Chapter Text
All defiance he felt at the beginning of his trip was long gone at this point. None of this was going how he thought it would.
When Katsuki first drove out to Shikoku, he felt a fire rushing through his veins. He didn't want to take a vacation, nor did he want to give his colleagues any idea that they were right about him all along. That the stress was getting to him and he needed to rest.
But there is one thing about Katsuki that will remain true until he dies—and it's that he is fueled by spite.
For as long as he can remember, he's always been compelled by the gratification of proving himself. To show through his actions that despite what people may assume about him, he can achieve just as much as everyone else—if not more.
Spite has pushed him through a lot in his life. In fact, he was willing to push through some recent events, but after some odd months, he wasn't able to ignore just how many small mishaps were piling up. How the people he had to work with would try to find time to pull him aside and ask, "How are you feeling lately?"
There was never a correct response. Every one he gave resulted in unsure gazes and patronizing, borderline infantilizing replies like: "Aw, well…I hope you feel better soon." or "Are you sure…?"
Until finally, enough was enough. If they wanted him to take a break—fine, he'll take a fucking break, if only they would finally let up on him.
Katsuki had worked long and hard enough that he had racked up several hours of paid time off, and now seemed like the time to put them to use. He should've known better than to tell them that he was still beneficial to the team, so now was the chance to give them what they wanted from him: come back to work, and prove himself.
That was four weeks ago.
He had ventured around this small area of the forest several times, eaten the same couple of meals more times than he could count. He's sick of it. He's about two meals away from running out of frozen meats and needing to resort to eating canned spam. Or worse—having to leave his campsite and drive to the nearest town to get more food. He'd inevitably have to check his phone and see the multitude of calls and text messages. Emails he's been dreading…
He's drained beyond what he thought was possible. He hears his stomach croaking like old floorboards as he's planted on the padded floor of his tent, picking at his fingernails that are less of nails and more of just raw, tortured skin. An old habit he slipped back into only a week into his time away.
In her periphery, he sees his bed that's still messy from when he got out of it this morning and made himself breakfast. Now it's well into the afternoon, and he's trying to remember how he got himself on the floor in the first place, and trying hard not to think about why he can't get himself up now.
He knows why. He figured it out around the time he started to fall into a lot of other bad habits.
The seemingly everlasting, bottomless pit of spite he's felt boiling just underneath his ribs is running on empty. He can't reach inside of him and use it like a carrot on a stick anymore because he can't do much with just a drop. A single grain or a crumb.
With nothing to real from to move forward, that's just about all he feels—empty.
The floor below Katsuki is cold, but his body still won't move, or let him wrap himself in any kind of blanket. And he's been hungry for…an hour or so. But he knows that his body doesn't start to shake unless he hasn't eaten for over two and a half hours, which means that he gets another hour and a half before he needs to force himself away from this spot and make himself food.
"I'll get up, just…" He mumbles, "Five more minutes…"
Thirty minutes fly by before he even realizes it, and he's still stuck. Once the crickets outside start to sing, that's when Katsuki knows for sure that the sun has set at this point, meaning whatever energy he thought he could muster to make dinner was pretty much gone. No way in hell he's grilling or cooking anything in the dark, no matter how much he curses himself for being afraid.
Which means the only thing getting served tonight was Spam and leftover fried rice, one of his least favorite backup meals.
It'd be so easy to prepare. At age twenty-two, he should be able to stand up and do something as simple as make himself food—food he knows he needs to survive. The weight of shame sinks him down even more. He hates this.
Another twenty minutes pass, and there it is—that weird "okay, it's time to get up for real this time" energy he gets when he's been without food for a certain amount of time.
Katsuki gets himself up with shaky hands and a weak feeling in his bones, but he's only focused on moving now. His appetite is shot, but he's got one last nutrition bar in his duffle bag. He reaches into it, unwraps it quickly, and pretends that eating this food bar balances out him starving just because it's got a lot of nutrients.
He knows the sun's set, but he can't help himself from needing to leave this tent. He's sat down for too long now, and he just needs to move, even in a circle if he needs to.
With a huff, he grabs a flashlight that's been sitting beside his bed for a day or two and switches it on, stepping out of the tent and zipping it up.
Katsuki simply walks off, with no real destination in mind. All he knows is which routes will lead him off a steep hill that he'll hurt himself stumbling upon without paying attention, and some common dirt paths he's found over the weeks. He's still too spaced out to care about much other than needing to stretch his legs at the moment.
There are markings in his mind he's kept in mind, as well. There's a specific rock that looks like a heart, and a weird tree branch that looks like a squiggle or a shape he can't quite place along the way he's walking. This is his preferred one, only because he knows this one the best and he wasn't ever going to risk getting lost for fun.
A few minutes pass, about ten minutes maybe. Katsuki's legs feel a little better now, and he's glad about that at least. But then he continues walking for a little while longer and realizes that he hasn't seen any of his familiar markings yet. Okay.
Katsuki sucks his teeth, stopping for a moment and looking around. "Must've passed it." He mutters.
The path below him is clear, so he simply turns and walks along it again to find his campsite and look for the right path.
