It was a small event, really - just the Hero Course students, and that one kid from General Studies who swore he wasn’t here to make friends. A party without the alcohol, a break from exams, villain attacks, and everything else that usually made life… complicated. A moment to just be teens, if only for a little while. Stress relief in the form of dimmed lights and chaotic laughter.

Katsuki stood nearby, glass of water in hand, scowling at the crowd. You were next to him, and somehow, amidst the rowdiness, the laughter, the careless energy of everyone letting off steam, it felt almost… refreshing. The warm, dim lighting softened the edges of the chaos just enough to make it bearable.

Then he realized something.

Everybody talks. Everybody talks.

It started with something small, something you whispered to him about the event. Mundane. Harmless. Whatever. And then, impulsively, he pulled you in, pressed his lips to yours. And you reciprocated hard enough to make his lips hurt. In the best, worst way. And somehow, amidst the chaos, he could hear it - the chatter, the gasps, the murmurs of everyone around them.

Never thought he’d live to see the day when the words of everyone else got in the way of a simple kiss.

When he pulled back, hands immediately going to his own lips, eyes wide at his own audacity, he felt it all at once - the warmth in his cheeks, the heat of embarrassment, the ridiculous, overwhelming awareness that he felt in a dim room full of people.