♡Call me pretty♡

Today, though, both of you were dead tired as you trudged to your cars. Summer always brought more crime, something about the heat excited everyone, you reasoned. 

Mush for legs and arms, the limbs felt like they’d fall off any moment. So, when Katsuki bumped against you, you stumbled on your feet just slightly.

“Woah–” you went to catch yourself, but Katsuki’s hand had already shot out to grab ahold of your elbow to steady you. He glared in your direction before angling his phone closer to his face. You let a shit-eating grin explode onto your face.

“Don’t say shit, or I’ll trip you myself.”

“But you caught me.” You teased.

He made a sound in his throat, ears just slightly red. Though you could feel him shift closer to you, just slightly and with a scowl set deep into his face. 

Your arms would bump against one another, bodies just a little too close for coworkers, friends. His hand would brush against yours sometimes. Just enough so that you could feel the scars littering it, rough and calloused. 

You bumped at his shoulder as he did yours earlier—a tad too forcefully, because he ended up bumping into one of the parked cars. You felt a stutter in your heart at the way he comically fell against the hood. Laugh uncontrollable as you doubled over, you tried to pull yourself together as you went to go check on him.

“You fuckin—!” He started, eyes bulged out of his head from how angry he was. 

“Sorry, sorry. That was my bad, boss.” You were gripping him by the shoulders, hands slightly trembling from holding in your laughter. A deep breath later, you finally collected yourself enough to stare up at him in worry. 

“Are you okay, though? That actually looked like it hurt, I’m really fuckin’ sorry.” Eyebrows scrunched together forced creases onto your head, and Katsuki was quick to smooth the lines away. He hadn’t realized what he was doing as he blankly stared down at you in some sort of reverie, but when he came to, he snatched his body out of your hold and shoved sweaty hands into his pockets. 

“I’m fuckin’ fine, strong ass. Might reconsider callin’ you my damn sidekick,” he cursed under his breath and upturned his face away from you. Katsuki felt a little too warm for comfort, his stomach flipping annoyingly and what the hell was this feeling in his chest?! Gooey and icky, it almost made him feel disgusted. He stomped forward towards where your car had finally come into vision, and yanked the door open roughly. A sharp gesture with a tut of his chin told you to get in the car.

Settling yourself, you buckled your seatbelt as Katsuki leaned against the roof of the car. 

He wasn’t sure when he realized the switch in his own demeanor. Maybe when you started to show up more in his life. Staying later at the office with him, letting him drop you off at home after stopping by the bar for a quick bite and a drink to wind down from the work day. Maybe when he realized that you could read his silence, that you were still there after all his gruffness and spite. The disgust turned into warmth in his chest, settling in his throat. Made his tongue feel heavy and thick behind his teeth. 

He liked how your lips moved, how they were his favorite feature. Curling and pouting, all teeth and joy when you smiled. Katsuki caught himself staring more than he’d like to admit; memorizing how they shaped around your words. 

You stood in front of him, planner open as you flipped back and forth between the pages. Something about scheduling and upcoming events poured from your lips, pursed tight as your eyebrow furrowed in thought. Unconsciously, your pen came to settle between teeth. Katuski was not listening at all, didn’t hear a single word. Just watched the way your lips moved, how the pen pressed and created a pout on your lower lip. 

“Mr. Dynamight, are you even listening?”

His body stuttered in his seat, lazy gaze going from your lips up to your eyes. He took his time, too. Like he didn’t care he was caught, like he wanted you to know. Red eyes trailing slowly from your cupid’s bow, up to the point of your nose; Katsuki’s gaze drank you in. 

You could feel yourself flush. Holding the planner a little tighter to quell the nervous shake in your hands, you cleared your throat and continued. 

“You have a pile of missions that need to be backlogged. I’m taking home half the stack, and will finish the rest when I get in tomorrow. We’re already behind schedule on a few.” 

Katsuki’s eyes lingered on your cupid’s bow for a second before flitting up to your eyes again. Slowly blinking up at you, he didn’t respond right away. Eyes dark, unreadable as he leaned back in his chair with spread legs. His eyebrow creased lower, sneer no longer prominent. 

