Drag'n you along - Part 1/4 [Fantasy AU]

Katsuki tapped his foot impatiently against the trunk of a tree, staring at the sky as the sun rose over the hills. He was always the first one awake, long before the roosters had begun to squawk their annoying song. Some days he wanted to go snatch them out of their pen and cook them, but he’d heard that rooster meat didn’t taste nearly as good as their female counterpart – too tough and stringy.

As the sky filled with colour, a door creaked open below him, and he gave a little nod to the spiky-haired man who emerged.

Eijirou had been one of his best friends in school. They’d always trained together, trying to be the strongest, so they could get the best jobs when they were older. And sure enough, Eijirou had gotten his dream job as a guard, protecting important people from those who might want to hurt them or steal their belongings.

Now he rose with the sun, ready for whatever his charges may ask, but still Katsuki always beat him there.

“Morning!” he called, as he slung his swords onto his back. “Everything quiet so far?”

“Uh-huh,” Katsuki answered, swinging his legs lightly. “Just hanging out.”

“Alright! Have a good day!”

“Yeah.”

With a last wave he began his walk down the road, to where his job for the day would no doubt begin, protecting whichever asshole had decided it was a good day to leave the area.

Katsuki, too, had taken a guard position of sorts, but while Eijirou went for the personal route, helping whoever paid for his beer that day, Katsuki patrolled the woods surrounding them, keeping away all the dark creatures that might come a-knocking. The royal guards, including the nerd with the glasses who had been such a pain back in school, did fine at protecting the nobles, but it came down to Katsuki and his family to protect the locals.

He’d spent his whole life learning how, whether he’d particularly wanted to or not. He’d gone to a good school, had made good friends – sometimes against his will – with the other kids of the village, and had gotten a good job at the end of it, if you asked anyone other than Katsuki.

Some of his classmates had gone their separate ways since, and now lived in bigger towns where they could further hone their abilities or learn their trades, like the round-faced girl with her stupid staff, always showing off how she could make things float when she came back to visit her family.

Then there was Katsuki, still stuck at home with his parents.

They lived in a nice house on the outskirts, with big rooms and high ceilings, up on a bit of a hill where he got a view over the rest of the village. But some days he just felt trapped there, a prisoner of his own fate and his body, resigned to a job he’d never asked for.

Not that it wasn’t a pretty cool body to be trapped in.

Denki was the next one to rise, saddling up his horse and donning his hat, ready and waiting by the time Eijirou arrived at his house. He had been a pain in the ass as a kid, always playing pranks on people. Honestly, he still was a pain in the ass, most days, but Katsuki still started to miss him a little when he was gone a long time.

He was rarely in the village anymore, but every time he came back, he brought fancy foods they’d never tasted before, exotic herbs and spices, and the best armour and weaponry from master craftsmen. It had actually been kind of useful, when it came to restocking their equipment, since Eijirou and Katsuki always got first dibs.

They both waved back at Katsuki as they left the confines of the village, past the little spiked fence that helped keep all but the fiercest of animals out – you know, the ones they wanted out, that didn’t care about a fence. It didn’t make sense to Katsuki, but hey, they had to give the guards something to do, right? Eijirou was pretty good at handling most of them, and wherever Denki was about to spend his time, Eijirou was apparently escorting him there.

Good.

With the sun officially up, the village began to bustle, people getting up to attend to their farm animals, or start their fires, or whatever else it was that random tradespeople did. He didn’t keep track of what all the randoms did, all he knew was his few scattered friends, who waved to him as they passed, and threw breakfast up to him in his tree. He knew he’d befriended Sato for a reason.

And then there was Izuku.

Up on the hill, not far from his own house, sat a little mushroom-looking building. It was always surrounded by colourful flowers, the front path always swept perfectly clean, and the occupants always had the biggest smiles waiting for whoever knocked on their door. His mother, Inko, ran the best shop in miles for herbal remedies and tinctures, and Izuku was a dutiful son who did his best to help out, who would likely take over the store when his mother could no longer do it.

His father was an adventurer who never seemed to be home, so Katsuki’s mother had become Inko’s companion while she tried to raise a baby alone. They’d been best friends since they were just babies, before they could even speak to each other. And Katsuki suspected he was the only friend, the only person, who knew that Izuku would prefer to follow in his father’s footsteps than his mother’s.

“Hi Kacchan!” Izuku called, waving enthusiastically as he hurried down the path. “Good morning! How are you? How did you sleep? Did you see anything cool or scary this morning?”

“Fine, fine, and no.”

“Awww,” Izuku huffed, climbing up the treeand grinning again when Katsuki moved over to make room. “Well I have something new!”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah! There’s a village up at the top of the mountains, and it sounds like they need help! So I’m gonna go find them and help them!”

He waved a rolled-up piece of paper in Katsuki’s face, and Katsuki just blinked at him for a moment, finally taking in the bag strung across his back and the short sword fixed to his belt.

“You?” Katsuki asked.

