For Want Of A Squirrel - Part 2 of 2

Read Part 1 here! 

Izuku was stunned when the little orange bubble popped up on his screen. He’d accepted the Best Friends request earlier in the week, quietly thinking to himself that it was nice to know Lil really did want to hang out again, that he wasn’t just being polite. He hadn’t expected to start getting messages from him, though – he hadn’t even known it was a thing, to be honest. But it was good to know he could send messages to all his friends even when they weren’t on the same island!

“Come over?” the message said. “Got stars.”

Izuku wasn’t entirely sure what that second part meant, but he did know he wanted to go hang out again. Especially knowing that the guy was an All Might fan – they had so much to talk about!

“Sure!!” he sent back quickly. “You want anything?”

There was a pause, so Izuku ran up to his house to empty his pockets while he waited, changing into his Silver Age costume so Lil wouldn’t think he hadn’t done laundry since they last met. He put away the materials he’d gathered on his loop around the island, and made sure he had a full set of tools on hand in case they decided to fish or catch bugs again, then he was off to see his friend the dodo at his desk.

The sky was dark as he flew in, Lil’s little character waving to him from just outside the airport, and as he stepped out of the building, he quickly understood. With a cute little ting over the game music, a shooting star flew overhead, and Izuku watched in awe as two more quickly followed it.

“Hey,” Lil said, waving at him. “Owl over here.”

Izuku resisted the urge to ask, following instead, and Lil led the way through the town square, up toward his orchard. In the trees, a cute little owl wandered, eyes shining when she looked up at the sky. Lil stopped, and Izuku stepped forward to say hello, smiling when the owl greeted him enthusiastically.

“Oh,” Izuku mumbled to himself, skimming over the dialogue. “So that’s what he meant by stars.”

As another one shot overhead, Lil brought his hands together, ducking his head to make a wish. Izuku felt himself vibrating with excitement – he’d never seen that reaction before!

“How do you do that?!” he asked. “That’s so cute!!”

“Haven’t had shooting stars before?”

“No! This is so cool!”

“Oh, kk.”

He spun around in a circle, and Izuku followed obediently, running along behind him as they climbed the hill to Lil’s little stargazing spot. He’d seen it on his first visit, but he hadn’t understood the purpose behind it until they stood at the top, beside their friendly astronaut buddy, looking up at the falling stars.

“Aim your camera at the sky,” Lil instructed. “When you see the star, hit the button.”

“Oh! Is that all? Okay! I can do that!”

He waited patiently, and when that little ting came again, he mashed the button, watching with a huge grin as his little character ducked his head, making a wish.

“In the morning you’ll find stars on your beach,” Lil explained. “Gather them up for crafting.”

“Oh!! Cool!! What can you make?!”

“Special recipes from the owl. Like Frank.”

“Frank?”

He ran over to the astronaut, patting at him in explanation, and Izuku clapped a hand over his mouth to stifle the laugh that burst out of him.

“Nice to meet you, Frank,” he typed, when he’d managed to quiet himself – he didn’t want to wake his neighbours, after all. “Does Frank tell you when the stars are coming?”

“Nah, he’s watching out for space monsters.”

“Oh! Thank you for your service, Frank!”

Lil hid behind the suit, and Izuku laughed when his little speech bubble came up again, this time positioned perfectly as if the space suit – sorry, Frank – was the one speaking.

“You’re welcome, Young Deku!”

“He speaks like All Might,” Izuku laughed. “Is Frank just All Might in disguise?”

“Cousins.”

“Oh, that’s cool! I didn’t know All Might had a cousin!”

“Star lights and asteroids and stuff too,” Lil continued, stepping out from behind Frank to make another wish. “Just gotta collect the recipes.”

“How often does the owl show up?”

“Only when the stars happen. Not often.”

“Oh, bummer. I’ll let you know if I get stars, then!”

“Same. Morning announcement will tell you if you’re gonna have them that night.”

“Oh, awesome! I can invite all my friends for a star party, then!”

“Yep. Drops max out at like 40 wishes, so takes time to get through.”

“Have you done all yours tonight?”

“Nope, called you as soon as it started.”

“Wow! Thank you!”

“Np.”

Izuku opened his inventory, scrolling across to the little card he'd received only minutes ago.

“She gave me a wand recipe,” Izuku mused. “What does a wand do?”

“Oh, you don’t have one?” Lil asked. “It holds clothes.”

“Like a hat rack or something?”

“No, like this.”

Lil pulled out a little fairy wand, and Izuku watched in awe as he spun around, changing magically into a completely different outfit. Another twirl, and a third outfit.

Izuku needed one.

“Oh my god!! So cool!!” he gushed. “I can carry all my All Might costumes!!”

“I like the Silver Age,” Lil informed him. “Did you make it yourself?”

“Yeah! I made all of them!”

He pulled up the menu on his phone, changing into bronze age next, since he was yet to wear that one over to visit. Lil clapped for him, and Izuku couldn’t help but grin, picking his phone up again to type.

“I like this one a lot,” he said. “It reminds me of another hero I love, like two of my favourite people brought together!”

The Young Age costume was next, the one that Izuku was the most disappointed about the lack of cape for. He liked all the capes, and wished he could incorporate all of them into his designs, but the Young Age one just didn’t look right without it.

“Needs cape,” he typed out, making a pouty face in-game.

“Yeah, sad they don’t have.”

“Super sad!!”

Izuku changed one more time, gnawing on his lower lip as his character changed into a shade of green he’d taken forever to get right.

“You probably don’t know, but this is MY costume.”

There was a pause for a moment, and Izuku got a little nervous that Lil had missed it, had set his console down to go to the bathroom or something and not seen him speak.

“Nice,” he finally came back. “Must have taken you ages to get right. Shame about the pants.”

“Yeah! I have green ones at home, but they’re the wrong green.”