When he does turn himself around and walk along the dirt path, though, this one looks as unfamiliar as the point he realized he was at a moment ago.
"What the fuck…"
He's still too tired to be worried yet, just annoyed. He'll admit, he has a shitty memory, but he's been around this forest for long enough and researched it before he even stepped foot in it to at least have an idea of where he was going.
He takes a right on the dirt path—still looks off. He keeps going when he thinks he sees a familiar marking and sees a weirdly shaped branch that he can't convince himself is the one he's seen multiple times at this point and goes the opposite way again.
"Fuck." Katsuki curses under his breath, hands shaking with anger.
He goes straight. Then takes a left, and then another left. Walks back again when he sees a river from afar that he's never come upon before and goes in the opposite direction again. He's really, really lost.
His chest starts to beat faster as he continues walking, not letting his fear get the better of him. He wasn't weary of the dark when he stepped away from his campsite, but he was thinking about it now. Of course he still has his flashlight so he can see in front of him, but now the thought of an animal or some stranger jumping out in front of him kept popping into his mind, and it was hard to get rid of.
With a hand clutching the hem of his shirt and a shaky hand holding onto his flashlight, he kept going until he saw a thick set of bushes tucked between all the foliage around him.
Katsuki squints at it thoughtfully, racking his brain to remember if he's seen it before. And after a brief moment of consideration, he feels a ping of relief in his chest when he realizes that he has. This has to be the one that leads back onto the path to his tent.
He walks through them, pushing every leaf and stray branch out of his way. With them being so close to his face, he groaned at the smell.
Usually, the greenery would just smell faintly of pine cones and whatever animals were nearby, like the deer or hares. But now there was the scent of…something he couldn't place. And as he continued walking through the brush, they started to get taller and more encompassing until they towered over him completely. His flashlight shook in his hands a bit.
Katsuki couldn't go back, even if he wanted to at this point. The edges of the brambles and bushes were sharp enough to make small cuts into his palms, and he was too deep into this strange jungle to turn back now. So he kept going, and going…
Until he hits stone. Mossy stone with vines and greenery that covered much of the surface of it. There wasn't a thud since he was walking slow enough to see it coming, but it was there. And now he couldn't move forward.
With his heart beating faster than ever, worried he couldn't find a safe way out, he looked around and noticed a very tight clearing against the wall. He could hug it, and his body wouldn't touch any of the harsh bushes.
So he does, putting his body against it and shuffling to the end of it—where part of the wall ends.
There in front of him was a circular entrance of the wall, and beyond that was a sight that he'd never laid eyes upon before. It was a village. But there was something off about it. Almost ethereal.
The homes in this quaint town seemed to have been built with the aspect of trees and foliage in mind. All the greenery surrounding him looked so healthy as well, untouched by any harm. Just as Katsuki stepped aside as a hare suddenly came from out of the bushes beside him, he noticed some kind of dust or pollen floating around him.
He waves it away, before he stops. The floating dust was glowing. It was orange and tiny, barely the size of a speck of rice, but he could still see it.
Intrigued beyond all belief, he reaches out and tries to capture them in his hands. When he does, he opens his hands up just enough so that he can take a closer look, only to flinch when he feels them brushing against his palms.
Katsuki snickers, shoulders shaking a bit. Then it happens again, and it gets a laugh out of him. These weird, fuzzy glowing things were tickling him!
Eventually, he does let them go, however. But when he does, the light they emit blinks on and off gently. And instead of them blowing away with the passing wind, they move in a straight line in the air down the path of the mossy cobblestone path beneath him.
"W-Wait…!" Katsuki calls out in a whisper, following after the glowing fuzzies before he even realizes it. He has no proof for why, but right then, he wholly believes that they'll lead him back home somehow.
So he follows them, step after step through the slumbering town, taking note of the pops of color throughout all of the homes, either through their structure or the decorations they kept all around.
Step, after step, after step…
Until, of course, a drop of water falls onto Katsuki's head.
His eye twitches. There's no way.
Two drops fall on him soon after that. Then another, and another, and before he can even fathom the idea of the weather turning around this quickly, it's pouring down.
"Shit!" He hisses, scurrying like a frightened cat underneath the nearest tree and ducking for cover. "You're kidding me! Nothing on the radio said it would rain today!"
He could've forgotten; maybe he was mistaking today's forecast for another, but there wasn't a cloud in the sky a moment ago, and now he's suddenly caught in the middle of the heaviest downpour he's seen since he was a kid.
The heavy smell of Earth and rain fills his nostrils, so he covers his nose, overtaken by the aroma. He quickly turns his head all around in search of the warm fuzzies that were leading the way, only to find that they were long gone.
His lips wobble for a brief moment at the thought that he's been left behind.
Katsuki's flashlight shook in his hand as he gulped, apprehensive. But he knows that feelings as well as words won't do much—actions are what get him somewhere. So he ventures deeper into the dormant town.
He trips; it must have been a rock, he doesn't care. He hits the ground knees first and scrapes his palms in the mud and pebbles beneath him. He grunts, sitting himself up and looking down at his clothes. He's an absolute mess.
