A light groan escaped (Y/n)'s lips as she tiredly trudged into the kitchen. It was half past noon and she still felt like going back to bed considering the time she went to sleep.

The girl sat on a counter chair and rested her head on her palms, groggy eyes boring holes on Nanami's back. The woman, who was finishing up the dishes, looked over her shoulder at the girl and smiled.

"Good afternoon! Someone slept late yesterday," she chuckled as she took a hand towel to dry off her hands and turned to face the girl.

"Yeah...just finishing up some series and stuff..." (Y/n) responded before letting out a loud yawn.

Nanami saw this and arched a bemused eyebrow. "Hungry?"

"Mhhmmm."

"I'm sure you know how to make your own breakfast."

(Y/n) thinned her lips into a straight line as she sent the smirking woman a blank look. She then sighed and got off the counter chair to head to the fridge.

"So, did you confess?"

(Y/n) froze at her question before she quickly composed herself and knitted her eyebrows to feign confusion.

"Whatever do you mean?"

The woman rolled her eyes and leaned back on the sink. "You know what I mean."

"Was I supposed to?" (Y/n) scoffed while taking out a milk carton before closing the fridge door with her hip.

Nanami sighed. "Yes, you were. How long are you going to keep this to yourself?"

(Y/n) set down the milk on the counter and turned to look at the woman. "No offense but, this is kinda of my decision. Aren't I supposed to decide when or when not to tell him?"

"I know, I know," the woman lifted her hands in surrender. "What I'm just saying is that most of your decisions are what I would call...sensible."

"I beg your pardon?"

"What I mean is, you're just a teenager. Sometimes you don't make the right decision and plus, what do you have to lose when you confess to him?"

(Y/n) scoffed and gave her a strange look. "Uh...my pride and self-preservation?"

Nanami rose her eyebrows in a challenging fashion. "Oh? And what are you preserving?"

"My pride," (Y/n) answered, making Nanami roll her eyes. "Besides, I already tried last night...or today...whatever."

The woman perked up, her face lighting up in curiosity. "You did? What did he say?"

"I stopped myself."

Nanami's face dulled once more and she placed her palm on her forehead. "And what reason did you have this time?"

(Y/n) crossed her arms over her chest and shrugged. "Well uh...what if...what if whatever you said yesterday happens? You know, what if we get together and then realize that we're not compatible? Or what if he doesn't like me anymore? He could've stopped, right?"

The female felt a tinge of fear and dread if that were to be true. She couldn't imagine what would happen if she were to confess only for him to tell her that he was over her. What she was sure of was the embarrassment and hurt that would come after and she'd rather keep quiet than risk all that happening.

"Are you going blind?"

"Eh?"

Okay, I did not expect that...

Nanami then dug into her pocket to retrieve her phone. "Because I know a very good optician who might check your eyes."

The girl narrowed her (e/c) eyes at the parent. "I'm not going blind."

"Partial blindness?"

"No. And why are you asking me this?"

"Because how can you think that you're not-exactly Romeo doesn't still have feelings for you?" Nanami asked, earning a small shrug from (Y/n).

"It's not like he's recently said or done anything out of the ordinary," (Y/n) pouted, her gaze briefly falling on the ground and back to Nanami.

"He doesn't have to give you flowers so that you can be sure of his feelings. In fact, is he even the type to give flowers?" the woman pondered loudly and the girl giggled.

"He wouldn't even be caught dead looking at one."

A moment of silence passed between them as the giggling died down before Nanami spoke.

"You know...I still don't know how you can have feelings for that boy. He's not exactly the kind most girls would go for. Either that, or you're just weird."

(Y/n) scoffed and uncrossed her arms to point at herself. "I'm weird? Have you met you?"

Nanami shrugged knowingly. "Yeah, you're right. If I was normal I'd be married to that douche ex-fiancé of mine and we'd be having three kids. Instead, here I am... with you."

(Y/n) frowned at the woman. "You say it like it's a bad thing."

"Depends on how you look at it," Nanami retorted back in a lowered tone, earning a scowl from the girl.

(Y/n) shook her head and went back to making her breakfast, heading over to a cupboard to take a box of cereal.

