Katsuki was regretting it too.

Mina was just as chatty in this life as she was in the past. Thing was, there was a reason dragons could speak telepathically, and that's because, while flying in the air, one couldn't make themselves heard unless they shouted at the top of their lungs, and that couldn't be called a conversation. But Mina, hooo, she didn't take roaring wind as a no.

And fucking Eijiro just had to be so enamored by her to keep talking back. And Katsuki couldn't even plug his ears against dragon tele-talk. It made him desperately wish he could fly away himself so he could leave the two to their own devices because if there was anything more painful than trying not to listen to a shouted conversation for hours on end, it was Eijiro's painful attempts to flirt with someone not of his same species.

He took comfort when they landed and he spotted worn edges to Izuku's smile and a twitch to his eyes.

"Why don't you and Mina go find something for us to eat and some firewood?" he'd said the moment the saddle-bags were untied from the dragon's back.

Eijiro lit up, dropping his jaw in a dog-like grin as though Izuku had just made the move of the best wing-man.

"Oh, you ain't seen no hunter yet till you've seen me," Mina said. "It is on!"

Then the two had vanished into the thinning woods and hills, leaving Katsuki and Izuku blessedly alone.

They looked at each other. Then gave long sighs in unison.

"Pray to god your dragon isn't someone else from our old life," said Katsuki.

"Unless it's Shou-chan," Izuku melted face first into the grass. "He doesn't talk much."

Katsuki figured Izuku was onto something and went face first into the grass too. It was blessed relief on his poor, saddle-beaten behind.

"If he's a dragon, he's probably some messed-up half-breed of a fire and ice dragon."

"Eijiro had nothing to do with fire."

"Yeah, but Half-and-Half had issues. Ones that he'd probably tug around past the grave."

"Maybe not a dragon at all, then."

"Stop talking. My ears and head are ringing."

Izuku happily obligued and they spent a lovely time smelling grass and letting the sound pollution drain out of their brains.

By the time Eijiro and Mina returned with a maw full of dead wood and trailing a rather impressive elk behind them, Katsuki felt a bit more willing to not start punching heads.

Eijiro dropped how mouthful of wood. " Get this, dudes! Fully grown dragons can transform into a human shape! "

"Of course they can," Katsuki said into the dirt. Just because his self-control had recovered didn't mean his ass had.

"That's cool, Eijiro," said Izuku, ever the philanthropist.

"Yeah, but Eiji here is still a baby," said Mini with a fangy smirk and a patronizing pat on Eijiro's side.

" Don't be like that! I'll be a man yet!"

Mina snorted. "Why'd you want to be man-shaped? Legs are gross, all twitchy and crawly, like bugs." She shuddered.

Eijiro visibly wilted.

Yeah, Katsuki wasn't touching that with a ten-foot pole. The traitorous lizard could comfort himself, or better yet, Izuku could do the job.

"Can they transform into anything else?" Izuku asked. "Wait, why didn't you already know this? You're the dragon, didn't, like, your mom tell you?"

"The dragons probably thought it was creepy to be human-shaped too," said Katsuki.

Eijiro gave him a doe-eyed look of betrayal.

"Well, it's kind of a myth," said Mina. She elongated her claws and hunched down at the belly of the deer. "Dragons haven't had to dwell among humans in centuries, and it's not exactly convenient to be human-shaped, believe me."

"Oi! Don't go gutting that right where we're sleeping!"

Mina rolled her eyes, but obeyed, dragging away the elk twice her size like it was made of paper.

"Maybe dragons have evolved out of being able to transform entirely," said Izuku quietly, but not quietly enough.

" Aw man, why not just stab me while you're at it? You guys are the worst! "

"You're the one who couldn't fucking make a move for over a decade," said Katsuki, already deep at work throwing the logs together for the fire. It was already twilight and cooking meat properly took a stupidly long time and Katsuki was tired.

Izuku pulled in logs with him, many years of practice making him set up logs in just the right shape that Katsuki was aiming for without having to say a word.

" I was busy trying to save the world. "

"YOU were busy?" Katsuki snorted. "Izuku, kick him. He took your excuse."