“I’ll keep an eye out,” Lil offered. “Send them if I see any.”

“Thank you!!”

He paused over his most recent design, but finally decided to throw caution to the wind, changing into black and orange.

“This one belongs to my childhood friend,” he explained. “I think it’s super cool, and he’s a really great hero, so I wanted to make it!”

“Looks awesome,” Lil agreed.

“He hasn’t seen it, I don’t think he’d be interested, but I still like having it!”

“You should hang them all in your clothing store,” Lil suggested. “I’ll come take your All Mights at some point.”

“Yeah! You’re welcome to!”

When they’d amassed a decent collection of wishes, Izuku glanced at the clock beside his bed, grimacing when he saw the time.

“We should probably sleep soon,” he typed. “Class in the morning. Have you been sleeping better since last time?”

Another pause, and then finally:

“Not really,” Lil confessed. “Been rough lately.”

“Aww, I’m sorry to hear that! Do you wanna talk about it?”

“Not really, but thanks.”

“Okay! Let me know if you do, I’m always happy to listen! Are you doing okay in class still?”

“I’m fine,” Lil assured him. “Keeping up and all that, just tired. This game kinda helps. Takes my mind off things when I can’t sleep, gives me something chill to do, instead of just lying there stressing about getting to sleep.”

“I’m glad you’ve got something that helps!! And you have lots of cute bunnies to talk to if you get lonely!!”

“My favourite is a squirrel, actually.”

“Really?! Which one?! Mine is too!!”

“Nibbles.”

Izuku reached for his phone, looking up a picture, and grinned when he saw the sweet little face.

“Aww! She’s cute!” he praised. “Where does she live?”

“She hasn’t moved in yet, bought the card to scan so still working on it.”

“Oh! Is that what the new plot beside your house is for?”

“Yeah, she should move in tomorrow. Finally.”

“It looks like a really cute garden, she’ll love it! Did you use the green ones because she’s green? What’s the orange for? They look good together! I just wondered why those ones!”

Another pause, longer this time, and Izuku winced. He’d talked too much again, hadn’t he? Had pried into things that didn’t matter and demanded an answer to a question that probably didn’t even have an answer.

“I just like them,” Lil said finally.

“Fair enough!! They look pretty!”

“Thanks.”

“I can’t wait to meet her when she moves in! I bet she’ll love it, your island is beautiful!”

“Which one is your favourite?”

It took Izuku a moment to realise what he was asking, but a smile tugged at his lips as he answered.

“Marshal! The cute little blond one.”

“Oh, he seems popular online and stuff.”

“Yeah, apparently! It was really hard to get him, because of it. One of my friends happened to find him on an island, so she moved him in then did a bunch of time travelling to make him leave so I could come invite him to my island instead! It took a while and I feel really bad that she tried so hard, but he makes me super happy!”

“Good. Not surprised. The squirrels are all pretty great.”

“Yeah!! They’re so cute!!”

They began the walk back to the airport, ready to head off and get some sleep – or, try to sleep. Hopefully Lil would have a little more success after some relaxing star-wish time.

As they stopped at the airport to say goodbye, Lil made one more wish on a star, and Izuku smiled fondly at him as he clasped his hands and ducked his head.

“What did you wish for?” he asked.

“Idiot,” Lil laughed. “You don’t ACTUALLY make wishes.”

“Well, I did! What can it hurt?”

“What did YOU wish for, then?”

“For you to get some good sleep!”

Lil didn’t seem to have an answer for that right away, so with a last wave Izuku headed into the airport, calling his goodbye before he talked to the tired dodo.

Two floors up, Katsuki closed his eyes, lips moving in a silent wish.

─────

Katsuki was surprised to see multiple characters waving up at him, as he flew over the wild tangles of Izuku’s forest island. He knew Izuku played with all his friends, and he really should have expected it, when he got the little speech bubble that just had a bunch of star emojis and exclamation marks in it, but somehow he just hadn’t thought about it.

Not that it mattered – none of them knew who he was, anyway.

He and Izuku had been playing together most nights, over the past week or so, but he still seemed blissfully unaware, and Katsuki kind of liked that. He had so much freedom to say and do whatever he wanted, without all the expectations that came with being Kacchan.

“Are those hyacinths?!” Uraraka asked, as Katsuki ran up to join the group near Izuku’s house. “How?! When?!”

“From Lil!” Izuku answered, turning around to wave as Katsuki joined them. “Hi! Welcome back!”

“Dude! You never told me you had hyacinths!” Kirishima accused.

“You didn’t ask.”

Katsuki had been surprised when he’d gotten a message from Kirishima a few nights prior, asking him to come visit again. They hadn’t done much the first time, had just toured his island and chatted a bit, but Kirishima had been so keen for him to come back again, he could hardly say no. He’d taken a couple of oranges along with him, from the trees he’d found on a mystery island, and had sneakily hidden them among Kirishima’s forest. They were due to sprout fruit in another day or two, but he doubted Kirishima knew that yet. It would be fun to see his confusion when he finally spotted them.

“I can go get more,” Katsuki offered, when people continued to lament their lack of flowers. “They’re my native, I have a ton.”

“Really?! That would be amazing!!” Uraraka gushed. “Can I give you anything in return?”

“Nah, I’m good.”

“Weren’t you looking for books?” Kirishima prompted. “Do you still need them?”

“Uh, yeah. I do actually.”

“I’ll send you books as soon as I get home!” Uraraka promised. “Add me as a friend, I’ll send you two from my catalogue and order some more when I can!”

“That’d be cool. Thanks. Um, I’ll fly home and grab the flowers, be right back.”

“Fly safe!” Izuku beamed, waving. “Sorry for the inconvenience!”

“No problem.”

