Chapter Text
“There you are!” Mina signed, rolling her eyes. “The meeting has already started.”
“Then why aren’t you inside?” Katsuki signed, raising an eyebrow at her. He could see past her, through the open doors of the conference room in the civic service building where the quarterly open forum was being held. Ochako was already inside, seated near the back. She had her leg kicked up over the two chairs next to her to save them.
“Shut up,” Mina grumbled, grabbing his wrist. She turned her head to talk to him over her shoulder as she walked, something of a superpower of hers. “We both know that using your male privilege for good is the best thing about being friends with you.”
He snorted and shook his head. The fact that she both did and didn’t mean that statement was why they were friends.
They settled into the metal folding chairs, and Katsuki waited until they had sat for an incredibly boring fifteen minutes before pulling the burritos out of his backpack. They were the reason he was late, and the only way these women would be eating anything that hadn’t been through a deep-fryer tonight. They were terrible at remembering meals when planning anything.
“You’re forgiven,” Mina signed.
“Thank you! Yum!” Ochako signed. She didn’t know much ASL, and Katsuki kept telling her she didn’t need to bother because he had hearing aids and managed just fine, thanks, but she brushed him off every time. That she was kind and didn’t put up with even one inch of his bullshit was why they were friends, though he’d never said as much to her. They weren’t there yet.
This was, unfortunately, a two hour meeting, and the issue they were here to listen to and, hopefully, change some idiot minds about wasn’t on the agenda until near the end. They had more than enough time to eat dinner and make fun of the boring, trivial bullshit on the rest of the agenda as it came up.
“Who cares about having to mow that little strip between the sidewalk and the street?” Mina signed, her face clearly showing her disbelief. “You’re already mowing. It’s so small. Just do it!”
“It’s all a shitty power play,” he signed back, mouth twisting into an annoyed frown. “Petty people, petty displays of influence.”
“The next item on the agenda is to report back on the city council’s update regarding the Croatoan Oil project.”
Katsuki shifted in his seat. It was almost go time. Three months of research and digging was about to fall on these assholes’ heads.
The commissioner tasked with the presentation slide droned on. None of it was information Katsuki didn’t know, but hearing the fucking noxious plans laid out as if they were benign, or worthwhile because it might earn the city a few more bucks, made him want to blow something up. Preferably this asshole’s track pants. What kind of a jackass wore track pants to a meeting like this? Katsuki looked like the angry, broke PhD student he was, but even he had made a fucking effort to look professional, or at least like he took care in his appearance. What a fucking joke.
When Track Pants finally stopped talking and opened the floor to questions, all three of them stood up. Mina hesitated, then started to raise her hand. Katsuki wasn’t interested in waiting to be called on.
“Yeah. First question. Who did the environmental reviews?”
“Pardon?”
“You brushed over the reason why the drilling has been allowed to move forward now, sayin’ that the previous ecological concerns have been “reassessed”. Who did the reassessment?” Katsuki knew. He probably knew more than this shit heel did.
“I’m afraid I would need to consult my notes,” said shit heel stuttered.
“Excuse me, but, who are you?” asked a woman with sharp eyes who hadn’t spoken the entire meeting, but sat up front with the rest of the council members and city leadership. “I don’t recognize you.”
Katsuki introduced himself and his colleagues, all fourth year PhD students from Duke.
“This meeting is intended for residents,” the woman said icily. “While we appreciate your enthusiasm for civic matters, please leave space for the residents to speak.”
Katsuki sneered at her, and kept talking.
“The company that did the review is Stone Tech, who aren’t certified, and were selected behind closed doors. Unusual, given the county’s statutes that require an open bidding and verification process.”
“Wait, they’re not certified?” a member of the crowd asked.
“They certainly are,” the woman said. “Please sit down, Mr. Bakugou.”
“Nah, I don’t think I will. The work was done by someone who doesn’t hold an Environmental Auditor certification. They don’t even have one on staff. That makes them an inappropriate choice for this sort of work, especially given how wide the scope of the evaluation should be. They also used a different methodology than the previous organization, making comparing the two ludicrous.”
