MHA smut

No Easy Steps

Written by:
surveycorpsjean

~ TodoBakuDeku

Summary:

As Captain of his own ship, Katsuki takes a prisoner that's more trouble than he's worth.

_______________________________

A chaotic battle is a war already won. If your men can scream, then they're alive – and out here on the free water, living is all you've got. They don't dig graves at sea, but if you're a bad enough bastard they might just sing songs about you.

The treasure is unintended, yet easy to spot. Just look for the red and white asshole cutting down half the fucking crew.

Denki is flipped overboard, and Katsuki heavily sighs, because he knows he's going to have to fish his stupid ass back out later.

A navy marine tries to cross the plank between their bobbing ships, and Katsuki kicks the idiot square in the chest, sending them howling off the port side. Swords clash and voices shout, but Katsuki has his eyes on one prize only.

The admiral is a tall, slender, and uppity-as-all-fuck lookin' guy. Stupid little tassels hanging off his shoulders like one of them fancy ottomans they kick their feet on, trussed up like some Christmas chicken, a stuck pincushion with all those pointless badges, like the gold means something other than money. Katsuki wants to rip it from his chest and bite down to see if it's real.

"You are not stealing my ship," the admiral hisses, parrying against two swords, then flipping the cutlass, and disarming them both. Katsuki slides the tip of his saber between the admiral's sword and Satou's neck, effectively saving him from a nasty beheading. Satou shrinks away. Katsuki steps forwards, and hums.

"It's already mine, Todoroki."

His gaze hardens at the sound of his name. He reminds Katsuki of those little groomed bitches the rich folk keep on their laps. Pretty, expensive, and a nasty little biter, but still a damn dog.

Their swords clash once, twice. Shouto then points with his rapier, and Katsuki raises his eyebrows at the gall.

"I know who you are. I will present your crew to my superiors, and you will pay for your crimes, pirate."

Katsuki outsteps him, already familiar with the posh fencing style these nobles study in droves.

"I've been shot off a rope three times. Your king's noose don't scare me." Shouting echoes behind him as a canon brings down the navy mast. Shouto's eyes dart sideways, and it's an open opportunity. Katsuki tips his saber around the hook of his rapier, and sends it straight into the wood deck below. It warbles with a metal noise, and Shouto steps back in thinly masked surprise. Katsuki grins wickedly. "You can call me captain. But daddy works too, pretty boy."

Shouto scowls, and it feels good to chip a crack into that expressionless face of his. The scar wrinkles with his frown. Flames go up on the starboard side, and Katsuki feels empowered by the heat of it, like he could walk on coals into hell.

"You low-lives are all the same. Stealing, pillaging, living above the law because you think you don't have to follow the rules. But on judgment day, the scales of justice always come due."

Ugh, he speaks so proper. Katsuki runs the tip of his sword up the badges on his dress coat. The metal clinks all the way to his shoulder, where Katsuki then flicks the fringes, and hums.

"It's adorable that you think your sins are worth less than mine."

"You are a murderer."

"Heh, and you're not?"

The sail ropes start to snap one by one. A cold expression falls across Shouto's face, as if he's just now realized his reputation is about to crumble down around him, and sink to the bottom of the ocean with the corpse of his beloved Hell Spider.

"Lemme tell you how this is going to go," Katsuki drawls. Shouto swallows as the tip of his sword kisses his larynx. "I'm taking all your gold. From the tippy top –" Katsuki flicks the gold hoop in his ear, "— to the teeth in your fucking skull. Your minions can join me, or make friends with Davey Jones – and I sure pray they're the new Christ 'cause he don't walk on water."

"They are royal soldiers that serve the king. They will never join you."

"A shame," Katsuki says listlessly. "Then they die for pride." Shouto's gaze hardens. The flames are hotter now. Good, maybe more of his marine asshats will jump and save him the goddamn trouble. "You, however. You're a pretty penny, aren't ya?"

"Go fuck yourself."

Katsuki laughs.

"Oh, that's not very united under god."

In hindsight, he blames Eijirou. His second mate kicks down the cabin doors, flings a man over his shoulder, and swings an axe into a marine's forehead. And in that moment, Shouto plucks a silver dagger from his breast pocket. He swirls it around the tip of his saber, and tugs it back into his free hand, stabbing the tip right to the open cut of Katsuki's shirt where a vine of stolen jewels lay around his neck.

Reluctantly impressed, Katsuki slowly raises his arms.

"Quick hand. They don't teach that at the academy."

The sword pushes uncomfortably against his sternum, almost to the point of breaking skin. Todoroki's rare, two-colored eyes hold a reserved fury. A prideful restraint that Katsuki burns to break.

(As far as extremities go, they would be invaluable on the black market).

"You know nothing but savagery."

Katsuki steps closer. A little firmer on his sword. A cut that bleeds down between his pecs, yet he doesn't flinch.

"Oh, but out here, savagery is everything, sweetheart. Every coin that passes through those storm gates, every roll of silk, every spice you trade, you tariff, you steal from the poor – I see it all. I got eyes where the sun don't shine, princess. I am your worst fucking nightmare."

"Rot in hell," declares Shouto. He prepares a killing blow.

A beautiful silver scimitar glides smooth against the skin of Shouto's marred cheek. It's so gentle, so graceful, that Shouto clearly doesn't sense it at first. He freezes as a second blade points into his rib as a tender, pressing threat.

"Sorry, sir," Izuku says politely. He crosses both swords at his neck, two halves of a whole, two gifts that Katsuki once traveled half the world just to buy him. "I can't let you do that."

Katsuki uses the tip of his boot to pick up his fallen saber, while in contrast, Shouto drops the weapon in his hand.

Shouto turns his head slightly. The sea breeze has ruined that perfect hair of his. His good posture is crumbling.

"Midoriya?"

"Hi, Mister Todoroki."

"Aww, a reunion," Katsuki monotones. Another mast falls, and the crew jump off the ship and back to the Howitzer. "You can gossip all you like from the brig. Now move."

"Midoriya," Shouto tries again, now a break in his voice, his fancy boots tripping over themselves to turn without spearing his ass on the blade. "I – I haven't seen you in years, I thought – I thought you were dead –"

"Deku, shut him up."

"My apologies," Izuku smiles. He brings down the butt of his sword on the crown of Shouto's head. He crumbles into his arm; slumped, like a beautiful damsel. Katsuki grumbles irritably under his breath, pressing against the sore spot on his chest.

"More trouble than he's fuckin' worth."

"Are you okay?"

"Fine – get moving, this whole ships' aboutta' go."

Despite being half the size, Izuku flings Shouto over his shoulder and steps up across the plank. Katsuki is too prideful to show weakness in front of his crew, but secret affection still embers at his core.

He checks one last time for stragglers before grabbing a rope, and swinging his way over. Eijirou is there to meet him on the other side. The bag of stolen gold drops from his arm with a loud clunk! He is shirtless as effing always, but it looks like the tip of his ear caught a sword. Makes him look like a street cat with that ridiculous hair.

"Captain! We stripped what we could. Took a few prisoners, but the rest jumped."

"Shoot them down," Katsuki mumbles, picking up his fallen hat, and setting it back on his head. The feather is backwards. A quick turn. "No survivors."

Eijirou hesitates.

"Bakugou...?"

"These are marines, dumbass. God knows they'll swim their way to shore and point the fleet right in our sorry direction."

"They – they won't dare follow us through the triangle."

"We have their admiral," Katsuki hisses, grabbing Eijirou by the stupid red ascot and shaking him, who ultimately, is unphased. "Might as well paint a fucking target on our back."

"Shouldn't we just dump him overboard?" Hanta asks, picking between his front teeth with a knife. Beside him on the ladder, a wet hand slaps over the deck edge. Katsuki rolls his eyes, then sticks down an arm for Denki to grab onto.

"No, and it's noneya fucking business. Doubt me again, and you walk."

"Promises, promises."

Denki wobbles his way back onto the deck, sopping wet and coughing up water. He's covered in seaweed, and the stupid hair he adores so much is now stuck to his forehead like a hat.

"Th-thanks for nothing, you assholes!"

"Enjoy the swim?"

"Fuck off."

Katsuki stalks toward the captains' quarters, pocketing his hands, and stepping over a dead marine along the way. "I want all the blood scrubbed out of the blackwood, or it comes out of your cut."

Universal groaning follows. Tokoyami begins to walk the ropes back into the crow's nest. Katsuki looks off to the horizon, and watches The Hell Spider sink to Poseidon's graveyard.

✦✦✦

Oil lamps glimmer with the swaying of the ship. The fumes are making his eyes burn, blurring the map into brown blobs and scripted words he will see in his sleep. Katsuki rubs down his face and groans low. The crew is making merry on the deck, and while the music usually doesn't bother him, tonight the sound is giving him a raging headache.

The knock is familiar: a firm taptaptap. Katsuki grunts an affirmation, and the wooden door creaks open, then shut.

Izuku leans back against it, peering through his dark eyelashes.

"Hey."

Some of his irritation melts by proxy. Katsuki pushes out his chair, and extends a hand.

"Deku."

He crosses to him immediately, like a compass due north – always magnetizing in his direction, always coming to his call. Of all the rarities in this room; the exotic fabrics, the far-away golds, mysterious treasures stolen, found, and buried – this is his rarest find. A man that somehow loves him back.

Izuku slips into his lap easily, plucking the hat from his head smooth as silver, twirling it on his stocky finger, then hooking it onto the back of the chair in one easy movement.

"Todoroki is locked in the brig. I hid his things in your treasury, because I knew the crew would get sticky fingers."

Katsuki fishes his hand out of the air, and pulls it to his mouth. Izuku's eyes turn gooey with affection as Katsuki kisses each of the rings he's given him. Rubies from Myanmar, Topaz and Citrine from Mozambique; the finest gold bands fitted perfectly for his hands. Hands that have strangled men in his name.

"Is he still napping?"

Slyly, he replies, "Yes." Izuku opens his palm, and Katsuki mouths over the center of it, eyes far away in his thoughts. Izuku's voice drops to a whisper, even if there's a fat chance in hell the drunken crew could hear them. "Kacchan...he wasn't supposed to be there."

Katsuki sighs.

"Christ, I know. I had to improvise, cut me some fuckin' slack. All I need is mutiny on top of a shitty day."

"I'm not hounding you," Izuku frowns. He peels his hand away from Katsuki's mouth by sliding it along his jaw. He closes his eyes to it, sighing as cold rings and bumpy scars scrape against the stubble that's grown in since his last shave. "I have your back, Kacchan. I'm just...concerned. We've been on the Navy's radar too much lately. Now we...capture their fleet admiral and hold him ransom?"

Katsuki breathes in the calming scent of him. The dirt, the seaspray, the musk from crawling around in the brig. He couldn't care less, because it's still him.

He fits a hand along his thigh, squeezing him tighter, firmer on his lap. He can feel his muscle through the linen.

"I...I don't know. Give me some time."

"Okay."

Katsuki peels open his eyes, and sees Deku staring down at him. His neck looks too tempting, so he kisses there, once. He's the only one allowed to see him soft. Anyone else, and he'd gouge out their eyes himself.

"I need you to do somethin' for me in the meantime."

Izuku stiffens slightly.

"Y-Yeah?"

Muffled fiddles and laughter thrum through the ship walls. They sway slightly – a sign of Shinsou turning the wheel towards the heading.

"I need you to make him talk."

Izuku's expression doesn't change, but the tone of his voice says everything. Clumsy fingers play with the back of his hair, where a few long braids stem from his neck.

"Kacchan...you know I...we..."

"You trained for the Navy together. Gives you a head start, if you ask me." Another kiss where there's freckles on the fat of his cheeks. Izuku puffs them out more in a pout, so Kacchan bites it. "Do your thing, love. You're good at it."

Izuku groans like he knows he lost. He flops his head on Katsuki's shoulder in a dead weight, and subtly (or not-so-subtly), Katsuki runs his hand up his side, looking for injuries. None. Not so much as a scratch, damn right.