It didn’t take long for him to get back, picking out one of his little hyacinth patches to dig up for them. There had already been four guests on Izuku’s island when he landed, but Katsuki knew there were a bunch of others he played with too, so he decided on six of each base colour, just in case any more showed up for the star party. More than that and they’d just have to wait – Izuku’s would breed again soon anyway, they seemed to do a lot of that.

“Our hero!” Uraraka laughed, when he returned with the spoils. “These are the last ones I needed!”

“Happy to help,” Katsuki assured her, laying the plants out for her to claim. “Brought a couple of extras for you, Deku. For your other friends or whatever.”

“Yay!! Thank you, Lil!!”

The group was gathered outside Izuku’s house, and in a moment of curiosity, Katsuki stepped up to the front door. He paused to take his shoes off, ignoring Kirishima’s laughter, and stepped inside to take a look. As he really should have expected, the main room was all decked out in All Might colours, with his custom designs set out on mannequins and even a huge mural on the wall, a grid all pieced together to draw out his likeness. Izuku really had gotten good with that custom design tool.

He didn’t have any other rooms yet, it was still tiny compared to Katsuki’s house back on his own island, but he’d clearly put so much effort into it, and Katsuki couldn’t help but think just how Izuku that was.

“I’ve got the designs up in my store now!” Izuku told him, from outside. “Do you want them, Lil?”

“Yeah,” he answered, stepping out again and putting his shoes back on. “Sounds good.”

Izuku led the way, down to a store practically buried in trees. Sure enough, the custom designs were laid out along the back wall, and Katsuki ran over to save them for himself. Taking the All Might ones was easy enough, but he waited until they were distracted before he took the orange and green ones, too. He really didn’t need to defend himself on that one if they asked.

Honestly, he couldn’t wait to get home and try his own costume on. He’d only gotten a quick glance at it when Izuku wore it, but it had looked damn near perfect from what he saw. He just had to make sure he wasn’t wearing it when someone dropped by his island unexpectedly, that would sure be something to explain.

When he stepped out again, Izuku was holding his new wand, showing off all his outfits to his friends. He’d spent a long time finding the right shoes and pants and accessories to go with each shirt, to make them look complete, and he’d been thrilled when he got to put them all in his wand, ready to change at a moment’s notice.

“I brought you something,” Katsuki told him, suddenly remembering the little parcel he’d wrapped up to bring over. “Thought it might help.”

“Oooh! What is it?!”

He threw the box on the ground, letting Izuku pick it up, and watched nervously as Izuku unwrapped it. He could practically see the confusion in Izuku’s eyes, coming through his happy little cartoon character, but thankfully Izuku was nothing if he wasn’t willing to give things a shot.

“A bow!” Izuku said brightly. “Let me try it on!”

The massive bow was bright yellow, and it had immediately reminded Katsuki of a certain hero’s hair, perfect to complete Izuku’s custom outfits. Izuku caught on the moment he stuck it on his head, clapping gleefully, and Katsuki cracked a little smile as he watched.

“It’s perfect!!” Izuku told him. “I love it!!”

“Dunno if you’ve got something better,” Katsuki shrugged. “And you’ll need a bunch more to have one in each wand outfit, but you can just order more from your catalogue now.”

“Thank you so much! I’m gonna order more before bed!”

The clock ticked over to seven, and Katsuki looked up expectantly, waiting for the stars to begin.

“What are you guys gonna wish for?” Izuku asked. “Anything exciting?”

“Good grades on the next test,” Kirishima said immediately. “I messed up the last couple.”

“Oh no!” Izuku pouted. “Let me know if you want to study together, I can try to help!”

“Thanks!”

Katsuki drummed his fingers on his leg, contemplating, and made a mental note to shoot Kirishima a text later – he usually deigned to give the rest of the squad a hand occasionally, but lately he’d been so caught up in his lack of sleep that he hadn’t even given it a second thought.

As they moved on to Uraraka’s wishes, Katsuki pulled out his bug net, sneaking up behind Izuku to bonk him on the head with it. He half-expected Izuku to whine at him, but the little green-haired character just turned around, laughing, before pulling out its own and bonking him right back.

“You’re it!” he called, running the other direction.

All at once the group split off in different directions, running for their lives, and Katsuki cracked a smile as he ran after Kirishima, net poised to strike.

He’d snorted at the idea of playing as a group, when he started out. Friends were good for trading stuff occasionally, sure, but he could get most things from the random mystery islands or just playing for longer. Most of his play time went on decorating his island, adding new builds or changing old ones, and he couldn’t do any of that when people were over, so what was the point?

He was starting to see the appeal, though. It was kind of nice even just showing people the stuff he’d put together, and seeing what they’d made in turn. He’d never expected to get caught up in random little games on top of that. It was actually weirdly relaxing, hanging out with his classmates and having a bit of harmless, dumb fun between stars. 

He’d expected to just drop in for an hour and grab a few wishes then duck out again, but somehow by the time he was heading for the airport it had been four hours and he didn’t even know where the time had gone.

“It was so good to see you all!” Izuku said, waving to them at the dock. “Get some good rest!!”

Katsuki hung around as the others flew off, waving goodbye with Izuku, until the island was all but cleared out.

“Are you heading to bed?” Izuku asked. “Been sleeping okay lately?”

“A bit better,” Katsuki confirmed. “Might do a little stuff back home first, shake the trees and all that. What about you?”

“I usually don’t sleep for another hour!” Izuku informed him, making Katsuki grimace – no wonder the nerd was always such a zombie in the mornings. “If you’re gonna be hanging out anyway, can I come over for a little bit?”

“If you want. Do you need something?”

“No, I just really like your island! And your company!”

“Sure, then,” Katsuki agreed. “I’ll head back and open my gate for you. Thanks for the stars.”

“See you soon!”

