With arms linked together to form a long chain, the cast bowed in unison. As Kuri's head rose, she gazed upon the sea of faces cloaked in darkness. The stage lights were blinding and hot enough to draw sweat to Kuri's temples, but the applause serenaded her. As the curtains pulled shut, Kuri smiled. The play was better than she could have hoped.
Their view of the crowd was finally obscured with a click and the soft whoosh of the heavy curtain fabric falling into place. The cast all unlinked arms, and some of them hurried backstage to get a start on removing their mics. Kuri, Katsuki, Tsu, and Fumikage remained on the stage.
"Congratulations, you two," Fumikage said. "That was quite unexpected."
"Yeah, a public confession is pretty gutsy. But you succeeded!" Tsu smiled.
"Thanks," Kuri giggled awkwardly. Katsuki silently nodded. Kuri felt a bit tense now that the love showcase was over, like she wasn't sure what to do with herself. Should she hold Katsuki's hand? But her palms were so sweaty... And he looked as nervous as her.
"I was worried for a bit that you would confuse the audience, but you managed to circle back to the script in the end," Tsu said, shrugging. Katsuki mumbled a sheepish apology.
"Hah, yeah, sorry. Hopefully, the audience didn't mind..." Kuri said, grimacing at herself.
With the adrenaline starting to wear off, Kuri was suddenly aware of the craziness of what she had just done. It was one thing to talk big for a month and constantly tease Katsuki into confessing, but now they were suddenly dating and even kissed—on stage! And their mics were on the whole time, so the audience definitely heard them saying all those cringey things. She held a hand against her cheek, her skin hot enough to cook her fingers.
The four drifted backstage, and Kuri walked beside Katsuki, their hands softly brushing against each other. She glanced at him bashfully, taking in his broad shoulders and muscles cloaked beneath his light-colored suit. Her eyes drifted further up to his strong jaw, sharp eyes, and soft hair styled to be flatter than usual. He was her boyfriend now. No longer just a friend or crush. The change had occurred so quickly that Kuri hadn't fully processed it yet.
Katsuki caught her staring, and she grinned shyly.
"So, I guess we're dating now?" Kuri asked. Katsuki stared at her for a moment with glittering eyes before he slowly smiled.
"Looks like it," he said. "Unless what you said up there was just an act."
"It wasn't, so we're good," Kuri laughed. "You sure surprised me, though. Why not wait until the play was over?"
"I just... couldn't stop myself," Katsuki replied, looking at her fondly. Then, his head tilted away, and slowly his face filled with horror, eyes widening. Katsuki put a hand against his temple as he stared off at nothing in particular. "I can't believe I did that on stage."
"Me neither," Kuri said. "You're crazy for that."
"What the hell is wrong with me today?" he shook his head and looked down shamefully. Kuri suppressed a giggle. Katsuki was getting all concerned over nothing. He glanced at her again. "Sorry."
"Don't be sorry," Kuri linked arms with him and smiled. "I'm glad you did it."
Katsuki's expression tentatively melted into a grin.
"If that's how you feel, Bunny, then so am I."
"I just hope the others don't mind," Kuri said. "We did kinda interrupt everything."
"I don't think you two need to worry that much," Tsu remarked, opening the door to the backstage area. "I'm sure no one will mind. But if you plan to say sorry, might as well do it now."
-----
Katsuki's classmates were busy clearing the tables around the room littered with hair and makeup supplies when he and Kuri arrived, arm in arm. His fellow cast members had removed their mics and even parts of their costumes, revealing their class shirt for the year: a black t-shirt reading "Class 2-A" and their role on the back. For example, Katsuki's shirt, buried beneath the layers of his suit, boasted on the back that he was a cast member.
"Maybe we should clean up a bit before we apologize?" Kuri suggested. Katsuki agreed, and they separated to remove their mics and costumes, then assist their classmates with clearing the tables.
As Katsuki wiped down tables in large sweeping motions, he contemplated his improvised confession. How had he managed to do it? Deku's little spiel about Kuri's readiness to date him had spurred a spontaneous bout of confidence that hit him hard and didn't last long afterward. Now, he had to deal with the humiliation of everyone having seen and heard him ask out Kuri, but Katsuki didn't fully regret his actions. No matter what life threw at them next, she would be on the journey with him.
