Archive of Our Own

1

Eijirou is cold. The tall men pull on the shackles. They're moving him. Again. The warehouse they'd kept him in before had smelt bad and they didn't give him a blanket. He hopes the next place just doesn't stink as much. Maybe there will even be other kids. Maybe.

He sighs as they pull on the shackle again, yelling in a foreign language. Well, it's not foreign. He knows it's the language his family had spoken. But he never really got the chance to learn it. Nevertheless, he understands the intent. "Hurry. Move. Faster." And probably some insults.

He moves his short legs, the bottoms of his feet ache. He thought maybe they'd have built some protection, since he's never been allowed to wear shoes. Unfortunately, instead they're soft with disuse. He doesn't walk much. Nowhere to go.

The tall men open the doors, he feels a shove against his back. They want to make this quick. From the door, to the truck. No stopping. He tries to hurry.

He's almost to the truck when he trips, knocking over a pile of metal scraps that had been blocking him from view of the street. He hears yelling, and vaguely feels the sensation of somebody tugging his arm, but he's too distracted to move. Instead, he's frozen, staring at red.

Katsuki had just been hiding in a sketchy alley. All he wanted to do was eat his stolen food in peace. Of course some idiot had to knock over some loud scrap metal. Probably alert all the enforcers on the block.

He looks up, ready to scold whoever it is, when all he sees is red.

They both stand frozen for a moment, looking. Then, the spell is broken when Eijirou is lifted off the ground by one of the men. He shouts in surprise as the man starts to walk towards the truck.

Katsuki quickly takes in the bigger picture, a small child in a mask, a bunch of sketchy dudes in different masks, loading into a covered truck behind an abandoned warehouse.

There's a half a second of hesitation, where Katsuki thinks, maybe he shouldn't get involved with whatever this is. That idea is thrown out of his head when he catches the boy's eyes again. They're afraid.

Before he can think much more about how badly this may go, Katsuki is ducking behind the truck. He panics for a moment, wondering what his plan actually is, before he decides to just throw his loaf of bread at the guy's head.

The world freezes for another moment as they all turn to look at him. Katsuki stands up tall, afraid but determined.

"Hey!"

He rolls under the truck. One of the men dives. Katsuki crawls out past the front of the truck when turns around quick, does a headcount.

There's less than he thought, he imagined there'd be a driver, but the spot behind the wheel is empty. It's just the two of them.

Beatable. Maybe.

He doesn't have time to consider his odds as he dodges another lunge. He takes a leap behind the man and throws something from his backpack. It's a small sack of dirt, essentially a smoke bomb. He turns and throws another at the 2nd man before the first can recover.

Then he runs. He sprints forward and grabs the leash from the man's hand and takes off, ignoring the yelling.

Eijirou, on the other end of the leash, really doesn't know what's happening. He just runs with the blond kid in front of him. They take a left. Then a right. Eijirou is lost. It doesn't seem like the blond is though.

The sun is warm, Eijirou thinks. He feels the light on his skin. He hasn't spent this long outside in years.

His feet hurt. He doesn't care. He just runs.

Of course, that's hard to do with little experience and your hands chained together. He trips again, though much quieter this time.

The chain is yanked as Katsuki keeps running, not having realized Eijirou stopped. He turns when he feels the resistance and runs back.

"Hey knucklehead, you better live, alright? Or all this fighting woulda been a waste."

Eijirou looks up at the blond boy, red meeting red again.

Katsuki looks back down at the black haired boy in wonder.

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2

"You wanna go home with me?"

Eijirou slowly nods his head.

"What, you can't talk?"

Eijirou hesitates, "Uh- no."

Katsuki scoffs. "Geesh. Guess I gotta do the talking for the both of us. I'm Katsuki by the way. Katsuki Bakugou."

Eijirou nods again, following Katsuki as he walks down the street, more calm now.

"Katsuki.." he tries the name on his tongue, testing the shape. He thinks he says it right.

Katsuki gives an approving nod, and Eijirou smiles beneath the mask.

"So what's with the mask and chains anyway? Where were they taking you?"

Eijirou shrugs. The chains clink.

