Chapter Text
Katsuki pulled his hide blankets over his head in a futile attempt to block out the noise coming from outside his usually quiet home. He was used to the sound of the wood cracking and splitting in his fireplace, but the sound of voices began to grow loudly over it. Laughter. Cheering. It was too much, and he could feel the skin prickling up his neck in anger in his half-slumber. He sat straight up in bed and let out a deep growl from his chest. He grabbed the closest pair of pants off the floor next to him, still stained with ale from hours before, slipped into them, and huffed out of his bedroom into his sitting room. His mantle was adorned with various swords and axes and in his groggy, fuming state he grabbed one of each.
Katsuki kicked his front door wide open. “Who the FUCK is yelling in the middle of the night?” His eyes glowed a deep red as they flickered back and forth, trying to scope out the source of the noise.
He saw a group of men—probably local villagers— huddled together, slung over one another’s shoulders and cheering wildly. One of them with bright blonde hair stumbled towards Katsuki, a fatal mistake, and tried to offer him a pitcher of ale. “We’re celebrating, sir! Here! Drink!”
Katsuki immediately stabbed the sword in his right hand into the dirt, slapped the pitcher straight from his hand, and grabbed him by the neck of his shirt. “I don’t want your shit liquor. Get the hell off my land or I’ll cut your limbs straight the fuck off.” He shoved the man forward and watched him stumble backwards.
A lankier man with straight, black hair caught his balance. “Hey, we’re not trying to start a fight. We’re just passing through to the next town,” the man said, eyeing the axe in Katsuki’s hand.
Katsuki scoffed and loosened his grip a little. Fucking farm boy. “Fine, then get going. What are you waiting for, the sun?”
The crowd quieted before someone emerged from the back, sporting a cheeky smirk and teeth sharp as knives. “I think this guy’s trying to pick a fight, don’t you?” The man slicked his fingers back through his maroon hair and landed his hands on his back pockets.
No one replied, but Katsuki could feel the liquor still in his system violently urging him to stab this guy straight through those ugly ass teeth.
The dark-haired peasant boy grabbed his friend’s arms and held him back. “Kirishima, it’s not worth it. He’s outnumbered, anyway. It wouldn’t be fair.”
Fair? Outnumbered? He might as well have lit the match and held it directly to the fuse. Katsuki exploded with rage, dropping his axe and going straight for a direct punch to the face. The man called Kirishima grinned deliciously, his hands still held against his back pockets. When Katsuki was in distance, Kirishima pulled his hands forward and held two knives against Katsuki’s face. Katsuki immediately deflected the knives with his bare arm and set them flying into the air. Blood splattered onto Kirishima’s face, and Katsuki grabbed his neck with one hand and wailed into him with his other fist.
Everyone gathered around and started pulling them off one another. Some of them were pulling out their own weapons, but Katsuki was much faster, much stronger. He somehow managed to reobtain both his weapons in the midst of the battle and began slashing at anyone within range. He nicked quite a few people, not enough for them to bleed out, but enough that they all had to retreat otherwise their end might have come sooner than anticipated.
Katsuki smeared the blood off his face and walked back inside his home. He picked up an empty pitcher that had fallen onto the floor, filled it will ale, and chugged the entire drink in one fell swoop. He reluctantly fumbled around his house looking for cloth to bandage his arm before finally passing out in his bed. Still soaked in blood.
The next morning came too soon and too abruptly. Katsuki felt his fur pelts being ripped from him in the middle of a glorious dream about slaughtering a village and feasting on the carcass of a beast, something reminiscent of his past. Fuck.
“Katsuki Bakugo. You’re under arrest for violent crimes against the King’s army.” He opened one eye to see a tall, built man with navy blue hair properly slicked back in a way that made Katsuki feel visibly ill.
“For fuck’s sake, what are you-” He sat upright, rubbing his eyes. “I’m Sir Tenya Iida of the King’s army and you’re sentenced to death.” Katsuki let out a hearty laugh. “For fucking what? Beating up some farm hands?”
This irritating knight seemed to enjoy that because his mouth curled into a tight smile. “That, sir, was the king’s army. And by law, any harm or intent to harm is chargeable by death. As ordered by the King himself.”
Katsuki could tell the knight was relishing in this fact. The King had been trying to get his ass for as long as he could remember. Couldn’t just let some poor, retired barbarian be a drunkard alone in his own home. Katsuki crossed his arms and smirked.
“You’re telling me a couple of scrapes are sentencing me to my fucking death?”
“One of them died.” His face grew serious again. His eyes became dark and intense like storm clouds. Katsuki thought back to the group from the night before thinking over who he could have offed before finally settling on the scrawny purple haired dipshit looking guy hiding in the back the entire fight. He vaguely remembered throwing his axe in that direction while everyone was scrambling away like mice.
