Sunlight beamed onto the silk sheets on the bed where Katsuki was sleeping, warming up his body a little. He smiled brightly, although he was a little tired; he could sense it was going to be a good day. After all, he'd be hopefully finding a house to move into today, that truly was great.
The infant got to his feet and made his way over to the room where his best friend was sleeping. He tiptoed inside the room, being careful to not wake anyone up there. But, he did actually intend to wake up Izuku so they could play for a little while.
Katsuki tapped his best friend lightly on the shoulder, therefore waking him up. He was extremely excited, and really wanted to spent the early morning with Izuku, exploring the nearby forest that lay near the hotel they were staying in.
"Hey, Deku. Get up." Katsuki said, tapping his friend on the shoulder. Surprisingly, this was enough to wake up the greenette. Izuku let out a small groan, before wiping away the build up of sleep that had accumulated throughout the night from his eyes.
"Kacchan?" The infant whispered, looking incredibly adorable as he yawned. Katsuki felt his heartbeat slightly speed up, and he couldn't control it.
"Do you wanna go play, whilst Old Hag and Auntie aren't up yet?" Katsuki asked with a very big grin on his face. Izuku looked surprised at the idea of playing outside in the cold hours of the morning, but he wasn't entirely against the idea.
And so, the greenette nodded, before standing up and getting off his bed. A lot of his clothes had been torn or stained to the point where they couldn't even be worn due to the Tsunami that had happened back in Japan, so he had very limited options on what he could wear.
Eventually, he picked out a simple black jacket that had managed to survive with only a small-ish stain on the shoulder, and simply placed it over his pyjamas. Katsuki had done a very similar thing, he had put on a jumper over the top of his clothes.
The two of them tiptoed out of the hotel room, being ultra careful so that they wouldn't wake up Inko. It worked, and both of them made it downstairs without waking up anyone in the hotel. They slid their shoes onto their feet, and went outside into the still sleeping city.
Cold air hit Katsuki and Izuku's soft skin, but it was one that was welcomed. After all, this was their second day in Italy and they weren't used to the difference in heat compared to Japan. A low-lying fog floated above the ground, making it seem like Katsuki and Izuku were walking through a foggy maze. Well, to some extent they were. They didn't know anything about Rome and were walking through all the grand foreign buildings. The big wide world really did feel like a maze compared to these small four year olds.
After the two of them walked along for a little while, they reached the main river in Italy, the Tiber. Moonlight bounced off of the shining river and waves crashed around in the distance, which only relaxed Katsuki and Izuku even more, to the point where they were considering going back to sleep here. The unfamiliar smell of saltwater prevented the blond and greenette from doing that, though.
A few minutes passed as the two of them stared over the beautiful Tiber river. Both were contemplating how lucky they both were to be alive, and how lucky they got to be able to survive that terrible earthquake and tsunami. Perhaps they were in an entirely new place, but was that such a bad thing?
"Isn't it beautiful, Kacchan?" Izuku said finally, breaking the silence between the two of them. Deku said this as he gestured with his right hand to the scenery around them.
Katsuki stopped and looked around, rather than trying to find himself in the water reflection below them. Rome really was a truly picturesque place, but there was one building in particular that really caught the attention of both the young boys. Over in the distance, it looked like there was... something that was almost like a mansion. It was extravagant, and was extremely pleasing to look at.
Another hour passed as Katsuki and Izuku stared at the beautiful river, with occasional conversations popping up here and there. But then they decided that they should probably go back to the hotel to get breakfast, and so they wouldn't make their parents worried about their current whereabouts.
Ochako made her way up the path of the hotel and went inside. The people who owned the hotel asked whether she would like a room, and she said no. The brunette made her way over to where the two families were: the dining room.
"Hey everyone! Hopefully you guys didn't forget, but I'm taking you guys to see your new houses today! I don't think they're very expensive, and if you manage to find someone to explain your situation to, I'm sure you could be able to get a loan from a bank to afford the expenses of buying the houses. Are you ready to go?" Ochako said, mostly directing her talking towards the three adults in the group, Inko, Mitsuki and Masaru.
