Since I still haven’t be able to finish the new age of the bkdk Persephone&Hades AU (stuck in a cycle of have energy/no time or viceversa çvç), here a little fic that I wrote weeks ago at 2AM (I have a brilliant sleep schedule, thank you).
ANOTHER KIND OF SHOVEL TALK
Izuku got his quirk a week after his fourth birthday. He was watching TV with Katsuki when he sneezed. The little boy covered nose and mouth – like his parents taught him – and suddenly he was holding a fireball.
“Deku!”
“Kacchan!”
“You’ve got your quirk!”
“I’ve got my quirk!”
Jumping up and down on the sofa, they celebrated.
-
Katsuki’s fifth birthday came around and he still had to manifest his quirk. He was impatient, but his parents explained to him that quirks may take time to show themselves. So, Katsuki convinced himself that his quirk was taking its time because it was the most powerful one ever and he had to properly train his body to contain it.
He would look at Izuku’s pretty fireballs – he was getting better at making and controlling them – and thought that it would’ve been nice if he had a fire related quirk too, maybe explosions. It would’ve been awesome. Katsuki kept on dreaming and hoping.
-
However, as his sixth birthday was approaching, the other kids started turning sceptical and talked among them.
“Did you hear? Kacchan still hasn’t got his quirk.”
“That’s strange, right?”
“My mom said he’s probably it.”
“Ah, I know, quirkless.”
Quirkless. No, it couldn’t be. Those were lies of stupid extras who understood nothing!
“Soon. Soon I’ll get my quirk and I’ll become a hero with Deku, and I’ll show them!”
-
He turned seven, then eight, and still nothing. His classmates and “friends” wouldn’t try to hide their gazes and comments anymore. Some even tried to “put him in his place” but Katsuki punched back until they ran away.
When Deku found out, he had the strangest expression ever, so dark… Then he bursted out crying. Silly nerd.
Izuku clung to his friend’s arm all the way to the infirmary. Since the nurse wasn’t there, Katsuki had to do with Izuku’s clumsy help. Between sniffs and applying band-aids, Izuku kept repeating how amazing Katsuki had been to win against a whole group. Normally, the blond boy would’ve preened under the compliments. However, during the last year they started grating on him: Deku was lying to make him feel better. But he didn’t, he felt worse. That was the day the presence of Izuku started feeling sour.
-
Things repeated themselves until Katsuki couldn’t take it anymore; there’s so much the body of an eight years old can repress.
“Kacchan’s amazing, Kacchan’s amazing” he mocked, “Stop it! I know you’re lying! You just think I’m a useless quirkless! I can see your eyes… you think I’m pathetic, just like everyone else!” his voice raised until he was shouting, but he didn’t notice until he found himself panting.
Clenching his fists, he watched Izuku defiantly, challenging him to try to deny his words.
He was met with watering eyes and he felt his heart split: half of him was heartbroken for hurting his only friend, the other half was irked to no end.
“... Is this what you think, Kacchan?”
“Are you deaf, Deku?!”
Izuku flinched: Katsuki had never spoken the nickname with such venom. The blond boy scoffed.
“Right, that’s wrong. Because I am the deku, am I not?!”
Wet trails glinted on his heated cheeks. He was so angry, and so sad, so lost…
Tiny, a bit chubby arms enveloped his shoulders, hugging tight. Katsuku whined and tried to break free but just halfheartedly, as the more he wiggled the more his protests turned into hiccups and, soon after, full sobs. His hands found Izuku’s T-shirt and gripped hard.
“You’ve always been amazing, and just because you don’t have a quirk, you’re not less amazing. For me, Kacchan is and always will be the best, my number one Hero.”
It was like someone slapped his brain. Did he hear that right?
Without loosening his grip, Katsuki distanced himself enough to see Izuku’s face. They were both a horrible mess of tears and snot.
“... Not All Might?”
His friend quickly shook his head, so energetically that his green curls bounced comically.
“I like All Might, a lot! But I like Kacchan better! And, and! A quirk is just a tool! Like… a shovel!”
A chuckle escaped Katsuki’s lips.
“A shovel?”
“Yeah! And it may be useful, or difficult to control, or just pretty. But even without a shovel, you still have your hands!” and as he said the last words, Izuku took Katsuki’s hands in his, holding them like they were the most precious things in the world.
“Will it be more difficult to dig? Of course. Still, you can do it and it will be an amazing hole nonetheless!”
The shovel analogy was getting a bit out of hand, Katsuki thought, but he understood what his friend meant to convey.
His precious, kind friend, who still cried like a baby when he got hurt so that Katsuki would coddle him (in his own gremlin way) or that would go absolutely feral whenever someone even just thought of disrespecting his best friend.
Izuku, who despite receiving the cold shoulder and cutting words once too many, still looked at Katsuki like he hung the moon. And how could the blond boy not have his self-esteem back with those eyes watching him?
“Let’s be heroes, Deku.”
“Yeah!”
His arms were already open, ready to receive the hug Izuku charged with at him despite their closeness.
“And if you need a shovel, just say the word: I’ll be your shovel!”
“Enough with the shovels!”
And Katsuki hugged his friend tighter, so as to not make him see the redness creeping on his cheeks and ears.
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