Crossing Fates : Special Story 7 - The Divided (BakuDeku)

1 - Ominous

Detnerat City

Two days earlier...

"I can get myself out," Izuku said irritably when Katsuki stuck his hand inside the limo.

Katzuki bent to look in at him, one eyebrow raised. The Antiquity Hotel and Casino was busy, and they had parked to one side of the main entrance, half the limousine out of the shade of the gigantic, ornate portico.

Slanting, laser-like sunshine lined the edge of Katsuki's tough, cold features and ash blonde hair in radiant white. The desert sun was nothing like the sun in upstate Musutafu. It was harsh and unforgiving here and, despite the luxurious, glittering city that sprawled around them, potentially lethal.

Katsuki did not appear to be discomfited by the difference in climate, and he never needed to wear sunglasses to protect his eyes- he only wore sunglasses to maintain a barrier between him and the outside world.

The Lord of the Nyr was the only physical creature Izuku knew who could look directly at the sun and not be blinded by it. Whenever sunlight bathed him, Katsuki grew more burnished and vital, as if the fire that lived inside the dragon recognized the fire from the sun and gained nourishment from it.

Katsuki's red gaze narrowed. "You've always accepted my help before."

He could tell the man's feelings weren't hurt. Katsuki had the strongest psyche of anyone Izuku had ever met. He could probably drive over and reverse on his feelings repeatedly with an eighty-thousand-pound eighteen-wheeler before he managed to put a dent in them.

No, Katsuki was simply, genuinely baffled.

Realizing he was being irrational, he breathed deeply for a moment before he explained, "I accepted your help before because it was sexy."

And right now nothing was sexy. Not even Katsuki.

His husband gave his rounded belly a significant glance. "But you're so big you actually need my help this time."

"I'm so big," he repeated in a flat voice. If there had been a table anywhere in reach, he would have been sorely tempted to flip it. "Thank you so much for pointing that out to me, Katsuki. I hadn't noticed how big I am. If it weren't for you, that fact would have flown right by me. Now, if you'll just move out of my way, I'll get my own big damn self out of this car."

Katsuki angled his jaw and his expression turned calculating, but he straightened and stepped back without saying another word.

Then Izuku had to rock a few times before he got enough momentum to hoist himself up so he could lumber out. Moisture from the Antiquity's famous fountains wafted against his cheeks, blown by the hot desert wind.

Gah. That must have looked horrible. He was so ungainly. He had NEVER been ungainly before, not even when he had been at his biggest with his first pregnancy. Then, he had felt sleek and powerful.

The times he and Katsuki had shared during his first pregnancy... Then, everything had been sexy. Newly mated, they had burned up the bedsheets with an insatiable need for each other.

As Katsuki opened his mouth, Izuku angled his head away and held up a forefinger as he muttered, "Don't say a word. I got the job done. That's all that matters."

Standing a few steps behind Katsuki, Ochaco held Izuku's backpack and waited, lips pressed together and eyes snapping. Her face was certainly expressive of something, but after studying Ochaco's bold features, Izuku decided he didn't need to know.

Izuku told the woman telepathically, "I don't want to hear a word from you either."

"Me?" Ochaco's eyebrows shot up. "I would never!"