Mitsuki nodded, and stood up, grabbing her bag. She gestured for the other people to do the same, and then they set off from the hotel. Whilst they were doing this, Katsuki and Izuku kept sneaking glances at one another, clearly excited to get a place to live again, and ecstatic to see how it would look. Apparently, the two houses were next to each other too, that meant they would be next door neighbours! That was something they didn't experience back in Japan, so of course they were excited for it.
Ochako led the small group of people firstly down a busy main road where there were lots of pedestrians, each one wrapped up in their own individual lives. Some of them were carrying bags of groceries, some were simply hanging out with their friends. There was a group of children who looked slightly older than Izuku and Katsuki running around. Maybe that could be a future friend group.
Suddenly, they took a sharp turn to the left, and were led down a less busy alleyway. The alleyway wasn't the most beautiful thing in the world, there was an awful lot of moss growing between the cracks, and there was a pretty bad stench in the air. No one could place their finger upon what it was, but it really wasn't a great smell.
It took a bit more walking than anyone was expecting, but they took another turn to the right (thankfully away from the awful smell) and they saw a set of small, semi-detached houses. They were in surprisingly good condition considering how long they had been abandoned, and judging from the size of them, they didn't seem to cost too much money either. Ochako explained to them that all they had to do now was find a bank, and buy the houses.
It didn't take particularly long for them to find a bank, as they were widely available everywhere. Honestly, there were banks on the sides of the streets, as little stalls. They weren't huge buildings as we know them today, there were simply thousands of companies in those times.
Izuku stepped into a narrow hallway with peeling paint adorning the uneven walls. The floor was a dark oak colour, that was starting to rot in the corners of the room, which meant there must have been damp somewhere. Midoriya was a child who had a reputation of being scared of many, many things, and this was definitely one of them. White cobwebs lie in the corners of the room, dangling down from the ceiling and brushing against the top of Inko's head. Izuku saw this, and moved closer to his mother for protection, clinging to her leg. He really was scared.
"Mama, I don't like it here..." He whined, clinging tighter as tears gathered in his eyes.
Inko ruffled her son's hair, she was strangely optimistic. "Don't you worry Izuku, we'll make this place much better than what it is soon enough." She reassured him.
Mother and son then walked through the old doorway into the living room, where there were a few upturned wooden boxes and a small coffee table covered in a medium sized layer of dust. A soft breeze blew throughout the entire house, causing goosebumps to appear on Izuku's arms.
After exploring the dark and decrepit first floor of the house, Izuku and his mother made their way upstairs, and instantly noticed that the second floor of the house was in a mildly better condition than the first floor. Even so, after taking a few steps into the second floor, Izuku continued to cling to his mother's leg, not allowing her to leave his sight for even a moment. He was skeptical of how "good" the second floor would be, compared to the first floor.
The two of them entered the first and largest bedroom, there was a normal sized single bed and a desk which also didn't seem to be in the best condition. It was also covered in cobwebs, and even had a rather large spider dangling down from it. This caused Izuku to let out a whimper; he was horrified by spiders, even super little ones.
They quickly left that room, and made their way to the next bedroom. Admittedly, it was smaller than the other room, but it felt somehow better. More homely.
Despite the room having better lighting, it still felt a little bit creepy with how long it had been abandoned. A thick quilt lay on the old bed, with a bobbly teal pillow on the top of it. Opposite the bed is a small, circular window that looks perfect for curling up with a book. The room was decorated with shelves here and there, which seemed to be on the verge of falling down. But, it was in a much better condition than the other room, so Izuku made a mental note to request that this could be his room.
The exploring of Katsuki's house was passing in a very similar fashion, nothing there was interesting and a lot of it needed renovating. Thankfully, Katsuki's father Masaru wasn't so bad at DIY jobs like that so he obviously had a lot of work on his hands.
Overall though, Katsuki and Izuku couldn't be happier that they finally had a place to live with their parents, although they were sad to leave Japan, of course. Both homes had potential, and hopefully they would live up to that potential.
A/N: Alright, now the main storyline starts after this, and things get interesting. 👍
I hope you all enjoyed this update, and I hope you have a lovely day/night!
-River 💕