Izuku was All for One's dog.
None of that had made sense to Katsuki as he prepared to lie down to get some much needed sleep.
Everything that had happened had been a bit too much to process after Izuku left, so Katsuki had done what he did best. Ignore it all in favor of what he can do right then.
After telling his friends to head to his place, Katsuki had made sure he took the girl to the hospital to be looked after and he came home and gone through his routine for the night.
He was glad his friends had been too tired and drunk to bother waiting for him and had situated themselves in the guest bedroom.
As he laid back on his bed, the light snoring of his friends nearby, Katsuki's thoughts wandered as everything of that night caught up to him.
Izuku was All for One's dog.
Izuku was a criminal.
The sentence didn't fit right to Katsuki. Criminal and Izuku should never be in the same sentence because the Izuku he knew could have never gone down such a dark path.
The image of him standing in that alley dressed in a well-tailored suit. Sleeves rolled, leaving nasty scars in full display as they criss-crossed up the length of his arm, looking every bit the part of a criminal and nothing like the nerdy wimp of his former past.
Katsuki had seen one scar over his right collarbone, which meant there were more he kept hidden under his clothes.
He had known that Izuku had grown taller, even wider because no amount of baggy clothes or hunched shoulders could hide it, but he hadn't known how much of it had been pure muscle until Izuku had picked him up like he was nothing but air.
This only brought up the over the other memories that Katsuki wasn't ready to face.
"You don't seem like the type to be held by another man, Katsuki."
Katsuki groaned into his pillow as Izuku's words came back to haunt him. He had felt like a puppet being dragged around by the other man. Izuku had lost the whining edge to his voice and had deepened over the years. It seemed his two modes were to either tempt or tease Katsuki. Izuku hadn't been wrong either, Katsuki had always been the one in charge int he relationship, but then why hadn't he said anything.
"Or maybe you are?"
Katsuki's face grew hot as his words teased his thoughts.
He wasn't!
Or at least he didn't think he would be, but then why had Izuku's question brought up so many possibilities in that moment? Why had Katsuki not minded the idea of being held if it was Izuku?
Katsuki smashed the palms of his hands into his eyes to erase the images of what could have happened had they not been interrupted that night.
"Stupid, stupid. What the hell is wrong with me?" Katsuki asked.
Katsuki tried to clear his thoughts of all things Izuku, but the longer he tried to force them out, the more they came back insistent. Thoughts of Izuku as he pinned him to the wall and the way Katsuki's heart hat raced, drowning out the sounds of the surrounding alley.
The way his hands had wrapped around his waist, Katsuki had thought to push him away, but all he had managed was to grab onto the front of his shirt as he warred wit himself like an idiot. Izuku was like a magnet and Katsuki could do nothing more but follow his lead as he had pulled Katsuki's chin up towards him. Izuku's face had loomed over him so close that Katsuki could count the light freckles of his cheeks as Izuku's eyes darkened intensely and demanding all of Katsuki's attention on him.
He had given in to Izuku without a shred of hesitation after that. The man who Katsuki would later find out was the dog of a crime lord. A possible killer even and Katsuki had pulled him in like a touched starved fool.
"Argghhhh!" Katsuki yelled into his pillow as his legs kicked out to push the covers away, his skin warm and uncomfortable.
He should think about the possibility of Izuku being connected to Emiko's case. Even if he hadn't done it, Izuku had admitted to being a part of a crime organization. A member of the same organization that were Katsuki's prime suspects for Emiko's murder. If it have been anyone else, Katsuki would have put them at the top of his list. Goto was already on his list to investigate later today. None of this painted Izuku in a good light.
Katsuki touched his bottom lip as his mind wandered in memory of the rough callouses of Izuku's thumb. Katsuki couldn't come up with an excuse why he had licked the skin. He had just been curious.
Curious to know what Izuku would taste like.
Curious to know if he could make Izuku feel as out of control as Katsuki felt.
His gut clenched as he curled inward around himself. Memories kept flooding in broken sequences, unwilling to let him rest.
This was the nerd that had chased after him in their youths, who had promised to stay by Katsuki's side as his partner as they fought crime together like superheroes. Clearly, Izuku had gone down a darker path. But even before Katsuki had found out, hadn't he been determined to get back that same friendship?
