Katsuki was woken up by a girl stuffing her head under the wing he'd been hiding in and yelling. Well, talking loudly, but it was as good as yelling, so he woke up with a loud 'pop' from his hands and a closed mouth scream.

"What the fu-" He stopped. Then groaned.

He knew those stupid pink cheeks.

"I'm sorry, I just," she looked startled, which was utterly not justified because he was the one who was fucking startled.

"What the hell do you want?"

"I just-I wanted to see what the dragon was hiding and he let me-he's beautiful, by the way. You've done a good job raising him."

She was wearing a fucking pointy cap with a wide brim. Like a witch.

"...Go away."

"...Sorry for waking you."

Ochaco Uraraka, or probably just Ochaco unless she was noble (her name sucked either way), bashfully pulled out of his den and let Eijiro's wing fall back into place.

Katsuki punched the nearest dragon bit to him. "I was sleeping, dipshit."

Eijiro didn't comment on Katsuki's lack of interest that yet another of the classmates had appeared. Maybe he wasn't surprised either. It was becoming a theme. " It's time for dinner anyways. You've been sleeping all day."

"Then that's my business."

" I'm worried about you. You should at least eat. You're even meaner when you're hangry."

And since Katsuki's stomach had woken up as well and decided to try and eat himself, he groaned, rubbed his face ruthlessly to get the dust out of his eyes, and after regretting his existence for a moment, climbed out.

He was not looking forward to seeing Izuku's face.

Sure enough, the nerd looked like his birthday and Christmas had arrived at once, carried next to the buxom bosom of All Might himself.

"Hey, Kaachan! Lady Uraraka and I brought dinner, you're just in time!"

Ah, so she was a noble. And was just finishing spreading out a blanket on the burnt forest floor. She wore a dress that went down to her calves with wide brimmed long sleeves in the same dark shade as her hat, but with pink ribbon highlights around the waist and collar. Kind of ruined the dark witch look, if her bubbly stupid face hadn't ruined that first. Mina had turned back to her human form, not that it helped hide her pink skin and black sclera eyes any, or the sharp teeth she flashed when she grinned, but Uraraka seemed to take it in stride.

Izuku was watching him carefully for his reaction, but Katsuki wasn't even surprised anymore. Freaking Aizawa could pop out of the trees dressed up as a ninja at this point and he wouldn't even blink. Fuck this life.

Katsuki didn't wait for invitation. He plopped his ass down on the blanket and grabbed the nearest roasted bird leg.

"You could at least take off your boots," said Izuku churlishly.

"All of me is filthy."

"Then eat on Eijiro!"

"It's okay!" said Uraraka quickly. "It's just a blanket."

Katsuki could sense Izuku's pout without having to look.

The others eventually settled around on the blanket and started eating without much ado, since Katsuki had already set the precedent of how they were going to start this. Uraraka did say a silent prayer of sorts before starting, however, and Eijiro curled his massive self in close, though noticeably closest to Mina, who didn't even notice.

Once Katsuki had eaten enough to not feel like the world had done him a personal offense, he wiped his hands on his filthy, burnt pants and setttled his gaze on Izuku.

"You know what this means?"

Izuku just looked at him.

Katsuki grinned. "I get miss flower ass."

Izuku's brow furrowed in confusion. Then he swallowed and rolled his eyes.

"Her name is Lilly."

"Knew it had something to do with a flower."

"You only remember her butt."

"Hey, I remember all of her just fine, it's just the names."

"Sure, Kaachan. Whatever you want."

He eyed Uraraka, who had been staring at Eijiro on and off for some time. Then looked at Izuku again, who was pointedly looking away from him.

"You're not even going to ask, are you?"

Izuku sighed and put his meat pie down. "Well as we know each other, that doesn't mean I can read your mind. Full context."

"The witch. You want to take her with us."

Uraraka jerked her attention to him, eyes the size of plates. "Really?!"

Izuku flinched. "I hadn't-of course, if you want too-"

"No no, I couldn't burden you-"

"It wouldn't be a burden at all!"