After they finished cleaning and the cast was out of their costumes, everyone gathered in the center of the room for another speech from the directors. Katsuki lingered by Kuri's side so they could apologize together.
Mina began by congratulating everyone for doing a great job with the acting, set, and costumes. She said the crowd loved the play, judging by what she could see and hear from her spot on the stage's edge. She invited her fellow directors to say some words.
Deku thanked his team for their effort spent building the set and thanked the others who assisted them with painting and lent items for use as props. Ochako thanked the costume team for making almost everything by hand. She also jokingly thanked Tenya for not tearing his costume with his engines more than once during rehearsals since they barely got his pants fixed in time. Then, it was Kuri's turn. Even though Katsuki wasn't the one speaking, he could sense his classmates' eyes on him.
Kuri first thanked everyone for their hard work to make the script come to life and emphasized her gratitude for the opportunity to lead their festival event. Then, her eyes skirted to the ground as she began an addendum.
"Also, Katsuki and I have something to say to all of you," she said. She scooted closer to him, and they both looked up at their classmates before bowing their heads. In unison, they expressed a sincere apology.
"I'm sorry for going off script in the middle of a scene," Katsuki declared, eyes down.
"And I'm sorry for being selfish and not rerouting us back to the script sooner," Kuri said. "I was really excited..."
Following their apology, no one spoke. Instead, they laughed.
The two bolted back upright. No one seemed to care about him ruining the end of the play.
"Oh, you two..." Ochako was bent double at the waist from laughter.
"Not to worry!" Tenya said. "There should be minimal lasting consequences in regards to your coupling up. At the very least, I believe I can say with certainty as the class representative that your fellow classmates do not mind."
Their classmates concurred with his statement, uttering their well-wishes to the newly coupled friends. Kuri glanced at Katsuki, happily surprised. He shared her look and lightly took her hand in his.
Denki tried to get his classmates to join him in annoyingly chanting, "KISS! KISS! KISS!" but Mina hastily shut him down by announcing that they could toast to Kuri and Katsuki at the afterparty that night.
Their classmates stirred at the mention of the afterparty, and some attention diverted from Katsuki and Kuri. Izuku suddenly appeared at Katsuki's side.
"I know I told you to 'go and do something,' but I didn't exactly intend for you to confess on stage," he whispered to Katsuki.
"Whatever, Deku," Katsuki rolled his eyes. "You and Mina and Ochako were using this play to get us together, weren't you? Don't complain if it worked."
"I'm not complaining; I'm happy for you both. It's just that..."
"What are you whispering about?" Kuri asked, peeking around Katsuki to look at both of them.
"I'm worried about what the crowd thought of Kacchan's confession," Deku said. He glanced at Katsuki and Kuri's intertwined hands. "Gossip spreads like wildfire at this school, y'know?"
Katsuki hadn't wanted to believe Deku at first. They seemed to go about the rest of the day with little trouble. He and Kuri wandered the school festival together and had a fun time. But by the following Monday, the buzz at school was cacophonous.
Plenty of UA's student body had not seen the performance, but over the weekend, the witnesses talked nonstop about the sudden, out-of-character confession. Many who weren't there to watch the spectacle wanted to confirm if their friends were telling the truth. And regardless of whether one saw it, no one was sure if Katsuki's confession was real. Was it part of the play? Was it random improv to surprise the audience? Or had this guy really gone off-script to ask that girl to date him? Everyone wanted to know, which was only possible with confirmation from the couple.
Katsuki learned of the gossip storm when his social media accounts suddenly blew up with messages from strangers asking invasive questions. Kuri had similar problems, so she decided to turn her notifications off. Katsuki just deleted the apps from his phone for the time being.
The social butterflies of 2-A who knew kids from other classes reported that their friends also asked about the performance. Katsuki's classmates did their best to clear up any misunderstandings, but he knew the hearsay would spread beyond their scope of influence. Katsuki just hoped that, with enough time, the truth would spread to all the nosy people across campus. Or that they'd just stop giving a fuck. But before that could happen, he and Kuri had to return to school and face the prying teenage masses.
On Monday morning, Kuri and Katsuki walked to school together. Usually, that was Kuri's time to hang with her other friends, but Mina and Ochako were both conspicuously out sick. Kuri expected no one at school to bother them, despite the messages they'd received over the weekend, so it would be fine to walk into school together. Katsuki thought differently but still wanted to walk with her since they were a couple.
