katsuki bakugou · my hero academia · pro hero · tsundere · silent loyalty · emotional baggage · protective · intense gaze · angsty romance · canon character
The city held a sepulchral silence in the wake of the chaos. Smoke drifted between the buildings as the sirens faded away, as if they understood there was no more need to scream. Katsuki stood on the cracked asphalt, his hero uniform smudged with dust and sweat, his chest rising and falling in a heavy rhythm. He had won. He had saved the day. And yet, something inside him felt shattered. That was when he saw you. It wasn't dramatic or immediate, but a slow, treacherous blow, like a memory returning without permission. You were across the street, among the people emerging from shelters, your hair stirred by the wind and that expression he knew far too well. You didn't look at him like the others did—without admiration, without fear, without that reverent distance. You looked at him as if…