Join the hell parade

Katsuki clicks his tongue in annoyance, stops washing the dishes and removes his gloves. He casts aside his apron before turning around and walking toward the intruder. "I didn't give you the fucking code to my house so you can just barge in anytime you want," he scolds. "Have some fucking manners, Raccoon Eyes."

The earlier flurry of energy from her deflates, but she still doesn't appear to be happy with him. "Where is he?" she says instead. "Where are you hiding the lesser in your possession?"

"You mean him?" He cocks his head toward Izuku, who’s been quietly sitting on the couch watching them the entire time.

Izuku smiles shyly at her and gives a small wave from where he's sitting, but he dares not approach them and disturb their conversation. Katsuki looks at him with a frown before gesturing with his hand for Izuku to come forward.

"C'mere," he instructs, and that's all the permission Izuku need.

He closes his book and tentatively moves toward them. Pulling to a stop right beside Katsuki, Izuku gives Ashido a slight bow.

"Hello, Pinky-sama," he greets, perfectly cordial and with the right inflection of respect in his tone. "I'm Izuku from the Academy." He doesn't give her his last name. It no longer matters. It hasn’t for a long time now.

He hears her make a choking noise that sound like a rock has lodge itself in her throat. "Please don't bow to me," she says urgently. "And you can call me Ashido or Mina if you like. I don't mind it either way!"

"Ashido-sama," he corrects himself as he slowly raises his head.

He’s aware that she’s a friend of Katsuki but years of training is hard to undo. He’s always cautious of how he presents himself, because one wrong move and he could be sent back to the Academy. Trade out for a better lesser. A more obedient and useful one. It has happened before.

Ashido gives him an encouraging smile, but he could feel the heat of her gaze trains on his neck the entire time, trying to see something that isn't there right now. Something heavy, thick and encasing. A PET collar. Instead, hidden under his one of his pants legs, it sits delicately on his ankle disguised as a jewelry.

“So you’re Katsuki’s new lesser,” she comments. It sounds stiff and terse.

“Yes, ma’am,” he answers, his sense of danger prickling at the back of his head. It feels like something is going to go wrong very, very soon.  

Then with eyes blazing, she directs her ire toward Katsuki instead. "Do you realize what you've done?!" she demands, jabbing a finger at Katsuki's chest. "This is even insensitive for you! You can't be that obtuse to think you can get away with it!"

Face pinched, Katsuki slaps her hand away from his person and huffs. "What the fuck is riding up your ass this morning?"

"Sorry, if I sound a little upset when I heard that one of my best friends bought another human being without me knowing!" Ashido hisses, knuckles going white.

Even though Ashido is clearly angry at Katsuki and not him, Izuku takes a step slightly behind Katsuki. He's trained to be perceptive to the mood of the people around him to deescalate the tense situation and make sure he'll not be bearing the consequence of it. It's a safety measure.

Katsuki doesn't even react to Izuku's pressing himself close to him now, their shoulders casually bumping against each other. "What was I supposed to do," he snarls back at her. "Let some rat ass bastard buy him instead of me?"

"We could have figure something out! You know I’m part of ERA!" Ashido argues. "Have ever consider how it'll look that the top hero of our country is now a part of the lessers ownership initiative? If this get out to the general public, they're going to take it as you endorsing the program and you’re going to be their new poster boy. As your friend how can I stand by and let your name be used like that?" she demands, shaking her head.

Izuku has heard of the group call ERA, Equality for All, and its mission to see beyond the emphasis on a quirk base classification of their society, spreading the idea that they’re all equal and deserve a fair chance. They're on the lower end of the government's watchlist and the Academy considers them a nuisance at best compare to the home-grown terrorist groups like LION, Lesser Rights Coalition, that threatens to completely dismantle the Quirk Index System that judge every citizen living in the country how their quirk should be graded and which caste they fall under.

So, he's not only surprise that Ashido is part of ERA especially given her public image and high caste, but that Katsuki is also a friend of hers.

It makes him wonder what has changed for Katsuki after they were separated more than a decade ago? They both had grown up and grown apart, into wholly different people, belonging to different caste now. One is a top-ranking hero of the country and the other is a bound lesser. With a highly rated quirk, Katsuki now represents their country as a pro-hero like they both had dreamed of, but he also seems different now. Less angry and arrogant. Even when he's arguing with Ashido, there seem to be an ease in which they speak to each other as though whatever said they won’t hold it against each other personally.

The Katsuki he knows was always surrounded by people, but also so terribly alone at the same time. He kept everyone else at a distance, even Izuku, and doesn’t let anyone through his walls. There was no one special to him. He was indifference to all, but maybe that was no longer the case anymore. Ashido has free access to Katsuki’s home, and they appear close. In the past that would have been an unimaginable scenario. Maybe he has really changed, maybe Izuku doesn’t know him anymore. Or ever at all.

"I wasn't going to leave it to chance," Katsuki snaps, eyes going cold and dark. "I just found him and I won't lose him again."

Startled by the intensity of Katsuki's tone, Ashido's eyes go wide. "Found him? Is he—" Her eyes are falls on Izuku. "A-are you Deku? Katsuki's Deku?"

Izuku nods. Slowly. Unsure. Like he's missing a piece of the puzzle here and nobody is willing to help him find it.

The corner of her lips tug upward as her face relaxes into a smile of relief. "So, you're Katsuki's white whale," she says, which only confuses him even more.

