Chapter Text
People aren’t born equal. If they were, then there would be no wars, no social class, no monarchy. But, lack of total equality is important for society. The only place anyone can truly be equal is at the bottom. It doesn’t matter if one person is slightly better than another, all that matters is that you’re not better than the number one. That automatically makes you no better than those beneath you as long as you yourself are below someone else. Wait, that makes no sense. Actually, whatever, who cares. All I’m trying to say is that I’m the best. Society can look down on me, but in the end I’m better than all of them. That’s why I don’t need anyone— not school, or family, or even friends. I’m a lone fucking wolf who lives in a badass cave, and no one can say shit to me unless they wanna—
“Katsuki!” In comes the loud voice of none other than Eijirou Kirishima, or as he liked to call him: Annoying-Ass Motherfucker.
“WHAT?” Katsuki answered, annoyed at the interruption.
“Are you brooding again?” Eijirou yelled back. He walks in through the cave’s large entrance.
“Obviously fucking not, asshole!” Katsuki lied.
“Nah, man. You totally were. Bet you were doing a whole internal monologue about societal hierarchies—”
He was cut off when Katsuki runs up on him, palms already crackling. He attempts to set off an explosion against Eijirou’s head, but misses completely as he easily dodges the attack. He barks out a laugh.
“I’m Katsuki Bakugou, and I’m so badass I live in a cave with my only friend.” Eijirou continued his teasing, but little did he know that Katsuki was the real winner here. Even while internal monologuing, Katsuki would never refer to Eijirou as a friend.
“Think whatever you want, I don’t care,” Katsuki turns and goes back to where he was previously sitting. “You’re an idiot.”
Eijirou walks up and plants himself on the other side of the fire pit in front of Katsuki. They talk for a while about how they're running out of money and what jobs they would be able to do in order to get it. They’d have to go into town to check the post board for anything that could offer quick cash. After a few hours, an unexpectedly heated argument over the best way to cook chicken, and a quick power nap later, they decide to head out to hunt for some meat. Eijirou always complains that having to skin and butcher meat themselves is gross and that it’d be easier to just buy some from the market, but this is the cheapest option. It’s a little late to be hunting, but who cares. What kind of wuss doesn’t know how to hunt at night?
Katsuki stays in the cave for a little longer to get the saddle and his sword while Eijirou transforms into a dragon. Once he’s done, Katsuki walks out with his sword at his hip and straps up before climbing the dragon’s back. Then they take off to sky.
The cold wind slaps against Katsuki’s bare torso and face like a whip, and he welcomes it. He always feels free up in the sky, like he could do anything. And he finds himself, probably for the millionth time, envious of Eijirou for being born with the ability to transform. That asshole gets to do this whenever he pleases. If he were to choose though, he’d want to be something smaller like a hummingbird. They may be small but those fuckers are terrifying, and they can fly through the trees.
He looks down at the forest. It’s a large expanse of land that separates two large towns. The road leading into them is a few miles away from where they’re flying now, but they live deep enough into the mountains for no one to bother them, and they were happy with that. Not to mention that the land is so full of nothing but trees and animals that it’d be almost impossible to find your way there without getting lost a hundred times. He would know; it took him weeks of aimlessly walking around before reaching the open area of the mountains.
The silence causes his mind to wander. They really are tight on money right now. What if they won’t be able to find work? They could get by just fine with the food that they hunt themselves, but they wouldn’t have a way to preserve the meat they catch if they run out of salt, and that shit just gets more expensive by the week. Besides, Eijirou doesn’t like having to hunt all the time, but with no money he wouldn’t be able to go to the market to buy anything. What if he ends up having to beg again? That’d be a complete nightmare.
He’s pulled out of his thoughts when Eijirou huffs a breath to get his attention. With no way of speaking while in dragon form, they’ve been relying on Eijiro using audible signals to get his messages across. One huff while flying means look down, so he did.
“What is it, Iguana?” Katsuki says, scanning the trees below them. Eijirou growls in response, which doesn’t really mean anything. He’s probably just mad that Katsuki called him Iguana again.
He sees a light. It’s small and he probably would have missed it if he weren’t looking for something but it’s there. And it’s moving.
“What the fuck, no one ever comes through here,” he mumbles. “Think they have money?”
He doesn’t get an answer.
“Alright, let’s just take what they’ve got and tell ‘em to fuck off.”
He braces himself for the dive. The wind slaps his face harder and a few branches hit him as they pass through the trees, but Katsuki doesn’t mind. He’s smiling maniacally at the thought of scaring off travelers. It’s been a while since he’s done it, and there’s not many other forms of entertainment around here. They land a bit farther from whoever is wandering the woods, just enough to hear them.
“Did you hear that?” Says a female voice, referring to the loud thud of their landing.
“I’m telling you we should go back,” a man says. “Those guys must’ve got lost following us by now.”
“We already tried,” says another. “I’m sure we’re reaching the end of the woods. It can’t be much longer ‘til we find the road again.”
Katsuki huffs. “This is taking too fucking long. Let’s run up on them.”
He jumps off Eijirou’s back and lands easily on his feet before taking off in a sprint, closer to the direction of the voices. Eijirou transforms back into a human and follows closely behind.
