The Life of the Club 2 | BakuDeku | AU

Chapter 7

He's got the mark of temporary collars, such a clear red line... I wonder how deep mine has become...

-/-/-/-

On the slow drive home, Bakugo suddenly looks over at Izuku with a soft hum. Since Izuku's statement, the atmosphere in the car had become stuffy and silent. He shakes his head and looks at his phone as they come to a stop for a stoplight.

"We need to get groceries... That okay?" He softly asks.

Izuku doesn't reply for a short bit, before a quiet word slips from him. "Yes."

As the light turns green, Bakugo begins to head towards the grocery store. The things that Shigaraki told Izuku were clearly bothering him, Bakugo has a ton of questions himself, but with his current mood he isn't going to touch it. It only takes them a few short minutes to arrive at the grocery store, the parking lot nearly empty. Odd for a tuesday, but not impossible. He pulls up near the front of the parking lot and they both exit the vehicle.

Bakugo walks around and takes Izuku's hand to lead him inside, softly squeezing his hand comfortingly. His eyes traveled down to look at the list as they approached the front door. There's at least thirty items from different parts of the store on it and he estimates it will take at least twenty minutes to get them all if they hurry, but if they split up it could be less than ten.

"How does splitting the list sound? Could get in and out quicker." Bakugo asks, offering one page of the list to Izuku.

Izuku looks at him with a soft groan and nods, his soft hand slowly lifting to take one of the papers. His hand grips the paper hard enough to cause small wrinkles to form as he reads the list. Suddenly he nods and releases Bakugo's hand with a smirk as he turns and walks towards his first item.

Bakugo watches him walk away with a smile before turning to quickly walk towards his own items.

They both began collecting items quickly. Each of them were doing their own process of searching, Izuku a logic based system where he sorted the items by which ones were going to come up in order for him, while Bakugo was just walking around until he found the item he was looking for before looking for the next one.

As Izuku approached one of his final items, he felt a sudden presence a few feet away. He grabbed the item he was after before turning and looking towards the presence. The moment his eyes locked onto the person and then took in the other two with them, his eyes blew wide and he began to feel fear creeping up his neck.

"Hey there, abandoned toy." The middle man says, "Remember us?"

Izuku's eyes raked over the other two before he shudders, his body tensing as he begins to try to head away from them.

"Nu-uh, you're gonna reply or I'll chain you to another dumpster... and with snow coming tomorrow... I bet you don't want that." The man says as he quickly walks into Izuku's way again.

Izuku shakes his head as he tries to get around the man, his mouth still shut tight. The man suddenly pushes Izuku back, making him drop a few of the items he was carrying and slipping on the tile, falling into the refrigerated shelving, his hand landing on some packaged steak and his rear landing on packaged ground beef.

The man shakes his head as he steps forward again. "Fine, guess I'll just beat the words out of you." His hand raises quickly as he growls.

"K-Kacchan! Help!" Izuku stutters as he looks up at the hand, trying to stand as one of the other two push him back into the shelving.

The man laughs and shakes his head. "Fake names don't matter... Stop calling out to intimidate us."

Bakugo was picking up a box of pasta when he heard the yell, his head immediately going up as he drops the pasta into the basket he was carrying and runs towards it, turning down aisles and rounding the corner as Izuku ends up in the meats again.

"Keep your hands to your fucking selves!" Bakugo yells as he lunges for the first one, grabbing him and thrusting him into the freezer across the way from him.

The man turns towards him with a dark grin. His hand froze, inches away from Izukus face before he drops him and swings at Bakugo, immediately getting stopped as his hand comes into contact with Bakugo's palm. Within a second, Bakugo has the man on the ground, his knee on his neck and his arm behind his back twisted painfully.

The third person turns and runs quickly as the second does, only the original man left groaning under Bakugo's grip. He softly shakes his head and groans. "How far do I take it? Will you stop?"

The man spits and shakes his head. "N-no! He's gonna get what he deserves! Abandoned Trash!"

Bakugo sees red for a moment, his arm moving slightly too far and a loud crack can be heard as the man lets out a ear piercing screech of pain. Bakugo releases his arm with a soft groan, the man's arm falling to his side weakly.

"M-my arm! You broke my arm!" The man yells, trying to push himself up to his feet.

Bakugo roughly kicks his arm as he walks over to Izuku, the man screeching in pain as he falls to the floor. Izuku softly grips onto Bakugo's arm, a little too tightly for comfort as he lets out a quiet groan and looks over Izuku's body to check for injuries. Once sure that Izuku looks fine, Bakugo picks his items up and puts them in his basket.

"Anything left to get on your end?" izuku asks softly, his voice a little shaky as he tries to focus his mind on something.

"Three items." Bakugo replies, "You?"

"Just one more, and it's right there." Izuku says as he walks over and picks up the last item.

Bakugo nods and leads Izuku over to grab his final items and head towards the checkout. As they unload their items into the lane, the man working the registers is silently checking things out, his hands moving almost automatically as his eyes roam over Izuku's collar.

"Any tips?" The man suddenly asks.

Izuku looks up a bit confused, checking to be sure the man was talking to him before humming thoughtfully. Well... He looks young... maybe 18? 20 at the most. He's got the mark of temporary collars, such a clear red line... I wonder how deep mine has become. He shakes his head to refocus on the question at hand.

"Try to put yourself out there... if you see someone you like, strike up a conversation. If you connect, maybe ask for their contract. See if it fits and go from there." Izuku says thoughtfully.

The man nods as he slides their groceries into the bags and gives a genuine smile before ringing them out and watching the two of them leave with a wishful gaze.

Izuku chuckles as they walk out of the store, he remembers when he was like that... hopeful. Luckily Kacchan found him and now he can't imagine a life without him. His mood was clearly up after everything at the prison, a small conversation starting between them before it comes to a sudden halt as they reach their vehicle.

Located on the windshield is a small note, same color at the one that appeared at their door.