Return of the Squirrels - Part 1 [Sequel Saturday]

I randomly decided one day to write a sequel to For Want Of A Squirrel - here's part one!

—————

Two weeks.

Two fucking weeks.

Apparently, despite the combination of modern medicine and a bunch of fucking healing superpowers on hand, that was how long Katsuki had to stay in the hospital.

What the fuck.

Sure, he’d been beaten up – badly, he was man enough to admit – but two weeks? Even Deku and his stupid quirk-control-learning, constant-bone-breaking process had rarely been admitted for that long. It had only been two days so far, and Katsuki was already going stir-crazy. He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to survive two weeks.

Though, he supposed being in a hospital probably did a lot for his odds of survival.

“Is it possible to die of boredom?”

“Katsuki,” Masaru chastised him, shaking his head in disappointment. “They’re doing their best, they want you to be safe and healthy again. Just like we do.”

“Playing the fucking guilt trip, I see how it is.”

“Katsuki!” Mitsuki scolded him, this time. “Be a little grateful for these hard-working people who saved your life, brat!”

“Deku saved my life,” Katsuki pointed out stubbornly. “Where’s he, anyway?”

Masaru squirmed in his seat, and for a moment Katsuki felt panic rising in his chest – was there something they hadn’t told him? – but then Mitsuki was barking a sharp laugh.

“Somehow, our sweet little Izuku was discharged first,” she teased. “I know it’s hard to be away from your boyfriend for ten fucking seconds but-”

“He’s coming right back to visit you,” Masaru cut her off, smiling softly. “He hasn’t slept well, as I’m sure you can imagine, so Inko has taken him home for the night to hopefully get some rest in his own bed in a quiet home. He said he wanted a good shower, too. But he’s coming back as soon as visiting hours start, so he can spend time with you.”

“He should be at school,” Katsuki grumbled.

“No one is at school, brat.” Mitsuki huffed at him pointedly. “They’re all exhausted and injured and traumatised, the school is giving everyone a break while they figure out what comes next.”

Katsuki picked up his phone with a slightly weak arm, raising an eyebrow at his screen, largely cracked but devoid of notifications.

“Then where are my ‘thank you’s and shit, huh?”

“Izuku again,” Masaru began with a soft smile, “he asked them to give you some time to recover a bit, before they started bombarding you with messages.”

“And by asked he means that sweet, pure, innocent child, fucking threatened them into leaving you alone. You’ve corrupted the poor boy.”

“If you think I needed to corrupt him, you don’t know him at all.” Katsuki snorted. “I’m not the one constantly breaking the fucking law, and my bones, just to make a damn point.”

“I do seem to remember a news story where they accused him of being a mass murderer,” Masaru said contemplatively. “I know it was false, but none of your friends seemed very surprised to see it.”

“Yeah, exactly.”

“Don’t you go saying that shit to his mother,” Mitsuki warned him. “He’ll get pulled out of that school quicker than you can say-”

“Kacchan!” A bright voice interrupted, familiar footsteps rushing toward the bed. “You’re awake! I’m so glad to see you!”

“He sweet-talked the security guards into letting him back in,” Inko explained with a little smile. “Just long enough to drop off your things so you can get some sleep, he promised.”

“Like they’re gonna know,” Izuku said with a grin, hopping up on the bed to hug Katsuki gently. “I missed you so much! I’m so relieved!”

“Hey, nerd,” Katsuki answered, cringing at how fond his own voice came out. “Missed you too, I guess.”

“How’s your head? Let me see,” Izuku demanded, leaning in to look closer. “The swelling has gone down, that’s so good!”

Katsuki could feel himself mellowing out, with Izuku back at his side, and he knew all their parents could see it, as well. As embarrassing as that should have been, he just couldn’t find the energy to care.

“We brought you some clothes,” Inko offered, moving a discarded duffle bag closer to Katsuki’s bedside. “We stopped by the dorms, All Might was kind enough to let us in. And I brought you some snacks, too, since hospital food usually isn’t much good.”

“Homemade,” Izuku assured him with a grin. “All your favourites. A bunch of different onigiri, some tempura, karaage, tamagoyaki, little hotdog bunnies—”

“Octopi,” Inko corrected him. “You like the bunnies, Kacchan likes the octopi and crabs.”

“Right, sorry,” Izuku said with a laugh. “I just saw her cutting hotdogs.”

“I appreciate it,” Katsuki said, shoving Izuku’s head out of the way to get line-of-sight with Inko. “I mean it.”