"You don't know?" Katsuki asks incredulously. Then he shrugs back. "Well I guess if they've got you muzzled they probably didn't give you an itinerary."

Eijirou nods, then he pauses.

Wait a minute... He understood that.

Eijirou actually freezes in the middle of a step, causing a small jerk in the chain again, Katsuki turns.

"Now what?"

Eijirou gasps. He reaches out and taps the side of Katsuki's face.

"Hey wait! What are you doing?" Katsuki leans back, his nose scrunched.

Eijirou just lets out a happy noise. Katsuki isn't quite sure what to make of it. He's never really heard somebody make a noise like that before.

"What? You never seen another kid before?"

At that, Eijirou realizes this is also true. He nods. Katsuki stares back with wide eyes.

"What? You've never met another kid?"

Eijirou shakes his head.

For a moment, they just stand and stare. Then, Katsuki shakes it off and stands taller.

"I'm taking you home. I have more stuff there. I can get these chains off."

Eijirou just watches the blond hair bounce as they scurry through the streets. He's in a bit of a daze. Eventually, they come upon a brick building that's a bit nicer than some of the others. Eijirou tilts his head.

"This is my place. I'm sure the hag won't mind you too much. You're quiet."

Eijirou is confused, but let's Katsuki lead him up the rickety elevator and into an apartment.

"Hey mom! I uh... I'm home!"

Eijirou stands awkwardly by the door. Katsuki doesn't look much more comfortable.

A tall blond woman turns the corner, her mouth open and her nose wrinkled as if she's about to scold the boy when she freezes, her eyes landing on Eijirou.

"Katsuki. What the hell is that?"

"He's a boy! Not an it." Katsuki fumes.

Mitsuki takes in the kid, probably like 12 years old, black hair, shirtless and in rags for pants, no shoes, covered in dirt. And, obviously the most noteworthy pieces of his outfit, the muzzle, the shackles, and the collar.

"Right. I can see that. Why is he here, and what the hell happened to him?"

Katsuki hikes his shoulders up, seeming defensive.

"I dunno. He was with some sketchy mask dudes and I kinda.. stole him."

Mitsuki blinks.

"You *stole* him?"

Katsuki's "Uhh... Yeah," is emphasized by Eijirou eagerly nodding his head behind him.

Mitsuki really doesn't have the energy to question it more right now, and besides, her maternal instincts have decided there are more important things at hand.

"Well... Let's get the poor kid out of those chains, to start. Where did you put those bolt cutters, brat?"

Katsuki runs off to find said tool, while Mitsuki leads Eijirou to sit on the couch.

"What happened to you dear?"

Eijirou shrug. Mitsuki purses her lips.

"Do you have a name?"

This time, he hesitates. He does have a name. And he knows it. He just.. hasn't said it in a long long time. He shrugs again, slower.

Katsuki returns, catching the end of the short, one sided conversation.

"He can't talk." Says the boy, handing his mother the bolt cutters.

"You can't?"

Katsuki answers, "Well he can. He said a few things. But not much. I think maybe he forgot how."

Eijirou nods, excited that Katsuki seems to understand him so well.

Mitsuki looks between the boys, sighing.

"I'm Mitsuki. Do you have a name?"

He nods.

"Do you remember it?"

He nods again, watching the woman line the tool up with his shackles.

"But you don't remember how to say it?"

She snips the tool, a metal clanking joins Eijirou's next affirmative nod.

"I bet it's a really cool name." Katsuki joins in.

Eijirou nods. He likes his name. Nobody has used it since... His parents.

Mitsuki makes another cut and Eijirou's wrists fall apart. He lifts his hands, still in the shackles, away from each other. His shoulders pop. He stares in awe.

Mitsuki watches him for a moment before slowly reaching out towards the strap of his muzzle. He flinches back. He looks towards Katsuki.

Katsuki stares for a moment, before repeating the action of his mother, with much more success. Slowly, he lifts the mask off of Eijirou's face.

Without the mask, the boys stare at each other again. Then, Eijirou smiles. A small one, with closed lips. But thankful and genuine all the same.