Izuku's brows furrow, looking at Katsuki pointedly. "White whale?" he asks, tugging at Katsuki's sleeve. "What did she mean by that?"

Katsuki resolutely ignores him as he glares at Ashido. "Shut your face. Don't put dumb shit in his head or he's going to get the wrong idea."

Izuku pouts. Katsuki talked as if he's a child that doesn't know any better. Really not fair. He wants to know she meant by him being Katsuki’s white whale.

"Really?" Ashido muses, there's a teasing lilt in her tone.  "What sort of idea could that even be?"

Katsuki's eyes narrow in suspicion. "Get your fucking brain out of the gutter."

"You know Katsuki, if you have told me earlier, I could have help you rescue your childhood sweetheart," she comments idly as if knowing exactly what button to press on Katsuki.

And just like that Katsuki makes a sputtering noise of distress and Izuku's face goes up in flame.

"We're not—" Izuku swallows. "We're not anything of that sort!" he vehemently denies. He didn't even think they were friends when they last saw each other all those years back. Their relationship has always been muddled with complicated feelings that they still haven't been able to sort out even after all these years.

Love. Hate. Hurt. Regret. Admiration and resentment. It all entangled up together that someday Izuku has a hard time deciphering which is which. He thought that after they were separated, he won't miss Katsuki at all, especially when Katsuki had left scars all over his heart. But he'd yearned for him, yearned for the kinder and simpler days of their childhood where their life didn't line up and stands opposite of each other. One rose and the other sank, the former sat at the top with a cape around him and the latter on his knees and a collar at his throat.

Even in the Academy, when he's not busy with his lessons he could easily catch sight of Katsuki on TV or in the headlines, tracing the figure of the boy who has grown up without him, and thought if only he can stand right next to Katsuki. Close yet so far like a distant star. And now Katsuki is his master and Izuku served at his behest. How strange things have turned out in the end.

As though sensing the direction of Izuku's mood quickly spiraling downward, Katsuki asserts loudly and fiercely to Ashido, "What we are is nobody's business, but ours."

Ashido blinks. Slightly taken back by the way her joke seems to fall flat in front of them, she quickly backtracks, "Sorry, sorry!"

Izuku offers up a smile to her in hope of squashing any awkwardness between them. It's really nobody's fault that Katsuki and his relationship are a bit of a minefield to tread across. "It's quite alright," he says. "I'm just happy that Kacchan has such a good friend with him."

Even in Ashido's earlier anger, she had cared enough to broach such a sensitive subject to him because she was worry about his reputation and how it could damage him later ton even though this is clearly something that matter to her a lot. This kind of deep and loyal friendship, Izuku finds envious.

He doesn't have anyone like that back in the Academy. They were all on their own, driven by their need to prove themselves in order to stand out because only the best and brightest of them are chosen by a master; the rest will be sent to work in the camps, never to be seen again. Lesser that aren't up to standards of what they thought is a practical tool are therefore reeducated and put somewhere else, so that they can provide other benefits to society.

At least here with Katsuki, under his thumb and the constrain of his bondage, Izuku is own person still.

Ashido grins, her face lighting up at the mention of their friendship. "Well, someone got to put up with this prickly guy," she says as Katsuki scoffs. "He may be rough around the edges, but he's a pretty decent person once you get really, really down to his soft gooey center."

"Shut the fuck up," Katsuki bites out as she giggles.

Izuku keeps a smile plastered on his face, careful not to let it drop as he watches Ashido and Katsuki's laidback banter and the way she had explained Katsuki to him as though he's a stranger in Katsuki's life. Involuntary, his chest throbs.

"I hope Katsuki is not making your life difficult," Ashido says with concern. "He has never owned a lesser before, so it may be challenging to live with him at first. He's not pushing you too hard, right?"

Katsuki snorts. “Does it look like I'm even making him do anything?" He gestures toward the kitchen that been Katsuki's domain all of this morning as he prepares lunch for them while Izuku has been lounging in the living room with a book in hand.

Izuku smiles sheepishly, scratching his cheek. "I’ve been reading. Mostly. But only because he won't let me help around the house!" It’s strange.

The academy has trained him ub housework and other skill sets that may be require of him from his master, but Katsuki doesn't seem to care or need him for any of it. It makes him feel redundant and worthless because this is all he has ever known, to serve and please his master. Katsuki won't even let him do that, so what is the point of his existence here? He still doesn't know the exact reason why Katsuki had purchased him. Was out of some concern for him that Katsuki had extended a hand toward him? Or was a sense of duty that had spurred Katsuki to action?

Katsuki's motivation has been in the dark to him ever since they reunited that day at the Academy and he whisked him away from there. He'd given Izuku a beautiful anklet instead of a collar, promised that he was going to find Inko for Izuku, and stripped Izuku of all responsibilities. All he demands from Izuku is that he remains safely at home and do anything moderately stupid.

Some days, he feels more like an over indulgence pet than a human.

"You must have been so bored," Ashido says, looking at him pitifully like she knows how he's hardwired to serve, to be of use.

Well, yes, he has a lot of free time now, but he's just laying around the house uselessly. He doesn't tell her that though. "It's fine," he insists.

