Something Like a Star (B. Katsuki)

Fifteen: Out in the Open

     "We need to talk about what happened last night, rocky." Nadoka shifted uncomfortably from where she sat in her bay window with her legs propped on the wall, Bakugou next to her like he always was, though this time there was a lot less space between their bodies, their shoulders pressed together. Outside, there was the faint noises of honking cars and the occasional passing flash of a headlight, the night calm and the city lights aglow.

     "There's nothing to talk about, Katsuki," Nadoka said, but anyone could see right through the lie, "it was the heat of the moment, nothing more. We hadn't seen each other in a week."

     But where she expected Bakugou to retaliate with anger, she was surprised with nothing more than a little sarcasm as he gave a breathy chuckle. "Maybe, but did you kiss shittyhair right on the smackers when you saw him again after a week?"

     Nadoka didn't answer, but the fleeting moment of eye contact between them answered his question.

     "Look, Nadoka," Bakugou started, and Nadoka cursed her cheeks for reddening at the sound of her name on his lips, "call it what you want, but you wouldn't have kissed me if you didn't mean it, and I wouldn't have kissed back if I didn't mean it. And we need to talk about what that means for us."

     "Why are you being so reasonable and calm? I tried to reject you so you'd get mad and storm out." Nadoka grumbled, crossing her arms like a toddler.

     "Because I—" Katsuki hesitated, no longer able to keep eye contact as he glanced away— "I like you a lot fucking more than I let on, and I'm not willing to let it go that easily. I'm still figuring out all the details, cause it's all confusing as shit, but if nothing else I know that, and I know that I've wanted to kiss your stupid face for a long time."

     "Katsuki, I can't have someone like me," Nadoka whispered, her broken tone ripping into Katsuki like a knife, "my mother left me and my father hasn't even told me he loves me in over six years. I can't be hurt like that again. I'm not— I'm not strong enough."

     Katsuki sighed, and for a lingering moment, neither of them spoke. Then, the blond boy reached to the side and gently took Nadoka's hand into his own. When he spoke, his voice was quiet, almost scared. "If you didn't want this, why'd you kiss me? Do you like me? Or do you think I'm an asshole, like everybody else?"

     Nadoka stared at him and he stared right back, and it didn't take long for her resolve to break in a wave of emotion. "Of course I like you," She breathed, "I like you so much."

     "Why?"

     Nadoka found herself repeating what Kirishima had said to her a few days before. "Because you have your own little tells that give away how much you care about not just me and Eijirou but the whole class. You're a hard head with a soft core and I love that about you. And, I guess I'm like you, I'm still trying to figure all of it out, but after some things that happened during my internship, I can't lie to you or to myself anymore. I have feelings for you, and strong ones at that, but I'm just—" Tears welled in her eyes and her voice dropped to a whisper, her gaze falling to her lap— "I'm terrified that everyone I care about will eventually leave me."

     Katsuki thought for a moment, then reached over with a gentle hand and took her chin between his finger and his thumb, drawing her head up and leaning forward. Shutting his eyes, he met her in a slow, sweet kiss, subconsciously afraid that she would reject him, but she was quick to assuage his nerves by kissing him back. The hand that held her chin drifted upward to cradle the side of her face, then to the back of her head, holding her until he was ready to let go, and she didn't seem to mind. Nadoka's hand slid up his bicep tenderly and soon she was smiling into the kiss.