Thread by @ceramicspams

Thread!

Title: Doomsday Machine
Pairing: #kiribaku, eventual #kiribakudeku

Will tag cws as needed.

Style: Pantsing

Katsuki is about thirty seconds away from slapping his partner (both business and pleasure) right out of his chair. Eijirou has been bouncing his leg for the last ten minutes, making his chair squeak irritably.

They've been waiting in the office for at least half an hour and it's always been difficult for the redhead to sit still. Regardless, his anxiety is giving Katsuki a nagging headache, and he needs to keep his temper in check for the upcoming meeting.

The call had been unexpected and the meeting had been scheduled in a hurry. Usually, Toshinori wasn't so frantic, so they had figured that it must be pretty serious.

Another ten minutes crawl by, not without Katsuki slapping Eijirou's leg, and finally the tall blond man arrives with a dozen apologies and a stack of papers in his arms.

He spreads them out all over the desk and tries to shuffle them into an order.

"-so sorry. I had to get everything together, and I didn't want to miss anything. We'll get right to it," Toshinori pauses to push his wild hair out of his face and observe the two of them, "I need you for a job."

"You know our rates, old man," Katsuki says, crossing his arms tightly, "You didn't need us here to sign paperwork. What the hell is going on?"

Toshinori grimaced, "I think we've found the Doomsday Machine."

"Whoa," Eijirou stands up immediately, "You're joking."

"He's fucking mental, that's what. We all know the thing doesn't actually exist," Katsuki rolls his eyes.

"Maybe, maybe not, but what matters is we got word that Shigaraki has something that might be a key, and /he/ seems to think he's found the Machine." Toshinori says.

"So, what, we're going in to make sure it's not? Just in case?" Eijirou asks.

"We've got a team currently working on getting this key," Toshinori gestures to them and points down at the spread of maps on the desk, "We'll know if they were successful in a few hours."

"If this key has any sign of legitimacy, we'll be sending you two in to scope the location Shigaraki has been watching."

Both Katsuki and Eijirou examine the maps. They'll be going out into uncharted territories, into deep jungle and unknown dangers.

It's nothing they haven't done before. The pair have been archeologists and conservationists for years. They've found their fair share of hidden artifacts, broken history, and powerful things that needed to be hidden from the world.

Just last year they had been applauded for finding a buried city and returning lost artifacts to the descendants of that place. The museums had had a field day with making the recreations to be showcased to the public. And they'd gotten a pretty good deal out of it all, too.

The "Doomsday Machine" though, that was mostly still a rumor. Some legend. People had dedicated their lives searching for the thing and had never found it. Probably for the best -- allegedly the machine had the power to unmake reality. Hence the name.

Most likely it was just some spiritual artifact that was important to the culture, or something made up by someone who wanted a little bit of fame. Regardless, the possible threat meant that any rumor had to be taken at least somewhat seriously.

Toshinori was usually pretty level headed, so if he was worried...well, that was cause for concern. So, of course, Katsuki and Eijirou would take the job. Even if they didn't find the Machine, there was likely /something/ interesting there.

They would wait for the key to be delivered, they'd pack, and off they'd go.

(* * * TBC * * * )