As he flew back in over his own island, he realised there was a smile on his face. He wasn’t sure how long it had been there, or what in particular had put it there, but he was genuinely smiling, and it felt... So weird.

He opened his gate as soon as he landed, flicking Izuku a message to let him know it was ready, then stood back to wait.

Izuku arrived with a fishing rod in hand, and Katsuki smiled to himself again, watching him wave hello happily.

“Mind if I fish?” he asked. “I’ll stay out of your way!”

“Be my guest. Should be some rare stuff in the duck pond at this time of night.”

“Duck pond?”

Katsuki led him over to the far corner of his island, up two slopes to reach a little pond, surrounded by wooden ducks in different colours and patterns. He’d planted a few of his hyacinths around it too, since they looked a little like reeds when picked, and the moment he saw it, Izuku was clearly in love.

“This is gorgeous!!” he marvelled. “I don’t know how you do this stuff, I’ve got no ROOM for anything on my island!”

“You just have to take some trees out.”

“But I like my trees!” Izuku pouted. “Isabelle keeps telling me to get rid of them too.”

“Yeah, you’ll never get five stars like that.”

“No one gets five stars anyway! Uraraka’s island is beautiful and she still only has four!”

Katsuki gnawed on his lower lip, contemplating. It almost felt wrong to correct him, even though he wouldn’t have hesitated if they were face to face.

“Let me guess, you have it?” Izuku asked, his character sighing. “I should have known, your island is amazing.”

“I just followed the directions they gave me. Cut down some trees, you’ll be fine.”

“But the poor trees!”

“Did you read what she said when she told you there were too many trees?”

“Uh... I don’t remember, maybe?”

“She tells you the villagers are getting lost in the forests.”

“What?! They are?! Oh no!!”

“Exactly. Cut down some trees for your villagers’ sake.”

“I guess you’re right,” Izuku huffed. “It’s just hard. The trees were there first! How am I supposed to cut them down?!”

“Want me to do it?”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“CAN I do it?” Katsuki corrected himself, smiling faintly. “It’s fun.”

“Oh. If you want, sure. But only a few! Just until Isabelle says it’s okay!”

“You can stand at her counter and keep asking, tell me when to stop.”

“Okay! Tomorrow night?”

“Sure, I’ll be there.”

“Can you bring me a duck?”

“Sure,” Katsuki snorted. “I’ll make you a duck.”

“Maybe... Two ducks?”

“I’ll make you as many ducks as you want, with the wood from your trees.”

“Okay! Sounds good!”

He finally cast his rod into the water, and Katsuki took a step back, letting him get stuck into his fishing.

“I’m gonna go pick up shells and sticks. Call if you need me.”

“Okay! Thanks for letting me come over!”

“Any time.”

He ran off to do his chores, occasionally sharing chat messages along the way, and stopping back regularly to check in on Izuku. He dropped some fish bait on one pass, to make it a little easier, and casually left a spare rod at his feet too, just in case, but otherwise they were content to just do their own things, enjoying each other’s casual company. It was a lot like the way he and Izuku hung out in real life, too, and he rather enjoyed that fact.

As he passed by for around the fifth time, he was surprised to find the pond vacant, just a bunch of ducks hanging around that refused to give up Izuku’s whereabouts.

“Where’d you go?” he asked quickly.

“In your house!”

Cursing to himself, Katsuki sprinted back to his home immediately. He liked his house, but he rarely had visitors in it, and one nagging little thought kept gnawing at his brain.

He ran straight upstairs, not at all surprised to find Izuku in his bedroom, already formulating excuses and debating how to play dumb the moment Izuku asked the words.

“I took my shoes off!” Izuku assured him, doing a little twirl with his socked feet. “Your house is huge!”

“Yeah, fully upgraded,” Katsuki explained, trying his best to seem casual. “You get bored of fishing?”

“Nope, but I should sleep soon. Realised I hadn’t been in your house yet, so came to check it out! It’s super cool!”

Izuku lay down on his little bed with the custom duvet cover, and Katsuki just watched nervously, letting him take a turn sitting on his chair, examining all his posters, even staring at his bookshelves as if he could read the titles. Every second of it made him more and more antsy, like Izuku might suddenly catch on if he stayed too long, but finally Izuku turned to face him and clapped gleefully.

“It’s so well put together!” he said. “My house is a mess, I should get more rooms!”

“It helps.”

“You’ll have to help me come up with some nice builds! I’m not very creative.”

“Yeah you are. You did great with your custom designs.”

“So did you! I love your paths!”

“The paths are default once you get a better star rating, I downloaded a design for the edges. Didn’t have to do anything myself.”

“Oh! I DEFINITELY need to get my rating up, then. I want paths too!”

They walked down to the airport together, ready for Izuku to head off and get some sleep – though he did pause to show off a couple of fish he’d gotten. Katsuki waved his goodbye as Izuku left, waiting patiently for the plane to depart and give him back control, and then a moment longer just for good measure.

Back on a much more wild island, Izuku smiled to himself as his plane touched down.

Katsuki’s childhood bedroom had always held a warm place in his heart.

─────

It was after 3am when Izuku decided to roll over and check his game. He’d gotten up to use the bathroom and couldn’t seem to get back to sleep – just lying there in the dark was doing nothing good for his physical or mental state, so he decided to try Lil’s method – Katsuki’s method – lulling himself back to dreamland with a little tree-shaking.

Katsuki had been a little off in class that day, Izuku couldn’t help but have noticed. He’d been up late the night before, after all, and he’d just seemed so quiet in class, he clearly hadn’t gotten nearly enough sleep. He hoped it was going better, that night, than it clearly had the night prior.

When his screen lit up, he was surprised to see a little notification pop up in the corner, informing him that LILBlTCH is now playing. It was way too late, even for Izuku, and he knew something had to be going on, if it was after three and he still hadn’t closed his island for the night.