He's living on Katsuki's generosity, so he can't complain. Doing nothing is better than being sent back and reeducated. Considering his situation, he's luckier than most lessers. Katsuki is temperamental but he doesn't lash out at him. He treats Izuku brusquely but not harshly. It’s a pretty good life.

Ashido frowns, scrutinizing him so carefully that Izuku dare not even breathe before snapping her head toward Katsuki. "You should provide some physical activity or mental stimulus to Deku instead of having him wait all day around for you," she scolds. "He needs something to do!"

Katsuki scrunches up his face. "I got him plenty of books to read! And he likes them." He looks at Izuku pointedly. "Right?"

Feeling like he's caught in the crossfire, "I like books," he answers meekly, afraid of what answer he give won't satisfied either party in the end.

Ashido roll her eyes. Hard. "Something else then! You can't expect him to be only into books. People have different interests," she reminds him. "They need variety in life, a little spice, they can't all be boring old man like you, who like to stay at home and water his plants and cook."

Katsuki glares. "Those are perfectly acceptable hobbies."

"Sure,” she shrugs, “but you get to do all that while Deku isn't even allow to do any of it except apparently read his books. Doesn't that sound constricting?" she asks. "Have you ever asked him what he thought of it?"

Katsuki's gaze drops to the floor as a stiff silence descends upon them, making Izuku shifts his legs nervously but then he directs his attention to Izuku. "Do you feel like I have been unfair to you?"

Izuku quickly shakes his head, because it's true. Katsuki has been good to him. His life been nice so far.

"Be honest with me, I won't be mad," Katsuki presses further.

His tone is firm but his words are ripe with sincerity even if it's a little awkward with his intention, a little pushy. He looks so unsure and hesitant like Izuku is a child who has to be coax for an answer, but he doesn’t know how. It’s a Katsuki he has never seen before. All prideful arrogance reduced to this.

It's kind of cute.

"Well, I do like my books, but sometimes—” Izuku bites down on his lower lip, hesitant but then, “sometimes I wish there was something else I can do too," he admits at last. "When you're not here, it can be a little monotonous and drab. The highlight of my day is when you're back home and I can hear about how your day of work went."

He was very careful with his words, choosing the ones that he thought won't set Katsuki off and offend him, but the way Katsuki draws back from him and his face a strange amalgamation of confusion and upset like Izuku has taken a knife and stabbed him in the chest repeatedly—was not what he was expecting. At all.

It's a jarring sight.

Just as Izuku about open his mouth and retract his earlier statement, Katsuki shoves his fingers through his hair in frustration. "I can't read your fucking mind, so you’ll have tell me next time," he say, aggrieved, then he heaves a sigh. "I'll do better."

Izuku's jaw go slacked in a shock, so he leans over and pinches Katsuki's arm just in case.

"Deku, you fuck!" Katsuki growls, yanking his arm away.

"I just wanted to make sure I'm not dreaming," he sulks. This can’t be real right? Katsuki, actually, sort of, maybe, admitting he was wrong and trying to improve on it?

"Then pinch yourself," Katsuki hisses, glaring at him heatedly.

"Well, then I would be in pain," he says, and when Katsuki looks like he's about to blow a casket, Izuku breaks out into laughter. He feels light and unburden for the first time in a while.

Katsuki stares at him with dazed look on his face like he doesn't know what to make of him. “You—”

Ashido clears her throat, drawing both of their attention to her as it seems both of they had forgotten that she is also here with them. "Well, if you two are done with whatever that was," she says, wagging her brow. "I have a suggestion."

Recovering himself, Katsuki snorts. "Do tell," he says.

"How about you take Deku with you instead of leaving him alone all day alone when you’re at work," she proposes.

Izuku immediately perks up while Katsuki frowns. "You want me to bring Deku to work? Are you fucking crazy?!" he demands, refusing to accept the idea of it.

"Why not?" Ashido folds her arms across her chest, unfazed. "You have full ownership over him and in the eyes of the law, he can go anywhere that you can go as long as it’s under your permission. And it’s your agency, you have full control over there."

"That's not the point," he retorts, peeved like he's gearing up for another fight with her, but Izuku quickly intervenes.

He reaches out and touches Katsuki's arm, drops his voice to a low cadence with a hint of a coyness, his eyes dips and he looks up at Katsuki from his lashes. "But Kacchan, I want to go," Izuku pleads. "I promise not to cause any trouble and be hindrance to you, so can you take me with you?"

He's putting the lessons of the Academy to work, all that training to be the perfect servant, the perfect companion to their master. When Katsuki remains silent for a lengthy time, Izuku isn't surprise this paltry trick doesn't work on him. He attempts to withdraw his hand, but Katsuki catches it just in time much to Izuku shock.

"Fine," he bites out something fierce, a low guttural sound that sends shiver down Izuku's back as he delicately but firmly holds Izuku's hand in his grip like he can brand his touch against Izuku’s skin. "You can come, but you must listen to everything I say and don't take stupid, reckless action."

"Ah," Izuku breathes. He wonders if this count as stupid, reckless action with the way he instigated this—whatever this is—and now he's the one paying the price of it. Katsuki's touch burns him, incinerating the last of his brain cells. "I'll be good, master," he says, the words unbiddenly slipping pass from his lips.

Katsuki's eyes darken, his breath is drawn out, and he looks at Izuku like he's puzzle that he still can't quite parse out yet. "You're going to drive me to an early grave, nerd," he mumbles, but it sounds helplessly fond.