"So, any plans for today?"

The female shrugged as she began the task of trying to reach up for the cereal box. "None why?"

"I don't know. I wanted you to go out today with some friends. Specifically, girl friends. You've been hanging around too many boys," Nanami crinkled her nose as she thought of how her adoptive child is constantly surrounded by boys.

"Is that you indirectly trying to chase me out of the house?" (Y/n) inquired jokingly as she grabbed the cereal box and walked over to the dish rack to take a bowl.

"No," Nanami responded unconvincingly, making the girl chuckle. "I just want you to have some girl time. Like a normal teenager."

"I am normal," the girl mused while pouring cereal into the bowl. "I'm the most normalest girl you'll ever meet."

"With a peculiar taste in guys."

(Y/n) rose her head to give Nanami an unamused look and the woman shrugged. The (h/c)-haired female slightly frowned at the adult.

"I don't see what's wrong with Katsuki. He seems...as normal as it gets so...what's the problem?"

The woman pursed her lips before sighing.

"Well, he uh...how should I say this?" Nanami began with difficulty, tapping on her chin to think up a more suitable and non-offensive word. "He...isn't what most parents would want their nice daughter to bring home."

With these words, it was like something had dropped inside (Y/n)'s chest. It goes without saying that Katsuki wasn't exactly boyfriend material considering his hostile character. So the girl fully understood why anyone would question what she saw in him. It was expected. Just not prepared for.

"...I know," (Y/n) said, her downcast eyes glued on the hard cereals in her bowl.

Nanami gave the girl a thoughtful look and smiled.

"I'm just stating known facts sweetie. I'm not condemning you for liking him." the adult said as she ruffled (Y/n)'s hair. "Anyway, I'm heading up now. Finish making that and you may go out if you like."

(Y/n) nodded in understanding and the woman took this as a sign to leave the kitchen.

The girl sighed and grabbed the milk carton she had taken out ages ago and poured it over her cereal. Her mood had slightly been dampered by Nanami's words.

Her phone rang in her hoodie pocket, startling her a bit. The girl put the carton down and fished the device out. At first, her heart skipped a beat, already thinking that it was Katsuki but when her (e/c) eyes quickly darted over the screen, she knitted her eyebrows in disappointment and confusion.

Eijiro? This is unexpected...

The girl accepted the call and placed it over her ear.

"Hey wassup?" she greeted, a bit curious as to why he called instead of texting as usual.

"Hey (Y/n)," the cheery redhead's voice greeted back. "How are you today?"

"Alive for the most part," she snorted. "You?"

"At home," Kirishima chuckled. "Let me guess, you woke up now?"

(Y/n) smiled and leaned her crossed arms on the counter before her. "Yeah...I slept late yesterday. Binge watching series."

The boy chuckled even more, making the girl's smile widen.

He's so happy...

"Haha. Sounds like you though...Anyways are you free today?"

"Today?" the girl arched a puzzled eyebrow. "Yeah, why?"

Kirishima was silent for some seconds and the girl even pulled the phone away to check if he was still on the line. She pulled it back and was about to say something but Kirishima beat her to it.

"Hey do you wanna meet up? You know...hang out a bit....and well uh...are you able to make it?"

That's what he was taking so long to ask...

"Okay. Sure. What time?"

"Really?"

The girl's face lit up in amusement and a giggle escaped her lips. "You always have a hard time believing I'd say yes, don't you?"

Kirishima tittered nervously and the female could only imagine him rubbing his neck at the moment.

"Well, you don't seem like the type to easily say 'yes'. Why do you ask?"

The female rolled her eyes and chuckled. "Because you always sound so surprised whenever I say yes. You'd always be like 'really (Y/n)? That's so cool!'"

The red-haired male burst into laughter when the girl miserably tried to impersonate his voice and (Y/n) joined in. "Mimicking me? That's so unmanly (Y/n)."

"What does that even mean?" the female chuckled, shaking her head.

"I honestly don't know..." Kirishima muttered, making the girl laugh more.

"Okay okay. Jokes aside," the girl said as her laughter died down. "What time do you wanna meet?"