Before he could second guess himself, Izuku climbed out of bed, kicking on his slippers and lighting up his phone to use as a torch. He wasn’t sure if he could actually do anything to help, but he felt like he needed to be there, and he generally had pretty good results when he followed his instincts.

He carefully padded up two flights of stairs, pausing at the door to listen for any movement. There was no clear noise, no shuffling around the room, but no snoring either – not that Katsuki did that all the time, but it was certainly a good amount.

He knocked lightly, listening again – maybe Katsuki had just fallen asleep with the game open, after all. But a faint noise came from within, and he knocked again, a tiny bit louder.

“What the fuck,” Katsuki grumbled from within, his footsteps heavy as he approached. “Who the fuck is- Oh.”

Izuku held up his Switch silently, and Katsuki sighed, glancing back at the little glowing screen on his bedcovers.

“The bedroom?”

Izuku nodded.

“Come in.”

He stepped aside, letting Izuku step through the doorway, closing it again behind him to cast the room into darkness. The lamp beside the bed clicked on, and Katsuki sat down on the edge of his mattress, sighing again.

“Couldn’t sleep?” Izuku asked.

“No.”

“Me neither. Wanna play a bit?”

“Sure.”

Katsuki shuffled over to make room, letting Izuku sit down beside him, both of them getting set up against the pillows. Katsuki’s switch sat on and ready beside them, but Izuku paused to turn his own on again, letting the game load while Katsuki pulled the blanket up over their laps to get comfortable.

“Come to my island,” Izuku suggested, already heading for the airport to open his gate. “You can cut my trees down, maybe help me plan some stuff?”

“Sure,” Katsuki agreed. “One sec, gotta empty my pockets.”

“I like your outfit!”

Katsuki’s cheeks turned a little pink, and Izuku grinned at him, leaning in a little to look closer. Izuku had seen the boots before, had noticed them in passing as Katsuki took them off at his door, but he’d never seen the black mask wrapped around his face. He needed one for his own Kacchan cosplay.

“Send me a mask,” he requested. “I need one too.”

“Fine.”

“I’m working on your winter costume, it’s not quite ready yet.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, they don’t have a big collar so I’m using the sweater but it’s not quite right. I wish they had scarves or something I could use.”

“I’m sure it looks great.”

“Aww, thanks Kacchan!”

“Shut up.”

Izuku giggled, and Katsuki couldn’t help but crack a smile, elbowing him lightly just for good measure.

“You don’t have to get rid of all the nature,” Katsuki mumbled, leaning over to look at Izuku’s screen. “You could build parks and stuff, or a campground in the forest, a bamboo grove. Lots of stuff you can do without making it into a city.”

“This is why you have to help me,” Izuku laughed. “I don’t even know where to start.”

“Knowing you? Probably an All Might teddy bear.”

“I still haven’t found a bear!” Izuku whined. “I found the little ones but not the big one like you have!”

“You have to craft it, I can make you one.”

“Yes please!”

“The small ones are neat too, though. They get shirts instead of bows.”

“They get shirts?!” Izuku squawked, fumbling at his controls before he realised he was stuck on the incoming visitor screen. “I want a bear with a shirt!”

“You never tried customising them?” Katsuki snorted. “You can customise pretty much everything.”

“I always forget! So I can give my bears All Might shirts?!”

“You can,” Katsuki nodded, pausing for a moment. “And uh, you could... Give them our shirts, too. If you wanted.”

“Wait, I can?!”

“I think you might have to make them again, as a flat design, but yeah.”

“Oh my gosh, I’m making a Kacchan bear!”

Katsuki chuckled, and Izuku was weirdly proud of himself for dragging it out of him. He didn’t often get the chance to make Katsuki laugh, and he savoured it every time.

“I’m gonna make so many bears,” Izuku mumbled to himself. “Where can I put my bears? My entrance? So everyone sees them?”

“Make a compulsory Bear Walk,” Katsuki agreed, still smiling faintly. “Lay a nice path down and surround it with bears.”

“Yeah! Maybe I’ll make a custom path design, I could put little bears in the stones!”

“That sounds like a lot of work.”

“Yeah, but I like the design tool!”

“I can tell.” He paused again, drumming his fingers on the back of the console. “Can you make me one?”

“Sure! What would you like?”

“My skull shirt.”

“Oh! Yeah! That would be so cool!” He held out his Switch, offering it to Katsuki. “Trade with me, you can chop some trees while I make it.”

“You’re gonna do it now?”

“Yeah! I’m sure I can find a photo where you’re wearing it, to use as reference, and the back is all black so it only needs to be a flat design not a complex one. So it shouldn’t take long! You can decide what the best spot to cut some trees out is, find me some good spots to build in and stuff.”

“What do you want to build first?”

“My Bear Walk!”

“Okay,” Katsuki snorted, switching their consoles obediently. “I’ll clear some space around your entrance then.”

“Thank you!”

“What about a Bear Park instead?” Katsuki suggested. “Maybe a fountain in the middle, some little bears in shirts sitting around it. Big bears either side of the entrance. Places to sit. There are these little wooden signs you can use for directions, too. You could have a signpost area, pointing to your stores, your house, your museum, whatever.”

“That sounds amazing!” Izuku beamed, already deep in the design tool app. “With plants too?”

“Yeah, we could put some hedges around the edge to count toward fences for your star rating. Maybe some shrubs? You have to change them regularly though, they stop blooming as the seasons change. It’s kind of a pain.”

“I don’t mind! It might be nice to change things up a little bit when the seasons change, make things look a little different, change the colour schemes!”

“Okay, shrubs too then. And flowers of course. You can have your little wild patches around them, so they can grow and spread without getting in the way of anything.”

“Yeah! Maybe I can breed some more blue ones, blue would look nice with a stone path and brown bears.”

