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It was Katsuki’s hubris that got him to that situation. When he was approached by a man in a black suit right after defending his Ph.D. thesis on unstable synthetic compounds, he was honestly not surprised. Of course companies would be lining up to hire him; he’s one of the best chemists in the country. And when the man promised Katsuki he’d work with cutting-edge technology to study in fields that the University hadn’t even heard about—he couldn’t say yes fast enough.
What followed was a nightmare. A nightmare that Katsuki tried to convince himself of being a dream for much too long.
He barely had time to say goodbye to his family and friends before being taken away to somewhere he still didn’t know where. He knew he was put in cars with blackened windows that didn’t let him see outside and in planes where the crew refused to talk to him. He knew he traveled for more than a day, though time got hazy as they crossed timezones.
When he got there, wherever there was, he was taken straight to his room and then taught the way to the lab and the cafeteria. And that was it.
Some people with names Katsuki was sure to be fake gave him some samples of the compound he was supposed to study. At first sight, it looked like glitter inside the test tubes; it sparkled in all shades of green possible in a way no arts and crafts material could ever achieve. Sure that he wasn’t brought there to study how to make little girls’ unicorns shinier, Katsuki got to work.
At first, it was frustrating. All that he was told was to find out the compound’s qualities and applications. But the little glittery powder deluded him; none of the traditional tests brought back any type of useful answer. The compound defied every chemical rule Katsuki ever learned. It didn’t respond to solvents and reagents in any way Katsuki could use, sometimes it didn’t even respond the same way to identical tests without any clear reason.
After weeks of dead-end after dead-end, Katsuki started pestering the people who brought him there for answers. He needed more than just the compound to develop any type of meaningful research. It wasn’t easy, but eventually, he was given documents written by a researcher that came before him.
Several words and passages of the studies were crossed in black or edited to read [REDACTED] making it of limited use to him. He never met the researcher nor was told why that person wasn’t working there anymore. Any questions about who performed that study were answered with absolute silence.
Still, Katsuki managed to get something out of the old studies. From what he could gather, the former researcher believed the compound had the ability to make something travel through time-space in a type of wormhole. The researcher also debated if the compound could make things invisible and then levitate. It all sounded absolutely insane and Katsuki wondered if the researcher had lost his mind being trapped in the Foundation (as the fake-named people called it), without the chance of breathing fresh air or talking to people who answered.
The theory of going insane made more sense than the borderline-magical properties that the researcher believed the compound to possess. And yet, Katsuki caught himself sprinkling the glitter on top of a random pen—and then watching the pen disappear right before his eyes.
After that, Katsuki’s frustration morphed into obsession. He had to learn more about the compound, he had to understand how it worked. Time became meaningless as Katsuki got trapped inside his own mind, trying to figure out the next test, the next experiment. The answers kept evading him and Katsuki’s world kept getting smaller as now he didn’t even waste time going to sleep in his room or eating in the cafeteria.
Weeks passed in a blur and Katsuki didn’t get any closer to an answer. The powder defied worldly logic, leaving Katsuki grasping for answers in the fog. His new unhealthy lifestyle worried the Foundation people. Not because they personally cared about Katsuki, but because his need to find answers made him a perfect researcher for the Foundation and they didn’t want to lose him so soon.
That’s why when Katsuki began aggressively pestering people for more answers—where does the compound come from? Is this its natural form? How did the former researcher know about its ability to make things disappear?—he was taken to the containment unit.
At that point, the Foundation people probably believed Katsuki’s spirit was too broken for him to ever think of leaving and spreading the information to the outside. They believed his obsession with being the best, knowing more than everyone else made him the perfect researcher for the Foundation and he’d never betray them.
What they didn’t know is that, the moment Katsuki laid eyes on SCP-5777-B, a forgotten part of him flourished once more. A part that remembered life before the cutthroat world of academia, before the cold, sterile walls of his empty labs; a part that remembered life in open fields, running through the woods with his friends to catch bugs and pretend they were fairies.