Katsuki's baggy cargo pants and graphic t-shirt, once clean and without much from nature, were not only drenched from the rain, but ruined by the mud that covered the knee and below of his pants. He can tell even in the dark that the mud's splashed on his shirt as well.
The weight of the water presses his damp, slimy clothes onto his skin in a way that makes his insides itch. The more he moves, the more he feels his body growing rashes from how the fabric rubs against his skin, making him raw and irritated, almost like someone was scraping his outer layer off of him.
He was paralyzed where he sat. He doubted where he was going was even the right way back to his desolate home in the woods anyway. More than dry clothes, more than something to quell the feeling of his stomach consuming itself, he needed a plan.
Click.
The faintest bit of light reaches just in front of him. Katsuki raises his head and sees just a few feet away is the front door to a large home that's bathed in light from an overhead lamp just underneath the entrance's roof.
"What…" He mutters to himself.
It's right there. Katsuki's so drained and exhausted that a part of him wants just one more minute to rest, but he forces himself to stand on his own two feet and make his way to the entrance.
When he reaches underneath the door's roof and is finally shielded from the rain, he crashes on the steps of the house and curls in on himself as he grips his soiled pant leg. Words can't express just how tired he is. He doesn't feel…all there anymore. It's like just below his outer shell, he's shrunk down to a point he can't reach himself out of. Like a tiny speck within a crumbling shack.
He can't get up right now; he just can't. Maybe in the morning when he regains his strength, he can find his way out of here and find his way back. Back to the safety of his tent. Back to his…
Katsuki pulls his arms out of the sleeves of his jacket and tugs the inside of his blanket and crosses it around his arms to cocoon himself.
He can get up. He will get back up, just like always. He just needs…
"…Hello..?"
"...I've given him some space…" A voice echoes out from beside him.
Katsuki's head was pounding. His body shook like a leaf, and his stomach felt even emptier than before. He kept his eyes closed, not wanting to worsen his headache.
"Wh… Where am I." He groans, shifting. He realizes there's a blanket underneath him where he's lying.
"Right now, you're on our living room floor..." The voice of a slightly raspy young man replies. He sounds firm and grounding. "You were really cold when we brought you in so we were thinking about putting you on our kotatsu but we decided to just give you a blanket instead."
He hears soft footsteps come from afar and make their way to his other side
"What's that?" The man whispers.
"Green tea," A feminine voice responds in the same whispered tone. "With the weird handles so he can hold it better…!"
"Smart!"
With furrowed eyebrows, Katsuki finally starts to open his eyes just a little. The overhanging light above him blinds him for a moment, but he's able to blink the intensity of it away and get used to it.
"Here," The feminine voice says. A tepid, ceramic-feeling object is carefully placed into his hand, and Katsuki's fingers seem to grapple onto it instantly. He notices that her fingernails look sharp, but he doesn't care much.
"We've got tons of the stuff, so don't stress about not drinking as much." The woman says calmly. "So just take your time, okay?"
A tough hand is brought behind his back, and it pushes him firmly forwards until he's sitting upright. There's some pillows stacked behind him afterwards. It feels better, he supposes, but it's taking a lot of will to even be awake right now.
"Mm…" He groans, head hanging and letting him look down at the tea. It was nothing special, just green tea in a ceramic mug with one—no…three handles?
"Wh… Why the fuck does this mug have three handles on it…"
The woman beside him seems to be stifling a laugh; he can see her putting his hand up to her mouth in his periphery.
The guy sucks his teeth. "Don't worry about it."
"Whatever…" Katsuki mutters. He blinks, and it's the slowest blink he's ever done—why is being awake so hard right now?
He takes a sip of the green tea, but that sip starts to feel more like a pour as the warm, soothing drink flows into him. Instantly, he feels more grounded, and his body starts to stop shaking.
Eventually, he pulls the mug away only so he can take a second to breathe before he downs the rest of the tea right after. Katsuki wipes the residue of the tea off his mouth with his forearm and relaxes just a little. He raises his head up to the strangers in front of him.
"Thank y—" He stops.
His heart drops to his stomach, and his blood turns his body cold in just an instant.
These strangers sitting right next to him weren't people. They couldn't be. Their arms, ears, and eyes weren't normal at all. They had hands, but their arms looked like they were somehow fashioned with the wings of bats; their blood red pupils took up most of their eyes with a skinny, black iris in the middle. And their ears weren't circular like a human's would be—they were pointy and triangular. Every single detail that Katsuki noticed about him spiked his blood pressure more and more.
"Wai—!"
The strangely shaped mug goes flying towards them, but he misses, and it shatters against a wall.
"What the fuck!" Katsuki yelps, standing himself up on shaky legs. "Fuck—w-what are you?!"
"My mug!"
"Stop, you're gonna—!"
In his distress, he falls backwards onto a sofa with folded blankets and pillows. Without thinking, he grabs them and tosses them furiously at the monsters in front of him.
"Get away from me!!"
Blankets, pillows, sofa cushions, and anything within reach are thrown haphazardly around the room in an effort to protect himself.
One of the beasts—the guy—has his hands up like he's surrendering. "Dude, just relax! You're not in danger!"