"Nah, my legs still hurt. I don't think dragons were meant to be ridden."

Katsuki cackled. "Here that? Dragons weren't meant to be ridden! "

Eijiro gave Katsuki a very unamused look.

"You guys talk about the weirdest things," said Mina loudly from where she was elbow-deep in deer guts. How her voice wasn't sore after a day of shouting Katsuki might never know.

Thankfully, having a fire dragon sped up cooking, so they were able to stuff meat down their gullet within a reasonable enough time. Katsuki half expected Eijiro and Mina to keep chattering past bedtime like a couple of bratty kids, but flying all day must have done it because they passed out just as soon as he did. Not even his recovering mosquito bites were able to keep him conscious.

He woke up hurting and missing his old fur cot like a mother…he may have missed his mother too-but like hell would he ever say that!

"I miss my mom's ash cakes," said Izuku over a sad bit of cold, fire-grilled elk.

Katsuki nearly hit him for encouraging the whammy-mammy-mom-talk.

" I miss my mom's everything ," said Eijiro, who looked like he was feeling pretty sore too.

Katsuki groaned.

"I thought dragons itch from a young age to get away from their mom's," said Mina who actually looked pretty chipper, blast her.

" I wasn't always a dragon! " Eijiro actually snapped. Perhaps the riding joke had been taking it too far. " I was human in my previous life! "

Katsuki and Izuku's heads snapped to Mina for her response.

She blinked. Then chuckled.

"Silly dragon, you've been around humans too long. You only get one life, everyone knows that. But, hey," she shrugged. "That's why I wanted to travel with you dorks in the first place. Get exposed to different perspectives and beliefs and all that. Oh, and weird food, though I don't know when that's gonna start." She gestured with her chunk of cold venison.

" But it's true! " Eijiro cried. " They had previous lives too-we even all knew each other! "

"Pfft ha hah-sorry, um, that just came out. Um, that's really cool, Eiji. What was this previous life like?"

"..."

Katsuki did not blame Eijiro at all when he quietly turned his back towards Mina and pointedly curled his long neck away from her.

"Hey! I didn't mean to-aw jee, I'm sorry! The other dragons I met just weren't this sensi-no, wait, probably shouldn't say that. Oh, how about I catch you another deer? Being away from a heat source has made you extra hungry, hasn't it?"

"Don't think a deer's gonna pull your foot out of your mouth," said Katsuki.

Izuku had trotted around to Eijiro's head and was stroking his horn and muttering stuff Katsuki couldn't quite hear, but which was probably comforting.

Mina bit her lip. She looked down at her cold meat.

"Yeah…I wasn't a favorite with the naga either."

Katsuki considered her sad form as he chewed his latest deer bite. Freaking night-old meat was tough. Took about a million chews just so it wouldn't choke you to death.

"Guess we know the real reason you wanted to come along then," he said once he'd managed to swallow.

She pinched her shoulders to her ears. If she'd had her old horns from her previous life, they'd probably be drooping too.

"I'm sorry," she said, quietly.

He shrugged. "Hey, I ain't hurt. Not much you could do to offend me."

"That's a lie."

"Say that louder, Deku, I dare you."

"Nah, that might offend you."

Katsuki stared at Izuku still petting the damn dragon horn until the nerd looked up and met his eye.

Izuku bolted just as Katsuki launched himself.

Good for Katsuki he still had a good few inches over Izuku, and it was all in the legs, so he got that sucker down in record time. He'd even managed to mash his face into the ground before Izuku bucked him off and went for his throat.

"Shou-shouldn't we, uh, stop them?" Mina squeaked.

" It's fine. It's how they bond," said Eijiro.

"Humans…do that?"

" These ones do ."

"Huh…guess we're all freaks for our species then."

Katsuki managed to flip Izuku back under him and had a knee to his back.

"Oi! The only freaky part of me is how amazing I am-shut up, Deku!"

Izuku had started guffawing into the grass, not even trying to keep up the wrestling match anymore.

"Oh my god, he said that with a straight face," said Mina.

Eijiro just sighed.