Chapter 17: The Game - Ace of Hearts
Katsuki removes the irrelevant cards until he's left with a thirty-six card deck. As he expertly shuffles, Katsuki can feel Midoriya's eyes on him, openly impressed by Katsuki's demonstration of skill.
"Take your card," Katsuki instructs.
They survey their cards. Having played the lowest trump card, Katsuki starts first as the attacker. He starts with a six.
"So what brought this on?"
Slowly and deliberately, Katsuki places a card face-up on the floor. It's a seven of hearts.
"Kirishima is back. I want closure."
"Doesn't his return give it to you?" Midoriya asks, deftly dropping his defending card atop of the seven of hearts.
"I mean about what happened. I want to make sure we're on the same page."
"I thought we already were."
"No." Katsuki narrows his eyes. "I still can't help thinking you were involved."
Midoriya sighs. He shifts positions and watches shrewdly as Katsuki takes his turn. By all appearances he is pondering something carefully before he speaks again.
"Ka-"
"Even if you weren't, you understand why I feel that way, right?" Katsuki blurts out. He flinches internally when he realises that he cut Midoriya off and instantly recalls just how much Midoriya dislikes it, (and dislikes him) when he does that. The skin around Katsuki's lips throbs with phantom pain. He doesn't want them sewn shut again. Katsuki briefly makes eye contact with Midoriya, desperate to convey an apology without drawing further attention to his misstep. "Look, I feel like I might be going crazy. I just need to know." He tries to swallow but his mouth is so dry that it's painful. "There won't be any repercussions for you if you do," he croaks.
Barely looking at the game, Midoriya throws his next card down. He's chosen to defend against Katsuki's attack again. He inches closer. "You really wanna know?"
Katsuki plays his sixth card. "Wouldn't have asked otherwise." He's careful to keep his tone flippant, though he's not sure he succeeds.
Midoriya wets his lips, tongue flicking out like a viper. "I think you already know the answer, you just aren't ready to admit it to yourself," he breathes.
The hairs on the back of Katsuki's neck rise. "That you hurt Kiri on purpose?"
Midoriya shakes his head sadly, his curls bouncing with the movement. "That it was nothing more than a terrible accident."
Internally, Katsuki deflates with disappointment.
"Was making my ass bleed a terrible accident too?" The snippy retort passes Katsuki's lips before he has the wherewithal to stop it.
Instantly he berates himself for getting too emotional. He had promised himself he'd stay calmly detached throughout this conversation. He knows he has to be for this scheme to have even the slightest chance of success.
"Kacchan, what are you talking about? You attacked me, remember? Our classmates had to restrain you so that nobody else was hurt."
Unimpressed, Katsuki glares at his opponent. This little fucker...Well that attempt was a bust. Time to change track.
Katsuki deliberates on what he can say to force Midoriya to confess to doing something unethical that doesn't directly involve himself. He's still holding onto the hope that he can somehow escape this situation while keeping his pride intact. If he can cast some doubt on Midoriya's true nature and bring proof to the public eye showing how devious Midoriya is capable of being, surely that would taint everything he said thereafter? Katsuki's counting on that doubt if Midoriya goes through with his threat to expose him in retaliation. Well at least he hopes it would. The intimate material he stars in is more problematic. Perhaps creating uncertainty about Midoriya's honesty would also lead people to question if whatever physical evidence he releases is doctored. This element is something Katsuki is still struggling to convince himself of. The physical evidence remains something that Katsuki's struggling to contend with and he's aware it's a critical flaw in his plan. Honestly, the plan is full of holes but it's all he has right now. The risk of delaying to come up with a better alternative is too great.
The next card Midoriya plays beats Katsuki's last card and wins him the round. Annoyed, Katsuki sweeps all the cards they've played into the discard pile so they can begin the next round. As the winner of the previous round, Midoriya now begins in his new role as the attacker.
Choosing his words carefully, Katsuki tries again. "You always make me question myself. I hate it. It was bad enough when I started doubting my Quirk. But you are seriously making me doubt reality, I just want some proof I'm not going crazy. Telling me won't change anything. I'll still have nothing to prove what you've done and you'll still have what you have on me. Please, Izuku. Please. I know you've done things to people other than me. You must have. I'm not imagining it." Katsuki's babbling by the end of his spiel, desperate to get something, anything that could save him and his friends from this fucking psycho.
Midoriya plays a nine of clubs, which Katsuki immediately blocks with a Jack.
"Or do you just hate me?" Katsuki tries despairingly.
There's a pause as Midoriya tilts his head to consider his hand.
Will he attack again? Or end it?
"I know we've had a difficult history but I don't hate you Kacchan."
Midoriya decides to continue the assault by playing another nine.
He's always been a tough opponent.
"Yeah? Well your behaviour suggests otherwise."