✦✦✦

The Howitzer is a beaut, if he does say so himself.

The hull was sculpted by the finest craftsmen in the east – one that he happened to kidnap for carpenter repairs (rich girl with too much talent rotting away in a pretty corset, he's seen too many of 'em stare at the sea and wish for another life). Momo doesn't seem to mind, except when the ship gets blasted to hell. The mermaid figurehead took a canonball to the tit yesterday, so she's been cranky about carving a replacement.

In contrast to his beautiful ship, the brig is damp, empty and dark, except for a single porthole and a few rats outrunning the ship cat. Katsuki leans up against the support pillar, out of sight, but in perfect view of Izuku as he strolls up to the jail cell and clears his throat.

"You survived the night."

Shouto's head whips upwards. The admiral looks smaller without the padded coat. Now dressed down to his white shirt, the fabric is stuck open to his chest with sweat, having been stripped of all his worth. Even the gold buttons, they took it all.

"Midoriya."

Izuku fiddles with the rings on his fingers, eyes darting down, then up, almost shyly. Shouto struggles against the chains, and they clang loudly in the silence.

"I wanted to make sure you were still alive..." Izuku bites his lip. "I'm...sorry we had to meet again like this."

Shouto's wrists are bleeding from his struggle against the chains. Stupid idea – the blood in his hands will be in low supply while suspended above his head like that. He was probably hoping the blood would lube the shackles; like they were born yesterday, tch.

"Midoriya... you – you were a marine on track to, to rise in rank." Shouto's eye squints against the dried blood drooling into it, probably fighting a killer headache. "What happened? I never saw you again after graduation."

Izuku bites his lip. He shifts his weight, a hand reaching out for the bar – and everything about him is so strikingly beautiful, not in a feminine way, but in the sweet, natural seduction that just clings to him. Something that feels virginal, and pure (and anything but). His cream shirt is tucked into a leather belt, ascot hanging open around his tan neck; the bell sleeves are loose at the bicep, then tight on his forearms. Katsuki could eat him.

"I was on the Grand Torino when it capsized. Um, b-by pirates. Not – not these pirates, but...other..." Izuku presses his lips together, no doubt committing to his act. Shouto is looking at him from his knees like he's an angel. "I was sold around. I ended up working for a few crews before Kacchan found me."

"Kacchan..." Shouto shakes his head. "Katsuki Bakugou? But – you were such a good man. You deserve better than this. I'm sure His Majesty would understand..."

Izuku gently pulls a key from his pocket, and turns the lock on the cell.

"I can't go back. It's different here. He's different. The navy keeps secrets, Shouto, but out here it's – it's free living."

The cage door swings open. Shouto fights against his shackles, but Izuku makes no move to unchain him.

"You have to let me go. If they think I'm dead, the chain of command will fall to my brother, and he's far less forgiving a man than I."

"I can't," Izuku whispers. He kneels by him and prods a hand at the back of his head. Red and white hair is stained in brown, dried blood. Shouto flinches at first, but then relaxes slightly under a tender touch. Deku really smacked him hard. "You were a good friend to me. I'll help you how I can, but Kacchan..."

"Is he keeping you indebted here? I'll pay your sum, twice over."

Izuku smiles sweetly. He pulls a rag from his breast pocket and gently wipes his face clean.

"It's not like that."

Shouto's gaze falls. His face is too stony and unreadable for Katsuki's tastes; makes him feel more like marble than a man. But his voice comes out rasped and soft, and it perks Katsuki's interest.

"I should've assigned you to my ship. I should've..."

"Favoritism would look ugly on your reputation, admiral," Izuku grins. "Help me help you. Where is the fleet?"

Shouto opens his mouth, then hesitates. His eyes glance up, and Katsuki is sure to stay hidden behind the pillar.

"They're..."

Izuku swipes the rag along his jaw. Careful, slow. Shouto shivers, his pearly eyes going hazy.

"Yes?"

"...Anchored, at the Bermuda gates. They know you make trade at Barbados, I was assigned to interfere there, but swapped ships after – goddammit, Midoriya, you've really been running with the King of Pirates?"

Fuck. Well, time to give Shinsou a new heading, because they're sure as fuck not stopping at Barbados.

Izuku gently tucks Shouto's hair behind his cleaned ear. Shouto's chest sucks in a breath, and Katsuki clenches his teeth tight to stay quiet.

"Yes. Interested in the bounty, are you?"

"The prestige of your captain's head is invaluable," Shouto intones. "It no longer has monetary value. To present it to the king would be a status like no other."

Hm. His ego appreciates it, but the prestige is hardly worth the pain in the ass of a military regime hunting you down day by day.

Izuku continues, "A ship was supposed to cross through the channel carrying Spanish artifacts. What happened to it?"

Shouto tips his head at the question. He looks skeptical, and for a moment, Katsuki worries Izuku has prodded too far – but in a smooth motion, Izuku slips his hand down his neck, then along his shoulder – and the touch is enough to distract him. Ugh, he makes it look so easy.

"Rerouted. To Port Modal."

Bingo.

Izuku presses his lips to Shouto's forehead, and Katsuki feels his eye twitch.

"I'll see if I can convince Ochaco to stitch you up."

"You hit hard," Shouto teases, but it's dry in his parched throat.

Izuku smiles, and rises to his feet. When the cell locks, Katsuki is already long gone.

✦✦✦

"You're too good at that," Katsuki grumbles later, against the seam of his mouth. Izuku hums and purrs, wiggling in his arms and preening under the praise. He licks over the old scar on Katsuki's lower lip, flicking his tongue like the vixen he is, then pulling back to sigh,

"Sorry about the kiss. He was onto me."

"Mm, sure. You just like pissing me off."

"Heh, maybe. Did you get what you needed?"

"Enough." He kisses his lips, his cheek, and his neck possessively. "We need to dock and gather intel, and probably supplies, if we gotta' fight another fleet. He's no damn good for ransom right now."

"Not if it's a trap," Izuku affirms. Dull nails scrape against his scalp. Katsuki pushes him against the hallway wall, and bites a spot on his throat. Izuku sighs, "I'll send a bird."

"I'll wake the idiot."

✦✦✦

He kicks the side of Shinsou's boot, jerking him awake.

"Hey fuckhead, get up. We're changing plans."

Shinsou rubs the dark circles under his eyes and grumbles, swiping out the plank he was using to keep the wheel from spinning while he slept.

"A little chivalry would be nice."

"Next time I'll aim for the face."

"Alright, alright –" Shinsou rises off one leg, then the other. An empty bottle rolls off the step. "Where to?"

Katsuki folds his arms, and turns his face to the misty sunrise. Gold sunlight makes the water look shimmery, and inviting. A good way to die to a mermaid.

"Port Modal."

Shinsou perks, grabbing the spinning wheel by the peg, and sending half the deck crew fumbling off their feet. A few curses fly their way, but are ignored.

"Kingston?"

"Yep. We're gonna' visit your favorite person."

"I thought you said we weren't gonna' take his money no more."

"Don't question me, asshole. Due north, and stay the hell away from the triangle."

"Got it, got it, sheesh. What crawled up your ass?"

"A fucking spider," Katsuki grumbles, and leaves Shinsou with his head tipped sideways in question.

✦✦✦

Truth is, Katsuki swore to never trade with Aizawa again after he sold him that watered down pathetic excuse for rum. But he's always good for his money, and his ears are worth too much to sever the ties completely (goddammit).

They dock at Port Modal, and he sends the crew shopping for a few hours of shore leave. Denki pulls the short straw, and wins guard duty on the prisoner.

Katsuki doesn't like the hustle and bustle of port towns. They're too loud, too full of drunken, smelly sailors and their dumb livestock.

"Lotta' gold," Aizawa grumbles, turning the chalice against the window light. Izuku poses up in the doorway, his foot against the floorboard just in case anyone tries to walk in the shop, and Katsuki silently appreciates him for it. "You stole this from someone big."

"You got what we need, or what?"

Aizawa flips up his eyepatch, and drunkenly rubs at the empty socket. It makes Izuku cringe, but Katsuki just stares blankly.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll hook you up with my guy at the dock. But I wanna' know where you took this from. For legal reasons, 'course."

Katsuki runs through a variety of lies, but Izuku takes one look at him, and answers honestly.

"The Royal Navy Admiral."

Aizawa's single eye widens.

"You're fucking with me."

"Nope." Another sigh. "And you'll never guess who's in my brig right now."

"...No shit?"

"Uh huh."

"You kids are fucking crazy." Aizawa shakes his head, standing up off his peg leg, and shutting the curtains. A few empty bottles roll off the windowsill. "See, this is why I gave up my sea legs."

"Right..." Izuku mutters, staring at the wooden appendage. Katsuki rolls his eyes.

"You used to track bounties. Do you think we could get ransom?"

Aizawa laughs wryly. He crosses his arms and leans up against his work bench, jostling all the bits and pieces stacked in messy piles.

"Sure, if you're suicidal."

"Is he worth money, Eraser."

Aizawa frowns. He scratches at the side of his neck, then hangs it with a tired sigh.

"I'm too old for this shit. You didn't hear this from me, okay?"

"Whatever."

"I've got a friend that tells me they've already had the whole damn funeral for 'em back home."

Izuku's eyes go big.

"Already?"

"Yup. His big brother – uh, Touya, was it – already moved up in title and everything. And I'll tell you, a few years back he came sniffing around the market looking for a hitman, y'know, back when I was tied up in some unrighteous business..."

"Right..."

"Called himself by the name of Dabi, but I know them blue eyes anywhere. He was willing to pay a mighty sum for the head of his brother." Aizawa rubs his fingers together, squinting. "Wanted to take the rank, I guess. Something tells me if you try to hand him off alive, he won't be for long. Messy family, those Todorokis. Heard his father quit the battalion and disappeared off the face of the planet."

"Shit," Katsuki curses, turning his back, and kicking his foot against a spare chair. "Shit. He's not worth a fucking dime."

Aizawa scratches his stubble, "Guess not."

Izuku sighs.

"He's a dead man walking, poor guy."

"Mmm, sure, poor little rich boy. We done here?"

Katsuki swipes his payment off the table with a huff.

"Keep your mouth shut about this."

"Fuck outta' here, I'm not a snitch."

"Thank you sir," Izuku waves, in the grip of Katsuki, as he tugs him out of the shop. "Shinsou sends his regards."

"I'm sure he bloody does."

✦✦✦

The boys load barrels on the ship one by one. Katsuki stands by with a bottle of whiskey in hand, about half down and sipping off the top in thought.

The sun's hot today. The brig is probably boiling down there. It'll cool down once they hit open water again, but these damn port towns – nothing but heat, and rotten filth. Straggling crew members stumble in drunk, others with women around their arms – can't they come, cap'n? – no, fuck off – but Mina's always good for a swift kick in the butt, so she rounds them up like sheep.

Idiots, but his idiots.

Izuku comes to stand by him with his hands in his pockets. The humidity is strong here, and it curls the little wisps behind his ears, and Katsuki has a hard time not petting it around his finger like jewelry.

"So what now?" Izuku whispers.

Katsuki takes a swig, then passes him the bottle. Izuku swallows twice and wipes his mouth on the back of his hand.

"Guess that's up to him."

✦✦✦

Shouto looks hopeful when Izuku leads him into the captain's quarters. But when he spots Katsuki, his face hardens back into a wall, and it's an effort not to laugh.

"You."

Izuku kicks at the back of Shouto's calves, and he drops down to his knees. His face is iron and steel, blue-grey eyes that burn through their exhaustion. Sure, he might be tough now, but he's a match at both ends.

Katsuki crosses one leg over the other, and stares at him from his perch in the Captain's chair.

"Enjoying your vacation?"

"Where are we?"

"Nowhere that concerns you," Katsuki replies, evenly. He flips a coin around his fingers, and grins when Shouto's face slackens with recognition of the artifact.

