(Y/n) paced back and forth in front of the class 1-A door, relentlessly trying to mentally prepare herself before entering into class. She still felt embarrassed about the previous day's unfortunate event despite the fact that she had told Katsuki to forget about it.

Breathe. Breathe. Breathe (Y/n). Just go in, don't bring any attention to yourself, sit down, don't make eye contact with him, pretend everything's fine and it'll dissolve on its own, yeah, that's good.

The female heavily exhaled and took two steps towards the door before stopping in her tracks and turning around.

Nope. Nope. I can't do this. I can't...(Y/n) chanted in her brain, hand on her forehead as she tried to calm her nerves. She glared at the empty hallway, crossed her arms over her chest and rapidly tapped her foot on the floor.

She stopped her foot movements and exhaled loudly. She then tightly closed her eyes and uncrossed her arms to pinch the bridge of her nose.

I'm overthinking things. I should just stop this and get in there...Yeah...just get in there....okay...okay...

She opened her eyes, inhaled deeply and swiveled around, determination etched on her face. She walked towards the door but immediately froze in her tracks inches away from the wooden barrier. All her determination and temporary confidence had disappeared into thin air, reducing her into a bundle of nerves once more.

"Well fuck..." she cursed under her breath, wide (e/c) eyes staring at the 'threatening' door.

"(Y/n)!" a gleeful male voice called, startling the girl. "Why are you standing outside the door?"

(Y/n) grimaced at being found out and quickly plastered on a smile before turning her head to face Kirishima.

"Eijiro! Hi!" she scratched the back of her neck. "What're you doing here?"

The red-haired male arched an eyebrow at her ridiculous question and nudged his head towards the direction of the door. "Getting into class. Where else?"

(Y/n) noticed her stupid question and chuckled sheepishly. "Oh yeah! Hahaha! Of course, I mean, pssht. You're heading to class and...ha ha ha, silly me..."

"Are you okay?" the boy inquired, eyebrows knitted together in slight concern.

(Y/n) nodded a little bit too quickly. "Yeah, sure! Why?"

"You sound like you're avoiding something...or someone...is that why you've been standing here for all that time?"

"Uh..." the female drawled out, eyes darting from left to right before going back to Kirishima. "No?"

Kirishima arched an eyebrow at her unconvincing answer before breaking out into a large grin, sharp teeth on display. "Well, if that's the case then, let's go in!"

Dread rattled her heart at his words and she broke out into a nervous sweat. "Wait! Right now?"

"Yeah! Homeroom's about to start," he pointed out but then paused upon noticing her aghast face and frowned. "Or is there a problem?"

"Problem? No! There isn't! I'm just uh..." (Y/n) looked around, swinging her arms. "Enjoying the silent hallway."

"Uh huh," Kirishima nodded, eyes slightly narrowed at (Y/n). He then sighed and run his hand through his spiky red hair as he looked around before looking back at the girl. "Where's Bakugou by the way? Don't you always come to school together?"

(Y/n)'s breath hitched at the mention of the ash-blond's name and she played off her anxiety by shrugging. "I told him to go ahead."

"Oh okay. Then he must be waiting for you inside!" he said as he began opening the door.

"Wait no!"

Upon seeing this, her stomach almost dropped as she went to stop him but was too late since he had already slid the door open. The girl gasped, her feet remaining rooted to the ground as her eyes fell on Katsuki. He hadn't noticed their presence yet and was busy with his work. Kirishima looked over his shoulder at the immobile girl and smiled.

"Come on in!" he said then grabbed both arms to pull her into the noisy class. (Y/n) awoke from her frozen state to notice she was being pulled inside. She cursed and planted her feet on the ground, applying resistance to the boy's strong pull. The red-head realized her actions and shook his head in disapproval.

"Now now (Y/n)," he chuckled, successfully pulling her in by force and turning her around to face the class. The boy's eyes fell on Katsuki and his grin widened. The girl glanced at him, doing a double take when she noticed his cheeky smile, immediately realizing what he was about to do.

