Chapter Text
In the middle of the dark woods is a tower. It is old, older than the memory of the oldest man in the nearby villages. They say a sorcerer lives there. Hair as pale as his soul was dark.
The tower is overrun by thorn bushes. There are no windows except at the very top. And there is only one door, a door that hasn’t been opened in over a decade.
It didn’t use to be surrounded by thorn bushes. Once it had a lovely garden, full of herbs and vegetables. The tomatoes were as large as fists. The rosemary and basil and thyme vie with each other, spreading their pungent scents.
But the undisputed prize of this garden were the leafy greens called izuku.
They are hard enough to come by in the usual markets, only a few bunches making an appearance every few days or so. But the ones in the garden were gorgeous. Lush, dark green leaves that gave out an aroma that reminded you of sunshine and summer glades.
Inko lived in a village near the dark woods. She was pregnant with her first child and was finding it considerably more uncomfortable than she had expected. The morning nausea, the full bladder, the near permanent fatigue.
But most uncomfortable of all was the cravings. She wanted izukus. Needed to eat izukus. Wanted it in the mornings and evenings, and cried miserably when she couldn’t have it.
Hisashi, her poor flustered husband, tried his best, going from market to market, buying up all he could find but izukus were never plentiful.
One day, a kindly vegetable seller told Hisashi of a place in the dark woods where izuku grew aplenty. But the garden was kept by a mighty sorcerer who lived in the tower. He was boorish and mean and miserly and will not willingly part with his izuku. Unless for a price.
Hisashi thought about Inko’s tears and steeled himself to enter the woods. The tower was not hard to find. And at its foot: a field of izukus. Vibrant and fresh and begging to be picked.
But Hisashi was a coward at heart and instead of knocking on the tower door, he crept and crawled and picked the izukus from its bed, and slunk away.
He came home and thought Inko’s happy face was well worth the price of becoming a thief.
Bakugou Katsuki was in a foul mood.
Someone has been stealing his izukus. When he finds out who they are, he will explode their heads with his fists.
Sorcerers like Katsuki live and die by their contracts. Each action is a transaction, an exchange of one value for another. They follow balance. You give something and you get something.
Thieves were the worst. They take something of value without giving anything in return.
So Katsuki stayed up to watch. And one evening, the thief came back, skulking his way to the izukus. Katsuki waited until the thief had plucked one, then showed himself, breathing fire and brimstone down the cowering man.
“Fucking thief. What do you have to say for yourself?”
“Please! Please spare my life. I only wanted some for my pregnant wife. She has the cravings for it.”
“What does your pregnant wife have to do with me? That is my izuku.”
“Please, my lord sorcerer, I beg you. I will do anything, pay you anything.”
Katsuki was slightly mollified at the offer of payment. “I should make you give me the babe in your wife’s belly for this trespass,” he huffed in irritation.
“If - if that is what you wish, my lord!”
Katsuki blinked at the still cowering man.
“You are willing to give me your child for some...vegetables,” he said carefully.
“Yes, my lord sorcerer. Anything, my lord.”
Katsuki frowned down at the man. He cannot allow the stealing. But taking a child in exchange for a few heads of produce will place his ledger in the red. Perhaps if it was a lot of produce?
“Fucking fine. For this, you can have as many izukus as your wife may wish. Knock yourself out.”
Katsuki turned away with a sweep of his robes.
What the fuck am I supposed to do with a child?
Several months later, Katsuki was in a foul mood again and for much the same reason.
The thief has stolen yet again, absconded with Katsuki’s promised child!
For months the thief took and took until the beds of izukus had all been but decimated. Katsuki had been astounded at how many izukus a woman can eat and had started to think that perhaps one child is not enough payment.
Then on the day Katsuki was supposed to claim the child, he discovered the thief and wife gone, disappeared. Taking the child with them.
Stealing was one thing. But to break a contract with a sorcerer? There is no fouler deed.
It took Katsuki almost 5 years before he found the thief.
They had moved to a town several leagues away. There were two sleeping children inside the house. A young girl with brown hair. And a slightly older boy, with freckled cheeks and a head full of curls as green as the leaves in Katsuki’s garden.
The thief saw him and paled, immediately prostrating himself.
“So you do remember. Thief. Contract-breaker.”
The man whimpered. “Please, my lord sorcerer. Mercy. My wife is on her sickbed and if I die there will be no one to take care of the children.”
