Crossing Fates : Book 1 - Escape (BakuDeku)

22 - Mother's Connections

Interior alarm bells started to ring, but all the lightbulbs had left Izuku high and dry.

He shook his head and said, "We've never met."

"I'm sure I've seen you before. You look- " the Elf's gaze widened. "You look exactly like- "

Katsuki curled a hand around his ankle.

"Yeah, I look like Inko," he interrupted in a loud voice.

A pulse of dread dampened his skin.

Please shut up, Elf, he pleaded in his head. "I get that a lot."

"My lord, I am so honored to meet you," the Elven leader breathed. He bowed low to Izuku, his previous generic respect turned to reverence. When he straightened, his face was alight with joy. "You have no idea how we hoped and prayed that something of your mother still remained in this world."

All the other Elves stared at them, their faces alight with curiosity.

He scowled at the Elven leader. "I have no idea what you are talking about," he told the man.

Mirio seemed to start and come to himself. His joy became muted but Izuku could still feel it beating in him. He smiled at him and said, "Of course, forgive me. I'm mistaken."

Then his telepathic voice sounded in Izuku's head like deep bell chimes in the wind.

"My name is Togata Mirio. I knew a woman once who looked much like you. Meeting her was one of the greatest gifts of my life."

"I am honored that you would share that with me," he said. "But it is dangerous for me that we talk of this, and I am not that woman. In fact, I am very much less than that woman."

"Not to my eyes," Mirio said. "Please allow us to offer you sanctuary. I know our lord and lady would greet you with joy every bit as deep as my own. We would treasure your presence among us."

He hesitated and for a moment, oh, he was tempted. The thought of such a welcome wrung at his lonely heart.

But Mirio's reverence brought him up short. He didn't think he could bear to live with such regard.

Not when he was so much less than what the man thought he was, nothing very special at all, just a glow-in-the-dark night-light and a stupid parlor trick and a big mouth that got him into too much trouble.

Living with the Elves, where he would feel like a fraud while he aged and died and they remained forever the same, would just be a different kind of loneliness.

The jealous hand on Izuku's ankle tightened. He looked down at Katsuki, who was watching him with a narrowed gaze.

"I thank you for the offer of sanctuary. Perhaps one day I may take you up on it," he said to Mirio. While he couldn't accept, he couldn't bear to say no either, to what might be the only home ever offered to him. "In the meantime, I have a debt to pay."

Mirio said aloud, "My lord, I beg of you, come away with us. Do not stay with the Beast."

Izuku squatted by Katsuki and dared to peek under the hoodie covering his wound. It had stopped bleeding. He mopped the blood streaks from the man's shoulder as gently as he could, wiped his hands on the material and folded the bloodied part into the rest of the hoodie.

"This train wreck is all my fault," he said. "I have to do what I can to make it right."

Katsuki's grip on his leg eased. His fingers slid along his calf in a subtle movement.

It annoyed Izuku so much, he snapped at Katsuki. "But no matter what ridiculous thing you say, I am not yours. You wouldn't be here except for me so I will see you to the Elven border. I know you lost your head, and you got all scary and obsessive and territorial, and you want to get back your property and all that, but come on. All I took was a freaking penny. Besides, I already gave you another one."

One corner of Katsuki's sexy, cruel mouth lifted in a smile.

The Elves refused to touch Katsuki, so Izuku had to help him as much as he could. By the time he had pushed himself off the ground and he had gotten himself insinuated under his good arm, the Elves had disappeared.

Izuku knew better than to believe they were gone.

"You took a 1962 penny," Katsuki said. His teeth were gritted. "You left a 1975 penny. It's no replacement."

He stared at Katsuki. "Oh my gosh, it's scary you noticed that."

"I know everything in my hoard and exactly where it is," the Lord of the Nyr told him. "Down to the smallest piece."

"You should go to a doctor, get checked out for OCD," he panted. "There might be medication for that."

Katsuki's chest moved in a silent laugh. Izuku focused on putting one foot infront of the other.

The man leaned on him as little as possible- otherwise they both would have crashed to the ground again. He still felt like a Volkswagen had been hung around his neck.

They got inside. Katsuki collapsed on the couch. He draped an arm over his eyes and stretched out one leg until his boot hung over the end. He left the other foot planted on the floor.

Between the blood and the buttons Izuku had popped when he ripped it open, his Armani shirt was ruined. He eyed the man's chest narrowing to a six-pack abs that rippled into his jeans.

For goodness's sake. The male was injured and here he was ogling him like a pervert in a porn store.

"I'm just not right in the head," Izuku muttered.