Midoriya frowns. "I think it is because we rarely ever express our true feelings. But I thought you had already accepted that I don't hate you or look down on you...In fact I have the utmost respect for you and your power."
The seductive smirk playing on the edge of Midoriya's lips seem to directly contradict the words he's saying. Like a movie with an incorrect audio overlay. Maintaining eye contact with Katsuki the entire time, Midoriya presses a card to his lower lip, giving it a fleeting kiss before adding it to the pile. His demeanour screams control and Katsuki is starting to question why he ever thought being able to influence Midoriya was a likely outcome.
"What do I have to do to get you to tell the truth?" Katsuki asks in dismay, throwing down his next card without even looking at it.
"I've never lied to you Kacchan. Other people, sure…" Midoriya looks at his remaining hand before calling off the attack, sending the cards to the discard pile. "But don't we all?"
Katsuki doesn't know how to respond. He needs to be witty and clever and say something that will get Midoriya to let his guard down but he's drawing a blank. A complete and utter blank. Self-loathing washes over him, drowns him. He pictures a future where Kirishima's body has been reduced to a torso with his limbs torn off. It is terrifying and dramatic but given Kirishima's recent brush with death it also doesn't even seem that far-fetched, because let's face it, he's going to mess up whether it's today, tomorrow or ten years from now and people he cares about are going to suffer because he was too weak to protect them from the ticking time bomb he knew about and too stupid to convince them that Izuku Midoriya, the successor to the Symbol of Peace, was a a wolf in sheep's clothing that they'd happily allowed into their midst.
I need to say something quickly! What can I say to get him to open up?
"Well I'm going to tell fewer lies from now on," is what he settles on.
The blandness of his response makes Katsuki cringe internally. He thinks of that thick needle piercing flesh, the drag of thread through bleeding wounds and the panic of being unable to speak. At the time he'd thought the lesson was related to giving others the opportunity to talk, now Katsuki wonders if Midoriya had actually been trying to illustrate how redundant his words actually were. That Katsuki was as useless when he was compelled to be silent as he was when he was able to speak. Yet another source of inferiority beyond what hung between his legs.
"Being good and perfect all the time can get so damn tiring," Midoriya reveals.
Katsuki's lucky. Lucky that his incompetence hasn't ruined everything. Despite Katsuki's poor attempts to direct the conversation towards something incriminating, it seems Midoriya's penchant for rambling means his response is a given.
"Goodness knows how All-Might did it." Midoriya continues, oblivious to Katsuki's inner monologue vehemently lambasting himself. "I respect him even more for it now that I know how hard it actually is. Maybe Endeavour had it right, was onto something, sometimes you do have to do morally questionable things to get the results you want."
"Hey," Katsuki says. "Even though what you are doing is wrong...even though you're forcing me into this...Every time I see that darkness in you I find you just that little bit more attractive."
"Uh-huh."
Dammit! Katsuki wants to murder him. This is painful for him to say, not least because it isn't entirely false. Though Katsuki isn't attracted to Izuku's psychopathic nature, he has become addicted to the degradation that Izuku dishes out, that sweet cocktail of pain without relief that Katsuki has come to think he deserves.
"No really," Katsuki continues, adding a seductive lilt to his tone and lowering his gaze to suggest shyness. "Don't get me wrong. I hate you and what you've been doing but what I hate the most is that thinking about you, Izuku, is the quickest way to get myself off. And this is coming from somebody who didn't even notice you like that before."
Midoriya speaks slowly as if he's in a daze. "Everything I've done has been for you though. I didn't want to threaten Camie or lie to the police to frame Hojirio-sensei…"
Bingo. Katsuki's eyes widen as Midoriya dissolves into muttering. Wait a second. Holy shit he did something to Camie! And who? One of our middle-school teachers!?
Midoriya plays a King of Diamonds next. "Anyway it's your turn."
"What! You can't offer up information like that and then not expand on it!"
Giggling to himself, Midoriya raises a shoulder in a parody of a shrug and points meaningfully at the pile of cards. Emotions in disarray, Katsuki selects one of his cards and plays it. The muffled music is the only reminder that there is a world outside this room.
"So Hojirio-sensei?" Katsuki prods. "He was a good guy. He can't have changed much since middle school."
Katsuki's voice turns wistful as he reflects over his interactions with his former teacher. He'd been so lost and angry after Kamino Ward but his old history teacher had supported Katsuki, even though he barely remembered his former student. The comfort Hojirio-sensei provided may have been in a form that was against common societal propriety but it had been what Katsuki needed. He'd been put in his place behind the closed doors of a seedy motel so he could stay strong outside of it. Whether he'd needed someone to scream at, someone to comfort him or somebody to choke him on their cock, Hojirio-sensei had been that and more for him. When Katsuki had started spending evenings with Hojirio-sensei he'd known for years that he liked it when men with large cocks fucked his face until his eyes streamed with tears. However, it wasn't until he'd met Hojirio-sensei that he knew he liked it when men with sincere smiles met his lips with their own.