“You say ‘children’ but one of them is mine.”
“Of course, my lord sorcerer. That is the boy. Izuku.”
“I will take the boy. As is my due.”
The man whimpered.
Katsuki bent and scooped up the sleeping child into his arms. The boy felt frail. Fragile.
He looked at the still whimpering man, heard a labored cough from one of the doorways.
“You have thrown away all rights to this child for a fucking cartload of leaves. If you really think yourselves worthy of him, come and get him,” Katsuki said, voice hard, dripping in disdain.
This is why I don’t spend time among humans. A bunch of spineless, idiots.
“Bakugou, you seem to have acquired a pet.”
Todoroki prodded at the child sleeping on the cot with the toe of his shoe.
“Dammit, Half ‘n Half!" Katsuki hissed. "If you wake him up and he starts crying, I’ll throw you off this tower.”
“Why do you have a pet?” Todoroki asked, unbothered by the threat.
“It’s not a pet, it’s a child.”
“Why do you have a child?”
“His father gave him up.”
Todoroki raised an eyebrow.
“First born transaction. We don’t get many of that. What did he ask for? A kingdom? Immortality?”
“Vegetable from my fucking garden. Mind your own business,” Katsuki said irritably.
“Fine, don’t tell me. But what are you going to do with it?”
Katsuki frowned.
“I garden. They’re pretty much the same. Only this thing moves around. Some water, some food, sunshine. They grow and then you eat them up.”
Todoroki turned back to the sleeping child.
“If you’re going to eat him, might be better if you eat him now. He looks tasty. Probably nutritious too with all the green leaves on his head.”
“Just shut up.”
“Hey, Bakubro!” Kirishima shouted, even before the last of the sulphur smoke dissipated. “Todoroki says you got yourself a --”
Kirishima broke off as he spies the child at the low table.
“Hi, little bro. My name’s Kirishima. What’s yours?”
Big green eyes blink at the demon, taking in the spiky hair and sharp teeth.
“My mom says I shouldn’t say.”
“Why not?” Kirishima asked in surprise.
“Because saying it means bad people can find me.”
Katsuki snorts.
“What bad people?”
“Bad people who want to take me,” the child explains patiently.
“Well, Bakubro’s here now. I don’t think you have to worry about any bad people taking you. He’s pretty strong.”
Green eyes flicked to Katsuki in interest.
“But okay, so what can I call you?”
The child shrugs.
“You’re all green. How about ‘Midoriya’?”
The boy proudly displays the kanji written painstakingly in big, blocky child script.
“‘Deku.’”
The boy looks back at the kanji in surprise.
“That’s not what it says! It says ‘Izu -’”
The boy bites his lip in frustration.
“I read ‘Deku’.” Katsuki says with a smirk.
The boy gives a long-suffering sigh that makes Katsuki laugh.
Katsuki arrives at the tower and finds something happy and bouncy clinging to his legs.
“You should say ‘I’m home’ when you get home, Kacchan.” The boy says with a pout.
“Why?”
“So I can say “welcome home’ of course.”
Katsuki looks up from his potion at the knock on the door.
“I’m going to bed, Kacchan.”
Izuku approaches, obviously sleepy. And just stands there, waiting.
Katsuki’s left eyebrow twitches. But he bends down and allows Izuku to kiss his cheek.
“Good night, Kacchan.”
“Good night, Deku.”
“‘Kacchan’?? That is so cute!” Ashido squeals, the pink pixie twirling around the room. “Can I call you that as well?”
“Try it and die.”
“But how come Midoriya can and I can’t??”
“He’s 6 and can’t handle his ‘tsu’s. What’s your excuse?”
Ashido’s pout is nowhere near as good as Izuku’s.
“Kacchan, why is this door locked?”
“That opens to a staircase. It leads to the door at the foot of the tower.”
Izuku considers the answer.
“But why is it locked? You have to keep going out the window.”
“Because it’s been taken over by demons.”
Izuku took a step away from the door but nevertheless eyed it curiously.
“Don’t worry about it. Those who need to know the key already has it.”
“Deku, I’ll be gone for 3 days. Four at the most. There’s more than enough food. Make sure you continue with your studies. Do not use fire, use the fairy lights instead. If you have trouble, call on Shitty Hair. His sigil is already inscribed on the workroom floor.”
