Chapter Text
It was only another fifteen minute walk back to reach Hollyhead, but it was still exhausting. In total you walked for thirty minutes, and for someone who wasn't keeping up on leg day it wasn't a small feat. You nearly collapsed on the first bench you found, leaning back and letting out a defeated sigh. Deku simply chuckled and sat next to you.
"You're not tired already, are you? We haven't been walking that long." Your dejected eyes shut.
"Easy for you to say. Didn't you mention you were a farmer? And where are all the cars? Bikes? Motorcycles?" You opened your eyes and looked up at the sky. It was a lot more vivid and blue than back home.
"Cars...? Motorcycles?" He sat up in curiosity, as though the words never existed before. It just occurred to you that it really *is* some sort of medieval land. This is going to hurt your brain a lot sooner or later, being in a world so drastically different from your own.
"They're, uh... You have carts, right? Horse drawn carriages and stuff?" Your head turned to the boy, who nodded. His curly green mess of hair bounced with him. "Well, it's sort of like that, except there's no horse needed and it kind of moves by itself." Your hands began motioning about, trying to make an invisible diagram. "You have this thing called an engine, and it's basically a machine version of a horse— it doesn't need to be fed food or use the bathroom or anything, but it needs oil — the kind of slick dark stuff that comes from underground — to be able to run and push your car forward. Its really complex."
Deku was leaning in a bit with so much interest one might think he literally had stars in his eyes. At some point he must've pulled out a notebook and pencil because he was scribbling stuff down in it, only stopping after you finished talking. "That's incredible! So you have these magic carriages that help you go places?"
You shrugged, holding out your hands like you were weighing two objects or doing the 'guess I'll die' meme. "Not magic, really. We don't have that in our—"
"I don't care if you're a Dragon Master or not, you're still a rowdy barbarian! Get out!" Her explanation was cut off when an ashy blonde-haired man was pushed out of what looked to be a bar, with an angry owner shouting at him.
"It's Lord of the Barbarians, idiot! You'll pay for this!" He was swearing loudly at the entrance and the owner before it closed, nearly catching his red, fur-topped cape in the door. As he turned and looked around at the pausing crowd, he scowled. "What the hell do you think you're looking at?! Keep walking!" Most of the citizens dispersed hurriedly, some a bit more panicked than the others. Even Deku was staring in minor alarm. The barbarian's eyes locked with the two on the bench, the only ones left staring in the open. He was clad in black baggy pants, white fur boots, and three different necklaces with different colored teeth and bead shaped charms laying on his rather built bare chest. He glared at them, growling.
"Deku? What the hell are you doing here?" He strode up to the two, and the setting sunlight shone onto the bright red, tooth or claw stud earrings that complimented his similarly ruby irises. "And who's this new extra? They looks straight out of a fantasy book." His piercing gaze looked right into yours. If it weren't for how incredibly intimidating he was, you might've been swooning. Maybe.
Deku's words seemed caught in his throat, but he managed to clear it and speak up. "H-hi, Kacchan! We were just looking for you, actually," The boy sat up a bit straighter, trying to appear more confident as he plastered on a smile. He introduced your name briefly to him, adding on, "It's a bit complicated–" The barbarian's brow quirked in agitation.
"Whatever, airhead. What do you want?" He asked gruffly, nearly giving you whiplash with how straightforward and uncaring he was. Deku pulled out the bag of gold, shaking it a bit so that it clinks with other gold pieces on the inside. This caught Kacchan's attention.
"We need your protection from monsters for a while. I don't know how long the journey is, but this bag will be more than enough to pay for a half month's worth of food and drink if spent wisely—" The barbarian cut him off again.
"How much, exactly?"
Deku paused for a split second. "Fifty five gold pieces." The other man's frown grew into a greedy smirk.
"Deal. But you better have more if this takes longer than a month." He held out his hand for the bag, but Deku retracted it a bit. Kacchan frowned.
"We'll need Kirishima, too, if he's willing to come." Kacchan rolled his eyes, retracting his hand.
"Fine, I'll go talk to him. But don't act cocky, I can just as easily reject your offer."
Deku was the one to smirk now. "We both know that's a lie."