Katsuki smiles back, much wider.

Mitsuki allows herself her own fond look before getting back to work.

20 minutes later finds Eijirou without any chains, and with clean clothes on.

"Tomorrow you can try taking a bath. How's that sound?"

Eijirou smiles and nods happily, snuggling into the blankets in Katsuki's bed. Katsuki and Mitsuki close the door behind them, making their way back to Mitsuki's room where they'll sleep tonight.

"He's staying with us, right mom?" Katsuki asks as he climbs atop the mattress. His expression hopeful.

Mitsuki sighs, obviously a little hesitant, then she scoffs. "Whatever brat. Fine. But I'm taking the cost of his bed out of your allowance." She says, ruffling his hair.

Katsuki fixes his hair, acting annoyed. "I don't even have an allowance!"

But he's grinning at her, and she's smiling back.

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3

A pair of 15 year old boys are running through the streets together.

Katsuki leaps ahead, hollering a laugh. Eijirou follows behind with a huge grin on his face. His black hair has been cut shorter, and his speech is returning.

In the past 3 years, Eijirou has learned more about speech. He found out there are many different languages, and he's even learned how to talk more himself.

He's still fairly quiet though. The best development is-

"Hey Ei! Hurry up! We gotta get there and back before Ma gets hangry!"

His name.

"Okay!" Eijirou replies simply, still running behind Katsuki.

They both land on the cobblestone road with a grunt outside their destination, slowly sneaking in.

A dusty room that smells of paper greets them. It's dimly lit, and they are alone.

"I still don't get why you like coming here so much." Katsuki leans against the wall, watching Eijirou eagerly study the papers and equipment.

"I like maps." Eijirou responds, not bothering to look at Katsuki as he leans over the table in the center of the room.

"We could buy some, y'know. Breaking into the cartographers office isn't something you'd usually be up for."

Eijirou shrugs. He tends to avoid all the illegal stuff Katsuki seems to get into. He's spent enough time in handcuffs, thank you very much.

Yet, every time Katsuki offers to take him here, he agrees.

"I like to see them made." Which is true. The compasses and protractors and so many pencils around the room draw his eye. He studies the map on the table.

"Oh look! This island is new!"

Katsuki raises an eyebrow and joins him next to the table. "Really? How do you know?"

"It's new." It wasn't there before.

Katsuki nods. "Okay. What does that mean? They didn't just forget to put it on the last map."

Eijirou shakes his head. "No. They found it."

Katsuki looks away from the map, to look Eijirou in the eye.

"Who?"

"The sailors!" Eijirou replies excitedly.

Katsuki scoffs. "No they didn't. They sail out there all the time. They couldn't have missed a whole island before."

Eijirou's brows furrow. "No! The ocean is big!"

Katsuki's eyebrow raises skeptically. "Big enough to hide an island?"

"Lots of islands!" Eijirou nods happily.

"What, so they're just gonna keep finding more?"

Eijirou shrugs but nods at the same time. "I hope so."

"Why?" Katsuki crosses his arms, leaning on the table.

"I wanna find one!"

Katsuki stares for a moment before grinning back. "Yeah? I bet you will. It's gonna be the most awesome island."

Eijirou nods again, his short black hair shaking. "Mhm! And I'll make my own map of it."

Katsuki looks out the window and sees the sun setting, he heads to the exit.

"You wanna make maps?"

"Yeah." Eijirou follows Katsuki out of the office.

The boys joke and laugh all the way home.

When they get inside, Mitsuki is already setting out the table.

"Mom, Eijirou figured out where he wants to go to school."

Mitsuki looks up from the plate she was setting down.

"Really? Where?"

Eijirou stands nervously under Mitsuki's full attention. Even years later, she's a bit imposing.

"Uh.. I wanna learn cartography."

Mitsuki blinks. "Map making?"

Eijirou nods, feeling a little defensive. "Yeah! Uhm.. I never really- I didn't know where I was."

It's one of his longer sentences, though still short. Luckily, it gets the message across to both spiky blonds. Both of them give him a soft look.

He lets out a breath. They won't judge. They understand.