"You—!" His eyes dart to Izuku in betrayal. "You robbed the ship. We're at Kingston?"

Izuku comes around to stand by Katsuki in his chair. He reaches for him instantly, slinking a hand to his lower hip and holding there possessively. The expression on Shouto's imperfect face is utterly priceless.

"I'm sorry," Izuku offers kindly. "It was in the best interest of everyone."

"Best interest," Shouto grits. "You stole from the Spanish."

"Already stolen. Try again."

"I thought...you..." Shouto's eyes track Katsuki's hand on his hip, and Izuku shifts shyly, setting his hand at the nape of Katsuki's neck. Shouto's gaze hardens to a glare directed at Katsuki. "You're a snake."

"You got played," Katsuki replies. Slipping his hand between Izuku's shirt and his belt, he teases the soft skin there. "I don't make him do anything. He's mine, because he wants to be."

Shouto looks disgusted.

"This can't be true."

Izuku doesn't reply. Katsuki nudges him slightly, and Izuku immediately slides between his knees.

"I say kneel, he kneels. It's not that hard to understand."

The blush oddly suits him. Shouto's eyes dart down and up as Izuku hides shyly in Katsuki's inner thigh, pressing his cheek there, and preening under the hand in his hair. Like a kitten nosing into a nest, safe and home.

When Shouto speaks again, it's void of emotion.

"What do you want?"

"Don't get fuckin' short with me!" Katsuki snaps, low on patience. "I'm being kind, because I've got some bad news for you, buddy."

To his credit, Shouto's expression hardly changes. Not as he explains the funeral, or the treason of his brother. He only rolls his eyes and tightens his fists behind his back.

"He always had it out for me."

"You're stupid, but not that stupid," Katsuki says, making Shouto's eye twitch. "You got two choices. Work for me, or die."

"I outrank you, you twat."

Katsuki grins at the fight in this guy. He tightens his hand in the back of Izuku's hair. Rubs his cheek tight into his inner thigh, and makes him breathe in against his inseam. At that, Shouto's eyes actually widen.

"Not anymore. You fancied him, didn't you?" Elbow on the armrest, Katsuki fumbles his own earrings in one hand, and pets into wavy dark hair with the other. " Don't you."

Shouto suddenly can't look him in the eye. That's fine. Katsuki is good at this game.

He pats Izuku on the shoulder, and without so much as a word, Izuku begins to unbuckle his belt. Such a lewd sound in this intense silence. Shouto struggles to his feet, but Katsuki slips the revolver from his bandolier, and points it at him.

"Stay."

Shouto drops back to his knees. Arms still locked behind his back, hair shaggy and sticky in his eyes. He takes a deep, shuddering breath, then speaks in a low tone.

"Izuku, you don't have to do this."

"Say you love me," Katsuki drones.

Izuku's face is pink, his eyelashes a little wet. But when he looks up, he's excited. Smiling, out of breath. Katsuki knows him better than anyone. Knows all the fucked up things that get him going. He pulls his soft cock from his trousers and licks it flat.

"I love you."

The chains jerk, and Katsuki pulls back the hammer on the gun with a click.

"Work for me, or die, Todoroki," Katsuki repeats.

Shouto is breaking in real time. He struggles to keep the mask, struggles to stay on his knees, struggles to swallow his pride. He watches Izuku shamelessly swallow the top inch of his cock – then looks away, down, and back again. His neck is almost as red as the scar on his face.

"I..."

Izuku is good with his mouth. He makes wet, loud noises, taking down further and pulling up again, and Katsuki sighs from his nose, petting back his bangs so he can watch his cheeks hollow, and expand. He gets hard in his mouth, and Izuku makes a pretty sound.

"You wanna' stop?" He asks nicely.

Izuku shakes his head no. He buries his nose as far as he can with all his clothes pushed out of the way. His throat works and works, that smooth tongue swirling circles that tingle down his spine. Embarrassed, yet shameless in front of their guest.

He can practically feel the heat wafting off of Shouto in waves. Ooh, he's mad mad. This is fun.

"See? I'm a good captain." Katsuki jerks Izuku's head to the side, so he knows Shouto can see. "I reward good behavior."

"You're deplorable," Shouto hisses. But he's shamefully hard in his trousers. So who really won here?

"Glad we could come to an agreement."

When Izuku swallows it all, they're dismissed. He loves a good lesson.

✦✦✦

Izuku is smoking on the gun deck, so Katsuki joins him against the rail. It's easy to follow his line of sight to the main deck below, where Shouto is helping the big guys raise the sail. It's soon to be nightfall, and the seabreeze will carry them faster than any bird.

Katsuki takes the pipe, but only breathes off it briefly before passing it back. Yuck. He gestures to Shouto's silhouette and mutters,

"At least he can work a ship."

"He grew up on them," Izuku corrects, his voice a bit rough from the smoke. He coughs, turning the pipe as if Katsuki sabotaged it. "Hated his home life, so he took to the seas. You really rattled him yesterday, I haven't heard a complaint since we took off the shackles."

Katsuki turns to watch him again. Shouto loops the rope, swings it around the peg, and pulls tight with a boot against the rail. No longer in his fancy-pig dressings, he looks more like a pirate in the open shirt, and the deck-swabbing boots they picked up for him on land. His shirt sleeves are dirty, which means he's been working hard. Good.

"He needed to be knocked down a few pegs."

Izuku raises an eyebrow under his bangs. Katsuki likes it when he lets his hair get long. It makes him look wild.

"You wanted a show of dominance."

"Beatin' him half to death wasn't gonna' give me submission," Katsuki mutters, stepping closer. Izuku shifts to the side – an open invitation to get closer. "But you. All them years, and he's still obsessed with you."

Izuku's eyes flutter aside.

"Yeah."

Katsuki takes his hand on the railing. It's getting dark, so no one can see. Not like the crew doesn't know, or care (but even if they did, it would be a death wish to object).

He pushes up the cuff of Izuku's shirt, pops the button with his thumb, then rolls up his sleeve so he can feel the bumpy texture of the tattoo on his forearm. A brand. His brand. The symbol they fly on their flag, with his initials carved by his own hand.

"You're still mine."

Izuku chews his lip – pink, and cracked.

"Of course. It's – we're not like that anymore. We never even..." Izuku laughs under his breath. "It was barely a kiss. We were teenagers." Katsuki hums, rubbing his thumb over the tattoo. Izuku pulls away slightly so he can find his fingers and grab them, their rings clicking. "I'm sorta surprised you let him live."

"You didn't want him to die," he answers. Izuku breathes in sharply, and Katsuki grins, watching the pipe in his other hand burn out. "I know you."

Izuku assures him with a softly spoken, "I'm yours."

"I know. He might prove useful." Katsuki steps away, finally, back into the cold. "If not, we'll toss him overboard."

Shouto looks up suddenly, as if he just spotted them. His eyes stick to Izuku, then shirk away as he spots Bakugou, and it fills his ego in a sickly way. He's got pretty eyes, he'll give him that. Might still be able to sell those, if he found the right buyer.

"I'll keep him useful," Izuku grins. "The canons need cleaning anyways." Katsuki flips his pipe around, and Deku's smile slips into something else when he realizes Katsuki pickpocketed the match box off him, too.

✦✦✦

Shouto is quiet for a few days. The crew doesn't know what the hell to do with him, so they give him all the chores they don't wanna do. Fuck if Katsuki cares.

But after a week of sailing, he sees him sitting with the deck crew for dinner. Quiet, but no longer eating alone. Eijirou seems to have taken pity on him (like all the damn strays they pick up around here), cause after a while they're laughing and drinking, and Shouto doesn't look so much like he done seen a ghost anymore.

"Tell 'em, tell 'em –" Hanta laughs, slapping his dirty knees. "Tell him 'bout the maid in Versailles."

"Oh. My. God." Shouji deadpans. "Please do not."

Eijirou cackles and thumps Shouto between the shoulder blades, and he nearly chokes on his supper, coughing politely into his elbow.

"Okay, okay, so – the one time we stop in France –"

"The second time!"

"Fine, the second time –"

"Captain." Satou approaches politely with a bowl in hand. "Have you eaten?"

Katsuki grew up on ship kitchens chopping pickles with the best of them, so he's gone through enough cooks to stack them a mile high – but of all the sorry bastards to work on his crew, Satou's been the least horrible chef to date.

Katsuki waves him off.

"Not hungry tonight. Feed the crew first."

"Crew is fed, sir," Satou grins, strategically setting a bowl on the railing, so Katsuki will be forced to catch it as the swaying of the ship slides it his way. "Enjoy."

Katsuki grumbles under his breath. Below him, by the fire, Denki has already begun to lead them into song. Shouto doesn't sing, but he doesn't look miserable. He wonders if they sang songs in the Navy. Deku once said it was a miserable place, for miserable people. He has no reason to doubt that it's true.

✦✦✦

Open nights at sea are the reason Katsuki will never return to land. The stars feel close enough to reach up and steal right out of the sky (and thank god you can't, 'cause he'd have sold them for gold by now).

He doesn't track Deku down because he never has to. But he sure knows that voice like any old song.

"Is this seat taken?"

Katsuki leans against the wall of his quarters, and glances up at the climbing nets. Shouto is halfway up to the nest, watching the stars dive behind the waves.

"Won't your captain get mad?"

Izuku climbs up next to him, and holds onto the ropes. The breeze pushes back their hair as the stern rises, and falls.

"I keep telling you, he doesn't actually own me."

"Right," Shouto replies tonelessly. "Because you love him."

"Believe it or not," Izuku laughs. For the first time in – ever, maybe – Katsuki hesitates on whether to stay. But when Izuku's voice drops to a genuine whisper, the decision is made. "I'm truly sorry about all this."

Shouto hums, "No you're not."

"If it's any consolation, it wasn't supposed to be you. But – I'm – I'm happy it was. It's better here, Shouto – no one to tell us who to be, how to act – no rules on happiness, or love."

Shouto's expression is entirely unreadable. Katsuki hates that most about him; the mask he keeps repairing over and over again.

"You really believe that?"

"I do. Here with the crew...with Kacchan... it's like I can be myself."

Shouto cracks, speaking through gritted teeth as he swings closer on the net. Katsuki tenses, but exercises trust in Deku.

"A pirate?"

Izuku stands his ground. Or – hangs on it, from their spot on the net. He doesn't flinch as Shouto leans closer, doesn't even blink at the bitterness he carries.

"A free man."

To his surprise, Shouto softens.

"I loved you, you know."

Katsuki slips his hat from his head, as if it'll help him hear any better. He watches Izuku's face stare far away.

"I know." He climbs a little higher to see out above the waves. "Sometimes life takes you in mysterious places. I think...things aren't always meant to happen when we think they should. The boy I was ten years ago wasn't meant to love the way I do now. But maybe – maybe we were meant to meet again."

Shouto laughs for the first time in weeks. It's kind of a soft sound, in contrast to that deep timbre voice of his.

"Now you believe in fate, too?"

"Hmph, you sound just like Kacchan."

"Don't compare me to him."

"You're more similar than you realize," Izuku replies. He shocks Shouto silent. Against the wall, Katsuki squeezes his knuckles until they crack. Izuku lets go of the net, and slips seamlessly down the rope, like a dancer. When his boots hit the deck, he looks up and smiles. "That's why you don't get along."

✦✦✦

Twice in his life, he's seen an angel. Once, when Tomura shackled his ass to a concrete block and tossed him off the starboard. The sun filtering through the waves, bubbles rising up to the surface – albeit, he was probably hallucinating at the call of death – but the light almost looked like a hand reaching back for him. He thinks about that sometimes, when he's been drinking too much.

And secondly: now, as Izuku bounces on eight fat inches, and tips his head all the way back to moan from the hellish pit of his stomach. One of the glass windows is cracked, goddammit, so half the crew will have some smart shit to say tomorrow – but Katsuki doesn't give a fuck. This is his ship, his first mate, and he can fuck him on it for as long as he wants.

