After he woke up on a futon for the first time in...well, forever, Katsuki just laid there, staring at the rafters and listening.
It was too quiet. Sure he could hear people murmuring to each other outside and the occasional crunch of gravel or dirt beneath feet, but it was practically silent compared the bustle of Jet-leg's Stinkville.
He glanced over to see Izuku doing much the same, staring and thinking, spread eagle on his own futon.
"Hey."
Izuku turned his head and met his eye. They communicated silently for a moment, all eyebrows, pointed stares, a shrugged shoulder or two.
"Breakfast and go?" Izuku finally said.
Katsuki nodded and leapt to his feet in one smooth motion. Gawd, he needed a workout. His muscles were twitching for it. All this freezing his ass and getting beaten up by the wind on a dragon did nothing for his skills.
Maybe he could find a ninja up to going a round or two...
When Izuku and him stepped out of the little hut they'd been allowed to sleep in, it was disturbing how many heads turned their way. Even if they all quickly looked back to their own business soon after, it creeped him the hell out.
"Where's Cheeks?" Katsuki asked.
"She should be just next door," said Izuku.
Katsuki squinted at the sky to measure the time. "Still pretty early. Here's a present: you can wake her up. I'll hunt down grub."
Izuku flushed. "But she--what if she's--"
"Then lucky you, perv."
A twinkle of ice and smoke came a blink before Todoroki appeared at Izuku's side, as solid as though he'd been there the whole time.
All the heads flicked around from their business again to stare at Todoroki, and stare hard.
Katsuki resisted the urge to growl. He hated noisy busybodies. Didn't they have better things to do than watch them like entertainment? Just how little went on in this town?
"I can check for you," said Mr. Flame-and-Frost-Toot.
"Shouto, elemental or not you can't just invade a girl's privacy."
Shouto blinked that slow, cat-like blink. "Why? It's not like she sleeps naked."
Izuku flushed. "You don't know that!"
Another cat-blink. "Humans sleep naked too?"
"And I'm out." Katsuki pivoted on his heel and got off that porch. He met the unabashed stare of one of the nosey plebs and grunted in satisfaction when they quickly looked away. He waited till he was several steps away from Izuku and his tagalong before saying, loudly, "Alright, which one of you ninja-fucks is up to trading for some food?"
He could feel more than hear Izuku's disapproval from behind him.
Several of the townsfolk flinched and proceeded to pretend that they didn't hear him, walking around houses or continuing their chores of sweeping porches, hanging daikon radishes and carrots, or conversing in low voices. One or two, however, exchanged glances and cautiously approached him.
"We're happy to feed our guests," said a man with several moles quietly.
"We're not so uncultured," said his female companion, a none-too-subtle 'unlike you,' in her tone.
"Tch, I accept no charity," said Katsuki. "I got a dragon you can pick off and a naga who doesn't have a choice. Naga venom's useful for some shit, right?" He'd heard that off Pinkie.
YOU ARE READING
Of Dragons and Second Chances
FanficBakugou 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...