"Well then. I'll just have to get you into the best cartography school there is!" She grins at him.

Eijirou flushes. "Oh you don't need-"

"Nonsense," she waves. "You're like my son. Katsuki is getting into the best pyrotechnics school in the country, and you're going to the best cartography school."

Eijirou is very worried about the money that will cost, but he's afraid to protest any more. He nods shyly.

Something about the way she says it so simply makes him believe maybe it really can be that simple.

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3-4 Interlude for context

It doesn't take more than a year for Mitsuki to fulfill her promise and have both the boys off at prestigious schools.

Contact slows. They all send each other letters as often as they can, but sometimes... It takes a while.

When Eijirou is 17, he's offered a job aboard a ship.

It's not easy. In his next few years of piracy, world changing self discovery, honing skills, and life risking situations, he loses the last of his contact with the Bakugou's.

He returns to his home once, only to find it's been gone for months.

Meanwhile, the Bakugou's lost their apartment to a large contractor. Some rich asshole bought out the whole building to tear it down. They're forced to move, and with no way of contacting Eijirou, no way to tell him where to.

Their new house is nice, still. But it feels empty without the quiet black haired boy.

It doesn't take long before Katsuki can't stand to sit in the house alone and goes out to get a job. At 22, he's hired as an explosives expert aboard the UA Airship.

Another year later, and they've got a new hire...

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4

Katsuki is on his way to his room across the deck. He'd just finished borrowing a wrench from the damned nerd and didn't feel like talking to anyone.

Of course, this plan has to be interrupted.

"Oh uh hey!! Hey! Can I get some help?"

Katsuki freezes and slowly turns around. He doesn't see anyone at first and is about to stomp away when,

"Hello?! I hear your footsteps, I'm in a bit of... bind here."

Katsuki's eyes land on the boot hanging off the end of a rope just over the railing.

He glares, and walks over to the edge, peering down.

It's an idiot. Some idiot tied up in a rope and hanging upside down over the edge of the goddamn airship.

Katsuki stares. Considers walking away. Rolls his eyes. Grabs the rope.

"You better be grateful..." He grumbles to himself as he pulls the man over onto the deck of the ship. He doesn't bother helping untangle him.

"Thanks man! I was really starting to get a head rush there! I swear I'm usually well practiced in the ropes but this ship is bigger than I'm used to and I'm new and-"

The blabbering idiot stops talking. Katsuki raises an eyebrow.

"You good there, dumbass? Or did all the blood leave your brain when you got right side up?"

The man stares. Katsuki narrows his eyes.

"Hello? You got rocks for brains? Geesh. You were talking fine a minute ago."

The man blinks.

"Okay fine. Don't talk. I don't care. You're welcome or whatever." Katsuki says as he spins and makes his way back to his room before the man can gather his thoughts.

Meanwhile, Eijirou sits, tangled in rope, and frozen in shock. He stares in the direction Katsuki had walked off in for about 10 minutes before somebody comes along to wake him up.

"He didn't recognize me." Eijirou whispers to himself later, sitting on his bunk alone.

After asking his new friend Denki, he learns that Katsuki gets his own room because it doubles as his office.

Where he builds and dismantles bombs.

Checks out.

Still, the knowledge is a little disappointing. Knowing that Katsuki is so close and yet so far. On the same ship, but not sharing a living space. It sets Eijirou on edge.

And he didn't recognize him.

That's the part that has Eijirou's head spinning. He doesn't think he's changed that much, has he?

Well, he's definitely filled out. 6 years hopping from ship to ship will do that to you.

And he's taller, he knows that. He's sure he's taller than Katsuki now.

Oh and his hair. He supposes the long bright red is the biggest change. It hangs around his elbows even when it's up. Definitely a far cry from his short and dark locks that he had when he left for school.

School. Wow. It's been 7 years since he's seen Katsuki.

He feels a lump rise in his throat at the number.

He thinks about how different his life is. About why he's here. His job as hired muscle, a far cry from the career of navigator and cartographer that he set out for. Mitsuki had spent a lot of money on that school.

Eijirou wonders how much Katsuki has changed.

