Kuri wouldn't let go of Katsuki's hand, and her head rested on his shoulder. Five hours into their flight, they were watching their third movie in a row, and Katsuki was half asleep. He didn't understand what time it was, given the plane's mealtimes didn't match Japan or California, but he knew he was exhausted. International travel and the occasional racing of his worried heart had sent Katsuki's head cascading to rest atop Kuri's. His eyes glazed over, barely registering the bright screen in front of him, which played some American kids' movie Kuri liked.

Katsuki had tried not to vocalize all of his worries about their trip to Kuri's home. He didn't want to put extra concerns in her head since Kuri already spent the past week preparing for their trip, both by packing and rehearsing potential conversations with her parents. The trip had the future of their lives riding on it, so they couldn't fuck it up. Katsuki in particular could not fuck up and ruin anyone's perception of him because they would someday be his in-laws, if all went according to plan.

Polite, unimposing, nice—the three traits Katsuki hoped to embody during the next two weeks. He sighed and closed his eyes, lightly squeezing Kuri's hand. Maybe he needed to relax. No good could come of agonizing over both being the best potential son-in-law and supporting Kuri when she asserted her desire to forge her own path.

Hopefully, all would go smoothly, and their mid-August venture across the Pacific would be nothing but a chill experience of sightseeing and bonding with Kuri's family. But Katsuki wasn't allowed to have a boring life, so of course that did not happen.

Many hours and movies later, Katsuki and Kuri hurried through the San Francisco International Airport to the hectic pick-up zone, waiting and discussing the first challenge ahead of them while dozens of cars passed.

"My mom should be here soon," Kuri said. "She dragged Mayu with her, probably to help translate."

"Your dad's busy with work?" Katsuki asked, and Kuri confirmed his guess with a nod.

"Which means we won't have to answer a billion questions to update them on our lives. At least, not yet," Kuri said. "Mama's not much of a talker when she drives, or in general, so it'll be perfectly silent and awkward."

"Great, looking forward to it," Katsuki chuckled, just as a white SUV pulled up beside them. In the driver's seat sat a blonde woman that Katsuki recognized immediately. She waved to him and Kuri as she pulled up to the curb. The boy in the passenger seat looked up from his phone and raised his eyebrows in recognition of them.

"Mama, Mayu…!" Kuri gasped quietly. She grabbed the handle of her suitcase and hurried toward the car, and Katsuki followed behind her, trying to quell his nerves with a deep breath.

Kuri's mom stopped the car and got out, circling around the front to approach Kuri and wrap her in a hug. Katsuki watched Kuri slowly lift her arms to hug her back, only for her mom to immediately pull away.

"It's good to see you again, honey," she said with a small smile. She glanced at Katsuki before asking Kuri, "Is it alright to talk to him in English?"

"Yeah, I can mostly understand you," Katsuki said. All those years of English in school (and Kuri's lessons on how to talk like a native speaker) had come in handy after all. "But I'd appreciate it if you talked slowly."

"Well, then, it's good to finally meet you, Katsuki," Kuri's mom said before hugging him as well.

"You too," he responded. Katsuki wasn't sure if he really meant that, though, considering everything Kuri had said about her.

Since they couldn't stick around the pick-up zone for long, they quickly loaded their luggage into the trunk, and Kuri and Katsuki piled into the backseat. While Kuri's mom started the car and pulled back into the road, Mayu turned his head and leaned an elbow on the center console to face them.

"Hey. We meet again," Mayu said in Japanese, looking at Katsuki.

"Yeah," Katsuki said. Through maintaining eye contact, he noticed that Mayu's eyes were much darker than Kuri's. His hair was darker, too, but had the same waviness as his sister's. "We first saw each other before last year's sports festival, right?"

"I forgot about that," Kuri laughed. "Wow, that was ages ago."

"You know, when you told me you liked this guy, I never expected he'd end up coming to our house."

"Neither did I," Kuri said.

"I don't think any of us saw this coming," Katsuki said, recalling his initial antagonism towards her.

