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Shouto bounced on her toes excitedly just outside of Classroom 1A.
Katsuki was tutoring today, so she had to wait an extra fifty minutes after school, but that was ok. She was patient.
More than anything, she was excited. A little nervous, but mostly excited. It was usually hard not to be excited when it came to Katsuki, especially because she had a plan for today.
"Do you have any pet names for him?"
Shouto looked up from where she'd been brushing Ochako's hair at Mina sprawled out on her bed, chin propped up in her hand.
"Pet names?"
"Yeah," Mina giggled. "Like sweetie or something.”
Ochako laughed. "Sweetie doesn't go with Katsuki."
"Oh," Shouto looked between the girls. "I don't have any nicknames for him... is that something romantic?"
Mina hummed. "It's something couples pick up, I guess."
Shouto was lucky her friends were patient with her incompetence when it came to social intricacies. Even this far into their junior year, there always seemed to be something new to learn. New things to learn that had increased exponentially after she started going out with Katsuki.
She'd watched enough romcoms to understand the concept of dates, but Katsuki's dates were nothing like the movies. He always took her wherever she wanted, which was not ferris wheels, or paths with cherry blossoms, or movie theaters. Usually she just wanted to go to the hill behind campus facing the lake where the cats gathered under the bushes, and sometimes she just wanted to ride around on his motorbike tucked safely behind his solid weight, letting the wind whipping past her ears drown out the whirlwind of anxiety she sometimes spiraled into. She never saw that in the movies.
But the idea of pet names was new.
"Well, does he have any pet names for you?" Ochako asked.
Shouto thought about that. Of course he did. Everyone knew that. "He calls me icy-hot."
Mina shook her head. "Not nicknames, pet names!"
"Oh. Right." She thought about it again. Something romantic... "Mm... does princess count?"
Ochako and Mina burst into squeals.
"Oh my god!" Mina's smile was all dreamy fantasy as she clapped both hands over her cheeks. "That's so adorable!"
"So Katsuki can be romantic after all!"
Ah. So princess was a pet name. Pet names. Something romantic that couples picked up. Because they were a couple now. Shouto and Katsuki. Katsuki and Shouto. Shouto felt her cheeks heating up too.
She did feel all floaty when Katsuki called her princess. The first time he did, she'd asked him why, and he'd kissed her. She was bad at kissing, but he seemed to enjoy her kisses anyways. She pulled away and asked again, and he'd smiled, the one that made Shouto's heart do somersaults. He said she was a princess, his princess to be exact, because princesses are kind, and strong, and beautiful, and nice, and sweet, and he said beautiful again but Shouto didn’t say anything about it, because she mostly felt like bawling.
When had anyone ever said those things to her? When had anyone ever—ever looked at her the way Katsuki did? Like she was something to be cherished.
Like a princess.
She would like to let Katsuki know she cherished him too. But he probably wouldn't take too well to being called a princess.
"What's the best pet name?"
Now, an entire school day of biting her tongue later (because she was still too shy to do anything but hold hands in public; one time Katsuki kabedon'd her and she nearly combusted), she had an arsenal of pet names in her notes app ready to whip out at the earliest convenience.
She peeked through the classroom window. Katsuki was sitting backwards on a chair, writing out an equation for three fourth graders watching his pencil intently. He was wearing his glasses, and Shouto had to look away to squeal into her hands. She quickly composed herself and peeked in again. The scene abruptly changed from tender to mildly violent as Katsuki flicked one of the kids on the forehead.
But he was her man, and she liked him the way he was. Really liked him.
She waved her arm around to catch his attention. He glanced up and immediately sat up straight. He pocketed his glasses, standing up and slinging his bag over his shoulder in one swift movement. Shouto thought she read his lips saying 'later, losers' to the children, but the door was already opening and he was crowding her against the lockers.
"Katsuki—?”
She was cut off by soft lips on hers, a hand on her waist tugging her closer. She gasped into the kiss, hands flying up to Katsuki's shoulders, grabbing at his collar, two buttons open like always.
His lips moved against her, familiar, warm, and she slid her hands up to tangle in his hair. He tilted his head, deepening the kiss, and when he pulled her closer yet, their bodies flush against each other, Shouto felt her temperatures spike.
