Author's Note:

I made a posting schedule for stories and put it in my profile! This story will update on Fridays!

Ch. 18

"How do I look? Is it too much? Too little? Or should I change?" Ami knew that she was rambling but she was nervous. The fact that she was barely over an hour away from meeting Katsuki's parents had her stomach in knots. She felt nauseous. "Maybe I should wear smaller earrings?" She lightly touches the big hoops that hang from her ears, looking in the mirror with concern. The pretty iridescent gems at the bottoms of the hoops sparkle as her reflections turns them.

"Shortstack."

"But then I'd have to change my necklace because it's a set and I only have silver jewelry left, these are my only gold colored ones..."

"Shortstack."

She looks up, biting her lip. "Yes?"

Katsuki sighs and crosses the room, gently swiping a thumb at the corner of her eye to clean up her makeup. "You look perfect," He says. "Stop worrying so much. You're freaking yourself out."

"I'm sorry," She picks at her nails, the clack of the overlay loud in the quiet room. "I've just never done this before and I don't want them to not like me." She'd gone out with Mina earlier to get their nails done and relax before this dinner, but all coming back to get ready to go did was make her nerves come back too.

Katsuki takes her face gently in his hands, making her look up at him. "They're going to like you." He assures her. "How could anyone not?"

She feels her heart flutter at his words.

"It's ok to be nervous," he continues. "I've never done this before either. You're also the first girl I've ever brought to meet my parents so I'm... a little on edge too." He kisses her forehead. "But we got this."

Ami takes a deep, calming breath before nodding and looking down at her outfit for what seemed like the hundredth time: A short, fitted, dark blue dress with gold shimmer and long sheer cap sleeves. She twists out her right foot, looking down at her gold flats, and nods. She'd decided to wear her hair down today too, the sides of her hair pulled back and clipped behind her head to keep the curls out of her face and food. "Ok, yeah, We got this."

Getting to the restaurant was easy once they managed to sneak out of the dorms, luckily avoiding their classmates and splitting up to get off the campus entirely. That had been the hard part, Ami claiming she was going to a concert in the city and Katsuki explaining he was going to see his parents. In order for any students to leave the campus they had to scan their student ID to go through the only gate that got through the school's defense system. Getting back in would work the same way, with scanning their ID and checking in.

Once in a car on the way to the restaurant, however, Ami starts to worry again. With all of UA's cameras and security devices, she was hoping and praying that no one paid attention to the fact that she and Bakugo both left around 30 minutes apart from the other. While they weren't the only students who were leaving the campus at the time, having left with groups of kids from the other hero classes and support classes, they were the only two to leave from theirs.

Katsuki intertwines his fingers with hers, startling her out of her thoughts. "You're frowning." He says. "So you're stressing yourself out again."

Ami presses her lips together and turns slightly to face him. "What if they notice?" She asks. "Sure, we timed it pretty well with leaving and we left in separate groups, but I'm worried my uncle might still notice. He's not stupid." She adds. "He's a pro for a reason."

"Then he can come talk to me about it."

"Katsuki-"

"Not like that," He reassures her. "I mean I'll deny it. I'll say you're cool and all but say that I don't have time for a girlfriend when I still have things I need to do. That it never crossed my mind." Then he shrugs a little. "Something believable."

"But you can't look like that when you talk about me."

Katsuki's eyes softened significantly when he looked at her or spoke of her. While no one else had noticed she wasn't sure that her uncle wouldn't either. He did his best to avoid her and not go out of his way for her when they were in public, being mindful of the locations of the cameras on campus so that if he did take a risk, it wouldn't be something that would be recorded.

Risks had been taken, like when Katsuki had her legs wrapped around his waist in the back of the library one morning. Or when they'd gone to train one Tuesday afternoon and he'd let himself get a little too close.. and touched her a little too much. The library and training grounds were the only places inside and around the school that didn't have cameras aside from the classrooms. There was still always the ever-present threat of someone walking in on them, however.

Like the time in the dorm's kitchen.

Katsuki grunts and looks away, brow furrowed. "I'm still trying to figure out how to hide that." He mumbles. "I'm shit at this."

Ami laughs and leans in to kiss his cheek, "It'll get easier." She wasn't exactly perfect at hiding how she felt about him either. After slipping up a few times and catching herself staring at him she'd come to that conclusion pretty quickly. "I'm bad at it too."

Once the driver drops them off at the restaurant, Ami feels her nerves start to take hold again. His parents were already inside waiting for him.

"Breathe." He reminds her softly, taking her hand again.

Ami takes a slow, deep breath, then exhales. "Ok. I think I'm ready."