"Why are you bringing him back anyway?" Mayu asked, raising an eyebrow. "It's not like you're about to get married."

"Ah, well, no—" Kuri stammered, pink splashing across her cheeks. Katsuki felt similarly embarrassed by Mayu's statement. "He's here so we can discuss our futures with Mama and Dada."

"That sounds like he's gonna ask for their blessing," Mayu said, chuckling mischievously.

"No! I mean, someday, but that's not the intention with this trip!" Kuri insisted, her face reddening with every word. Katsuki got elated at the word "someday" and brought a hand to cover the front of his face to obscure his flustered grin. "Anyway, just be quiet, Mayu. We've had a super long day, and I'm starving."

"Fine, whatever," Mayu said, turning around. He picked up his phone and went back to playing some mobile game.

With no more eyes on them, Katsuki leaned his head back and closed his eyes. He felt Kuri's hand wrap around his, and she intertwined their fingers. Katsuki cracked open one eye to glance at his girlfriend, whose eyes were closed. She wore a small grin and had her other hand tucked into her hoodie pocket. Katsuki smiled at the sight of her, then let the rumble of the car lull him into a light sleep. He and Kuri napped hand-in-hand for the whole ride home.

When the car finally stopped and Katsuki stirred awake, they were in the dimly-lit garage of Kuri's house. Katsuki released Kuri's hand and exited the car to help unload their luggage from the trunk.

Kuri's mom led them through a door, up some stairs into the main part of the house.

"Are you kids hungry?" she asked, taking a left into the kitchen. Katsuki and Kuri followed her while Mayu continued up the stairs to the second floor. "It's already three, but do you want lunch?"

Katsuki nodded immediately at the mention of food.

"Yes, please," Kuri said, relieved. "The plane food sucked, so I've been starving."

"Alright, I'll make something quick," Kuri's mom said, turning toward the fridge. "Show Katsuki to the guest room."

"Sure," Kuri said before turning to Katsuki and addressing him in Japanese. "Looks like you'll be right here."

Kuri pointed right across from the kitchen to a closed door. She led him inside the room and told him to leave his luggage and follow her.

"What, are we going somewhere?" Katsuki asked.

"You need a house tour, don't you?" Kuri grinned. "It wouldn't be any fun to start off this trip with unpacking."

Katsuki couldn't argue with that, so he followed Kuri as she navigated her childhood home and helped him get acquainted with the space. First, she showed him the downstairs bathroom (he had it to himself as the guest), then the living and dining rooms. They hurried past the kitchen, where Kuri's mom was hard at work, to the last room on the first floor.

Kuri beckoned Katsuki into the room, and once he noticed the desks, hero merch, and awards lined up, he realized this was their home office.

"Woah, this is so sick…" Katsuki whispered, gazing at the vintage hero figurines in a display case. To think that Kuri's parents would have so much cool shit! He wondered if there were any All Might things he could get his hands on…

I need to be on my best behavior during this trip.

"I knew you'd be impressed," Kuri giggled, walking past Katsuki to a giant wall of certificates, medals, and trophies. "But I'm surprised you didn't notice this first."

"What's this…?" Katsuki asked before looking harder at the awards and realizing he had the answer to his own question. Across the dozens of items, the only thing in common was Kuri's name emblazoned on them. "Wow, you really did a lot."

"Yup, sometimes it feels like my mom just signed me up for every possible thing. I swear, I thought about quitting every single day," Kuri sighed. She grabbed a medal off a hook and studied the metallic object in her hands. "I got what I wanted in the end, since I was forced to quit everything when I moved. You'd think that, in a cliche way, I'd miss everything, but nope."

"I wouldn't either," Katsuki said, scanning the awards. "Martial arts, gymnastics, piano—did you seriously do all this at the same time?"

"And volleyball," Kuri smiled weakly. She placed the medal back in its place. "That's the one thing I miss. I just played for two years in school, but at least I chose to play."

Katsuki was always impressed by how Kuri had persevered during her childhood. She had been to hell and back before the age of fifteen, all to become something she didn't care about. She didn't deserve to have her only fleeting passion taken from her.

