Message Received (Bakugou Katsuki x OC)

Chapter Sixteen

Bakugou opened his eyes, the gloomy sky illuminating his bedroom. Rain tapped against the window, as soft thunder sounded in the distance. Normally he would have been up before the sun. Not working was going to mess up his sleep schedule, he thought to himself. His attention was pulled away from his thoughts at the soft snore that came from the figure in his arms. His gaze moved to the ruffled purple hair in front of him. Harper was cradled in his arms, head tucked into the crook of his neck. He could feel her soft breaths against his skin. Her hands still gripped the back of his shirt as if he would disappear any second.

One of his hands was tangled in her soft locks, he gently pulled it away before running his hand through her hair softly. He was so used to waking up alone, getting right out of bed and into his daily routine. This was now the second day he's woken up to Harper in his arms. He feared that he would get too used to this but he certainly wasn't going to stop it.

Last night, he remembered her scream pulling him out of his sleep. He had run so quickly to his room only to realize she was having a nightmare. He didn't even think, the next thing he knew he was at her side holding onto her. There were so many emotions last night. He felt a strong guilt knowing that it was his fault she had been kidnapped in the first place and that was haunting her now. But he had also felt so close to her.

Holding her as she sobbed into his chest, he was able to help her calm down. She was able to feel safe in his arms. That brought him a great sense of pride but also something else he couldn't exactly place. When she had whispered against his ear, calling him her hero. He couldn't explain how that made him felt. He had worked so hard to become a hero, worked so hard to be one of the best heroes but every compliment, every congratulation felt nonexistent compared to her words.

A buzz from his phone took him out of his thoughts. He did his best to reach over to the bedside table without waking up Harper. Reading the message he was instantly frustrated. It was a link to an article from one of the big hero gossip networks. Their favorite pass time was digging into pro heroes' personal business and spreading it everywhere.

A picture of him and Harper going into the ramen place hand in hand was with the headline. Ground Zero spotted with American mystery girl! Thankfully it wasn't a great photo, Harper's face was obscured and it was more him in the photo than anything else. He let out a huff. This was the last thing they needed. He knew that she had purposely used a pen name to avoid being in the public eye. The media was brutal, people were quick to say horrible things about people the knew nothing about. He didn't want Harper to have to deal with that. What if she couldn't handle it, would she break up with him? He had asked his publicist to make sure that nothing got out yesterday, he wanted to avoid this happening but obviously, they had failed.

He let out a sigh. Harper started to move around, readjusting herself against his shoulder.

"Katsuki?" Her soft voice was muffled against his shirt. He felt his chest warm at the use of his given name.

"Good morning." He said as she looked up at him. She stared at him blankly for a moment before a smile lit up her face.

"Good morning." She said, her voice groggy before resting her head against his shoulder again.

"How did you sleep?" He asked. She hadn't woken up again after he got into the bed with her. At least he knew she hadn't had any nightmares after the first.

"Really good." She answered with a soft smile, her fingers ghosting over the shoulder she wasn't leaning on.

He wanted to bring up the article but didn't want to ruin the morning just yet. He figured he could let her wake up more, have a cup of coffee and he could tell her over breakfast. Rumbling sounds from Harper's stomach interrupted them.