Chapter 9
Awaking to the kneading of his stomach wasn’t what Izuku was expecting. The harsh paws digging into his abdomen made him groan and roll on his side, Ōkoku meowing when she fell next to him. Cracking his opens, he sees the kitten sitting in front of his face, a still paw raised to hit his nose. “Good morning to you too…” He mumbles, stretching tall. Looking around, it dawns on him that he’s alone. Sitting up, he stays in bed but looks out the container doors. “Eicchan? Kacchan?” He calls out, now standing up. Ōkoku meowed again and jumped on the bed, walking to the opening.
Looking around, no new footprints were in the sand, everything was as it was the night before. The sun was up, lighting the entire area. Worry began to pool in Izuku’s stomach. It was already morning and no sight of either Katsuki or Eijirou. That could mean many things, and none were of favor. Izuku’s mind ran a mile a minute, bouncing between different scenarios and ways the patrol could have gone wrong. “Did they get caught? We’re always careful of talking, or saying personal things. If they got caught it was probably by Eraserhead, but still… Kacchan is too stubborn to let that happen, he'll blow him up if he tries… Did someone get injured? Maybe a confrontation went wrong and someone got hurt…” Izuku’s worry pool got larger and larger, growing more and more panicked. His breath had picked up and his hands were twitching.
Izuku picked up Ōkoku and held her close to his chest, before he padded to a pathway exiting the compound. He weaved through traps when a soft curse caused him to pause. He reached into a broken plastic bucket in a mound and pulled out a knife(multiple weapons were scattered along the paths in case someone followed). He set Ōkoku in the bucket and stalked forward, slightly crouched with the knife in front of him. Keeping to the sides of the path, Izuku peers around a corner.
“K-Kacchan?!” He exclaims, said blonde looks up, he wasn’t wearing his uniform. He was in a black shirt a few sizes too big for him, same with some beige shorts. His feet were bare and he clutched a plastic shopping bag in his left hand, his right was clenched in a tight fist by his side. His face was red and blotchy, tear streaks ran down his cheeks.
Izuku rushes forward, the knife dropped to the ground in favor of hugging the blonde. The blonde dropped the shopping bag and wrapped the greenette in a tight hug. He held Izuku with tight fistfuls of his shirt, his breath heavy and harsh. Katsuki buried his head into Izuku’s curls, taking a deep breath of the sea scented hair, slowing his harsh breathing. Izuku held the blond just the same, head between the crook between his shoulder and neck. His hands held fists of the shirt, knuckled white.
Izuku managed to pull back enough to look at Katsuki’s face, which he gently cupped between his hands, wiping any traces of tears. “Kacchan? What happened? Where’s Eicchan?” The questions made the blonde’s eyes water again with unspilled tears.
“We- It was an hour into fu-fucking patrol when Ei heard a noise… We went to see and it was some f-fuckin’ guy holding a girl by her neck. We went down and s-started to fight. The girl got to safety by the guy was still at l-large. H-he charged at Ei and I, but Ei shoved me… and.. An--” Katsuki slurred, tears slowly sliding down his face. Izuku used his thumb to wipe the away, keeping a calm mask on his face, whereas he was screaming and crying in his head. His family had gotten hurt while he was resting at home and could do nothing about it.
“Where’s Eicchan..?” Izuku asked cautiously, resting his forehead against the others.
“The guy had some fuckin bull quirk… charged at us, Ei shoved me away and took the hit. Horn cut his shoulder real fuckin bad… The fuckin’ hobo was there and helped end the fight. He called the nurse hero as well as the Detective that's for our fuckin case. They showed up and took Ei to the heroes home for healing. He’s fuckin’ there now and told me to go home.”
“Oh my god…” Izuku mumbled. “Okay… Okay, let’s get back to base, clean up, get some food in both of us. When can Eicchan leave?” Izuku said, getting his thoughts together. He took a deep breath and gave Katsuki a tight squeeze. He received a nod in return, Katsuki loosened his grip on the greenette and grabbed his clothing bag. Izuku grabbed the knife on the floor and went back down the path. Ōkoku meowed from her broken bucket, her head peeking out from the sound of approaching sandy footsteps. Izuku grabs her and puts the knife back.
Izuku paused, holding Ōkoku to his chest. He spun around and looked at Katsuki, his face stuck in a frown mixed with a scowl, his eyes puffy and red. Grabbing the shopping bag from Katsuki’s tight grip, he tries to argue before a kitten is shoved in his face who just meows and swats at his nose. Grumbling, he takes the offered small babe, holding her close to his chest and continues to follow Izuku back to the home.