“I’m just happy I could do something for you,” Inko said with a wobbly smile. “I’m so glad that you’re okay.”

“I’m sorry I worried you.”

“Thank you, as always, for protecting my Izuku. And the rest of us, of course.”

“My pleasure.”

With an indignant noise, Izuku managed to force himself back into a comfortable position, pulling up the hospital sheets and grimacing when he tried to snuggle in.

“I forgot,” he mumbled, more to himself than anything else. “They’re so thin and crispy.”

He reached for the bag, dragging out the fluffy black blanket from Katsuki’s dorm room, and flung it across them both, making the bed ten times better in the half a second it took. Katsuki’s fingers curled into the fabric appreciatively, and it took a surprising amount of willpower to avoid just rolling himself up into a blanket burrito and staying there for the next two weeks.

“I’ll bring you more food when you run out,” Inko promised. “So don’t try to ration yourself or anything. Eat up and get well.”

“I will.”

“Alright, then I’d better get going before the trains stop for the night.” Inko smiled softly, though her eyes were clearly exhausted. “You take care. Izuku, do you have cash on you for a taxi when you get kicked out?”

“If,” Izuku corrected her, grinning. “But yeah, I do. Thank you.”

“Let us give you a ride home,” Masaru insisted, rising from his chair. “We were getting ready to head off for the night, anyway.”

“You don’t want to stay longer with him?” Inko asked.

“The brat would kill us if we sat here and stared at him while he slept,” Mitsuki said with a wry smile. “Besides, Izuku is less likely to get kicked out if there aren’t so many of us.”

Izuku laughed, and in that short sound, Katsuki heard everything he needed to know. The nerd had been scheming on his behalf, while he slept – there was no way his old folks would have left so willingly, without a little convincing along the way.

With a few parting words and a gentle pat on the shoulder by Masaru, the three of them made their way out, and Izuku sighed contentedly as he pulled the blanket up a little higher, wrapping a gentle arm around Katsuki’s waist.

“Tell me if it hurts,” Izuku instructed. “Anything I do, I mean.”

“I will, but I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine,” Izuku said with a huff. “I know you think you are, but there were so many surgeries, so many quirks, so many medications – hell, you’re still on a ton of medication, not the least of which for pain management, so just... tell me. Okay?”

“I said I will.”

“Good.”

Katsuki leaned in a little, hoping it conveyed how apologetic he felt, for worrying everyone so much. He’d never say the words, could never quite bring himself to, but he was sure Izuku understood all the same.

“I brought your Switch,” Izuku announced, like none of it had ever happened. “They said you’d be in here for a while, so I thought it might help. Did you know there was an Animal Crossing update a little while back?”

“I saw something about a ‘final update’ with new items and stuff, but I never really investigated.”

“Well,” Izuku said proudly. “There was also a DLC, so I bought it for us both, and I thought we could play together, to keep you entertained.”

Katsuki knew what those words really meant: to keep you calm, to mellow you out, to make sure you don’t yell at the nurses because you’re stuck here. Honestly, though, it sounded like a pretty decent idea, and he was grateful for the tact, even though it usually annoyed him to hear that kind of bullshit instead of people just being straight-up with him.

“Wait, you bought it for me?” Katsuki demanded. “Why the fuck did you spend money on me like that without even asking?”

“Well, technically I just upgraded my online membership which includes it,” Izuku clarified. “And then I added you to it as a family member, and stole your laptop to accept the invitation in your emails, so now it’s too late to complain!”

“You stole my laptop?”

“Is it really stealing if you make your password ShittyNerd, Kacchan?”

“How the hell would anyone guess that?”

“It was the second thing I tried! It wasn’t hard!”

“How the fuck- second? What was the first?”

“AllMightRulez. With a Z, of course.”

“Fuck you, I haven’t used that since I was six.”

“Kacchan, you used it for your first U.A. login,” Izuku said sagely. “I’m not judging, but you don’t need to lie to me about it.”

“Fuck you,” Katsuki repeated, snatching the dark plastic case when Izuku offered it. “I’m gonna go play with my squirrels.”

“Oh, did you get another one?”

Katsuki froze. He hadn’t even thought about that phrasing, it had just slipped out.

“I did too,” Izuku continued with a slightly nervous grin. “I’ll show you.”

“Fine. Me too.”