Wasn't that what Katsuki had wanted?
Then why were his senses overwhelmed with the deep roast of coffee and light hint of menthol that had clung to Izuku's clothes? Why had his legs fit so perfectly around Izuku's waist as he held him like they always meant it to happen this way?
Katsuki flushed. The bastard didn't even realize he had been mumbling his thoughts out-loud, making heat pool low in his belly as Izuku pressed words of worship into Katsuki's skin like a claim.
Katsuki groaned as he shifted in place, his pants restrictive, but he refused to acknowledge his traitorous body's reaction to Izuku.
By seven a.m. Katsuki gave up on sleep, convinced he wasn't that tired to begin with and had nothing to do with the haunting fantasy of Izuku sneaking back to finish what he had started in the alley.
Katsuki also took the coldest shower he could handle because he wanted to.
Dressed for work and shivering from the ice torture he had put himself through, Katsuki went straight to the kitchen to cook his sexual frustration away.
Kirishima was the first to wake to the banging of drawers and Katsuki's cursing. The red head scratched at his stomach, his eyes still closed as he stumbled his way to the breakfast bar to slouch into the stool across from Katsuki.
"Man, it's too early for this." Kiri said.
"Stop whining or you can make your own breakfast." Katsuki warned.
"Noooooo, I want food." Kiri whined.
Katsuki huffed as he vigorously whipped at a bowl of eggs. He needed them to come out perfectly, because this he could do. He couldn't control what happened last night with Goto, his investigation or fucking Izuku. But right now, Katsuki could make perfect fluffy eggs because his mind decided this was important for his sanity.
"So, what happened last night?" Kirishima asked.
"Nothing happened. Stop asking!" Katsuki yelled.
Kiri's eyes widened as his hand paused mid scratch. Katsuki avoided his gaze as he turned to the stove to pour the egg mix into the heated pan.
"Uh, this is the first time I'm asking?" Kiri said.
His voice came out unsure, but before either could say something else, there was shuffling behind them. Katsuki turned his head to glance back and found the girls had woken up as they made their way into the kitchen.
"Eijiiiii, my head hurts." Mina whined.
"Foods almost ready." Katsuki said.
Jiro sat down on a stool while Mina stayed standing, preferring to lean into Kiri as she peaked her head out from behind him to rest her chin on his shoulder.
"I think Katsuki has some painkillers in the bathroom if you want some after eating." Kiri said.
Katsuki poured the eggs into individual plates for everyone. The bacon was already prepared and resting in a bowl.
"Need any help?" Jiro asked.
Katsuki moved about to place the prepared food on to the breakfast bar. He glared at Jiro, daring her to even try to step through the holy threshold.
"Go wake up the idiot duo and stay out of my kitchen." Katsuki said.
The petite girl smiled, her hands raised in surrender as she got back and left, only to return with Denki's arms wrapped around her shoulders as she dragged him out with surprising ease. Sero followed behind his raven hair, a wild mess as he yawned.
"Man, I'm going to become spoiled if you keep feeding us like this." Sero asked.
"You complaining?" Mina asked.
"Hell no, I'm just going to go through withdrawals when he stops." Sero complained.
Everyone sat down after that to eat with the familiar compliments of delicious, and please marry me that Katsuki shut down with ease.
Once everyone had settled in, they naturally gravitated to topics of work. The girls had little to comment on the subject, so they focused on their food, their faces curious as they listened.
"I got a notice that the girl from last night woke up. They said she'll be discharged later today in case we want to speak to her before she leaves." Katsuki said.
"Sure, want me to go with you to talk to her?" Kiri asked.
Katsuki nodded as he took a bite of the cantaloupe he had sliced for everyone. The sweetness was mild enough for his palette. If they visited the girl first, that gave them enough time to get whatever they could on this Goto guy and go check his and Izuku's records at the office.
"So, how is this girl connected to the case?" Mina asked.
"Yeah, that's what I'd like to know." Sero said.
Katsuki wasn't sure how much he wanted to admit just yet, he knew he'd have to tell at least Kiri about Izuku which meant the others would figure it out eventually as well, but he was still processing the information to himself so he wasn't ready to say the words out loud where everything would become a reality.