Arriving back to the opening, Izuku turned to Katsuki, “Go lay down in bed, I’ll make some food and we’ll eat. Change into clothes that fit and keep Ōkoku company.” His tone left no argument. Grumbling, Katsuki did as he was asked, setting Ōkoku down on the container floor and walking to his set of clothes.
Taking off the borrowed clothes from Eraserhead, he grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a tank top. The blonde took a shaky breath looking at Eijirou’s clothes, his mind began to spiral. “God fuckin’ dammit! I can’t even do anything fuckin’ right. Ei got fuckin’ hurt cause of me. He took a fuckin’ horn to the shoulder and almost bled to death on the way to the fuckin’ nurses house!” Reigning himself in, he shook his head and walked to their bed, face planting and clutching the pillow Eijirou claimed. Ōkoku crawled onto the bed and layed on the small of Katsuki’s back. She curled in a ball and started to softly purr.
While Katsuki layed down, stuck in his thoughts, Izuku was outside making breakfast. A small metal rack laid over top the fire, close enough for it to be hot but not enough to burn whatever was on it. What laid on said rack was a couple slices of bread, slowly warming up and toasting. Izuku sat in his own thoughts, watching the fire curl and rise, some smoke flying high into the sky and the slowing toasting bread. “Eijirou had gotten injured… Recovery Girl had to take him and heal him. Considering that Kacchan is here now, he’s wherever either fast asleep from the healing, or she won’t let him leave without taking his mask off… I really, really hope it's the first one.”
He continued thinking until breakfast was ready, toast with peanut butter spread on top. He takes a deep, steadying breath before walking into the container. He sees Ōkoku curled in a small ball on Katsuki’s back, eyes closed and softly purring. The blonde’s head is buried into Eijirou pillow, his breath clearing shaky and rigid. Taking knowing steps, Izuku crawls into the bed sitting cross crossed holding the toast. Setting his slice on his lap, he gently taps Katsuki’s shoulder repeatedly until the boy looks at him, his eyes are red and puffy still, no doubt going to get worse until Eijirou is home. “C’mon.. Sit up and eat.” Izuku asks, offering the toast. Katsuki grumbles, eyeing the pillow and the offered food, before deciding to eat. He sits up slow, Ōkoku getting off and curling on Eijirou’s pillow, right where Katsuki’s head had rested.
Taking the offered toast, Katsuki slowly eats. Izuku eats as well, collecting his thoughts. “Where is Eicchan? Still with Recovery Girl?” He works his questions carefully, watching any flinch or movement from the blonde.
“He’s still with the nurse, he was awake when I left. Fuckin’ begged me to leave. I didn’t want to, wanted to make sure they let him keep being anonymous or whatever. Said I should come back and tell you.”
“I’ll have to thank him for that. I woke up and no one was here. I was about to leave with Ōkoku and go searching for you too.” Izuku reached forward and pet Ōkoku, drawing a lazy gaze from her. Her purring has yet to stop.
“I said I was gonna come back to him after telling you, but said he’ll meet us at the library later today. The fuckin’ nurse wants to keep him for a few or hours.” He grumbled, clearly disgruntled by the idea.
“At least he’s in good hands. We’ll catch up to Eicchan later, if Recovery Girl wants to keep him for a few more hours, like you said, we should meet him at the library at noon. Did he specifically say library?”
“No, but he hinted at it. Said ‘college’.” It was just me and him in the room but we were cautious in case they were listening.”
“That's good. We’ll see him at noon.” Finishing their toast, Izuku crawled into Katsuki’s lap and hugged the other boy tight. The blonde readily returned with a vice grip and there they sat, holding each other tightly and providing comfort. This was the first time in a long time when any of the boys had been badly injured.
When Izuku and Katsuki had started out as vigilantes, they were still new and had only really fought against each other. It was one of their first patrols when Katsuki had gotten grabbed by a man whose quirk made his nerves fire up to infinity and caused him so much pain when anything touches him. Izuku had to finish the fight himself and get Katsuki home. The quirk lasted a few days and Izuku did patrol by himself. Izuku had gotten shot by a bullet that the criminals had boasted to be quirk cancelling. It might not have caused him to lose something he didn’t have but it still hurt to get shit at and have something injected into his system.
For now the boys offered comfort and waited with growing worry until they could be reunited with Eijirou.