He unzipped his case, and Izuku did the same, each of them booting up their device to get stuck in. Katsuki had opened the game once or twice over the months, to weed his island or talk to his squirrels, but mostly he’d retired from it after the first big spell where everyone had been playing. He still held such fond memories of that time, where everyone had been trading flowers and fruit, sending each other items they thought they’d like, throwing star parties, and showing off their latest island creations. Once upon a time, he’d had spreadsheets of the items and DIY recipes each of his classmates needed, so they could all exchange things and tick them off as they sent them over. But that hype had slowed and eventually died off, once they’d all completed their museums and gotten all their golden tools. Maybe this DLC would get back some of that magic; at least it would give him a chance to revisit the game he’d loved so much, even if his classmates didn’t jump in with him.

Besides, Izuku was there, and he didn’t need anyone else.

“There are a few other things, too,” Izuku offered, as they waited for their games to load in and the announcements to pass. “A lot of new items, apparently, and new mystery islands and stuff. I didn’t read too deeply, just enough to see what the DLC was about and whether it was worth playing!”

“And you reckon it is?”

“I think we’re gonna have a blast,” Izuku grinned. “You, especially.”

“Yeah?” Katsuki crackled a smile, leaning into Izuku’s side. “We’ll see about that.”

Deku loaded in first, his Switch ready and waiting from the download process, so as Katsuki’s loaded up, he leaned over to look. The island was covered in weeds, his house full of bugs that needed stomping, but honestly, his bedhead was more accurate to his real-life hair than the original had been. His house actually had more rooms now, too, since Katsuki had nagged him into upgrading it, and Katsuki halted him when he started to head for the front door, getting an understanding little smile for it, as Izuku turned around to show off his home.

The main room was forest themed, all mossy walls and stepping-stone floor, with sunflower rugs, fake trees, mushroom lamps, and even a couple of logs to sit on. It was much more artfully done than any of Izuku’s early creations had been, back when he had refused to cut down any trees, and Katsuki was actually a little proud of him for managing to put together something unique.

“This is my kitchen,” Izuku said, walking into the room on the left. “And look, all my appliances have All Mights on them!”

“Of course they do,” Katsuki snorted, despite his smile. “Is that a cake on the table?”

“Yeah! It showed up in the mail one day, so I figured I’d put snacks out for my visitors!”

“Nerd.”

“And here’s my bathroom,” Izuku continued, hurrying out of the room and into the next.

“You made a bathroom?”

“Where else would I pee, Kacchan?”

“You’re such an idiot.”

“And you love it,” Izuku teased, turning his head to plant a brief kiss on Katsuki’s cheek. “I even put in a big bathtub so you can have a bath with me.”

“Gross.”

Izuku didn’t bother to bring up the number of times they’d soaked together in the big communal tub at school; the number of times Katsuki had shown up at his door with a towel slung over his shoulder and his basket of toiletries in his hand, pouting until Izuku grabbed his stuff to join him.

“And here’s the nursery, I changed the walls!”

Sure enough, the old patchwork-looking wall had been replaced with a starry one, and Katsuki knew if he asked, Izuku would have some stupid logic about stars meaning nighttime so it’s easier for the baby to sleep. Neither of them even wanted kids, but Izuku had found it so inexplicably entertaining all those months ago, to dedicate an entire room to picture books and toys and coloured-block furniture, just to tell him “this is where our baby will sleep” like an idiot. Katsuki couldn’t believe it was still there, even after Izuku’s expansions and redesigns.

“Idiot,” Katsuki huffed. “Show me your room.”

“Our room,” Izuku corrected him, his little character toddling up the stairs to show him.

It was actually surprisingly okay, not overrun with All Might custom designs or teddy bears in shirts. There was a double bed in the middle for them to share, with end tables on each side. One corner was lined with bookcases, since the pair both liked to read so much. A sofa in the next corner faced a little coffee table, which boasted two framed photographs – one of Marshal, the other of Nibbles. And on the other side of the room, a couple of mannequins were set up, showing off the custom designs Izuku had once put so much work into, to look exactly like their hero costumes.

“Our wardrobe,” Izuku explained, when Katsuki nudged the thumbstick across to look closer. “In case we need to go save the island in a hurry!”

“Dork,” Katsuki said fondly, kissing a freckled cheek that burned red under his touch. “Looks good.”

“Thanks, Kacchan!”

“And what’s in the basement?”

“Uh... Nothing? Just storage of random objects I didn’t have a place for!”

“You have actual storage for that, what are you hiding from me?”

“Nothing!”

Katsuki snatched the console away, getting a sigh as Izuku immediately gave up, not willing to risk wrestling for it and hindering Katsuki’s recovery. Katsuki marched the little character downstairs, freezing in the doorway when he saw what the idiot had been so evasive about.

