dive and disappear without a trace (ATLA x BNHA)

Chapter Sixteen

NO WAY ITS ALMOST BEEN A YEAR!!!! NO WAY!!!!!! I'm not even lying it feels like I published the last chapter a couple months ago....

......yeah my bad. anyway enjoy 😭😭

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Izuku trudged slowly on, his feet aching from the many miles he had walked. He was still a little shocked from his warm reception at Omashu, even though that had been a few days ago by now. Their king had been stranger than he'd first expected, but Izuku could sense there was more to him than was visible on the surface. Deep below his rhymes and riddles, knowledge rested.

Deep, deep below.

Though it was discussed only briefly between the king's frankly bizarre anecdotes (that ranged from a notable breakfast he had five days ago to how a wild saber-toothed moose lion had given him the scar on his forearm), Izuku had glimpsed a bit of the king's carefully concealed wisdom. It had come up after a seemingly harmless question, one that Izuku didn't know would snowball into the bittersweet reality that it had.

"And what brings you to my kingdom?" the king had asked between aggressive bites of skinless chicken.

"Oh, just traveling. Seeing the world," Izuku had replied vaguely, taking much more conservative bites of his own meal.

"Ah, yes. A noble pursuit." The king nodded excessively, his understanding exaggerated. "Alone? Or with companions?" He had asked, glancing around suspiciously. "Where are they? Come out, come out, wherever you are!" The tablecloth billowed up and out as the king snapped forward to inspect under the table. Izuku laughed nervously.

"Uh, no companions. Just me." Even he could hear the sadness that left his words dripping with melancholy. The king stared pensively at him from across the table, hands steepled beneath his chin.

"I see." A thick silence. "Well, I'm sure your stay here will make a riveting story for those at home. Make sure to tell them about our new curtains! I worked hard to pick them out." Izuku gave a weak smile as the king gestured animatedly towards the garish orange curtains hanging over the windows.

"I will," Izuku promised awkwardly. He sat quietly as the king continued chomping away at his food, seemingly unbothered by the extended soundlessness.

When his plate was bare, the king sat straight and leveled Izuku with a serious gaze. "Now," he said, his eyelids folding in, narrowing his sight.

"You're not from here."

Izuku felt his mouth gape open. A trickle of wetness cut a path down his spine."Wh-what? What are you talking about?" He said through anxious laughs.

"I mean," the king said, "look at your hair. You're not fooling anyone. What did you do to get it that way? It's quite fascinating. You look like a head of broccoli, that is, if broccoli walked and talked and distributed justice." Self-consciously, Izuku ran stubby fingers through his curls. Was it really that weird here? If his hair gave him away that easily, maybe he should consider covering it up or something.