"Uh...It's one ten right now. So three? Three fifteen? Is that okay?"

(Y/n) briefly checked the kitchen clock to make sure and nodded. "Yeah, it's cool. Anyway uh...I gotta go. Haven't eaten yet and stuff..."

"Cool. So I'll see ya when I see ya, aight?"

The girl giggled and nodded once more even though he couldn't see it.

"Sure thing."

***

Kirishima and (Y/n) walked along the stores of the shopping district, (Y/n) admiring the various clothes that were displayed behind the windows.

"Wow, they all look so pretty..." she lulled, dangerously coveting all the beautiful designer clothes on display.

"You already bought some already," Kirishima chuckled as he held up the shopping bags in his hands. "Aren't these enough?"

"There is simply no such thing as enough clothes," (Y/n) scoffed jokingly while rolling her eyes at the male.

"Whatever you say m'lady," the red-head laughed as he allowed the girl to window shop to her heart's content.

Ever since they had met in the shopping district, they had gone out for some ice cream, played some video games and lastly went shopping. The reason for all that was unknown to (Y/n), who asked him numerously times why had taken her out only for him to simply respond with a 'I just like hanging out with you' and a 'Take it as my way of apologizing for chasing you while I was zombified'.

Even though the girl would brush it off for some time, she couldn't help but wonder why Kirishima was interacting with her like this. It took her back to when her aunt said that she was hanging out with too many boys and she could see the truth in her words. (Y/n) had no problem with it, though, she'd be damned if another boy did show up in her life. She had 'too many' on her plate. An ex who recently started talking to her, a classmate who suspiciously asked her out to the festival and was treating her out for unknown reasons and her best friend who also so happens to be her crush.

Speaking of crushes...

(Y/n) stopped looking around to take out her phone for the millionth time and scroll down her feed, a deep frown appearing when she found no single text or call from Katsuki. They hadn't talked ever since her irrational call in the dead of the night and (Y/n) was getting internally restless. She was already missing him, as pathetic as that sounded and what she thought was more pathetic was the fact that she didn't have the balls to call or text him. The girl felt like she'd only bother him if he did so but that didn't help with the fact that she was utterly missing him.

"(Y/n)?"

Said girl jumped with a start, a gasp escaping her lips as she instinctively pocketed her phone. She looked up at the confused male walking beside her and she sighed.

"Fuck.....don't do that. You scared the living dead out of me..." she muttered, placing a hand on her racing heart.

"Sorry," Kirishima smiled apologetically. "It's only that you were looking at your phone like it was some kind of evil enigma. I was worried you'd melt it or something..."

The girl sent him a forced smile as she took out her phone again. "No. It's just that I was expecting a message but I guess the person forgot."

For my sanity's sake, I hope he forgot and not that he's ignoring me. Fuck! What if he's ignoring me?! I'd die...figuratively speaking!!

"Oh...well for this person's sake, I hope they send that message soon," Kirishima smiled upon noticing her creased eyebrows and the deep frown.

(Y/n) scoffed and looked down at her phone. "Yeah for his sake I-umph!"

The girl was cut short when she collided against a hard chest, causing her to be disoriented and stumble back. She gasped when she realized she was falling back and tightly closed her eyes to brace herself for the hard fall which surprisingly didn't arrive. Someone had wrapped their arms around her waist, catching her just in time and pulled her body into their chest.

The girl hesitantly opened her eyes to see what was happening only for them to meet with sea-blue eyes looking down at her.

"Wow cheeseball," the stranger smirked coyly. "Already falling for me again? You haven't even said hi yet."

The girl gasped, her eyes widening as her heart skipped numerous beats.

Fuck no no no no no no! It can't be!

(Y/n) remained immobilized in the boy's arms, gawking at him in shock and recognition. The blond male chuckled at her reaction and slowly straightened up, unwrapping his arms around her so that she could take a few steps back.

The girl still had the look of stark surprise on her face, her lips parted as her eyes remained glued onto the boy. She even failed to hear Kirishima's concerned questions and apologies for not preventing the accident as she remained in her reverie. Her reeling mind tried to form coherent words, which proved to be quite hard.

