"What do you miss most?"

"Ny-"

"Besides Nyquil."

"We've had this conversation a million times."

"A lot's changed. I'm updating the list."

"Why's that a list?"

"Hnrgh."

Izuku and he both had to lay on their stomach to help their wounds heal up on their backs. Auntie Inko was able to speed along the healing, but not do it completely, especially in Katsuki's case with a shattered shoulder blade.

Thing was, being stuck on your stomach was even more boring than being stuck on your back. He felt like a baby, set out on a quilt on the grass under the blue sky as he was. It made him think of his mom, which was probably why Izuku had moved his own blanket next to him and was asking inane questions.

Katsuki humoured him and thought hard for a moment to see if his list had changed.

"Mattresses. Blankets in general. Pillows."

"But we've got those."

"Lame ass ones. And they take forever to make. I mean, like, the microfibre plush shit and super puffy pillows without any lame feather stick things poking you in the face."

"Yeah. I think you mean synthetic fibers, then."

"Don't get nerdy on me."

"Then industrial farming, maybe, for the cotton and stuff."

"We got sheep."

"Yeah, but cotton and wool are different."

"I know that."

They fell quiet for a bit, listening to the breeze over the bush forest and the murmur of the tribe just a hop and skip away from them. It didn't take much concentration for Katsuki to be able to pick up on conversations. They were stilted, awkward things, with high pitched children or shaking aged voices. It made his chest tighten, so he tried not to listen too hard unless the lower timber of a healthy, younger adult's voice pitched in, bringing the white noise back to normalacy.

"I miss pens," said Izuku.

"I knew that."

"But seriously, there's nothing like a nice pen with a smooth, thick line on fresh, blank paper."

"Nerd."

"Stationary stores were my bane."

"I thought that was hero merch stores."

"Nah. I liked them, yeah, but I had to save up to afford anything. Stationary stores on the other hand, they're just affordable enough to make you think you can afford everything even when you really don't need any of it. But then those pens…"

"Stop orgasming over your pen fantasies where I can hear."

Izuku sighed. "Why do you have to make everything so crude?"

"So it wakes up nerds to how creepy they sound."

"You're the one making it weird."

"But dem pens," Katsuki moaned in mocking sexual ecstasy.

Izuku giggled and flopped his hand over to smack whatever part of Katsuki he could reach without turning his head around to look at him.

"Stop iiiiitt."

"You stop it, freak."

A particularly heavy gust of wind washed over them, warm and tinted with the smell of sulfur. A few feet away, Eijiro snoozed, his wing heavily stitched and lashed to his body by rope to prevent him from accidentally opening it and tearing the stitches. He had just finished a light, rare meal of goat meat. Usually he could go out and hunt his own meat since the livestock of the tribe was precious, but given the sudden population decrease the tribe found they could afford more to the dragon.

Quiet fell between them long enough for Katsuki to drop his eyes close and doze. Depression, recovering from wounds, and boredom made a lethal dose of sleepiness.

"I think Birdie squealed."

Katsuki wrinkled his nose. "What the hell you talking about?"

"Listen, even if they're from a different tribe, we're the same people, right? It was a given that no one would be telling outsiders we had a dragon tamer. But Birdie went traveling after you dumped her to 'get over it,' didn't she?"

He snorted. "Cute. But even she isn't lame enough to risk an entire tribe just to get back at me."

"People don't do reasonable things, Kacchan. And she's liked you ever since we were little."

Katsuki rubbed the roof of his mouth with his tongue. It wasn't a completely new thought to him. He'd suspected Birdie himself. But it was still hard for him to grasp. Birdie's family was in the tribe. Granted, her father had a bad leg and would have been one of those in the back with a bow and arrow rather in the dirt of the fight, but she had younger brothers too and her mother could fight just fine. Surely she wouldn't have risked her own family just to get him kidnapped.

Unless she had thought they would give him and Eijiro up without a fight.

And she hadn't returned yet.

A quick flush of fury, acidic as bile and hot as flame, washed over him, then crawled back like a wave.

"Even if it was her," he grumped. "We got no evidence and she ain't around."