"Well, don't die yet. You have to take me to work first," Izuku says cheerfully, tangling their hand together. Katsuki’s touch anchors him in place, an assurance of safety that even if he has no home for himself, his place is by Katsuki’s side now. Till however long Katsuki will have him at least.

Katsuki clicks his tongue in annoyance, stops washing the dishes and removes his gloves. He casts aside his apron before turning around and walking toward the intruder. "I didn't give you the fucking code to my house so you can just barge in anytime you want," he scolds. "Have some fucking manners, Raccoon Eyes."

The earlier flurry of energy from her deflates, but she still doesn't appear to be happy with him. "Where is he?" she says instead. "Where are you hiding the lesser in your possession?"

"You mean him?" He cocks his head toward Izuku, who’s been quietly sitting on the couch watching them the entire time.

Izuku smiles shyly at her and gives a small wave from where he's sitting, but he dares not approach them and disturb their conversation. Katsuki looks at him with a frown before gesturing with his hand for Izuku to come forward.

"C'mere," he instructs, and that's all the permission Izuku need.

He closes his book and tentatively moves toward them. Pulling to a stop right beside Katsuki, Izuku gives Ashido a slight bow.

"Hello, Pinky-sama," he greets, perfectly cordial and with the right inflection of respect in his tone. "I'm Izuku from the Academy." He doesn't give her his last name. It no longer matters. It hasn’t for a long time now.

He hears her make a choking noise that sound like a rock has lodge itself in her throat. "Please don't bow to me," she says urgently. "And you can call me Ashido or Mina if you like. I don't mind it either way!"

"Ashido-sama," he corrects himself as he slowly raises his head.

He’s aware that she’s a friend of Katsuki but years of training is hard to undo. He’s always cautious of how he presents himself, because one wrong move and he could be sent back to the Academy. Trade out for a better lesser. A more obedient and useful one. It has happened before.

Ashido gives him an encouraging smile, but he could feel the heat of her gaze trains on his neck the entire time, trying to see something that isn't there right now. Something heavy, thick and encasing. A PET collar. Instead, hidden under his one of his pants legs, it sits delicately on his ankle disguised as a jewelry.

“So you’re Katsuki’s new lesser,” she comments. It sounds stiff and terse.

“Yes, ma’am,” he answers, his sense of danger prickling at the back of his head. It feels like something is going to go wrong very, very soon.  

Then with eyes blazing, she directs her ire toward Katsuki instead. "Do you realize what you've done?!" she demands, jabbing a finger at Katsuki's chest. "This is even insensitive for you! You can't be that obtuse to think you can get away with it!"

Face pinched, Katsuki slaps her hand away from his person and huffs. "What the fuck is riding up your ass this morning?"

"Sorry, if I sound a little upset when I heard that one of my best friends bought another human being without me knowing!" Ashido hisses, knuckles going white.

Even though Ashido is clearly angry at Katsuki and not him, Izuku takes a step slightly behind Katsuki. He's trained to be perceptive to the mood of the people around him to deescalate the tense situation and make sure he'll not be bearing the consequence of it. It's a safety measure.

Katsuki doesn't even react to Izuku's pressing himself close to him now, their shoulders casually bumping against each other. "What was I supposed to do," he snarls back at her. "Let some rat ass bastard buy him instead of me?"

"We could have figure something out! You know I’m part of ERA!" Ashido argues. "Have ever consider how it'll look that the top hero of our country is now a part of the lessers ownership initiative? If this get out to the general public, they're going to take it as you endorsing the program and you’re going to be their new poster boy. As your friend how can I stand by and let your name be used like that?" she demands, shaking her head.

Izuku has heard of the group call ERA, Equality for All, and its mission to see beyond the emphasis on a quirk base classification of their society, spreading the idea that they’re all equal and deserve a fair chance. They're on the lower end of the government's watchlist and the Academy considers them a nuisance at best compare to the home-grown terrorist groups like LION, Lesser Rights Coalition, that threatens to completely dismantle the Quirk Index System that judge every citizen living in the country how their quirk should be graded and which caste they fall under.

So, he's not only surprise that Ashido is part of ERA especially given her public image and high caste, but that Katsuki is also a friend of hers.

It makes him wonder what has changed for Katsuki after they were separated more than a decade ago? They both had grown up and grown apart, into wholly different people, belonging to different caste now. One is a top-ranking hero of the country and the other is a bound lesser. With a highly rated quirk, Katsuki now represents their country as a pro-hero like they both had dreamed of, but he also seems different now. Less angry and arrogant. Even when he's arguing with Ashido, there seem to be an ease in which they speak to each other as though whatever said they won’t hold it against each other personally.

The Katsuki he knows was always surrounded by people, but also so terribly alone at the same time. He kept everyone else at a distance, even Izuku, and doesn’t let anyone through his walls. There was no one special to him. He was indifference to all, but maybe that was no longer the case anymore. Ashido has free access to Katsuki’s home, and they appear close. In the past that would have been an unimaginable scenario. Maybe he has really changed, maybe Izuku doesn’t know him anymore. Or ever at all.

"I wasn't going to leave it to chance," Katsuki snaps, eyes going cold and dark. "I just found him and I won't lose him again."

Startled by the intensity of Katsuki's tone, Ashido's eyes go wide. "Found him? Is he—" Her eyes are falls on Izuku. "A-are you Deku? Katsuki's Deku?"