The main wall housed a massive All Might portrait, pieced together with custom designs, over top of red-velvet curtained walls. There were candles everywhere, and incense, and flowers – honestly, if Izuku had called it his ‘cult room’ Katsuki wouldn’t have batted an eye at the term.

“Fucking weirdo,” Katsuki huffed, handing the console back and picking his own up instead. “I should have known it would be something creepy.”

“It’s not creepy!”

“Sure, nerd.”

As Katsuki button-mashed through the morning announcements, Izuku ran outside, heading down to the airport to open his gates. By the time Katsuki got to his own, Izuku was ready and waiting for him, but nothing had prepared Katsuki for the fly-over. Every inch of the flight path was covered with flowers – but not in the messy, rampant-breeding way they used to be. No, Izuku had manicured them into a long, flowing rainbow, arched across the island, and Katsuki was honestly impressed by the dedication – how many times had he had to fly in and out of his own island to get that view, to fill in all the gaps?

“Fucking hell,” Katsuki said, when he caught Izuku watching him. “You’ve been busy”

“I started with a small one and got carried away,” Izuku laughed brightly. “It’s cool though, right?! Flying in over it?”

“Really cool,” Katsuki admitted. “I never thought about putting stuff specifically on my flight path.”

“Well, you played alone more often than not,” Izuku pointed out. “I liked having stuff for my friends to gush over when they came to visit.”

“Clearly. You did well.”

“Thanks, Kacchan!”

Izuku spun his character in circles for a second, more habit than anything, and when he ran off, Katsuki followed obediently. They headed into Izuku’s Bear Park first – no bigger than the first one they’d built together, but rearranged to add in more shrubs, flowers, fountains, and even more bears dressed in their little shirts and bowties. Signposts pointed them the right way for various landmarks, and Izuku headed off down the path labelled for the campsite, surprising Katsuki with a little clearing in the forest Izuku had previously been so protective of.

“You’re such an idiot,” Katsuki said fondly.

Izuku’s campsite was set out not for the villagers who occasionally came to stay in his tent, but for a veritable army of little brightly-coloured garden gnomes. There were three surrounding a tiny campfire with marshmallows roasting over the top, two sitting outside a little striped tent with mugs of coffee beside them, one apparently chopping firewood that was almost as big as he was, and even a pair sitting beside a tiny lake, fishing rods cast into the water. Izuku giggled to himself as Katsuki explored, and Katsuki shook his head fondly, leaning in a little heavier to Izuku’s side.

“A cute idiot,” he corrected himself softly. “I love it.”

“I knew you would!”

He ran off again, this time leading the way to where his forest gradually turned to bamboo – it was actually quite neat, the way he added a bamboo plant every now and again, steadily becoming more dense, until the trees gave way all together into bamboo forest. A second house sat at the top of a hill, up two flights of stairs flanked by lanterns with Deku and Dynamight logos on them, with a donation box out the front and a pagoda building set behind the hill, to look like it was off in the distance.

“I heard they added torii in this update,” Izuku said with shining eyes. “I want one to put at the entrance here, it would be perfect.”

“We’ll find you one,” Katsuki assured him. “We’ve got two weeks, I’m sure we can figure it out by then.”

“Yeah! Okay last one, come see my squirrels.”

Katsuki followed once more, but when he reached a familiar green-and-orange wedding arch, he couldn’t help but laugh. Inside the little fenced-off area, Izuku had arranged a giant heart of green and orange flowers, flanked by log chairs with Deku and Dynamite-themed cushions. There was a green-and-orange striped couch on one side, flanked by green and orange spotlights, and on the other side, two giant teddy bears – one cream with a black-and-orange bowtie, the other dark brown, with a green-and-black one.

“You put a lot of work into this,” Katsuki grinned, twirling in the flowers. “You got a Nibbles, then?”

“I stole your card a couple of times,” Izuku admitted. “After you told me she reminded you of me, I felt like they needed to be together.”

“Me too,” Katsuki admitted. “I uh, may have adopted a Marshal from some random who was selling him for Nook Tickets.”

“Did you really?” Izuku giggled. “Let’s go to yours next, I want to see!”

“Yeah, sure. Um, gimme a sec.”

He ran back to the airport, Little Deku hot on his heels to wave goodbye at the gates, and soon they were flying in over Katsuki’s snowy island, Izuku gasping when he saw.