Izuku hides a killer body under all those clothes; firm muscles and squishy, biteable thighs. He's acquired a fair amount of tattoos since he joined the crew – not so much as Katsuki, but at this rate, he thinks he'll get there.

Izuku pumps his own cock, bounces and moans, rolling his head on his shoulders and squeezing his eyes shut, and Katsuki pets his way up his inner thigh, up and over his ribs, then squeezes hard. Izuku yips, and his eyes fly open, hazy and aroused. Yep, definitely an angel.

"You're thinking about him."

Izuku gasps, scandalized. He rocks his hips back down with force, and Katsuki grunts from the tight pressure on his cock.

"I am not."

Katsuki lets him pretend he's in control for about a half second longer, before he flexes his leg, bends his knee, and flips Izuku flat on his back. He goes oof under his breath, and one of the pillows slip off the bed in the meantime. It clatters to the floor with some of their clothes. His necklaces now skim Izuku's chest as he hovers over him, slamming his cock in deep. Izuku's eyes roll back in his skull, and Katsuki presses his mouth to the bruise on his throat.

"You want me to fuck you in front of 'em next time, is that it?" Bite, then kiss. Izuku gets tight as he squeezes around him. "Aww, my cock wasn't enough for you?"

"Hate you," Izuku wheezes. A lie.

"So greedy," Katsuki teases. The smell of sex is strong. The sounds aren't exactly temple-worthy, either. "I give you the world, and you still want more."

"Want you," Izuku babbles. Wet, slurred. Over and over, want you, want you, want you –

It's enough, that night. But it makes him think. As Izuku snores in his arms, he stares at the frescoes on the ceiling, and sighs. A small, pin-sized hole opens in his chest.

✦✦✦

When they dock again, it's nothing but sand for miles. Katsuki trusts that Shouto isn't stupid enough to take off running and die of heatstroke under a coconut tree.

"All right, get moving!" Eijirou calls, kicking out the drawbridge. "Get these barrels off deck before the heat kills us all!"

As promised, a wagon is waiting at the sand. The crew loads up the goods, while Izuku chats up one of the locals by the bridge, his hands flying excitedly in conversation. Shouto heaves a barrel onto his shoulder, but Denki drops the one in front of him, and the contents go spilling all over the wooden planks. Off the bridge, into the cracks, fuckin' all of it.

Hanta yanks the bandana off his head and smacks him with it. "Great job, dipshit."

"You didn't seal the lid right!"

"Oh my god," Katsuki groans, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Pick it up and move. We can't stay here!"

"Yes sir!"

Shouto hasn't moved yet. He peers up at Katsuki from the lower deck and scowls – not through his mouth, but through the squinted look in his eyes.

"What, you smuggle grain now?"

Katsuki humphs. Eijirou frowns, his hand hovering by the gun at his hip. He steps forward to take charge, saying, "Hey, show your respect for the Captain –" But Katsuki raises a hand, and Eijirou stops short.

"It's fine. Shouto can carry the barrel into town for me."

"Hey –"

"Deku!" Katsuki calls, strolling down the steps. "C'mon, we're taking a walk."

Izuku's head nearly spins in a circle. He waves a parting to the woman, and looks between Shouto and Katsuki, his clever mind piecing together the situation. If he has something smart to say, he doesn't speak it.

The barrel is heavy, he knows sure as shit it is, so the pained grunts as they march across the sand are so, so satisfying.

"Is this really necessary?" Shouto huffs.

"Shuddup, or I'll make you walk back for another one."

Shouto goes quiet, but he can feel the killing intent behind him. Izuku walks tight at his side, like he senses it too. Katsuki doesn't give a shit, let the sorry bastard brood.

It's a bit of a walk. The sun gets hot on these tiny islands, no fuckin' thanks to the humidity. It sticks to their clothes, and sops their hair. Izuku wipes his face with his handkerchief, and Shouto's hands slip on the barrel.

"Drop it, and you die."

"Might be a blessing," Shouto grumbles.

"Let him rest, Kacchan. It's hot as hell out here."

"He's a big boy, ain't he? Look, I can see the gates."

Izuku seems to perk up.

As promised, through the clearing of trees rests the village. A few watchmen spot them before they reach the gate, and as they approach, the guards wave them in. Katsuki can essentially feel Shouto's head swiveling back and forth, but he doesn't jump to explain. Instead, he points to a clear spot on the ground and goes, "There."

The barrel falls with a thump. Shouto leans against it, heavily panting as sweat drips down his neck. Honestly, half the guys wouldn't have made it past the beach, but he won't tell him that.

"Where are we?" Shouto asks – towards Izuku, because he's not stupid.

"Duketown," says Izuku. "Or, what's left of it."

Ain't that the truth. They've rebuilt more since their last visit; a few new buildings, and what looks like the start of a school. Most of the kids are out playing, but the adults hover around their food stalls, cleaning out debris and sweeping sand off the planks. There's still year-old scorch marks on the trees. Still old canons, stripped apart for all their use.

Shouto looks lost.

"This used to be a Navy occupied base in the war," Katsuki grumbles, with his hands in his pockets. "We stumbled in about a year ago, off a bad storm."

Izuku continues, offering Shouto a sip of his canteen (which he takes, ugh). "They were in a bad way. The military left their town totally destroyed. Took their houses, burned their crops – I was never stationed this far, I mean, I was barely a cabin boy – but it's hard to watch them starve."

Shouto looks between the barrel of grain, and Katsuki. He blinks without any expression.

"You're kidding me."

Izuku shrinks. Officially pissed, Katsuki barks, "I don't wanna' hear shit from you –"

"Is that the point of all this? You want me to call you a good man?"

Katsuki itches to strangle him by the collar, but steps close instead, and watches Shouto's eyes flick down, then up – once again, subtle submission.

"Don't. Call me that."

"H-Hey!" Izuku points, happy to break up the tension. "All Might's here."

"Course he is," Katsuki mutters. "He knew we were coming."

Toshinori is filthy, as if he's been working with his hands all day. He wipes his palms as he approaches them, grinning through thin, hollow cheeks.

"Boys! You're right on time."

Izuku shakes his hand, and Katsuki does not.

"Good to see you again, sir!"

"Yes, yes! I'm glad to see you well!" Toshinori turns to Shouto, and through his hesitation, he clearly recognizes him. Shouto is polite enough to greet him anyways.

"Shouto Todoroki."

"I know you." Toshinori nods skeptically, dull eyes turning down, then up. "Quite the career change, I see."

"Yeah," Shouto mutters, knowing better than to complain in the captain's presence. Katsuki kicks the barrel with the side of his boot.

"The rest is at the dock."

"Good, good. The fish have been real dodgy this summer, and I'm darn near run out of excuses." Toshinori pulls a rolled up piece of parchment from his inner pocket, and places it in Katsuki's palm. He never liked how tall he was – a man of legend, they once said. Now he's just a gangly skeleton, and Katsuki still loathes being looked down on. "Here's your map. All marks of interest, like usual."

Katsuki nods. Just as quickly, a village strongman comes to take the barrel away. More march back out to the beach.

"The spice boat was a bust, you know."

"Can't win them all," Toshinori grins. Someone calls for him from the lumberyard, so he waves with his straw hat, and takes a step backwards. "I'll be back. Make yourself at home in the meantime."

"We can't stay long," Izuku says. He strolls to follow, "Anything I can help with?"

"You any good at building roofs?"

"Uh – no, but I can climb?"

"Good enough."

Izuku follows, and Katsuki stays behind. He places the map in his back pocket, and pulls out his pocketwatch to check the time. Hmph, cutting it close.

Shouto deadpans, "You're honestly unbelievable."

"Kay."

"You steal from the rich and give to the poor. Give me a break with this Robinhood BS."

Katsuki turns and snaps, clicking the pocketwatch shut.

"I don't give, I trade. I ain't got a spot in heaven, but whatever I do here is miles above what your men did to these people, so I don't wanna' hear your yapping."

Shouto's expression changes. He looks away, to the trees.

"They weren't my men. I didn't...I never knew..."

"There's a lot you don't know," Katsuki grumps. "All these villages destroyed, fighting your King's stupid wars. You think I kill people? You think I'm a bad man? Oh great admiral , the orders you followed were such beautiful lies –"

"Not. Anymore." Shouto hisses. Katsuki feels something flush hot in him; anger, or something worse. The riled, burning expression in his eyes is gone so quickly and yet, Katsuki can still feel the heat. Shouto steps away, clutching Izuku's canteen tight in his hand. "What's the map for?"

Katsuki debates a lie, but decides the truth can't hurt him. He reaches out to grab him by the shoulder, and Shouto goes tense as a crossbow string. He grips tight to the side of his neck so his rings burn against his skin, then pulls close, grinning.

"Our next victim."

✦✦✦

When they ambush a boat full of rich, vacationing politicians from the mainland, Shouto does not participate in the robbery. Instead, he chooses to remain in the cabin, with the ship cat. Katsuki leaves his punishment up to Eijirou (which in the end, is relatively tame). They've all had to pick barnacles off the rail posts.

He's sitting on the bottom stair, peeling off grime with the side of his pocket knife, but his eyes are glued to the horizon, where the sun is melting over the world's edge and spilling over the water in pools of gold. Even in his distraction, Shouto's knife doesn't chip the paint once. Katsuki stands next to him, and leans on the railing.

He's feeling particularly tame tonight, probably from all the gems weighing heavy in his pockets. He jerks his chin towards the sunset, and says,

"You look at her like it's your first time at sea."

Shouto stares up at him. It seems like everything about this man is split in half; from the hair, to the eyebrows, to the little lashes he blinks. He appears to be battling two sides of the same personality – this anger that burns in his blue eye, and a saddened calm in the grey one.

He pops one last barnacle into a bucket, then turns the knife in his hand, and stands against the railing. Tall, the bastard.

"I've spent so many years chasing a life on the open water, I'd forgotten why I was running in the first place." His tone is guarded. Shouto hesitates a long while before speaking again. "I didn't even want to be admiral. With my age...and my reputation, I'm not well respected. But nobody expected my father to up and quit, and I just knew if I didn't take charge, things would get a whole lot worse. "

"It's already worse. All Might says the navy has taken up full station at Capetown."

Shouto runs his hands through his hair, and Katsuki realizes that, since getting his hand on a knife, he cut it short again. The bangs are still wispy, but the back shaves tight against his neck, and it makes him look different. More masculine. Prettier, too.

"You were right."

Katsuki's eyebrows hit his hairline. He smiles halfway, just to be an ass.

"I'm always right."

Shouto ignores him.

"I knew the king had immoral dealings under the table. I knew some of our stations weren't...voluntary. But I thought – or, I'd reasoned –"

"— we're better than those filthy pirates," Katsuki finishes, in a 'proper' voice. Shouto gives him a look. Katsuki shrugs his shoulders, and folds his arms on the rail, breathing in the salt spray off the hull. "I get it. We rob 'em, too. Not all bottom-feeders have a moral code like us."

Shouto breathes from his nose, and it's almost, almost a laugh.

"You have morals?"

Katsuki steps closer, tipping his chin so they're eye-to-eye.

"Compared to half the scummy pig-faced Captains out there, I'm the virgin fuckin' mary."

Shouto runs his tongue along the tip of his teeth, and taps the flat edge of his knife against his knuckles.

"I know. I've seen the horrors bad peole are capable of."

His thin mouth twitches, drawing attention to the scar on his face.

Something shifts in Katsuki's chest. He realizes (a bit in horror) that it's affection. But there's intrigue there too, because he will always crave the exotic, the beautiful, the untouchable. And Shouto is all three baked in one.

Katsuki slides his hand along the rail, and Shouto's eyes jerk to him. It pins him against the corner, pressuring him to face Katsuki head on.

"There's good folk on this boat. People that don't deserve their back with a knife innit. So if you wanna' cut ties at the next port, I'll look left long enough for you to run off the dock."