Katsuki wasn't surprised by the whispering and stares as he and Kuri followed the path to the school building, but he was still mad about it. Why couldn't they respect his and Kuri's privacy? Also, only fucking idiots stopped to stare at couples just because they got together in front of a crowd.
They weren't even holding hands while walking, yet people couldn't act normal. Well, that might've been why they were pointing, because wouldn't a couple in love hold hands while they walked? Maybe if Katsuki wasn't too nervous to ask and if Kuri's hands weren't stuffed in her pockets to hide from the cold. Now they were just contributing to the confusion. Katsuki tried to ignore the extras with their intrusive eyes, only sparing a glare for particularly unashamed onlookers.
As they neared the school building and Kuri muttered about wanting to hurry inside and warm up, Katsuki looked at her concealed hands. So far, dating wasn't much different from their friendship. He'd taken a huge step to become her boyfriend, but he needed to keep walking if he didn't want this relationship to be merely nominal.
On Tuesday, Kuri asked Katsuki if he wanted to have lunch alone with her since they'd eaten with a group the day before. He agreed, assuming that no one would bother them aside from a few stares. They got food ("It's a fried rice kind of day!" Kuri proclaimed while in line) and sat at a table near the back of the cafeteria. Kuri faced the wall while Katsuki sat toward the rest of the room and could see many groups sitting around them. The heavy weight of their glances every few seconds pressed down on Katsuki's head. Luckily, Kuri couldn't see any of them. Though she hardly mentioned it, Katsuki knew Kuri hated it when people watched her.
"Testing week is almost here," Kuri sighed. "We should probably start studying soon."
"And visit the training grounds."
"Ugh, don't remind me," Kuri shuddered. "It's gonna be so cold out there that I might need to bring a jacket..."
While they chatted about school and their work study (which they'd been on extended leave from to prepare for the festival), Katsuki caught multiple different passersby not-so-discreetly eavesdropping. Undoubtedly, Kuri noticed them too, but she carried on as if nothing was amiss. The extras annoyed Katsuki, but if Kuri could tolerate them, he would too.
That was until some souls too brave for their own good stopped next to them and straight up asked what their relationship status was.
"Hey, are you two dating, or was that whole thing fake?" some random first-year boy asked. Katsuki spotted a group of other boys standing a few meters away, snickering as they watched. He glared at them, and they looked the other way.
"We're dating," Kuri answered with a tight-lipped smile. She stared at the boy blankly until he took the hint and scurried away. Kuri sighed and looked back at Katsuki. "It's only been five minutes, and people are bothering us. You think there'll be more?"
Before Katsuki could even respond, another person walked by. This time, it was a second-year girl from the general education course. She was tall, peppy, and acted overly familiar with Kuri.
"Your class play was so great!" the girl exclaimed. "The ending confused me, though. Was that a part of the script?"
"No, we just... interrupted the scene," Kuri said, holding an agitated smile. Katsuki openly frowned.
"Oh, so you're together, then?"
"Mhm..."
The girl squealed her congratulations and shook Kuri excitedly. Kuri stared at Katsuki with pleading eyes, so he lied and said Kuri had a headache, which made the girl stop. She apologized and left after a goodbye.
"Who was that?" Katsuki asked.
"Not gonna lie, I don't know," Kuri whispered, scooping up another spoonful of rice. "She talks to me and Mina in the lunch line sometimes but I never caught her name."
They tried to pick up their conversation but were interrupted AGAIN as Monoma strutted up to their table, sporting a condescending smirk.
"I saw Class A's trivial play, and I have to say the ending was quite—"
"Fuck off, Monoma," Katsuki growled. "Yeah, I confessed on stage. So what?"
Monoma's eyebrows raised in surprise.
"I was just going to say I heard you were trying to outdo us, and I don't think you succeeded," he said. "Everyone in Class B already knows you're together."
"Still, can you leave us alone?" Kuri asked, sighing. "You're the third person today who's bothered us."
"Fine," Monoma huffed. "I'm sure you don't need me to point out how unprofessional it was to break character mid-performance anyway."
"Yeah, we don't," Kuri deadpanned. Once he walked away, Kuri dropped her head into her hands and groaned. "Katsuki..."
"Yeah, Bunny?"