“But you did it anyway,” Mina said, fire flashing in her eyes. “You played it off as if it was one to one when selling the idea to your constituents.”
“Regardless of how you feel about the reports,” the icy woman said, “The matter of the oil station has already been voted on, and construction started. We have an obligation now to Croatoan Oil that would be quite difficult to extricate ourselves from without financially hurting the county and wasting taxpayer dollars.”
Katsuki snorted. He was pretty sure it wasn’t the taxpayer pockets these assholes were worried about. Ochako touched his wrist, so he snapped his mouth shut and let her have a turn to speak.
“While the financial loss would be difficult, the ecological damage that will occur as a result of the oil retrieval process is incalculable. No amount of dollars will be able to offset the permanent disruption that is about to occur.”
“The analysis shows-“
“The analysis is bullshit,” Katsuki snapped.
“Please use respectful language,” the asshat in the Track Pants said, sounding like he’d rather be anywhere else.
“He’s right,” Mina said. “The justification for overriding the decision to stop the oil retrieval nine years ago hinges entirely on this report, and it’s very poorly executed. It also doesn’t prove nearly half of the claims that are on the initiative brought before the Council to reinstate it.”
“Oh, shut up,” called a voice from the crowd. “What do you know? Come here from out of town with your fancy degrees and talking like you know everything about what we need. Just because we aren’t up to your overblown standards doesn’t mean there’s something fishy going on. The swamp will be fine. Leave this to those of us that actually live here. That oil profit share might mean I actually get to retire. I don’t mind pissing off a few gators for that.”
“This will have much more devastating consequences than just annoying some alligators-“ Ochako started to say, but the icy woman cut her off.
“I’m afraid you will need to leave. You are disrupting a meeting not intended for you. Please go voluntarily, as I would prefer not to involve the police,” Ice Queen said.
“Are you fucking serious?” Katsuki looked around the room, trying to catch the eye of the people gathered there, but they either avoided his gaze or showed hostility toward him. His fists clenched at his side, and he realized in a few moments that Ice Queen was only about ten strides away, and Katsuki could be on her, pounding her fucking teeth in before anyone could react. How satisfying it would be to wipe the smug look off of her face.
“Come on,” Mina said, tugging on his elbow, shaking him back to the present. His cheeks flushed in embarrassment and frustration, because he hated how no matter how many years passed or how hard he worked, his thoughts still resembled those of a rabid animal. “Let’s go. We can always raise awareness in other ways.”
“Sadistic, unfeeling pieces of shit,” he signed aggressively, even though Mina could only really see from the corner of her eye. Ochako got the gist though, and darkly muttered her agreement.
When they got outside, Katsuki waved the girls off.
"Go back to the house," he said, meaning the short term rental they were sharing. "I need to cool off."
"We could get some beers?" Ochako offered. Mina was already unlocking the door to her car. She knew the drill.
"Best to leave him be," she said. "For all of our sake." Mina hadn’t been there before he’d learned to manage his anger, or at least the physical expressions of it, but he’d told her about it. Not everything, but enough. He’d told her when she’d insisted on becoming his friend, expecting it would scare her off. She was too tough for that, which he loved and hated.
"Okay. Text us if you need anything."
Katsuki gave a half-assed little wave. He wondered, for a moment as he watched them drive off into the night, if Mina would tell Ochako the details on why it was best to leave him alone when he asked for it, but he dismissed the thought. She wouldn’t share his business like that. Though it might do some good to tell Ochako a little bit, like how he’d been diagnosed with an anger disorder before he was nine. Or maybe that he’d bullied a kid into transferring schools because his condescending tone drove him fucking nuts and he couldn’t stop the words that came out of his mouth, and hadn’t really wanted to. Or when he’d shoved someone so hard they fell and slammed their face into the edge of the cafeteria counter and had gone without three of their front teeth until the adult ones grew in years later.
