All Who Wander [Chapter 1 - WINTER]

Katsuki’s fingers tugged at the zip on his coat, fidgeting, but when a burst of cold wind went straight through the small opening, he regretted it immediately. He shivered slightly, pulling it quickly back up to his chin and shoving his gloved hands back in his pockets, and waited for the whistle of the wind to calm down a little before he spoke again.

“I understand,” he forced out finally, jaw tight. “I do, really.”

“I know you do,” Denki nodded. “And I know you’re doing your best, you’ve been doing a great job. But I have Kouta to think of now, it’s not just about me anymore. You understand, right? I have to do what’s best for him, to make sure I can raise him safely.”

Denki had been the last person Katsuki had expected to raise a hand that day, when they’d needed someone to take in the little brat and raise him as their own, but he’d actually been doing a pretty good job as an adoptive parent so far. Maybe it helped that he had the brain of a kid the same age, always knew how to keep him entertained.

Katsuki had been on the brink of doing it himself, as much as he hadn’t wanted to – he’d felt responsible for the kid’s parents not coming home, still felt responsible for that, and if he had to spend the rest of his life making up for it, he was man enough to do it. He would have taken that kid in and been the best damn father in the world, if he’d needed to, but thankfully Denki had saved him from that fate.

He probably should have shown a little more gratitude for that, come to think of it.

“Just give us a little longer,” Melissa spoke up quickly. “You’re doing great with Kouta, and we really appreciate it. We never could have expected you to step up the way you have, to be such a good father to him. But this is your home! And we’re so close to a breakthrough, I swear! Just bear with us a little bit longer, we’re right there. Any day now we’ll have it, I promise.”

“We’ll figure something out soon,” Katsuki agreed, though he refused to throw the word promise around, the way Melissa liked to. “I know we will.”

We have to.

“Okay,” Denki conceded. “But I can’t keep doing this, Katsuki. Every month we have this same conversation, and I always agree to stay a little longer. I want to support you, both of you, and I love this town, you know I do, but we need to eat. Not just me and Kouta, all of us.”

“You have my word,” Melissa assured him. “If we don’t figure something out soon, we won’t stop you from leaving, or anyone else in the town. But we really, really hope you’ll give us just a little more time to figure it out, I’m sure there’s something right around the corner, we just have to reach out and grab it!”

“Yeah,” Katsuki nodded. “If things get any worse, I won’t object when you want to leave.”

“Thank you.” Denki nodded faintly, not quite able to meet Katsuki’s eyes anymore. “I know you guys are working hard, I’m sure you’ve got something big on the horizon.”

Denki flashed them each a sad smile as he picked up his little bundle of food rations, then he led Kouta back down the path toward the house they shared. Katsuki waited until they were out of sight before he opened his mouth again, refusing to meet Melissa’s eyes, much the way Denki had refused to meet his.

“Are we really that close?” he asked quietly.

“I know we haven’t had much luck, but I can feel a turning point coming. It’s so close I can practically taste it.”

“What does your Dad think?”

“He’s hopeful! This new experiment is our most promising one yet. We’re both super excited to see how it progresses in the next few weeks.”

“It better be good,” Katsuki sighed. “We might only have a few more weeks.”

“We’ve got this.”

She held out a hand, and Katsuki rolled his eyes, bumping her fist with his own all the same.

“Nothing can beat the two of us when we work together,” she reminded him.

“I sure as hell hope not.”


[Chapter 2]