"You know, Bunny, you're really cool," Katsuki said.

"What?! Where'd that come from?" Kuri said, whipping her head around and laughing confusedly.

"We should play volleyball together sometime," he said. "My mom used to play, too."

"Seriously?! I gotta come over to your house again soon. Your mom is so cool!" Kuri beamed, to Katsuki's delight. Then, his girlfriend's smile began to fade, and she sighed.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing. I just think it's interesting how our moms are so different," Kuri said. "Your mom seemed pretty chill."

"She's only like that with you," Katsuki scoffed. "But, yeah, she didn't make me do this much."

"I'm pretty sure Mama only forced me into all this stuff because she felt like she passed up a lot of chances in life," Kuri said, crossing her arms and evaluating the award wall. "Maybe she just wants me to be better than her."

"But your mom is the co-owner of a successful agency…?" Katsuki said with a raised eyebrow.

"That isn't enough," Kuri shrugged.

Katsuki could understand that sort of aspiration to be the best of the best, never stopping until one reaches the top, but it was weird to relate that sort of goal to someone who resembled Kuri. Maybe mothers and daughters weren't that alike.

"Well, I don't think you have to be better than her," Katsuki said. "You're already perfect right now."

"Oh, Katsuki, you're too sweet," Kuri laughed, covering her red cheeks with her hands. "But you really can't say those things right before I'm about to continue the tour. It makes saying, 'Let's go to my room now,' sound a lot less innocent."

Katsuki swore his face turned as red as his irises when Kuri said that. He turned away and grabbed the knob of the office door, swinging it open wider.

"Ugh, stop embarrassing me, let's just go," Katsuki muttered.

Kuri giggled at his bashfulness and led the way upstairs. The main space of the second floor was a wide area instead of a simple hallway, where there was a couch and a piano. To the right was the master bedroom, which Kuri only showed Katsuki a peek of, and to the left was the bathroom and two bedrooms.

"That one is Mayu's," Kuri said, pointing to the closed white door. "He probably won't want us to barge in, and I know his room is messy anyway, so let's just look at mine."

When Kuri opened the door, Katsuki's eyes met nearly bare lilac walls and a bed with plain white and gray sheets.

"Well, it sure isn't messy," he said as Kuri hopped into the room, past her white desk to the closet.

"Yeah, I took a lot with me to UA," she said, rifling through all the items on the hangers. "But my old stuff is still here!"

Kuri picked out an athletic jacket that read "San Francisco Hero Academy" across the chest, briefly showing it to Katsuki before putting it back. She continued to look at her old clothes, reminiscing about memories associated with each article, while Katsuki turned to inspect her desk. Kuri had left lots of little trinkets around, like tiny animal figurines that had collected a layer of dust.

Katsuki looked up at the wall and noticed a couple pictures of Kuri in middle school, hanging out with her friends and such. They reminded Katsuki of Kuri's current picture wall in her dorm, which now sported photos of her UA friends, too.

"This place is like a time capsule," Katsuki said, leaning in to get a closer look at Kuri in one of the pictures she'd left behind. It was the team photo from when she played volleyball. Katsuki easily identified Kuri by her fluffy ponytail and wide, eager grin.

"I know, right?" Kuri said, still digging through her closet but kneeling on the carpet to sort out something in a box at the bottom. "Look at my old stuffed animals! I haven't seen these guys in forever."

"You have even more?!" Katsuki exclaimed, walking over to look at Kuri's hidden collection. She already had nearly a dozen on her bed at school, but to Katsuki's surprise, her collection didn't end there. "There's gotta be, like, fifty in this box…"

"Mayu and I have been collecting since we were little," Kuri giggled, grabbing a couple animals from the box and holding them all in her arms. "I love having something to hug when I sleep."

"Are those gonna be your buddies during this trip?" Katsuki asked as Kuri took her stuffed animals to the bed and carefully placed them under the covers.

"Or…" Kuri said, sitting on the bed and holding out her arms for him. "You can be my buddy!"

