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The room at the inn was standard fare: two beds pushed to opposite corners, an unlit fireplace across from the beds, a table and two chairs, a single window, and a door leading to what Katsuki assumed was the washroom.
Gem went straight to the bed closest to the window once Katsuki opened the door wider to let her in, flopping on top of the covers with a tired huff. The wolf took up most of the damn thing, her tail hanging off the end and lazily wagging, contentment oozing through their bond.
Katsuki rolled his eyes as he walked over. “Oi, leave some room for me.” He didn’t make her move though, instead smoothing down some wayward fur along her neck as she started to doze. Gem had spent the last two weeks carrying Katsuki and their unwanted cargo through the snow, and now that they were at the last town this far up north, she deserved a comfortable night’s rest.
She was nice to sleep against too, her fur soft and warm, so Katsuki didn’t mind squeezing in next to her.
He shed his boots and outer layers, dumping it all in one of the chairs and going to the washroom to clean up for the night. The late hour and the exhaustion of the day had him softening around the edges, but they sharpened right back up when he came back into the main room and heard whispers from the other bed.
Said unwanted cargo was winding down for the night as well. His scarf—the only thing he’d had to keep himself warm despite them being in the middle of the fucking tundra —was draped across the back of the other chair with his own boots, and he was speaking too quietly for Katsuki to hear as he lifted his tortoise onto the bed with care and without an ounce of struggle.
He probably had a lot of practice moving him around considering he was stuck with a tortoise for a daemon.
Kirishima Eijirou, he had introduced himself when Deku had saddled them together for this shitty delivery to some witch up the mountain. All bright shitty hair, sharp teeth, and seemingly unperturbed by the weather given that he’s been strolling around without a shirt in the fucking snow, an antithesis to the tortoise halfway tucked into his shell, looking content on the mattress.
Kirishima smoothed a hand over the bumpy shell, smiling down at the tortoise with so much love in his eyes, like he didn’t have the most inconvenient daemon ever. He didn’t seem to care at all about the shitty hand life had dealt him, that didn’t even match with him.
Katsuki’s travel companion didn’t make sense. As he shuffled under the covers of his bed, pressing into the fur along Gem’s side, he resolved to not think much more about Kirishima Eijirou. The sooner they finished this delivery, the sooner Katsuki wouldn’t have to worry about him anymore.
Katsuki barely had room to eat his dinner in the tavern the next evening with all the maps spread across the tabletop. They had stocked up on the supplies they’d need to make the rest of the trip, and Kirishima hadn’t complained about Katsuki wanting to spend one more night in the inn (he might be a seasoned traveler, used to camping among the snowy environment, but he still far preferred the warmth and comfort of an actual bed). Now he made due with the tiny corner he had, biting down on a sausage and watching Kirishima scribble over the maps he was hunched over, his own plate of food forgotten. His tongue even poked through sharp teeth, he was so concentrated. Fucking moron.
“Okay!” Kirishima sat back, looking satisfied, and he pushed the maps closer to Katsuki. “I marked the fastest route to Ochako, should take us two more weeks, tops.”
Katsuki’s gaze swept over the pages as he shuffled through them; the path out of town looked fine, it was the route he usually took when making deliveries around the mountain bases. He squinted as he got higher up the slopes; he didn’t recognize the path, but he knew topography. “Going around the mountain like this will take too long.” He reached for the pencil, almost knocking over his cup when somebody bumped into him while walking by. He shot a glare at them, but they didn’t even notice, the two burly guys laughing loudly as they left the tavern. Katsuki huffed and continued, erasing the loop around the mountain Kirishima had drawn and replacing it with a straight line up the mountain slope. “Going this way would shave off at least a few days.”
Kirishima barely glanced at the newly-drawn path before shaking his head. “Going straight up is too treacherous. Looping around would be easier.”
Katsuki frowned. “Gem and I have gone up and down slopes loads of times, she can handle it.”
Kirishima’s smile became strained. “I don’t doubt that, man. Riot can’t, though.” He gestured to his tortoise down on the floor by the table, who was eating apple slices off a plate. He paused to slowly spare a glance at Katsuki as if to say, Yeah, I can’t, what are you gonna do about it?
