Work Text:
“Come with me, then. If you can keep up with me, that is, stupid boy. I bet you will die halfway before we even get there!”
They were about the same age, but the cocky voice and the challenge in the red eyes spurred the young boy of the castle to act.
-
He wasn’t a prince, no, but he was a child of nobles, but never really a favourite. Having to learn in the Royal Castle, he had to focus on studies and other duties, and life was tiring.
And then there was the dragon problem.
There was a dragon who kept raiding the castle lately. It was the size of a bigger dog, and twice that agile, thanks to the wings, and moved quickly, stealing lots of things. Food, sometimes. Other times books, or rarely even valuables, but it was almost like an accident.
The dragon felt more like an inconvenience than a threat.
Then Izuku ran into it one night when he was out, practicing his swordfighting skills.
At first, he didn’t notice he ran into the dragon - he thought he ran into a child around his age, with wild hair, and an even wilder look in his eyes.
“Your form sucks.”
And terrible manners.
Then the way he moved, the fire in his eyes and his grin, Izuku knew who he had found.
He didn’t tell anyone the next day.
He knew dragons had two forms, the beast and the human, and he knew you should never trust the human form.
He still kept sneaking out during the night, in hopes of running into the dragon boy.
And he did.
“Why are you stealing things from the castle?”
“Because I’m hoarding stuff. Don’t you know even the most basic things about dragons? Fucking idiot.”
“The guards will eventually hunt you down.”
“They are welcome to try to catch me!”
“Didn’t anyone tell you stealing is bad?”
“I fucking told you already I’m hoarding. Besides, nobody makes me do anything I don’t want to do, and it includes stopping hoarding. I want to hoard, so I hoard. What I want, I will get.”
-
“Do you know why do dragons hoard things?”
He asked this one afternoon from the prince that he was practicing with. The prince was rarely with them, he received his own education, and he was often quiet, his mismatched eyes being way too serious from someone his age and he insisted that when without teachers, they address him more casually.
“They are creatures of lust, my tutors said” The prince said. “They usually channel this into collecting things, but the more dangerous ones revel in destroying things and killing people. Or other things.”
“What other things?”
“I don’t know” Prince Shouto shrugged. “They never told me specifics. They did say they were creatures of lust, and always sinful.”
“I don’t get all this talk about lust and sin.”
“Neither do I.”
-
And they tried to catch and kill him, the more time was passing, and Izuku kept sneaking out, and he could never tell why.
In his study sessions, their tutors often told him dragons are nothing but vicious, and this one dragon… well, Izuku had to admit there was some fierceness within him, and definitely a hard-to-handle streak, with all the stealing and insults and boasting, but Izuku noticed, that despite him always insulting Izuku, and boasting, he always turned up for their meetups.
Actually, there were times when Izuku could not sneak out, for one reason, or another, and next time, his… friend, or whatever he was, was only in dragon form, obviously pouting, and baring his teeth towards Izuku.
He had secret meetups with the dragon that annoyed the castle, and he could never explain why.
And the dragon kept showing up, driven to the castle by his lust for all these material things, but still met up with Izuku.
-
“They will kill you. If they find you, they will kill you.”
“If they fucking find me. Well, whatever. I’m fucking bored of this castle either way. I might move on.”
“M--move on?”
Almost two years had passed, and no one ever caught him, asides from some really close calls, including one time Izuku had to literally hide the dragon under his own bed.
He didn’t find out a lot more about him, apart from his name, Katsuki.
He didn’t like that Izuku shortened his name to Kacchan, but he took a habit to call Izuku by the name of Deku, so Izuku didn’t really care that Kacchan didn’t like his nickname.
“Yes, did you fucking lost your hearing? Stupid Deku.”
“I mean I’m just… I am gonna miss you.”
Kacchan looked at him, his eyes glowing in the dark, before he flashed a grin.
“Come with me, then. If you can keep up with me, that is, stupid boy. I bet you will die halfway before we even get there!”
“W-what?”
“Not like I fucking care, whether you come or not. But it might be hilarious watching you fail trying to keep up.”
-
That’s how Kacchan had to turn into dragon form to help Izuku over the castle walls.
And they ran.
-
This is how Izuku moved to the castle of a dragon.
Katsuki’s home was just as much of a mess as he suspected, as apparently he was too volatile to settle on only one type of hoard.
A few hours of screaming matches later, Katsuki begrudgingly agreed to make it at least a bit more habitable.
Kacchan still went out to prowl but he was never away for long, bringing all kinds of things back.
“These are all mine, stupid Deku, don’t fucking think you could get rid of them!”
He was a dragon, after all, always lusting for more and more things.
-
Years passed.
Izuku learnt which ones Kacchan really did like, and which ones he could quietly get rid off, because Kacchan only brought those things home to annoy Izuku.
And Kacchan often brought books. Better swords. Actually dragging Izuku outside to practice swordfighting.
Because he still had shit form, apparently.
Not that he wanted to give him gifts, or anything.
-
Izuku was about twelve when the first knights arrived.
Apparently people saw a dragon pulling Izuku through the castle walls, it just took them this long to track him down.
That time, they ran, leaving behind most of the things, and they settled further away, in another castle, and Kacchan didn’t turn back from dragon form for a week, prowling around, growling.
“Kacchan, please…” Izuku extended a hand, not caring about the bared teeth, he put his hand over Kacchan’s head - now he was growing bigger, much bigger in dragon form. “Please, I miss talking to you.”
He growled a bit more, but in a few hours, he changed back.
“Why the hell are you saying such weird fucking shit?!”
But the way Kacchan seemed back to normal, it really made Izuku smile.
He may have hugged Kacchan, which may have caused him to shriek and ask him what the fuck was he doing.