"She was being taken by a man named Goto. I found out that he has a connection to All for One." Katsuki said.
That made everyone, even the girls, pause as they stared in open mouth shock at the news.
"Is he the dog we heard about?" Denki asked.
Katsuki shifted in his seat, his gaze focused on his plate as he pushed the food around, unable to bring himself to take a bite.
"No, not him, but they're associated with each other." Katsuki said.
"How did you find that out?" Kiri asked.
"He admitted it." Katsuki said.
It wasn't a complete lie because Goto was the one that had given Izuku away with that big mouth of his. The taller man was clearly jealous of Izuku.
Everyone went silent with the information as they focused on their food. This allowed Katsuki to let his mind return to his blank state as he focused on eating, though the food was bland on his tongue. He had relaxed midway through the meal when Denki decided now was the time to ruin any semblance of peace that Katsuki had gained.
"So we gonna finally talk about why Katsuki came back looking thoroughly devoured or what?" Denki asked.
Katsuki let out an inhuman growl, his fist clenched as he glared at the piss haired idiot. He held back on throwing the fork at his idiot head because he wasn't worth the mess.
No one got the memo that they shouldn't talk about it, as the others continued, unfazed by his reaction.
Jiro tapped her fork against her lip, her face thoughtful.
"I gotta admit it was a pretty interesting sight to see perfect Kats all disheveled. His lips are still puffy and swollen too." Jiro said.
Katsuki reached for his lip unconsciously and the blue-haired girl smirked as she caught him. He realized his mistake as he slammed his hand back down. The girls were out to get him as Mina pointed a fork at him, her grin wide across her face.
"Don't forget the hickeys." Mina said.
Katsuki forced his hands to stay in place this time.
"Are you two done?" Katsuki said.
"Oh shit! Mina, you weren't lying! He really does!" Sero yelled.
Katsuki lasted all of five seconds before he had given in and rushed over to the nearest mirror by the entryway to look at himself more closely. He ignored the laughter that followed him.
He pulled his shirt collar down to get a clear view, and there, starting behind the back of his ear making a trail down to his collarbone, were little marks of purple.
"What the fucking…. I'll fucking kill him!" Katsuki yelled.
"Him?" Kiri asked.
"Him!" Mina shouted.
His friends dragged Katsuki unwillingly to the dining table, where they surrounded him from all sides. That they had turned this into their own twisted version of an interrogation only grated further on Katsuki's nerves.
"Soooo, Katsuki Bakugo, where exactly did you go after leaving the group?" Mina asked.
Katsuki teeth ground together as he debated keeping his mouth shut, but the manic sparkle in all of their eyes had him worried.
"I went outside to the back alley to get some fresh air and ran into someone." Katsuki said.
"A lover?" Denki asked.
"No!" Katsuki yelled.
Kirishima was apparently playing the good cop because he pushed everyone away as he sat next to Katsuki, his smile soft and welcoming, but it didn't fool Katsuki, who was used to all his tricks by now.
"We just want to understand, Katsuki, if you have a boyfriend, it's okay. You don't need to hide anything from us." Kiri said.
Katsuki gave him a dead faced look unimpressed by his weak ass attempt.
"Fuck you. I said nothing about a boyfriend. Also, your wife has better interrogation tactics." Katsuki said.
Kiri flinched at the insult and Katsuki admitted he could have been nicer, but they were pissing him off at this point. Mina high five Jiro as she urged her husband out of the way to take her place next to Katsuki.
"Let the professionals handle this, babe." Mina said.
She leaned forward; her face neutral as she questioned Katsuki, who at this point had leaned back in his chair, arms crossed.
"So give us the facts Kats, if you don't have a boyfriend, who did you meet in the back alley?" Mina said.
"I don't have to tell you shit." Katsuki said.
"That's true you don't have to tell us anything, but can you afford to stay quiet?" Jiro asked.
Katsuki paused. She had loaded her casual question with enough implications to make him question his decision to stay quiet.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Katsuki asked.
Jiro leaned in behind Mina. The other three were sitting across the table, an audience at the spectacle that was happening in front of them.
