Fresh Flesh (Bkdk, Dkbk)

- Chapter 29 -

Izuku half expects the door not to budge, already thinking of other ways to get into the abandoned house. But it creaks open with ease, and the creature looks back at him. His blonde hair looks almost white when Izuku points his flashlight through the doorway. 

"The moment you run off; we're fucking leaving. Got it, Deku?!" 

Izuku nods, his eyes focused on the door, trying to get a better look inside of the house. His heart is pounding with excitement, even more so when he steps through the door. The smell of dust reaches his nose, and he holds back a sneeze, moving his flashlight to scan his surroundings. 

The particles of dust hinder the light, but it looks like just a normal house. If he didn't know any better, he would think this was the home of some loving family. On the wall next to the door there are a ton of picture frames hung up. 

Izuku looks closer at the first one that is covered in dust. It's of a family standing in front of this house, when it was new and actually livable. The family looks so happy, bright smiles on their faces. A big dog barks at the camera, its jaw open, frozen in the middle of the action as it stands with its owners. 

A loud slam makes Izuku jump, and he turns back to the door. The creature stands there, the door closed behind him. He has his hands in his pockets, his face scrunched up in clear disgust as he walks over to Izuku. 

"I hate how I can fucking smell in this body."

 Izuku gives him a grin and continues to look around, walking further into the house. He enters the living room. The furniture has long been decaying, and when he looks closer, he can see maggots wiggling in one of the tears in the fabric. 

The love seat is sitting against the wall, and a cobblestone fireplace is chipped, with green moss growing at the base of it. He is about to go through another doorway, until someone yanks at the back of his shirt, pulling him over. 

"Deku, I'm not going to fucking tell your dumbass again! Stay, by, me!" 

He seethes the last part, letting go of his shirt and gripping his wrist. Izuku can't help the scowl that goes onto his face, but doesn't fight it.

 "Sorry." 

The creature looks down at him, then sighs, his expression softening. Izuku must have imagined it through, since he still sounds pissed when he talks again. 

"There should be a hatch or some shit around here. I can feel those bastards under us." 

The scowl on Izuku's face disappears and is replaced with an excited grin. 

"A hatch?!" 

The creature nods and leads him through the doorway he was just about to go in. 

"Should be in this room." 

The room is a kitchen, with dirty tile floor and broken cabinets. Izuku sees more pictures on the walls of the same people from the one in the doorway. They all look so happy, at the beach, in the mountains, all with the same dog. 

Izuku sees a book on the counter that is leaning against the fridge. He picks it up, the creature looking over his shoulder. It's an old cookbook, its printed paper held together with thin metal rings. It doesn't look like it's from a specific company, but it strikes something in Izuku because of that. 

"My mom used to print out her recipes too. I think she put them in the storage or something." 

He flips through it, and the pages give out small clouds of dust. The creature crinkles his nose, clearly not interested. 

"Come on De-" 

Izuku stops on a page and grins, holding it up towards it. 

"Look! Katsudon!" 

The creature's red eyes scan the page for a second before flickering back to him. 

"What about it?" 

"It's my favorite! My mom makes it for me all the time!"

 It doesn't say anything, looking closer at the page. Izuku watches it, thinking. If the creature can have a nickname for him (Even if it doubles as an insult) then he should have one too. He isn't like the monsters he's seen so far, so it wouldn't be nice to treat him like one... Right? Izuku smiles at him. 

"I'll call you Kacchan. Like Katsudon!" 

The creature stares at him, red eyes drilling into him. 

"What?" 

"Kacchan! Since you call me by a nickname, then I should too!" 

It doesn't say anything, just staring at him. Izuku expected it to yell at him and say how dumb it was, but it just... stares. Izuku shifts, putting the book back on the counter, his cheeks growing warm. 

"Like fucking Katsudon? Your favorite food?" 

Izuku laughs nervously. 

"Yeah." 

He can feel its eyes on him even when he looks away. The house settles, and Izuku doesn't really like how quiet it is. He's about to look at it, but a hand roughly shoves his hand down before he can see its face. 

"Ow! Hey what're you-!" 

"Don't look at me." 

"Huh?!" 

He fights to get his head back up, Kacchan forcing it back down every time. 

"Stop it!!" 

"You stop it, shitty nerd! Saying shit like that, you're lucky I don't kick your ass!" 

"What?! What did I even say?! Stop it Kacchan!" 

"That! Stop that!" 

He's about to start kicking when something shiny catches his attention. He stops struggling, instead he slowly reaches his hand to touch the floor. Specifically, the shiny metal shape that presses itself against the wood. 

It has an indent all to itself, making it easy to loop his finger around it and pull. The floor creaks. He stares at it for a second, before his eyes widen in realization. 

"I found the hatch!" 

Kacchans hand leaves his hair. 

"Where?!" 

Izuku lifts it up again, only to find its progress stopped by weight. The blonde takes a step, walking off of the lifting piece of wood and letting go of Izuku's wrist. Izuku lifts it up by the metal ring, and kacchan helps by bringing it up with his hands, letting it slam onto the opposite side of the floor. 

A cold gust of air comes from the dark opening, and Izuku grins.