Fingers tightened around the fabric of her white blouse, just over her racing heart, desperate with want. Pink lower lip was drawn between teeth and bitten ever so gently, the desire to taste rising. The butterflies in her stomach multiplied with every second, making her drown further in liaison with the rhythm of her racing heart.

Releasing her lip, a wistful sigh escaped her slightly parted mouth as she leaned just a little more to the side to get a bit more visual of him. Her nails dug deeper into her shirt. The more she stared at him, the more her heart beat even faster.

How could one person be so... unrealistically handsome yet so... unreachable...?

Even with his back turned to her, at that point, seeing Katsuki was more than enough for her.

The boy was leaning back against a pillar with his earphones on. Part of his forehead was his hidden beneath his shock of ash-blonde hair but she could tell from the side that he had his neutral expression on as he scrolled up and down his phone while occasionally typing on it.

He was waiting for the train, as he usually did every morning when he headed to school. Several people were milling around him and with music most likely blasting through his earphones, he didn't pay much attention to his surroundings.

Or to notice the girl who was low-key hyperventilating over him while hiding behind a corner five meters away.

After unceremoniously kissing her in the abandoned building two and a half months back, (Y/n) was, for lack of a better word, horrified. After fleeing from Katsuki, she ran all the way home, locked herself in her room and didn't emerge until the next morning.

All efforts by her family and friends to coax her into telling them what was wrong and why she looked like she was traumatized were all in vain. She still couldn't come to terms with what he had done as opposed to how she should have felt due to his snub. And to make it worse, no matter what she did, she just couldn't forget about the kiss. About the feeling of his lips on hers, his sturdy body against hers, how he had her trapped under him and his-his...

Whipping around, she slammed her back against the wall and buried her face into her hands. She mentally screeched. Just what the heck had he done to her?? And what did she do to deserve it??

All of them unanswered questions.

She clearly understood that it was just a kiss. It meant nothing to her. It meant nothing to him! She also came to understand that it was a way to throw her off and that should've made her forget about him easier.

So why? Why hadn't she yet?

Blushing, she uncovered her face and turned back to risk a peek at him again. She grabbed the edge of the wall she had hidden behind and dug her nails into the brick.

She had tried so much to avoid him. During the time she was hell-bent on beating him, she had mastered every route he took, every spot he liked visiting and every place she was most likely to bump into him. And with that knowledge proving advantageous, she made it her goal to avoid him at any cost. And avoid him she did for those two months.

Until two weeks back when it happened.

Having have gotten used to her new route to and from school, which was longer but scenic, she used it like any other day as she went home.

So she was just walking on the path, earphones in, music on full blast while partially hoping that no car would come out of nowhere and end her miserable life when she saw him. Walking towards her direction from God knows where. After two months of having not seen him, the sight of him literally knocked the breath out of her and caused her to halt in her tracks.

Alarmed beyond reason, she only had two seconds to find a place to hide before he saw her and just when she thought she was done for, she happened to see a store whose door had the 'OPEN' sign hanging from inside. And without waiting for an invitation, she immediately ran into it and banged the door behind her, mentally cursing when the bell above the door loudly jingled. Turning around to look scrutinize the store she ran into, it didn't take long for her to realize that the store was actually a tattoo parlor. It wasn't the worst hiding place, if you ignored the questionable looks she got from the tatted-up receptionist.

Sending the confused lady a sheepish smile, she flattened herself against the wall adjacent to the door and waited. She had no reason whatsoever to run and hide from him but all she knew was that she had to run and hide from him.

Leaning her head back against the wall, she briefly closed her eyes and let out a sigh. Opening them, she turned her head to the side and focused on the spying through parlor's clear door to see when he'd pass so that she'd wait him out.

Damn, she had so many questions. Because for one, Katsuki never took that route since neither the direction to his school, house or the supermarket used that path. In fact, not many people liked that path due to some reason or the other. As scenic as it was, it was also lonely and quiet, ideally the reason why she chose it because the chances of running into Katsuki were one in a million.

So then, why the frick was it the one???

When Katsuki's spiky hair appeared in her line of vision as he passed the parlor, she gasped and moved away from the door. Her hands went up to grab the straps of her schoolbag as she kept her eyes glued on his retreating figure. Suddenly, like an ocean's tidal wave, all the memories from the abandoned building flooded back into her panicking brain and she drew her lower lip between her teeth. Images of him pinning her down and kissing her danced in front of her very eyes, mocking her, teasing her, reminding her of what shouldn't have happened between them.

Her expression dulled. If only things were the same back then...

Her fingers tightened around the leather fabric of her straps when she felt the familiar throb in her heart that she had desperately tried to ignore and counter for two months.

It didn't take long for her to lose sight of him, meaning he must've rounded up the corner next to the shop. Exhaling, her shoulders slumped in pure relief and she looked down at her shoes. She had no reason to run and hide from him but she had a reason to run and hide from him, she reminded herself.

She sighed and ran a frustrated hand through her hair.

She had no reason to run and hide from him but she had a reason to run and hide from him...Her heart was the reason.

***

Three weeks later***

"Hey, (Y/n)!"

Said girl averted her vacant gaze from outside the class window towards the person who had called her. The other girl was waving at her from where she stood before gesturing towards the door.

"Let's go for lunch!" she offered with a grin, which (Y/n) returned with a flat look instead.

"I'm not hungry."

Her friend's smile was instantly replaced with a frown and she let out a low disappointed whine.

(Y/n) offered no apologies nor waited for her response as she turned back to staring outside the window and rested her cheek on her palm. From her distant thoughts, she heard another girl coxing her friend to hurry up and head to the cafeteria, which she did without looking back, therefore leaving the girl all alone in the class.