"If you don't fess up now, the curiosity will just build. We may stay quiet now, but it's only a matter of time before Kiri drops hints every other sentence to get you to confess. Then Denki and Sero will start blowing up the group chat, which will eventually move into their crazy conspiracy theories. Of course, Mina and I will try our best to keep them in check, but we can only do so much." Jiro said.
Mina took over, her tone sympathetic, but her face was anything but as she grinned at him. "So like we said, can you afford to be bombarded by these three Katsuki obsessed freaks day in and day out? Let's just face facts. You'll break eventually, so why not now and save yourself the torture?"
The three boys nodded simultaneously at her obvious threat. Katsuki cursed as he covered his face, taking calming breaths. He hated the fact that the girls were right. The guys would never stop until he told them everything, so with a sigh, Katsuki raised his hands up in surrender and the group cheered as they crowded around him for the details.
"It was Izuku." Katsuki said.
The others looked confused, but Kiri's mouth fell open in shock at the news.
"The ex friend that rejected you last time?" Kiri asked.
This jump started everyone's memories as they had all heard about the ex friend at this point.
"Holy shit! The asshole who was brave enough to tell Katsuki to fuck off?" Sero asked.
"Shut up, okay, yes, that Izuku!" Katsuki yelled.
Katsuki told them everything he could remember, from their interaction to the make out, Goto and the girl. And finally, the truth of Izuku's identity as All for One's dog. Katsuki was out of breath by the time he spilled his guts out to his friends, but he was both relieved and mortified that the truth of what happened now clung to the silence of the room as everyone gawked at him.
"So, Izuku is a criminal?" Kiri said as the first to break the silence.
"I don't know." Katsuki said.
It was the truth. Even though Izuku had admitted it, Katsuki still couldn't accept it as facts. He wanted to find out for himself because his mind needed to make the puzzle pieces fit, and he felt like there was one key piece missing. If he could find out what it was, maybe everything would make sense again.
"Well, at least that solves one mystery." Denki said.
Katsuki wasn't sure what the other blonde was talking about because this only brought up more questions than it solved. Unless he meant the mystery of who AFO's dog was.
"What that AFO is real?" Sero asked.
"No, that Katsuki is into bad boys." Denki said.
"I'm going to kill you!" Katsuki yelled out.
Fed up, Katsuki lunged over the table to reach Denki. Breakfast be damned as plates crashed to the floor in a mess of food and broken ceramic. Sero and Kirishima, who struggled to hold him back, grabbed onto Katsuki before he could reach the scared Denki who was now plastered against the far wall.
"Jiro help me!" Denki cried.
Jiro didn't react, a bored expression on her face as she stood to the side with Mina, her phone in her hand. Mina leaned closer to look over Jiro's shoulder at her phone.
"Want me to help you create a dating profile?" Mina asked.
"Sure." Jiro said.
"Jiro!" Denki whined.
Everyone decided it was time to head out once they had calmed Katsuki down enough to change into clean clothes. He headed with Kiri, who did quick clothes change at his place before the two headed to visit the girl in the hospital.
"So about Izuku." Kiri said.
Katsuki's grip tightened around the steering wheel, his nerves still shot and sensitive from the last fiasco. It was Kiri, so Katsuki gave him one warning to save himself from saying something stupid.
"You get one chance, so spit it out." Katsuki said.
Kiri waved his hands with a nervous chuckle as he reassured he was being serious this time.
"Real talk. What are you going to do about him?" Kiri asked.
Katsuki didn't respond right away as he thought about his options. Katsuki kept his eyes focused on the roads as he took a turn on the proper streets and stopped at any red lights, but his brain was far away.
"I don't know." Katsuki said.
"The case is technically closed, but if you continue investigating this on your own, then you won't be able to turn a blind eye to whatever he's done... so if it comes to it, are you going to bring him in?" Kiri asked.
Katsuki wanted to say yes. He wanted to say that it didn't matter that he had a history with Izuku or that he didn't care that Izuku awakened a sexual attraction for him that Katsuki didn't even know existed. But because it was Kiri asking him, Katsuki answered with honesty.
"I don't know. Something just tells me that there's more to it, so I'm just going to keep digging and deal with it when the time comes." Katsuki said.