Katsuki scowled before starting to gather the maps. “You already marked where the witch is. I’ll handle the delivery on my own, and you and your shitty tortoise can fuck off to wherever you came from, problem solved.”
He reached for the last map, the witch’s home starred near the mountain’s peak, but Kirishima snatched it up before Katsuki could lay a finger on it. “Oi, fucker-” He looked up to glare at the redhead, and he was met with the sternest look he’s seen on the guy since they started traveling together, all traces of his perpetual smile gone.
“Don’t talk about Riot that way.”
Next to him, Gem’s tail lashed agitatedly where she ate her own meal, her ears pinning back. Katsuki scoffed as he sat back to roll up the rest of the maps to put into the pouch at his hip. “Oh, like you haven’t thought the same thing. The universe shafted you by giving you a tortoise. Sure, the damn thing won’t die from the cold since daemons are magic or whatever. Doesn’t change the fact that he’s fucking useless. He can’t even pull your sled, you have to pull him . Bet you’ve thought about leaving him behind if you could instead of letting him hold you back-”
“And what, you think you’re hot shit just because you’ve got a wolf?” Kirishima snapped back, a new fire in his eyes. His hands clenched the map in his grasp so tight the paper crinkled, threatening to tear. “All big, bad, and intimidating, just like you posture yourself to be? You might be proud that you match your daemon, that your daemon doesn’t hold you back, but it doesn’t matter. Even if you dropped your lone wolf act, nobody would want to be your friend because you’re a dick.”
Gem’s piercing eyes were on Kirishima in an instant. Her lips peeled back from fangs in a snarl, loud enough to startle the other travelers having dinner at the moment. Katsuki’s gaze was just as sharp as he glared at him, ignoring the attention on them, but at the same time, he felt…hurt? A pang in his heart, like longing with an extra twist of a knife. But why would he be hurt?
Across the table, Kirishima didn’t flinch away from Katsuki’s glare or the threatening aura emanating off of Gem, only holding Katsuki’s gaze with a glare of his own.
Riot, however, did. As soon as Gem’s attention shifted to him, he shrank all the way into his shell, apple slices forgotten. Katsuki smirked. Shitty Hair was one to talk about fronting; he was doing it himself, and not even well.
Kirishima’s gaze flicked down to Riot, and his glare weakened, shoulders dropping, expression shifting to resigned. The fight left him in an instant, and he sighed, pulling his plate toward him, likely cold by now.
He didn’t have a chance to take a bite before yelling suddenly erupted from outside, indistinct but audibly angry. Kirishima looked in the direction of the exit; teeth gnawed on his bottom lip as he seemed to consider before he pushed away from the table. “C’mon, Riot.” He wove through the tables and out the door, the tortoise hustling after him, leaving his cold plate and the last map behind.
Katsuki snatched the sausage off Kirishima’s plate in a vindictive move, tossing it to Gem who snapped it up in one bite. He then grabbed the map, stuffing it with the others. Now there was nothing stopping him from continuing up the mountain on his own. He could even leave after he ate, warm bed be damned.
As he polished off his plate, Gem shifted around the table, closer to the tavern exit, before looking back at Katsuki, ears pointed in the direction of the noise outside.
Katsuki frowned, then sighed. Curse him for being curious. He stuffed the last of his bread in his mouth and stood, ignoring Gem’s tail wagging excitedly. “Fine.”
The sun had long set, the snow-covered street illuminated by the soft glow of the oil lanterns hanging outside of the homes and businesses lining the path. People from the nearby buildings had started gathering in the street by the time Katsuki and Gem stepped outside. His eyes followed the noise and the direction everybody was looking, spotting the commotion outside of the supply shop they had stopped at earlier.
The lights inside were off, Sero likely having shut down for the night already, but the two guys who had bumped into Katsuki back in the tavern stood at the door. From their movements and slurred voices they were clearly drunk, the alcohol in their systems fuel to scream at Sero and Kirishima, the latter, to Katsuki’s surprise, standing between Sero and the burly men and taking the brunt of the words and spit flying from their mouths.
“Look, he already said he’s closed for the night,” Kirishima was saying, his hands held up placatingly. “The inn here is nice, you can stay the night and come get your things in the morning like everybody else.”
