Worlds Apart [Twitter Reward]

This was a request from Devocurls, the winner of my one-year-on-patreon giveaway at the beginning of February! It took me a while, but here is my take on the Fantasy Kacchan content they desired!

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“Deku!”

While the name was common, and even the voice was tinged with familiarity, there was something off about the call that came from down below. It was so gruff, so demanding – almost exasperated, like he was running late for an important meeting.

He'd just stepped out onto the balcony to check his drying clothes, but now there was someone angry yelling at him from the ground. Perfect timing, as always.

“Can I help y-”

He froze mid-sentence when he looked down at the frustrated man below, with a familiar shock of blond spikes and narrowed red eyes. It was Katsuki yelling at him, only it wasn't... It wasn't Kacchan.

The young man stomping toward the building was wrapped in a long, red cloak, the ends tattered as if they might have been burned once or twice. It even had a mass of fluff around the neck, to keep him warm in colder weather, but underneath he was completely bare-chested.

“I've been looking everywhere for you, Deku! This spell has done something strange to the world. I'll come get you!”

He reached up like he might try to scale the building, and immediately Izuku was shaking his head, waving his hands frantically to stop.

“I can come down!” he said quickly. “Just wait there!”

Thankfully, Katsuki stopped, folding his arms as he glared up at the balcony.

“Hurry up, then! We need to break this damn spell!”

Flustered, Izuku hurried down the stairs, ignoring the concerned looks and queestions from his classmates in favour of mitigating any damage Katsuki might do if he was kept waiting. He'd said something about spells, like there was some kind of magic going on? Maybe he'd been hit by a weird quirk of some sort, although Izuku wasn't sure when it could have happened, considering he could have sworn Katsuki was-

“What the hell, nerd?” Katsuki demanded, when Izuku barreled into him in the hallway. “Watch where you're fuckin' going!”

“K-Kacchan?”

“Fuckin' obviously, you stupid Deku. You hit your head or some shit?”

“N-No, I thought... M-Maybe you had.”

“The hell is that supposed to mean?!”

He cringed when the front door slammed open – he'd taken too long, after all.

“Get away from my Deku!” the other Katsuki demanded, tracking mud across the carpet as he stomped toward them. “Draw your sword, Deku!”

“S-Sword?!” he squeaked. “I- What?!”

The room fell still when the two Katsukis locked eyes, surprise darting through both their expressions, before they settled into matching glares.

“Who the hell are you?” Katsuki demanded, stepping in closer in an attempt to intimidate the strange copy of himself. “You got some kind of shape-shifting quirk? Trying to get into my life with that stupid halloween costume on? Haaah?”

“What are you doing to my Deku?”

“Your Deku?! He's my fuckin' Deku!”

Izuku blushed bright red at the words, but forced himself to shake it off, stepping between them carefully.

“There's obviously some weird quirk at play here, a weird spell, let's just talk calmly, okay?”

“Why are you helping this imposter, Deku?! Stand and fight!”

“W-Well, I, uh, I don't think I'm your Deku?” he explained awkwardly. “Um, I mean, this is my... World? This is my- Um, the Kacchan I'm used to?”

“Have they been feeding you?” the strange Katsuki demanded, cupping Izuku's face in his hand. “You should know better than to eat the things strangers give you, Deku! Did they give you a potion?!”

“Oi, get your hands off him,” Katsuki growled, slapping the hand away. “Leave him alone, he's not your damn Deku.”

Izuku stepped in the moment he saw the strange Katsuki's chest swell, standing up straighter to make himself look more intimidating – he didn't have to belong with this weird copycat to recognise that motion.

“Please don't fight,” Izuku begged, watching the copycat's face soften instantly. “There's no need to fight! We'll figure all of this out, and find your own Deku!”

“Are you hurt?” he asked, ignoring all claims of not yours. “Did they touch you?”

“I live here, no one has hurt me or touched me!”

He burned red when a hand hiked his shirt up to investigate, searching for wounds, and out the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Katsuki fuming.

“What about this one?” he demanded, when he found a scar along Izuku's chest. “What did they do to you?!”

“I've had this for a long time! And these ones too!” he pulled up his shirt to show the mottled skin. “See, I'm not the Deku you're looking for! This quirk- This spell, must have separated you from y-your D-Deku.”

The man narrowed his eyes, scanning once more over Izuku's scars, then back up to his nervous eyes.

“You don't know me.”

“No, I don't. Only that you're some kind of... Alternate Kacchan?”

“You live here. With this... Imposter.”

“I'm not an imposter!” Katsuki insisted, gritting his teeth. “You're the fucking imposter, get your filthy hands off my Deku!”

“Your Deku,” the alternate confirmed, eyes darting between them. “You protect him?”

“Haah? He doesn't need protecting you piece of shit! He's a hero!”

Izuku's eyes began to water, and the alternate Katsuki looked at him in alarm, his feral look turning instantly soft and soothing.

“No tears, Deku, it's okay,” he grumbled, pulling Izuku into his strong, painfully bare arms. “I'll fight him if he's lying to me, just tell me the truth.”

“I am,” Izuku sniffed. “He's just never said that before!”

“Said what?”

“That I don't need protecting!”

Katsuki burned bright red, and the alternate spared him a quick glance, considering him carefully.

“He doesn't protect you.”

“He doesn't need to!”

“But he should. We protect the people we care about, even if they can fight for themselves.”

“That's true,” Izuku smiled, sniffling again. “Kacchan protects everyone, he's a great hero! But it's nice to know that he doesn't think I'm weak anymore!”