“Yes, me!” Izuku huffed, squirming a little under Katsuki’s gaze. “Well, I told Shouto, but he didn’t seem to understand, so I don’t think he’ll convince his father, which means no one else will go, so yes! Me! It’ll only take a few days!”

“And let me guess,” Katsuki sighed, already mentally packing his bag. “You’re dragging me along with you?”

“W-Well, no! I can do it myself!”

“You’re a naive idiot who thinks the world is made of rainbows and puppies, we both know you can’t operate without a buddy system to keep you on track.”

“Mean!”

“And?”

“And mean isn’t nice!”

Katsuki shrugged, stuffing his mouth with the last of the hot bread Sato had thrown him, and slid down from the tree easily, brushing his hands off on his pants.

“Go get some food,” he instructed. “You can’t rely on gathering berries the whole way.”

“Why not? There are heaps of berries around here!”

“On the mountains?”

Izuku froze, then quickly climbed back down the tree, nodding once.

“Okay, point taken. I’ll go get food, then!”

“Yeah. I’m gonna go home and get a change of clothes, then I’ll meet you back here.”

“You promise?”

Katsuki rose an eyebrow at him, and Izuku shot him a big smile in return, his eyes practically disappearing into it.

“Kidding, Kacchan!” he giggled. “I’ll meet you back here soon!”

He took off at a jog, to explore the shops that were opening up, and for a moment Katsuki watched him, just to be sure he didn’t trip and crack his face open on the way there. When he turned a corner, though, Katsuki hurried back home, finding his parents already at the kitchen table, sipping mugs of tea.

“I’m going away for a bit,” he said, already rummaging through a closet to find a bag. “Izuku needs a bodyguard.”

“Oh?” his mother asked. “Are you impeding on Eijirou’s turf now?”

“Ew, god no,” Katsuki grimaced. “It’s Izuku, he’s just... dragging me along with him.”

“Okay,” his father smiled knowingly, hiding it behind his mug. “Have a good time, and take care.”

“I will. I mean, whatever.”

Izuku was already heading back his way, when he left the house, the pair meeting up at a corner where their paths intersected. Izuku grinned like he hadn’t seen Katsuki in weeks, even though it had barely been ten minutes, and gestured toward the much-thicker bag he wore over his shoulder.

“I got food!”

“Good. Let’s go, then.”

Katsuki half-expected something to attack them the moment they set foot past the flimsy fence, just waiting to end their trip early just for cosmic comedy. But no, the entire morning was all sunshine and bright skies and trees blowing in the wind. It was no wonder Izuku didn’t take it all seriously, when their village was such a place of peace. Most of the villagers had never even been outside the fence, let alone outside their little wooded area.

It wasn’t until well after they stopped for lunch that it all began to set in, when they approached the edge of a comically dark forest, all twisted grey trunks and thick, dark leaves, somehow blocking out every ray of light that tried to break through into its confines. Izuku didn’t even seem to notice though, still marching on happily, and Katsuki was forced to grab him by the back of the shirt to slow him down.

“You need to start being careful,” he explained, when Izuku squawked at him. “Look where you’re going, keep an eye out for anything weird, and stay close to me.”

“It’ll be fine, Kacchan! Look at all these pretty trees, nothing could go wrong in here! You’re worrying too much!”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Relax a little!”

He marched off ahead again, and Katsuki took a moment to compose himself before he followed, swatting away the thin tendrils of smoke that filled his vision when he growled. If the nerd was gonna be an idiot, Katsuki was just going to have to be extra vigilant, to be cautious enough for them both.

The first obstacle they encountered wasn’t so much a problem as an annoyance. As they passed through a damp, swampy area, their boots sinking into the mud a little deeper than Katsuki would have liked, he heard the telltale whine of bugs approaching, catching a glimpse through the trees of wings that beat much faster than seemed efficient.

A long, red tail curled out from under Katsuki’s cloak, swatting the first one that dared to come close, and Katsuki scowled at the swarm of them quickly drawing nearer. It would have been much easier to just set them all on fire or something, but that was going to alert both Izuku and any other creatures in the area, not to mention burning down the forest, the nearby woods, and in turn, their homes. So no, it was going to have to be one by one, as annoying as fuck as that seemed.

Izuku glanced back, and the tail quickly curled up, hiding itself from sight.

“It’s so damp in here!” he marvelled. “It’s amazing how different it is, just from a little less sun!”

“Yeah,” Katsuki grumbled, eyes darting toward the swarm still surrounding them. “But keep your eyes in front, I don’t want you tripping over and shit.”

“I’ll do my best!”

The moment he looked away, the tail snapped back out, swatting off a dozen huge mosquitoes and letting them fall lifeless into the mud. The swarm seemed to take a hint, after watching a few of their comrades fall, but instead they started moving around, wider, trying to divert their path toward Izuku instead. Katsuki scowled when he saw it, walking a little quicker to stay close, and Izuku just smiled at him fondly as they walked side by side, tail safely retreated beneath a red cloak.

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