Chapter Text
By the end of the first week, Ferrari had established one undeniable fact.
Summer was exhausting.
The days started early, ended late, and somehow disappeared in between.
Every morning began with coffee and a shuttle ride. Every afternoon vanished into meetings, engineering reviews, workshops, and presentations. Every evening ended with someone staring at data until their eyes stopped working.
Nobody complained.
Much.
They were at Ferrari.
Complaining felt disrespectful.
Still, by Friday evening even the most enthusiastic students looked exhausted.
Katsuki was one of them.
----
The hotel shuttle was late.
Again.
Nobody knew why.
Nobody cared enough to ask.
The sun had already begun sinking behind the hills surrounding Maranello. Warm orange light stretched across the parking lot while students gathered in small groups, checked phones, and quietly debated whether they should start walking.
Katsuki leaned against a railing and opened his phone.
Forty-two minutes late.
Fantastic.
A familiar engine echoed across the lot.
He immediately knew who it was.
Unfortunately.
The bright red Ferrari appeared a few seconds later.
Smooth.
Expensive.
Entirely unnecessary.
The drivers window lowered.
Touya.
Of course.
Wearing sunglasses.
At sunset. A criminal offense.
"The hotel is still far."
Katsuki closed his eyes "Go away."
"No."
"Please."
"No." Across the car, Shouto looked entirely unsurprised, apparently this happened often.
"We're getting dinner!" Touya announced.
"Congratulations."
"You're coming."
There it was.
The problem.
Katsuki pointed at himself "No."
Touya pointed back "Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"The food is good." Both of them turned, Shouto had spoken.
Katsuki stared "...That's your argument?"
She looked genuinely confused "It is good."
Traitor.
Absolute traitor.
----
Twenty minutes later, Katsuki was sitting in the Ferrari.
Against his better judgment.
Mostly because the shuttle still hadn't arrived and because Touya was impossible.
The roads wound through the Italian countryside as golden sunlight spilled across vineyards and rolling hills. Small villages appeared in the distance. Olive trees lined the roads.
For a while nobody spoke.
Of course until,
"The hotel is still far." Katsuki briefly considered opening the door. At speed.
Shouto laughed.
The estate appeared at the end of a long winding driveway.
Stone walls.
Tall windows.
Warm light.
The kind of place that looked beautiful without trying.
But that wasn't what caught his attention.
It looked lived in.
The front door stood half-open. Lights glowed from multiple rooms. Somewhere inside, someone was laughing.
Home.
That was the first word that came to mind.
Not impressive.
Not expensive.
Not grand.
Although it was all those things.
Home.
Just fit the description.
And somehow that felt far more dangerous.
The front door opened before they even reached it.
Fuyumi stepped outside, relief immediately crossed her face.
"Oh good." she looked directly at Touya.
"You remembered."
"I always remember."
"You forgot your passport twice."
"That was years ago."
"It was last summer." Touya looked betrayed.
Katsuki immediately liked her.
Then Fuyumi noticed him "Oh."
A smile appeared.
"Good. You brought him."
Silence.
Katsuki blinked.
Not a welcome.
Not a nice to meet you.
Just,
You brought him.
Like this had always been the plan.
Then she added casually
"We've heard a lot about you."
Another silence.
A much more dangerous one.
Slowly, Katsuki turned toward Shouto.
Shouto immediately looked away "...Anyway."
"Anyway?" Katsuki repeated.
"Anyway."
Fuyumi looked suspiciously amused.
----
The inside of the estate was somehow worse.
Because it felt real.
Family photographs covered shelves. Books sat open on tables. A forgotten coffee mug rested near the staircase. Shoes had been abandoned near the door.
Evidence.
People lived here.
Actual people.
Not a showroom, not a museum.
Not a billionaire fantasy.
A home.
----
Rei appeared from the kitchen a few moments later.
Soft footsteps, a gentle smile.
"Welcome."
Just that.
Nothing else.
No questions.
No attention.
No awkward introductions.
She said it like his presence made perfect sense.
Which somehow disarmed him more than anything else had.
---
"NATSUO." Touya shouted.
Immediately.
"LOOK WHAT I FOUND."
A groan echoed from somewhere deeper inside the estate.
"Please stop saying it like that."
Natsuo appeared a few moments later.
Took one look at Katsuki.
Then Touya.
Then Katsuki again.
A long pause followed.
"...You got adopted too?"
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Touya doubled over laughing.
Shouto covered her face.
Fuyumi walked away.
Rei looked deeply unsurprised.
Katsuki considered leaving immediately.
----
Dinner somehow made everything worse.
Not because anything happened, because nothing happened.
Nobody interviewed him.
Nobody treated him like a guest.
Nobody asked awkward questions.
The conversation simply continued around him.
Family stories.
Summer plans.
Arguments about movies.
Arguments about food.
Arguments about things that absolutely did not matter.
Normal family nonsense.
And somehow that was more dangerous than any interrogation could have been.
Because none of it existed for his benefit.
It was simply real.
At one point Rei asked Natsuo to pass the bread.
Natsuo forgot.
Fuyumi reminded him.
Touya stole it.
A minor war followed.
Endeavor looked tired. Nobody cared.
Normal.
Entirely normal.
And for the first time all evening, Katsuki found himself laughing.
Not because somebody had told a joke.
Because the whole thing was ridiculous.
----
Dinner ended eventually.
People stood, collected plates.
Started moving toward the kitchen.
Without thinking, Katsuki grabbed several dishes.
Habit.
Simple habit.
The same thing he'd always done at home.
Then he froze.
Guest.
Right.
He was a guest.
Probably.
Maybe.
Before he could decide, Fuyumi handed him another plate "Could you take those too?"
"...Sure."
That was it.
No, you don't have to.
No, you're a guest.
Nothing.
Just another plate.
Like helping was expected.
Like he belonged in the cleanup rotation.
The realization lingered.
Long after the dishes were washed, Because nobody had made room for him.
They'd simply assumed there was room.
----
Later, standing outside beneath the warm Italian night sky, Katsuki adjusted the strap of his bag.
The estate glowed behind him, light spilled from open windows.
Laughter drifted through the evening air.
Life continued.
Comfortable.
Easy.
Touya appeared beside him "The hotel is still far."
"There it is."
"I'm just saying."
"Stop saying."
"I'm not wrong."
Unfortunately.
He wasn't.
Touya spun the Ferrari keys around one finger.
The ride back waited, the hotel waited.
Tomorrow waited.
For a moment, Katsuki glanced back toward the house.
Toward the open windows.
Toward the lights.
Toward the voices drifting outside.
Not big.
Not dramatic.
Just
different.
The hotel would always be where he was staying.
The estate wasn't his.
It never would be.
Yet as he climbed into the Ferrari, he found himself thinking about dinner tomorrow.
And the day after that.
And somehow, that felt a little dangerous.