Shouto studies his face. He's catching on fast, but he still can't read Katsuki's tells. That's a skill only Izuku has earned.

"You don't think I'll run to the Navy, first sight at land?"

"There's easier ways to die." Katsuki smirks, "Especially now that you've been spotted hauling stolen goods off the Howitzer. Traitorous scum, how dare you."

Shouto exhales. The boat dips off a large wave, and it sends their hair flying, their earrings jingling like wind chimes.

"You plan everything, don't you?"

"There's a reason I'm ten years running." Katsuki taps his forehead, stepping backwards. "Stupid captains don't make it far out here."

He gets halfway up the cabin stairs before Shouto calls out to him. With the last drops of sunset clinging to the edges of his hair, he raises his voice above the swell of the ocean, and asks,

"Is this really freedom?"

Katsuki stops, scratches the scruff on his chin, then continues his ascent to his quarters.

"You'll know it when you see it."

✦✦✦

When they dock, Shouto leaves.

Izuku reaches for the edge of Katsuki's coat sleeve; he whispers in a tight, distressed tone that plucks apart his weakened heartstrings like a rotten violin. There's a singular soft spot in his blackened heart, and Izuku knows how to claw into it with a simple:

"Kacchan..."

He looks left. Izuku, being his ride or die, reluctantly looks away, too. But he can hear how upset he is in the muttering he whispers under his breath, a long stream of – doesn't make sense, he'll be back, he'll be back, just you see – and Katsuki doesn't have the heart to break it to him.

That is, until the Crow's nest spots him an hour later, a knapsack over one shoulder and a rolled up parchment in the other hand.

Katsuki meets him on the plank bridge with a blank expression.

"Can't even run away properly, can you?"

Shouto drops the sack, and hands him the rolled parchment.

"Apparently, neither can you. Your face is pasted all over the vendor's alley."

Katsuki takes one look at the bounty poster and frowns. He does not look that angry all the time, fuck you.

"Tch, what's in the bag?"

"Change of clothes. I traded my knife for them at the tailor. There's a marine post due south of here, and if we sneak in, we might find out where else my brother is sending troops."

Katsuki stares. He can feel Izuku watching, too – and he refuses to acknowledge the ear-to-ear grin he no-doubt has. Know it all. He jerks his chin at the crew eavesdropping from the cabin stairs.

"Shouji, Mina. Go get his stupid knife back."

"Sir."

✦✦✦

Swords clashing, men shouting; there's nothing quite like the fire of cannon balls. The curdled screams are music to his ears, as enemy pirates drown off the side of the boat. It's a song that means money. A sinful drug that rushes through his veins.

Katsuki always fights alongside his crew; Izuku gunslinging on his right, Eijirou cutting pirates down at his left. He barely catches a blur of a blue shirt in his peripheral, and shockingly recognizes it as Shouto. He swings off the rope, cuts down a rival pirate, and steals the gun off a fallen foe. He fires a single bullet that cuts through a fraying rope, and flips three men overboard.

A swell of pride hits like none other.

Baptism by immersion.

"Good aim!" Deku calls, clearly amazed. Katsuki won't admit it, but yeah.

Shouto whips his head around, and makes eye contact. He is surrounded by the throes of battle, blood-stained sleeves, mucky boots, and no ugly tassels hanging off his shoulders like a piece of furniture. And while his mouth is a firm line, it's his eyes – his eyes – that are smiling. Shining gold, like the loot they've stripped from the captain's quarters.

Katsuki looks at him and finally thinks: pirate.

✦✦✦

They celebrate that night.

The whole crew is on deck. Even their broody lookout is half thrown over the crow's nest, drinking off a bottle of rum Hanta slugged up at him like a handball.

"Dance with us, Shouto!" Momo pulls, giggling, and tripping over the ends of her own skirt.

"I'll pass."

"Boo!"

"Boo!" They chant into a shanty, "Good bye, fare-you-well –"

"We're home'ard bound across the blue sea!"

Katsuki can hear them sing through the open window. The lanterns give the ship a faint orange glow in a sea of black, bringing even darker shadows that lurk in the halls.

Izuku moans into his mouth, arching his spine off the wall. He then curls his arms around his neck – and Katsuki closes his eyes, mostly – keeping one open to peek down below at the crew that dances circles around a discontent Shouto.

Izuku's kisses are short and impatient, constantly begging for more, then growing annoyed when Katsuki won't give it to him. He sucks on his mouth, draws out his tongue and bites it, and Izuku whines, tipping his head to squirm away and sigh.

"Kacchan..."

That goddamn nickname will be his downfall. He's not a religious man, but he prays this weakness does not consume him (it will).

Katsuki fists a hand into his hair, and yanks. Izuku sighs at the manhandling. Through the crack in the window, Katsuki directs his gaze to the party taking place aboard their ship. His breath is hot and damp against Deku's coat collar as he speaks.

"If you can catch him, you can have him."

Izuku goes rigid against the wall. His head flies sideways, eyes jerking to Shouto, then back to Katsuki in surprise.

"Y-You, that's not – Kacchan, I-I'd never..." He stutters over himself, his mind racing too quickly. Katsuki lets him breathe before mouthing over his shell of earrings. "I don't want to choose. Please. Y-You're the one I gave my life to. You're mine."

Katsuki tries not to grin, but it's a task and a half, and Izuku smells real fine. He steps back to give him air, stroking across the side of his neck with his thumb. "I know. Think of it as a present."

Izuku swallows. The internal conflict is practically dripping off of him.

"I...I don't want to play with his feelings."

"You like him."

Izuku stomps his foot angrily, and Katsuki goes shh shh shh, but Izuku is already shouting, "I told you – "

He covers his mouth with his palm, and Izuku glares daggers at him. His freckles are burning red.

"Jesus. I know, sweetheart. I take good care of my things, don't I? The ship, the crew." He slides his palm off his mouth to cup his cheek. "...My spoiled first mate. And my annoying, pompous ex-marine. No choices necessary."

He sees the moment it all makes sense. Izuku's eyes widen, his mouth falling open like a caught fish. Then, he flings his arms back around his neck, and hangs off him in a crushing hug. Katsuki has to step back to counterbalance the weight, grunting as he catches him. His strength is something he refuses to acknowledge under oath.

"You are so, so good to me. I love you, I love you –"

"Shh! Go cast your lure."

Izuku lands back on his feet, and the excited look is like that of a hunter. It gets him hard just looking at him.

Izuku slips out of his quarters, down the stairway and into the heart of the party. And all too easy, he plucks Shouto off his crate and pulls him to his feet, urging him into a dance that the rest of the crew failed to achieve. Shouto's face is blank with shock as Izuku giggles and laughs, but their feet never trip. Boots nor scuff, a beat not dropped, two souls that move so perfectly in sync, it's like they were born to coexist alongside one another.

Katsuki leans up against the stair post, and nods along to the music. Two and a half more songs, then he's gone.

✦✦✦

The girls, being significantly more intelligent, retire to the cabin before they risk a hangover during the early chores tomorrow. Those that aren't passed out against the mast or sick over the edge of the boat still continue to dance.

Izuku pulls Shouto down the ship hall, then towards the open stairs, laughing, but not drunk. Smiling, but dexterous enough to jump the rail and force Shouto to jump it with him.

"Hey..." Shouto starts, hesitant, but in a good mood. "Where – where are we – Midoriya!"

"Shh!" Izuku beams. Bouncing on the balls of his feet, his hand threaded between Shouto's long fingers, he glances at their joined hands like it's an acquired treasure he can't quite believe. "You're a good dancer, Todoroki."

"The navy loves to host trivial award ceremonies. Izuku, seriously, where are we – oh!"

Izuku pushes him up against the wall of the captain's quarters, and kisses him. Shouto goes cold all the way to his scalp – frozen, tense, and shivering.

Then, he pushes him away.

"Are you crazy?!"

Izuku pouts. He makes his eyes big and innocent – which he's quite good at by now – and summons the threat of waterworks.

"You don't like it?"

Stressed, Shouto runs a hand through his hair. He turns on his heel, then turns back. He hovers a hand over his mouth, like he still can't believe it.

"No, I – I mean yes, but...Midoriya..." An unstable pause. "Izuku. Are you drunk?"

Izuku shakes his head. He steps closer again, and grips the hem of Shouto's shirt, tugging it from the narrow leather belt.

"I thought...with the way you look at me...we could..."

Shouto actually grows angry. He grips Izuku by the shoulder and squeezes tight, hovering down so he can look him in the eye as he hisses under his breath.

"Bakugou will skin us both. You can't break his heart like that."

Something shifts in Izuku's eyes. He looks away, then back again. He softens, sliding closer.

"It's fine..."

"It's not fine. You are many things, Izuku. But you are not a cheater."

Suddenly, Izuku smiles. A pass.

Katsuki has seen enough. He opens his door, grabs them both by the belt loops, and hauls them into his quarters. Slam.

"Could you be any louder?"

Shouto looks like he's seen a ghost. It's quite the expression for such a dull guy.

"See?" Izuku wiggles his way back to him, sliding his arms around Shouto's slender middle, and tipping his head to gaze through his lashes. Sneaky, clever asshole. "It's fine."

He stares between them. Katsuki raises his eyebrows, waiting for the barrage of questions. Instead, Shouto just stands there. He almost looks...sad. Which isn't the mood Katsuki was going for at all.

"If this is a joke, it's not very funny."

Izuku's smile slackens. He pulls away slightly.

"No – Shouto. Please. We want you to stay."

His quarters feel too quiet. The open breeze, the shimmering oil lamps, the occasional clunk of the ship hull. Katsuki leans a shoulder against the doorway, and watches Shouto turn his head again, seeking permission.

"We?"

Katsuki nods shortly. Still a good distance away, he watches to see how he touches him – how he slowly relaxes in Izuku's arms. How hesitantly, carefully, he pets through his curls, as if Izuku is capable of breaking.

"Time to prove yourself."

Shouto exhales a calculated breath. His hand shakes in Izuku's hair, which could be endearing, if Katsuki didn't know it was thinly veiled restraint.

He knows men, those monsters. He knows cooped up cabins, bunkbeds on bunkbeds, no privacy, not even a right hand. Nothing but stars and bad dreams.

"You're swingers?"

Izuku lets out a relieved laugh, and Katsuki finally runs out of patience. He steps up behind him, hooks his thumbs in his belt, and slots his hips right up against his rear. The motion presses Shouto between them both, pinning him immovable as he gasps.

"We're pirates," Katsuki corrects. He gives a sudden push, and both of them stumble towards the bed. Izuku jumps into action, because he knows what to do. He clings to Shouto's shoulders, draws him on top and kisses his mouth openly wet, the same way that Katsuki once taught him to kiss – and the resounding moan from Shouto is loud and relieved. They're many years in the making, those two. And while the jealousy burns, it also settles thick in his stomach. Like putting your favorite ring on a new hand, and watching it shine.

Izuku does shine. Constantly, blindingly. Out his fuckin' ass, he does. His knees part and his fingers curl, and Shouto dives into him like a man starved. He kisses his mouth, his cheeks, his ears, and Izuku's hands dive all over him – under the thin white blouse, and over the muscle he hides in his shoulders – and Katsuki feels like he's going to vibrate out of his own skin just from watching it.

He grips the back of Shouto's hair and yanks a tad unkindly, but Shouto groans a hoarse sound that surprises them both.

"You can fuck him," Katsuki says, inches from his mouth. "But you can't cum. He's mine, so you better please him. Understood?"

Shouto, the no good, devious, clever and beautiful bastard of a Todoroki, looks him in the eye with a full face of scars and sincerity, and says,

"Yes sir."

Katsuki lets go of his hair as if burned. He swallows the sudden, terrifying urge to kiss him.

Izuku seems more than happy to fill the gaps, reaching for Shouto's face and begging no more clothes please, please – and it's hard to tell him no. That's how they ended up with a damn ship cat to begin with.

