𝔄𝔫 ℑ𝔫𝔣𝔦𝔫𝔦𝔱𝔶 𝔄𝔴𝔞𝔶 | Katsuki Bakugo x OC

Chapter 9 - Progress

Like every other day they ate breakfast together, they kept a single barstool in between them as a barrier.

She took a sip of the tea, scrunching her nose at the strong scent and the peculiar taste lingering on her tongue. "I've decided that I'm not a fan of cardamom." She said, swallowing the tea like medicine to get over the taste quicker.

He scoffed, masking his amazement at her gulping down the tea. He never liked cardamom tea either.

The remaining of the time, they ate, cleaned up, and left the kitchen in silence. Both heading to their rooms, not a single word uttered between them.

Yet, unlike every other day since they've started communing together, the silence held no awkward stipulation between the two.

Today the silence was a comforting friend.

-----

After Bakugo left the house in a leisurely hurry, Hina ventured downstairs to the laptop that always rested on the coffee table, its charger snaking through the forest of gray and black thread beneath the table.

On the silver metal of the piece of technology, a pastel orange sticky note stuck out.

Will be back late.
Don't wait for me for dinner.
Knock yourself out in the kitchen.
Just CLEAN AFTER!!

Hina shook her head at the note. He's definitely one to correct someone's grammar on text. And his 'clean after' in capitals really ticked her off. She's kept everything clean ever since she entered his not-so-humble abode.

She folded the note, tucking it in her gray sweats to put it in the drawer next to the other notes he's given.

She didn't know why she'd saved all of his notes. It could be because it was entertaining to see his progress in note writing (which in reality was non-existent), or because she wanted to decipher his handwriting for personality patterns like her sister had taught her when she wrote mystery novels. Most probably the latter. Especially since his expressions were nearly impossible to read. Nearly impossible.

There were times his mask of nonchalance chipped off, displaying glimpses of his bright self.

It was blinding.

His sense of heroism, his pride for not only his abilities but for the capabilities his friends exhibited as well. His hidden kindness in the little things, and how he was always paying attention to every single little detail. Even his crude and petty humor showed his illustrious ego, which wasn't always a bad thing.

Yet his façade. The veil he distorted his image behind. She didn't know what to think of him because of it.

The progress they'd made so far... It felt as though it kept slipping away every morning they woke up and ate breakfast in the deafening stillness of his drab home.

And she had no clue on how to grip onto it tight. No clue on how to capture the soft feeling of security he brought and not let it wriggle from her grasp.

Clueless on how to reveal his true self, so she can finally feel safe in his company.

Hina may not be able to crack the man name Katsuki Bakugo, but she could definitely research more of the subgenders and their dynamics.

So she opened the laptop, spreading her fingers to feel the embossed keys like she always does, and delved back into cyberspace.

She searched some key words, opened some articles and then checked the reliability of the source before storing the information in her head. Her eyes would squint while she read through the fine print, her brows knitting together from the intense concentration. When she was satisfied with its origins, she would glimpse over the topic sentences to get the jist of the article's contents before further absorbing the information like a sponge, her thumb tapping incessantly on the space bar, just light enough so she doesn't press it all the way down.