“Get up and get dressed. You’re embarrassing yourself. And when you’re done, step outside and we’ll deal with you from there.” Tenya motioned for him to get up to which Katsuki rolled his eyes so far into his head that he might have started crying. “Not in your lifetime, you incurable disease.” At that, Tenya pointed out the window so Katsuki could clearly see a swarm of Knights surrounding his entire cottage and said, “You might want to think twice about that. The King has an offer you surely won’t want to refuse.” And Tenya was out the door.
Katsuki finally had a moment to gloss over himself and see how completely disheveled he was. He had dried blood coating his bare chest, and his pants were stained with various liquids. His arm was still bandaged, but with his advanced level of healing, relatively normal. He took his face in his hands and let out a vicious roar. He knew he had to do it. There just wasn’t a way out of this one. How could he be so stupid? Of all the things he’d done, of all the times he’d gotten away, and this- THIS was what was doing him in? Fucking bullshit. He stood up and managed to find a fur lined cloak on the floor underneath a heap of linens and other clothes. He threw it on and called it a day.
He met Tenya outside and stood in front of the rest of the army with his arms crossed, tight lipped, and eyes furrowed deep enough to puncture an artery. Tenya had a scroll readily opened in his arms when Katsuki met them and began reading as soon as he emerged from his house.
‘The King has sentenced you, Katsuki Bakugo, to death by beheading this afternoon due to violent crimes against His army. This includes murdering a member of the army, damaging King’s property, leaving serious injury to multiple knights, and leaving one’s home after dark whilst intoxicated. Do you accept these charges?’
“No.”
“Good. The King has offered you an alternative option to death. Would you like to hear?” Katsuki scratched his head, sniffed violently, and said “I guess.”
‘As an alternative to death, the King is extending you an offer into his army on a very specific and deadly task. You are tasked to head into the mountains to the King’s private estate and murder the beast that has overtaken his extended castle.” Tenya finished speaking and rolled the scroll back up, placing it gently beneath his arm. “So? What will it be Katsuki?”
“Don’t fucking call me that.” Katsuki knew what he had to do, but he needed more clarification first. “You want me to kill some beast…..for the King? That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
“And afterwards, I’m free to go? Or am I stuck in that low life’s army forever?” Tenya let out a laugh, and somewhat deviously, and not entirely convincingly he said, “of course.”
It felt like weeks had passed although it’d probably only been a few days. There was no way to tell really. After the first few, they started to blend together. It wasn’t anything Katsuki wasn’t used to. He had plenty of experience in this kind of terrain. He spent years of his life tracking, hunting, killing. He’d fought off dragons, ogres, dire wolves, orcs. He was fucking unstoppable. Maybe a little out of practice, but fucking- unstoppable. Sure, he’d wished they’d given him a little more description on what kind of creature he was supposed to kill, but hey, he wasn’t going to complain. He fucking loved the kill. What a great offer. How was he going to turn that down? The thought tickled in the back of his head that there had to be some sort of catch. He knew the King underestimated him. Probably thought this monster was too far out of his control.
Katsuki snorted at that and grabbed hold of the side of the cliff he’d just approached. Based on the map he was given, he was about a days journey from the abandoned castle. Looked like a couple cliffs, and he’d just have to follow a winding river all the way up. He probably would have gotten there a lot sooner if he’d taken up that dumbass Knight’s offer of a horse, especially so he didn’t have to carry all of his luggage and supplies on his back like a pack mule. But that went against his pride. He made it up the cliff and continued on through a set of low hanging trees. He was feeling pretty relaxed and in his element. Living off the land was when he felt most alive. Although, he was surely missing his bed by now and could deeply use a month’s worth of hard ale. He trekked on managing to make it up a few more cliffs and down a long path before finally reaching an opening in the trees. There was a large pool of water surrounded by willow trees billowing lightly in the wind. Little water sprites flitted around the water's edge. The sun shone through the spaces in between the leaves of the trees. Katsuki smiled. It’d been awhile since he’d found such a lovely spot. Yeah, sure, he liked blood and shit. But, trees were pretty…..right?
Then he saw something peculiar. Across the water, in a pool of mist on the other side of the lake there was a person. Katsuki lowered his backpack on the ground quietly along with his cloak and peered closer. The mist started to fade as Katsuki slowly inched towards the water, hoping not to be seen. If this was an enemy, he wanted to be the one with the element of surprise.
He saw it. Not it, him. Yeah, him. His body was pale, and slender, and perfectly muscled. Like he was some sort of nymph. Tall, and long, and poised. He seemed like he was glowing, but Katsuki was pretty sure he was human. His- body was human…..at least. He couldn’t help eyeing the man up and down. He’d never seen anyone like that before. Half of his hair was fiery red and the other half was stark white. Maybe he was some sort of spirit. He had to stop staring, he had to look away but his body. Just then, the man looked up. Katsuki hadn’t realized he was still walking. Hadn’t realized he’d walked into the river. Fucking idiot. Blew his cover that quick? He fumbled for his sword, but the man dove into the water. Katsuki scrambled to get a better look. His head finally bobbed up to the surface just enough to make eye contact. He didn’t seem like a threat. He seemed, scared.