He turned east, directly opposite the mainland and the bridge, and walked away from those memories and the county seat and toward the marina. There wouldn’t be a lot of folks fuckin’ around with the boats at this hour, so less opportunities for him to find someone that needed punching. He'd have to catch a cab back because there wasn't a pedestrian bridge, but it would be worth it to get some time without their concerned scrutiny.
He paced along the highway, walking through a mile of marsh. The wetlands were the reason they were here. The marsh wasn't particularly unique, given similar territory ran all down the coast of the mainland and on the second island a little further out in the bay. However, it had a reliable population of the frogs they needed access to. They were collaborating on a paper about using artificial intelligence to emulate frog cries of an extinct species that was biologically close to an existing species. Frogs weren't Katsuki's wheelhouse, but they were working on a novel method of fusing data between the two species that could be useful elsewhere, so he didn't mind being on the paper.
The smell of ocean salt sharpened as he approached the marina. Not as picturesque as a beach, but a fuck of a lot closer, and the water always calmed him down. Or at least reminded him why he bothered with any of the self-centered assholes he had to deal with on the regular.
He grunted at the woman walking her dog who greeted him. She was polite enough, and he recognized her from the coffee shop he visited most mornings, so she wasn't an overly friendly stranger. He just really wanted the world to leave him the fuck alone for a few minutes. He felt the difference under his boots as the concrete sidewalk changed to wood. He continued along the dock, past the fucking obnoxious bar and grill, past the multi-million dollar homes with perfectly manicured hedges and water access, until his toes were right at the edge. Ocean water lapped at the legs of the platform below. He closed his eyes, focusing on the salt and seaweed. It was more ocean and less brine out here, but the space still smelled alive, and life wasn’t always sweet.
This wasn't the ocean Katsuki had grown up with. It was younger, and had more energy to rage. The warmer water made it more volatile, rapid temperature changes making for sometimes unpredictable conditions. Hurricanes never battered the rocky cliffs where his parents still lived. That didn't make it any less his. He loved it, with a simplicity and ferocity that he had rarely experienced when it came to his connections with people.
Fuck anyone trying to mess with it, or the creatures and organisms that lived in it.
He watched the water move for a while, rolling up against the sides of the ships in the harbor, the light of the setting sun dappling over its surface. He took off his flannel and tied it around his waist so he could better feel the breeze. Slowly, his temperature cooled back to its usual simmer. He wasn’t sure he was ever really calm, but there were times when he was more potential than explosion.
"Liked it better when you were bending over, sweetheart."
Katsuki glanced around, immediately repulsed by the lewd advance, but couldn't see who had made the comment or the target of their attention. He shook out his fists as he moved. Nobody could blame him for laying out a sexist piece of shit.
"That's a pretty voice. I bet you'd sound great screaming on my-"
The voice cut off abruptly. Katsuki paused, waiting, even turning his hearing aids up and wincing as a boat drove by way too fucking loudly. When the voice stayed silent, he shrugged it off. Maybe it hadn't been street harassment after all, maybe it'd been some gross flirting. He reached up, turning his hearing aids off. He was really fucking done with other people.
He turned on his heel and headed back up the dock towards a convenience store he'd passed on the way here. He'd passed on the beer since he didn't like the feeling of getting drunk, but he had another vice he could chase tonight.
The neon lights and bright posters advertising mediocre food set the convenience store apart in this tastefully white and gray neighborhood. His shoulders relaxed as he cut across the grass into the parking lot. There were a couple of yacht club looking idiots sticking their tongues down each others’ throats, and it made him grimace. He bet these were the idiots he’d heard earlier. Weird ass degradation sex games in public.