"Wait don't-!"

"Yo! Bakubro!" he called out loudly, attracting a few of the students' attentions, "(Y/n)'s looking for you!"

SHIIIIIIITTTTTT!....

The girl cringed and reluctantly looked at Katsuki. He had stopped whatever he was doing and was now looking at them, specifically at (Y/n). (Y/n)'s whole face turned completely red, mind going completely numb as she remained frozen under his glaring stare.

"Now you're good to go!" Kirishima chuckled while letting go of her arms. He placed his hand on the small of her back and slightly pushed her forward before heading to his seat.

The girl broke the eye contact, eyes falling to the ground as she began walking to her seat. She could feel his eyes on her the whole time, making it even more awkward. (Y/n) sat down, took out her books from her bag, laid them on her desk and placed her bag down, all the while avoiding his face. When she was done, she stared at the board for some seconds before blowing out her cheeks.

(Y/n) turned her head to send the staring ash-blond a strained smile.

"Hi."

"Finally quit avoiding me?" he asked, making the girl flush more with embarrassment.

"I wasn't avoiding you," she muttered, eyes looking away from him.

Katsuki scoffed. "You told me to not come by your house today morning. If that isn't avoiding then I don't know what the fuck that is."

(Y/n) frowned and crossed her arms over her chest stubbornly. "Well, I...I can't help it. It's not that easy to just...forget."

"Funny, considering you're the one who told me to forget about it."

"May I remind you that you're not the one whose clothes got completely burnt off," the girl hissed in hushed tones, (e/c) eyes glaring at the ash-blond.

Katsuki clicked his tongue while rolling his eyes. "So what? I forgot about it, didn't I? Maybe you should do the fucking same. It already happened. Get over it!"

The girl huffed and uncrossed her arms, her blush slightly receded but still visible. Inwardly, she was glad that he didn't make a big deal out of it, realizing that she was the only one freaking out over nothing. But that didn't mean she felt completely comfortable with the idea that he had seen her naked.

She shrugged, a strained laugh escaping her lips. "Huh, I guess you're right. I'm probably just thinking too much about it, aren't I?"

"Yeah. Now shut up and stop talking about it," Katsuki then clicked his tongue, "It's not like there was anything to look at anyway."

Something just died in (Y/n)'s heart the minute those words came out of his mouth. It was like she was pierced, the words stinging like crazy. The smile she had put on wavered as she struggled to take light of his words but failing miserably.

"Ha ha, yeah..." she trailed off, her downcast eyes turning to stare sadly at her books. "You're right..."

Katsuki remained silent, relieved that she had finally dropped the subject and went back to his work.

(Y/n) continued staring sightlessly at the cover of her books, Katsuki's hurtful words replaying in her mind.

Just don't pay any attention to it...he didn't mean it...well, maybe...since when did I start taking his insults seriously and why does it hurt this much?

(Y/n) pursed her lips and opened the back page of her exercise book, taking a pencil in hand and beginning to sketch.

Nothing to look at huh?....does that mean I have like literally zero sex appeal? Not that I care about it but then.....gah! Shit! Have I been parading myself when in real life I actually look like a shitty blob?...But that's what he meant by nothing to look at, right?....Am I...ugly?.....

By this time, her strokes had become more forced, lines being drawn mindlessly over and over as she delved in her sudden low esteem.

And that time at the resort...I wore a bikini....fuck....I must've looked like a shapeless fool....have I gained weight?...

The girl paused and looked at herself. She didn't notice any difference and she shook her head, returning to her sketching.

Maybe I lost more weight...and my ribs are showing...ugh...but someone could've pointed that out, right? Right?! How could you say that? Do I really look that terrible that you can't even look at me like at least I have something? Why do I even care about your opinion about?

The girl stopped drawing a line and bit her lower lip. She suddenly felt self-conscious and insecure about herself. All because of one comment. The painful feeling in her chest had only intensified after her harsh, self-criticism and the only thing she now wanted was to just cover herself up and hide.