The first time Katsuki saw him, it was like stepping inside a dream. Against the infinite shades of grey from the steel and concrete building that houses the Foundation’s most prized SCPs, there was a sanctum of green. Trees and foliage created a small, but thick, forest, compressed between the harsh walls of the containment unit.
Katsuki felt his lungs filling with the ghost of fresh, humid air from the makeshift grove despite the fact there was a thick glass wall separating them from him.
Him. SCP-5777-B. The creature Katsuki had been unknowingly studying for months.
Explanations were finally offered to him—about what the Foundation actually was, about SCPs in general, about how they came to possess one of the SCP-5777 specimens—but Katsuki paid little mind to them. The moment he laid eyes on SCP-5777-B, he was overwhelmed by his beauty and the magical wonder of the Universe.
His skin was light green which should make him blend into the scenery, but it didn’t because his skin also had the same glittery shine as the dust Katsuki had been studying. His hair was a deep, dark green of unruly curls, and he had a cute little button nose that twitched almost like a bunny’s.
He was adorable and would look absolutely harmless had it not been his eyes. The green gems had a weird, alien light to them and they looked straight into Katsuki’s soul despite the fact he was told the glass that separated them was a one-way mirror.
“Let me in,” he demands as soon as his Foundation handler stops talking.
“No,” the woman says. “We still don’t know enough about 5777-B. It can be dangerous.”
“Dangerous?” Katsuki scoffs. “Have you fucking looked at him? And how long have you guys kept him in without issues?”
“The date 5777-B was captured is classified. And the handlers are well equipped whenever they enter the enclosure.”
Being on an information-diet for so long made Katsuki an expert in reading between the lines and understanding what’s not being said. The fairy, he can only call the creature as such, has been locked there for a long fucking time completely alone. The Foundation probably only enters to take more samples for him to study.
“I don’t fucking care. You want answers, you’ll let me in—now and whenever I want. It’s that or I’m out. I’m not gonna keep up this shitty research that leads to nowhere,” Katsuki threatens.
For a moment, it sounds like the woman will continue to deny him. But just as she’s about to speak, the little device in her ear catches her attention. She answers in hushed whispers that Katsuki can’t hear and then turns back to talk to him.
“Alright. Your request has been accepted. However, you have to understand we can’t assure your safety if you go through this.”
It seems that there are more one-way mirrors than the ones around the fairy.
“Just open up,” he says without a shadow of a doubt.
***
Deku, as Katsuki came to call him, is a smart little shit.
It took a while to get Deku to trust him. The first few times Katsuki entered the enclosure, Deku vanished in thin air. All that was left of him was some little glittery powder on the ground and the sensation that someone was watching Katsuki.
Katsuki didn’t give up, though. He’s physically incapable of doing so. He kept coming to see Deku every day, sitting around and talking to the trees. Eventually, Deku began to scurry away when he arrived but did not vanish. He let Katsuki see him, perching on top of some tree or another. Then one day, Deku came closer—just for a second, like a scared little bunny. It was adorable if not a little frustrating.
When Deku finally got close, big, shining-from-within eyes considering Katsuki with curiosity, it was worth all the hassle.
Katsuki ended up winning him over with a piece of candy—Steven Spielberg was on to something. After years of a strictly leafy diet, Deku took to chocolate like a fish to water. After that, the little shit would hound Katsuki, wordlessly asking for more the moment he stepped foot into the enclosure.
That’s another thing Katsuki discovered—though he chose not to talk to the Foundation people, Deku isn’t mute. Katsuki doesn’t think anyone can hold that against him; he wouldn’t be willing to chat with the fuckers who kidnapped him either if he was in Deku’s situation. But it didn’t take long for Deku to loosen his tongue around him.
Turns out, Deku is a mumbler. He’d whisper incomprehensible things under his breath as he analyzed Katsuki in any way possible. Again, Katsuki turned his eyes to Hollywood for answers and it didn’t take long of pointing to himself and saying “Katsuki” until Deku pointed to himself and said “Dj-uu-ku”.
There was still some gap between their pronunciations, but they settled with “Deku” and “Kacchan” and kept going forward.
“Say it, I’m hungry ,” Katsuki says, enunciating the words slowly.