"And she lost a brother too," added Izuku. "Just deserts."

"Just deserts my ass. A bratty little brother isn't the same as a parent."

He flopped his head over towards Izuku, ignoring the twinge of his healing shoulder. He waited until Izuku felt his gaze enough to turn his head to meet his eye.

A wuff of dragon's breath rustled their hair.

"As soon as we're healed," he said.

Izuku's gaze was just as determined. "I have my dad's maps. I know the first place to look."

"You tried it since then? Your magic."

"Yeah." Izuku grimaced. "Shocked Marty's dog."

Katsuki snorted. "So that's why the mutt was crying."

They stared at each other for a second longer, communicating silently, mouth's set.

"You should burn the flag," Izuku said.

One of the spoils of war had been a flag made of thick silk, woven into red and blue stripes with the depiction of a griffin and snake on the front. It was the only lead they had on which country the invaders had come from.

"Waste of quality material," said Katsuki, turning his head back around so Izuku wouldn't see his expression. "And for a noose."

"Katsuki."

"They killed my mom."

" Katsuki."

"It's just in case I meet some on the way."

"That's murder . You're a hero. We already killed the entire regiment in self defense."

"I meant if I happen to meet who sent them."

"A king? Just so happens to be on the road? Burn it, Kacchan. I'm serious."

"..."

"I'll tell your dad."

"You won't tell the old man a thing, fuckwad."

"Then burn it and forget about it. Revenge won't do anything but destroy you. We'll find my dragon-"

"And then what?" Katsuki had to speak through gritted teeth as hot rage rose up in him, popping in his palms. "Fly back here and hope our dear neighbors don't get greedy again? We're barely living up here. We're like savages on the fringes of the world, the only reason our tribe still exists is because of Eijiro and us two."

"So what? We unify the seven tribes and start a war? Get more people killed?"

Katsuki didn't say anything.

"I thought so," said Izuku. "Look, we hardly know anything about this world outside of the northern lands. With more knowledge we can figure out what to do."

"We aren't the only ones who have traveled. Why do you think none of the others have come up with any ideas?"

"Because they didn't ride dragons or come from another world?"

"This is our world now, dork. You think I don't know how stupid it is to think you're more special than anyone else? Fuck that, I know where that leads you."

Now it was Izuku's turn to fall quiet.

After a few minutes of wuffling dragon's breath and the muted chatter of nearby children, Izuku sighs.

"I think it's just as bad of a mistake to assume everything's been thought of."

Katsuki gave a non committal hum and closed his eyes again, letting the remaining anger seep out of him once more. It was all about breathing and grounding himself in the sounds of the bushy tree's branches clicking together.

He missed proper trees. Big ass things with actual leaves in a proper green and not this washed-out, pine and sage crap.

If he ever found out it was Birdie…

"Do you really think your mom remembered?" Izuku asked quietly some time later.

"Dad said she didn't," he said. "Looked at me like a fucking psychopath."

"Psychopath and delusional are not the same thing."

"Nerd down."

"...Maybe we'll meet some of the others."

"I sure hope not. You know what them being here means."

"Well, a lot more people than you think cared about you."

"And that's creepy! I was a fucking asshole."

"Yeah. But not all the time. And, uh, even assholes can be loved."

"I can hear you smiling, stop it. Fucking smartass."

"If you had a swear jar, I'd make millions. I know you have a vocabulary outside of profanity."

"Nothing as delicious as using forbidden hard consonants to make extras get a clue."

"Whoa. Now who's the nerd?"

"Shut up. I make nerdness cool."

"Sure you do, Kacchan."

"...Zuku?"

"Yeah?"

"...Thanks."

"For what?"

"You know."

"Yeah, but I'd like to hear you say it."

"Tough luck, I ain't gonna. Now shut up, I want a nap."

"Okay. Thanks, Kacchan. For saying thanks."

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

"Yeah, well, need to balance out the nerdness somehow."

"Damn right."

With that, Katsuki let himself slip off into the dark where his mother flashed grins at him and slapped his arms back into position during weapons training. In there she was as he remembered her, invincible, fearless, and cooing at the baby him in her arms.