Chasing Tinkerbelle (BakuDeku)

13 - Getting To Know Tinkerbelle

"Fuck it," Katsuki said, dropping his bag on the floor and pulling his cellphone out of his back pocket.

For another minute, he stood there, debating making the call that had the power to make his life a living hell.

In the end, exhaustion and the stabbing pain shooting through his shoulder and his hand- the part of his hand that he could still feel anyway- made the decision for him.

Hoping that his uncle was too distracted by the coffee truck to answer his phone, he called his Uncle Toshinori and waited, praying that voice mail picked up.

Much like last night when he prayed that Izuku would stop wiggling enticingly beneath him and put him out of his misery by falling asleep, his prayers went unanswered.

"Are you stopping to get donuts?" his uncle demanded after the third ring, sounding hopeful.

"No, I- "

"Why not?" Toshinori demanded, cutting him off and making him shake his head.

"Because I'm not coming in today." He snapped before his uncle could break out into a thirty-minute rant about how all his nephews were nothing more than insensitive cheap bastards.

There was a heavy pause before his uncle asked, "Are you sick?"

"No," he said, biting back a curse as he closed his useless hand in a fist, determined to get through this phone conversation without losing his temper.

Another pause.

"If you're not sick then why aren't you coming into work?" his uncle demanded, clearly suspicious and most likely pulling out his personal cellphone at that very moment to send a group text to everyone in the family, putting them on alert.

"Because I spent the night with someone and I'm exhausted," Katsuki said, playing with the truth in order to save himself from an army of relatives descending on him to make sure that he wasn't at death's door.

There was another heavy pause before his uncle cleared his throat, clearly surprised.

"You spent the night with someone?" Toshinori asked, trying to hide his relief, but he did a piss poor job that had Katsuki feeling guilty about lying to his uncle.

"Yeah," he said, dropping his head back and sighing, wishing that he didn't have to resort to doing this.

But he was exhausted and needed some sleep and he wouldn't get that if his uncle thought even for a second that he was sick or hurt.

"Oh, well, umm, alright then. Just, umm, don't make a habit out of this," his uncle said, stumbling over his words and sounding relieved instead of pissed, which only confirmed his suspicion that his family was still terrified that something bad was going to happen to him.

"I won't," he promised.

Because if there was one thing that he knew for certain, it was that he would never have the chance to hold someone like Tinkerbelle in his arms again.

*****

"This is not fucking happening," Katsuki said, grabbing the pillow off his head and throwing it against the wall as the pounding on his apartment door continued.

He looked at his alarm clock and muttered a dark curse.

Only an hour had passed since he'd called his uncle. He'd thought he'd have more time before he was forced to deal with one of his well-meaning relatives.

Apparently, he'd underestimated their level of concern as well as his ability to bullshit his uncle. That belief was confirmed less than thirty seconds later when the pounding suddenly stopped.