“Gim-me,” Deku says, extending his hand for the chocolate bar Katsuki brought him.
Katsuki shakes his head, “No. I know you can do more than that. Say I want the chocolate and I’ll give it to you.”
Deku shakes his hand and demands again, “Gim-me!”
“ Please, give me the chocolate, ” Katsuki tries again.
Frustrated, Deku frowns and orders, “Gim-me, Kacchan!” while snatching the candy from Katsuki’s hand.
“You’re turning out to be a spoiled little shit, aren’t you?” Katsuki berates him with fake annoyance.
It can be a little frustrating that sometimes Deku gets so fixated on what he wants that he doesn’t even try to pay attention to what Katsuki is saying. But at the same time, he can’t really find it in himself to be too annoyed with that because it’s fascinating to see Deku coming out of his shell and expressing himself freely to Katsuki. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that just a few months ago, Deku had never talked in human language or really interacted with a person before.
Turns out, Deku is a very curious creature and extremely smart. Not only has he been learning to speak, but he’s also quickly learning to read and write as well. As soon as Katsuki ran out of things to teach Deku inside his enclosure—tree, rock, leaf, and shirt were the first words Deku learned—he demanded the Foundation people get him some children's books.
It was not easy. The Foundation sees Katsuki’s attempts at teaching Deku as a waste of time that could be used for more research. But the Foundation is rapidly coming to terms with the fact that whenever Katsuki decides he wants something, he doesn’t let go. He ran around bothering people and making demands until the books showed up at his lab.
“I have a surprise for you,” Katsuki says as Deku ravenously eats the chocolate. “I’ve got a new book.”
That piques Deku’s attention. He turns his huge, litten eyes to Katsuki, curiosity clear in them.
“Gim-me!” he chirps happily.
“Hell no! Use your damn words, you menace!” Katsuki barks, keeping the book hidden on his back.
“Pl-ea-se, Kacchan?” Deku asks, pouting.
It’s fascinating how Deku’s expressions are so human despite his alien features. Katsuki can’t help but wonder if expressions are something universal—every creature instinctively knows to pout when they want something—or if Deku somehow learned it from his years watching the Foundation people coming and going from his enclosure.
“Now, that’s better. Do you want to read the book?”
“Dj-u-ku wants book!” Deku affirms with a strong nod of his head.
“Alright. Let’s read it together,” he says, bringing the new book forward.
After the first baby’s books about shapes and colors, Katsuki has slowly increased the complexity of the books he requested. This new one is a special one for him: an All Might comic book. He used to love the superhero as a kid and he’s excited to share this with Deku.
“This is All Might,” Katsuki explains, pointing to the superhero in the cover. “He beats up bad guys and saves everyone.”
“All M-might?” Deku repeats, testing the words.
“Yes. He’s pretty badass,” he continues, flipping to the next page. “He’s strong. See, here? He’s lifting a car. Pretty strong, right?”
“S-sh-trong?”
“Yeah, strong. Just like me,” Katsuki says, showing his biceps.
“Kacchan shh-trong!” Deku chirps with a big smile.
Katsuki’s heart fills with something warm and heavy from the way Deku looks at him. Deku acts as if Katsuki is the best thing in the whole world and to be the object of such reverence is addicting but also a little toxic.
At first, when Deku started looking so openly happy when he saw Katsuki, he saw that as a big win. The Foundation assholes have been trying to find out more about Deku for fuck knows how long and never got anywhere, but in just a few weeks Katsuki got Deku to eagerly come to him and learn how to communicate.
But as the weeks rolled by, Deku’s reverence grew heavy in Katsuki’s heart. He doesn’t deserve such blind trust. Deku doesn’t understand that Katsuki is another cog in the machine that keeps him locked up in that tight enclosure. Just because Katsuki brings him some candy, it doesn’t make him any better than the people who kidnapped Deku. At night, these thoughts plague Katsuki’s mind, stealing his sleep. The guilt of buying Deku’s affection with little treats while actively working with the Foundation to find out more about how to use Deku’s little magic power to human advantage slowly grew inside him.