All because of one comment carelessly strewn out by a blunt, irrational jerk with little to no consideration when it came to the words coming out of his mouth.

(Y/n) resumed her line drawing, now more aggressive than before as she let out her feelings on the paper. She was now angry. And this anger made her almost tear the page with her harsh strokes. Her face was twisted into a scowl, eyes glaring at the page as her mind pretended that it was Katsuki's face.

Stupid! Stupid Katsuki! Why would you say that?! Stupid fucking arggh!!!...

The ripping sound of paper jolted her out of her rage and she stared at the torn-in-half back page of her book, pencil lines drawn all over. The hand that was holding the pencil was shaking, making her drop the stationary on the book.

"Hey! Fuck's wrong with you?!"

(Y/n)'s frown deepened upon hearing his voice and she turned her head to him.

"Nothing. I'm fine," she snapped, her (e/c) eyes glowering at the puzzled boy.

"Fine then," he scoffed then turned back to his work. "Stop being so fucking weird."

(Y/n)'s eyebrow twitched as she deliberated on whether or not to strangle the lights out of him. His unbothered attitude made her even more agitated. Instead, she clicked her tongue and returned to her torn page, ripping it out of her book and crumpling it into a ball. Tears of anger and hurt had started brimming in her eyes, a painful lump forming in her throat due to it tightening. She placed the paper ball at the edge of her desk and picked up her pencil, ready to torture another blank page with her hurt feelings.

***

(Y/n) remained in her chair when the bell for lunch time chimed, all her appetite having gone down the drain along with her self-esteem. She let out an almost inaudible sigh as she flipped the pages of her exercise book to the middle page, deciding to start on sketching her new hero costume.

A presence appeared next to her, making her stop what she was doing and looking up at the boy.

"Stand up, let's go," he commanded, his glaring crimson-colored eyes daring her to defy his order.

However, (Y/n) was still mad at him and didn't want to associate with him for the time being.

"I'm not hungry," she muttered and looked back down at her book, ready to start her drawing.

Katsuki narrowed his eyes at her unusual aloof character, already irritated that she was not paying attention to him. He took out one hand from his pocket and grabbed her chin, yanking her head up to meet his angry gaze.

"You're seriously starting to get on my fucking nerves, you know that!" he hissed. "Get up or I'm going to make you!!"

"Let go of me!" (Y/n) spat, hands trying to pry his painful, firm hold on her chin. "Katsuki, let go of me! You're hurting me!"

The boy's eyes softened for a moment, his hand immediately releasing her. (Y/n) rubbed her sore chin while glaring at Katsuki. She was already done with him.

"What is your problem?!"

"I should be asking you that!" Katsuki snapped as he leaned towards her. "Do you think I haven't noticed that you've been ignoring me ever since morning?!"

(Y/n) scowled at him, displeased with herself for being too obvious.

"I'm fine. I'm just thinking about a lot of things," she said, briefly glancing at her book.

"Oh yeah? What sort of things, huh?!" Katsuki pressed on, already sensing her bullshit.

"That's none of your business," she sized him up, greatly annoyed with the fact that he still couldn't piece together the real reason why she was acting like that. "So, shut up and stop talking about it."

The ash-blond's eyebrows creased furthermore when she phrased his earlier on words but that didn't mean that he caught onto why she was angry.

"Tch, fine," he scoffed and straightened up, "Don't fucking tell me. It's not like I care about your shitty girl problems."

(Y/n) sent him an offended look, eyes narrowing at him as a silent gasp escaped her. Katsuki clicked his tongue and turned to leave her to her own devices.

The female's blood was boiling, literally. She didn't think it was possible to get that angry but she did. In the back of her mind, she knew that she was getting angry over nothing, especially over Katsuki's words which should never be dwelt on but she couldn't help it. Her mood had deteriorated from the moment Katsuki said those words and it seemed like nothing could cheer her up.

The students all cleared from the class, leaving (Y/n) alone to sketch and drown in her thoughts.

***

(Y/n) completed her fourth rough sketch and held the book up to admire her handiwork.