He thinks of the blonde man he saw earlier today. Gruff, impatient. A little wild looking.

Oh and he swears now. He'd never really done that before.

It suits him.

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5

Goddamn League. Those persistent idiots just don't know how to take a freaking hint.

This ship will not go down.

They keep trying.

Katsuki rolls his eyes as he loads a cannon. Stupid violent idiots.

It's not even sunrise, the sky just hardly turning grey in the East.

Woke up to glasses pounding on his door. He'd been up late too.

"Those inconsiderate assholes. Attacking our ship so goddamn early."

Katsuki continues to grumble as he works, his job as an explosives expert actually having a purpose now more than ever.

He shouts orders at the crew whenever he notices somebody firing wrong or not moving fast enough.

They're idiots too.

But they're on his boat so whatever. He'll help them not die.

There's a loud crash followed by yelling and then the sound of metal clashing and rapid gunshots.

He curses again.

Perfect. They got on board. Just great. Now they'll have to deal with the bodies. Wonderful.

Katsuki is already making plans to avoid this part of the deck tomorrow as he joins in the battle.

He blocks an attack from a pathetic looking noodle with a knife.

He sucker punches the man in return and the noodle falls.

A limp noodle then.

Katsuki turns to block another hit.

It doesn't take him long to fight his way across the deck, where he finds the rope guy from before.

"Hey what's your name anyway?"

The man turns, surprised. He hesitates for a moment before cheerfully responding,

"Red Riot!"

Katsuki eyes the strawberry mess above his head.

"A little on the nose, ain't it?"

The man laughs as he knocks a goon overboard.

"Maybe! I like it though. People know who I am, y'know? I have a rep."

"A rep?" Repeats the blond dryly. As if that is the most boring or stupid reason to pick a name.

Riot shrugs, "It's important to have a reputation when it's all you're hired off."

Katsuki blasts a man with his wrist gauntlet and the redhead stares in awe.

"What kinda work are you hired for anyways?"

Riot shakes himself out of his stunned position.

"Lots a' stuff! Mostly combat these days. Extra hands."

He uppercuts some short dude and kicks him away.

Katsuki lets out a short snort, close to a laugh.

"These days? What'd ya do before?"

The man hesitates, frozen for a moment before taking a hit to the side and knocking the guy unconscious. When he stands upright, he answers.

"I uh... I'm a cartographer. Maps. I've done a lot of navigating too."

This time, it's Katsuki who stands and stares for a moment. He's pulled out by a canon blast and shakes it off. It's nothing. Coincidence. A sharp toothed cartographer. With red eyes. There's probably plenty of those.

Probably.

"Maps huh? How the hell'd you get from paper-marking to skin-slashing?"

Riot shudders at the imagery even as he does just that, "I dunno. Lost my job when the first ship went down. Next one didn't need my expertise so I took the jobs I could get."

"You don't look like a map maker." Katsuki sneers.

Riot laughs almost self consciously. "No, maybe not so much these days, huh? It's still my passion though. All this fighting is just to stay afloat."

Katsuki listens to the man claim he only fights out of necessity, which is a juxtaposition to watching him expertly work his way through a mob of armed sky pirates like a pro.

"Why don't you just get a different damn job? There's got to be an opening somehow. Open a shop or something."

Riot observes Katsuki blow up a crowd of people.

"Nah. I like the open air. If I can't be a map master on a ship, I'll do something else. I'm meant to be up here."

Katsuki grunts, shoving away the guys whose face he just kneed.

"Thought you said maps were your damn passion or whatever? Ya got two or something?"

Riot laughs, "I can! I guess the ship is more important to me. I just... It really matters to me that I see as much of the world as I can."

Katsuki glares. Doesn't say a word.

"What about you? Why a bomb brain on the UA?" Riot teases.

Katsuki grumbles and then responds, "I like them. Explosives are..."

He doesn't finish his sentence, instead setting off another blow to a lackey's face and grinning.

Riot agrees it gets the point across just fine.

"Why the UA?"

Katsuki glares at the man dodging a hit and returning twofold.

"Pays good. You?"

Riot nods.

"Pays good. Nice people."