That same guy has to duck a small stool being tossed at him, which crashes against a tall potted plant. It almost tips over until the girl catches it from falling, only missing some of the soil that's spilled out on the tatami mat and patterned carpet below.
There's a thud as Katsuki climbs over the back side of the couch and uses it as a shield, clutching a much smaller ceramic item in his hand like a grenade as he stares the other two down.
"Just calm down!" The girl shouts. "I know you're scared, but we're not trying to hurt you! Honest!"
"Bullshit! I-I knew something was wrong with this town as soon as I set foot in it!" Katsuki shouts. His heart skips a beat. "That's why it wasn't on the map before I got here…y--you're just trying to lure people in so you can kill them, aren't you!?"
"That's not true!" The other guy shouts back, holding onto a blanket that was thrown at him. "We're nowhere near the rest of the forest! We're this far out so we don't encounter you!"
Katsuki stands up some more, reeling his arm back with the ceramic thing—it's probably another potted plant—in his hand, getting ready to throw it.
"Please don't throw that! It took seven months for that to grow! It's basically still a sapling!" She shouts, like her child's being put in harm's way.
"Screw you and your stupid plants!" He slings it across the room.
The young lady dives onto the floor, barely catching the pot in her hands. Her short, brown hair covers her face for a moment before she moves it out of the way so she can see properly. Her build was somewhat stocky, kind of pear-shaped. And her skin looked similar to the color of an almond. So did the other monster.
There's a lull in the chaos as he locks eyes with her. Katsuki squints as while he's taking a moment to really take in what he's recognizing in her face; he notices it's less bestial and more like…a cat?
But her ears still weren't normal. They were sharp…well, they weren't sharp, now that he was looking at them. They were triangular, but extremely rounded?
"…What are you?" He whispers, sinking back behind the couch until only his eyes are visible.
This whole time she's been focused on him like an animal about to pounce if needed, but when he asks that, she relaxes.
"We're vampires." She states. "And I know we look a little scary, but we're not trying to kill you, or drink your blood, or anything like that I swear." She says.
"Yeah," The young man chimes in. He's shaped like a rectangle with muscles and has big, pointy, black hair that went past his shoulders, as well as a tiny scar above his right eye. "We'll back off and give you space if you want but just…don't throw anything at us. Deal?"
A beat passes, and nobody says anything. Katsuki looks down and realizes he has nothing within his reach to grab. In fact, there aren't many heavy things besides the sofa he was using to shield himself, a vintage-looking dresser with various household items, and a large bookshelf. And that potted plant he almost knocked over.
Katsuki sinks down slightly, still preparing himself in case he needed to defend himself. "Both of you, stay far away from me." He states.
The cat-vampire girl nods, rising to her feet and just responds with "Okay."
There's another moment of silence before the other vampire-cat-guy-whatever-the-fuck-they-are lets out a sigh of relief as he reaches to his feet and grabs a plaid blanket that's strewn across the floor and folds it.
"Hey," He calls out to the other.
"Hm?"
"Is there any green tea left?"
"Uhm…" She ponders, "Yeah, I think so. Why?"
"I was just about to hop into the kitchen and get some more. Did you want some, or…?"
She shakes her head, "No thanks. I'll stay here and clean up."
He sets the folded blanket on a wooden dresser beside him and heads to the next room over. "I'll be right back to help; I just don't want it to sit out on the stove forever."
"Mhm," She hums, grabbing a nearby dustpan and a handheld broom so she can sweep up the soil that spilled on the floor during the brawl (if you could call it that).
After a moment of just standing there stiff and confused, Katsuki slumps down to the floor and puts his back against the couch. He can feel his body shaking from the adrenaline, and part of him wishes he was still sleeping.
There's so much fog clouding his brain. One moment he's in his safe tent and the next, he's waking up in a house full of vampires of all things. How could all the choices he made lead him here, stuck on the cold floor in wet, soiled clothes and feeling weaker than he's ever felt in his entire life.
Katsuki's lips wobble as he feels something stuck in his throat suddenly. He snivels and clenches his eyes shut to blink away what he knows is trying to come out. He really doesn't have the energy to be dealing with this, not right now
He sinks his face into his hands, clenching them in exasperation. Why is everything so hard?
He hears someone behind him on the couch, but he doesn't lift his head up.
"Hey," It's that girl again.
Katsuki curls further into himself. "What'd I say about staying far, far away from me…"
"I was gonna, but…" She lets out a short exhale. "I can hear your stomach…did you want some food?"
He scoffs, "What are you gonna give me? Pints of blood?"
"No," She sounds a little frustrated. "We had dinner a little bit ago before we found you outside, so the leftovers are still warm. You can have as much as you want."
Katsuki sits there motionless before he turns himself around and looks up at her. "Really?"
"Really." She says with a soft smile on her face.
He can see her very pronounced fangs in her smile, but they're weirdly just as rounded as her ears. Nothing on the surface is actually threatening.
"…Fine." He mutters, pushing himself up on his feet.
She leads the way, not moving too fast for him to keep up. When they step into the kitchen, Katsuki spots that other vampire, who's washing some dishes in a very old-looking sink.