(Y/n)'s eyes, despite being glued outside, stared at nothing as her mind had already zoned out. Her brain felt so heavy and was swirling with so many different thoughts which she couldn't keep up with. In contrast to what she was thinking, she just couldn't beat the nagging feeling of emptiness and lacking in her chest. Even then when she had been left alone, she felt more empty and lonely than she'd feel when the class was full. Like the world was moving on without her while she was stuck trying to attain the missing piece of her.

Her friends, who she would've readily told anything a few months back, felt further away from her than ever. As a result of her pulling away from them due to her issues, they had also distanced themselves from her, writing it off as her not wanting to hang out with her anymore. Apart from the occasional one or two friends who still tried to invite her to hang out with them, she had no one to talk to or rely on.

And it's not like she didn't want to tell them. She did. She wanted to pour it all out, heck, she wanted to scream it out to the whole world. It's just that...none of them would understand. In fact, they'd further widen the gaping berth between them.

Damn, she needed her fix. Straightening up with an inaudible exhale, (Y/n) dug her hand into the pocket of her school jacket and retrieved her phone. Quickly unlocking it, she tapped on the gallery icon. Her eyes roamed all over the screen and she began scrolling up.

The corner of her lips twitched as she stared at the rows upon rows of pictures she had secretly taken of Katsuki. Stopping at her most favorite one, she tapped on it and it appeared on her screen, enlarged and on full display. Gently smiling, she raised her hand and gently traced the screen with her fingertips. Emotion swarm in her (e/c) eyes as they took in every single detail of him in the picture. The photo didn't completely manage to fill up the void inside but it offered a feeling of closure, like she had something that belonged to her. It made her feel like Katsuki was hers, and only hers.

Oh, how she wished she could touch the real thing through the phone. Then maybe she wouldn't feel so empty after claiming him as hers.

Suddenly snapping out of her morbid thoughts, she blinked out of her daze and withdrew her fingers from the screen. Frowning, she quit the application and placed her phone on her desk.

She glowered at the phone with shame and disappointment written all over her face. Inwardly sighing, she folded her hands which were itching for her phone on her lap. She had tried to stop. She really has. Besides...

None of them would understand her new hobby.

***

Two and a half weeks later***

(Y/n) casually looked around the pristine neighborhood. It was quiet, no one in sight prowling the streets or any unusual sound rising up, save for the occasional cricket chirp as most of the inhabitants were asleep. As they should be at two in the morning. Only one or two houses had their lights still on but that wasn't of concern to her at that moment.

She looked heavenward and slightly shivered. It was a cold night, approaching winter. it was a good thing she was dressed warmly to counter the cold. However, her heavy jacket didn't stop the cool breeze that nipped at her ears as it blew through her hair, causing loose hairs that had escaped from her bun to float around her face.

A bit irritated by the hairs that tickled her face, (Y/n) tucked them behind her ear before turning away from the view of the starry night to look back into the room. She pursed her lips.

There he was again, so close yet so far away from her.

Having had chosen to keep his curtains open for the night, Katsuki lay asleep on his bed. With his covers kicked away from his body, the boy lay sprawled on the large bed like a starfish, completely unaware to the audience floating outside his window with help from her wind Quirk.

(Y/n) shifted her legs to cross them into a comfortable sitting position. She did not worry about being caught by him as she had clear confirmation that he was asleep from the way his sturdy chest rose with every peaceful breath he took. Plus, if in the unlucky scenario he did wake up, she could easily and quickly be carried away by her wind from the premises.

She had it all planned out.

The corner of her lips quirked up and she slightly tilted her head as her eyes fell on the covers nearly falling off the bed.

He should really learn how to cover himself up. She mentally chuckled. He might catch a cold.

She really wanted to pull his covers up but breaking into his room would be an even bigger violation than what she was already doing.

Her eyes widened at that realization before she let out a silent, mirthless chuckle and looked down at her lap. Just how far had she fallen to a point that she had begun officially stalking him? Was it when she began following him or when she began taking countless pictures of him? Or was it the first time when she grabbed one of his singlets from their cloth line after his mother had done his laundry?

Sure she stalked him from time to time before the whole abandoned building mess, but that was for strategy purposes and ambush. But now...even getting a glimpse of him through some crack on a window was enough to keep her going for the day.

(Y/n) bit the inside of her cheek and lifted her head up to look back into his room. The constant ache lingered on in her chest and she leaned her head on the glass surface.

Yet despite it all, she regretted nothing.

He knew. She knew he knew. Years of studying him made her sure she knew that much.

Regardless of that fact, he never turned his head towards her, never shouted at her to stop following him, never threatened to kill her for taking pictures of him, and never confronted her for stealing five of his singlets. Not once did he spare a single glance back to catch her in the act of stalking.

And it hurt her. So much. Even before all that, he still didn't regard her as anything of importance. It was her fate to live like his shadow for the rest of his life, she guessed, always following, always attached to him yet will never be able to become one with him.

The (h/c) haired girl breathed out a puff of hot air, slightly misting up a patch of the glass window. She stared at the fogged up part for a moment before raising a finger. Gently, while she drew out a heart shape, her eyes glanced back into Katsuki's room. Somehow, without her detection, he had turned in his sleep and had his back facing her with his covers pulled up to his neck.

Paying no mind to that, she sadly smiled and placed her palm over the heart drawing. She really wanted to be in there with him. He must've gotten cold. She would've gladly warmed him up if he just looked at her. Just once...

"Oh, Katsuki..." her hand slowly slid down the cool window surface, distorting the heart shape as her voice came out broken like her fragile heart. "Why won't you notice me?"

***