Katsuki snarls. "Ugh. Maybe to you. They're a bunch of dumbass's if you ask me."

Riot smirks, "And yet, here you fight for them."

Katsuki turns to the man with angry fire in his eyes at the implication. "I'm fighting because I'm pissed that these League assholes woke me up at the crack ass of dawn to go boss a bunch of inexperienced KIDS around some cannons!"

And for that, Riot concedes.

They fight for a few minutes more, bickering and laughing and *totally kicking ass.*

What happens next was both completely logical and entirely unexpected.

A crack through the air. The sound of a canon. A light. A leap.

In the span of 2, maybe 3 seconds, life changes.

A cannon from the League ship blasts. Katsuki catches the sound, his eye takes in the flash.

It doesn't take his expert brain more than possibly one full second to calculate where the cannon ball will hit.

It takes even less time for his legs to push him into the path.

Because there's a tall redhead with a grin standing there.

And really, it doesn't have to be a conscious thought for him to know that's just not okay.

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+1

By the 3rd second, they're both flying across the deck, out of the line of fire, but definitely not safe.

Riot's breath leaves him as the blond man slams into his torso. The wind is fully knocked out when they both land harshly on the wood deck. He might have hit his head. He doesn't know.

Katsuki lands on the ground next to him, slides, falls.

*Falls.*

Off the edge of the deck.

Of the airship.

There's a loud shout, Katsuki's voice.

The sound of wood cracking. More shouting.

Eijirou is dizzy as he makes his way onto his knees and looks around.

There's more shouting. He can't tell where it's coming from.

There's a flash in his peripheral. He looks. Katsuki's gauntlet smacks against the wood railing. The wood snaps, the railing is hardly hanging on. The gauntlet sparks again.

The gauntlet.

... Which is attached to Katsuki's wrist.

Eijirou fully comes back to awareness as he processes that Katsuki is hanging off the side of the ship by a loose wood rail.

He quickly crawls forward to look over the edge and feels himself lose his breath for the 3rd time in just as many minutes.

"Red! Help me the fuck up! Holy shit-"

Katsuki's legs dangle over the edge, over the *clouds.*

Eijirou is frozen for a moment, the image burning itself into his eyes as he takes it in.

Then he catches Katsuki's.

He's afraid.

Pure, genuine fear for his life. Real panic. It's all that fills the usually warm scarlet eyes.

Eijirou moves. He reaches his arm down, one bracing on the deck beneath him as he lowers his center of gravity. His other hand grips Katsuki's bicep tightly, not trusting his sweaty hands or his sparking bracers.

Eijirou has never been more grateful that Katsuki is wearing sleeves.

He's terrified, but feels a bit better with Katsuki technically in his hands.

He manages a cheeky grin.

"Hey knucklehead, you better live, alright? Or all this fighting woulda been a waste."

Katsuki stops flailing and goes completely limp as he stares at Eijirou pulling him up.

When they're both safely on the deck, they're so busy staring at each other, they don't even realize the League being chased off the ship and retreating. They sit in silence for a long moment.

Eijirou breaks it.

"So... Katsuki... Are you hurt?"

Katsuki, predicably, does not answer that question. Instead, he leans forward and gets a really close look at the man in front of him.

There's no way.

Katsuki denies to himself.

It's impossible.

No it's not, his brain whispers back.

He knows it's true. He'd been suspicious from the start. Refused to accept it.

And yet...

He gets closer, raises his hand.

He gently runs his finger along the scar on Red Riot's eyebrow.

The one he remembers running his finger on when he took that awful mask off Eijirou's face.

Eijirou sits and watches. Waits. He's patient. He doesn't speak as he gives Katsuki his time to let himself believe.

And he does. After a few more seconds of pondering the risk of being wrong.

"Eijirou?"

The redhead grins back, "Yeah?"

So of course, Katsuki has no choice but to kiss that dopey smile off his face.

"I guess we're even now, huh?"

Eijirou pulls back and actually scoffs. He rests his forehead on Katsuki's. The smile returns.

"Not even close. I owe you my life 5 times over. And I will spend the rest of it thanking you."