When he turns to look at them, Katsuki quickly moves to hide behind the other girl, even though she's much shorter than he is.
"Hey," He just waves at them, soap and water covering his free hand. "Did you…?"
"Just getting some leftovers!" She says, grabbing a bowl and a pair of chopsticks and walking back over to Katsuki, who's stiff as a board.
"Here," She gently hands them over, then puts her hands nearly behind her back. "The food's all set up on that table over there! Just help yourself!"
He stands there for a little too long before he mutters an "okay" and makes his way to the table. In the center was a sizeable plate of cooked salmon, a pot of miso soup with garnish and tofu, another pot of white rice, and then smaller side dishes with grilled corn on a cob, and spinach.
Just looking at the feast in front of him made him even hungrier. It looked perfectly cooked and seasoned, but it was just…so much.
"I…uhm…" He clears his throat, looking away. "I'm not—I'm not hungry anymore. Is it cool if I get something else?"
"Oh, sure! Like what?"
Katsuki scratches the back of his neck. He hates this. He hates what he wants to ask for.
"…Milk?"
The girl's mouth forms into an 'o' shape, and her subtle look of surprise makes him stiffen even more.
"That's an odd request!" She chuckles, but opens the fridge. "Mm… Yeah, we've got some!"
She reaches to a shelf far above the sink and grabs a mug, then tips the pitcher of milk inside of it—not too much, not too little.
"Here!" She says with a smile, handing it over. While she was getting the milk, he'd already put his empty bowl and chopsticks back where they came from.
"Thanks," Katsuki says, holding the glass of milk in his hands.
She nods, seemingly happy that he's at least consuming something. But he doesn't know he's happy about that, so it unnerves him. There's no reason why these two should be nice to him.
The other vampire comes up and nudges the girl, handing over a mug of green tea while he has his own in his hand.
"Is milk your favorite drink or something?" He asks with a slight head tilt.
"Yeah." Katsuki shrugs. "Makes me feel better, I guess. I dunno."
His smile gets a little wider. "Hey, me too! Well, not as much now I guess, but it used to help me sleep when I was a kid."
"Mm."
"C'mere, your legs are probably still tired," He says, walking over to the next room over that has a tokatsu and some seat cushions scattered around it. The guy sits on the cushion with red and black stripes and the girl sits on one with pink and yellow stars patterned all around it.
Katsuki just sits on the floor.
"So, just to be clear...you guys don't drink blood?"
"Nah, we do!" The girl says.
"Oh."
"Just not people's blood, 'cause that'd be weird." She takes a sip of her tea and smiles afterward, cherishing the taste.
"But isn't that your guys' thing?" He squints.
"Mm-mm." She shakes her head. "Our job is to help! We pollinate flowers, spread seeds, and take care of the wildlife around here any chance we get! That's our thing," and ends with a proud smile.
"…Huh."
"So then are you guys, like, a thousand years old or something?"
He almost chokes in his tea, coughing for a moment as his body shakes with laughter. "What?! Nah, man, we're barely even a couple centuries old! I think I'm like, what…" He starts counting on his fingers.
Katsuki scoffs, "Way too old to be counting on your fingers, I know that for sure."
This time, the other vampire can't help herself and she crumples in on herself with laughter, holding her stomach.
"Bwahahah!!" She hits the guy's back as she laughs, and Katsuki can tell it probably hurts. "He sure has it out for you, doesn't he, Kirishima!"
The other guy, Kirishima (?), playfully shoves her away with a grin just as big as hers. "Shut up!"
When the other girl looks over at Katsuki for just a moment, she notices something.
She gasps, "You're smiling!"
And he is. It's a tiny smile, but Katsuki shrugs it off and looks away. "No I wasn't."
"Yes you were; I saw!" She's grinning ear to ear at this point.
"God, whatever!" He groans. "What's it matter to you anyway?"
"I don't know, I just...I really like seeing people happy. And I like your smile too!"
Oh.
"Yeah!" Kirishima gives him a thumbs up, "Way better than that grumpy-looking frown you usually got on your face. Hope we get to see it more often."
Oh.
Katsuki scoffs, "As if. As soon as the rain stops, I'm out of here."
"What, you don't like it here?" Kirishima says with a grin and a slight head tilt.
"With you two bloodsuckers? Hell no." Katsuki remarks with a similar grin.
"I have a name, y'know!" The girl laughs, trying to look offended. "I'm Ochaco Uraraka," she leans against Kirishima, "And this is Eijirou Kirishima."
Katsuki just hums in return, but after a moment the two form an expectant look on their faces. They even lean in a little bit as they wait for something.
"What?"
"Aren'chu gonna tell us your name?" Ochaco asks.
"Uh-uh."
The two of them frown, genuinely disappointed. "Whaaat? Come on, tell us!"
"For what? I'm leaving as soon as the rain stops, so there's no point anyway."
"But we made you tea and everything!" Eijirou whines, "Don't you think it's a fair trade for wrecking our living room?"
Shit, he did do that.
"That was when I thought you two were gonna suck my blood! Who wouldn't be afraid of claws like those?" He responds, gesturing at Eijirou's freakishly sharp claws.
