I'll be your island in the raging storm

- Chapter 64 -

- Katsuki - 

The little shit doesn't say anything else except stick his tongue out at him again and turn back to his grandfather. One good hit to the head is all that little brat needs, and Katsuki is going to give it to him-! A loud rumbling sound interrupts him, coming from the nerd. 

Green eyes widen slightly, and he looks back at him. The brat looks over at him, running from his grandfather to Deku, pulling on his jacket.

 "Are you hungry sir? We have tons of food! Come, sit down!" 

He pulls him down over to the picnic blanket, rummaging through the wooden picnic basket. The change from Deku to him pisses him off, but he doesn't say anything about it. Instead, he just huffs and sits down too. 

"We have..." 

The brat pulls out some stuff from the basket. Three different kinds of jams in jars, a huge loaf of bread, and some sliced meat on a ceramic plate wrapped with thin paper. The jars clink together when they dip in the blanket. 

"Strawberry, orange, and apricot jam! Grandpa helped me make them! And bread, and meat! If you eat it with jam, it tastes really good! Eat all three at the same time and it's superrrr good! Here!" 

The brat rips some bread off with his hands, then opens up the jars and puts a glob of each on the bread. Katsuki watches him do so with an appalled expression, and Deku just stares at the jam in mild amazement. 

The brat just looks proud of his creation, holding it out to Deku, some jam dripping off of the bread and onto the blanket. Deku blinks at it before taking his gloves off and putting them in his pocket. His scarred hands take the bread, some jam dripping onto his fingers. 

"You have to eat it quickly or it'll get everywhere!" 

Deku takes a big bite and pauses. Katsuki thinks he's grossed out by the thousands of different jams globed all over it, but then, Katsuki sees something he's never seen in his eyes before. Joy? Katsuki stares at him, unable to look away. Deku is too busy eating the monstrosity like it's the best thing he's ever tasted. After he takes another big bite, he turns to the brat, eyes still shining.

"What's this called again?" 

The brat smiles brightly. 

"The red one is strawberry, and the orange one is orange, and the one in the middle is apricot! Do you like it?!" 

Izuku nods quickly. 

"Yeah, it's so good! I've never had any of this before, except for the bread and meat. It tastes so sweet!" 

Deku's green eyes are now directed at him, and he almost forgets to breathe. What the fuck? Maybe laying around so long is fucking with him. He holds out the bread to him, dripping jam. 

"Kacchan! You have to try this!" 

He sighs and takes it. 

"I've had this shit before Deku, it ain't anything special." 

After being in the kitchen most of his life, forced to serve shit like this to snotty rich families, the excitement of tasting them has sort of disappeared. But with the way Deku is reacting, you'd think it was the best thing in the whole fucking world. 

He takes a big bite, the mix of jams staining his tongue. The bread is soft on the inside, and the crust crunches when he bites down. The quality is pretty good considering it's made by some brat and his old man. He hands it back to Deku, who is looking at him intensely. 

"Is it good?" 

He nods, and that seems to satisfy him, because he goes back to eating it, muttering some more words of praise to the brat who sits there with a proud grin on his face. Katsuki glares at him and looks away, laying down on the blanket. 

"Grandpa! We need to give them their money for doing our jobs!" 

The old man, who was previously looking at the clouds with a distant look on his face, turns to his grandson with a smile. 

"You're right. Give me a moment!" 

The old man reaches into his pocket and holds a pouch in his wrinkly old hands. It's mostly air, squished against a couple of coins. 

"We do not have much, so we apologize if the pay is not the best!" 

The man gives them a smile, and Katsuki glances at Deku from his lying position. Deku is looking at the pouch, and then he shakes his head. 

"I didn't do much. If it's okay," 

Izuku points at the strawberry jam. 

"Can I have that instead?" 

Katsuki watches the confusion settle on the man's face and the excitement on the brats. He huffs, sitting up. The two of them know that the only reason they took these jobs was because they need money, but it's not like these people are better off than them. Katsuki would rather take money from rich assholes than an old man and his bratty grandson. 

"I'll take that." 

He points at the orange jam, eyes narrowed at the old man. Mr. Salmon and the kid look at each other, then back to them. 

"A-are you sure? We have coins to give, it won't be anything lavish but you both completed your jobs." 

Katsuki rolls his eyes.

 "No, my job was to guard you while you gathered wood. Since I didn't do that, then I shouldn't be fucking paid right. So just give me the jam and we'll call it a good enough payment. Right Deku." 

The nerd nods, green curls bouncing slightly. 

"Your amazing jam is more than enough."

The old man seems hesitant, but then he nods. 

"If you two think so, then I guess there is nothing more to discuss." 

Mr. Salmon smiles and the brat starts to jump around, grinning ear to ear. 

"I told you guys it was super good!" 

The breeze blows and the sun shines brightly, and the four of them eat together, making sandwiches and watching the little brat running around with Fenrir. Katsuki won't say he had a good time, because he fucking didn't! 

But watching Deku silently eating, failing to hide the excitement in his eyes about the jam is slightly amusing. Eventually, they are forced to part, walking the two of them back to their home and going back to town. Katsuki feels more refreshed after eating and resting, pumped up to do more jobs.