“Blue and purple maybe, all cool tones like the grey stone. The bears will be warmer, but they are bears, so that makes sense. A cold bear would be weird.”

“Polar bears.”

“Shut up.”

Izuku grinned at him, and Katsuki couldn’t help but crack a smile of his own, elbowing Izuku in the ribs just to make a point.

“You have blue flowers?” he asked finally.

“I have two blue roses!” Izuku told him proudly. “Everyone was really mad about it. I’m building a little rainbow above my house!”

“Oh, that’s what that patch is, okay. Do you need more flowers for it? I have a bunch of seeds and stuff stocked, if you need them.”

“I’m good! I have heaps lying around, I just haven’t gotten around to moving them all yet since I need more blue and purple first anyway.”

“You could mark it out with spare ones to get the spacing, that’s what I did for my pathways.”

“Oh, that’s clever! Then I could just move them back to my forest when I replace them!”

“Exactly. Or sell them.”

“Selling them is mean! Let them be free!”

Katsuki snorted, pulling Izuku’s hair rather than voice his argument, and Izuku just laughed as he leaned in a little closer, their shoulders pressed together in the middle of the bed.

“How does this look? It might be a little small, I want to see what it looks like on a bear before I make it bigger though.”

“Holy shit that was quick, I only just got my axe out.”

“I told you it wouldn’t be hard!”

He started a new design while Katsuki chopped, clearing out some space to finally build. By the time he offered to switch back, Katsuki had three new designs sitting in his sparse collection – His skull shirt, as requested; his other favourite, the aji-fry shirt he’d owned for years; and finally a flat copy of his own hero costume, ready to put on a bear or a cushion.

“You missed one,” Katsuki objected, nudging it back. “Where’s your costume?”

“You want it?” Izuku asked, surprised.

“Of course I do, nerd.”

“Oh, okay! Do you want any others?”

“All Might.”

“Now that I can do,” Izuku laughed. “All flat ones?”

“Yeah, mostly for decorating, rather than wearing.”

“Can do!”

Izuku wasn’t sure exactly when he started leaning on Katsuki’s shoulder for real, but by the time he realised he was doing it, he knew he’d been there a while. He was surprised, in all honesty, that Katsuki hadn’t shoved him straight off with an explosion to the face, but it was also... nice.

“We should do this more often,” Izuku whispered. “Play together like this. Unless uh, you want your privacy.”

“It’s cool,” Katsuki assured him. “It’s uh... Kind of...”

“Nice?” Izuku prompted, smiling to himself.

“Yeah.”

“I thought so too.”

He hesitated again, resting his head on Katsuki’s shoulder lightly to watch him chop wood, and Katsuki awkwardly reached up to pat his hair.

“Text me next time, okay?” Izuku requested quietly. “If you can’t sleep, send me a text, and I’ll come hang out with you here.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “I’m a night owl, I’m always up anyway.”

“Okay,” Katsuki nodded. “Um, cool.”

“You know I’m... Here for you, right? Don’t get all stubborn with me, I know we don’t talk like this, but... I’m gonna. So just... If you need anything. If you need to talk, if you don’t want to be alone, if you just want company, if you want a hug or something, you know you can tell me, right? I’ll never make fun of you, I’ll never laugh at you, I’ll never breathe a word of it to anyone else. But you’re my friend, Kacchan, and I want to help, even if you don’t think you want or need help.”

“A hug?” Katsuki snorted.

“Yeah!” Izuku laughed, slinging his arms around Katsuki’s shoulders in a moment of boldness. “Like this! I know it’s been a while since you had one, did you forget what they are?”

“Shut up, nerd.”

He still didn’t shove Izuku off, didn’t even complain or yell at him, he just... accepted it.

So Izuku stayed.

He tucked his face into Katsuki’s surprisingly soft hair, holding him tight, and Katsuki... let him.

“We don’t even have to play,” Izuku mumbled into his hair. “If you just want to be with someone when you can’t sleep, or if you have a nightmare or something, I can just come sleep on your floor or something, so you have company. But if you want to take your mind off things, we can play, if that helps.”

“The counsellor suggested I play it,” Katsuki admitted quietly. “I said everyone else was playing it, and she told me a lot of people have been telling her about it, saying it helps with their anxiety. So I caved and I got it to try out, and it actually kinda helps. Taking my mind off things, like you said, and relaxing, and all that.”

“I’m glad it helps. I’m really happy you have something that calms your mind down.”

“You help too.”

“I do?”

“Mm. I know shit hasn’t always been great between us, but we’ve been... good lately. And I guess I like that.”

“Counselling really is helping you,” Izuku smiled. “I’m glad I can help. Really glad.”

He looked down at his screen again, contemplating, then smiled softly as he headed for the airport.

“We don’t have to play,” he said quietly. “Let’s just lie down together and try to relax, yeah?”

“If you want.”

“Yeah.”

They saved their games, setting the consoles safely aside on the desk, and Izuku slid down under the blankets, dragging Katsuki down with him. A faint grumble was the only protest he got, Katsuki being surprisingly lenient as Izuku wrapped him up in a hug, and once again he buried his face in pale blond hair.

“I’m gonna give you so many cuddles,” he said firmly, a little curious how far Katsuki would let him push it. “Everyone needs hugs sometimes, and it’s been a while since you got them, so I’m gonna give you all the hugs, no matter how much you protest. So don’t bother, okay?”

Katsuki grumbled a little, but conceded a nod.

“Whatever, nerd,” he huffed. “Do what you want.”

“I will.”

Katsuki softened into his grip, letting Izuku hold him close, and Izuku just smiled to himself as he closed his eyes.

“Goodnight, Kacchan. Get some good sleep.”