The only thing that keeps Katsuki going is the certainty that there’s nothing more he can do. He can’t break Deku away any more than he can break himself away—it’s been months that Katsuki came to accept the fact the Foundation has him kidnapped as well. He can’t leave the building, he can’t contact his family, he doesn’t even know where exactly he is. Even though he can quit and ask for the Foundation to release him, he’s sure he’d have to leave Deku behind if it came to that. And then Deku would be left completely alone once again.
Right now, all that Katsuki can do is to keep Deku entertained with candy and books.
“And here All Might is punching a bad guy like the total badass he is,” Katsuki continues reading the comic under Deku’s amazed eyes.
***
Deku fell in love with All Might even more than with chocolates. Now, every time Katsuki enters his enclosure, Deku is all over him, demanding more All Might books.
“Ne-w ch-hapter! Ne-w ch-hapter!” he asks excitedly the moment he sees Katsuki.
“Yes, yes. Pipe down,” Katsuki chides him gently. “I brought the book. We’ll read a new chapter.”
Sitting down under the biggest tree of Deku’s makeshift forest, Katsuki opens up the comic book and starts flipping through pages.
“Where did we stop last time?”
“All Might saves!” Deku answers with a big smile.
“That doesn’t narrow it down much, does it?” he jokes. “But yeah, here, he was saving the little girl, right?”
On the page, several frames show All Might defeating the villain of the week and freeing the little kidnapped girl who was taken because of her strong powers. Eri, the little girl, is shown to have her whole body covered in bandages. All Might crouches before her, the villain’s body just a few meters away laying limp, and starts talking.
“It’s alright. Nobody will hurt you anymore. Everything is going to be fine because—” Katsuki reads.
“BECA-SE I’M H-HERE!” Deku screams All Might’s catchphrase excitedly.
It’s Deku’s favorite part. When he was young, Katsuki used to love reading the action scenes, seeing All Might kick ass. But Deku vibrates with excitement when All Might talks to the victims, reassuring them he’s there to save them. Now, Katsuki’s favorite part is watching the unnaturally wide, toothy grin on Deku’s face when he sees All Might saving the day.
“E-rr-i ish gu-ing h-ome now,” Deku interrupts Katsuki’s musings.
He’s looking down at the comic book with a wistful expression. His stubby, green finger caresses the page with longing. It absolutely breaks Katsuki’s heart. How could he not realize that reading a story about a kidnapped little girl who is saved from people who took her to experiment on her wasn’t something he should do to Deku?
“Dj-u-ku miss h-ome…”
Deku’s words feel like a knife going through Katsuki’s gut.
“How—How is your home, Deku?”
Deku turns to him with a sad smile on his lips, “Big. Free.”
“And how can you get there?” he asks before he can stop himself. “How can you get out of here?”
That’s something he’s been wondering about for a while. Deku can clearly travel inside his enclosure and even make himself completely invisible there, but the glass walls that surround them seem more than enough to keep him locked there.
“N-ee-d green. N-ee-d al-live,” Deku answers, turning his face to look at the one-way mirror that separates them from the observation room.
Once Katsuki opens that conjectural door, he can’t go back and can’t keep it closed. He has stopped himself from asking Deku these questions before because he knows the Foundation people are always listening and would take advantage of any information Deku provides. But now, Katsuki feels himself at a breaking point, he needs to know. He needs to create a plan.
So he starts probing Deku for more information on his powers and how his teleportation worked. It’s not easy because Deku never thought about his abilities in human terms, for him everything is just very natural. They have to create the information together to bridge the gaps in their understanding of the world.
Eventually, Katsuki manages to understand that Deku’s magic powers are somewhat connected to nature. As Deku is ‘alive’, as he says, his powers can only connect him to something that is also ‘alive’. But Deku’s definition of ‘alive’ is terribly confusing—water is alive but rock isn’t, for example. The glasses and mirrors that surround them aren’t alive, but the fallen leaves are.
Once he understands that, Katsuki creates a plan. The plan is anything but fail-proof, but he needs to try. No matter what happens to him, he needs to get Deku out of there.
