Summary: Katsuki is dealing with the aftermath of his capture by the Sludge Villian when he runs into a mysterious girl who gives him another perspective.

Katsuki never liked running errands for his old hag, but ever since that Sludge Villain had gotten ahold of him and All Might came to take the villain down, he hated the activity with a passion.

Even weeks after the incident, people were still noticing him, talking about him. Pitying him.

The whispers, the stares, they were everywhere, but it was the worst when he was stuck on the train. Listening to the buzzing crowd.

'Hey, I think that's the kid.'

'Where?'

'The one with the spiky hair?'

'Yeah, that's definitely the Sludge Villain's victim.'

'Oh yeah! I heard he fought back the whole time!'

'Poor kid, that must have been an awful ordeal. Thank goodness for All Might.'

'Yeah, thank goodness All Might saved him.'

Katsuki shoved his fists in his pockets, a tried and true solution to his overactive and dangerous sweat glands, and practically ground his teeth in a self-destructive attempt to just ignore them. He didn't get why these nobodies were still so wrapped up in one stupid little villain attack. They happened all the time. It wasn't anything special.

As the whispering continued to buzz around him, Katsuki considered telling the gossiping losers to fuck off. Of course, if he started a fight on the way home, one of his neighbors might rat him out to his mother, and then he'd get an earful at home.

Instead, Katsuki took a deep breath and counted the tiles on the floor something like five times before his stop came. He shouldered out of the train as fast as possible, eyes glued to the floor as he rushed down the street to his old hag's stupid favorite convienience store.

Just get the stupid ice cream and get out. Get the ice cream and get out. He ran over his goal again and again, attempting to ignore the sprinkling of whispers and stares that still followed him.

As he waited impatiently in line to check out, however, he felt a tap on his shoulder. The invasion of his personal space made him so tense he nearly shouted at the idiot that bothered him.

"Hey, you're that kid that was attacked by the Sludge Villain, right?" Some dumb fucking extra stood in front of him with those sick, pity-filled eyes asked. Why he thought it was a good idea to ask after the murderous glare that Katsuki gave him, he'd never know.

He could feel his blood boiling, his wrists tensing to activate his quirk. Why couldn't these extras just leave him the fuck alone? He was fucking fine. Yeah he was super fucking brave or whatever. No he didn't still have nightmares; gasping and gulping for air, eyes burning, quirk out of control as he tried desperately to escape.

Why the hell couldn't everyone just fucking drop it?

"Hey kid, let me just say-" The fucking extra continued talking as if nothing was wrong, as if he couldn't tell that Katsuki was two fucking centimeters from saying fuck his hag mom fuck if he gets banned from this stupid store, he was going to beat this asshole within an inch of his life.

"Yo, you're holding up the line with this whole not-minding-your-business business." The anger bubbling barely beneath his surface popped in surprise when a girl behind him leaned over and intervened. She was about his age, dark skinned with heavy lids, her face fixed in a bored, almost irritated expression.

"Excuse me?" The extra replied, taken aback by the girl's forwardness.

"I said you need to mind your business. Who cares if he's famous or whatever? Pay for your shit and move along." Her voice was flat and serious.

The extra backed down, stuttering and apologizing as he skittered away, realizing how awkward this whole situation had become.

Katsuki tried to just shrug the incident off, but the more he thought of it, the more his temper flared right back up. At how he looked to everyone in the store, how this extra of a girl might think she's saving him. He didn't need someone to speak up for him.

"I didn't need your stupid help, Sheep Hair!" He snapped the insult at her even as part of him wondered how her dark afro might feel if he did touch it - it looked bouncy, soft. Maybe it even smelled like flowers, girls liked smelling like flowers, or so he heard.

The girl blinked and looked over at him with her eyebrows raised, seemingly no more bothered at being screamed at and insulted than if he had just greeted her casually. She leaned back into line and snapped open a book with one hand. His eyes briefly ran over the title; Circle Walking 101. What weirdo fucking topic to read out in public.

"That's an interesting way to say thank you. You're welcome." She replied pointedly, and Katsuki could swear he saw a hint of a smile show through that insufferably blank expression on her face.That irritating response brought Katsuki back to a full boil. He ignored the cashier as his turn came to pay, throwing down the exact change and snatching up the ice cream without a bag. However, rather than stalking out of the store, he found himself hovering near his savior, yelling unnecessarily loud for how close the two were.

"I didn't say thank you! Don't go around thinking I'm some weakling or victim that needs saving!"

The girl blinked and looked up to him without moving her head to follow. "I hate that word." Her brow furrowed ever so slightly while she stepped forward in line. She practically spat out the next word. "Victim."

The way she said it, Katsuki realized how much he hated it, too. It stung like salt on a wound, bringing with it that helplessness he felt as the Sludge Villain shoved himself down Katsuki's throat. It chased him in the dark, where he heard his gurgling, cackling voice in his ear as Katsuki struggled to break free. He hated being a victim. He hated everyone calling him boy and poor thing and looking down on him.

"So something shitty happened. Maybe it scared you. Maybe it still scares you. When that shit happens, people get so wrapped up on the getting saved part. They forget you have to survive until the hero gets there." She paused briefly as if mulling it over, returning her attention to her book. "Survivor. I think that's better. You survived. You're a survivor."

She didn't say it in any sort of comforting way. Katsuki wasn't even entirely sure she was still talking to him, given how quiet she said the last part. But fuck if it didn't ring inside his chest, dampening that angry, open wound that cut open that day.

Katsuki found himself staring at the girl after their conversation had died, feet frozen in place. This gaijin girl was strange with her eerie golden eyes and matching glossy nails, but she didn't seem all bad. And for the first time since the incident, the whispering faded from his mind.

Before he had thawed, the girl stepped forward again and paid for her groceries. He could feel the cashier and other customers staring at him anxiously, as if he was a bomb about to go off. Little did they know he was diffused. Katsuki didn't even know until the girl turned around and walked out of the store without so much as a goodbye. Not that she should have given him one.

He watched her dark purple hair disappear into the crowd and definitely didn't think about her on the way home. Definitely didn't look for her around the shelves the next time he was sent to get ice cream. Cuz she definitely wasn't interesting or anything like that. Definitely.