𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐔𝐬

♡︎11♡︎

"I know how to play," I said, shaking Katuski's hand off my arm. "Don't be all condescending with me."

"I'm just trying to help your technique, Y/N."

"I'm sorry, did you become a professional disc golf instructor and forgot to tell any of us?"

He grunted. "You're so stubborn."

"If I had asked for help, I would accept your help."

Sero joined in. "That's the issue- you never ask for help."

"Because I don't need help. Now back up before I whack you all in the head with this." 

Katsuki took a large, deliberate step back. 

I analyzed the positions of the trees around us, hoping I didn't hit any of them and prove him right. Nature had provided plenty of obstacles in this park. A dog to our left barked and then ran past us chasing a tennis ball; its owner let out a whistle. 

I shook off the distractions, stood up straighter, then threw the Frisbee. It landed within five feet of the basket. Way closer than where Katsuki's sat at least ten feet from mine. "So there." 

He rolled his eyes and 'tched' like he wished Fate had taught me a lesson right then and he was frustrated it didn't. Maybe he should open his eyes and see that Fate might've been trying to teach him a lesson. 

Eijiro and Katsuki exchanged a look, and based on Eiji's sly smile, I knew they had secretly agreed on some form of punishment for my behavior. 

"I'm up," Eiji said. He started to throw when Denki stopped him. 

"Your foot is over your marker."

We all looked down at his foot, which was several inches past his marker indicated it should be. 

"Denki, don't be anal," Eiji said.

"Fine, if you want to cheat, that's on you."

Eijiro growled and inched his foot back. He chucked his Frisbee. It careened into a bush off to the right. 
Denki laughed. 

"You got in my head, Denki."

"You let me in, sucker."

Eijiro tromped off to find his Frisbee. When he came out of the bush, leaves all over his shirt, he held up his own tie-dyed Frisbee and an additional bright red one. 
"I found a lost soul."

"The owner's info should be on the back," Sero said. 

Eijiro turned it over. "Lookie here. This Frisbee belongs to a Miss Toga Himiko." 

"A girl who plays disc golf?" Sero said. "That's hot."

Eijiro curled his lip. "I don't know. A girl who plays disc golf? She's probably a dog. Some aggressive, burly thing."

The guys laughed, not seeming to realize I was standing right there. . .playing disc golf. Maybe that's how they saw me. Maybe that's how most guys saw me. 

Denki grabbed the disc from Eiji and shoved it in his equipment bag. "The least we can do is return her Frisbee."

"Be my guest," Eiji said.

It wasn't until close to the end of the course that I knew what Katsuki and Eiji had secretly agreed to earlier. As we passed a muddy pond that tried to pretend it was a scenic lake, Katsuki grabbed me by my arms and Eiji took hold of my feet. I kicked and struggled, but they held tight. 

"You see, Sero," Katsuki said, "let me teach you the proper way to throw someone into a body of water."

"I've always wondered if my technique was a little off," he said, rubbing the patch of scruffy hair he had grown out on his chin. "Please share ways I can improve."

"Well, first," Eiji piped up, and I managed to get a leg free and kick him in the chest. He gasped but grabbed my leg again. "You swing them. Like so." I moved from side to side in a big, arching swing. 

"Okay, yes, I see."

"We're going to get kicked off the course if you throw her in," Denki said. 

"Yes, listen to Denki, please," I begged. The cattails that filled the pond loomed in my peripheral vision on every downward swing.

Eijiro laughed. "Who's going to kick us out? The park police?"

"Then," Katsuki continued, "right when your subject reaches the height of the swing, you let go." And they did just that. I landed with a smack in the shallow water, crushing cattails beneath me. A couple of ducks took flight and I let myself sink into the muddy water that the summer sun had turned into a warm swamp. It oozed between my fingers as I pushed myself off the bottom. 

"You two are excellent teachers," Sero said. "Thank you for imparting your knowledge to me."

I stood, large globs of mud splitting back to their home. "Who needs a spa treatment when I have disc golf mud therapy?" I ran a hand from my shoulder to my wrist, scraping off more mud, and then did the same on the other arm. When I exited I went straight for Eijiro, I managed to catch Katsuki off guard by doubling back. I wrapped my arms around him from behind. "Whose car did we drive today?" I said, my cheek pressed against his back. "Oh, that's right. I call shotgun."

"Your trunk is pretty big," Denki spoke up. 

I gasped and let go of Katsuki. "Denki!"

His cheeks colored. "I wasn't serious."

I smiled. As if he needed to clarify that. Eiji came slinking back, keeping a good distance between us.

The players on the course behind us laughed as they took in the scene, then asked, "Uh, can we play through?"

"Yes," I said, water still squishing between my toes as I walked. "Feel free. We're leaving." 

"Leaving?" Katuski said, faking incredulity. "But we only have two holes left. Come on, Y/N, we can't stop now."

I knew he was making fun of me and what I had done to Mirio a few weeks ago in football when he got the call about his grandma. The veiled rebuke stung. "Okay, let's keep playing." 

"I was just kidding." He put his arm around my shoulder.

I shrugged it off. "No, I want to play. You're right, we're almost done." 

"But you have mud dropping out of your shorts," Katsuki said. "And the image isn't a good one."

"Shut up. Who's up?" I asked as the players now ahead of us finished the hole. I picked up a Frisbee and marched to the throwing point. 

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆　　 ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

At the car when we were finished, Katsuki opened the trunk. 

"Don't be a jerk," I said. "I'm not going in there."

He shot me angry eyes and pulled out a blanket. "I was just getting something for you to sit on." He handed me the blanket. 

"Oh. Thanks." I took it and wrapped it around my entire backside. "Sorry." I shouldn't have called him a jerk, even playfully. I knew that word bugged him. 

The guys piled into the car, but Sero stopped me, nodding his head toward where Katsuki sat in the driver's seat. "How hard is it to let a guy feel useful every once in a while?"

"What?"

"Would it have killed you to listen to his pointers back there?"

I looked at Katsuki, then back at Sero. Why would Katsuki need to feel useful? Had something made him feel un-useful? Was something going on with him that he'd talked to Sero, the "really good listener," about? A surge of jealousy that Sero might know something about Katsuki that I didn't coursed through me. "Yes. It might've killed me."

He rolled his eyes and headed for the passenger seat.