“Fuck off and die,” he muttered, to absolutely no reaction from the slobbering couple. He ducked his head as he went inside, avoiding eye contact with the clerk. He just wanted to get his stupid pile of sugar and then get out. He hesitated by the salty snack section. He grabbed a few small bags of spicy chips, then turned on his heel to get a basket. He still kept his eyes down to avoid fuckin’ small talk, and noticed there was another customer in the store. They were wearing basic sneakers and dark jeans, beat to hell. It made him think maybe they weren’t from this part of town, but then again, rich people liked to pay stupid money to look poor, like a fucked up classist cosplay, so who knows. Hopefully they’d be gone by the time he was ready to check out.
He dumped his handful of loot into a basket, then swept back into the store, grabbing a can of beer and then stopping in front of his true destination.
But it was empty. Not completely sold out, that would be fucking batshit, what kind of convenience store would have empty candy shelves. But most of the good stuff was gone. What the fuck was he supposed to do with black licorice? Even the plain chocolate was gone. He paced around the shelves, looking for a promotional display or an endcap, something that might mitigate this disaster. While he did secure some orange cupcakes, his basket was a lot more empty than would be required to stop him from burning this whole fucking store to the ground. He stomped back up to the front.
“Where the hell is all of the candy?”
He finally looked at the clerk, to read his lips if nothing else. His eyes slid over the other customer, who was still there. Great, he was gonna be an angry bitch in front of an audience. Whatever. It was unreasonable for the shelves to be this empty.
The clerk didn’t respond. He was staring into space, his eyes unfocused and face dreamy. Katsuki would’ve assumed he was mooning over a lover or something if he hadn't just been helping a customer.
“Oi, I’m talking to you. Is there anything in the back? Or are you really gonna tell me someone fucked up inventory so bad you just ran out of all the sugar?”
The clerk blinked a few times, then turned to him, their smile still dreamy and vague.
“I’m sorry, sir, but we’re all sold out.” It was a little difficult to understand him, the man’s mouth too relaxed, making the motions of his lips harder to read. He turned his hearing aids back on with an impatient gesture, snapping the battery drawers back into place.
“Seriously? Then consider this my official complaint to the manager that fucked it up so bad.” He was pissed off enough he was tempted to ditch his basket and catch a cab, have it drop him off at a different store closer to where they were staying, when his eyes fell on the counter. Piled there, in several reusable shopping bags, was all of it. The chocolate, the gummy candy, the caramels and sour candy. He was stunned. His eyes rose helplessly to the other customer as the clerk continued to politely apologize in their dreamy, distracted voice.
The candy hoarder was watching him intently, green eyes bright and so focused that it made Katsuki a little uncomfortable.
“If you need a thousand candy bars, shouldn’t you go to a warehouse club or something?”
“Jack says you were at the county meeting,” the stranger said.
“What?”
“You’re Katsuki Bakugou, right? One of the scientists. Jack said you were at the meeting tonight.”
Small towns were the fucking worst.
“Yeah, and? Who are you?”
“My name’s Izuku, and I live on the next island over. I wasn’t able to make it tonight. Would you be willing to catch me up on what I missed? I’d happily share some of my candy with you.”
Katsuki’s brow furrowed. He did not want to talk to this person. Not only was he strange, and had swiped all of the good candy like some kind of sociopath, he was stupid hot. Messy curly hair poking out from under a thin hoodie, freckles scattered over full cheeks and a sharp jaw. The legs filling those beat up jeans were long and lean and Katsuki had a sudden, vivid image of wedging himself between them. He ran a hand down his face, closing his eyes as he tugged. Why his fight and fuck instincts were wired so close together, he didn’t know.
“I could give you a ride somewhere, if that sweetens the pot,” Izuku added.
Get in a car with a stranger who was literally offering him candy.
“Sure,” he said. “What could go wrong.”
Izuku gathered up his bags, then headed for the door, looking at Katsuki expectantly.
“I need to pay for these,” he said, holding up his basket.
“No, you don’t,” Izuku said calmly. “Isn’t that right, Jack?”
