Cigarettes and Smoke - Tododeku A.U

Chapter 17

~Izuku~ 

When I got to the cafe I found that it was closed and my mom was waiting for me, and she did not look pleased. She let me in, slamming and locking the door behind me. "Would you like to tell me why Shoto isn't answering calls and why he hasn't shown up?" she asked, crossing her arms. Scary. I may be a lot bigger than my mom, but she still scares the shit out of me. It's kind of ironic that I'm scared of her.  It seems like it should be the other way around. "Izuku Midoriya answer me now!" Even scarier.

"I-It's a lot to explain s-" I started and she cut me off.

"Sit down and explain it to me." she snapped, sitting in one of the booths. I sat across from her, setting my hands on the table. "Explain. Now." 

"Okay, okay, I'll explain." I said, telling her the whole story, starting with me giving the first gift to Kacchan to showing up. When I finished, I looked up at my mom. She had tears in her eyes and looked so disappointed. I would have rathered her be angry than disappointed. 

Her next words made me regret things even more. "After you kissed him, Shoto came to me. He was a mess, but he told me that he felt awful. He had panicked and his first reflex was to shove you. He wanted to talk with you, and explain that he wasn't using you, that he truly didn't know what you were doing. He accepted the gifts because he didn't want to be rude, and he just thought you were doing something nice when you offered to drive him home. He said that it was only after you kissed him that he realized why you had done all those things. He wanted to talk with you, and try to do that again and see what he feels." Did he really want to try and kiss me again? "Come look at something." she said quietly, sliding out of the booth. I followed her to the office, standing behind the chair. "Watch closely." She started playing back the security camera footage of yesterday. I watched as Kacchan and his entourage entered the cafe, as Kacchan clearly threatened Shoto, as they exited the cafe, and just at the edge of the camera's view as Kacchan pistol-whipped the back of Shoto's head. He collapsed against Denki, and him and Hanta maneuvered Shoto to the backseat of a car. "What have you done, Izuku?" The disappointment in her voice hurt, but that disappointment quickly turned to anger. "I don't want you tainting this cafe anymore. You will take your business elsewhere and pass all ownership of the cafe to me. I will not let you hurt any more of my employees. Leave, Izuku. Now. I can't even look at you right now." I followed her orders and left the cafe.

My old boss' words echoed through my head once again, as I sat in my car. One day, Izuku, you'll do something so horrible that your own mother won't recognize you, that she'll look at you as a monster, that she'll flinch every time you come near. It is a terrible thing, but one you must bear, if you want to be successful. I've done it. I've done the thing so terrible that my own mother doesn't even want to look at me. And it didn't even make me more successful. 

I let out a scream and hit my head against the steering wheel. How will you find him? How will I try and find him? It's not like I know where Kacchan has set up base. We used to be 'friends' (if you can even call it that) but we haven't actually had a normal conversation in years. Just when I felt like giving up, I remembered I had a GPS tracker put in Shoto's watch, in case anything happened to him. Assuming he's wearing it, I should be able to find him.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and opened the app. It took a few seconds to load, but those seconds felt like hours. When it finally opened up, I saw that the location was in the outskirts of Chicago, in an abandoned warehouse. I sent Tenya, Ochako, and Tsuyu the location and told them to gather everyone they can and come to the location immediately, then pulled out into the street, pushing the speed limit. I tried to drive as fast as I could in Chicago traffic, which isn't all that fast.

I will find you and make things right, Shoto.

~Shoto~ 

I'm not sure how long I was unconscious, but it must not have been long since I came to as they were dragging me into a room. The room had windows, but they were high up on the wall. We must be in the basement, I thought as the door closed. My mind was still foggy, but the jolt from them dropping me helped clear my mind. 

"Oh, he's awake." the redhead said. Fight! Fight and try to get out! I pulled myself to my feet and launched myself at the redhead. Remember everything Izuku taught you. I tackled him to the ground and pulled my fist back, ready to slam it against his face. Someone grabbed the back of his shirt and threw me backwards. I slammed into the wall and the breath was knocked out of me. Before I could even try and get up, the blonde kicked me in the stomach twice and kneed me in the face when I tried to sit up. He crouched in front of me and grabbed a fistful of my hair, lifting my face so we were eye level. Everything hurt. 

"You may know how to fight, but that doesn't mean you're on par with any of us. Especially me." the blonde said. "If you don't want another beating, you'll listen to me and do as I say."

"Katsuki, don't you think we should handle him a little more carefully?" the redhead asked.

"He never said we couldn't rough him up a little bit." the blonde, Katsuki, said. He? Who is he? 

"Wh-" I couldn't even form a sentence without coughing. Katsuki let go of my hair and I slumped to the ground, coughing into my hand. There was a small pool of blood in my palm. Oh god. Katsuki grabbed my wrists, yanking them over to a pipe against the wall. Something cool and metal closed around my one wrist, then the other. Handcuffs. He handcuffed me to the pipe. I tried again to speak, succeeding this time. "Who is 'he'?"

"You haven't figured it out yet?" Katsuki smirked. "Who do you think would want you? I have a few hours, so I'll wait." He leaned against the wall, watching me with that stupid smirk. Who would want me? It didn't take me much thought at all. Father. It's my father who wants me. "I'd say by that look on your face, you've figured it out. He'll be arriving in a few hours, and I'm sure he won't mind that you're a little beat up." 

As he was closing the door, he drawled, "I'll be back." Once the door closed, I was alone. It was extremely uncomfortable to try and sit up with my arms behind my back, and it didn't help that the cuffs were digging into my wrists. I managed to sit up, only to slump down again and gag on blood. 

The state I'm in now will be nothing compared to what I'll get for running away. I worked so hard to get away, only to be dragged right back. 

I'd rather be dead than ever be under his control again.