Water is alive, dead leaves are alive, grass is alive. Deku needs a bridge of alive things to get him to the outside. There’s a small courtyard Katsuki is allowed to go to get some fresh air; a metal fence separates it from the outside where a forest stretches as far as the eye can see. If Katsuki can get Deku to the courtyard, Deku is free.
So on the next rainy day, it’s time to act.
“I’m going outside,” he informs the guard at the courtyard’s entrance.
The guard looks through the glass door, skeptically eyeing the mild storm that rages on outside. The rain is falling thick, undoubtedly very cold and uninviting.
“I need some fucking fresh air,” Katsuki demands again.
With a shrug of his shoulders, the guard steps aside and lets Katsuki through. The moment he crosses the door, the rain leaves him soaked. It’s freezing and miserable. Katsuki’s clothes get saturated with water and cling to his body, making him shiver with cold. The wind gets his teeth chattering, but he pays it no mind.
Trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, Katsuki walks around the courtyard dragging his feet. He needs his shoes to get as wet and muddy as possible. He even stomps a few times, breaking the grass in his soles and getting the ripped blades to stick to him. Only when he looks like a drowned rat who went through a mud bath does he go back inside.
The guard looks at him like he’s crazy but Katsuki doesn’t stick around to make up any excuses. His time is short, he knows the Foundation people heard his and Deku’s conversations, someone is going to put two and two together and figure out his plan. So he rushes through the building, trying to get to Deku’s enclosure as fast as possible without actually running and bringing more attention to himself.
A trail of mud, water, and grass is left on Katsuki’s path. He makes sure to stomp his feet to make as much of a mess as possible, praying no one will come to clean it up so soon. He needs this to work. This is probably his only chance—if it doesn’t work, he doubts anyone will let him get close to Deku ever again.
Katsuki’s heart beats like crazy, rushing in his ear. He’s almost there. He can already see the door that locks Deku inside. Just a few more—
“Wait there!” Someone calls behind him. “Stop!”
He’s been caught. Katsuki breaks into a sprint. It takes seconds to reach the door, his fingers shake when he inputs the code to open it. Almost—Almost!
“Don’t open!”
The door opens up, Katsuki drags his feet when passing through it to make sure there’s water under it when he closes.
“DEKU! DEKU!” he calls, his voice betraying the urgency of the situation.
“OPEN UP!” the person yells from the outside.
“Kacchan?” Deku shows up confused.
“Quick! Go!” he says, pointing to the water and mud by the door. “There’s a bridge of alive things. It’ll take you outside.”
There’s a raucous by the door. The guards who don’t have the code to Deku’s enclosure must be trying to get in touch with someone who does and can let them inside. They don’t have time. Someone might have cleaned the floor. Someone might have realized his plan.
“Go! Go! Now!” Katsuki rushes Deku towards the door.
Seeing the mud there, Deku seems to understand the situation.
“And Kacchan?” he asks, worry in his bright eyes.
That’s when Katsuki realizes he never thought past this point. After Deku is free, he doesn’t know what happens to him. He’s sure the Foundation won’t overlook him breaking one of their specimens free.
“Just go!” Katsuki pushes Deku, not wanting to let worry make him miss his shot.
“Co-mme,” Deku says, offering his hand.
That—has never crossed Katsuki’s mind. That Deku could take him away too, that he could offer Katsuki the freedom he tried so hard to give him.
Just that second, the door opens. Maybe they already cleaned the floor. Maybe the bridge is broken. Maybe they’re trapped there together. But Katsuki can’t know if he doesn’t try.
As if in slow motion, Katsuki sees the guards trying to push in, and then, without thinking, he takes Deku’s hand.
He feels a harsh pull on his arm, the world around him dissolves in a kaleidoscope of greens. Katsuki loses the reference of what’s up and what’s down for what feels like an eternity but might have been a blink of an eye.
When his head stops spinning, Katsuki feels ground under his feet. He opens his eyes and the only thing he sees is Deku’s shiny eyes and big smile on a background of infinite trees.
They’re free.