“Yes, Kacchan. I won’t, Kacchan. I will, Kacchan.”
“Are you getting smart on me?”
Izuku giggled. “We already went over this last night. I won’t forget, Kacchan. And I will be careful.”
Katsuki tetched but bent down to receive his kiss on the cheek.
“What the hell is that Deku??”
“Cupcakes. They’re cakes that are small, like cups!” Deku explained, his cheeks bulging.
Katsuki rolled his eyes.
“I mean where did you get it?”
“Sato-kun gave them to me when he came this morning.”
Katsuki left the room muttering.
“Everyone and their mothers keep coming here and getting underfoot. They should just find their own first born to claim.”
“I’m home, Deku.”
“Kacchan! Welcome home.”
Katsuki accepted his kiss and handed over a parcel.
“I got you something from Mustafar.”
“An All Might storybook!! Thanks, Kacchan!”
“It only came out last week.”
“Oh, wow!”
“Your hair is getting too long, Deku. Come here,”
Katsuki gathers the green curls and ties them together at the nape.
“That will have to do.”
“Kacchan? You haven’t slept in days.”
Katsuki rubbed his tired eyes.
“This is the last batch, Deku. After this I can rest.”
Katsuki looks at green eyes full of worry.
He pulls Izuku in and kisses his temple. He smells of sunshine and summer glades.
“Go to sleep. I will rest after this.”
“I don’t understand this part, Kacchan. Why does this diagram work for fire elementals but not this one? They both follow the Endeva principle.”
Katsuki looks over the work.
“I don’t suppose telling you to just memorize the diagrams will work?” Katsuki says, but it wasn’t really a question.
“Go grab the green leather bound in my workshop. The one that has gold and red lines. It’s a little too advanced for you but the first part tackles the theory on summoning fire based elementals.”
“Someone has a crush.”
Katsuki follows Uraraka’s gaze.
Izuku is nervously fiddling with his long braid, blushing and stammering while talking to Todoroki of all people,
Katsuki frowns.
“He’s… 12,” he says, pausing to make the computation.
“So?”
“Fucking Half ‘n Half is 400 and 12 years old! I’ll throw him off the damn tower!”
The wind elemental just laughs.
“Deku-kun? Could you come here please? Let’s finish the levitation spell on your hair.”
"Kacchan!"
Deku helps the injured Katsuki in.
"It's nothing. There's just a lot of blood but the wound is not serious."
"I can see the fucking wound, Kacchan! And it's gaping!"
"I said it's nothing, Deku."
Izuku threw him an irritated look despite the gentle hands.
"I am not a child. Sit. Before you keel over. I'll get towels and sutures. Where is the red tincture?"
"There's a fresh batch on the shelf."
Katsuki allows the green braided tresses to lift him and climbs through the window,
“I’m home, Deku,” Katsuki says, leaning in to kiss Izuku’s temple, arm going around his back to pull him closer.
“Welcome home, Kacchan,” Izuku replies, eyes closed and leaning in, tucked against Katsuki's cheek.
Katsuki wonders when Izuku got tall enough that Katsuki didn’t need to bend down anymore.
“Mmmmm. This is my favorite magic,” Izuku says, body warm, breath ghosting Katsuki's neck.
“What is?”
“This. Shuzenji-baachan was asking me the other day which healing magic worked best for me and I think this is the best. I always feel better when we do this, Kacchan.”
Katsuki was silent.
“It calms me, soothes me. But also fires me up, makes me feel like I am Deku who can do anything. You know what I mean?”
“Yes.”
“Fucking spit it out, Half n Half.”
“You’re changing. Midoriya is changing you.”
Katsuki growled but otherwise remained silent.
“He’s now had enough sun and water and is fully grown. Are you going to eat him up now?”
“Shut your fucking mouth!!”
“He’s going to grow old. He’s going to die.”
“I said shut up.”
“You could cast Immortality. Eternal youth.”
“And turn him into one of us?” Katsuki said bitterly.
Todoroki shrugged.
"We are who we are. No less evil than anyone else. Not as good as some."
"Deku is."
There is uncharacteristic pain in Katsuki's voice. Self-loathing.
"What if he finds out, Todoroki?"
"I think you do not give him enough credit. Midoriya cares for you. So I ask you again, Bakugou. What are you going to do with him?”
Katsuki has no answer.