The smile he had on his face falls just a little bit. Katsuki feels a pang of guilt in his chest. Him and his stupid mouth…
"Sorry." He says.
He chuckles, "It's all good," and takes the last sip of his tea and sets down his mug.
"…It's Bakugo." He finally says. "Katsuki Bakugo."
The two of them beam like the sun, ears perking up. Literally, he thinks he sees them wiggle a little with excitement.
"Wh—" That makes him sit up a little with interest. "Your ears can move?"
"Huh?" Ochaco blinks. "Oh, yeah! Here, look…!"
Katsuki's eyes widen in awe as she makes her round-ish triangular ears wiggle on command.
"Wow…" He whispers. He scoots closer to her, head even tilting a bit, like that would help him see better. Now that he's got a closer look, he can see that she's got a bit of brown fur around her ears, the same color as her hair.
She giggles, "Cool, right?"
"Hell yeah!" Right then, he smiles for the second time that night, and Ochaco smiles for the seventh time, if he's counting right.
But then, just as he's really looking at all her vampiric features, he hears several small thuds. He turns to look at a nearby window and concludes that since it's still raining, it's probably just the rain hitting the window. But…
Eijirou snorts, "Dude, your tail's hitting the pillow."
Tail?
"Ahh!" Ochaco yelps in embarrassment, socking Eijirou right in his arm and adjusting herself so her bottom wasn't on the floor cushion anymore. "Why would you mention that out loud!?"
The black-haired vampire throws his head back in laughter again, holding onto his now-sore forearm. "The whole room could hear it!"
Meanwhile, Katsuki is still seated right there with his eyes wide open.
"You guys have tails!?" He even leans into the question.
"Yeah…" Ochaco sighs, trying to rub the blush off of her cheeks.
He hadn't even noticed either of them had a tail this entire time—not like he'd want to look anywhere back there. But if he didn't see it, that must been their tails are pretty small.
"That's nothing!" Eijirou chimes in again, crossing his legs where he sat and gesturing towards the faintly tan wings attached from underneath his arms to her side. "Uraraka's wings here are probably one of the best in the entire village. She's crazy fast!"
Katsuki has his head leaning in his hand, leaning against the kotatsu. "What else can you guys do?"
"Mmm…" He ponders for a second, tapping his claw on his chin. "I'm not the best at explaining it all, so it might take a while to explain. You got time?"
Once again, Katsuki turns himself around and looks over at the nearest window. And just like before, the rain is still coming down hard. In just exact moment, he hears thunder clapping in the sky and he jolts a bit.
"…Yeah," He turns back again, still nursing his cup of milk. "Lay it on me."
Time passes much faster than they expect. Somehow they go from their strange abilities, to Katsuki asking if they get fleas often, to a teasing feat between all three of them, to them somehow getting it in their heads that they should make a fort out of the blankets and couch cushions in the living room. The one they were just brawling in not too long ago.
"You're twenty-two!?" Ochaco gawks in awe.
"Yeah?"
She shakes her head in apology, "Sorry, I just figured you were way younger than that. Like twenty years old, maybe?"
"Twenty months." Eijirou snickers.
Katsuki elbows him in his side, "Fuck off! Must be nice being two hundred years old and still being able to pass for twenty-five, you jerks!"
The other two have a laugh, but Katsuki only rolls his eyes. His fingertips tap the side of his glass of milk in irritation.
"You gonna finish that, or…?" Eijirou speaks up.
"Huh?"
"Your drink," He points at it. "You still haven't touched it yet for some reason."
"Oh. I'm not really that thirsty." Katsuki states. "I just like holding it."
Eijirou just hums thoughtfully, nodding it head slightly, "' Kay."
The black-haired vampire just shrugs and takes the time to look over at Ochaco, who's looking just as tuckered out as he is. It's well into the night, and the sound of the heavy rain was admittedly making them all a little tired.
Especially Katsuki, who's lying on what is probably the most cozy blanket he's ever been on. It was puffy and cushiony and had a plaid yellow and blue pattern over it. He was even given a second blanket to put on top of him that was just as comfy, since they all agreed it was probably best to keep waiting the storm out.
"Mmm…" He groans, eyelids feeling heavy.
"Tired?" Ochaco asks, letting out a yawn right after.
"Mm-hm…"
"Yeah, me too…" Lying on her stomach with her own blanket underneath her, she stretches her arms forward and arches her back in the air. Katsuki still isn't convinced she's fully a vampire.
"Well, listen," Eijirou says, crossing his arms in front of him as he lays out his own mat, without a blanket. "One of us has gotta stay up for when Aizawa and Yamada get home so we can, y'know…explain what happened."
Katsuki jolts. "You two don't live alone?"
He shakes his head. "Nah. They both left sometime this afternoon to head over to a neighbor's house, and we thought they'd be back by dinner but, I guess they didn't. It happens sometimes though, so it's not a big deal. You'll probably meet them sometime in the morning."
"It's nothing to worry about though," Ochaco says calmly, "They're really laid back! Besides, our jobs as vampires is to provide for nature, which includes you guys. They'd be happy we didn't just leave you out in the rain."
