Sanctuary
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A 'My Hero Academia' fanfiction
Villain!Deku x Fem!Katsuki
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Summary:
Remember those walls I built?
Well, baby, they're tumbling down
And they didn't even put up a fight
They didn't even make a sound
I found a way to let you win
But I never really had a doubt
Standing in the light of your halo
I got my angel now
(Beyonce)
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Chapter 11: Halo
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#Izuku's PoV
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Trauma works differently for everyone. And I know it because I've been my father's lab rat since I was four.
That day was a typical day like any other: I went to school, picked Kacchan up along the way, holding hands until we reached our seats, and gleefully told her that my mom would take me to the doctor to examine my quirk. I remembered Kacchan said, "Well, your quirk better not be as cool as mine," while chuckling. And I also remembered feeling so happy because finally, she saw herself as I did: a fucking fantastic talent.
Then my mom picked me up. We held hands while crossing the street, hugging me while we rode the bus, and she even promised me a katsudon when all of this was done. She said it was a silly procedure, a vain requirement from the government, so my dad doesn't need to witness all of this uselessness.
But, man, how I wonder if my dad was there. Because that day was a hell of a memorable moment.
Imagine being a kid who saw your mother crying rivers in front of somebody else, and the main reason is that she blames herself that you're 'incomplete,' a shame, worthless—just because you were born quirkless. You'd started to wonder what the hell is wrong with you to the point you can't even trust yourself, and the scar still exists to this day.
What a day.
My parents know my admiration for All-Might. They support my childhood dream to be the number one hero and even said they'd do anything to make it happen. No, scratch that. To guarantee it will happen.
So, the very next day, right after I woke up, my dad took me to his lab in the house's basement. I asked, "What about school?" because I really wanted to see Kacchan. But he heard nothing. He rolled my sleeve up, tied a cloth around my arm, and said that he would take a pinch of my blood to see whether the doctor's statement is true. I did nothing because I was a fool.
When he found nothing, he reran the test. And again. And again. And again. Until I couldn't wear short-sleeves for two weeks because people would know how many holes he created on my arms.
Since then, I have associated my dad with needles, useless pain, blood, and basically, my trauma.
But he doesn't stop there. Every once in a while, he will come to me and say that he's been conducting an experiment to transfer one's quirk to another, and he'd like to test it on me. Of course I agreed; what else could a four-year-old do? Little did I know that it would grow to be his hobby—and after my mother died, his obsession—to dissect me each time he had the chance.
So, of course, I have a trauma—hell, a lot of them. But what did I do instead, avoiding the surgery table? I wish that I could. My life would be a lot easier if that were the case. But with me being the first person ever that underwent quirk-transfer surgeries, the frequency of me lying on a surgical table was as much as the chance of tomorrow the Sun will shine again. Instead of running away, after accepting the fact that the surgery room will be my second bedroom, I started to take the pain as it is, and after some time, I felt it no more.
But of course, everyone deals differently with trauma. So I should tolerate it. Right?
"I think it's her loss," said Toga-san, while her blonde head was resting on my lap. She drew minor love signs with her finger over my thigh like I couldn't notice, while occasionally kissing and biting my other knee. "Only a fool would refuse to have the best orgasm a man could give a woman."
I chuckled. "It's not about the sex," I said, sipping another whiskey, eyes on the blue-sky outside the big window of my office. "My love for her is beyond that."
She immediately raised her head and climbed on me. "Why don't you give me her blood?" She put my hand on her thigh and slid it higher—her breasts on my neck and her blood-tinted lips right in front of my eyes. "We could do it in any position you want, and you could do it with 'her.' It's a win-win." She caressed my neck slowly.
"That's tempting," I answered, grabbing her bottom with both my hands. "But I only want the real deal."
She laughed. "I could make it real," and landed a deep kiss on my mouth.
I hold her head and look deep into her eyes—which makes me realize that I miss Kacchan more than ever.
I whispered, "No, I want it real; the love, the intimacy. I want her to want me as I want her. I want the satisfaction of just laying beside her without even saying anything. I want to feel aroused just by looking at her eyes without even our skin touching. And I want to do it with her. Do you understand that feeling?"
She stared blankly into my eyes, nodding slowly. Of course, she doesn't understand. Her whole life was nothing more than an endless pursuit of fulfilling her lust and desires.
Thankfully the knocks on the door saved me from this dull moment.
"Sir, it's Iida."
By eye gesture, I told Toga-san to get off of me. She quickly catches it and immediately stands up while fixing her blouse's buttons and straightening her skirt. When she finished doing her hair to a simple low bun, I let Iida in.
"That's all for today, Toga-san. Please let me know if they call again." I crossed my legs while leaning on the seat.
"Of course, Sir." She bowed, then gave me a business smile. "Excuse me."
While she stepped away from the room, Iida looked at me with those sharp eyes he made when he caught me lying. As expected, nothing escapes this man.
"You said you would separate between pleasure and business hour," he patronized me as he walked closer to my desk.