─────

Katsuki could feel his Switch burning a hole in his pocket as he stared, watching the little cluster of people who had gathered in the common room with their consoles, laughing together brightly as they ran around each other’s islands. It had been a really long day, so Katsuki wasn’t really surprised that everyone needed some relaxing island time, but he was also annoyed. All the way through his quick, hot shower, he’d been thinking about it. Had been thinking about how he’d grab a snack, curl up on his bed, and send Izuku a text to invite him over to play. He’d been looking forward to sitting side by side on his bed again, like they’d been doing for almost a week, with a bowl of popcorn or something between them to share as they worked on Izuku’s island. He’d never stopped to consider that Izuku might be busy, let alone busy playing their game with other people.

And yeah, he knew it wasn’t their game, Izuku had been playing with the others far longer than he’d been playing with Katsuki, but his brain still yelled it, loud and clear and possessive as all hell.

Instead, he found himself sitting down awkwardly, taking up the free cushion at Izuku’s side. Half the group were lying around on the floor – the girls especially seemed to love lying on the carpet, for some reason; he’d never understand that – and others were perched on the chairs and sofa closest to them, which left one perfectly unoccupied seat at Izuku’s side, as if it was just waiting for him.

“Hi,” Izuku said softly, smiling with all the warmth in the world. “Do you wanna play?”

Katsuki didn’t answer, but he reached into his pocket, pulling out the plain grey console he’d spent so much time on recently. The peace was broken, however, when Kirishima saw him holding the device – immediately bursting into excitement and joy over the idea of Katsuki joining them.

Fuck, maybe he should’ve just done it from the start.

“I can help you out!” Kirishima promised. “It can be a little bit slow at the start, while you’re waiting for stores to open and stuff, but I’ll make you a pole and a ladder so you can explore more, and we can get started breeding you flowers, and growing fruit trees, and-”

“Kacchan has been playing for ages,” Izuku interjected, laughing. “He helps me do stuff, silly!”

Half a dozen voices burst over top of each other with complaints and outrage, some of them shocked by the thought of him playing alone, others offended that he hadn’t told them when they continually nagged him to join in. He couldn’t pick out more than a couple of words in each voice, though he suspected from the way Kirishima and Kaminari were pointing adamantly at their screens that they probably wanted him to add them as friends, and he couldn’t even find the words to object. For the classmate everyone could always rely on to yell, Katsuki was surprisingly quiet – speechless.

“I’m gonna come visit you, Midoriya!” Kirishima managed to cut through. “If Bakubro goes over too, we can all meet up and make friends from there! I can’t believe you guys never told us you were playing together!”

“There’s a lot of things he knows about me that you don’t,” Katsuki shrugged.

“Yeah!” Izuku agreed readily. “Like he potty-trained himself when he was a year old because he didn’t like wearing diapers and his Mom told him he could only stop wearing them when he learned to use the toilet, so he did.”

“That was not an invitation to tell them stupid shit,” Katsuki growled. “Shut up.”

“Actually he didn’t like clothes in general,” Izuku mused, ignoring his protests. “Until we started kindergarten he always took his clothes off and ran around naked. His Dad tried to stop him when guests were over, but he was stubborn.”

“Deku.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll stop.”

Thoughts of teasing were quickly forgotten when Kirishima ran to his airport, a little message popping up in the corner of his screen – and likely everyone else’s, too – and distracting him from the childhood stories.

“Hey look, Lil is online too!” Kirishima smiled at his screen. “He’s such a good dude, you should invite him over with us too.”

Ashido gave him a scathing look, and after a moment Kirishima’s jaw dropped, Kaminari not far behind with his own squawk of realisation.

“How come you didn’t tell us you were playing?” Ashido asked, while the boys yelled incomprehensibly. “You could have just said you wanted to play alone!”

“No one asked,” Katsuki shrugged awkwardly. “Was easier.”

“Oh. I guess we all just assumed you didn’t have it already, huh? Thank you for playing with us anyway, that was really cool of you!”

“Whatever,” Katsuki huffed, blushing. “I bred some more purple hyacinths if you still want them for your backyard.”

“Yes please! Mine go so slow! Bring them to Midoriya’s?”

“And I’ll bring you some more books,” Uraraka chimed in, already digging through her storage. “Thanks for all the flowers and fruit earlier!”

“It’s whatever.”

Izuku had a sweet little smile on his face when Katsuki looked over, so damn pleased with himself, and Katsuki couldn’t help but elbow him sharply.

“Why did you name yourself Lil, anyway?” he asked, ignoring the jab. “I know you don’t like your name much, but you could have been King Explosion Murder or Dynamite or anything!”

“I opened the game and some little bitch popped up on my screen looking all smiley and shit, I didn’t know it was meant to be me.”

“That’s so like Kacchan.” Izuku chuckled to himself. “Poor Lil, forever doomed to a rude owner.”

“He’s not even blond!” Ashido protested, leaning over to see his screen. “You could have at least made him look like you!”

“I told you, he’s just some little bitch, he’s not me.”

“He is now,” Izuku said firmly, snatching the console and heading for his house. “You must have a mirror in here somewhere.”

“Is that how you change what you look like?”

“Kacchan, please, you have the only five star island in the school and you know everything there is to know about bears and ducks, but you’ve never looked in a mirror?”

“Why would I? I already know I’m hot.”

He didn’t protest, when Izuku began scrolling through options, picking out the spikiest blond hairstyle available and setting to work on finding the perfect angry eyes. Despite all that, he picked a dumb little smile when he came to mouths, and Katsuki rolled his eyes when Izuku happily saved the character.

“Perfect!” Izuku beamed. “Now he’s Kacchan!”

“Whatever. I’m here. Now which one of you is gonna send me a black monster statue? I swear to God one of you better have it.”

“What’s in it for me?” Kaminari teased. “What are you gonna give to meeeee?”

“I won’t stop helping you with your homework.”