Izuku nods. Slowly. Unsure. Like he's missing a piece of the puzzle here and nobody is willing to help him find it.

The corner of her lips tug upward as her face relaxes into a smile of relief. "So, you're Katsuki's white whale," she says, which only confuses him even more.

Izuku's brows furrow, looking at Katsuki pointedly. "White whale?" he asks, tugging at Katsuki's sleeve. "What did she mean by that?"

Katsuki resolutely ignores him as he glares at Ashido. "Shut your face. Don't put dumb shit in his head or he's going to get the wrong idea."

Izuku pouts. Katsuki talked as if he's a child that doesn't know any better. Really not fair. He wants to know she meant by him being Katsuki’s white whale.

"Really?" Ashido muses, there's a teasing lilt in her tone.  "What sort of idea could that even be?"

Katsuki's eyes narrow in suspicion. "Get your fucking brain out of the gutter."

"You know Katsuki, if you have told me earlier, I could have help you rescue your childhood sweetheart," she comments idly as if knowing exactly what button to press on Katsuki.

And just like that Katsuki makes a sputtering noise of distress and Izuku's face goes up in flame.

"We're not—" Izuku swallows. "We're not anything of that sort!" he vehemently denies. He didn't even think they were friends when they last saw each other all those years back. Their relationship has always been muddled with complicated feelings that they still haven't been able to sort out even after all these years.

Love. Hate. Hurt. Regret. Admiration and resentment. It all entangled up together that someday Izuku has a hard time deciphering which is which. He thought that after they were separated, he won't miss Katsuki at all, especially when Katsuki had left scars all over his heart. But he'd yearned for him, yearned for the kinder and simpler days of their childhood where their life didn't line up and stands opposite of each other. One rose and the other sank, the former sat at the top with a cape around him and the latter on his knees and a collar at his throat.

Even in the Academy, when he's not busy with his lessons he could easily catch sight of Katsuki on TV or in the headlines, tracing the figure of the boy who has grown up without him, and thought if only he can stand right next to Katsuki. Close yet so far like a distant star. And now Katsuki is his master and Izuku served at his behest. How strange things have turned out in the end.

As though sensing the direction of Izuku's mood quickly spiraling downward, Katsuki asserts loudly and fiercely to Ashido, "What we are is nobody's business, but ours."

Ashido blinks. Slightly taken back by the way her joke seems to fall flat in front of them, she quickly backtracks, "Sorry, sorry!"

Izuku offers up a smile to her in hope of squashing any awkwardness between them. It's really nobody's fault that Katsuki and his relationship are a bit of a minefield to tread across. "It's quite alright," he says. "I'm just happy that Kacchan has such a good friend with him."

Even in Ashido's earlier anger, she had cared enough to broach such a sensitive subject to him because she was worry about his reputation and how it could damage him later ton even though this is clearly something that matter to her a lot. This kind of deep and loyal friendship, Izuku finds envious.

He doesn't have anyone like that back in the Academy. They were all on their own, driven by their need to prove themselves in order to stand out because only the best and brightest of them are chosen by a master; the rest will be sent to work in the camps, never to be seen again. Lesser that aren't up to standards of what they thought is a practical tool are therefore reeducated and put somewhere else, so that they can provide other benefits to society.

At least here with Katsuki, under his thumb and the constrain of his bondage, Izuku is own person still.

Ashido grins, her face lighting up at the mention of their friendship. "Well, someone got to put up with this prickly guy," she says as Katsuki scoffs. "He may be rough around the edges, but he's a pretty decent person once you get really, really down to his soft gooey center."

"Shut the fuck up," Katsuki bites out as she giggles.

Izuku keeps a smile plastered on his face, careful not to let it drop as he watches Ashido and Katsuki's laidback banter and the way she had explained Katsuki to him as though he's a stranger in Katsuki's life. Involuntary, his chest throbs.

"I hope Katsuki is not making your life difficult," Ashido says with concern. "He has never owned a lesser before, so it may be challenging to live with him at first. He's not pushing you too hard, right?"

Katsuki snorts. “Does it look like I'm even making him do anything?" He gestures toward the kitchen that been Katsuki's domain all of this morning as he prepares lunch for them while Izuku has been lounging in the living room with a book in hand.

Izuku smiles sheepishly, scratching his cheek. "I’ve been reading. Mostly. But only because he won't let me help around the house!" It’s strange.

The academy has trained him ub housework and other skill sets that may be require of him from his master, but Katsuki doesn't seem to care or need him for any of it. It makes him feel redundant and worthless because this is all he has ever known, to serve and please his master. Katsuki won't even let him do that, so what is the point of his existence here? He still doesn't know the exact reason why Katsuki had purchased him. Was out of some concern for him that Katsuki had extended a hand toward him? Or was a sense of duty that had spurred Katsuki to action?

Katsuki's motivation has been in the dark to him ever since they reunited that day at the Academy and he whisked him away from there. He'd given Izuku a beautiful anklet instead of a collar, promised that he was going to find Inko for Izuku, and stripped Izuku of all responsibilities. All he demands from Izuku is that he remains safely at home and do anything moderately stupid.

Some days, he feels more like an over indulgence pet than a human.

"You must have been so bored," Ashido says, looking at him pitifully like she knows how he's hardwired to serve, to be of use.