“Katsuki, wait—” but he wasn’t listening. He runs faster, ignoring Eijirou.
Once they’re close enough, Katsuki pulls out his sword and yells at the top of his lungs.
“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” He didn’t really think through what he’d say, but it’s fine.
He and Eijirou stop in front of the group. Three men and one woman, and they all look weird. One’s tall with a boring haircut. It’s hard to tell if he’s buff or girthy. The guy next to him has half-white-half-red hair to go with his different colored eyes. He’s dressed in expensive looking clothing, which must mean he’s got money. The one next to him is kind of short with curly green, almost black curls if not from the light of their torch reflecting off of him. He’s got a plain, uninteresting face but he’s got a bag strapped to his back; jackpot. The girl, a witch judging by the ridiculous hat, looks just about ready to shit herself judging by the way she’s gripping the torch like a lifeline. He takes in their defensive positions and sneers. Their torch isn’t a torch at all, and he realizes it’s the witch girl’s staff.
“Fuck you doin’ on my land?” He says, hand resting on the hilt of his sword.
“Um,” the short guy stutters for a second, swallowing. “We were about to be mugged while crossing to the other town. We ran into the woods to shake them of, but we got lost.”
“Yeah, well you’re getting mugged again,” Katsuki says. Eijirou, the dickhead, tries to say something. He holds out his sword and points it at Greenie. “Give us your shit.”
“What?” The tall one says. “No! What makes you think you can mug us in the middle of the woods?”
“You come into my land—”
“As far as I know this land is used as a border between towns and doesn’t belong to anyone—”
“And when you come into my land, I expect payment—”
“Like I said this isn’t your land—”
Half-Half speaks up. “Iida, maybe we should—”
“Shut the fuck up, ugly-ass!” Katsuki yells, fed up. He puts his sword back in its sheath (he never actually uses it), and sets off an explosion to propel himself off the ground and toward the tall one. Half-Half’s left arm catches fire and the flames come right for Katsuki’s face. Eijirou yells out and jumps after him, throwing him off to the side and blocking the flames the instant he turns his arms into scales. Katsuki hits the ground hard. Enraged, he launches himself towards Greenie, who has the pussiest-looking dagger drawn out in his shaking hands. Katsuki set off an explosion on his face, and the kid goes flying backwards.
“Izuku!” Witch girl yells when he hits a tree with a painful thud. She points her staff, still glowing with yellow light, and chants a spell at Katsuki. He cuts her off by roughly grabbing her collar and throwing her at Half-Half, who’s distracted with trying to take down Eijirou with his flames. She hits his side hard and they both go stumbling off to the ground. The tall guy is currently trying to help up a barely conscious Greenie. While they’re all down, Eijirou quickly transforms and whips them off to the side with his tail, effectively knocking them out in one swoop. They all hit different trees, and Greenie’s arm is twisted in an uncomfortable angle. Gross.
“Fuck yeah!” Katsuki whoops. “Alright let’s shake ‘em off and leave them here. We can get food in the morning.”
He makes his way towards the closest person, Half-Half, before being stopped by an already transformed human Eijirou stepping in front of him.
“Wait, man. Maybe we shouldn’t.” He’s got this guilty look on his face that makes Katsuki sick. Here we go.
“What the fuck are you talking about, Shitty Hair?” He really does have a weird-ass hair style.
Eijirou sighs. “We’re the ones who started the fight, not them,” he says, glancing at the tall one. “They were just defending themselves. I never wanted to rob them. We don’t even know why they’re traveling or what their situation is.”
“I don’t care to know their sob story, I just want their money.” Katsuki shoves past him and stalks up to Half-Half, only to be stopped again by a hand gripping his bicep.
“Real men don’t steal.” Eijirou says, jaw set.
Katsuki shoves him away. “Don’t come at me with that weird philosophical bullshit—”
He’s cut off again when Eijirou suddenly shoves him to the ground.
“You are not fucking stealing from them, you hear me?” Eijirou yells. “What’s even gotten into you? You know I don’t like hurting people, and now look at them! They’re half dead on the floor!”
Katsuki huffs. “Jesus, a weak-ass hit like that won’t kill them, you douche! They’re just knocked out.”
They glare at each other for some time, neither of them willing to back down. Eijirou is the first to break the silence.
“We’re taking them back to the cave.”
“You’re fucking joking.”
“Of course not!” Eijirou snaps. It’s been a while since he’s seen him this irritated. “We need to make up for this.”
Katsuki runs a hand through his hair. “Why can’t we just drop them off at the town?”
“We’re the ones at fault. We should have just left them alone. It’s our job as men to fix our mistakes.” Eijirou gives him the look he knows Katsuki hates. It’s that one where he’s like a mother reprimanding a child, and it always gets to him. Who the fuck is he to look like that?
Katsuki spits on the ground next to him. “You wanna take care of them? Fine. Do what you want, but I’m not helping.”
“Yes you are.”
“Says who?”
Eijirou gives him the look again. Katsuki yells out in frustration and slams a fist on the ground. “Fine!”
That earns him a smile, and he hates it. He takes Eijirou’s extended hand and dusts himself off. With a huff, he looks over to the group of useless bodies.
“Who do we start with?”