“Okay, point taken!” Kaminari retreated quickly, throwing his hands up in surrender. “But uh, I don’t actually have one?”

“You’re fucking with me.”

“No, really, I have the blue one. I was just messing around.”

“Ugh, you suck.”

He looked over at the rest of the group expectantly, watching them scroll furiously as they searched their catalogues to check if they had the right colour, but when he caught Uraraka’s eye, she smiled at him.

“Do you have a lot of spare hyacinths still?” she asked. “I know you gave us a bunch, but they look really cute in the park I’m working on, so I just thought I’d check.”

“You want seeds? I have seeds in storage.”

“That would be amazing!”

“Do you have my monster statue?”

“No, sorry! I just have the red one!”

“Maybe I’ll keep my seeds.”

“But I do have a cute little purple squirrel you could come meet?”

Katsuki narrowed his eyes at her, but Uraraka just laughed.

“Deku mumbles about you,” she explained. “I didn’t tell anyone else, though!”

“Ugh, I should have known. Nerd is the worst.”

“So uh, can I have those hyacinths for keeping my mouth shut?”

“Fine. But I’m making friends with your squirrel.”

“Deal! You can come over later, if you want!”

“Sure.”

When everyone else seemed sufficiently distracted, Katsuki reached into his bag, pulling out a little frame he’d been carrying around all day. He’d been a little worried he might break it in the process, but he’d felt like he couldn’t just leave it in his room, that seemed... Wrong.

“Thanks,” he said quietly, slipping it into Izuku’s lap. “I’m not gonna say that again, so make the most of it.”

“For what, Kacchan?”

“Just... You know. All the shit.”

“For being there for you?” Izuku asked, eyebrows shooting sky high. “You don’t need to thank me for that, Kacchan.”

“For being... You know.”

“I don’t know,” Izuku answered, a hint of a smirk tugging at his lips. “What, Kacchan?”

“Ugh. For being... My boyfriend.”

“There it is,” Izuku giggled, leaning his head on Katsuki’s shoulder. “I wondered when you’d finally say it!”

“Then you should’ve said it first, asshole!”

“I didn’t want to force it!”

Izuku lifted his head again, beaming, and pressed a quick kiss to Katsuki’s cheek. After their recent nights together, cuddled up in Katsuki’s bed as they played, they’d both kind of known what it was, but Izuku was elated to hear him say it.

“Anyway,” he huffed. “I got you this.”

He took his hand away, and Izuku looked down at the dark frame, finally flipping it over to investigate. Katsuki’s cheeks were flushed bright red at his side, but Izuku couldn’t even bring himself to look over, to see how adorable the rare sight was. His gaze was firmly locked on the image in the frame, tears welling up in his eyes as he stared.

Inside was a clearly custom artwork, printed and framed for display in his room – the most perfect thing he had ever seen.

Two little squirrels held stubby paw-hands – one cream, dressed in a familiar black and orange outfit; the other green and freckled, with a black and teal jumpsuit. There was even a tiny little grenade gauntlet on Marshal’s free hand, and Nibbles’s held a pretty bouquet of green and orange flowers.

“Oh my gosh,” Izuku whispered, bringing it closer to his face as tears trickled down his cheeks. “Kacchan this is adorable!”

“I know,” he agreed, smiling fondly. “I asked someone to draw it for us, but it’s even better than I’d hoped for.”

“I need this on everything,” he gushed. “Can I get this printed on a shirt? And as a keychain? A cushion? A blanket?”

“We can do that,” Katsuki assured him, chuckling. “I can’t believe how much I love these dumb squirrels.”

“I can’t believe how much I love you.”

Izuku immediately blushed, but Katsuki leaned in closer when he began to stutter out an excuse, silencing his mumbles with a short, clearly-inexperienced kiss. The room filled with coos and awws, and Katsuki felt his face grow warm – he’d kinda forgotten they were surrounded by other people.

“I’m going to bed,” he choked out, flustered. “Screw this game, I’m tired. Someone send me a monster statue!”

Izuku squeezed his hand, giving him a pitiful look, but finally caved when he saw how uncomfortable Katsuki had quickly become – he was still a long way from being used to the whole public affection thing, even if he had finally called them boyfriends.

“Come over later,” Katsuki croaked. “Like usual.”

“I will,” Izuku smiled warmly. “I’ll bring dinner for us both, okay?”

“Okay,” Katsuki nodded, swallowing hard. “Um, I’ll see you then.”

“I’m gonna bring my squirrels.”

Katsuki relaxed by the tiniest, most miniscule amount, and Izuku’s smile stretched a little wider when he caught it.

“Do you reckon I could recreate this as a mural on my island?” He looked down at his squirrel art again, smiling softly. “It would make a great floor for my town square.”

“You got a few hundred hours?” Katsuki snorted. “You haven’t even cut down the trees for your square yet.”

“That’s Kacchan’s job!” he grinned, squeezing lightly again. “Stay a little longer?”

When Katsuki looked up, there was no longer a hint of teasing in any of their friends’ faces. He saw happiness, fondness, even a hint of apology in some of them, but the teasing was long gone – he almost felt like they were pleading with him, when he saw the pathetic gazes aimed his way.

“Fine,” he huffed, sinking back into his seat and finally letting some tension seep out of his muscles. “I guess I can stay for a little bit.”

“Great!” Ashido beamed. “We could use an extra person for hide and seek!”

Despite every fibre of his being telling him to repress it, a little smile tugged at Katsuki’s lips, and he nodded faintly as he leaned into Izuku’s side.

“Fine,” he said softly, looking down at the spiky blond character on his screen and watching him smile right back. “Just don’t get lost in all the trees.”

“My trees are great,” Izuku laughed, pressing a fond kiss to Katsuki’s cheek. “Just like my boyfriend.”

“Gross.”