Like a harsh slap to the face, reality finally set in and she shook herself out of her dazed reverie to send a harsh glare to the boy.

"You're back," she said, her scowl intensifying. "Didn't think I'd see your stupid face in Musutafu again.

The extremely confused red-head beside her looked back and forth between the two before realizing that they knew each other and that his presence was currently unnecessary.

He awkwardly cleared his throat and shifted the bags to one hand so that he can point at a distance. "I uh...I'm gonna go there...probably somewhere else that is not here..."

When he noticed that none of them was paying any attention to him, he grimaced and immediately made his presence scarce.

"Well, glad he's gone," the mysterious boy said once they were alone and smirked at (Y/n). "Back to the main question. Remember me?"

"Are you questioning my memory or your relevance?" she spat, the words tasting like venom on her bitter tongue.

"Ouch," he winced in mock pain. "Still bitter about it, huh? At least you remember me," the boy known as Reo smirked as he ran his hand through his blond hair. "I was worried that you wouldn't after all these years. Pierced right through my heart."

The girl ignored him and sized him down with scorn. From the last time she saw him, he had changed considerably. He had added red highlights to the ends of his trademark blond hair and had pierced both his ears. He even had an additional one above his right eyebrow but was slightly hidden by his hair. He had grown considerably taller but not too tall, just some inches taller than (Y/n). And if that wasn't enough, his frame was more built, all too visible under his bomber jacket.

Jeez, can this boy get any hotter? It's so annoying. The girl frowned a bit as her wandering eyes returned back to Reo's.

"Still terrifyingly ugly as before. Puberty skip you or something?" she scoffed, upper lip curled up in a sneer.

Reo only smirked and ran a hand through his stupid hair again, obviously unaffected by her hostility towards him. He then took a step closer and hooked a finger under her chin to lift her head up.

"No need to be so rude to your Senpai, (Y/n)," he said and tilted his head as a lopsided smirk graced his handsome features. "But I did always like that sharp tongue of yours. Wonder if it still tastes the same."

The girl's face twisted up with disgust and she moved away from the hold he had on her. "And you still have the Senpai fetish. Why am I not surprised? You've always been a creep."

She pocketed her phone that luckily hadn't fallen during the collision and crossed her arms over her chest, internally taken aback by her new surge of courage. Reo also seemed appalled but it didn't last long as the cocky smile returned, the boy shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Why the hell are you back?" (Y/n) asked one more and shot him a dark look when he chuckled.

Ugh...why does he always do that? Make me feel like I'm asking the most idiotic question on earth...the girl clicked her tongue and drew in a deep breath, praying to all beings above that she could maintain the shred of patience she had with him until the end.

"Answer me," she urged, trying to add annoyance in her tone so that he'd take her seriously.

Reo inaudibly sighed and his hand went up to leisurely run his hand through his hair. In the middle of that, his blue eyes landed on a couple of girls staring at him as they passed by. He shot them a quick, flirtatious wink, sending them into a frenzy of swoons and high-pitched giggles.

"Ugh...Typical," (Y/n) scoffed in distaste and rolled her eyes.

Her snappy remark returned Reo's attention back to her and he took a daunting step towards her, making her gasp in surprise at the unexpected action.

"Is my cute little cheeseball jealous?" he asked in a low, husky tone as he leaned down to her face.

"Jealous? Ha!" she scoffed a mocking laugh. "You poor, misguided fool," her glare then returned a hundredfold. "Now, will you answer me or not?"

Reo snickered and straightened back up before he sighed. "Oh yeah. My bad. I'm here for the festival. I'll be performing there."

The girl arched an unconvinced eyebrow at him. "Performing being a clown?"

The blue-eyed boy placed a hand over his chest, his face twisting with mock pain. "I'm hurt (Y/n). Come on, don't tell me that you don't know my band?"

"Does this face look like it knows or cares?" the girl deadpanned as she pointed at her blank expression.

Reo sighed and shook his head, his hand returning into his pocket. "I'm the lead guitarist for Yume no sheika. Heard of it? It's just rising but I'm pretty sure you've heard some of our songs."