"Until this all blows over, maybe we should only hang out alone when we're at the dorms."
Katsuki nodded contemplatively. If only he had just waited to confess backstage, they wouldn't be in this mess.
"We can also talk during breaks in the school day," he said. "No one should bother us then."
Surprisingly enough, Katsuki's assumption was incorrect.
On Wednesday, in between Modern Lit and Math, Katsuki turned around to chat with Kuri. While they talked through the break, Kuri noticed some people at the door and told Katsuki they were staring. Katsuki turned his head to look at whatever idiots it was this time.
Deku and Yuuga were by the door chatting, and they noticed the kids standing there. Katsuki heard Deku ask what they were there for.
"Are those two dating or was that thing at the end of your play just an attention grab?" one person asked, pointing directly at Katsuki and Kuri at their desks.
"That's none of your concern," Deku said, tilting his head slightly. "And you should tell everyone you know that they're better off not asking more questions unless you want Kacchan to do something barbaric."
"Yes, cease such questions and speak of my dazzling performance instead!" Yuuga said, striking a dramatic pose. Deku laughed and played along, highlighting all his favorite parts of his acting during the play. Katsuki hadn't expected those two to so readily stick up for him. The corner of his lip twitched, almost wanting to smile appreciatively.
"If they don't want people asking about it, then why'd they do that on stage?" the younger students pressed. Katsuki caught the eye of the person who asked and flipped them off. Kuri stifled a laugh with her hand.
"Well, there's your answer," Deku chirped. "Bye!"
The small group of students hesitantly shuffled out of their classroom. Deku and Yuuga turned to look at Katsuki and Kuri with thumbs up. Kuri shouted her thanks, and Katsuki nodded. Sometimes, having friends was pretty great.
-----
Kuri might've been an idiot to take another chance after two consecutive failures in the past three days, but she still wanted to try and spend some time alone with Katsuki without interruptions. Maybe she'd have more luck if she just waited until the dust settled and no one cared about them anymore, but what was she if not impatient?
So on Thursday, she convinced Katsuki to risk it and walk home together. They hadn't done so all week to avoid the stares, but this time Kuri had the ingenious plan to not leave school until ten minutes after classes ended. That way, most people would already be out of the building, and they could walk without anyone on the path bothering them.
Kuri had a little hop in her step as they strolled down the wonderfully empty road to the dorms.
"Finally, we can walk in peace!" Kuri beamed.
"Careful, you might jinx it," Katsuki chuckled. Kuri rolled her eyes.
"I don't think anyone else is out here," she said, slowly spinning around to check their surroundings. "Ah. Never mind." Kuri quickly turned back around and grabbed Katsuki's arm. "Speed up. There are people who look like they wanna talk to us."
"You sure they're not just walking fast?" he asked, glancing at the group behind them. Kuri hadn't looked at them long, but she could tell at first glance that those three were younger than her and eagerly fast-walking toward them.
"I don't wanna risk it," Kuri muttered, pulling Katsuki along as she picked up the pace. "Every time I put myself out there, someone has to ruin the fun..."
The two went as fast as they could without running, but those first-years still followed close behind them. Kuri spared another exasperated glance at the overzealous trio and groaned.
"Katsuki, hang on tight," she murmured, holding his arm tighter. Katsuki latched his other arm onto the one she already had linked with him, then she jumped as far as she could. She managed to place them just a few meters from the entrance to their dorm. Nice.
Kuri and Katsuki glanced back at the kids, now running to catch up.
"Well, you were right. They're following us," Katsuki said. They looked away and hurried to the door.
"These kids are going too far," Kuri grumbled. "Why do they care so much? It's not like we're famous or anything."
Katsuki hummed thoughtfully as he opened the door for them.
"We've both won the sports festival, so everyone knows who we are," he shrugged.
Oh, right. I guess that makes us a bit of a power couple. I have such a cool boyfriend!
"Still, that's no reason to chase us," Kuri said, shaking her head. "This is too crazy."
"It's like we're living in a movie."
"Hm, I wouldn't say a movie..." Kuri tapped her chin. "More like a poorly written fan—" The door burst open behind them, interrupting Kuri mid-sentence and revealing the three kids. "How'd you get here so fast?"
They ignored Kuri's question, and the tallest one spoke.
"Are you two really dating?" he asked, out of breath. "My friends didn't see the play and don't believe me when I say the confession seemed real."