“I forgot your island is in winter!” he said gleefully. “It’s so pretty! I should catch some snowflakes and stuff, I didn’t play much in our winter!”

“Come see my festival, then.”

Katsuki stood between a set of monster statues that flanked his dock, protecting the island from any unwelcome visitors, and Izuku grinned as he approached.

“Where did you get the black ones? Online as well?”

“Mina got bored and reset her island at one point, happened to get them.”

“Aw that’s great, I’m glad you finally got the coolest ones!”

Katsuki gave a cursory little spin before he ran off, and Izuku grinned as he followed, all the way to the top of the island where glowing blue ice pillars laid in wait. He’d walled off an area a long time ago, set himself up a little festival with sculptures and stalls and everything. Izuku ran through it to look, especially excited by the snowman waiters standing at ice tables, and the shiny ice bear statue that took pride of place in the center, surrounded by ice trees and even an ice bed. Along the back wall were food stalls – soup, coffee, everything you’d need to warm up – where Katsuki had kept snowboys last winter. He’d have to get into the habit of rolling them up again while he was stuck in the hospital, so Izuku could see the glory of snowboys standing behind his stalls like they were ready to dish out candy floss and shaved ice and even drinks from an ice bar.

“This is so cool,” Izuku beamed. “We should go to a real one, in winter. It’s been a long time.”

“I’ll take you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Thanks, Kacchan.”

They’d become so comfortable and – eugh – domestic with their relationship. It was sickening, and Katsuki couldn’t get enough of it.

“What about Frank?” Izuku asked, when he was satisfied with his exploration. “He used to be here, right?”

“He moved.”

“To where?”

Katsuki led the way, and Izuku laughed brightly again when they reached Frank’s outpost, still manning the watch for Space Monsters. He still had his telescope, of course, but now it came with a giant moon hanging in the sky, and the glow of colourful star-shaped lamps bordering his spot. He had a moon chair, just in case he needed to sit down, and even a rover, for urgent missions across the island. Most importantly, though, he had a golden axe and a katana both close at hand.

“I see you’re armed now, Frank,” Izuku grinned. “Congratulations on the promotion.”

“PLUTO got more funding this year.”

“PLUTO?”

“The Protection of Locals from Uninvited Threats Organisation.”

“Did you make that up just now?”

“You’ll never know.”

Izuku laughed, and Katsuki couldn’t resist kissing him again – something about that bright, bubbling laugh of his always made Katsuki into a sap.

“Alright, you wanna see my squirrels?” he asked knowingly. “This way.”

Izuku followed him to a massive garden with its own private beach, surrounded by green and orange flowers just like his own. There were heart-shaped ponds dug out in the ground that Izuku was frankly a little jealous of – how had he never figured out how to do that, but Katsuki had?! Then again, Katsuki had spent an exorbitant amount of time with the terraforming tool, while Izuku had just wanted to make it a little smoother to access all his different areas.

Between the two squirrel houses was a little table, and Izuku gasped when he saw what sat on top, running over to look closer. Sure enough, there were two ring boxes – one with a bright green stone, housed in a black box, and the other with a red stone, sitting in dark green.

“Did you customise the colours?” Izuku asked. “They’re perfect!”

“Nope, that’s the way they come.”

“Really?!”

“Yeah, I was pretty impressed. The game knew what it was doing.”

“Would you really wear a green engagement ring for me?” Izuku asked. “Let me stake my claim?”

“Like you haven’t already,” Katsuki snorted. “Green is my favourite colour, nerd.”

“Since when?”

“Since always.”

He looked at Izuku pointedly, and Izuku felt his face get warm.

“Stop that,” he whined, elbowing Katsuki gently. “Don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?” Katsuki smirked.

“Like that.”

“Dunno what you’re talking about.”

“You’re so mean.”

“And you love it.”

Izuku huffed, but let it go, ignoring Katsuki’s triumphant expression as they went back to their games. Soon he was returning to his own island, ready to start building vacation homes, while Katsuki was mashing buttons to skip past a boat ride.

The moment he saw the new characters waiting for him, he fell in love. He pawed at Katsuki insistently, making him look, as he gushed over the little monkey in his tiny hat, and the big, dopey manatee. Everything about the game was always so damn cute, it was no wonder the entire world had fallen in love with it.

“I never want to leave this island,” Izuku said firmly. “I’m moving in with the monkey.”

“Your squirrels will get lonely.”

“No! They have each other!”

“True,” Katsuki conceded. “Alright, move in on the island then. Do they let you build a house there?”

