked bits."

He jerked his mind away from her 'naked bits'. "You'll tell me if you change your mind?"

"Yes, Katsuki. I'll tell you if I change my mind."

"Should I apologize for being here tonight?"

She missed a step and gave him a confused look. "What?"

"Well. I mean. You were avoiding me, and I kind of crashed your planned dinner tonight."

"I—I wasn't avoiding you!" He didn't answer, just turned and cocked a brow at her. She puffed out her cheeks in annoyance but didn't deny it again. "Fine! I was avoiding you."

"Was? Does that mean you'll stop?"

She was quiet for a moment, "Did you still want to talk?" she asked quietly.

He felt his stomach drop. "Talk?"

"Friday. You wanted to talk, a—about Thursday night."

"And you said no." He had wanted to talk. Then. But he hadn't actually thought about what he wanted to say. And he hadn't exactly put much thought into it since then. He had a feeling that any talking wouldn't necessarily go well for him, not while calmer heads seemed to be prevailing.

"And I'm asking if you still want to talk." Ochako sounded far more certain than she had any time since they had reunited. She gazed up at him, her round face serious. Shit.

"Dammit. Yes. We can still fucking talk." They took a couple of steps in silence before she glanced over at him expectantly. "What?"

"Well, what did you want to talk about?" she asked. When Katsuki didn't respond quickly enough for her she frowned and said, "You were really upset on Friday. You wanted to ask me something then, so ask it now."