She frowned upon noticing that her most of her legs and chest were visible.

'It's not like there was anything to look at anyway'

A painful pang hit her chest on remembering the words. She sighed and placed the book down, proceeding to tear the page off, crumpling it into a ball and placing at the edge together with the rest.

I should probably cover up more...wouldn't want to torture other people's eyes with my body...

The girl started afresh, making sure to add more layers of clothing to her costume. By this time, her insecurity and low self-esteem had hit her so hard that it was even affecting her body image. She had tried to think up some positive things about her body but her inner critic was louder and it won.

The sounds of footsteps entering the class made her briefly glimpse at the person. They didn't talk, Kirishima taking whatever he had come to take and (Y/n) continuing her sketching.

When the boy finally took what he was getting, he turned to the girl, noting how engrossed she was in what she was doing. He glanced at the door then back to her before a smile worked itself to his face.

"Hey (Y/n)," he greeted as he walked over to her. "What're you doing?"

"Hmmm?" (Y/n) looked up at him. "Oh hey. Just doing some sketches."

"Oh," he nodded, eyes flickering over to Shoji's chair before turning it to face the girl's desk and sitting on it.

The girl watched him as he looked at the sketch she had newly drawn, choosing to put aside her anger for the moment since he wasn't involved.

"So why are you sketching?" he asked curiously and darted his eyes to meet hers.

"It's my new costume."

He folded his arms over the top of her desk and frowned. "Why? Don't you have one already?"

(Y/n) shrugged, fingers beginning to play with the corner of the page. "It got burnt off. It's a long story."

Kirishima noticed her evasiveness and chose not to push it. He simply nodded and pointed at her book. "May I take a look?"

"Sure."

The red-haired male took the book and examined the sketch, face morphing into a frown.

"Don't you think it's a bit too covered up?" he asked as he gave the girl her book back. "I mean, the only thing visible is your face. Even your neck is covered up."

(Y/n) shrugged and studied her drawing once more, understanding what he meant by too covered up.

She sighed and went to tear out the page but Kirishima stopped her by grabbing her hand.

"That doesn't mean that it looks bad, you know. Don't tear it."

(Y/n) peered back at him, a small smile appearing on her lips. "You think so?"

"Yeah," he smiled back while releasing her hand. "All you have to do is just change it up a bit," he circled the waist area of her drawing with the tip of his finger. "You can reduce here, for instance, ...make it a little tighter, for easier movement. Increase a little bit between the thighs due to friction and pretty much minimize on the material on the arms. If you're thinking about covering it all up then maybe you shouldn't go all heavy," he shrugged and leaned back to drape his arm over the back of Shoji's chair. "Besides that, it looks totally cool and I bet it'll suit you."

The girl tapped the end of her pencil to her lips as she considered his advice in her mind's eye. A smile appeared on her face when she realized how good it actually was.

She sent him a smile. "Thanks."

The boy grinned boyishly. "No problem."

(Y/n) giggled and looked back at her sketch with a new opinion. Though, it didn't fully fit since she still had some doubts about it.

"So, why do you look so down?" Kirishima asked, making her look up from her book. "You haven't even gone out for lunch."

"I just didn't feel like it," she responded, her smile already gone on remembering Katsuki's words.

The male arched an eyebrow at her. "Is it Bakugou? I mean, you look like you've been avoiding him and all..."

(Y/n) shrugged and began twirling the pencil between her fingers. "Something like that."

"Oh, did he...do something?"

Yeah, he was being Katsuki... She looked to the side and nodded. "More or less, yeah. But I'm fine. Really."

Kirishima sighed and nodded his head, leaving the matter be. Silence crossed between them for a moment as (Y/n) went back to her drawing and considered erasing the parts he pointed out. Kirishima's eyes trailed up from the book to her pensive face and he smiled.

(Y/n), swept away the eraser shavings off her book and blew air over it for good measure. Feeling red eyes on her, she looked up from her book and did a double take when she found him staring at her.

She stopped doing what she was doing and smiled. "What?"