She would like nothing more than to stand there and let Katsuki pick her apart, but it was getting late, and she didn't want the mall to get busy.
"Katsuki," she tried again, pulling away to peek over his shoulder. "Your kids are watching."
He froze where he'd started trailing kisses down her neck. "Do not call them my kids," he growled into her skin. He lifted his head, eyes flicking to a strand of red that had fallen into her face, and tucked it behind her ear, thumb brushing over her scar. Just a few months ago Shouto would have flinched away from that touch. Not anymore.
The hallways were empty. The only onlookers were the three kids gawking at Katsuki like he'd grown a second head, and they couldn't hear anyways.
"Um," Shouto started. Katsuki was staring at her with that smile, that smile, and her mind went blank. Good thing she had backup.
She fumbled for her phone, opening it and navigating to her notes app with clumsy fingers.
"Um—" She wrote too many. Which one was she supposed to use? "Uh, um…
“Honey...?"
She glanced up. Mina said that one was the most romantic.
Katsuki didn't say anything. He was kind of frozen, so Shouto continued. "Honey, so you know how that dance is coming up? Well, I don't have anything to wear, and I want to match with you, so I thought maybe we could go shopping together."
It seemed the pet name had gone over his head. Or maybe Shouto had been so smooth with it he hadn't even noticed.
"What?"
"Well,” she started again, playing with the ends of Katsuki’s hair, “the school dance is coming up, and—”
"What did you call me?"
Ah. It seemed she had no such luck. "Oh, that’s..."
Katsuki's eyes were wide, and she ended up forgetting to repeat herself, getting lost in the red like she often did. He said she had a staring problem.
"Did you just call me 'honey'?"
She couldn't help but cringe. Wrong choice. "Sorry. I meant to say," she glanced at her notes, “babe."
Katsuki was still looking at her all shocked. Shouto thought he was the one with the staring problem.
“‘Babe’?”
“Yes.”
He shook his head. “You don't have to call me that."
Her stomach dropped. "You don't like it?"
“Do you like it?"
She nodded a little too enthusiastically. "Yes. It's romantic." She wanted to be romantic. She wanted to be romantic with Katsuki. Give him all the same fluttery feelings he gave her. She wasn't good at kissing, or talking, or holding hands without freaking out, or picking out places for dates, but she could do this.
"Hey, princess. Where'd you run off to?"
She blinked. "I'm here. With you."
He lifted a hand to cup her face. "Talk to me."
"I—" her fingers tightened in his jacket. "I really hoped you'd like it. I—I thought I could finally do something sweet, something right, for you..."
"You fucking idiot—” She was suddenly being pushed against the lockers again and Katsuki was kissing her. He pulled away first. “Of course I fucking like it,” he mumbled into her lips. “I like everything about you. You don't have to do anything differently."
"But I'm not good at this,” she frowned. “I'm not good at kissing, or any of the other couple stuff—”
"You seem plenty fucking good to me," Katsuki cut off, licking his lips.
Shouto felt her face burn hotter and she couldn’t help looking away. “That’s…”
A hand on her jaw gently tilted her head back to face him. "Hey. I don't care about any of that cheesy shit. I like you because you—you keep me here. You make me want to wake up in the morning, and not because of being good or bad at romance bullshit." She bit her lip to keep it from wobbling. "Ok?"
"Ok. Babe."
He smiled, and—
"Oh my God—” She slapped a hand over her mouth a second too late.
God. How much self-control had she already lost?
"'Oh my God' what?" Katsuki asked.
Shouto shook her head. "Nothing!”
He raised an eyebrow, but that was it. Used to Shouto's odd behavior by now. Her heart sank, a little voice in her head looping 'why am I so weird, why am I so weird, why am I so weird—'
She startled at a sudden press of lips to her forehead. Zoned out again. Oops.
When Katsuki pulled back, he grinned. "Fuckin’ weirdo. You have your dad's card, right?"
Something unraveled in her chest. "Of course."
He snorted, and Shouto just about melted. "Come on. We're gonna leave all those extras in the dust."
And when he took her hand, Shouto realized she didn't mind being weird all that much. Because Katsuki liked her even as she was. Even if she tripped over simple things like pet names. He would wait for her.
I'm so stupid.
"Ok."