"But," He exhales nervously. "Aren't they gonna be pissed I ruined your blankets an' shit because of my clothes?"
"Dude, we can just wash those tomorrow. Don't stress."
He's stressing. Katsuki's eyes furrow, looking off to the side and tapping his glass of milk again.
Eijirou watches him for a moment before getting up and grabbing the pulley to a lamp on a wooden dresser. "Nice, uh, fort you built by the way. If it makes you feel any better, you can camp inside of it tonight? That cool?"
"I…sure."
"Cool," He says before turning the lamp off and eliminating the last light in the house besides the moonlight shining through a window.
"Night, guys."
"See you in the morning!" Ochaco says in a hushed tone.
The sudden change in light sends a shiver down Katsuki's spine, but he quickly straightens himself. He squints to see, trying to grab whatever his hand can reach for and—
"Ouch…!"
He pulls his hand back immediately when he touches flesh, hearing Ochaco's voice. "Shit, my bad." He whispers.
"It's okay."
Feeling a little embarrassed, he goes back to feeling around on the floor for the pillow that they gave him just a couple of minutes ago. All he can feel however is just the carpet below them.
"…Are you looking for something?" Ochaco whispers.
"Yeah, I—I lost my pillow." He grumbles.
There's a shuffling noise, and then Katsuki feels something soft touching his chest. He wraps his arms around it and recognizes that it's the pillow he lost.
"How the hell did you know where it was? It's so dark."
"Night vision."
He tsks, "Right. Uh, thanks."
"You're welcome!" She whispers.
There's ruffling as they both get situated in their sleeping positions. There's the sound of low snoring and it's easy to tell that it's coming from Eijirou. Katsuki goes from lying on his stomach to his back as his mind starts to wander, never having been comfortable sleeping in the complete darkness before.
"…Hey."
Ochaco lets out a yawn, "Huh...?"
He feels a little bad, "Sorry. I know you're trying to sleep an' stuff, but I wanted to ask you somethin'."
There's no response, only the light thudding of the rain outside hiding the window.
"…You still woke, or…?"
"Yeah." She says. "I was just thinking about how you say 'sorry' a lot."
"I do?"
"Yeah, you do." There's some more shuffling. "What were you gonna ask me though?"
There's more silence and then, "I…I think I forgot."
"Mm…was it about vampire stuff?"
"Nah, it wasn't that…I think it was about you guys?"
"Really?"
"Yeah. I was just thinkin' about what you two were talkin' about earlier, y'know about my…smile. Were you lying?"
"Huh?" She sounds genuinely confused. "No, why?"
"I dunno, it's just 'cos…sometimes people say something, but they don't really mean it. It's just something to make you feel better or because it's just a polite thing to say. And I guess I just wanted to ask you 'cos I'll be leaving by the morning and I just…I just wanted to know, I guess—I dunno."
"….Well. I meant every word. And Kirishima's just like me so I know he meant it too."
"Hm." Katsuki just hums.
"…Can I tell you something too? Since you're leaving by tomorrow."
"Sure."
"I think it'd be cool if you stayed a little longer. I'm glad you got some tea, but I wish you would've had dinner. One of our guardians, Yamada, made it for all of us and he's really funny! I think he would've loved to make you smile some more…!"
"…Yeah." There's some more shuffling. Katsuki shifts from being laid on his back to lying on his side. "Love, huh? That's a pretty strong word for someone you barely know."
"Well, I mean it. Every word."
Neither of them speaks, and they remain unmoving for a few brief moments. It's in that small window of time that the rain stops just then.
"…We could love you, y'know?"
What.
"…What?"
"We would love you. If you wanted."
It feels as if the air has been sucked out of Katsuki's chest. The rain comes back in, and it's the only thing that reminds him that he's existing in this space right now and not just—gone.
"…That," he needs another moment to form the words. "That'd be. Hard."
There's some shuffling, and as his eyes have adjusted to the darkness, he can see Ochaco sitting up slightly just to look at him.
"We already like you," Ochaco says with no insincerity. "How hard could it be?"
…Oh.
Katsuki brings the blanket that he's wrapped in closer to his face, unable to find the words again. Ochaco gets herself comfortable again and rests her head on her blanket as well.
"…Who made the tea by the way?"
"Me," She seems to say it happily.
"Oh. Uh," He stammers for a moment. "I liked it. You made it taste not bitter, which is—cool. So, thanks for that."
"Thanks!"
"You're welcome."
Just outside the living room was a side yard with a sliding tatami door that gave access to the outside. The early morning birds that sat outside on the patio chirp blend in seamlessly with the sounds of tree leaves that sway in the wind.
The wind picks up just for a moment, and then two heavy footsteps land on the wooden patio with no notice. The flapping of wings ceases then, though the birds had left just before to return to their respective trees.
A calm hand slides the tatami door open, and those heavy footsteps make their way quietly into the living room. At least, one of them does.
"Shh!" A man with cinnamon-toned skin and long, wavy black hair says with a finger over his mouth. "You'll wake them."
"I'm bein' quiet, Shouta…" His lighter-skinned partner says in a hushed tone. He puts his hands behind his put-up hair and unties a tie, letting his blond hair fall down to his shoulders.