Katsuki takes the lead from there, holding the doors open for her and talking to the host at the entry way to find where his parents' table was. The plan was really just to walk up to them and for him to introduce her, and while that was simple and straight to the point, it still made her anxious.

The restaurant was a new one, a location that had been opened from a chain of restaurants that started in America. Ami had looked into the menu earlier to decide what she wanted before she got here so she had something to focus on. She had to explain to Katsuki in that moment that she only ate a handful of things as well, having foods she deemed "Safe" and others that had textures she couldn't eat. While that was always embarrassing for her to explain to people, he hadn't batted an eye when she told him.

Ami sees his parents before they see them as they round the corner of booths and her step momentarily falters. Katsuki had shown her pictures of them before so she knew what they looked like.

The host leaves them to walk the rest of the way and Katsuki, still holding her hand, looks down at her. "You ready?"

She nods.

His father is the first one to see them, having been facing the way that they'd been approaching from. His eyes go from Katsuki's face, to hers in confusion, before dropping down to their joined hands and widening in shock. At his reaction, Katsuki's mother turns around in the booth, following a very similar chain of actions but her face settling on excitement after the shock.

Ami has to fight the urge to duck her head and hide her face, feeling the blush crawling up her neck at their stares. It's going to be ok. They're going to like you. Don't panic.

"Hey." Katsuki gives his parents a lopsided smile before motioning to Ami with his free hand. "I know I didn't mention her coming, but there's someone I want you guys to meet."

"Katsuki!" His mom's voice is an awed whisper. "You have a girlfriend?"

"I might have left that part out when you called me." Is all Katsuki says, but the smile in his voice is evident.

So Ami gives his parents the sweetest smile she can muster and bows respectfully, "I'm Ami Fujiwara."

His mother stands up, a growing smile on her face. "It's nice to meet you! Had we known the kid was going to bring you we would've brought a gift for you or something!" The way his mother speaks is... very similar to how Katsuki does. She speaks casually in her excitement.

"Oh! Yes." His father chimes in, standing up to join her. "We... We actually never expected Katsuki to bring someone to meet us. Or this, ah... soon."

"At least sound like you two had a little faith in me, old man." Katsuki mumbles.

After exchanging pleasantries and their introductions, Katsuki's mom -Mitsuki- joins his father -Masaru- on his side of the booth, allowing Ami and Katsuki to sit next to each other.

Katsuki's mother, who had immediately insisted she address her by her name rather than family name, was practically glowing in her seat across from Ami. "How long have you two been dating?" She asks.

"Not for very long," Ami admits. "We've been friends since the beginning of this school year, though." Well, for the most part.

"Are you in the other hero class?" His father asks then. "I don't recognize you from his."

"She transferred at the start of the year." Katsuki replies, sipping at his drink. "She's in my class."

"I was originally at Seiai."

"Oh really?" Mitsuki leans forward. "I heard they were an all girl hero school. Hard to get into."

Ami shrugs, ducking her head from her next words. "They only accept girls with the highest grades and quirks they approve of individually. The tests to get in are... intense."

Seiai had it's applicants demonstrate their quirks on volunteer third year students, and that was only if their grade average was high enough to even get to that stage of the tests. Ami had passed it fairly easily, but it was embarrassing to receive praise for it considering she hadn't even wanted to go there in the first place.

The rest of the night out passes more quickly than Ami had expected it to, and she finds herself laughing more often than not. Katsuki's relationship with his parents was cute, especially when it came to his mom. They had the same temper, she noticed as well. His dad was a lot more calm, on the otherhand, watching the pair bicker back and forth with a soft smile on his face. They ask about school and training, about Ami's quirk and how it works. They ask all the things she expected them to, and hearing them playfully pick at Katsuki about how he finally got a crush on someone makes her laugh.

It all really made Ami miss her own parents, who she hadn't seen since she'd transferred. They lived in a neighboring city, and while she talked to them regularly, she still wished she could see them too.

She wished she could introduce them to Katsuki, like he introduced his to her. She was happy that his seemed to really like her, but she couldn't help but feel melancholy at the fact that her own parents knew nothing of him.

When Katsuki had mentioned their current situation and Ami's promise to her uncle, Mitsuki and Masaru had both voiced -in different ways- that while they didn't like the way Snipe reacted to Ami spending time with Katsuki, they did understand the importance of keeping things under wraps. Mitsuki expressed the want to meet Ami's parents one day, though.

But that "one day" felt immensely far out of reach.

"You've been quiet ever since we left the restaurant," Katsuki says, trying to gently pry her out of her thoughts. "What's wrong?"