“And we already said we aren’t waiting!” the guy closest to Kirishima yelled back. His daemon, a badger, hissed at his feet, but she looked just as drunk as her person. The guy gestured at Sero. “You’re already here, just open up so we can get our shit and leave.”
Sero and his daemon Cello looked equal parts annoyed and exhausted as he rolled his eyes. “For the fourth time, the inventory is already locked up for the night. I’m not bringing it back out just for you. Besides, what’s the rush? It’s already night, it’s dangerous to be traveling right now.”
“That ain’t something for you to worry about,” the second guy spat, his fox stalking clumsily behind him. “All you gotta do is sell us your fucking goods.”
Kirishima huffed, muttering something Katsuki couldn’t make out from the distance before reaching out to lay a hand on the first asshole’s shoulder. “Okay-”
Despite the alcohol in his system, nobody had a chance to react before the guy reeled back and punched Kirishima in the face. The force made him stumble back into Sero, the subsequent impact knocking Cello from her perch on his shoulders to the snowy ground with a squeak, right in the path of the badger.
Riot inched to intercept as the badger lunged, but Gem was faster; she jumped between Cello and the badger and stood protectively over the ferret, strong jaws snapping at the offending daemon.
Katsuki was just a second behind her, sliding between Kirishima and the man with his own teeth bared. “Did the mead clog your ears? He’s not opening up so get lost!”
“Fuck off, this ain’t any of your business!” The guy moved to throw another punch, but Katsuki moved first; there was an audible crack as his fist collided with his nose, and the guy fell back into the snow, cursing in pain and holding his face, his companion too stunned to move.
Katsuki stood firm, glaring them both down. “Back. Off .”
The second guy was damn-near trembling in fear, but he still stumbled forward to help his friend up before they both hurriedly left.
“Dumbasses,” Katsuki grumbled, Gem huffing in agreement as she relaxed. He turned back to the others. “You okay?”
Gem nudged her snout against Cello to help her up, and Sero kneeled to let her climb up his arm to his shoulder, where she buried herself in the folds of his scarf. He sent Katsuki a relieved smile. “Yeah, thanks, Bakugou.”
Kirishima held his cheek, the start of a bruise visible between his fingers, but he didn’t seem to pay it any mind as he looked between Katsuki and Gem, like he was trying to puzzle out a mystery. As his eyes settled on Katsuki, it looked like he had figured it out, whatever it was. “Yeah.”
Katsuki shuffled under his stare, and he quickly turned away. The maps were secure in his pouch. He could still leave.
He turned back down the path, walking through the dispersing crowd to the inn. One more night in a bed wouldn’t hurt.
“I have thought about it.”
Katsuki looked up from the supplies he was organizing to Kirishima. “Hah?”
From his spot on the floor across from Katsuki by their room’s fireplace, Kirishima stared down at the plate of food Ashido had brought up to him after they dealt with the assholes. The flickering flames cast the fresh bruise on his cheek and the wry smile on his lips into shadows as he pushed around his scraps. “Riot.” He nodded at his daemon. “I didn’t always have nice thoughts about him.”
Katsuki snorted, setting the lantern oil he got earlier aside and grabbing his rope to check for frays. “I’d honestly be surprised if you hadn’t.”
Riot shrank back into his shell some, and Kirishima rubbed a hand over his shell in support while giving Katsuki a look. “I’m trying to make a point here, Bakugou. Here me out?”
Katsuki gave a noncommittal hum. Gem’s ears pointed in the redhead’s direction where she laid at Katsuki’s side.
For some reason that made Kirishima’s lips tip up into a real smile, if just for a second. “I wasn’t always…like this.” He gestured at himself.
“An annoying shitty-haired moron?”
Kirishima rolled his eyes. “It’s not shitty. …it is dyed, though.” He nudged up his headband to reveal dark roots growing in. “Didn’t dye my hair, was a lot quieter, had a lot of trouble standing up for myself and others. Everybody had all these motivations and goals for life, and I didn’t. And then Riot, my soul, settling seemed like confirmation that I never would.
