A Slight Problem

Katsuki Bakugo was confused. There was no better way to put it.

He had finally fulfilled his responsibility. He had helped her until the Sports Festival, and told her what he thought about her treating his lifelong dream like a joke. Now, he didn't need to feel responsible for her anymore. Heck, he didn't even need to talk to her outside of their occasional warm beverage. He was free.

Only, he found that as the day went on, that wasn't what he wanted at all. He found opportunity after opportunity to seek her out, whether it was to tease her or to drag her ass to his matches.

Not only that, but Red's speech had made the link missing between her quirk and her drinking habit loud and clear, shattering all the reasons he carefully had constructed to convince himself that she wasn't worth his time. The illusion from USJ hadn't been a damn illusion. It was a memory. HER memory.

Was that why he had still seeked her out, despite his attempts not to? Was it why he had said yes to letting her tag along as he trained? Had he known deep down that something was off without realizing it? Because it had made no sense to him back then, why he spent time on someone like her. He had told himself a long time ago that he would never waste his precious time on someone that didn't take being a hero seriously. And the many women that had never made it past the first date attested to that. So he had pushed her away, and out of his life, cute freckled cheeks be damned.

And then, to add to the load of information his brain still had to process, seconds later something he had been wondering about for weeks came to light. Her damn name. He had been too stunned to blast the other extra out of the way and get answers from her, leading him to get caught off guard by the guy's annoying ass quirk. The Purple guy's words hadn't been what he wanted to hear. And as he was forced to listen, he really didn't like what he was told either. The guy had practically confirmed what he was already coming to realize.

For the second time in his life... Katsuki had been wrong.

He had tried to apologize, despite the physical aversion to it he felt. He really had. But the thought left his mind completely after her family's information was served to him on a silver platter by the only other person he had ever been wrong about. It seemed his karma was taunting him by putting him in the same room with the two people he had been hell bent to discredit.

On top of that, he still had that damn press to handle. It wasn't like he should be bothered. Not like the news would be here in Japan, right?

But when he thought of the world thinking Red was with the Purple extra, it made him kinda irrational. 'Cuz Katsuki didn't lose anything. And he sure as hell wasn't losing to some tired eyed loser. Not after he had just gotten a glimpse into the mind of the little mind reader he had been trying to figure out. Not after the reason he was denying himself had been shattered along with his confidence in his assumptions about others.

The only problem was…

-"You forget that you were an absolute jerk to me, and that I. Don't. Like. You. Anymore!"-

And he had no fucking clue what he was going to do about it.

The words echoed in his head as he found his target. Red still had his shirt on, the black one with a red band logo across it that he wore before any major competition. Hell, he had even worn it to the entrance exam, where he had gotten first place, and today would be no different. Seeing her in it brought up all the stupid comments that the American cheerleaders had squealed about them dating.

When the Purple extra had passed by, it had brought Katsuki satisfaction that it was his shirt she was wearing, and not that extra's.

Katsuki came up behind her, pulling the sunglasses off her face and pocketing them. She jumped a foot in the air, as if she had been absorbed in listening to something. Then again, if what she said about her quirk was true, she was probably always listening to everyone.

"What the heck, Bakugo! Give it back!" Little Red scowled, crossing her arms so that her forearms were hidden, "Those are Momo's!"

Katsuki ignored the feeling in his chest at her using his last name. "You can have them back after you cheer for me during my match."

Her nose wrinkled as she shoved her hands into her pockets. "Nah-uh, you're up against Hitoshi. I'm definitely cheering for him, you're a bully."

He glowered at her words, not liking that she had a reason to call him that. After middle school, befriending the relentlessly happy Kirishima had changed Katsuki somewhat. Not that he'd ever admit that shit. Apparently, it hadn't changed him much though.

Sighing, he tugged her along to the arena. She didn't remove her hands from the sweat pockets, even as he pulled her along, making her stumble awkwardly behind him. As they reached the bench, he let of her arm and quirked an eyebrow at it.

"What is it?" He gruffly asked, nodding to her arm.

"Why do you care?" She huffed, sitting down on the bench dramatically. He rolled his eyes at her theatrics, used to it from their training. Taking the sunglasses out of his pocket, he tossed them towards her.

Red instinctively reached out to catch them, and he grabbed her arm as she did. The milky white scarred tissue on her wrist, the width of a hand, was glaringly obvious in the sunlight trickling into the stadium.

Her eyes widened, then narrowed at his trick. He was glad for once she was drinking, since she hadn't seen it coming.

"This is why you wore long sleeves during training, and today? Are you trying to get a damn heat stroke?"

She pulled her arm away, shoving it and the sunglasses into her deep sweatpant pockets. "I don't need anymore stares than I've already been getting." Red mumbled. "And I don't want America or my parents to know. So shove off, Bakugo."

She turned to leave, pushing her hands deeper into the sweat pockets. "I have the glasses back, so I'll be going now."

"Wait."

She looked back, and he could see her hesitation. He gestured for her wrist. Narrowing her eyes, she allowed it, bringing her hand out of her pocket.

Katsuki pulled off one of his black sweat bands he always wore around his own wrist, and put it on hers. It covered the scar almost completely, to his satisfaction.

He felt relief flood him when her cheeks flushed their usual red around him. It was tempting to lean in, or say something to her just to get her more flustered. The urge was almost overwhelming, and he considered what he could tease her about at the moment.

Red's eyes went from widened at his actions, to narrowed suspiciously, and he quickly released her hand, cursing. That damn quirk, it always caught him off guard.

"Tch, don't get your panties in a twist, Freckles. It was a joke."

That didn't seem to help, she was just more suspicious now. He quickly backtracked. Shit, this was so much easier when he had her labeled as a drunken slacker and didn't need to worry about stuff like what she thought of him.

Katsuki gestured to his sweatband on her wrist. "Cheer for me during the match, and you can keep it. Deal?"

Red hesitated, cheeks dusted with pink. He wished he could read her mind right now, to see what caused it. It was annoying that she was able to, and he wasn't. At least his mind was still a challenge for her. He briefly wondered how much of him she was able to read.

"Deal..." She hesitated, before quietly adding, "Thanks, Katsuki."

He felt his own face heat up as he looked away, putting his hands in his pockets. "Tch."

Walking onto the stage and away from her, he let a small smile cross his lips, before frowning in determination. As he stood across from the Purple extra, he growled.

He had a damn match to win.