(Y/n) pursed her lips as she tried to recall ever hearing such a name. Her thinking process was interrupted when she heard the boy softly sing some lyrics to a song, his eyes looking expectantly into (Y/n)'s own. The girl paid close attention to his words and they slowly started to sound familiar. Only...

"Never heard of it," she said with no hesitation.

The boy stopped singing and frowned. "Ah, too bad then."

(Y/n) sent him a fake smile which immediately dropped when Reo's face lit up once again.

What is he up to now?

"Do you know 'That Girl At The Back," he asked. When she shook her head, he continued. "Well, it's one of the debut songs that I single-handedly wrote. Took me days but I finished it. Wanna know what it is about?" the female shook her head again but Reo ignored her. "Well, it's about this beautiful girl who used to sit in the back row in music class because she was always afraid of being picked to perform solo. And when she didn't think anyone was looking, she'd always lip syncing her heart out. To others, she was always weird but to me, she was the most beautiful symphony in the whole music room."

Unimpressed, (Y/n) gave him a blank look. How many brain cells did it take for him to come up with that line...in his case, not many...well? She drew in a sharp breath. Better humor him while I still can.

"Don't tell me!" (Y/n)'s eyes comically widened. "You wrote that song for me?!" She dramatically gasped and placed a hand on her chest. "By the walls!"

The blonde's mouth curled down into a frown and he jammed his hands into the front pockets of his jacket. "You don't believe me, don't you?"

She narrowed her eyes and sent him a smug smile. "I wouldn't believe you even if you said that plants were green."

Reo sighed before a smirk appeared on his face the longer he stared at her angry face. He gently flicked her forehead and she swatted his hand away.

"Don't do that!" she shrieked, already fed up with his presence. "Don't you have somewhere else to go? Songs to rehearse? A mirror to marry? A girlfriend to annoy with your suffocating presence?"

"What are you talking about? You're the only girl in my life, (Y/n)," the boy rose an eyebrow at her. "Now that I've found you, do you think that I'm going to leave you so easily?"

The girl opened her mouth to curse at him but when he took a step towards her, she instinctively took a step back. His brief carefree mood had instantly morphed into an intimidating one and it made the hairs on the back of (Y/n)'s neck stand up, and not in a good way.

"I have one week, cheeseball and as far as I remember," he continued, his eyes glinting mischievously. "It took me lesser to have you all curled up in my finger. So what's stopping me now from doing that again? Hmm? What do you say? One week of pure, unadulterated fun? Just you and I?"

(Y/n) gritted her teeth and uncrossed her arms, her hands balling into fists.

"I'm not the same girl Reo," she hissed venomously, completely hating the fact that he brought up a past she had successfully kept hidden and forgotten.

"Oh yeah?" he challenged, his eyes raking down her figure before going back to her. "Aren't you? But of course, it's only logical. I'm three years your senior and no matter how much you try to pretend, I still have that hold on you, even after all these years."

Stop it...

"Tell me, do you still hang out with that Endeavor kid?"

Stop...

"Did you tell him about our little escapades? How naughty you always were? Secretly messing around with your senior? You didn't go ahead and date him after everything we had, right? Hahaha, oh man, he'd totally hate you if he-"

"Stop it!" she snapped, her face completely red from anger and embarrassed.

Reo sighed and shook his head in mock. "Oh (Y/n). Hasn't anyone ever told you that no matter how much you try to forget your past demons, they'll always come back? Unfortunately for you, here I am. As handsome as always," he stroked his invisible beard and pretended to be in deep thought. "You know, I still have those pictures from that one night...I wonder what your friends will say or your aunt?" the corner of his lip turned up into an evil smirk. "I wonder what your boyfriend will say when he finds out what you did," he arched an eyebrow. "Or did you already move on to another?" (Y/n)'s eyebrow twitched and his smirk widened. "You did, didn't you?"

The girl's fingernails were practically digging into her palms at how tight she had balled her hands. "What the fuck do you want?!"

"Me?" he asked in a fake innocent voice before he smirked. "I came to collect. Did you think I'd forget about our short, intense two months together like you did? I'm not that cruel."