He wanted to kiss you. 

The thought should have honestly made him nauseous, irreverent. Instead it made him irritated with a pit of something uncomfortable sloshing around in his stomach. He gripped a little tighter at the leather of his armrests, and let a huff of air leave his nose. 

“Yeah,” he muttered, low and with a rumble from his chest. “I’m listening.” 

Something zinged inside you, hit deep in your stomach and furled across your back. It had you quickly turning your attention down to your planner as you flipped through, blatantly ignoring what had just transpired. 

A soft tuft of air exhaled through your nose before you continued. “Glad to have your attention for once.” You were still staring down at the planner, eyes refusing to lift. Even still, you could feel his gaze locked onto you. Heavy, hot, something swirled in your stomach and made you let out another heavy breath. 

The silence from him stretched as you continued reading over the activities for the week. Not uncomfortable, no, but something had shifted. It crackled in the air, charged it with something salacious. It had you stuttering over your words and shifting your weight from one leg to another–full of nerves and indecency. 

A quick peek up to Katuski, and you saw his jaw clench. His eyes were still locked onto you, eyelids low. 

Katsuki couldn’t figure it out. Could not decide between what was worse: the way your lips curled around your words, or how you were acting so casual with what just transpired. Like he had not just been caught staring at your lips, like he had not just silently admitted that, yeah, he really wanted to kiss you.

The chair squeaked slightly as he shifted in it, legs spreading just a little further. You ignored how he adjusted his pants before propping his elbows up on the armrests, chin rested on his folded and raised hands. He leaned forward, tilting his head up with eyes still locked onto you. 

“You always take work home?” He asked, voice mellow. Still gruff and with a slight rasp, though. 

You hesitated for a second, pen caught between fingers. “Yeah, Endeavor always piled too much onto our desks, so it was either that, or get fired.”

Katsuki hummed and gave a slow blink. 

“Don’t need you wearing yourself thin for me, I can take it home.” 

That made you pause for a second. Made you finally look up at him, a quick peek and then down again when you saw he was still staring at you. You steeled your nerves, knowing he was going to be looking when you flit your gaze up in finality. His face was blank, unreadable. A little too tired looking around the edges of his eyes still, but he still held his focus solely on you. Honest looking, like he was trying to tell you something that he couldn’t express himself. 

You pursed your lips, frowned a little and closed your planner. “I don’t mind, it’s part of the job.” A shrug of your shoulders and you shuffled your weight from one leg to the other, a little uncomfortable at how your boss was still staring at you. You felt like you could not–should not–break eye contact with him, like he’d trapped you. You licked your lips, a nervous habit, and his gaze dropped back down again immediately. Just for a second, but you saw it, felt it. 

Neither of you said a thing as you finally broke eye contact with him, gaze turning towards the clock on the wall. 

“I’ll be in early to try and get some more of this stuff organized. Try to get some rest tonight, we have a busy day tomorrow.”

Katsuki leaned back in his seat again with a slow breath through his nose, watching as you turned to grab your bag. He wanted to say something, anything. Wait. Or even Thanks. Something pulled at him, he didn’t want you to go just yet.

But he didn’t. Just stayed silent, staring. 

You gave a final look back at him, a small wave before you turned and headed out the door. 

The office door clicked softly behind you, and Katuski felt himself settle back into his being. He grumbled a few curses under his breath and let a rough hand swipe down his face.

“What the fuck,” he mumbled quietly to himself, nerves finally hitting. Something gross flowed through his veins. Curiosity? Lust? He wasn’t too sure, but he didn’t like how goopy you made him feel. Katsuki never felt nervous, he was annoyed by his own heart. He wanted you to come back, wanted you to stay with him while he shuffled through the papers on his desk and responded back to emails. He wanted to hear you list off the tasks for the day, wanted to just listen to you talk, really. Wanted to see your face scrunch in confusion when another mission was mislogged, to see you.