A grumbled 'I surrender' jerks Katsuki from his thoughts and back to the game. Glancing down at the cards scattered in front of him, he realises Midoriya has surrendered this round. Now Midoriya's attacking run has ended, as per the rules of the game, Katsuki is allowed to draw his cards first as the new attacker. After he has picked up his cards, Midoriya reaches towards the draw pile for his own cards. Their hands brush and Katsuki has to restrain himself from snatching his away in disgust.
"You mean Hojirio-sensei, our middle-school teacher, right?" Katsuki prompts.
"Mmmm though I suppose he isn't a teacher anymore. I saw what you did with him after your kidnapping in our first-year. I didn't want him touching you like that anymore so I made sure he couldn't..." Midoriya trails off as he counts his cards. "Don't look so horrified Kacchan. I didn't bring you into it. In fact nobody besides the three of us knows he's a sexual predator. Getting blowjobs from a UA student, how pathetic can you get? Probably the closest he'll ever get to -"
"Enough!" Katsuki snaps. He feels disgusting. "He's not - he didn't. I propositioned him, goddamn it! You didn't have to...wait- what did you do? Did you blackmail him, like you're blackmailing me?"
Midoriya chuckles. "I'm not blackmailing you Kacchan. I didn't blackmail Hojirio-sensei about his sexual escapades with you either. As far as I know you were the only under-aged student he'd ever messed around with and I couldn't risk you dropping out of UA now could I? No. I simply framed him for another type of crime."
Katsuki chokes on his saliva. Holy shit was that why he'd lost contact with his old teacher? He'd thought...It doesn't matter what he thought.
"Y-you framed him? How? For what?!"
The sharp sensation of teeth tugging on his earlobe makes Katsuki tense in fright. He suppresses a shudder as a hot tongue languidly traces around the shell of his ear.
"You seem awfully interested in our old teacher Kacchan. Should I be jealous?"
"No!" Katsuki had taken the time Midoriya was speaking as an opportunity to shuffle away without getting his ear bitten off. He regards the green-haired boy warily, grateful for the small distance he'd gained. "I haven't contacted him or thought about him for ages."
"Oh. We can change the subject if you want. I suppose it was inconsiderate of me to bring him up."
Midoriya rocks back on his heels, resettling where Katsuki had been sitting against the bed moments before. He picks at the cards laid on the floor, seemingly having lost interest with their current topic of conversation.
"Just - what did you do to him?" Katsuki asks, keen not to lose the momentum already established.
"Said a few choice words to the police and left a few things around his house. Nothing terrible. Honestly the lies I told were quite tame if you compare them to how he defiled you…"
Katsuki allows Midoriya to continue his muttering without interruption, trying to simultaneously listen for anything else that could be incriminating while tuning out all of Midoriya's possessive comments about 'his precious Kacchan'. When he comes to a stop Katsuki takes one more leap of faith.
"And Camie?" He adds as an afterthought. He knows there's more, he saw what Midoriya did to Mina. But he doesn't want to push his luck. Right now, Midoriya has given him more than enough to break out of his hold.
"Oh. Her. She came looking for you the weekend after our first date."
"Excuse me, our what?" Katsuki sputters in horror.
"We went to that Carolina Reaper concert together, remember? Anyway that witch came sniffing around campus the next weekend, something about you promising to tell her about it? Anyway, I warned her off."
"I see," Katsuki says quietly. His head hurts. Midoriya's face ripples in front of him. It's not unlike vibrations running through soft clay. "Shall we play one more round?"
"Sure. All or nothing?"
"All or nothing." Katsuki agrees.
-.-
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Katsuki's shaking when he sneaks into a closet packed with cleaning supplies half an hour later. It takes him several attempts to press the button to stop the recording and several more attempts to press the correct button to play it back. Katsuki shudders when the first thing he hears are the wet sounds of them kissing, he violently slams his thumb onto the screen so he can fast-forward to the pertinent parts. Breathing heavily, he listens and then he smiles. The recording has clearly captured Midoriya's voice, high-pitched and laced with an edge of malice he knows few have heard. Hardly believing his luck, Katsuki replays the most incriminating audio segment.
"Sometimes you have to do questionable things to get the results you want...I didn't want to threaten Camie or lie to the police to frame Hojirio-sensei."
Got you.
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Author's Notes: Hope everyone enjoyed the latest chapter! A bit of a wild one! I want to see ALL your reactions. You can also let me know if you have any questions! I'll be sure to answer as long as I'm not giving away any spoilers ;-) Also my goal for the week of November is to post weekly updates! I can pretty much guarantee the next 2 chapters being uploaded on this schedule (though not the 3rd).