“That’s right!” the clerk said, their voice slow and syrupy. Izuku flashed a frankly blinding grin at him and then pushed through the door. Katsuki looked at Jack’s dopey face and shook his head. What was in the water here? He stuffed his food and beer into his backpack then followed Izuku out the door.
“You may stop,” he was saying, making Katsuki draw up short. “Go home. Never speak to me like that again.”
He thought for a moment Izuku was speaking to him, which was fucking weird given the guy had just asked him to get into his car. Then he noticed Izuku’s surprisingly cold, hard stare was directed to the two assholes that had been slobbering all over each other when he came in. They had jerked apart, looking kind of queasy. They should probably have thicker skin if they were gonna dry hump against a convenience store. Both of them turned and walked off into the night without another word.
“You their dom or something?” he asked, a little revolted. They shouldn’t be playing sex games in public like that, or at least not so obvious. He didn’t agree to this shit.
“No,” Izuku said, opening the driver’s side door with a touch of his thumb. Keyless entry? Maybe he was a rich kid in cosplay. “People just do what I say.” His grin was attractive, a little boyish and a lot confident.
“And you told them to suck face?” Katsuki climbed into the passenger side, just catching the end of Izuku’s self-satisfied smirk. A shot of adrenaline shivered down his spine, just like before he got into the shark tanks for the first time. He ignored it now as he ignored it then, for much of the same reason. He knew what he was doing. This was fine.
“It was the preferred alternative to cat-calling me,” Izuku said, starting the car with the press of a button.
“That was you they were hollerin’ at before?”
“It was,” he said. He draped his arm over the back of Katsuki’s seat as he backed out of the space. He smelled like the ocean.
“Then I guess that’s better than what I would’ve done to them,” Katsuki said, jerking his eyes away from the long lines of Izuku’s neck to stare very intently out the windshield.
“Is that so?” He pulled out onto the highway. “Then I’d better be careful around you. Wouldn’t want you to bite off a leg.”
Katsuki playfully snapped his teeth. Izuku laughed, and snapped back, the light catching on his unusually long canine.
“So, please tell me about the meeting?”
“Sure.” Katsuki launched into a succinct description, the irritation growing again as he spoke. He was so disgusted with the people making this happen, regardless of whether it was through malicious intent or gross negligence. It was so fucked up. What made it worse was that punching the problem wouldn’t work when the Commissioners had convinced the residents that this would make everyone’s lives better at no real cost to them or the waterways.
“I didn’t realize there were people trying to stop the project,” Izuku said. “I appreciate that you tried.”
Katsuki’s jaw clenched, and he forced it to relax as he took a vicious bite out of a caramel peanut bar.
“We’re not done yet.”
Izuku nodded thoughtfully.
“Do you mind if we make a quick stop?”
“No,” Katsuki grunted. Izuku hadn’t reacted when he started raging, remaining relaxed and easy as he navigated the car. It felt good to be as angry as he wanted to be without worrying about making someone anxious. Not that he worried much, but he didn’t want people to be afraid of him like he was a rabid dog.
“Great, thank you for your flexibility.”
And then Izuku slowed down just enough to make a u-turn on the bridge between the mainland and the island they’d just left. Katsuki’s candy bar flew from his hand onto the dashboard and his shoulder hit the door.
“What the fuck?”
“Oops, sorry.” Katsuki didn’t believe him. The cute bastard looked too smug.
“Where’re we going?”
“The far island,” Izuku said. “That’s where the fabrication site is for the oil rig.”
“Why?”
“I want to see it,” he said, his eyes hard as the streetlights flashed over them. “Sizing up the enemy.”
Katsuki’s heart caught in his throat, and he struggled to look away. He took some slow breaths, hoping to calm down. There was nothing sexy about this situation. Mostly.
It was a nice car. And hot people got away with so much stupid shit.
“So what’s your deal?” he asked, disgusted by the small talk but needing to concentrate on anything except the flush creeping up his neck. “You’re a townie. What do you do?”
