"How's your mom?"
Katsuki asked the question colloquially. Like it was just a piece of small talk to be exchanged over a meal you two were sharing on the roof.
Your head perked up, the heavy frown you were serving your plate full of vegetables turned to a caught-off-guard expression.
"Hm?"
Katsuki chewed slowly as he met your gaze, his skin and hair golden in the light of the setting sun.
You two'd both had a long day. First work-study appointment for you- bunch of extra class work for him. Having to talk was a bit of a chore, so you both didn't say much as he cooked up something disgustingly healthy.
Didn't say a word when you both made your way to the flat roof of the dorm, set your plates down, watched the auburn glow of autumn set over the landscape.
"Your mom," Katsuki clarified, eyeing the fact that you were eating around your green beans and carrots. "You went to see her Saturday, didn't you?"
"Oh, yeah, she's good," you answered, not really used to anyone calling her your mom yet. The fact that he did brought a little smile to your face as your fork avoidantly clanked back and forth against the plate. "She was happy to see me,"
"Mm," Bakugo sounded in approval like it was a given that she should've been.
He'd been a bit grouchy because of all his extra work, even grouchier that he was falling behind at school and didn't get to go to work studies like everyone else. But when it was just the two of you, he relaxed, his pissed expression reduced to a neutral one.
Around you, now that everything was more out in the open- well he could just let his guard down completely.
"She was wearing the necklace I got her," you said, tapping at the space between your collarbones, your tongue excitedly creeping past your teeth as you couldn't help but smile a bit harder at the memory. "Remember?"
Katsuki looked up from his plate, still chewing slowly as he nodded. But for some reason, his eyes became slightly hooded, his expression more uneasy at your words.
"You okay?"
"Mhm," he hummed, grabbing his water, trying to look away for a moment as he recollected himself. "Just don't like thinkin about it,"
You cocked your head to the side in question, hair framing your face.
"The necklace?"
Katsuki scoffed, shaking his head no.
"That day. At the mall," He clarified, "Your ears got all messed up," His voice got a tad quieter, more reserved. "Cause of that villain,"
In sudden realization, your eyebrows rose.
You both had your own traumatic experience involving the kidnapping. But something that Katsuki never really brought up was how much it fucked with his mind; that his entire life he'd been told that villains are bad and heroes are good and suddenly that line'd become blurred.
"You care about him, still?" He asked, flashes of Shigaraki from your dream the other night flashing through your mind.
His tears, his blood, his tone soft and familiar.
You didn't want to lie to Katsuki. And telling him you didn't care about someone you knew you'd killed for was doing just that.
Your nod didn't come as a surprise to him. Even if he'd never experienced anything but pain and fear whenever Shigaraki was around, he wasn't closed-minded. He could bend to the idea. That Shigaraki'd been the one to numb that pain and fear when it would've destroyed you in the past.