He wants to see Izuku happy; but as Shouto sheds his shirt, his belt, his boots, as nails rake lines down his back and he takes big, shuddering inhales, Katsuki thinks maybe he wants to see him happy too. Maybe. Big fat fucking maybe.

He fits his hand at Shouto's back just to feel all that smooth skin (no tattoos, a rarity out here), and Shouto jumps, then breaks out into goosebumps. He looks embarrassed about it, but Izuku is so full of his mouth, he can't complain.

"You don't like it, we stop," Katsuki states.

Incredibly, Shouto goes, "I like it."

Well alright.

Izuku is short, sweet looking, and all-around unthreatening, so you'd guess his surprise when he first found out he fucked like a rabid dog. There's never too much with him. Maybe that's the born-to-be pirate in his blood. Maybe he's a monster, too.

Shouto pushes Izuku's clothes out of the way, and worships all the parts of him that Katsuki has already prayed over. Freckles, a soft chest, a strong core. Izuku kicks off his pants and sticks three of Shouto's fingers in his mouth all at once, and Katsuki fails to hold back the laugh at Shouto's face.

"Shut up," Shouto whispers. His thumb twitches as Izuku tries to suck on that, too. "I used to dream about this when I was sixteen."

Izuku flushes. But still drools along his knuckles (ashamed, but not that ashamed).

"Betcha' weren't expecting me in the mix," Katsuki mutters, giving him a firm shove to force him tighter into the crook of Izuku's thighs, so his crotch cradles his ass. Shouto exhales.

"That's only recently."

This time, Katsuki hesitates. Izuku pulls off his fingers and kicks the rest of his smallclothes – and then Shouto is making more of those quiet, breathy gasps as Izuku paws at his cock and sets it free. Katsuki's head swims all the while.

Like a second sense, Izuku's head whips over. He takes one look at him, and extends a hand.

"Kacchan. I want you to put it in."

Shouto's flush reaches his ears. Katsuki takes a steadying breath, and leans down to kiss Izuku in the sheets. His mouth is pliant and tender already. He can almost, almost taste where it's been.

"You don't think he's capable?"

"I just want it to be you."

Shouto shifts silently. Katsuki eyes him, before he returns behind him again.

"Pants off."

There's shuffling. Readjusting, as Shouto climbs back up fully naked. He has a few scars around his thighs, but the rest of his skin is entirely clear. Barely any body hair, wide shoulders, and an itty waist that Katsuki could probably fit in both hands. Maybe a bit gangly, if he didn't have muscle from working the deck and holding a sword.

Katsuki seeks out lube. He uses it to slick his fingers, then reaches from behind and slicks his pink cock too. Shouto's returning groan is shocked and short, like he bit it in half. It's a pretty sound. His cock is kinda' pretty too, not very thick, but Izuku will like it fine.

"Don't cum," Katsuki teases.

"You're kind of an asshole," Shouto replies, breathless. Katsuki twists his hand on his dick one last time, then pats Izuku's thigh to encourage him to wiggle closer. When he helps guide Shouto against his hole, he yips. "W-Wait, doesn't he have to st-nn-stretch first?"

"He would," Katsuki says, "if he wasn't a whore."

Izuku scoffs. He looks good kissed red, his cock in hand and waiting to be filled. Shouto sucked a kiss into his neck, and it's gone pink already. Adored still in necklaces, rings, and gold hoop earrings, spread on a bed of silk, yet happily at home on a ship of pirate scum.

He doesn't deny it.

"So rude. Just hurry up, please."

Katsuki leads him in, and Shouto thrusts the rest of the way, and it's surprisingly intimate. Shouto braces a hand in the sheets and hangs his head, and Izuku sighs a happy sound, and that gets Katsuki irreparably hard. The way Shouto chokes (because Izuku is no doubt squeezing with all his might), and Izuku moans (like a fucking angel), and the jealousy turns into something else. Pride, and possession.

He nearly knocks over the lube in his fumble for it. He slicks three fingers and prods down the crack of Shouto's ass with two, and finally he moans, loud and hollow from his chest, and Katsuki curses like a dying sailor.

"Does he feel good, baby?"

Izuku sighs, "Mm, yeah."

"Does he feel like me?"

It's a mean question. Izuku mewls, squirms, then gasps as Shouto starts to fuck him in slow, deep thrusts.

"N-No. Yes, but no."

Shouto turns his head and goes ah, Izuku, and it feels like time just stumbles out of control. Katsuki gets two fingers in him, and Shouto takes it well. It fucks up the pace he's trying to set, but it edges them both, so two birds one stone.

He knows he ain't stretched enough, he knows it'll hurt him, but Katsuki's cock feels like lead between his thighs. In his hesitation, Shouto pulls his face out of Izuku's shoulder and begs (fucking begs!).

"Bakugou, please. I can take it."

"It'll hurt."

"Don't embarrass me with your pity."

Fine. Hell if his restraint died years ago.

He braces a knee on the bed, spreads his tight hole and fucks him. And fuck is he tight. Shouto makes a dying noise, and Izuku comforts him through a million kisses, and Katsuki has to swallow the ball of affection in his throat. Somehow, for both of them, dammit.

Eventually, Shouto's tense body gives in, and they find a rhythm that feels good enough to stick with. Skin slaps skin, nails claw through Shouto's shoulders, and Katsuki bites the broken skin to make it bleed more, and the sounds – you can't describe it. The pit these two have carved in his stomach, it's torture.

Izuku breaks first with his long, senseless babbling, so Katsuki cheats, and whispers against the back of Shouto's neck.

"Touch him, and he'll pop."

Shouto is tense, like he's trying not to shatter apart. But he's just as headstrong and stubborn as the best of them, so he gets a hand against Izuku's thigh to spread him wide, and wraps a sweaty hand around his throbbing little cock, and Izuku goes off the edge like an eastern firework. Shouto moans, and Katsuki knows it's 'cause he's squeezing down on him like hell again, and it's weird, getting off to someone else fucking the love of his life. Bad guys don't share (except in sex, apparently).

"Fuck, fuck fuck," Shouto curses, eyes squeezing shut. But he doesn't break the rule. Veins protruding through his arms, teeth clenched, he holds on.

"Good boy," Katsuki purrs.

They both whine.

Izuku won't let him pull out, but it gives Katsuki the freedom to push Shouto down on his elbows and really lay into him, and it's fuckin' good. Izuku holds him tight through his aftershocks; sweet, happy sounds to reflect the drooling groans Shouto murmurs against his skin. He takes, and he takes, and eventually, cracks.

"Bakugou..."

"Ask him nicely," Izuku prods, pushing back Shouto's bangs.

"You two..." Shouto gasps. Katsuki found his spot about ten minutes ago, and is shamelessly abusing that information. "You're like demons."

Izuku laughs, and Katsuki presses his palm flat between his shoulder blades, where angel wings might be, in a better fucking life.

"Welcome to hell."

Shouto gives a full body shiver, and Izuku whispers another encouragement; ask nicely.

It doesn't come out so nice, nor is it a question. Instead, Shouto tips his head to the side and hisses through his teeth (he's been drooling, and his eyes are wet, and the painful pleasure makes Katsuki feel like a god).

"Make me cum."

Close enough.

The urge to please is a dormant side that waits for moments like this. Katsuki squeezes the back of his throat, tangling his fingers with Izuku's already clutched in bi-colored hair, and he fucks deep and hard until Shouto seizes around him in a throbbing heat. Scorching, almost. Izuku gasps from, well, you can probably guess. Katsuki forces a kiss from over Shouto's trembling shoulder, except it isn't forced at all, but welcomed.

"Love you," Izuku whispers.

"I know."

"Fuuck," Shouto groans, face down.

Katsuki decides to be nice, and pulls out. He finishes on the backs of his thighs, thinking about how nice they'd look wrapped around him. It gives him something else to look forward to.

✦✦✦

He gets two and a half rounds out of Izuku before he's gone. Katsuki half expected Todoroki to be a one-and-done kinda' guy, but he sticks it out until Izuku is asleep against the headboard. Shouto curls up right after him, and despite his reputation, Katsuki doesn't have the heart to kick him out.

Shouto stirs after an hour. The ship has been coasting on calm seas, so their clothes are still where they left them; crumpled on the floor, over furniture, and wadded up at the foot of the bed. Izuku has gravitated towards a source of heat, which is conveniently, the crook of Katsuki's arm – and he's too high off the sex to care that Shouto is awake again, watching.

Katsuki says nothing at first. He can see a minor crisis happening in real time. Shouto rubs his eyes, blinks, tries to move, then stiffens in pain. That ugly side of him wants to comfort, but he waits instead.

Shouto sorely gets himself into a sitting position, and slicks back his bangs. He's still butt naked; still pale, smooth, and utterly ravaged. Someone bit the shit out of his neck, and that someone is both of them.

"I should leave," Shouto says, but it sounds like a question. Katsuki shrugs. Izuku is practically purring in his arms, all putty and warmth.

"If you want. But you'll make him sad. And punishment is six days in the brig, per tear."

Shouto cracks a half smile.

"If you want me to stay, just say it."

"I'd rather die."

Shouto rolls his eyes. He gazes fondly at Izuku's sleeping face, but then sucks in a silent breath, and holds it. His soft expression hardens into ice.

"That's..."

Katsuki follows his eyes to the scars on Izuku's back. Possessively, he trails his hand off Izuku's bare shoulder, and feels across the puffy scars now faded pink and white. The anger still curdles his blood when he thinks about it.

"Yeah, I know. They were already healed when I found him. First thing I did was hunt down the bastard that whipped him and – well. I'll spare you the details."

Shouto continues to stare. His eyes follow a large, chunky scar on Izuku's bicep. Then the tattoos splattered down to his wrists. Izuku snores like none the wiser.

He whispers, "I want the details." It's delightfully cruel. Not proper whatsoever, but neither is lust, nor sodomy, or sex before marriage, or anything that's happened in the last night.

"We hung him off the stern for three days. Let the birds pluck his eyes 'til the maggots brought the mermaids. I'm pretty sure they picked the bones clean."

Shouto swallows once, then says, "Good." His eyes lift, and they're warm; sometimes burning, sometimes freezing – he's an anomaly that way. "I've never been happy before. But I'm happy now, and I don't know if that makes me a bad person. I had everything I could've wanted, and now that I have nothing, it's like..." Shouto pauses. He looks away, and wipes his hand on his bare thigh, like it's sweating. "I see what I was missing."

Katsuki really doesn't want to have this conversation right now. He's not ready for lines in the sand, for the cutting edge of reality, or for – ugh, feelings. It's so trivial when death could approach any day.

Izuku is stirring in his arms, so Katsuki pets back his hair to keep him asleep.

"We're all bad people, darlin. You're still thinking like an Admiral, so stop – fuck, stop applying rules to everything. Just sleep already, dammit."

Shouto skims a hand against the side of his throat, where Katsuki bit him. It makes his face hot, because he uh, probably shouldn't have done that. But Shouto doesn't seem to mind.

"Do we have to pretend this didn't happen?"

A knife twists in his tiny, shriveled up heart. He sighs.

"No." Katsuki can tell he's overthinking. It's late, and he's fucking tired, so he waves a hand irritably and says, "Just get your ass over here."

He scoots closer. Katsuki grabs at a blanket, and tosses it over their legs. Shouto tries to carefully rearrange himself against Izuku without waking him.

Shouto lays back down with a red face, and a mouth bitten into a firm line. Izuku senses the new body and rolls immediately, crowding into Shouto and humming happily. Katsuki lets out a long, deep exhale, and presses his face to the back of his dark hair.

Too much has been left unsaid. But he doesn't have the words to say it.

✦✦✦

By dawn, Shouto is smart enough to sneak back to the bunks before he's noticed. Izuku rubs his eyes, stretches, and fits himself across Katsuki's chest, laying under the sun like a big warm cat. He can physically feel his sigh through the bare ribs that extend against his own.

"He should just sleep in here."