“I wasn’t happy about it, and I tried everything to get him to settle as something else. Changed my hair, how I acted, tried to be more outgoing. Nothing worked. Eventually everybody I grew up with left me behind, and I hated it. Hated him .” That resentment showed on Kirishima’s face, his grip tightening on his plate. “I even tried locking him in a room once, leaving him, but…”
A sharp gasp and a whine escaped from Katsuki and Gem, respectively, as the ghost of an old pain marred Kirishima’s face, a hand coming up to cover his bare chest over his heart.
If your daemon was your soul, then trying to separate from them was trying to tear your soul in half. Old stories from elders growing up warned that people who lost their daemons have even died, and Katsuki could see the truth in that statement; the few times he’d been more than a handful of meters away from Gem had been torture, like he could fall apart on the spot.
“I never tried that again,” Kirishima continued, and yeah, Katsuki sure fucking hoped he hadn’t.
“You really are a moron.”
Kirishima had the gall to laugh, though it was weak. “Yeah, that wasn’t my brightest moment. But now I see him as who I was when I was younger, who I still am at my core. I was scared and useless back then, still am. And Riot is representative of that—you said so yourself. But rather than hating him, he’s a reminder of where I was and how far I have to go to be the kind of man I wanna be, and I love him for that.” The adoration was oozing from him as he stroked Riot’s scaled head, the tortoise preening under the touch.
It was…sweet, Katsuki guessed. Definitely explained the contrast between Kirishima and Riot and the imperfect fronting.
Katsuki looked at Kirishima then, at the joy on his face that didn’t fit the shy boy he still claimed to be, thought back to the smiles and loudness that were too real to be a front, how he stood up for his daemon against Katsuki and for Sero without an ounce of hesitation.
Looked at Riot, his shell thick to protect him from anything he came across.
“You’re like his shell,” Katsuki stated.
Kirishima blinked at him. “Huh?”
Katsuki shrugged, looking back at his rope. Definitely not avoiding his gaze. “He might be slow as fuck, but his shell makes him resilient so nobody can hurt him. Same with you. The universe didn’t completely shaft you, just showed all your sides, the good and the bad.”
Kirishima was silent, long enough for Katsuki to think that he’d said something wrong again. When he looked up, he was shocked to find Kirishima staring at him with glassy eyes and a wobbly smile, tears threatening to drip from his lower lashes. “The hell are you crying for?!”
“Because you’re just proving my point!” he laughed, wiping his eyes. “If Riot can show the different sides of me, then Gem proves you’re more than an asshole!”
Shock gave way to confusion. “What?”
Kirishima smiled, bordering on smugness. “You and I both know that the ‘lone wolf’ thing is just a stereotype. Wolves are pack animals, they thrive around others.” He looked to the side, and it was then that Katsuki noticed that Gem had gravitated over to Riot. He was nearly tucked all the way into his shell, but that didn’t deter her as she bent to his level to sniff at his head; her tail wagged, not a single ounce of the hostility that she had in the tavern earlier present now.
“You may have been grumpy with Mina and the others when we got here, but Gem wasn’t bothered by their daemons at all. She didn’t hesitate to jump in to help Cello— you didn’t hesitate to jump in to help Sero. New people might be scared of her, but I think she wants friends like everybody else. I think you do too.”
Katsuki cut his gaze back to Kirishima, finding him already looking back. He tilted his head when their eyes met, and Katsuki clicked his tongue and looked away. “You think you know a lot, huh?”
“I’ve traveled a lot so I’d like to think I do.” The smile was audible in his voice.
“Whatever.” Setting the rope aside, Katsuki unzipped his pouch and pulled out the maps, tossing them to Kirishima. “Tell me the route Riot’s able to take. I’m still double-checking ‘em.”
The moron saluted with a wide grin. “Aye aye, Bakugou.”
Two weeks later, it was a penguin who greeted them after hauling Kirishima’s dog sled with Riot inside up the last cliff to the witch.
It was alone as it weaved between trees across the snow on its stomach. Its movements and gaze as it waddled up to them were too intelligent to be normal wildlife, that observation proven moments later when hurried footsteps crunched in the snow from the direction the penguin had come, and a short girl in a pink hooded cloak burst through the trees, out of breath.