"Then maybe could I-but I still have my responsibilities to the Iida household, the forest-"

"Of course, that's fine! I just-"

"But if you need a magician-"

"No, I just-I just thought, well, you were really into dragons, and since that's basically what we're all about…"

Katsuki thought he might be sick. Eijiro and Mina had been irritating with their flirting, but watching the nerd and Pink Cheeks was just…it was liking watching two fluffy birds dance around each other while fighting over who liked the other the most without actually saying it, when everyone around them was either trying to sleep or eat them.

I wanna go home, he thought.

But when he thought of home his mother was there, barking orders at him with her hands on her hips and standing boldly.

He ate another of their monster carrots in a few angry bites, then got up to flee from the vomit which was Izuku and Uraraka eyeing each other shyly as Izuku told her about their trip so far. Mina chimed in way too often for someone who'd only been with them for a few days at most. Thankfully, Eijiro was quiet, probably because he knew Uraraka wouldn't be able to hear him even if he did speak. It was still a mystery as to why Mina could hear him. When they asked she had thought it was weird that she wouldn't be able to hear him and couldn't even say why. To her, it was a given. Humans were the deaf ones.

He'd just got his hands ready on Eijiro's calve to heave himself back inside when Izuku stopped him.

"No, you need a bath."

Katsuki groaned. "You're not my fucking mother."

"You're even more naked than usual and rank as sin, you're taking a bath. Iida found you those new clothes too."

"Fine." He twirled and leaned like a vagrant against Eijiro, scowling. "But let's get this straight, you smell ten times worse than me. I'm basically burnt dirt."

Izuku gave him a flat look.

"I am not having this argument." But even as he said that, he glanced at Uraraka next to him nervously.

Katsuki grinned, but it was weak.

Damn, he was still tired.

Dinner was a short affair, and once finished Izuku and Katsuki helped gather up the dishes and the blanket for Uraraka, along with a bag of their necessary stuffs they didn't want to leave with Eijiro. Katsuki may be a jerk but he knew how to show gratitude when someone fed you, thank you very much. He could feel Eijiro's sad gaze on their backs as they all left, Mina included since she wanted to bathe as well. ("We naga are very hygienic. If you don't you get these mites under your scales and it itches like crazy! Of course I haven't had them before. I've always been very clean.") They made her wear Izuku's cloak with the hood up again, though, because even though the castle folk were use to Uraraka and had begrudgingly accepted the presence of two barbarians, bringing a man-eating naga into the midst of them would just be pushing it a bit too far.

Iida was waiting for them at the back gate as though he didn't have anything better to do. Katsuki felt even more tired just looking at him.

"It's good to see you again, Sir Katsuki," he said with a short bow in Katsuki's direction.

Katsuki grunted.

"I've found some clothes for you. I'll send them to your temporary quarters along with a bath. Some maids will draw it for you, I hope you don't mind their presence."

"Stop treating me like I'm going to eat you, it's insulting."

Iida stiffened and blinked at him owlishly. "Sir, I'm just doing my best to be polite. And you did almost blow up my entire estate and everyone inside it."

Now it was Katsuki's turn to flinch. Katsuki folded his arms tightly across his bare chest, turned his head away, and 'tched' through his teeth.

At least Izuku wasn't giving him that look like a mother disappointed in her child like he usually would in a situation like this. His attention was to Uraraka who, after greeting her lord, had taken up Izuku's hand to look more closely at something to do with his magic. Katsuki had only been half listening to her rapid-fire jabber. Whatever happened to opposites attract? Her and Izuku were too much alike. Nerds, both of them.

It was an awkward affair, being led into the castle and passing by servants and guards alike. They all jumped or stared at the sight of Katsuki before bowing their heads and scuttling away. It was his fault, really, and it hadn't been much better before he'd blown up, but it set Katsuki's teeth on edge, mostly because he knew it had nothing to do with his muscles this time. He hated not being in control of his own body, and their reactions just reminded him of all that.

The 'quarters' Iida spoke of was a stone room bigger than Katsuki expected from this dinky two-floor castle. The walls were of white-washed plaster with a few tapestries and ornamental weapons hung up for decoration, with a simple wooden chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Though, rather than candles, it had little glowing balls of light at it's sticks.

"Uraraka made those," said Izuku to Katsuki, as though bragging about his kid.

Yeah, who needed electricity when you had magic?

There was only one bed in the room, but it was large and surrounded by heavy curtains and a canopy. There was a woven rug on the floor and two leatherbacked chairs in front of the large fireplace. The windows were, as most fortress windows went, narrow and devoid of glass. Rather, they used shutters to block out the outside when necessary.