The strange Katsuki huffed quietly, turning away from Izuku to instead front on the regular Katsuki again. He stood tall, glaring down at the slightly smaller Katsuki, a little slouched and lacking the thick boots the alternate wore. When Katsuki opened his mouth, the copy cut him off in an instant.

“You protect him,” he demanded. “If he's your Deku, you have to keep him safe. I don't care what he says!”

“He's not mine.”

“You haven't even claimed him yet?!”

Their classmates had been respectful up to that point, but those words seemed to break them instantly, squeaks and choked laughs quickly spreading through their audience. Both Katsukis glared at them in unison, but then a thick finger was prodding Katsuki in his t-shirt, the alternate sizing him up once more.

“If you won't make him yours and protect him like you should, I'll take him with me! I can take care of two Dekus better than you can take care of one!”

“Don't you dare, asshole,” Katsuki scowled, standing up a little straighter to better match his height. “If you put your filthy hands on him again, you're going to pay.”

“That's better.”

Katsuki blushed bright red again, looking away in a hurry when the little chorus of “aww”s began from across the room. His protests, however, were cut off by a sharp crack like unexpected thunder, the entire room raising their hands to prepare for a fight.

The class had seen enough portals in their time to know what it was when it appeared, League flashbacks running through all their heads when a hand emerged. A head of green curls, though, set them more on a path of confusion than concern, and Izuku gaped when a familiar face poked out to look around.

“Deku?”

“Kacchan!”

He ran straight into the strange Katsuki's arms, grinning as they hugged each other tightly, and Izuku could only stare in awe as the alternate Katsuki softened into a fond smile.

“I was looking for you, you got lost.”

“I didn't get lost, Kacchan! I was still home and safe! But you disappeared in that weird magical storm! I was worried about you!”

“About me?” he snorted. “You don't worry about me, I worry about you.”

The other Izuku seemed to finally notice his surroundings, jaw dropping when he found himself and another Katsuki staring back at him.

“Woah,” he gasped. “When they said another universe, I never thought about the people in it! How many alternate universes are there? Am I in all of them? Is Kacchan in all of them? What would happen if I died in another universe, would I die in my own too? What if-”

“Deku,” two near-identical voices cut him off at once.

“Oh, s-sorry Kacchan! Um, Kacchans? Anyway, uh, we should go back before this enchantment wears off! We wouldn't want to get stuck here and be, uh, in the way.”

He seemed a little surprised when he looked between Izuku and Katsuki, with the clear distance between them, the pink dusting still in their cheeks, not to mention Izuku's scars and Katsuki's lack of tattoos.

On that note, Izuku found himself thinking, the tattoos were amazing. He wished he had more time to ask about them, but already the pair were making their way toward the strange portal again. Izuku leaned over to look, getting a glimpse of some kind of wooded landscape beyond, but then the pair were standing in his way.

“Take care of him,” the alternate Katsuki warned again, staring Katsuki straight in the eye and pointing a finger at him sharply. “I don't care if he needs it.”

“Take care of me!” the other Izuku agreed, with his beaming smile in place as he stepped through. “That's what husbands are for!”

The portal closed behind them, disappearing completely, and the room was in chaos before Izuku could even really acknowledge the words. Kirishima and Kaminari were diving on Katsuki, ruffling his hair and babbling nonsense; Ashido and Uraraka were hugging each other, bouncing up and down as they squealed; and Izuku just slowly turned, forcing his eyes up to meet the anger he knew would be waiting.

Instead...

“Kacchan?” he asked, as Katsuki flung his friends off desperately, fighting his way out to leave the room. “Kacchan, wait!”

Katsuki's footsteps were surprisingly quick, running from the room, but Izuku was after him in seconds. Two sets of footsteps pounded on the stairs, echoing through the stairwell, and Izuku sent a burst of green lightning through his limbs to barge his way through a door before Katsuki could lock it.

“Kacchan!” he insisted. “Stop running away from me!”

“Get out!” Katsuki demanded, eyes a little watery despite his tone. “Don't do this shit!”

“I'm not doing anything!” Izuku argued. “Why are you running?!”

“I don't run from shit, nerd!”

“Then talk to me!”

The room fell silent around them, their classmates thankfully left down below, and Katsuki refused to meet Izuku's eyes.

“I won't say it if you don't want me to, Kacchan. I've gone this long, I can go forever if I have to.”

“Say what, asshole?”

“That I... You know. Kind of, uh. Liked. It. Seeing it. You know?”

“Being claimed?” Katsuki asked through gritted teeth. “You wanna go with that shithead and his lame knock-off Deku?”

“What?! No! Being with you, Kacchan!”

“Haah?!”

“I love you, Kacchan! Are you an idiot?! I always loved you! So yeah, it made me happy, to see us married?! Even if it's in another world! But God, you're so stubborn! Here and there!”

“You love me?!”

“You're meant to be smart, Kacchan! Of course I do!”

“Well-! You-! I-! Shut up! I fuckin- I love you too, okay?! There, asshole! You happy now?!”

“Am I-? Am I happy? You're yelling at me still! Just tell me like a normal person!”

“Say that to my face, nerd!”

“I just did!”

Izuku grabbed Katsuki's face in his hands, yanking him in for the quickest kiss in the world, his face flaming even though their lips barely touched. Katsuki fell strangely still, as if he'd ceased to function, forgotten how to use his limbs. For a moment there was silence again, just warm breath across each other's face, and then Katsuki leaned in.

“Stupid nerd,” he grumbled. “I'll show you claimed.”