Apparently it was a witch thing to be able to be far from your daemon and be perfectly fine.
Uraraka was bubbly, smiling more than even Deku did as she greeted them and squeezed Kirishima in a hug tight enough to make him wheeze despite her small frame. She was pleased by the stuff from Deku too, not that Katsuki had a clue what it was. It just looked like a bundle of dried weeds and a small vial of pink liquid, but by how Uraraka’s face glowed when they handed over the items they may as well have been gold. She didn’t deal in money—also a witch thing —but she gave them enough food and supplies for the trip back down the mountain.
It was another month before they got back to Deku, and during that time, Katsuki noticed the shift.
It wasn’t like the shift in the days following their talk back at the inn, where Katsuki could truly see all of Kirishima’s layers without him pretending or mediating against Katsuki’s anger, and he could accept that he was a good travel companion despite his tortoise. It was something deeper, something Katsuki had never felt before nor could explain.
He felt it in the ease in which they operated together as they climbed back down the mountain, in sync, like they could read each other’s minds and know exactly what needed to be done.
He felt it when he listened to Kirishima talk, about actually interesting stuff and not dumb nonsense like the idiots back in town, or when he met Katsuki’s snark with a sharp-toothed grin and some of his own, or when he didn’t speak at all, when he felt comfortable to let the wind be the only sound to fill the space between the trees around them.
He felt in when they turned in for the night, tucked away in one of the caves or alcoves among the trees Kirishima had marked on the map to protect them from the worst of the mountain’s elements during the night.
When Katsuki lost Gem as his heat source as she chose to curl around Riot, but her absence was made up by the campfire and the embrace Kirishima offered that Katsuki only hesitated for a millisecond before leaning into.
He felt like a furnace despite the lack of a shirt. Katsuki refused to leave his side on those nights, his usual touch aversion be damned.
And it was weird how willing he was to get closer to a man he’d met barely two months ago, but he couldn’t bring himself to fight against that growing affection. He didn’t want to. Not when Kirishima was the first person since Deku who truly understood him. Not when he was willing and able to sift through all of Katsuki’s layers and mess to see him at his core without looking to Gem for help.
He could tell Kirishima wanted to get close too—beyond the nightly offers to cuddle, the constant subtle touches, and the increasingly soft looks and smiles sent Katsuki’s way that warmed him more than any fire would, Kirishima’s daemon was the same gender as him. Katsuki wasn’t exactly surprised at the redhead’s increasing attraction in him.
Katsuki didn’t have much experience with relationships, romantic or otherwise, but he knew whatever was forming between him and Kirishima was special. Something he didn’t want to let go of.
So days before they arrived at Musutafu, the night illuminated by the Aurora, their gazes turned to the greens and pinks of the sky and their shoulders pressed together, Katsuki spoke his offer into the silence.
Kirishima’s blinding smile and his lips capturing Katsuki’s own was answer enough.
“Kacchan, Kirishima, you’re back!” Deku beamed as they entered his inn/shop combination, his ram shuffling out from behind the counter as they got closer. She bumped her head against Gem’s snout and the wolf snapped back, though neither action had an ounce of heat behind them. “How’d everything go?”
“It went great!” Kirishima rustled through the bag on his shoulder and pulled out the drawstring sack Uraraka had given them before they’d left. “Ochako wanted us to give you this in return.”
Tilting his head in confusion, Deku took the bag and peeked inside, his face immediately lighting up. “Her special fertilizer! I’m almost out of the last batch she gave me but now this’ll last me months! Shouji should be coming with seeds any day now, I already have a ton of ideas of what to plant next-”
Katsuki rapped on the counter before he could devolve into a nerd ramble. “Oi, Deku, forget about something?”
He blinked, then, “Oh! R-Right, sorry.” His face was as red as Kirishima’s hair as he set the fertilizer aside and ducked to pull two pouches of coins from below the counter. “Your payment, as promised.” He then looked at Kirishima with a grateful smile. “And you’re welcome to stay the night for free as well, I appreciate you helping Kacchan out.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Katsuki said before Kirishima could respond. “He’s staying with me.”
