𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐨𝐧 | b.k.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

28.
Chapter Twenty-Eight : The Flowers

Lunch with Katsuki is pleasant. They stay inside the schoolhouse. They decide to dine over Y/n's desk; Katsuki pulled a chair up to the desk and helped clear off some space while Y/n opened a few windows. As soon as the window were lifted, the sound of children laughing invaded the schoolhouse. Any other day, the noise would've set something in Katsuki off. But today—today he was happy to hear it.

Katsuki wasn't 100% sure why he decided to make the ride down here for lunch. Part of him found himself to be pathetic. One walk out of the blue and suddenly he didn't care about Deku or his future with Y/n. He thought about turning around and heading back to the ranch on multiple occasions, but for whatever reason he didn't. He instead kept his head straight and pushed his horse to walk faster.

He's thankful for the decision he made—the one to stay on the path he was on and join Y/n for lunch. It felt good to sit and appreciate her presence, to breathe the same air as her and laugh at her jokes.

From Katsuki's perceptive, lunch was amazing. It was so good he almost said to hell with his job just to spend a little bit more time with her. Almost.

And from Y/n's perspective, having lunch with Katsuki was more than just sharing a meal with an old suitor. For the first time in weeks, she got to share a meal with someone who would talk to her and show interest in her stories about work. It felt good to sit and talk to Katsuki.

Reluctantly, when the clock tower signaled the beginning of the next hour, Katsuki rose from his seat and started cleaning up her desk.

"Oh! You don't have to do that, Kat-Bakugou. I can do it!" She insists, almost pushing him out of the way to clean her mess.

The blond rolls his eyes and ignores her advances in favor of completing his task, earning a huff from the teacher.

"Thank you for eating with me." Y/n says after a beat of silence, "It was nice..." She admits with a shrug.

Katsuki bites back a smart comment and instead offers a toothy grin. "No worries, Sweetheart. Anytime." He  gives a firm nod, "I better get back to the ranch though. I'll see you later?"

Without another thought, Y/n agrees to his silent offer. She nods with a smile of her own.

Almost silently, she follows him as he leaves the schoolhouse. They have to navigate their way through a hoard of rowdy children, but they eventually reach his horse in one piece. She watches as he pulls himself into the wide saddle and adjusts himself before gathering his horse's reins and giving it a firm jab.

He doesn't look back, and for that Y/n is grateful.

She heaves a shaky sigh then rubs her sweaty palms on her skirt. After a quick second, she turns on her heel to head back inside, where she finds her students looking at her with big, curious eyes.

"Are you going to marry Mr. Bakugou?"

The teacher gasps.

"What about Mr. Izuku?"

"What were you and Mr. Bakugou talking about?"

Questions of all kinds get shot right at Y/n before she can even blink and they're never ending.

"Wait—Wait a second! Nothing happened, we just had lunch. Now, enough of that. Let's focus." She's real quick to shut down their curiosity when their questions become too invasive.

Her kids groan and stomp their feet, but they quiet down either way and turn to face the front of the room.

Y/n almost falls to her knees to thank God when the school day ends. When that bell rings and her students start to pack up, she practically skips over to the door to prop it open. It doesn't take long for the kids to pack up their own things and start to walk home.

As each one of them walks through the doorway, they offer Y/n a smile and a "thank you". But as soon as their dusty shoes step foot outside, they're a rowdy mess; running around screaming, their books being thrown into the dirt and their clothes quickly becoming filthy.

But, they are no longer Y/n's responsibility. She turns a blind eye to the kids rolling in the dirt and the ones up in the trees. Her job is done.

Not long after the bell tower rang, her classroom is empty and she is thankful. In silence, she cleans up after the class and starts getting things ready for the following morning.

She just started teaching her kids how to write in cursive, and tomorrow she'd like to start teaching them how to read cursive. She had to dig through crates of old books and letters to find enough material for tomorrow's English lesson, and she was in the middle of cleaning up her mess in the closet when she heard the wooden floorboards creak.

She would've ignored it if it weren't the low whistle that accompanied the creak. Y/n sits up on her haunches and turns from the waist to see who was in the schoolhouse, and she wasn't surprised to see Katsuki.

"Howdy." He says jokingly, mockingly tipping his hat. "Need any help, ma'am?"

Y/n fights back a smile. As she stands up, wiping sweat from her brow and straightening her skirts, she can't help but eye the ranch-hand. He had just gotten off work—much like herself—and he was all dirty, but she couldn't help but find it appealing.

"Why thank you for the kind offer, sir," She pauses to for dramatic effect, "If you wouldn't mind, I was havin' some trouble with these darn crates. They're just so heavy."

The smirk on Katsuki's face mirrors her own mischievous one. He rolls his eyes but he plays along.

"Not too worry, ma'am. I'll give 'ya a hand."

Y/n watches with amusement as the man sets down the bouquet of wild flowers and moves to help pick up her mess. He's surprisingly gentle with the crates full of books and texts, stacking them in a sturdy manner so they won't topple over and putting things away in what he deems their proper place.

She catches a glimpse of the sky outside and clears her throat, "I hate to be a bother, sir, but it's getting late. I've gotta be home to cook supper." She explains.

His back is to her, so she can't see the little frown that replaces his smile. All it took was a single word and suddenly he wasn't in the mood to play anymore.

"Right." He huffs, suddenly becoming as stiff as a board. He quietly rises to his full height and turns around to face Y/n.

Today was a good day for Katsuki. For today, he forgot that Y/n was planning to marry Izuku and he was able to enjoy her company again. It felt good. But it truly only took one word and he wasn't feeling it anymore. He wasn't feeling good about hanging out with Y/n, and that's because he remembered that Izuku is most likely waiting at home for her.

Against his better judgement, he asks her a question. And he almost wished he didn't. Her face falls and he swears he sees tears well up in her eyes.

"Is he treating you well?" He asked, followed by: "Was he worth it?" It as in the downfall of their own relationship. As soon as he figured out that Y/n chose Izuku over him, he shut her out. What was the point? He had asked himself at the time.

Y/n struggles to find the words.

"I just want you to be honest with me, Y/n."

"I have to go." She mutters, quickly turning on her heel and leaving the building—ignoring the bundle of wild flowers on the desk.

Katsuki is disappointed, but not surprised. He heaves a sigh and claps his hands together to rid them of dust and dirt. Soon, he leaves the schoolhouse and starts making his way home.

As the sun sets on Katsuki's back and sweat starts to soak the shirt on his back, he can't help but get all bitter thinking about the bouquet of flowers he left sitting on the desk. The flowers will be wilted by tomorrow morning, but he couldn't find it in himself to care. Not right now anyway...