-
He had no idea when did he fall for Kacchan, and what did this even mean. Maybe he fell for him back in the royal castle, when he sneaked out often to meet him, maybe he fell for him because of the not-gifts, or when they had to flee from their home.
But in a few years, when Izuku was about fifteen, knights found them again, and Kacchan clenched his teeth, and Izuku put a hand on his shoulder.
He supposed he made his decision, but really, his decision had long since been made.
“...let’s not run this time.”
Kacchan looked at him, red eyes burning, and Izuku swallowed.
“...but don’t kill them, okay? I mean… I don’t want anyone to die.”
A slow grin crept up on Kacchan’s face.
“Of course you’d say that, you fucking idiot. And of course I have to do the heavy lifting here. You are so useless, Deku.”
And so Kacchan shifted, and the knights were greeted by the sight of a dragon, who by now, was really huge.
-
The knights kept coming, and if nothing else, Izuku had to think a lot. There wasn’t really much he could do to help Kacchan, that he already couldn’t, apart from working out ways to keep them away. Installing traps in the forest around them. Fortifying their castle. Sometimes tending to Kacchan’s wounds, although he wasn’t that great at them, and Kacchan had a tendency to try to bite him when he was injured. Even in human form.
Which made Izuku throw things at him.
Kacchan was really a handful sometimes.
“Jeez, despite being a big bad dragon, you really are a huge baby. What would you do without me?”
“I would do really fucking fine, I’ll let you know! I don’t need your stupid ass!”
“Really? Then I might just leave with the next knight who comes.”
“Go! As if I fucking care!”
Okay. Kacchan was always a handful.
Izuku still didn’t leave with the next knight, or with the one after that, and this kept going for years.
-
He was basically an adult now… really, back at the royal castle, they probably would have found him someone to marry already. Probably some other noble.
And Izuku was living together with a moody dragon.
One night, Kacchan was in his dragon form, curled in front of a fireplace (thank all the higher powers for the huge rooms), and Izuku was leaning to his side, trying to read, but really, it was hard to concentrate.
“Hey Kacchan, do you regret taking me?”
Usually, if he would ask something like that, Kacchan would snap back, and say he regrets it every day.
Usually, Izuku would never ask a question like this, though.
He felt Kacchan moving, so he could look at Izuku, his gaze just as piercing and red in dragon form, and Izuku felt his hands shaking.
“I mean… you don’t go out as much as you used to. You don’t collect things as much as you used to. You could do all that, and more, if it weren’t for me.”
The big body suddenly disappeared from behind Izuku, and he almost fell backwards - only for two muscular arms to catch him, as Kacchan shifted to human form, forcing Izuku to look at him.
“Stop talking about weird fucking shit, Deku! What the fuck brought this on?!”
“Nothing I… was just thinking about this.”
“Don’t think about stupid shit like this, then! Didn’t I fucking tell you already? Nobody fucking makes me do anything that I don’t want to do!”
“Ka--”
Then there were lips on Izuku’s own lips, and there were teeth, as Kacchan kissed him. It was a furious kiss, and Izuku couldn’t help but gasp.
“Stop--- fucking talking bullshit, Deku” Kacchan hissed, basically not moving their lips from each other, and just kissed him again.
And Izuku kissed him back, wrapping his arms around Kacchan, pulling him closer.
-
By his age, he probably would have gotten married back at the royal castle.
Now, instead, he was gently pushed to his back, this gentle movement in a strong opposition to the forceful, almost painful kiss, and while this might not have been the life envisioned for him back there, when he was young, Izuku wouldn’t have changed this for the world.
-
The world did try to change his mind though, as knights kept coming. Kacchan might not have went out to collect things anymore - but he could fight, and he jumped into that with as much intensity as he did into collecting things.
Maybe his lust did not go away, just transformed into his bloodlust, although he still didn’t kill the knights.
(And probably also transformed into the way he looked at Izuku, and the way he held onto him. There were many different types of lust, just as the prince said back then, and Izuku had understood it a long time ago.)
-
Then one day, he saw a familiar figure.
He hadn’t seen the figure in years, still was easy to recognize.
Not everyone had red-white hair, after all.
“Let me talk with him.”
Kacchan tensed up, and Izuku just rested his hand on his shoulder.
“Relax. I’m not leaving.”
“Whatever. As if I fucking care.”
Izuku had long since learnt to ignore these kinds of words, though, and just smiled.
-
“You have grown.”
“So did you.”
Prince Shouto looked at him quietly, and Izuku shuffled on his leg awkwardly.
“So I’m… I’m not going.”
There was no answer just mismatched eyes focused on him, and Izuku took a deep breath.
“I… I left with him willingly. He didn’t… kidnap me. I think this is just one big misunderstanding, but he’s not… I mean he is kind of a jerk, but that’s just what he is like, but... “
He rambled on for about ten more minutes before Prince Shouto could make him stop.
“Are you sure about this?”
“Yes.”
Somehow, he had been sure, ever since he was hiding their secret meetings back at the royal castle.
-
He was barely even surprised he found Kacchan in dragon form, curled up, and growling, and Izuku just sighed.
“Stop sulking. The prince said he’ll make sure we won’t be bothered too much. At least not on a scale that can’t be handled, so nobody will send an army out or anything. That way you can get your kick out of fighting, but nobody will have to get killed.”
The dragon curled up even more, and growled, but Izuku walked closer.
“Stop growling. I know you are happy I’m staying.”
Now that made him turn back to human form, but Kacchan was still growling.
“Didn’t I fucking tell you I don’t fucking care?!”
Izuku smirked, and stepped closer, putting his hands on Kacchan’s chest.
“Whatever you say, Kacchan.”
Needless to say, he wasn’t particularly convinced.
Especially when Kacchan kissed him again.