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You and Deku were being led by the barbarian into his camp, where another man with strangely spiky red hair, a light blue sleeveless crop jacket, ragged red bandana around his neck with no shirt, and white pants with black boots was sitting by a campfire. Well, really he was blowing fire from his mouth to make it flicker brighter, like when a kid pokes fire with a stick. However upon noticing far more company than he expected, he quickly shut his mouth and widened his similarly ruby eyes. The barbarian clicked his tongue.
"It's fine, Kirishima. It's Deku. He brought a friend." The red-headed male relaxed a bit at this, but confusion replaced it.
"Are they okay knowing about...?" Kirishima inquiried quietly about you, and the blonde nodded. He sighed in relief, muttering a 'thank the stars'.
"Hello," You spoke up nervously, to which the male by the fire sported a wary smile and a wave.
"Hello, what's your name?"
You speak your first name, but got quickly cut off before you could say anything else.
"Enough chit-chat already. Deku has a job offer for us." Kacchan interrupted, and Kirishima looked to the farmer boy in interest.
"What's the offer?"
Deku pulled out the bag again. "Fifty five gold pieces if you two give us protection and transportation? I have to get us to a portal really far away." Kirishima stood up, smiling.
"Of course I'll help! Besides, its been a while since we've done anything together, Midoriya!" The barbarian scoffed quietly, folding his arms across his chest. Kirishima turned to him. "Come on, bro, don't be like that! It'll be so manly helping out someone in need!"
"I've already agreed, we just needed to know if you were in for it." Kacchan's eyes averted away, trying to look unbothered and cool. To be fair, it was working pretty well.
"Sweet! When do we start?"
"Tomorrow morning. We have to cross a forest," Deku replied, taking the map and opening it up to bring over to Kirishima. He looked at it with interest.
"That won't be a problem at all! I'll just fly right over it!" The redhead grinned proudly, but this statement left you baffled.
"Fire breathing... Flying.... wait," it clicked together. "Are you a dragon?" You asked with a bit of confusion. 'He doesn't look like one, though...'
Kirishima glanced anxiously at the barbarian, letting out a short, quiet chuckle. The barbarian shrugged and the redhead focused back to you. "Yeah, I am... You don't know about my species?" You just looked confused.
"No, sorry. I hope there's not some tragic backstory or a historical war lore I'm missing..." Well, this was awkward.
"Eheh... About that," Kirishima rubbed the back of his neck, but Kacchan rolled his eyes and spoke up over the other.
"Yeah, it was one of those. We don't need to get into it just because an outsider doesn't know anything. Go to the library if you want to know so badly." He grumbled.
"That's kind of mean, Bakugo.." Kirishima muttered, to which the other shrugged. The barbarian left the three, heading for his tent. "Wake me up when it's time to go."
You glanced over to Deku, who just shrugged lightly, then to Kirishima, who gave you a somewhat pitiful, tired smile. "Don't worry about it too much. It was a long time ago and you weren't involved so I have no hard feelings." The redhead stood up, heading over to his own tent. "Come back at sunrise, goodnight!" With that, he disappeared behind the draped cloth of a tent door.
Deku sighed, gripping the leather strap of his satchel as he turned to you. "There's a little hotel back in the city. We'll stay there a night if you don't mind the walking." It occurred to you then that this boy was already spending a lot of currency just to help you out. It began to gnaw on you with how helpful he was being.
"Are you sure you want to spend so much on a stranger? I mean, don't get me wrong — this is a huge help and I'd probably be stuck here for who knows how long without it, but you seem to trust really easily. What if I'm some secretly evil person or something?" You spilled out your inquiries and worries, while Deku simply listened intently.
He brushed off the self-accusations and smiled. "It's no big problem, really! If Mocha trusts your story enough to help you out, I've got nothing to fret over. And money isn't that much of a problem! My mom's farm is pretty well off and when I include my savings, I have more than enough to help someone with their quest and still have enough to not affect me too much!" His reassuring words certainly helped, but it didn't completely erase the fact that you still felt like you were freeloading off of him.
"Are you sure there's nothing I can do to repay you back? I'm not really morally inclined to mooch of a bubbly rich boy, no offense..?" The last part trailed off into unsureness, but he didn't mind the comparison.
"Not that I know of, sorry. But I'm sure I'll find something if you're so set on paying me back!" He began walking back to the city, motioning for you to follow. "Come on, we should get going before it gets too dark out." You obliged and made the trek back, paying for a room and taking your first real rest in a new world.