“I don’t consider myself as from here, but I suppose that’s a close enough description.” His foot lowered on the gas, and the car responded, accelerating as smooth as butter. Katsuki wouldn’t have noticed if not for the way the road signs started whipping past. “I work some seasonal jobs. I help out at my friend’s diner from time to time.”
Rich parents, then. Katsuki would try not to hold it against him.
“Cool. What do you do for fun?” Who the fuck was he pretending to be right now?
“I spend a lot of time in the ocean.”
“Surfing? Bodyboarding?”
“Swimming. Do you like the ocean?” Katsuki’s eyes snapped up from his shoulders, where the horny things had looked without his permission. It was hard to tell under the layers, but they didn’t look particularly broad. Endurance swimmer, maybe.
“Yeah. Pretty much the best thing going on this planet.”
“I guess that was kind of a silly question, given earlier tonight. It’s good to hear, though.”
“Why’s that?”
“I don’t think I could be friends with someone who didn’t deeply love the sea.” He turned to look at Katsuki, his green eyes looking almost mirrored for a moment in a strange trick of the light. “And I think I’d really like to be your friend.”
Katsuki’s tongue flicked nervously over his lips.
“That’d be alright.”
Izuku beamed.
The car crunched on gravel as they pulled off the road towards the docks and followed a gravel-strewn path to a large fence.
“Well, that sucks,” Katsuki said.
“What does?” Izuku asked as he unhooked his seatbelt.
“You can’t see shit through that sheeting.”
“Why don’t we hop out and see what we find?”
Katsuki shrugged, stuffing a bag of cinnamon chews in his pocket to munch on while they took a pointless walk around the fence. It was a nice night for it, if nothing else. When he caught up with Izuku, he was walking straight towards a security guard stationed outside the drive-in entrance, hidden around the corner from the main road.
“Whoa!” he said, though the word was dulled by the candy in his mouth.
“Good evening,” Izuku said, and his voice sounded strange, almost like he was underwater. Katsuki frowned and tapped at his hearing aid.
“You got an ID?” the security guard asked dubiously.
“Of course I do,” Izuku said. His words still sounded watery, and a little melodic. Katsuki wondered if the battery was going out, though it had never sounded like this before. “Let us through, and forget we were here.”
The security guard just nodded numbly as Izuku sauntered past, throwing a look over his shoulder.
“C’mon,” he said when Katsuki’s legs remained locked. “I don’t want to be out too late. My friend will worry.”
Who the fuck was this guy? Or who were his parents? Katsuki shook his head and jogged to catch up. If they were so influential, why hadn’t they stopped this shit show? Then again, maybe they’d profit from Izuku fucking around. Or maybe it was a simple rich kid rebellion. Whatever got results.
Katsuki began to walk the perimeter, unsure of what he was looking for. He assumed the oil rig folks wouldn’t have any signs or literature saying “fuck the wildlife” or anything, but since he was here he may as well get curious. Past the entrance, the space beyond opened up to a large construction yard. There were long beams of steel stacked neatly, and a half-built something in a scaffolding. A crane sat in the water, easily visible because there was no sheeting on the fence facing out towards the ocean. There was a dock with boat access, though nothing was moored there at the moment. The sea glittered beyond, yellow from the streetlights and white from the moon.
“What are you looking for?” he asked, raising his voice so it carried.
“An opportunity,” Izuku replied. Katsuki followed the voice until he found legs sticking out from under a truck.
“What are you doing?”
“Cutting things until I’m satisfied.”
“What? That’s fucking dangerous. You could kill somebody!”
“They shouldn’t be working for Croatoan Oil.”
That familiar shiver of adrenaline shot through his system, and his brows furrowed as he thought quickly, trying to calm himself and figure out what to say to convince this asshole not to commit murder.
“First of all,” Katsuki said, crouching down to peer under the car at Izuku, “whoever drives this truck next could be a contractor and not know shit about how inaccurate the report about the fallout is.” His voice shook a little bit, his heart still trying to pound out of his chest. “Secondly, it kind of doesn’t fucking matter whether they know or not because people need to work to eat.”
