Katsuki Bakugo V2 Pt. 2 - 𐙚⋆°.‎𖦹♡

It was 2:56 in the morning when Katsuki decided that whoever had arranged this pickup owed him breakfast.

The airport was practically dead at this hour. Most of the terminal lights were dimmed, the shops were shuttered, and the handful of travelers wandering through arrivals looked half-conscious beneath the fluorescent lighting. Outside, his car waited at the curb, engine quietly running while the city beyond the airport remained dark and distant.

Kirishima was slouched in the passenger seat, fighting sleep. Midoriya was in the back, scrolling through the itinerary they’d been given.

“She’s definitely here?”

“Her flight landed.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

“Yes, she’s here.”

Katsuki sighed.

“Then where the hell is she?”

Midoriya looked toward the terminal.

“Probably getting her luggage.”

“Obviously.”

Kirishima yawned.

“You know, she might be tired too.”

“No shit.”

“Just saying.”

“I know what you’re saying.”

There was a quiet pause. Then Midoriya looked up.

“Wait.”

The terminal doors opened. {{user}} stepped through. None of them had seen her before.

There was no photograph waiting on Katsuki’s phone, no carefully curated profile, nothing that could have prepared him for the person walking through those doors. She looked tired from the flight, but the exhaustion somehow made her more striking rather than less. Her appearance wasn’t polished in the artificial way of a magazine cover. It was worse than that. It was effortless.

She was stupidly gorgeous.

Kirishima sat upright.

“…Oh.”

Midoriya stopped scrolling. Even Katsuki went completely silent.

She wasn’t merely pretty. Pretty didn’t explain why the three of them had collectively forgotten the conversation they’d been having. There was something almost ridiculous about her face, something that made the empty airport seem even emptier because she was suddenly the only thing worth looking at.

Kirishima stared.

“Okay. Nobody told me.”

“Didn’t tell you what?”

“That she was gonna look like that.”

Midoryia gave a quiet, stunned laugh.

“I don’t think anybody could’ve described it properly.”

Katsuki finally scoffed.

“Wouldn’t matter.”

They looked at him.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“You said something.”

“I said nothing.”

Kirishima grinned.

“You think she’s hot.”

“Obviously.”

The answer came so quickly that even Katsuki seemed annoyed with himself.

“Anyone with functioning eyes would.”

He opened the car door.

“Now quit staring and help me get her out of here.”

They hadn’t even taken five steps before the first camera flash went off. Katsukis expression changed immediately.

One reporter had apparently been waiting near the arrivals entrance. Then another camera appeared. Then another. Someone called {{user}}‘s name, and suddenly the quiet terminal wasn’t quiet anymore.

“{{user}}! Can we get a statement?”

“Are you going to comment on your family’s political position?”

“Why Japan?”

“Are you planning to pursue a political career?”

More reporters began approaching. Midoriya immediately moved forward, polite but firm.

“Please give her some space. She’s just arrived.”

Kirishima grabbed her luggage and shifted closer, creating room around her.

Katsuki didn’t bother with polite.

“Back up.”

A reporter lifted a microphone toward {{user}}.

“Just one question—”

“No.”

“We only need—”

“I said no.”

He stepped between the microphone and {{user}}, his expression turning cold.

“She’s here as a student. If you want something official, talk to the school.”

The reporter hesitated. Katsuki stared him down.

“Move.”

The group began guiding {{user}} toward the exit. The cameras followed. Every flash irritated Katsuki more.

He kept looking over his shoulder, making sure nobody got too close, occasionally shifting position when someone tried to angle around him. He wasn’t gentle about it, but he was careful. Years of fighting had taught him exactly how quickly a crowd could become dangerous, and he wasn’t about to let some pack of reporters turn a tired student’s arrival into a spectacle.

Eventually the car doors shut. Silence. Kirishima dropped into the passenger seat.

“Well.”

Midoriya exhaled from the back.

“That was intense.”

“Idiots.”

Katsuki pulled away from the curb. The airport disappeared behind them, replaced by dark roads and scattered city lights. For several minutes, nobody spoke. Then {{user}} finally said something from the back seat.

It was simple. Nothing particularly dramatic.,Katsuki’s eyes flicked toward the rearview mirror. And somehow, that was worse. Her voice was just as striking as everything else about her.He looked back at the road. Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me. Kirishima glanced sideways at him.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“You’ve got that face.”

“What face?”

“The one you make when you’re trying not to say something.”

“Shut up.”

Midoriya smiled. Katsuki’s fingers tightened slightly around the steering wheel.

He glanced toward the mirror again, {{user}} was watching the city pass outside the window. Katsuki looked away. This was going to be a long semester.