They left early in the morning after having a surprisingly delicious meal of campfire seared naga steaks. The beauty of the forest was still there, but none of them wanted to stick around to see what other Disneyland shit came out of the trees.
Both Izuku and Katsuki commiserate over their poor sleep by looking at the other's eye bags and sighing. When Izuku inevitably conked out against Katsuki's back while they were flying, he didn't make any 'no homo' comments. He did, however, feel jealous of the nerd because he didn't have anything to lean on to nap. Not unless he wanted Izuku sleeping on his butt or some other outlandish thing. Not to mention there was a saddle horn in the front that prevented him from just hanging of Eijiro's neck like a dead monkey on a branch.
Eijiro was not a full grown dragon who'd been flying for a decade or so. Thus, he started complaining around noon for a break, but the forest was still going strong beneath them, like some sort of murderous green carpet. Eijiro was able to spot a river of sorts, though, and suggested they touch down there.
"And, what, get screwed over by mermaids?" Katsuki shouted over the wind. He wasn't keen on dropping down at all until every damn tree was gone.
"Mermaids are more of an ocean thing, aren't they? We should be more worried about kappas."
"That isn't helping, nerd."
" We'll do fine, I'm a dragon! It's either go down now while my wings still have the strength or drop out of the sky like a rock."
So Katsuki didn't really get a choice in the matter. He grumbled a bit about Katsuki being a weak shit, but knew, it his black hole of a heart, that it was really him who was being a coward.
The river just had to be asscrack beautiful like the rest of the forest. Asscrack as in a very pretty crack with glitter and flowers and effing perfume. The crystal clear water burbled over many colored stones and teased dropping grass stalks into dropping lower. The trees leaned across only enough to leave the sun coming through in diamonds and pillars.
They found a grassy bank between the knees of a great oak to chew their lunch.
"Almost makes you want to go swimming in it," said Izuku around a mouthful of jerky.
"That's exactly what it wants you to do," Katsuki grumbled. "Walk in, slip, and don't get back up. Probably fucking fairies of the stream somewhere."
"You know, logically, not everything in this forest is going to be bad. Everywhere has good and bad."
"And some of that bad makes the good not even worth it."
Izuku shrugged, probably to drowsy and wind-chilled to argue.
Katsuki certainly was. He inhaled his food, then found his head drooping off his shoulders as he waited for Eijiro to announce he was properly rested.
At some point, Eijiro leaned his big head over the stream, sniffed it, then took a careful sip.
" Oh my gosh, this water is good! "
"If you get cursed..." Katsuki mumbled.
But Eijiro ignored him, lapping it up like a happy dog.
Next thing he knew, Izuku was shaking him awake.
"Time to go," he said. "You want to ride in back this time?"
It was a testament to just how tired he was that he didn't refuse. He wasn't upright in the saddle for long. The moment Eijiro stopped his upward climb and evened out, he was out against Izuku's back.
He woke up again sometime in the afternoon, body aching from sleeping upright and extremities chilled. The sun sat low in the sky.
" We got a problem," came Eijiro's voice.
YOU ARE READING
Of Dragons and Second Chances
FanfictionBakugou gave his life to save the nerd. Shoot him, the kid had All for One and there was that whole 'my body just moved' hero crap, and Bakugou was a hero, damn it. That should have been the end. But some glowy-ass angel of death said because he was...
