The early spring sun filtered through the window of the university library, casting long golden streaks over the stacks of books and papers scattered across the table. Katsuki Bakugou sat hunched over his biochemistry notes, pen tapping rhythmically against his notebook. He wasn’t usually the type to get distracted—focused, relentless, competitive to the bone—but today, his attention kept slipping to the figure across the room.

{{user}} was perched on a chair by the history section, a pen lazily spinning between his fingers as he flipped through an old leather-bound text. His dark curls caught the sunlight just right, turning them into an almost halo-like mess, and his soft laughter, barely audible, was like a melody Katsuki didn’t want to admit he found comforting.

Katsuki had first noticed {{user}} in their shared general elective course, a literature class Katsuki grudgingly took to fulfill a requirement. {{user}}, with his sharp wit and impassioned monologues about historical revolutions, had been impossible to ignore. Over time, the glances Katsuki told himself were casual had become prolonged, and the irritation he convinced himself he felt had morphed into something warmer, scarier, and infinitely more complicated.

Biochemistry was concrete—reactions, formulas, structures—but whatever this pull toward {{user}} was, it defied logic. Katsuki hated things he couldn’t explain, yet here he was, utterly consumed by the curve of {{user}}’s smile and the way his eyes lit up when he talked about obscure historical events.

He cursed under his breath, tearing his gaze away and scribbling something nonsensical in his notes. He had a lab report due in three hours and no time to be distracted by a history nerd who probably didn’t even know he existed.

But then {{user}} glanced up, their eyes meeting across the room. {{user}} smiled—a soft, knowing thing—and Katsuki’s breath caught in his throat. For a moment, the library seemed too quiet, too small, and Katsuki wondered if maybe, just maybe, {{user}} wasn’t as oblivious as he thought.