"So, we came to ask," the tiniest one said.
Kuri closed her eyes and slowly inhaled. These meddlesome strangers would be the death of her. She opened her eyes, glaring at the three kids.
"I don't give a fuck what anyone believes or doesn't believe," Kuri said through gritted teeth. "We don't know you, so stop harassing us."
The kids shrunk back, and Kuri immediately felt bad for snapping at them.
"Sorry... We'll leave now," the one in the back said. Kuri furrowed her brow.
"Sorry for swearing at you three," she said. "I'm just really fed up because you aren't the first people to ask."
"It's okay, I get it," the tall one said. No, I'm sure you don't understand what it's like to have every moment with your boyfriend interrupted by strangers.
The three shuffled back out the door, and Katsuki went to shut it behind them, but Kuri stuck her head out.
"But you can tell your friends that it was real," Kuri said, grinning. "Katsuki's my boyfriend now."
She stepped away from the door, and Katsuki shut it just in time for them to hear the tall kid shout, "I told you so!"
Katsuki looked at her with an endearing grin. He practically had hearts in his eyes, which was fitting considering his red irises.
"What are you smiling about?" she chuckled.
"You were really cool just now."
"Oh, stop it, don't encourage me to be mean to freshmen," Kuri laughed, turning so they could walk to the elevator.
"I mean it," he said, joining her at her side. "Even I felt a little intimidated."
"Well, don't expect more. That was enough confrontation to last me for a whole year."
"Next time, I'll fend off the assholes for you," he said.
Kuri giggled and hit the call button for the elevator. Hopefully, it wouldn't be much longer until people left them alone. It would be nice to spend an hour or two alone with Katsuki to make up for the past week's disruptions. Then, Kuri had a thought.
"Remember how we talked about going on a date when the school festival was over?" she asked. "We should do it soon."
The elevator doors opened, and they stepped in.
"Didn't exploring the festival after the performance count as a date?"
"Kinda, but all our friends were snooping on us the whole time," Kuri said. Mina, Ochako, and Izuku were certainly not meant to be spies. "We need a break from all this madness of people gawking."
Katsuki nodded slowly.
"But before running away, maybe we should clear up the misunderstanding."
"How? Are we gonna announce over the PA that we're dating?" she joked.
"We could do something like that," Katsuki said. Kuri narrowed her eyes and leaned closer toward her boyfriend.
"Are you serious?"
"Sure."
"This sounds like it's gonna be embarrassing."
"Can't be as embarrassing as confessing on stage."
"Fair point..."
So the next day, Katsuki convinced her to follow him to the cafeteria during lunch to deliver a public address. Kuri could feel everyone staring as soon as they walked in, but she tried not to look at them, instead boring her eyes into Katsuki's back. She hated the stares pressing in on her. It reminded her of middle school.
Not knowing how else to ease her panic, Kuri grabbed Katsuki's hand. It was warm and soft, and it fit Kuri's hand perfectly. He looked back at her with a reassuring smile. Together, they walked to the back of the cafeteria and climbed on top of a table.
"Hey, everybody!" Katsuki shouted. All eyes turned to them, and the volume fell to a low murmur across the room. Kuri spotted some of her classmates in the crowd looking at them with amused interest. Kuri's face reddened from embarrassment. "We're actually dating, so leave us the fuck alone!"
For a second, everyone sat in silence.
Then a random person shouted back, "Okay!"
Kuri fell into a fit of hysterical laughter as the room returned to their conversation. Her inexplicable talent for finding humor in any situation had struck again. Katsuki laughed along with her as they stepped off the table and walked away, hand in hand.
(A/N)
can't believe i actually got this chapter done as fast as i'd hoped lol that's the magic of planning all of your chapters far in advance and having a break from school
speaking of crazy update schedules, i have high hopes that i'll be able to post 2-3 chapters next month so the holiday-themed chapters will match up a bit with the actual year but also i'm an idiot who decided to plan four chapters that take place in december even tho i'm a student who'll be super busy (so it's likely y'all will get the christmas and new year's chapters in the middle of january lol).
anyways, i hope y'all enjoyed this chapter. thank you for reading and super special thank you to everyone who votes and comments! i see all of you in my notifications and though i don't thank everyone individually just know i'm super grateful for your support :D
- chris 🦦