Koharu slowly lowered herself down on her knees to look him in the eye. "You can't be serious…"
Katsuki just scoffed lightly.
"Come on, tell me you're joking!" Koharu begged.
"Do I look like I'm fucking joking?"
The sun was just a sliver over the horizon; she had no idea how long she and Katsuki had been there.
"Why are you doing this?" Koharu's voice was hushed, almost as though she was afraid someone had heard him. "Do you realize what you're saying?"
"Yeah, I fucking do. Go ahead, call the authorities, the police, whatever. I don't give a shit." Katsuki's voice shook from barely restrained bloodlust; the grass under his palms was smoking lightly. "I don't care what I have to do, I'll crush him. I'll beat him so bad, there'll be nothing left for you to cry over!"
"You can't! This is insane, you-you're talking about murder!"
"Whatever you want to call it, I'm gonna wipe that bug off the face of the earth." Katsuki grinned. "Then things will go back to how they should be; Deku never should have forgotten what he is."
"Please, listen to me." Koharu moved forward slightly and glanced around to see if the deserted playground was really absent of witnesses. "You can't just kill him for beating you in one match; what about your dream? Are you telling me it doesn't mean anything to you anymore?!"
"Not now it doesn't. That son of a bitch stole away everything, why shouldn't he die?" Katsuki asked loudly. "I tried to get it through his thick skull, but the fucking nerd was still too dumb to understand. He even corrupted you somehow."
Koharu could only listen dumbly at this point. "Corrupted? The hell does that even mean?"
"You always knew your place."
Katsuki was looking down at his injured knuckles; before she would have insisted on cleaning him up and putting ice on it.
"My place?" Koharu voice was more blank than indignant; Katsuki nodded with an almost faraway gaze.
"By my side."
That day, he had meant what she only barely suspected was true.
"He really does-but how long has this been going on? He said always; how long has he felt this way?" Koharu recoiled slightly in shock. "He was jealous of Izuku this whole time."
"I'll get rid of him and things can go back to how they were. Why don't you fucking get this?! Why did you have to-?" Katsuki swallowed back a lump in his throat.
"Izuku's my friend. I never was okay with how you treated him!" Koharu insisted. "I wanted to believe in you, I never wanted to hurt your feelings, but you took it too far. You probably just would've ignored me once you got into Yuuei anyhow; I don't have a powerful Quirk, I was just like Izuku, a nobody, a weakling, a-"
"YOU'RE NOT THE SAME!" Katsuki took her by the shoulders, the tips of his fingers clawing into her skin painfully. Koharu cried out sharply and he loosened his hold just the tiniest bit.
"I didn't care, it didn't matter if you were a hero or if you had a shitty Quirk! Don't you fucking get it by now? You were just supposed to stay with me and be there! But instead you give me the cold shoulder for him!"
Katsuki hands slide down to her forearms. "It's bad enough he got lucky and beat me this time, but now you're rooting for him; you don't even care. I'll kill him if it means you'll stop thinking of him; I don't give a shit, but Deku's going to get trashed even if it means I end up in prison. Just as long as I can keep him away from you…"
"This isn't right...don't you see, this isn't right-!?"
"No, you don't get it! I have to show you what he really is-he's not-dammit, why can't you just forget about that loser?!" Katsuki pounded his fists into the ground, causing dirt to fly up and dirty his uniform.
"That night he called me. He was excited...he thought I would praise him, like before…"
"I won't lose to him again. Goddammit, don't tell me you still don't understand. How can you not see it?! How can I get it through your stupid-" Katsuki lowered his head, his eyes shut tight and his cheeks burning in shame. "Dammit Ko, I-I-!"
"Katsu."
His eyelids flew open; Koharu's hands cradled his face gently. One of her thumbs wiped away a stray tear.
Koharu's lips trembled as she made herself look straight at him. "I'm not like you Katsu, I'm not like Izuku either. I'm not strong or brave or powerful, but this is all I can do to keep something awful from happening."
She raised her head slightly to close the distance; it was pretty dark out by now, but she could still see the look of paralyzed shock in Katsuki's gaze.
"I have to do this. I have to make things right; I'm sorry, I really do have to trick you this time Katsu."
His own mouth was struggling to form words; Koharu would have found it out of place and hilarious in any other situation.
"I love you."
His lips froze against hers; after a second, Koharu found out that the inside of his mouth tasted a bit like spicy udon as shaking hands found their way into her hair; she even felt him letting the strands fall through his fingers.
Koharu was also the first to pull away; Katsuki leaned forward ever so slightly to keep the kiss going as she did so, but caught himself and turned his head to stare at the patch of grass to his right. His hand was still bleeding a bit, so she took it and wrapped some of the cloth from her picnic blanket around it.
"Please Katsu, don't do it. I've always known you could do anything. Don't throw your goals away over a lucky win. I want to be there when you become the number one pro, not going down to a prison cell where you'd rot." Koharu's fingers shook as she pressed the cloth down tightly to stifle the bleeding; tears dropped from her chin onto the fabric. "If you do that, I can't stay by your side anymore."
Katsuki threw his other arm around her and yanked Koharu against his chest.
"Shit….okay, I won't…" he said with a sigh that ruffled her hair; as she pressed herself further into him, he felt his determination flare up. "Just stop cryin' already."
Koharu knew now that his breaking point was her. She did what she had to do to keep both her friends safe and unharmed. The bottom line was he needed her and Koharu's perceived betrayal is what sent him over the edge.
"I was just trying to do the right thing…" Koharu held back a sob, fingers digging into his jacket.
"Hey, you're getting my uniform wet." Katsuki griped, but didn't make a move to release her.
"Katsu, I should get home…"
"You're coming to my place. My parents keep bitching about you not coming over for months."
"Okay." Koharu nodded and both of them stood up; she texted her parents. Despite it being last minute, she knew they would be more than happy that the sudden rift between their child and her best friend was mended.
"Never pull that shit again. And don't think you're off the hook with me." Katsuki wore his usual cocky grin and took Koharu's chin in his hand. "You're gonna need to do more than a little apology if you want my forgiveness."
She pecked his lips quickly and looked down; the melancholy expression she wore was was mistaken for shyness.
"Dammit Ko."
At the soft tone, she looked back up at Katsuki; he was smiling.
Not smirking or snarling or grinning or sneering.
He just smiled down at her, unguardedly happy.
"Trying to be fucking cute. What took you so long to tell me this shit in the first place, huh?"
"I'm sorry…"
Katsuki patted Koharu's head with an almost sheepish glare. "Hey, don't start again. I don't need my mom kicking my ass before dinner."
Koharu found herself smiling as the two of them walked to his home under a starry sky, Katsuki bragging about his time at Yuuei, except he wore an openly expectant expression when waiting for her responses.
"You should try to get along with the others though, pro heroes need to look sociable."
"Yeah, yeah, who gives a shit? As long as I become the strongest, that's all that matters." Katsuki declared. "Besides, I got you don't I?"
Katsuki went on with his grand plans for the future, a plan where he was the top pro hero in the whole world and you were his number one fan. He was brimming with confidence and a renewed sense of purpose.
Koharu found herself smiling; it was almost like old times again.
Isn't that what she wanted?