"What about Aizawa?" Kiri asked.
"I'm not telling him shit until I know for sure how Izuku's involved." Katsuki said.
The instant reaction seemed more telling than either wanted to face, so they chose silence for the rest of the ride.
When they reached the hospital, the nurse attending directed them to the girls' room.
"Ms. Fukuda is still being looked after. She had a dangerously high level of GHB in her system when you brought her in, but we helped flush some of it out and she's doing better today." the nurse said.
"Does she remember anything?" Katsuki asked.
"I can't say. She's been rather tight-lipped about it, saying she wanted to speak to you only so we didn't push the matter further. So far, the only thing we know is she had gone out to celebrate her twenty-first birthday and had at one point been separated from her friends." The nurse said.
The nurse left them at the door after that and the two went inside to see the girl sitting up as she pretended to watch something on the tv mounted across the wall.
"Ms. Fukuda? My names Detective Kirishima and this is my partner Detective Bakugo. Do you have time to speak with us?" Kiri asked.
The girl looked over at them, her eyes lingering on Katsuki. He noticed the bags under her eyes with old mascara making the shadows stand out, but she otherwise looked fine.
"You're the guy from last night. The one that was making out with the other guy." Ms. Fukuda said.
Katsuki held back the retort that wanted to come out in favor of giving a curt nod in agreement. Kiri's lips trembled as he was doing his best to hold back his own amusement, given the seriousness of her situation.
"Thank you for saving me." The girl said.
"We're glad you're safe, but we wanted to ask if you knew anything about the man you were with that night?" Kiri asked.
"Goto Imasuji." She said.
Katsuki stayed standing while Kirishima moved closer to sit next to the patient after she confirmed it was okay. If she knew his name, she had either known him before then or at least was familiar with who he was.
"Was that the first time you had met him?" Kiri asked.
The girl shook her head, but she explained little else, her fingers picking at the bedsheets.
"No, my friends and I had visited the place off and on for about a year and Goto's crew bought us drinks sometimes." She said.
"So your friends?" Kiri asked.
"More like acquaintance. We knew he was bad news given his occupation, but some guys in his crew were pretty nice and the drinks were free, so we got comfortable after a while." she said.
"What's his occupation?" Katsuki asked.
Ms. Fukuda seemed even less forth coming then she was with the previous line of questions as if she wasn't supposed to talk about it, but eventually her shoulders dropped as she looked up at Katsuki.
"He's a fighter. I don't know the details, but he's always bragging about these illegal fights that he's a part of and that no one can beat him." She said.
Katsuki snorted before he could stop himself, and the girl gave her own small smirk in response. The memory of Izuku's round house to the man's head came forth, and they shared a knowing look. Clearly, Goto had stretched the truth a bit.
"Is there anything else you can tell us about him?" Katsuki asked.
"No, not really. I don't really know him outside of the club and I never accepted his invitations to go see him fight." She said.
Before they could question her further, a loud cry from the door pulled at their attention and Katsuki had enough time to move out of the way as two girls came rushing forward. The girls still had on dresses from the night before, so he took a wild guess that these were the missing friends the nurse had mentioned.
"Oh my god, Kimmie, we just got the news of what happened." One girl said.
Ms. Fukuda's friend was dressed in a tight sequence, red dressed that Katsuki's mother would consider out of style by this year, but Katsuki brushed his mom's voice out of his head before he could judge any further at their fashion choices.
The first sign of tears finally prickled at the girl's eyes as her friends hugged her from either side.
"Hello, we're the detectives that are helping to catch the man that had taken Ms. Fukuda. We were told you all are acquainted with Goto Imasuji. Is there anything you'd like to add to what happened that night?" Kiri asked.
The girls turned to acknowledge them, their faces equally stunned at the news.
"It was Goto?" The girl asked.
"Is that surprising?" Katsuki asked.
The girls glanced at each other, their expressions now closed off as they seemed to consider what to admit.
"I mean, we noticed she disappeared midway through the night, but we all got a text from her saying she had gone home. Goto was with us until we left that night." The girl said.
"I remember a little, but I think I was in a room? It gets fuzzy until Goto picks me up to leave." Kimmie said.