"Just wondering how much I can get for your liver," he deadpanned.

The girl blinked. "What?"

"I'm just joking," he laughed. "Don't worry."

(Y/n) chuckled. "I think I should be worried."

"So can I ask you something?" he said, causing the girl to stop laughing and pay all her attention to him.

"I hope you're not asking how much I think it would cost coz the answer is invaluable," she said, making him laugh out. She then shook her head and propped her chin on her palm. "Anyway, lay it on me."

The boy straightened up in his seat and lightly cursed under his breath, making her arch her eyebrow.

"There's uh.....a festival happening in town next weekend and well...." he trailed off, eyes looking away from her as he rubbed the back of his neck, "I thought that maybe.....we could go together..."

(Y/n)'s head perked up, eyebrows creased. Why is he suddenly nervous? "Are you blushing?"

"No, it's just my complexion," he quickly said while looking elsewhere. "So, what do you say?"

(Y/n) decided not to point out how quickly he changed the subject. "Like a date or what?"

"Uh..." the boy shook his head and made eye contact with her again. "No. We're just going as friends. You know, since you seem like the type to be into that kind of stuff."

The girl tilted her head slightly. And just like that he's not nervous anymore.

"Uh huh..." (Y/n) rose a skeptical eyebrow. "Why are you asking me to go?"

Kirishima shrugged and sent her a smile. "You know, because we're now good friends and I thought that maybe we should hang out a bit. Get to know each other more."

"Oh," she nodded. She stared down at her book for a while, at the 'less dressed' drawing before looking up to shoot him a sweet smile. "I don't see why not. Sure."

Kirishima reciprocated the smile, his face instantly lighting up. "Really? Cool!"

(Y/n) chuckled at his enthusiasm, her eyes following him as he stood up from Shoji's chair.

"Well," he jerked his thumb in the direction of the door. "I have to be getting back now before the guys steal all my food. So I'll see you then?"

"Course," she nodded before going back to her work.

Kirishima started heading towards the door but stopped and turned around, a hand digging into his pocket, "Almost forgot. Can I have your number?"

(Y/n) looked up to see him extending a hand out to her. She stared at his phone for a while before taking it and putting in her number. She gave him back his phone and he quickly sent her a text. (Y/n) took out her phone to save his number.

"Got it?" he asked.

She smiled as she picked out a suitable name to save him under. "Yeah."

"Awesome! Later!" he sent her a brief salute and left the class.

(Y/n) stared at the door which he had left from with a dazed smile before pocketing her phone and resumed back to her sketching, her mood better than the one she was in before.

***

Katsuki and (Y/n) walked in total silence, the latter still sulking while the former sneaked confused glances at her. The ash-blond had noticed how distant she was the whole day, ignoring and avoiding him. He'd already pieced together the fact that she was angry with him. Why? He had no idea.

All day he had kept on asking her what was wrong and all the time she'd give him the same snappy 'I'm fine' accompanied with a dirty look. He was already fed up with the mind games she was playing with him. As if she thought he didn't already guess that she was angry.

(Y/n), on the other hand, was still fuming. Her anger had considerably waned over the day but that didn't mean she had stopped wanting to clock him one. She had really tried to stop thinking about it but she didn't. His words would always come back to haunt her, throwing her back to square one.

Before, she had been called and told worse things but none of them even leveled up to what Katsuki said. She didn't know why his opinion of her suddenly mattered that much to the point that it destroyed her whole day. He made her feel like she wasn't special. Like, she wasn't enough.

And that thinking alone bugged her to no ends.

"(Y/n)."

The girl's heart skipped a small beat as she turned to look at the boy. "Yes?"

"What's wrong with you?"

(Y/n) rolled her eyes at being asked the same question for the umpteenth time. "I told you, I'm fi-".

The girl was cut off when Katsuki grabbed her arm, making her halt in her tracks. (Y/n) heaved out a sigh and looked at Katsuki over her shoulder. The boy glared at her as if his bullshit meter was ticking in the red zone.