“Oh.” Deku blinked again, surprised. Green eyes jumped between Katsuki and Kirishima, analytical, searching for answers in the miniscule gap between them, and he must have found what he was looking for as his eyes widened, his gaze staying on Katsuki. He at least had the sense to bite back his growing smile. “I kept it dusted so it should be good to go.”
“Great.” He snatched up the coin pouches with one hand and snagged Kirishima’s arm with the other, dragging him through the door behind the counter before Deku said anything else.
The short hallway opened up to a small living space, minimally furnished, with a kitchenette attached, another hallway leading to the bedrooms and washroom. Katsuki and Deku have shared this space ever since Deku opened his inn and shop, but with Katsuki always traveling his room was used sparingly, a storage room more than anything. Still, the sense of home seeped into his bones as he let go of Kirishima and walked deeper into the room. His bags and outer layers were tossed to the couch, and he moved to start a fire to ward off the last of the chill still clinging to him.
“Katsuki?”
He dropped the last log into the fireplace and looked over; Kirishima was by the couch now, his own things next to Katsuki’s, but he was shuffling in place, awkward, red eyes flicking between Katsuki and where Gem was already resting by the hearth nearby. “Um, can I…?” Kirishima pointed a tentative finger toward her.
Oh . Katsuki’s heart pounded faster. He tried not to let the nerves show on his face as he reached for the matchbox. “Knock yourself out.”
He struck a match and tossed it into the logs, stoking the fire to life, but all of his attention was on Kirishima moving in his periphery.
How he inched closer to kneel next to Gem, her eyes on him.
How he reached out a hand to touch her head.
How when his fingers were centimeters from her fur, she jerked away, skittish.
Kirishima’s hand froze in midair. His eyes searched Katsuki’s face. “...we don’t have to do this, man. It’s a big deal, we should wait until you’re ready.”
Katsuki scowled. “It was my fucking idea.” He knew good and well Kirishima touching Gem was a big deal. It was normally taboo to touch another person’s daemon, and even if it wasn’t, she was his soul. Katsuki wouldn’t let just anybody near it.
Kirishima wasn’t just anybody anymore, though.
He shifted to sit next to Gem, running a soothing hand through her neck fur. Softer, “I’m sure, Eijirou.”
And Gem nudged her head up into Kirishima’s waiting hand.
Kirishima nearly yanked his hand back, he startled so hard. But then his face morphed into wonder as his fingers sank into gray fur, the phantom feeling of his hair being ruffled sending a shudder down Katsuki’s spine. “She’s so soft ,” Kirishima breathed. He cradled her face, giggling when Gem licked at his chin, and the warmth of Kirishima’s hands seeped into Katsuki’s skin with the faint brush of thumbs across his cheekbones.
Whenever somebody (usually Deku) had touched Gem in the past, a sense of revulsion usually tore through Katsuki’s core, along with the feeling of wanting to put miles of distance between them and him and Gem.
He still had the urge to pull away now despite not being directly touched, but the sensation didn’t linger, giving way to a cozy warmth that filled his ribs and had his eyes slipping shut as he sighed, basking in the ghost of fingers across his face that tickled but soothed.
Until a hard head bumped against his knee. His eyes snapped open to see Riot next to him, craning his neck to reach Katsuki’s hand, eager in his slowness. He huffed, smiling a bit. “I didn’t forget about you.” He raised his hand, hesitant, before he ran his fingers over the light brown scales; they were rough, cool to the touch, and Kirishima shivered as Katsuki’s hand trailed along Riot’s neck.
Kirishima still laughed in disbelief, face flushed. “This is so weird.”
Katsuki snorted. “Tell me about it.” His hand was gentle as he continued to stroke Riot, care in his ministrations. When he glanced back at Kirishima, his hands were still tangled in Gem’s fur where her head rested in his lap, but his eyes were on Katsuki, the red gleaming in the firelight and smile just as warm.
“Thank you.”
Katsuki didn’t know what he was thanking him for—for allowing this moment, for treating his soul as gently as he would his own. He shrugged anyway, the quick pace of his heart betrayed by Gem’s tail picking up speed. “Don’t gotta thank me.”
Touching another’s daemon was usually taboo. But out of love? That was an exception Katsuki could get behind.