While he spoke, Izuku kept fucking around underneath the truck, making scraping noises and dull thunks as he pawed at the engine. This continued for a few moments longer, then ended with a frustrated kick of Izuku’s legs.
“Fine.” He scooted out, his hands smeared with engine grease and one fingernail split. “How do we send a message?”
Katsuki nodded, relief mixing with fear into a heady concoction that felt suspiciously like victory. Not that the Croatoan assholes didn’t deserve it, but it was wrong to just fucking hurt people. There was a lifetime of counseling and uncomfortable, tear-stained conversations with his mother that had made it crystal clear that no matter how angry you were, you didn’t cross that line. He hesitated to share the first thing that came to mind and then decided, fuck it, Izuku was trying to cut the fucking brakes, anything he suggested wouldn’t be as extreme in comparison.
“The cement,” he proposed. “We can mix it up and dump it on the engine.”
“Sounds good!” Izuku sprang to his feet. “I’ll get the water.”
Katsuki found a bucket. He had to talk Izuku down from using anything larger, pointing out that they’d have to lift whatever container they mixed it in.
“Concrete is fucking heavy.”
“I could lift it,” Izuku protested.
“Maybe if that jacket is forty percent muscle,” Katsuki grumbled, pointedly dumping half of the bag of concrete into the bucket, waving his hand through the air to clear the dust. He mixed it while Izuku worked to pop the hood. It was locked via a button inside the cab, so he ended up smashing the driver’s side window to unlock the door. Katsuki winced at the noise, but nobody came running, so he just stirred faster. The drills they undoubtedly used for this were locked away, so he was fighting this sludge with a piece of scrap lumber. Belatedly, he wondered if there were cameras, but decided if there were, it was too late now. If he got in trouble, maybe they would also catch him stopping literal bloodshed. That should count for something.
They worked together to pour the cement. Izuku really did have some strength in that lean body because Katsuki held hardly any of the weight as they shook it out, the last of the oozing mixture falling in slow blobs to splat against the already saturated engine. When they were done, Izuku cast the bucket aside and they both took a minute to watch the ooze slowly filter its way down. None of it had reached the floor yet, though he imagined it would eventually. Katsuki had been light on the water so it would dry more quickly. It’s not like they needed it to be structurally sound.
“Thanks for your help,” Izuku said.
“Thanks for not trying to kill anyone,” Katsuki said wryly. His mouth tasted like iron as he fought his desire to fucking flee. Izuku shrugged.
When they walked back to the car, the security guard looked surprised to see them until Izuku reminded him to forget they were ever there and he immediately complied. Fuckin’ weird.
“And delete any CCTV footage!” Izuku called, as if an afterthought.
Izuku seemed full of energy now, riding on excitement from their escapade. Katsuki was caught somewhere between thrill and nausea. Izuku babbled happily about his friends, an older couple in town and another swimmer of some kind. He talked about how he was just getting into TV and asked if Katsuki had any recommendations. Mostly, he talked about the ocean; his favorite spots to sunbathe while out swimming and the way it looked in different weather. Something about it was soothing, the rhythm of his words not dissimilar to a tide. Katsuki really liked it and frankly, it’d be charming as fuck if they hadn’t just committed a crime. The reality was sinking in slowly. In the moment it had felt like the worst of two evils, and he couldn’t say he was sorry Croatoan Oil was inconvenienced, but he still felt really fucking weird and he’d need time to understand it.
He had Izuku drop him off several blocks from where he was staying, and didn’t start walking home until his taillights disappeared back onto the highway.
He watched the darkness for a few moments longer before turning towards home. The bag of candy was heavy on his wrist. He thought about green eyes that transitioned fluidly from steely to delighted. He stopped at the front door, pressing his forehead against the cool wood. “Why are the hot ones always crazy?” he muttered to himself before finally letting himself in, bracing for Mina’s questions.