Well, yes, he has a lot of free time now, but he's just laying around the house uselessly. He doesn't tell her that though. "It's fine," he insists.

He's living on Katsuki's generosity, so he can't complain. Doing nothing is better than being sent back and reeducated. Considering his situation, he's luckier than most lessers. Katsuki is temperamental but he doesn't lash out at him. He treats Izuku brusquely but not harshly. It’s a pretty good life.

Ashido frowns, scrutinizing him so carefully that Izuku dare not even breathe before snapping her head toward Katsuki. "You should provide some physical activity or mental stimulus to Deku instead of having him wait all day around for you," she scolds. "He needs something to do!"

Katsuki scrunches up his face. "I got him plenty of books to read! And he likes them." He looks at Izuku pointedly. "Right?"

Feeling like he's caught in the crossfire, "I like books," he answers meekly, afraid of what answer he give won't satisfied either party in the end.

Ashido roll her eyes. Hard. "Something else then! You can't expect him to be only into books. People have different interests," she reminds him. "They need variety in life, a little spice, they can't all be boring old man like you, who like to stay at home and water his plants and cook."

Katsuki glares. "Those are perfectly acceptable hobbies."

"Sure,” she shrugs, “but you get to do all that while Deku isn't even allow to do any of it except apparently read his books. Doesn't that sound constricting?" she asks. "Have you ever asked him what he thought of it?"

Katsuki's gaze drops to the floor as a stiff silence descends upon them, making Izuku shifts his legs nervously but then he directs his attention to Izuku. "Do you feel like I have been unfair to you?"

Izuku quickly shakes his head, because it's true. Katsuki has been good to him. His life been nice so far.

"Be honest with me, I won't be mad," Katsuki presses further.

His tone is firm but his words are ripe with sincerity even if it's a little awkward with his intention, a little pushy. He looks so unsure and hesitant like Izuku is a child who has to be coax for an answer, but he doesn’t know how. It’s a Katsuki he has never seen before. All prideful arrogance reduced to this.

It's kind of cute.

"Well, I do like my books, but sometimes—” Izuku bites down on his lower lip, hesitant but then, “sometimes I wish there was something else I can do too," he admits at last. "When you're not here, it can be a little monotonous and drab. The highlight of my day is when you're back home and I can hear about how your day of work went."

He was very careful with his words, choosing the ones that he thought won't set Katsuki off and offend him, but the way Katsuki draws back from him and his face a strange amalgamation of confusion and upset like Izuku has taken a knife and stabbed him in the chest repeatedly—was not what he was expecting. At all.

It's a jarring sight.

Just as Izuku about open his mouth and retract his earlier statement, Katsuki shoves his fingers through his hair in frustration. "I can't read your fucking mind, so you’ll have tell me next time," he say, aggrieved, then he heaves a sigh. "I'll do better."

Izuku's jaw go slacked in a shock, so he leans over and pinches Katsuki's arm just in case.

"Deku, you fuck!" Katsuki growls, yanking his arm away.

"I just wanted to make sure I'm not dreaming," he sulks. This can’t be real right? Katsuki, actually, sort of, maybe, admitting he was wrong and trying to improve on it?

"Then pinch yourself," Katsuki hisses, glaring at him heatedly.

"Well, then I would be in pain," he says, and when Katsuki looks like he's about to blow a casket, Izuku breaks out into laughter. He feels light and unburden for the first time in a while.

Katsuki stares at him with dazed look on his face like he doesn't know what to make of him. “You—”

Ashido clears her throat, drawing both of their attention to her as it seems both of they had forgotten that she is also here with them. "Well, if you two are done with whatever that was," she says, wagging her brow. "I have a suggestion."

Recovering himself, Katsuki snorts. "Do tell," he says.

"How about you take Deku with you instead of leaving him alone all day alone when you’re at work," she proposes.

Izuku immediately perks up while Katsuki frowns. "You want me to bring Deku to work? Are you fucking crazy?!" he demands, refusing to accept the idea of it.

"Why not?" Ashido folds her arms across her chest, unfazed. "You have full ownership over him and in the eyes of the law, he can go anywhere that you can go as long as it’s under your permission. And it’s your agency, you have full control over there."

"That's not the point," he retorts, peeved like he's gearing up for another fight with her, but Izuku quickly intervenes.

He reaches out and touches Katsuki's arm, drops his voice to a low cadence with a hint of a coyness, his eyes dips and he looks up at Katsuki from his lashes. "But Kacchan, I want to go," Izuku pleads. "I promise not to cause any trouble and be hindrance to you, so can you take me with you?"

He's putting the lessons of the Academy to work, all that training to be the perfect servant, the perfect companion to their master. When Katsuki remains silent for a lengthy time, Izuku isn't surprise this paltry trick doesn't work on him. He attempts to withdraw his hand, but Katsuki catches it just in time much to Izuku shock.

"Fine," he bites out something fierce, a low guttural sound that sends shiver down Izuku's back as he delicately but firmly holds Izuku's hand in his grip like he can brand his touch against Izuku’s skin. "You can come, but you must listen to everything I say and don't take stupid, reckless action."

"Ah," Izuku breathes. He wonders if this count as stupid, reckless action with the way he instigated this—whatever this is—and now he's the one paying the price of it. Katsuki's touch burns him, incinerating the last of his brain cells. "I'll be good, master," he says, the words unbiddenly slipping pass from his lips.