Katsuki lifts an eyebrow, then scowls as Izuku yawns in his face.

"You can explain that one to the crew."

"Ah...maybe later."

"Thought so."

Izuku is clingy in the mornings (and the nights, and the lazy afternoons), so Katsuki has reserved himself to lay there and accept the sleepy kisses, one after the other, across his nose, his cheek, and his ear.

"You're happy."

Izuku hums an agreed, "Yeah." He rubs his cheek along Katsuki's ear, as if he's trying to melt down and sculpt them into one living being. Katsuki lifts his hand off the bed to rub his knuckles up his back (up and over lines and lines of rigid scars, that Izuku forgets about more than he). "He fits, right? Am I crazy?" Izuku sits up to stare him down. "It was like, we were totally in sync – right? Right?"

Katsuki sighs. Izuku squints; an unsaid demand for honesty. He slips the hand downwards, then squeezes his ass, and feels for his hole; still a little sticky and stretched, it makes him squirm.

"I'll talk to him."

It's not a yes, and it's not a no – but Izuku beams with too much sun, and dives to kiss him. His mouth has been in filthy, filthy places, and Katsuki shamelessly licks him clean.

✦✦✦

"I want him to be ours."

"I can steal alotta' shit for you, Deku, but you know I can't take this."

"Hmmm...has the great pirate KING fallen from grace so easily? Is he afraid to take what's in front of his very nose?"

"Oh screw you."

✦✦✦

Shouto hobbles around the deck the next day, and the crew is anything but stupid, so when the stares roll in, Izuku decides to be a better person, and throws out a lie.

"Gee Todoroki, I can't believe you were so drunk you tripped on the anchor chain. Your back must hurt like hell."

Shouto pauses with the ropes in hand. Above him, Tokoyami shouts on belay! He takes a step back as more ropes fall around him, then he continues to stare.

"I uh. I don't remember that."

Izuku spins his knife in hand, smiling.

"Mhmm, I even got you to dance with me."

"Oh! Oh! I remember that!" Eijirou laughs. "You ain't so bad, princess."

"Look who's talking." Mina elbows him, "Mister two left feet. My toe still hurts from you stompin' on it."

"You got sick all over my shirt!"

"You don't wear a shirt!"

"Oh, right."

The crew's attention is easily misdirected. Shouto leans up against the ship mast and tips his head in a polite, slightly embarrassed thanks. Izuku grins, pockets the knife, and helps pull the sails. Typical Good-Guy-Deku, you'd never believe he could chop arms and slit throats with a single turn of that knife – unless you've seen it with your own eyes. Shouto gets it.

Katsuki leans up against the rail, and looks down by his feet.

"And where'd you fuck off to last night?"

Shinsou leans to the side, spits, and turns the wheel slightly; both from above his head, and with his eyes closed. Fucker.

"Slept in the kitchen. It was the only place where people weren't dancin', pukin', or fuckin'."

"Remind me not to eat the stew."

✦✦✦

They drop anchor at Blueman's Cove by the late afternoon.

It's an old pirate town settled on copious amounts of alcohol, illegal dealings, and a shaddy truce. Katsuki likes being here just as much as he likes pissing in snow, but they've got goods to swap, and there's no Navy assholes hanging around.

Shouto is the first man off the dock. He can practically see the rusty wheels spinning in Eijirou's head.

"Hey, Captain...you know if someone recognizes him, they're gonna shoot his ass, right?"

Well, if anyone knows the ship colors, then they'd be fuckin' stupid to try. But Navy is a cursed word here, so Katsuki can't depend on his reputation to ward off other pirates.

"He can handle himself."

Eijirou makes a face, shrugs, then continues to secure the anchor. Katsuki lifts his hat to wipe back his sweaty bangs, and sighs.

✦✦✦

He doesn't enjoy leaving the ship, but he has a few errands he has to run personally, so he leaves Deku in charge. They'll spend the night on shore leave – no use trying to sail out in the dead of night with a tired crew.

The cove smells like beer and piss and sex. Harlots wave handkerchiefs from the windows, and the sound of broken bottles and fist-fights can be heard from the alleys. No weapons are allowed here. Sure, you might be able to get away with murder, but excommunication from the Cove isn't worth the easy shot at an enemy.

He trades a few valuables at the pawn shop, sets up his next round of smuggled goods for the dock, and pays off an informant he owed. While the company here is less-than-pleasant, Katsuki still gets a sick satisfaction from the uneasy stares that follow the symbol sewn to the back of his jacket. The only ones that dare to look him in the eye are the overly-big, gruff lookin' guys that try to seem tough for the women on their arm. Katsuki could give less of a fuck about fighting them. He would win, anyways.

When he sets for the path on the dock, he hesitates halfway down the road. Not quite ready to return to the ship, he begins a new path for the tavern. Deku will understand.

Three men are nursing black eyes in the gutter. Katsuki glances through the open window, and bites back a sigh.

Back to the ship it is –

"Fuckin' Navy jackass," the pirate hisses. "He don't punch like no Navy."

"Let's just jump 'em on his way out, brother."

"Yeah 'cause that worked so well last time."

"Shuddup!"

Katsuki clears his throat, and at one glare, the three of them skatter. He peers again through the window, and sees Shouto resting his bloody knuckles against the glass he's sipping. Motherfucker.

Alright. Guess they're doing this now.

It gets quiet as he enters the tavern, only long enough for everyone to get a stare in, before the piano picks up again and the gamblers return to their game.

Katsuki joins Shouto at the bar, and sets down a few pence. A blue eye looks at him skeptically, then returns to his drink.

"You couldn't pick another bar?"

"Nope. Give it here."

Shouto looks confused, until he realizes he's gesturing to his bloodied hand. Hesitantly, he lets Katsuki take his wrist and turn it, studying for any permanent damage. At no sight of bone, he gives him his hand back with a shove.

"You'll live."

"I knew that."

"Mm, really? By the way you're nursing it, figured we'd have to chop it off."

"You're not funny," Shouto grumbles.

The bartender slides a fresh tankard his way. Katsuki takes two swallows before he wipes his mouth on his forearm, and rests the cup back on the bar.

"I'd ask why you're moping, but you're always kind of a downer."

He scowls, "I'm not moping."

"Sure, and I'm the duke of Arenburg."

"Well, my apologies if everything in my life has been fucked upside down," Shouto gestures. "By you, specifically. Thanks."

He doesn't rise to the fight, even though he kinda' wants to. His skin itches already, his stomach once again turning – but he pushes through. For Deku.

"Well shit princess, sorry life ain't a luxury experience no more."

Shouto mutters (almost a hiss, though flat in tone).

"Never was."

Katsuki sighs through his nose. The beer warms his throat and makes his eyes feel dry. He combs through his hair, scratching out the dents from his hat.

"I thought you said you were happy."

Shouto presses a hand to his eyes. Elbow on the bar, he hangs there in silence, until:

"I am. Maybe. I don't know."

His mouth tingles. Katsuki licks his dry lips, presses them together until they sting, then says,

"Last night meant something." He adds quickly, "To Deku. So quit your crying."

Shouto risks a look at him. They're alone at the bar, but even then, Katsuki still tenses as Shouto openly asks,

"Why did you let me fuck him?"

The piano keeps playing, and the poker game continues. He skeptically eyes the bartender; she's still washing glasses, so they're alone. Katsuki drops his voice anyways.

"Cause he likes you, dumbass. It made him happy, and god knows I've done worse to keep him that way."

Shouto straightens slightly. His eyes don't look so hollow, but there's still a sadness in there. Ugh, this became so complicated so quickly. Sex used to be easy as buying fresh eggs off a farm maid. Now it's got sentiment, goes to show what age has fucking done to him.

"How did you know you loved him?"

Jesus.

Katsuki rubs the back of his neck and groans, "That's a loaded question."

"You don't have to answer."

"Nah." He finishes off the beer, because he'll need it. The sun has already left the sky, so the light glows from all the lanterns in the tavern. Someone bangs the table as they lose their bet. Shouto is now staring at him with his full attention, and it's hard not to look at him and think about how damn good he looked on his knees. "Deku and I were born in the same village."

Shouto's eyes widen fractionally.

"Really? He...never spoke of you."

Katsuki will ignore that. Grumpily, he rubs his nose.

"Yup. I hated his ass, too. Weak, scrawny little thing, always followin' me around, never shut the fuck up." All these years, and he can still picture him so clearly in his mind. "We went different ways, around nine or ten. I got picked up off a ship, and his family moved to a Naval town. Ten damn years, and I find him fightin' for his life on some hunk of junk ship. We were robbing it 'cause I heard they had gold, which was a fucking lie. Deku put a shot in me –" Katsuki lifts his shirt, and Shouto sits closer on the stool to look at the scar, "— right in my side. Then once he saw my face, he turned around and murdered his own Captain in cold blood – as if to protect me. The damn nerve."

Shouto reaches a hand outwards, a hair's breadth away from the knotted scar on his side, but quickly comes to his senses, and tugs it back against his own thigh. He twists the leather holster there. Katsuki roughly yanks down his shirt as Shouto whispers,

"I can imagine your surprise."

Katsuki grins genuinely.

"I imagine you can. All strong and tan from working in the sun, a thousand more freckles than I'd remembered. I hated him just as much as I fell in love with him."

"He adores you," Shouto says plainly. The words are spoken so casually, it sneaks up and bites him. "I was so jealous, but also...not. It's strange." Katsuki can intimately relate. He remains quiet instead. After a long pause, Shouto picks at some of the peeling skin on his knuckles, and asks, "So why did you fuck me?"

That opens a whole new door. One that Katsuki is kinda' holding shut with both feet.

He looks at Shouto, and doesn't see the fear he's expecting. Instead, it's this genuine hope, something so honest, something you don't see in this world anymore. So the door swings wide open.

No more glances around the tavern; confidently, he leans an elbow on the bar, and crowds close enough to see the ridges in his scar. Fire damage, freezing eyes, stripes of red and white hair no longer neatly parted, but entangled like they once were last night.

"Because I wanted to."

Shouto smiles; never with teeth, but those expressive eyes of his.

"Okay."

That seems to be enough for him, thank god. They finish their drinks in silence, and when the off-key piano begins its third song, Katsuki pushes off from the bar, and Shouto follows.

The streets are quiet after sundown, as everyone's probably out drinking, or fucking. Katsuki already checked one box, and is seriously thinking about the other. His shirt feels too tight, and the drink made him warm, and –

Shouto pushes him forcefully by the shoulder. They stumble sideways three and a half steps into an alley, then up against the stone wall. Katsuki has the start of a shout on his tongue, a what the hell do you think you're doing that gets bitten off by Shouto's mouth pressing firm against his own.

They're nearly the same height, Katsuki wider, Shouto taller. That brave, stupid idiot pins him to the wall and kisses him like a starving man, and because Katsuki is also a stupid idiot, he eats it up and kisses back.

"Moron," Katsuki hisses. But he fists back into his hair (shaggy again already), and grips so hard that Shouto gasps against his lips. "Is this what you wanted?"

"You wouldn't kiss me," Shouto whispers. If he didn't know any better, he'd think it a whine.

Well shit, he sure kisses him now. He devours him in this filthy alley, his back still against the wall, sucking and biting until his lungs ache. He tastes like rum, and his lips are soft, and he kisses nothing like Deku –

The guilt hums against his ribcage, then melts slowly over time. They're building something new here; something even more rare, and valuable.

Katsuki fits his thumb against Shouto's jawbone, and forces him to meet his eyes. They're hazy with the same arousal he saw last night, and it makes him go aflame.

"Swear your loyalty to me, and you can ask for anything you want. Forever, until death."

Shouto turns his head into his hand. He knows what an asshole this man can be, so to see him nose obediently into his palm is a drug. He can physically feel himself getting hard in his trousers, and it's disgusting, and amazing.

"You make me crazy, Katsuki. You fill my head with hopes and lies, and then make me dream of you."

I hate you just as much as I love you.