“I don’t think so,” Izuku pouted. “I’ll sleep in the staffroom, it’s fine.”

“What if that’s where the monkey sleeps?”

“We can share!”

“Oi, don’t you go sharing a bed with anyone but me, asshole.”

“Fine,” Izuku sighed, smiling all the same. “I guess I’ll go home to sleep and make sure everyone is okay, then go back every morning. It’ll be like a little commute!”

He quickly got stuck in, working on cute little vacation homes for the villagers who showed up and asked for them, all but forgetting that he was sitting on a hospital bed with his boyfriend who had almost died just a couple of days ago.

“What are you doing?” Izuku asked after a while, leaning over to see Katsuki’s screen. “Are you gardening?”

“Yeah, asshole, what about it?”

“You could be out here building fancy vacation homes, and you’re gardening.”

“Here I am, growing fresh vegetables to make you dinner, and your ungrateful ass is criticising my priorities?”

Izuku giggled, and Katsuki couldn’t help but grin along, turning his head to kiss Izuku’s cheek lightly.

“What are you gonna make us?” Izuku humoured him. “Katsudon?”

“They don’t have one,” Katsuki huffed. “But if I grow this wheat, I can turn it into flour, and then I can make us aji fry and fruit crepes. And I’ve got potatoes, carrots, and tomatoes to make minestrone soup.”

“That sounds perfect.” Izuku smiled softly, leaning his head on Katsuki’s shoulder for a moment. “Can you make me some more food for my kitchen? I bet you could make me a better cake than the one that came in the mail.”

“Sure, as soon as I find a recipe for it. And a sugarcane plant, I probably need sugar to make a cake.”

“I’ll keep an eye out for you,” Izuku promised. “It’s a very nice looking garden, well done.”

“Don’t patronise me.”

“I’m not! I love it! I’m just surprised, I thought you’d be more hooked on the home decorating than on gardening.”

“I can do both, asshole.”

“Of course you can! I didn’t mean you couldn’t!”

“Shut up.”

Katsuki glanced over at Izuku’s screen, to see what he was getting up to, and immediately froze. His Switch almost fell out of his hands, and Izuku blinked at him nervously, reaching over to steady him.

“Everything okay, Kacchan?”

“They have partition walls?”

Izuku burst out laughing, but Katsuki didn’t even care, too busy snatching Izuku’s console to look closer. All the time he’d spent with shelves and screens and shit, trying to divide his rooms, and there was a function for that?!

“I’m gonna murder someone if they don’t let me use those at home.”

“They do! You just have to unlock it!”

“Fuck gardening, I need walls.”

Katsuki ditched his golden shovel immediately, running to the airport, and Izuku couldn’t stop giggling as he watched.

“I didn’t want to spoil it for you,” Izuku explained. “I knew how excited you’d be.”

“Fuck spoilers, I’d have speedrun this damn game if I knew that was coming.”

“You don’t need to,” Izuku assured him. “It only takes a few houses, like ten? It won’t take long!”

When the nurse came by to check Katsuki’s vitals, she found the pair of them curled up together, talking and laughing quietly without a care in the world for the fact that they were on a hospital bed. It was probably the quietest she’d ever found Katsuki, Izuku thought, and he hoped all the staff appreciated the peace and quiet enough to not kick him out any time soon. The longer he could stay with Katsuki, the better life would be for all of them.

Soon, though, Katsuki was starting to yawn, his eyelids drooping a little. Izuku waited patiently for him to finish his house, but as soon as he’d taken his photos and set sail for the mainland, Izuku reached over to take his hand.

“Bedtime?” he asked quietly. “Can I stay and sleep with you?”

“You don’t want a real bed for once?”

“I’d rather be with you,” Izuku said with a smile. “Beds are overrated.”

“Then yeah, course you can.”

“Thanks. Go buy some chocolates for your villagers, then we can log off for the night.”

“Chocolates?”

Izuku pointed him the right direction, and Katsuki smiled to himself – the idea of taking souvenir chocolates home for his island residents was a pretty cute touch, he had to admit. He saved his game obediently and handed his Switch over, letting Izuku put them both on to charge for the night, ready to play again in the morning. He reached for a remote, lowering the head of his bed to lie down flat, and with what might have been the cutest smile in the world, Izuku crawled back in beside him. He reached over Katsuki, hitting the button to turn the lights out, then snuggled in against Katsuki’s less-injured arm, sighing contentedly.

“Goodnight, Kacchan.”

“G’night, nerd.”

[Next]