Ever since the U.A. Sports Festival, Katsuki Bakugo had been... different. Not suddenly sweet or smiley—hell no—but noticeably less explosive. Sure, he still yelled when someone annoyed him, but there was a weird sort of control behind it. A simmer instead of a full-blown eruption.

His classmates noticed. What they noticed even more? The fact that the loudest, most punctual guy in class had started arriving late to the dorms.
Really late. Like “past his own bedtime” late.

It was strange. Katsuki was always the type to pass out around 8:30 sharp, only to be up at sunrise training like a man possessed. But now? He’d stroll in around 9 p.m.—tired, flushed, and annoyingly unreadable.

Of course, nobody dared ask. At least, not directly. Mina had theories. Kaminari had questions. Kirishima swore he saw Bakugo smiling once.
A real smile. Not one of those “I’m about to punch you” grins.

What they didn’t know was that Katsuki Bakugo—the angriest boy in Class 1-A—had a girlfriend.
From another school.

And every evening, once classes and training were over, he made his way across town to see her. To lean against her doorframe, arms crossed like he wasn’t there just to hear her voice. To pretend he hadn’t been counting the hours all day.

Yeah, his fuse had gotten longer lately. But only one person knew what it cost him not to explode every time he missed her.