Katsuki drags his thumb along his lower lip, where it's swollen from kissing. His rings are digging marks into his cheeks, and it's a pretty sight.

"I have never lied to you."

Shouto tugs out of his grip to kiss him again, and Katsuki allows it. It's fast and quick, as footsteps approach down the alley.

He laughs breathily, "Another pretty lie." Panting and whispers, cracked knuckles and a bleeding lip, burn scars and beautiful eyes; Shouto looks at him and says, "I'll be yours, Captain."

✦✦✦

The door creaks open, then slams as if kicked with a heavy boot. Izuku looks up from his book, folds the page, and sets it aside.

"Welcome back."

Katsuki flips Shouto from off his shoulder and dumps him on the bed. The mattress bounces slightly, a few goose-feathers slipping out from under the blankets.

"Hi," says Shouto, upside down.

"Hello. It looks like you had a productive evening."

Katsuki grunts, "Scoot over, I'm riding him."

Izuku gives the biggest shit-eating grin because he's still a know-it-all asshole. Katsuki swings a leg over Shouto's hips, and Izuku shoves the rest of his books off the bed. They clunk to the ground.

"Oh, oh, me too."

"I have a face," Shouto says smartly.

"Yes, a pretty one!"

Katsuki flings off their boots and weapons and all the other bullshit in the way, and Izuku kisses Shouto from his cross-legged position, upside down and tender sweet, and Katsuki feels his chest physically lurch. It's not a bitter feeling, but a proud one.

"So can we keep him?" Izuku begs, still being kissed against the bottom of his chin. Two sets of eyes snap to him like little vultures – and fuck if he's gonna' say no to something he wants just as bad.

"Fine, but you gotta' clean his cage."

"Har har," Shouto grumbles.

They're anchored at port on an empty ship, but his quarters are far more luxurious than any shit-inn they'd pay a nickel and dime for on land. Katsuki takes advantage of the peace and quiet to pin Shouto down and ride his cock 'till he begs and cries. He's a pretty crier, too – shallow, quiet, heaving gasps that arch his spine off the bed. Izuku mounts his face and Shouto claws fingerprints in his thighs as he eats him clean and Katsuki tells 'em they're being very good boys – and the happy moans sound like something you'd hear at the gates of heaven. Too bad he'll never see it.

And in the end, that motherfucking Deku is right, because Shouto fits. Between them, beside them, whatever. It's a good ride.

✦✦✦

It's too warm to fall asleep, but that's fine. He'll toss off the blanket in exchange for the thigh thrown over his hip. Shouto isn't clingy, but Deku most definitely is, and he's pressed up against Shouto's back so hard, he has no choice but to curl over Katsuki. Guess that's what they call a rock and a hard place, pun intended.

"None'a this in front of the crew," he grumbles.

He can feel Shouto's huff of breath.

"No shit."

"I don't want no attitude, neither. You're barely six months on board, and they'll needle me for shit if I show favorites."

"You will anyways," Izuku sings, petting his hand up and down Shouto's chest from behind. "Give him your present."

They both tense at once. He can almost feel Shouto's eyelashes blinking against his bicep.

"What?"

Katsuki curses repeatedly, then lightly smacks Izuku's arm.

"You dick."

"Don't be a coward!"

"Fine, fuck. God, both of you..." Katsuki peels himself away, rolls all the way over, then hangs off the side of the bed to fish underneath the posts. "No damn respect around here..." His hand hits a wad of clothing, no, a forgotten boot, no. "...buncha' ungrateful, needy... here." He gets a grip on the bandeloir, then heaves himself back up again, and slaps it into Shouto's lap. "Stole this for you."

More or less.

Shouto stares at the two holsters. They're good quality leather, hand carved and varnished. He sits up slowly, Izuku's arms falling around to his naked hip. Skeptically, he pulls out one of the pistols, and studies the craftsmanship.

"This is real gold...where did you get these?"

"Doesn't matter."

Shouto rolls one of the guns around his finger. He frowns, and Katsuki actually feels his heart stop for a second.

"I've never owned one. I was trained as a swordsman..."

Izuku saves the day, saying, "Shouto, you're a total sharpshot. You know we don't fight like proper knights out here."

Katsuki nods gruffly. "Accept it, and you're really one of us."

Shouto is too hard to read. He's still examining the guns, turning it over in his hand, running his thumb over the engraved metal carvings. Katsuki thought they suited him when he saw them hiding in the safe of that rival pirate ship. Turns out they're worth, literally, more than their weight in gold. Sure, he could sell 'em. But a loyal gun on your ship – that's priceless, and he's not stupid.

After a long pause, Shouto's eyes light up with mischief. He's so far gone from that stuck-up admiral, yet still the same dickhead that parried his sword with a pocket knife.

"I accept."

Fuck the stupid butterflies in his stomach, and fuck them both for ever planting them there.

"Well. Good then, you can stop hiding around when we're robbing ships and – what are you doing?"

Shouto has pushed the gun belt aside, and is back on his knees as he crawls up towards him. His nose brushes his inner thigh, and Katsuki feels the muscle twitch as he then runs his mouth to his crotch.

"Swearing my loyalty."

Izuku starts to laugh, and Katsuki feels his blood burn to an insatiable temperature. Somehow, Shouto's mouth feels cold, but he warms it right up.

✦✦✦

"Don't think this makes you second mate. You'll have to fistfight Kirishima for that one."

"Eh, he can keep the chores."

✦✦✦

Shouto stabs the knife into the table. As it cuts through the open map, he can feel the guards tense at the door.

"Our deal is over."

Touya doesn't even flinch. Boots on the table, cigar in hand, he blows smoke from the holes in his face, and licks around one of the stitches with the tip of his tongue.

"Backing out already? That's not very honorable, is it brother? You gave your word."

"Yeah, well. That was before you hired an assassin to kill me."

Touya laughs, but it's more of an ugly cackle. It reminds him of when they were young, and he'd try to set the ends of his hair on fire when father wasn't looking.

"C'mon now, that was years ago."

Shouto looks at the clock on the wall, and back again. Out of time, and years out of patience, he snatches back his knife and points it at Touya, all dressed up in that Navy uniform. Somehow, it doesn't suit him at all. Like a wolf in sheep's clothing.

"This is done."

Touya drops his boots off the table. His guards reach for their weapons, but he stops them with a hand.

"You want your chair back? I'm afraid we already had the funeral. Everything is still going to plan, you know. I keep your seat warm, and you return from the dead with the corpse of the most wanted pirate in the east – or did you forget all about that, in your seafaring escapades? You get to scrub your reputation of Father's name, and I get to pull a few strings for my buddies back home. It's still a win-win for everyone."

"Touya, I'm done playing games with you. I'm. Out."

His burn scars crinkle as he pushes his eyebrows together. Blue eyes stare through a shock of white hair, as all that cruelty comes rushing back.

"Oh. So you're one of them, now?"

Shouto pockets his knife.

"Keep the fucking chair."

"Hoo, this is just too good. You even talk like them. You like it, dontcha'? Robbing the seven seas with a bunch of degenerates." Touya leans his head back on his chair and cackles. "Classy, stuck-up little Shouto. Ohh, if daddy could see you now."

He wordlessly approaches the door. Both guards size him up, but at a long stare, they step aside.

Touya bangs his fist on the table, but Shouto doesn't flinch.

"You're an idiot! When the King finds out you're alive, you'll be the world's most wanted traitor."

"Then kill me yourself," Shouto hisses. "You never planned on giving me back the title. Did Father really abandon post, or could he not handle the disappointment of you stinking up the ranks!"

Touya draws a gun from his hip and fires, and Shouto slams the door in his face. Huffing, he spits, wipes his mouth, and staggers back towards Blueman's Cove.

He needs a drink.

✦✦✦

Sunshine, banana hammocks, and whiskey-rum in little coconut shells. It's everything a pirate dreams of when they think of the aisles.

Sure, it takes a dick and a half to sneak past the trade ships, but once you're clear, it's blue skies and white sand.

Katsuki lays against a palm tree with his hat over his eyes, and listens to the sound of his crew gleefully playing hacky-sack near the water. No mermaids to worry about, when the water's this warm. No hostile locals, no Navy marines; just one perfect day.

Izuku lays his head in Katsuki's lap with a book hovered above his eyes to block out the sun. It's fine, when they're on leave like this. Shinsou and Denki are probably making out in a giant clamshell somewhere, fuck if anyone cares.

His ears pick up footsteps in the sand, then a soft thump as someone sits nearby. Katsuki doesn't even bother to open his eyes. He lifts his arm, and after three long seconds, Shouto shifts closer, and allows him to wrap loosely around his shoulders.

"Is this really what we came here for?"

Katsuki grunts, "Yeah. Haven't you marines ever heard of a vacation?"

Shouto tips his nose up towards the sun. The breeze rolls in cool off the water, and it's different than on the boat, because the sand stays all warm.

"Not like this."

Izuku reaches back to blindly pat Shouto on the thigh. "Relax, nobody will find us here. We scout the area real good, right Kacchan?"

"Yeah, take a load off, princess. I won't let nobody hurt ya."

"Hm." Shouto frowns, unimpressed. But he doesn't move from under Katsuki's arm, so it's a win.

Eventually Mina hollars for another player to make the teams even, and Izuku pushes aside his book to go play. He yanks his shirt off from the collar and rolls up his pants to his knees, and that's something Katsuki does open his eyes for. Shouto is staring too, and it makes him wanna' laugh, but he doesn't.

He tugs at Shouto's shirt, pulling off some of the sand.

"Take this off, it's too hot."

A huff, "Nice try."

"Worth a shot." Katsuki relaxes back against the tree, and after a long while, Shouto eventually peels off his boots, wads up his socks, and sticks his toes in the sand. He wonders if Shouto's ever had fun in his life, or if this is another first for him.

After an even longer amount of time (they're full on brawling now, playfully scooping in water in their palms, splashing each other with the sea spray), Katsuki feels a weight on his shoulder. Shouto inhales, exhales, and finally that stiffness bleeds from him. Katsuki gives him a firm pat on the shoulder.

"Thanks for not betraying me."

To his credit, Shouto doesn't tense, but his voice does go quiet.

"So you figured that out, huh?"

"Took me a minute, but yeah. Supposed you had a few times too many to slit my throat, and you didn't."

"I thought I was chasing justice," says Shouto, frowning. "Or glory. Or respite. But really, it was just the sea." He chews on the edge of his nail. "And a real family, I guess."

Katsuki hums neutrally.

"Is that why you stayed?"

"I didn't expect to find him here. And I didn't expect...you."

Near the water, Hanta takes a hacky-sack to the nose. He bends over in pain, while Izuku worriedly hovers. Katsuki rolls his eyes, then snorts from the back of his throat.

"Me? You came to kill me."

Shouto tips his head slightly, and Katsuki turns his head to look him in the eye. He looks a little too smug. A little embarrassed, yet pleased.

"You turned me on."

"Oh," Katsuki whispers. He tips his head further, and slides his hat fully off his head to block them from view. "That's the way to a mariner's heart, huh?"

Shouto meets his mouth under the privacy of his hat.

"You're the only ones to get me that way."

Katsuki is a sick, sick man. He will hang for many things, but worst of all, he will hang for pride because it consumes him. Gets him all kinds of bothered, makes his teeth ache, and his cock hard.

He brands him in a kiss, then plops his hat on Shouto's head to protect him from the sun. Better he than himself, all that pale skin they've yet to ink up.

"Rest," Katsuki says. "You'll need it."

Their sins melt in the sand. Through warm alcohol, a hotter sun, and the rushing waves. He will steal tomorrow, and he will steal the stars, and he will steal every last drop of gold in this sickening wasteland for a chance to steal it all over again. They're bound to each other, but free of the world, and that's how he wants to keep on living.

Eventually the crew peer-pressures Shouto into joining their game, and Katsuki falls asleep under the shade of the tree. It's paradise.

END

https://archiveofourown.org/works/40993851