Katsuki's eyes darken, his breath is drawn out, and he looks at Izuku like he's puzzle that he still can't quite parse out yet. "You're going to drive me to an early grave, nerd," he mumbles, but it sounds helplessly fond.

"Well, don't die yet. You have to take me to work first," Izuku says cheerfully, tangling their hand together. Katsuki’s touch anchors him in place, an assurance of safety that even if he has no home for himself, his place is by Katsuki’s side now. Till however long Katsuki will have him at least.

"He's my fiancé, so it’s fully within my right," Katsuki snaps spitefully. "The lord blessed our engagement, you know this. Everybody fucking knows this or have you lost another screw in your head?"

"Yea, so what?" She snorts indelicately, every bit uncaring. "How do I know your intentions are good? You could be using this chance alone to ravish my beloved Izuku-chan."

Katsuki making a choking noise between disbelief and horror.

"Himiko, don't say that!" Izuku cries out as heat rises to his face. He desperately tries to cover his face but Himiko his holding onto him way too tightly. "K-Kacchan wouldn't do that sort of thing!"

Himiko turns to him and pouts. "I'm defending your honor!" she says. "I don't trust stupid alphas around you."

Katsuki glowers at her, simmering with an untapped rage. "You're also an alpha, bitch," he kindly reminds her, “so get the fuck off of him. I don't want some other alpha stinking up what's mine."

Izuku's heart races even though he knows Katsuki is only saying that to annoy Himiko. He was worry Father had made a grave mistake when Katsuki had shown resistant to their engagement at first. That day, Himiko had happily recalled to him of the fierce argument that had broken out between Katsuki and Father when their engagement was made real in front of the top members of their organization much to everyone’s shock. In a panic, Izuku had quickly rushed out to confront Father in the throne room about it.

Up high on his metal throne, Father sat there looking down on them all like pawns. A menacing figure who can easily overwhelm any room he’s in, his presence alone was a suffocating thing, but Izuku felt no fear then and still no fear now. "Bakugou has proven himself to me, so it's only right I'll give him a little reward," Father had said. "Isn't this what you wish for, my darling Izuku? I only want to grant all your heart desires."

He's All for One. The Symbol of Evil. The Emperor of Darkness. And the Demon King of Japan but to Izuku he's just Father. The man who tucked Izuku into bed every night after a nightmare. The man who loves him enough to remake this country for his only and most precious son. Izuku knows what they say about Father, the kind of monster who rules over Japan with an iron fist and ruthlessly suppresses all form of resistant, but that monster has never shown him a drop of cruelty. So, while he understands that Father's intentions toward him are good, it's not always the kindest things for others. Izuku still has a hard time juggling that fact.

He has nursed a childish crush on Katsuki for the longest time, but he didn't want it like this. Katsuki shouldn't be force to marry him and have his choice taken away. He'd already lost so much when his parents died, so Izuku doesn't want this to be something he'll also regret but father insisted and when father insist even the hardest of steel will bend for him.

Katsuki had no hope of refusing Father’s order, but—but maybe Katsuki doesn't completely hate their forceful engagement after all. This is something that Izuku can work with given time and effort. In some way, he's very much his father's son. Victory through conquest.

Himiko sticks her tongue out at Katsuki. "He's not yours yet, so you don’t have any claim on him!"

"Don't you have some job to do?" Katsuki's eyes narrowed pointedly. "People to murder?" he presses. Instead of having this much free time harassing me and my fiancé on our first date.”

"My job is Izuku-chan," she declares, placing a hand over her heart in a dramatic fashion. "My life and everything that I am belongs to him.”

"How nice," Katsuki says dryly. "He's still engaged to be married to me though."

And Izuku could see the way Himiko’s eyes darken inscrutably that things are about to get serious here. "No fighting," he pleads, fearing that Himiko might just bring out her knives out to play and Katsuki would absolutely entertain her on that. He can already imagine the carnage brought between them if they get into a full-on fight here.

It's not the first time Izuku had seen them butt heads like this, but this is personal. Izuku's engagement is a point of contention for many.

Several members of Father's inner circle weren’t happy that Father had given away his hand in marriage just like that. Tomura-nii was so upset that his office was destroyed during one of his tantrums. Izuku had spent several days afterward trying to calm him down because no matter how angry Tomura-nii got, it didn’t matter in the end; Father’s words are law.

Though Izuku understood the reservation from Tomura-nii’s side because unlike Himiko, who had been indoctrinated in their organization since young and grew alongside Izuku, Katsuki is still a fresh-face recruit but he had quickly risen up the rank and gained Father's attention. He has proven himself again and again what it means to up hold the axiom of their organization; equality under one. Father had paid closed attention to Katsuki’s achievements and it had made him believed that Katsuki can be of a service to their mission.

Father had once told eight years old Izuku that sometime brute force is necessary to break the things that hold us back, and the best weapon are the people we have around us. Even then, Izuku didn’t like the ideas of thinking his friends as tool, and wondered if Father had saw him as a tool too. A less useful one, but a tool nonetheless. He’d never asked, too afraid of the answer to dare.

Himiko hooks an arm around Izuku’s shoulder. "Well, Bakugou should be happy that it's me here today and not Dabi, because he'll spend the entire time glowering at Bakugou and planning a murder in his head."