“What the hell are you doing?” Katsuki asked, deciding that he probably wasn’t a threat and that even if he was, he could definitely take him. Yeah, he could take him.
“I- I was trying to bathe before I was rudely interrupted,” he said, sinking deeper under the water so his neck was no longer showing and all Katsuki could see were his bright, dichromatic eyes above the surface water.
“Do you...need help...or something?” Katsuki muttered. It’d been a few days since he’d had any human interaction. If he was being honest, it’d been longer than that even before this whole mess started.
The man came up again so his chest was slightly more visible. “No, Gods, I don’t need any help. Thank you.” He seemed mildly annoyed, but still had such a polite and soft voice. For some reason, that made Katsuki’s stomach tingle and that started to irritate him.
The man paused before adding, “So, erm, what are you doing here?” He had a more glaring look in his eye like a deer trapped by a predator. He was clearly in a corner here and it showed across his face.
“I’m looking for the King’s second castle. You know it? That old abandoned one up the river. Says there’s some sort of demon creature there that I’m supposed to kill or some shit.” Katsuki placed his hands on his hips and said “Name’s Katsuki. Katsuki Bakugo. So, now you tell me. Who are you?”
“I’m Shoto. Just Shoto.” He said swimming in place just a little bit. The water couldn’t have been too terribly deep. “I know the castle. I, uh, live there I suppose. The King sent me to get rid of it too a couple of months ago. It turns out it was much more difficult than I would have thought. But there’s parts of the castle that are safe. I know my way around pretty well now...actually.”
Katsuki was fairly certain this guy was telling the truth. He looked like he could break him with his thumb and his fore finger. I mean, he had pretty impressive muscles going all the way down his- he was strong, but more like an elf and less like a warrior.
“Guess that means you’re going to give me the grand tour then.” Katsuki watched as Shoto’s eyes wandered and he could see that he didn’t trust him. “Look, I’m not going to hurt you or anything. I have one job to do, and then I’m gone. Obviously, you’ve got a good grip on this place so if you could help me out, I’ll be out of here in no time. And then you can go back to wherever you came from too, right?”
Shoto nodded sluggishly. “Yes, I guess I could be of help.” It was silent for a moment, now with the formalities and shit out of the way.
“So you’re just going to stay there? You don’t need to get your clothes or something?”
He was partially submerged but it wasn’t hard to see his face turn blood red, almost as red as the left side of his hair. “I- I- er,” he trailed off and before he could finish Katsuki said, “Didn’t bring any?”
The man shook his head and Katsuki let out a barreling laugh deep from his chest like it was the funniest fucking thing he’d heard in years. Was it possible for this guy to turn a deeper shade of red? He looked like he might melt.
“You can take this, Mister...?” Katsuki said, slinging his coat off of himself and held it out as an offering. “Like I said, just Shoto.”
“Kind of assumed you’d be some sort of prince. Maybe an elf.” Katsuki shrugged. “No. I just made a deal with the King and this was my best option.”
Katsuki could see Shoto was starting to shake. He looked like he was freezing over. His snow white skin was somehow more pale than when he first saw him. “You gonna tell me what you had to make a deal for?” Katsuki asked, already knowing the answer. He wasn’t a moron. But Shoto just shook his head.
“Could you at least turn around?” Shoto asked, pointing over towards the coat still under Katsuki’s arms. “Why the fuck does that matter? I’ve already seen everything.” He hadn’t realized he was subconsciously eyeing the water below Shoto when he said it, which set off Shoto’s face in another deep blush. Katsuki laughed again, and turned around. He held out his coat at his side a whole arms length away from his body and placed his other hand ever so gracefully across his face. “Come out then your majesty if that’s how you’re going to be.” He grinning like a moron.
Katsuki could almost feel Shoto roll his eyes. Slowly, and very reluctantly, Shoto started to swim out of the water. Katsuki heard his footsteps getting closer and just when Shoto was centimeters away and reaching for his coat, he turned. He looked him up and down and he watched Shoto’s face bleed red from the top all the way down the length of his body. His beautiful fucking body. He was flushed even down in between his legs. Katsuki burst into another fit of laughter and threw his cloak around Shoto covering every inch of his now rosy skin.
“Wh- wh- why would you do that!?” Shoto gasped, bringing the fur of Katsuki’s coat even closer into him and covering his face. Katsuki smirked and his tongue slid across the top row of his teeth like he was thinking about a savory meal he was about to have. “Just wanted a better look at you, that’s all.” Shoto was utterly at a loss for words. “Had to double check that you weren’t an elf.”
Katsuki took one hand and slid his thumb gently down the side of Shoto’s face down to his chin. “That’s a pretty bad scar.” He watched both eyes flash into a sinister scowl and he said, “I mean it. I like it.”
He laughed again, boy was he in a good mood, and lurched his bag up off the ground and tossed it over his bare back. “Come on, pretty boy. I’ve got a beast to kill.”