Chapter Text
In a fit of rage and because he needed to vent to someone, Katsuki typed a Missed Connection post furiously. When he was done, he almost wanted to laugh. He was down one very expensive bike and he would have to call the police and try to get it back, one way or another. On top of that, Eijirou was out with Izuku on date night and he wasn't invited, since apparently he "brought down the romantic mood" and "was disgustingly flirty with every hot guy he saw". It was late and his head was pounding, he needed to go to work tomorrow because the latest job required his hands and his mind on it, even if Denki was a very competent guy. He decided to deal with this problem in the morning and go to sleep, for now.
When he woke up, after making himself some coffee and toast, he opened up his phone. Before he could call the police about last night's theft, he ended up checking his Lex inbox. There was a new message there.
Suffice to say that Katsuki was surprised and intrigued at the change of events. This was the last thing he expected to happen. He should probably call the police but his gut instinct told him to find out exactly what the situation was before doing anything irrevocable. He answered the guy.
Katsuki's heart constricted. He knew first hand what it was like to feel unsafe in his own house, to feel like he couldn't be himself. The old hag still hadn't recovered from his coming out and subsequent moving out. She still hated Eijirou, thinking he was why Katsuki had left, never once looking at herself as the culprit of the crime. She hated Katsuki too, for being who he was. He shook his head out of that rabbit hole of thoughts and checked the bike thief's profile.
Bike Thief Shouto, the funny cat-lover, sounded like a non-threatening guy. Katsuki went over to Eijirou's room to see if he was in but there was no sign he'd made it home yesterday, they must have crashed at Izuku's. Katsuki debated with himself for a while, before sending the next string of messages. Hopefully, Bike Thief Shouto wasn't secretly a murderer who stole for fun, and he was doing something good here.
His heart was beating loudly, this could be something very stupid and reckless but - what if it wasn't? He finished his breakfast and paced around, waiting for another message that didn't come. The sound of a revving engine pulled him out of his thoughts and he raced towards the door. When he opened it, a guy was sitting on his bike, taking his helmet off and looking two-seconds away from either throwing up, running away or full-on sobbing.
"Shouto?" The man sitting on the bike nodded but made no move to dismount.
Katsuki opened the door wider for him, but he was as skittish as a wounded dog.
"I have breakfast inside." Katsuki tried and noticed how Shouto brought one hand down to rest against his belly. He must be hungry then. From there, it was a waiting game while Shouto fought himself to get down from the bike and into the house. When, at last, he approached the threshold, Katsuki gave him a wide berth to check inside the house.
"I'm alone. My best friend is with his boyfriend." Katsuki offered and Shouto looked at him as if he was trying to figure out the secrets of the universe. His eyes caught on the ear-aids, but he didn't comment. He put one foot forward and entered the house, immediately looking back at Katsuki who made a show of proving the door was unlocked and Shouto could leave whenever he wanted.
I know sign language, Shouto signed, to Katsuki's unadmitted delight, though he smiled with his teeth at the terrified thief in his living room.
Do you like strawberries on your pancakes?
A vigorous nod made Katsuki laugh and notice the mess of bi-coloured hair, unruly and showing the red roots on the white side. Shouto was cute but that didn't matter much right now.
Katsuki went to the trouble of mixing batter from scratch and making fluffy pancakes, of which he ate two, to make sure Shouto would eat too. He offered tea, which seemed to be much appreciated by his unexpected house guest and remembered that Shouto liked silence, so he tried to leave him be for a while.
"Do you wanna tell me more about you?" He eventually asked.
Shouto considered him, but was otherwise quiet still.
"Do you have a job?"
A nod.
"Okay, good. Is it safe there or does your father know about it?"
"It's safe." Shouto answered, speaking for the first time, making Katsuki inhale and exhale slowly at the deep sound. Unimportant.
"Alright. I have a job too."
"A mechanic." Shouto added, remembering the post he had seen on Katsuki's profile.
"Yes, a mechanic. I can take you where you need to go, or not, it's up to you how you feel safer."
Another nod.
"The guy I live with, my best friend, is pretty chill, you can meet him tonight if you stay."
"Thank you." Shouto said.
"Don't thank me yet. Just- be careful. Are you going to work today?"
Shouto shook his head.
"Wanna come work with me?" Katsuki asked, knowing he couldn't just leave a stranger alone in his house, but not wanting to leave the stranger alone anywhere bad things could happen.
"Okay." Shouto said.
"Okay." Katsuki echoed, thinking this might just be the strangest day of my fucking life.