𝔄𝔫 ℑ𝔫𝔣𝔦𝔫𝔦𝔱𝔶 𝔄𝔴𝔞𝔶 | Katsuki Bakugo x OC

Chapter 36 - The Rhyming Duo

Hello hello! 

I know it's been a long while since I published anything. I apologize for dipping without a word for the past month. To be honest, my life has been down in the depths and really hit a big writer's block while I was mentally down. Not to mention a bunch of extra curriculars and university things that managed to stress me out sm I barely had time to write even if i wanted to.

And even though it isn't the best right now, things are getting better. So hopefully, i'll be posting at a more consistent pace from here on out, but i can't promise anything.

Disclaimer: a lot of Katsuki's inner demons are going to be explored this arc and it starts this chapter. so please bear in mind he ain't in a good mental space so he might not be the same Katsuki we are familiar with the past 30+ chapters (::>_<::)

Hope you enjoy the chapter! Love u bubs <3

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Anxiety was an old friend, always resting in the back of his mind no matter the day, the hour, the minute. They nestled in his veins, churned in his stomach and lodged in his throat, stealing his voice when he needed it most.

Yes, anxiety was an old friend, and Katsuki learned to find comfort in it. Because his anxiety was for his survival, was meant as a catalyst to get things to move faster and made catching villains so much more thrilling. His anxiety got his blood pumping and his heart racing which made him sweat and that much more lethal when he was fighting. So anxiety was a welcome friend in times like those.

However, in times like these, when his anxiety was festering like an infection, like it was fogging his rationale like a drug, he'd turn to meticulous organizing.

So here he was, reorganizing his kitchen for what would be the tenth time since he's moved into his home, counting his inventory and restoring the contents in their respective places after wiping down the shelves from the inside. He rarely had this much time on his hands, and with Hina out to get groceries, he busied himself to subside the restlessness in his bones.

He was hesitant in sending Hina, and after a few minutes of going back and forth with her, he convinced her to at least go with company. So she quickly texted Mina who was now the closest person to her after him, and left roughly an hour ago with a long list of things he'd ranted they needed.

However, even with one of his trusted hero friends, he couldn't shake off the gut feeling that something was going to go terribly wrong.

He knew the NVA implanted some grotesque images in his mind, none of which have ever come to pass, but felt as though they had.

Images of Hina in pain, of her begging for respite of pain. Of her pleading for it to just end.

He shook his head as he placed a mug back in the cupboard.

None of that happened. It was all fake hallucinations he was forced to witness.

He knew that.

His hand reached for the last mug Mina had brought from the cabin along with the rest of their belongings. The red mug Hina has grown an attachment to.

He smiled softly, picking it up and placing it in the front of the crowd of other colored cups.

But half way through his hand slipped, the mug falling and clattering on the counter, surprisingly not shattering at impact.

His body was alight with adrenaline, a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach suddenly amplified. All his nerves were tingly, zapping and making his head clear with a crystal-like clarity. His breath rested in his lungs, holding itself there as though it were waiting for some sort of cue, some sort of sign to be released. And then the sign it was waiting for came, his breath puffing out slowly as courage puffed in his chest and his heart thrummed like a bird trying to escape its cage.