Ami was looking out of her dorm window with a faraway look on her face again, not speaking. She'd been silent for the last 15 minutes or so, which was... unusual, for her.

They'd snuck back in successfully with minimal notice and while that was something she was obviously relieved about, she looked like she had a lot on her mind. They were laying on her bed at the moment, and Katsuki had been debating on staying the night when he'd noticed the look on her face.

"Shortstack?" He tries again.

"I'm just feeling... melancholy. I guess." She says finally, hugging herself. "Seeing you with your parents made me miss mine. It also made me wish even more that you could meet them."

Katsuki wraps his arms around her and pulls her to his chest. "I will," he shrugs. "Even if it's not right now, or even soon."

"I feel like my family would like you," she continues. "But they might be influenced by anything my uncle has to say considering he's known you since you were accepted into UA."

Katsuki clenches his teeth in annoyance. Snipe had been the main reason Ami was so scared to do anything since she started going to UA. On top of that, the fact that Snipe didn't seem to think the best of him was irritating. He'd changed. He wasn't the same punk with a hair trigger that he'd been at 14 and 15. Or even at 16. All that he'd been through had changed him, and while his drive and determination had only risen, it was like the pro hero still saw him in a negative light.

Or maybe that was just because Ami was involved.

"Fuck what Snipe thinks." Katsuki swears.

"Katsuki..."

He rests his chin on the top of her head and huffs. "I like being with you. You like being with me. That's all that should matter." He explains. "If I wanted to hold hands with you in the hallways and all that mushy, lame ass shit then I should get to without worrying you'll get taken away."

"You wanna hold hands with me in the hallways?" The smile in her voice is evident

"Shut up."

Ami laughs and Katsuki smiles in spite of himself. He loved her laugh.

"That's the kind of shit couples do, I mean." He continues. "From what I've seen." There were a fair amount of couples around UA, though they were subtle with their public affection.

"But it would probably be harder for us to be alone if the teachers knew we were dating." Ami sighs, hugging onto him tightly. "That would probably mean supervised training and we wouldn't be allowed to be alone together."

"Like that would stop me."

"I doubt it could."

"I don't want to lose it though." He says after a moment. "You make things less fucking annoying. Tolerable."

Ami looks up at him, her nose brushing his chin. "You have been nicer since we started dating." She notes.

Katsuki just grunts in response. He was softening up, he noticed that himself. While he had stopped himself from slacking off on training he was still far from immovable like he was before. These days he'd rather spend time with Ami than most other things, like study or keep up his sleep schedule. He stayed up most of the night texting her or talking to her on the phone when they weren't together, and he always ended up falling asleep hours late because of it.

But it was worth it. Especially whenever she decided to fuck with him and send pictures. Those never failed to keep him up, in more ways than one.

"Katsuki you're blushing."

He hides his face in the crook of his elbow, throwing his arm over his face to cover it. Blushing was something else that was entirely new to him. It was embarrassing but he never really minded when it was just the two of them.

"What are you thinking about?" She murmurs, amused. "All I said was that you've been nicer."

"Nothing important right now." He says, brushing off the question quickly. "Do you want me to stay tonight?"

Ami climbs on top of him to straddle his hips, moving his arm from over his face. "The answer to that question will always be a yes," she says. "But we already took one big risk today, so we should play it safe for now."

Katsuki's hands go to rest on her hips and he breathes a sigh, "Yeah, you're right. You sitting on me like this doesn't help me want to leave, though."

She leans down and kisses him softly, once on the forehead and twice on his lips. When she pulls back lightly, her eyes are sparkling. "You make me really happy, Katsuki."

He feels the blush burn through his cheeks again and he turns his face to the side, looking away. "Damn it, Shortstack. I know you do that on purpose." He mutters, then he looks up at her again. "But you really make me happy, too."

"Do you want to watch a movie before you have to go?" She asks, running her fingers through his hair as she speaks. "And cuddle more?"

The pressure sends shivers down his spine and he hums happily, his eyes drifting shut at the sensation, "Sounds good to me."

Things had been a lot better since they'd gotten together. Katsuki was managing to balance school and his personal life better than he had been before, his grades improving and training flowing smoothly. While he and Ami hadn't trained together in a short while, he was making sure to join Eijiro or Izuku when he could to keep active.

Everything had been flowing so smoothly that it almost made him forget that things were still fragile. One misstep or one slip-up could mark the end of their relationship.

And yet...

Katsuki looks down at where Ami lays her head down his chest, her arms wrapped around him as she flips through movies on her TV.

It was so easy to just pretend everything was ok.