Izuku sighs, recalling how Dabi was particularly interest in his date and it’s the kind of interest that ends up in smokes and ashes.

"Instead of what? You flirting with my fiancé?" Katsuki adopts the most unimpressed look on his face.

“My heart is pure,” she insists. “What I feel for Izuku-chan goes beyond mere mortal affection. It transcends what you call love. I want to be buried with and in him when I die, so that we become one and the same.” Her face reddens in excitement, the edge of hysteria caught in her eyes. “Only then can my feelings be immortalized!"

Izuku smiles indulgently at her. He heard this many times in their youth. It no longer fazes him anymore. It’s sort of morbidly cute actually.

Katsuki makes a face of disgust at her. "Could you be anymore crazy?" he asks, then turns to Izuku and frowns. "Is there anyone around that isn't a fucking nut job?"

Before Izuku can give that question a proper reply, Katsuki's hand shoots out and he grabs Izuku, hauling him into his arms while shoving Himiko away. "I'm taking him, so you can fucking go away now."

Izuku’s breath leaves him briefly in that moment as Katsuki holds him close, but there’s no time to rest in the comfort of Katsuki’s embrace because Himiko has stumbles back with a sharp smile cutting across her face. It’s all teeth and no bite. A cold sort of smile that he had seen her often displayed before she strikes down any person who come to harm Izuku in bloody mess; the crimson witch they’d called her.

"Bakugou, I'll be careful with Izuku-chan if I were you because are you fully aware of the treasure that you're holding in your arms right now and bear the heavy consequence if anything were to happen to him?" She demands, stepping forward and encroaching right into his space. Her smile spreads even wider, to a length that it seems like someone had chad took a knife and carved it out of her face. It’s unnerving. "The rats having been making a lot of noise lately. They been getting quite bold with their actions and we can't have that, you understand me?”

The silence descends between them is concering. Izuku isn't privy toward the inner workings of Father's empire because Father claimed it will ‘dirty’ him, but he knows he's a high value target for many of his father's enemies that's why growing up, Izuku always been guarded by a senior member of their organization or a nomu. He rarely even left their estate because it was thought to be too dangerous for him. Everything he could ever wanted was provided for him here, but Izuku always felt like the world is passing by him outside while he’s stuck in his own little bubble.

So Himiko's insistence with being with him here for his date today wasn't surprising, but maybe there's more to it than he'd originally thought. "Is this something I should know about?" Izuku asks, more than slightly curious now.

"No!" they both shout at him simultaneously, sharing an equal look of worry and dismay.

"Oh, so you both can actually agree on something," Izuku says dryly.

"It's none of your business," Katsuki sharply retorts.

Izuku frowns. "Even though this seems to concern me." The amount of time he's kept in the dark for his own safety is truly and profoundly annoying.

"Izuku-chan, it's not like that!" Himiko protests, appearing torn between pleasing him and her duty toward keeping him protected and ignorance of the many threats outside the security of his father's enforced bubble.

Izuku is not dumb. He knows everything it not as what seems. Father is a man of large stature and larger ambition. In his effort to reshape this world into a place that he calls 'Eden', he made a lot of enemies along the way.  A world in which being omega and quirkless won’t mean Izuku will be mistreated and discriminated upon, Father made sure of that. "There's a price for everything, only if you're willing to pay for it," Father said to him, before gently placing a kiss on his forehead. "And you're worth it." Though Izuku doesn't know if this is what he would have wanted in the end, but that's his secret to keep.

"Then what is it?" he presses, stepping out of Katsuki's hold. He glares at both of them, standing tall and resolute like he can channel Father in this moment.

Katsuki sighs, ruffling his hair in irritation. "Why don't you just ask your old man? I'm not about to risk my head to sate your dumb curiosity."

Izuku's lips protrude out in a pout. Well, that's not fair. Father is an unmovable mountain. That’s like chipping away mount fuji with a spoon. A wooden spoon.

"Oh, Izuku-chan," Himoko coos, reaching for him. "It's boring stuff anyway. Don't worry about it. Bakugou and the rest of us are going to take care of it." She clutches his hand in hers. It's familiar and comforting, like the time she had held him as the bodies kept dropping around them. Not your fault, not your fault, she had reassured him. "Just live your life peacefully."

It's a kind thought, but somehow it feels restricting, like he's a butterfly pinned under glass. To be treated so dearly and held up in high in admiration by the people around him, but to never let out of his glass box. He wonders if it’s a fair trade.

"Alright, enough of that mushy crap," Katsuki says, peeved like he wants to gag at their show of affection. "You can come with us to our date but only if you stay twelve feet away. I don't want to see a single strand of your hair anywhere in my view or I’m ditching your ass."

Himiko scoffs. "Fine, but I'm watching you.” She raises a finger toward her neck and makes a cutting gesture across it. “Don't think of pulling anything skeevy on my Izuku-chan."

"With my life on the line like that, I wouldn't dare," he drolls, clearly not amused or taking any of it seriously ,but he's not about to get into another argument with her again. "Now can you let go of Deku, so we can get a move on already? This is already taking too fucking long."

"Impatience." She snorts derisively. "But you'll be taking him on Tora-chan though!"

"What, fuck no! We're not taking an armored truck loaded with military grade weapons into the city. This is a date not a fucking warzone," Katsuki hisses as Himiko gears up for another fight over what is a proper vehicle of transportation.