"Spit it out," he ordered, his fingers tightening around her arm.

She frowned. "No."

Now, Katsuki wasn't one to take kindly to the word 'no'. He always got what he wanted, ever since he was young. And if something or someone ever dared oppose him, then he'd make sure they agreed with him in the end, like it or not. And Katsuki, he did not like her answer one bit.

Clicking his tongue, he yanked the girl towards him, causing her to crash into his body. He wrapped his arms around her waist to prevent her from escaping and released a warning growl when she began squirming and fighting back.

"I told you I'm fine!" she yelled while trying to hit his shoulders. "Let me go! Leave me alone!"

"Shut up! You're gonna tell me right now what the fuck is wrong with you or so help me," he hissed in a low, dangerous voice. "I'm gonna force it out of you in ways that you won't like! So do yourself a fucking favor and talk!!"

On realizing that there was no escaping his grip, (Y/n) let out a mix between a groan and a frustrated yell as she stopped squirming around. She huffed out air through her nose and glared at his shoulder. Color rose to her cheeks when she noticed how close they were but that didn't matter at the moment. Her pride was on the line.

The main reason why she was hesitant on telling him was because saying it out loud, it would have come off as if she was insecure and relied on a boy's comment or compliment to determine her self-image. But she couldn't help it. It affected her even if she tried to leave it be.

I'm gonna look so stupid. (Y/n) sighed in defeat, eyes glaring back at Katsuki, "Fine. I'm mad because..."

Oh shit.

"I'm mad because," she then lowered her gaze in embarrassment, her cheeks turning pink. "B-because you told me that I have nothing to look at..."

Blood rushed all the way to her neck and ears, her body temperature increasing as she risked a peek at Katsuki. His eyes were wide open as he stared back at (Y/n) like she was crazy.

"That's....what you're fucking mad about?" he asked in disbelief.

(Y/n) pouted even more in utter embarrassment. She just wanted to get out of there.

"You've already got your answer, now," she said and placed her palms against his chest to push him away from her. "Will you move?"

The ash-blond quickly wiped away all the surprise from his face and instead of letting her go, he clicked his tongue and tightened his arms around her waist, pinning her flush against his body. The girl gasped at the re-intrusion of personal space as she stared at him in shock.

"Listen," he spat, his face inches away from (Y/n)'s as he continued. "I'm gonna tell you this only once so you better fucking get it through your thick head! You shouldn't listen to what people fucking tell you! Heck, don't listen to the shit I tell you! You wanna hear it?! Fine! You look fucking perfect!! Isn't that what you wanted?! Huh?!"

(Y/n)'s remained speechless, mind blank as she tried to come up with coherent words. Her heart thumped against her chest and she could feel his racing one too since he was pressed up against her.

Katsuki's eyes bore into (Y/n)'s, briefly flickering down to her parted lips before releasing her and pushed away from her. A vibrant, rosy color kissed his cheeks as he stared silently at the girl who remained unmoving on the spot. He still couldn't come to terms that he had done that but that was the only thing that came to mind if he wanted her undivided attention.

"Come on you idiot, let's go," he muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets as he turned away to start walking.

The girl's eyes followed him, brain still reeling in shock and...happiness? His words had left her completely breathless and she felt like she was running an obstacle course on a low-gravity planet while drunk on schnapps.

Did his opinion of her really matter that much that a compliment from him was able to take her to cloud nine in just seconds? Even if he didn't apologize on telling her that in the first place?

He said I look perfect.

A blissful smile worked its way on her lips as she stared at his back, cheeks flushing even the more. Butterflies and giddiness attacked her stomach.

She was completely happy.

"(Y/n)!"

"Oh! Coming!" the girl came out of her happy reverie and she turned to head towards the boy who was waiting for her, a bouncy spring in her step.

***

You don't need a guy or anyone to tell you you're perfect. You're all beautifully and wonderfully made. Always do you. If anyone tells you shit, fuck 'em. Fuck 'em right in the cornea. And walk away like the boss ass bitch you are.