I chuckled, immediately put down the mask I showed him just to mock him. "You know it's always all pleasure when she's around me. And you also know it's not entirely my fault."
"Yes, it is. It wouldn't be if you just stop her."
"I guess I just didn't want it, didn't I?" I shrugged. And he sighed. Deep.
"You might rethink it again, sir. Thank goodness Bakugou-sama isn't the one who knocked on your door."
I immediately straighten my back. "Kacchan here?" I asked, as if the beating of my heart suddenly audible in my ears and deafen me for a moment.
"In the lobby waiting for you. Should I tell her to come here instead? Or… your room?"
I dashed through him with no further ado. "No need." And left him alone in the big room with the door banged close.
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PoV: Third-Person
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Katsumi turned her eyes to the secretary behind the desk for the third time, thinking that she's not the one she saw the other day—even though still as beautiful and alluring—then glancing back at the elevator. He could come out of there any minute. But each time the door opened, and she saw no sign of him, her patience grew weary and weary. Finally, after ten whole minutes, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath while folding her arms in front of her, and leaning her back to the receptionist's marble desk.
She wasn't even sure why she was here. Should she just go home? It's not too late.
When she opened her eyes, a pair of green eyes on a freckled face surprised her.
"You're sleepy, Kacchan?" he said, sounding as annoyingly cheerful as always.
Bakugou Katsumi groaned. "No. I'm bored," she answered sharply.
The man with a white sweater and beige jacket smiled and shrugged. "Well, you could always come to my condo if you hate waiting so much."
She considered it for a moment, but immediately tossed the idea away. "No, thanks."
"Oh, yeah, right…." He seems hesitant. "I'm sorry. You don't want to be alone with me. I get it."
"NO," she said immediately, unconsciously. "I mean, that's what I wanna talk to you about. And to give you this." She pulled out a little black box from inside her leather jacket and gave it to the man, Midoriya Izuku.
It was the battery on Katsumi's new prototype costume. He said that it would store her power and limit it in half so that she couldn't hurt herself or others, and the remaining power could be used as the source for new power plants he's been building. Which means this little thing is worth more than a thousand diamonds. Holding something so expensive in her hands never excites Katsumi; instead, it makes her paranoid.
"Yeah, you're welcome," she said in sarcasm, seeing the man is too perplexed with the black box that's now in his hand. "And I'm sorry."
The words surprised Izuku so much, and now he gave her his full attention. His green eyes rounded, and Katsumi couldn't help but find it a bit intimidating.
Then he asked the question she has been dreaded for, "For what?"
"The… the other night." She was playing with her fingers inside her jacket pockets, groggily looking back and forth between her shoes and his face. "You know, the… 'thing'. The… moment." Surprisingly, she found it really hard to explain things that haven't happened yet but have a tremendous emotional toll. "Fuck, you know what I mean," she said finally.
But Midoriya Izuku flickers and innocently says, "What do you mean, Kacchan? What happened the other night?"
And now she blushed all over. "Don't fuck around with me, shithead. I know you remember."
"Yeah, I do remember what happened—or instead, what didn't happen. That's why I don't understand why you are apologizing if nothing ever happens?"
"I mean, I know you had your expectations, and believe me, so did I. But it turned out I still can't do it with just anybody."
"Oh, okay," he nodded slowly, trying to get what she implied. And after a whole ten seconds, his green eyes rounded in surprise as he gasps, "OH! Okay…."
Now Katsumi's the one who needs to find what he implies. "What? What does that mean?"
"You said you couldn't do it with just anybody. So… you want me to be 'somebody'?"
She gave him a big frown moment. "What?"
"Do you want me to be… your somebody? I mean, like, I don't know, your boyfriend, maybe?"
She froze for a moment, then burst into forced laughter. But no matter how hard she tries to hide it, Izuku would always notice the rushing blood on her face. "You? My boyfriend? Pfft!" Then slapped her knee. "Wait, so you want me to date you so you can fuck with me?"
"And so you can fuck with me too. You said you also wanted it."
"I didn't say that."
"You said we had the same expectation. And you know what I expected."
"No, I don't."
He smiled. "You're so cute when you deny things that are as clear as day. Alright, come with me. I want to show you something. And no, I won't try to do anything."
She raised one eyebrow. "Should I expect something?"
He shrugged and smirked. "To be surprised?"
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The metallic green Lamborghini and long rides on the highway feel like Deja Vu to Katsumi. At the same time, she reminisces about her first time riding this expensive car to the Midoriya mansion in the middle of nowhere. It made her wonder whether this time Izuku would take her to the same place as before. But the green-shithead doesn't spill anything.
She suddenly reached for the stereo button instead and turned the radio on. Accidentally, the song was Blueberry Eyes from MAX and SUGA. And for her dismay, the green-fancy-pants started singing along with the other dudes on the radio. But instead of saying 'blueberry eyes', he replaced it with 'strawberry eyes' while looking at Katsumi's ruby eyes. He even translates the Korean rap into Japanese so casually like he is an automatic translator AI.