"I told you it was a mistake!" she hissed and pointed at him. "You made me do half of those things I did!"

"But I didn't hear you complain," Reo narrowed his eyes at her, his smirk unwavering as he leaned down to her level. "And get this through your head," he turned his head a bit to whisper into her ear, his lips brushing against the shell of her ear. "I never make mistakes baby girl and if I do, then you'd be the best one yet."

His natural scent of mint chocolate invaded (Y/n)'s nose, bringing about memories and a nostalgic feeling that made her want to gag.

She hated how completely frozen her body was, how her mind was blank and how her throat felt tight. She grimaced sourly. He was right. He still had his hold on her and he was well aware of that at the moment.

Someone clearing his throat made the duo turn their heads to look at the puzzled Kirishima. An annoyed groan emitted from Reo's throat as he backed up before a radiant smile replaced his pout.

"Wassup man!" he chuckled, all traces of his earlier daunting personality gone.

"Hey," Kirishima returned the smile, although he suspiciously looked between the two. "You guys okay?"

"Yeah!" Reo mused and sent a wink at (Y/n). "Just telling cheeseball here how mesmerizing her (e/c) eyes are up close. I mean, damn. Almost three years and they still manage to melt your soul, huh?"

The red-head seemed confused by his words and Reo slung his arm around his shoulder, giving him a somewhat side-hug. "We went to the same junior high school. She was in seventh while I was in ninth. But she's still the same cute junior, don't you think uh..."

Kirishima gave the boy an uncomfortable side-long look, half wondering why he had found him so close to (Y/n) and half wondering why he was pushing him against his side. His gut told him that there was something ridiculously wrong with the guy but he wasn't going to voice it out loud.

"Eijiro Kirishima," the male answered hesitantly and Reo beamed even brighter, unwrapping his arm around the boy to shake his hand.

"Reo Yusuke. Nice to meetcha!"

(Y/n) rolled her eyes at the boy's absurd change of face. His abrupt mood changes stopped being a surprise to her after getting to know him. To others, he was always the charming, smooth-talking, cheerful Reo Yusuke who everyone loved and adored. But when he was alone with her, even though he did have his moments where he'd actually treat her like a princess, he was cunning, possessive, intimidating and never missed an opportunity to play mind games with her. And above all that, back then, she always found herself getting drawn back to him like a moth to a light. And she hated that. All it took was for him to finish junior high school for (Y/n) to finally snap back to her senses. Now he was back and with that 'threat' he had posed, she didn't know if she could protect her mind from his games.

"Well, I'll be heading out now! It was great to see you again after all these years!" Reo turned to (Y/n) and she frowned. "Oh come on now. Let's see your great smile, beautiful!"

The girl retained her frown, deepening it even further.

Reo sighed and looked back at Kirishima. "Women. Never satisfied with a simple compliment. Anyways, gotta go!"

Kirishima sent him an awkward smile.

Reo then turned to shoot the frowning girl a smile and a wave. "Well, see ya cheeseball!"

The blond sent a salute to Kirishima and the boy nodded in response before he went his way.

When he was finally out of hearing range, the girl released the breath she didn't know she was holding. She felt so relieved as if all that time she had been walking on egg-shells around him.

Someone bumped his shoulder against hers and she turned her head to look at Kirishima, who was looking back at her with concern.

"You okay?"

Wish I could say I am. "Yeah..." she chuckled humorlessly. "Just a blast from the past."

"Huh?" the boy knitted his eyebrows in confusion, making her sigh.

"Reo Yusuke. My first crush. The guy I thought I was in love with when in fact I was just being a delusional teen being blindly played by her senior," she said, her eyes averting to the direction where Reo disappeared off to.

Kirishima's eyebrows creased even further, still not piecing up her story. "I don't mean to pry but...I thought that Todoroki was your first boyfriend."

"He was. My first real love, yeah," she answered without looking at him.

"Oh."

"But Reo...he was my first every other thing in matters involving relationships," she added before heaving a loud, defeated sigh. "And now he's back...Well, fuck my life."

***