Katsuki could see the girls were becoming upset, which only seemed to aggravate Kimmie more the longer she was around them, so he tapped at Kiri's shoulder to end it for now.
"Well, if you think of anything else, just let us know." Kirishima said.
The girls nodded as they handed out their cards and left Kimmie to her friends. Katsuki thought over the information and considered how this could connect to Izuku. If the two knew each other, it was possible that it was through these illegal fighting rings. Izuku could fight. There was no mistaking what he did was a fluke, so not that far off of a stretch to tie them as past rivals of some sort.
But this only brought up more questions of how he ended up as AFO's dog and what that meant. Was the crime lord the one that ran the illegal fights? Or were these two separate situations?
Kiri gave him the space that he needed as Katsuki's brain ran through all the facts that he knew until they reached the office. Katsuki didn't have to ask who Kiri would look up as he went straight to his computer to put Izuku Midoriya into the system.
Kirishima let out a low whistle as he went over Goto's records. "This guy is a genuine piece of work. Most of his offenses are violent. From battery, to assault, even armed robbery."
"I got nothing on Izuku, not even petty theft." Katsuki said.
Izuku was the complete opposite, without a speck of dirt on his record. The only thing that brought up his name was an altercation between himself and a few other boys back in high school, where Izuku had been the victim of an assault. His auntie's Inko was the one who had pressed charges on the group and it carried the pictures of a younger Izuku bruised and bloody, his arm slung over his chest in a cast. The report had continued with a long list that reported a concussion with severe swelling to the brain, three broken ribs, and a fractured ankle. They had charged the boys with a few months in a juvenile detention and the school had suspended them.
Even this Izuku looked foreign to Katsuki. Izuku had been bullied in their middle school and although Katsuki had carried a lot of guilt for not defending Izuku during that time, even he would never have allowed it to reach to this level.
It was a solemn reminder of why even now he felt the need to make amends. Maybe then they would have kept in touch after he moved. Katsuki could have been there for him when things got as bad as they had and they could have figured it out together.
Was this why Izuku became AFO's lackey?
Katsuki wasn't sure how he would fix things between them now, because if Izuku really was a criminal, then their paths were too different. They could barely call themselves friends, let alone consider the option of more.
Which only brought up the question of if Katsuki even wanted more.
"So, what are you going to do now?" Kiri asked.
"If his record proves nothing, then I'll need to get the source straight from the nerd's mouth." Katsuki said.
"You really think he'll tell you the truth?" Kiri asked.
Katsuki thought of Izuku that night and how defeated he had looked after Katsuki had realized the truth. For whatever reason, Izuku didn't want Katsuki to know about his past. There was also what Goto had slipped out of Izuku, being a traitor to the organization.
"There's a chance he's clean now. Goto seemed to suggest he at least betrayed them somehow, so maybe Izuku is out of that lifestyle and will be more cooperative now that the cats' out of the bag." Katsuki said.
If there was even a slight chance, Izuku was still a good person. If he had gotten himself out of the life of crime, then Katsuki would make him tell him the truth, even if he had to force it out of him.
"And if he is clean?" Kiri asked.
"Then I'm going to make him take responsibility for that kiss." Katsuki said.
Kiri chuckled as he reclined back in his chair, his face both amused and impressed as he eyed Katsuki from across their desks.
"No hesitation, huh? You're just going to accept it just like that? I mean, you were bitching about the guy not even two days ago." Kiri said.
Katsuki refused to admit that he had already agonized it for the last twelve hours. It was possible it was the last of sleep talking, but he was tired of overthinking it. If Katsuki took out all the complicated shit, then he could admit to himself that he liked it. He liked Izuku's hands on him. He liked the taste of his lips when they pressed against his own. The idea of being with Izuku had finally settled down to the fact that he wanted that greed haired nerd with every fiber in his being.
And Katsuki didn't hold on to things for too long anyway once he accepted something as a fact. He would rather focus on putting things into action than second guessing himself. So now that he had decided that he could see himself with Izuku, Katsuki was ready to see it through to the end.
"If Izuku's name is cleared, and he has nothing to do with this, then there's no reason to hold back. I'll make him mine simple as that." Katsuki said.