Katsumi instantly regretted her life choices. She doesn't even have the energy to ask where and when he learned Koreans because that's not the point right now.
She changed the radio station, but now it's Shawn Mendes' turn to ruin her day. Not because she hates the singer-hell, he's an eye candy, got an angelic voice, even Katsumi admits that. But it was because, again, Izuku sings along with him.
"Ooh, your body is like an ocean," he sings, directing his face to Katsumi. She pushed it away.
"Shut up."
"I'm devoted-"
"Shut up!"
"-to explore yooouuu!"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"
She changes the radio again.
Now it was Beyonce's Halo. And to Katsumi's surprise, this time, Izuku shut his mouth tight while only moving his fingers on the wheel like playing the piano.
Katsumi found it pretty suspicious instead.
"Why aren't you singing?"
"Because it's not my song."
"What?"
"It's not for you. But it's for me, from you."
A pulse was shown on her forehead, but she still blushes nonetheless. "Don't you dare decide shits on your own, Shitty-Nerd," she replied while gritting her teeth.
He just laughed it away and turned on the audio streaming service instead, and played We The Kings' Check Yes Juliet. He nudges Katsumi's arm with his elbow this time. "Hey, do you know what fits this song?" he said, a big suspicious smirk on his face.
Katsumi sighed, feeling tired already. "Don't you start-"
"Speeeeddd!"
Suddenly he stepped on the accelerator pedal beyond 300 km/hour, and the car ran faster than the wind. Katsumi bumped her back to the passenger seat hard, and had to hold Izuku's shoulder out of reflex. This velocity level is nothing compared to what she usually uses to fly, but man, his way of driving really makes her question his driving license.
He drives like a madman along the highway; zigzag, overtakes, sharp turns, you name it. When they finally got out of the road, the damned nerd laughed his breath away while Katsumi barely caught any. Behind Jared Leto's voice on the Kings and Queens from Thirty Seconds to Mars, Katsumi questions her life choices at this point.
Izuku couldn't stop laughing at how fazed Katsumi was, so he parked the car at the nearby convenience store. But instead of getting angry, she unexpectedly laughed along with him out of excitement. And like teasing them, the stereo played Selena Gomez's Bad Liar.
Probably nothing in the entire human vocabulary could explain what was happening inside of Katsumi better than, "yeah, I'm a bad liar." At this point, she already saw no merit in hiding what was happening anymore.
"I'm a bad liar, Nerd," she said, between her laughs while caressing her forehead lightly. "I'm a bad liar! Haha!"
Now Izuku was the one who got fazed. "...what?"
"I can't lie anymore! I like you, Nerd! I have liked you since long ago! I have liked you since practically forever! I like you so much it was fucking hurt to saw you with someone else!" Suddenly, she started sobbing. Her voice cracked as tears flowed down her face endlessly.
"What? Huh? You saw me with someone else? When? Who? Doing what? Eh, whaaat? You like me?"
She suddenly laughed at how stupid his face right now. "Shut up. I'm not gonna repeat it again. It's embarrassing."
"You like me? Me? As in, me ME?" Now he was even pointing at himself.
"Shut up! Who else?"
"I mean, I always knew-but, ME?"
"Your face is so shitty," she said while laughing again. "Why don't you fucking believe me?"
"I mean, I never thought you would say that…. Oh my God, am I dreaming? Am I gonna wake up with you still mad at me? What? I don't want that!"
She laughed even harder, and even though her laughter never fails to make him happy, he still froze in the moment and repeated, "You like me?"
She wiped her tears slowly-while still laughing, obviously. "Yes."
"And you know that I like you too, right?"
"Yes."
"Does that mean… we're an item now?"
"I don't know. Do you want us to be?"
"Holy fucking yes!"
"Then, yes, we're an item."
Everything stopped for a moment. Izuku needs to process what happened before he could pull out his reaction.
"Holy shit…. We're dating," he muttered, face was still frozen in disbelief.
Katsumi snorted on that. "Your face is so fucking stupid."
"I love you, Kacchan."
"What?"
"What? Did I say something? Nah, you're just imagining. Why did we stop here? Anyway, let's drive again. It's not far away from the power plant that I'm about to give you."
Katsumi paused for a second. "...you gonna give me what?"
"Eh? I haven't told you?"
"NO SHIT, NERD!"
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To be continue
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Author's Note:
Hi! Sorry for the long update! (not because of depression, but because my laptop has been acting up)
Anyway, I was in a really good mood while writing this chapter! Finally, I could write something light and fun about them. I hope you enjoyed it!
If you wanna hear all the songs I included in this chapter, you could search my playlist on Spotify with the keyword: KatsuIzu's Sanctuary. (my username is Ambrosia Lance, if anyone wants to be super sure).
See you in the next chapter!
Lee Audrey
(June 19th, 2021)