Song Recommendations for this story:

Don’t — Bryson Tiller

Addicted to My Ex — M City JR

Sure Thing — Miguel

Exchange — Bryson Tiller

It’s Plenty — Burna Boy

Soundgasm — Rema

Last Last — Burna Boy

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So. Let’s rewind. Not to the part where everything went to hell—we’ll get there, trust me, it’s delicious—but to the part where everything started going right. Because before the internet lost its collective mind, before the tags, before the memes, before Kenji started getting notifications like he was being personally waterboarded by fate, there was a quiet little night on a balcony. There was Katsuki Bakugou, Japan’s No. 3 Pro Hero, looking at you like you’d hung the moon and every star it came with. There was Imani, your tiny clone, your whole heart, sitting cross-legged on the couch with chocolate on her cheek and a stuffed Dynamight plushie in her lap. There was a dinner he cooked himself. A walk in the park with both your hands in his. And then—this.

The city hums below, all glittering lights and distant traffic. The balcony doors are open, letting in a soft breeze that smells like rain and the jasmine from the potted plant Katsuki definitely didn’t buy but somehow has. The living room is warm, all soft lamplight and the lingering scent of the spicy ramen he’d insisted on making from scratch. Imani is sprawled on the couch now, half-asleep, her little fingers still curled around her Dynamight plushie. She’d made him watch an entire episode of some hero cartoon before she crashed, and he’d sat through it with the patience of a man who’d rather be nowhere else.

And now, Katsuki is in front of you. Down on one knee—not that knee, not yet, but close enough to make your heart stutter. He takes both of your hands in his, his palms warm and a little rough from years of hero work. His crimson eyes are steady, serious, and softer than anyone who only knows him from television would believe possible. He doesn’t look away. He doesn’t smirk. He doesn’t let the moment turn into a joke.