Once the two of them really take in the somewhat messy sight in front of them, however, they're not so quiet.
Shouta grimaces, eyes looking around at the two younger vampires laid out on the floor in wild sleeping positions. He makes his way over, picking up a stray pillow off the floor.
He exhales, "As soon as they wake up, they're cleaning up this mess. As a matter of fact," and makes his way over to the side table by the sofa. "Wake 'em up now. They know I don't allow food or drink in the living room after dark."
The blond finishes cracking his stiff back before he responds, "Aw, let the pups rest a little longer! They've got enough work ahead of them as it is."
"Mm-mm." He shakes his head, picking up an empty glass and staring at it with irritation. "Get them up right now."
"Mmkay," He shrugs, then takes his socked foot and uses it to push Eijirou onto his back. His spiky back hair spills all over his face, and into his open mouth.
"Hey. Hey, kid."
Eijirou keeps snoring.
"YO! WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP!!"
Eijirou jolts awake, clutching his sheets with wide, startled eyes.
"I-I'm up!" He exclaims, sitting up with his back straight as a board. In the corner, the older vampire's focused eyes, he can see Ochaco shoot awake as well.
Just as Shouta is about to take this dirty glass into the kitchen for these two to clean, he stops when he sees something shift under the fort made out of the sofa's cushions.
His sharp ears perk up immediately and his nose wrinkles instinctively as it senses a cluster of warmth right underneath the fort, somewhere between 94.38°F and 100°F, which shouldn't be possible in a home of vampires whose bodies don't emit much warmth. Certainly not enough as much heat as he's sensing right now, at the very least.
Shouta crouches to the floor in an instant, crawling towards it on his hands and feet. There's a blanket over top of it that hides the inside. With great precision, he takes his hand and pinches the blanket with the tips of his razor-sharp claws, slowly pulling back the weighted fabric.
His eyes, that just a moment ago could pass as vaguely human-like, were now slit as he focused his energy on striking down what's just behind the blanket.
And then he sees it.
Lying at the foot of this six-foot-four creature was…a human.
An extremely young, blond boy who was almost completely swaddled in blankets, curled up like a slumbering kitten. His snug cocoon moved up and down steadily with his body as he was still fast asleep, even sucking on his thumb.
Shouta Aizawa had long lost count of how old he was at this point. He had to be at least five hundred years of age. He was never much of a traveler or exotic person at any stage of his life, dead or un-dead. But never, in all of his hundreds of years of being on this Earth, has he ever seen a human that was so…vulnerable? Small? It was difficult to put into words.
He won't pretend that every human he encounters is a bumbling, naive idiot—that'd be irrational. Especially considering he was human once—they all were.
But there was something about this one…this small human that was so…
"Shouta," His partner calls out. "What's the hold—"
Shouta hears sniffing in the air. Once it stops, he knows that they both understand the situation.
"I don't think he's hurt," Shouta says. "But his clothes look muddy and damp. He must've been outside in the rain last night and made his way here somehow, looking for help."
Hizashi, his partner, steadily makes his way over and crouches by his side, looking into the entrance of the fort.
He tsked, shaking his head. "Kid can't be a day over twenty…"
"If even that…"
They sense a bit of movement and turn their heads to look at their two kids who inch cautiously towards them. Their hands are clasped together, and their eyes are wide, with sparkles literally emitting from them.
"Don't give me that look," Shouta says. "He's not some kind of pet. We don't have any say in whether or not he wants to stick around."
"B-But…!" The kids say in sync.
"No."
Their shoulders slump a little, hands falling to their sides.
"I appreciate you two bringing him in the night; that was very thoughtful of you." He says, "But as soon as he's awake, we're sending him on his way. This kid doesn't need any more help. He'll be just fine."
Eijirou and Ochaco both still look a little glum, but hearing that he'll be fine lifts their spirits just a smidge.
"You heard 'em!" Hizashi chimes in, placing his hands on the top of their heads. "Tell you what—if you help me water the flowers outside, I'll make your favorite: pan pudding. How 'bout that?"
The two nod their head in agreement and let Hizashi lead them out of the living room so they can head upstairs and get dressed, but not before looking back at his partner one last time before he leaves.
With Shouta alone in the living room, he brings his attention back to the kid who's still fast asleep. The vampire was just about to get up from where he was sitting before he saw the human move just a little. When he moves again, he realizes that he's actually shuddering.
"Hm," He hums, reaching his hand inside of the fort to pinch the edges of the blanket and pull it closer to the kid's chest, but—
He flinches, crawling backwards to the end of the fort with a vaguely hostile look on his face. He curls up more than he had before and puts his arms in front of him in an 'X' shaped formation.
Shouta raises his eyebrows, not moving an inch. A few moments pass before he allows himself to, grabbing the blanket on top of the actual fort instead and covering it up again. That changes things.
He lingers as he stares at it for just another second before lifting himself off of the floor.
Shouta doesn't know anything about this kid, where he even came from, nor did he know his name. But he does know that he's gonna need something to eat, as well as warm water to get himself clean, so there wasn't any point in sitting around. Time to get to work then.