"It's not much. We're a rather poor territory in comparison to others. Despite living next to the riches of the forest, we're not allowed to take much from it by our lord and taxes have been raised rather high for the past few years for…various reasons. Though we've never been that, uh, well-off."

"I could care less if you were rich," said Katsuki to Iida's self-conscious excuses. "Thanks for the bed," he said, a bit more quietly. Again, he could be a grateful ass, thank you very much.

"It's because there use to be a lot of magic folk here," said Uraraka. "When they were banished to the forests at lot of the city's trades and exports went with them."

"Lady Uraraka," said Iida.

"What's so bad with her saying that?" asked Izuku as he set his bag down next to the fireplace. Katsuki followed suit by throwing his bag on the otherside.

Iida shifted his weight. "Well…It's not exactly our shining moment."

"His ancestors burned a bunch of us at the stake," said Uraraka lightly. "It's only since his parents that they've started advocating for magical tolerance."

"I never got that. If magic can give you good shit like that," Katsuki pointed at the glow balls hanging from the ceiling. "Why chuck them out?"

"It's because only a small minority of people are born with magic, and not all magic done is beneficial. It's easy to blame things like accidents and diseases on a curse or to be wary of someone who was born with more power than you," said Uraraka.

"People were never kind to those who are different," said Izuku, and there was a distant look in his eye that told Katsuki he was remembering their previous life.

"It should be easy for you to understand," said Iida. "After all, your people are outcast themselves in part for having similar power over others in birthing the dragon tamers."

"Not anymore. I'm the only one born in the past hundred years and Izuku was technically born outside the tribe." Now Katsuki was the one looking off into the distance as he tried to remember a time when his people hadn't lived in huts on a dry savannah.

"Well, even now, not many dragon tamers are born outside your people," said Uraraka. "As I told Izuku, outside you and him, there are only four other known dragon tamers in the entire empire. There use to be hundreds, but for some reason, once they were taken out of their native tribes, whatever was passed down from parent to child that made them born dragon tamers started showing up less and less often. When people tried taming the dragons without the ability to communicate or started hunting them for their body parts to make weapons, dragons fled to secret corners of the continent to avoid them."

Katsuki snorted. "That's dumb. Why not just destroy us humans? They're bigger, more powerful." But even as he said it he already had a sense for the answer. The barbarians were stronger and bigger than the people here, weren't they? The nearest settlement to the north, and yet where were they?

"I don't know," said Uraraka. "Maybe it was a kindness that they didn't fight us, or perhaps we outnumber them that much. People are also incredibly resourceful, especially in the art of war."

A moment of quiet fell between the four of them.

Inda broke it with a clearing of his throat. "Well, I'll just get to ordering up that bath. Please feel free to roam the castle as you like, my home is your home. It's the least I can do after, well…"

Stupid Toaster. Now Katsuki felt guilty.

"Thanks," he said again, as though that might help. It always came out awkward when he said it.

"Yes, thank you very much," said Izuku.

"You're very welcome."

"Uraraka, do you have stuff to see to or…?" Izuku looked painfully hopeful.

"Oh! Well, yes, I have put off a lot today. Being the only one able to make protective charms and undo fairy curses does make one awfully busy, but I'll see you at breakfast, yeah? Or you could-I mean, you can visit me at my lab whenever you like too. I don't mind. I appreciated your help, I'm so glad to have met someone of the magical folk."

"Yeah. I'll do that." Then Izuku just had to give the sappiest of dorky smiles. "I-I really liked hanging out with you."

Uraraka returned the smile, because she was a sap too, of course.

Then they were finally gone and Katsuki could do what he had wanted to do since coming in here: laying face down on the rug on the floor. He would have thrown himself on the bed instead if he didn't stink like shit and was covered in soot.

"How do I get her to remember me…?"

Katsuki knew Izuku was just saying the question outloud, not directing it at him, but he answered anyway.

"Blow her up with gunpowder. That's what worked on you."

"Kaachan." No need to sound disapproving, he was just telling the truth.

"What?" Gall, he was tired.

"...Did you happen to bring any?"

For the first time in what felt like forever, Katsuki cackled.