"If you insist," Katsuki said, chuckling at her sudden offer. Her cute tone caught Katsuki a bit off guard, so his face felt warm, but he still bent down and stretched out his arms to hug her.

"Lunch is ready!" Kuri's mom suddenly announced, and the two sprung apart. She wasn't near them at all—her voice was coming from the bottom of the stairs—but that didn't stop Katsuki from jumping back to pretend like nothing was happening. Kuri laughed at his extreme reaction.

"Come on, let's go eat!" she said, taking his hand and pulling him back downstairs to the kitchen. Katsuki was happy to have her lead the way, even if he already knew the layout of the house. He would never complain as long as he was at her side.

The next few days of their trip passed like a calm, everyday breeze. Kuri liked to sleep in, but Katsuki tried to pry her out of bed before noon so they could sightsee around the city. In the afternoons, they worked on their summer homework together and walked around the neighborhood with Mayu. He told them about the games he was currently speedrunning and then challenged Katsuki to fight him—in video games, of course. Katsuki never won a single round against Mayu, and it was so infuriating he had to keep going to the backyard to cool off. He didn't know how Kuri had put up with that smug kid every time he beat her in games.

The thing Katsuki had most anticipated—talking to Kuri's parents—hadn't been bad so far. Her dad was incredibly friendly and eager to discuss heroes and his figurine collection, to Katsuki's delight. Also, her mom wasn't as critical of him as she was when they called in January. Probably because he was now their house guest, and it'd be rude to gossip about him, but Katsuki hoped it was because he was making a good impression on them. He tried to offer to help around the house, like with meal prep, but he was turned down every time at Kuri's parents' insistence that guests shouldn't do work. However, he kept being friendly with everyone, hopefully coming off as an ideal son-in-law.

And then, the unexpected occurred. Well, Katsuki knew it would happen eventually, but he had secretly hoped it would never come to pass.

The first Saturday of their trip came along, and Kuri woke up bright and early for once. She bounded down the stairs, not even in pajamas and holding a bag, and hurried into the kitchen to find a quick breakfast.

"We going somewhere today?" Katsuki asked from the living room.

"I'm going out with my friends!" she said excitedly. "Have fun with Mayu!"

"Oh, alright," Katsuki said, mildly disappointed. He knew he couldn't tag along, or it'd be awkward. He'd be like a third wheel, but for her friend group.

"Sorry, did you want to?" Kuri asked, concern laden in her voice as she hurried from the kitchen to his side.

"No, I'll stay here," Katsuki said, waving his hands to backtrack. "It's okay."

Kuri approached him, holding an apple and a muffin, and gave a small smile.

"Don't worry, Katsuki," she said, awkwardly patting his head with her wrist. "I told Mayu to take good care of you."

"Okay, have a good time," Katsuki said, smiling up at her. Kuri's way of comforting him would always put his heart at ease. "Let me give you a kiss goodbye."

Kuri giggled bashfully and leaned her face closer to his just as footsteps descended the stairs.

"Ew, what did I just walk in on," Mayu said, immediately covering his eyes.

"There's no privacy in this house…" Kuri muttered in frustration before quickly planting a kiss on Katsuki's forehead.

"Just go already, Kuri. Your friends are outside," Mayu said.

"They are?!" Kuri exclaimed, handing her muffin to Katsuki so she could pull out her phone. "Oh, I gotta go!"

Katsuki held her food while Kuri put on her shoes and barely managed to hand them back to her before she ran out the front door. He walked to the living room window which faced the street, and watched Kuri run to the silver car parked in front of the house, packed with three other girls. They screamed and waved excitedly as Kuri approached and entered the vehicle.

Kuri looked at the house before the car pulled away and noticed Katsuki standing at the window. She beamed at him, and Katsuki held onto the image of her smile like a good luck charm as he waved goodbye.

With the light of his life out of the house, Katsuki trudged back to the couch and plopped down beside Mayu, who had powered on the television. The boy turned his head to look at Katsuki and smirked.

"So, bro, what'll we do today?"