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"You're doing it wrong."
"I'm not! This is exactly how my mum does it!" Izuku argued, eyes narrowing slightly at the criticism.
"Nu-uh. I've seen your mum's nest and it doesn't suck. You're dumb."
Izuku pouted at his words, looking over at the other pup and whining. It wasn’t loud enough to prompt an adult to come check on them and make sure they were playing nice, but it was enough to make Katsuki feel a little guilty, even if he was nowhere near ready to admit to it out loud.
“Get more blankets. Blankets make nests better,” Katsuki concluded, deciding that they couldn’t give up just yet, even if Izuku’s nesting was as unimpressive as his tree climbing and his swimming
They had spent the whole day indoors, deterred from going out by adults that seemed to be too afraid of the rain to let them enjoy themselves. No matter how much they begged and pouted, Katsuki’s parents did not relent. They had played around with his newest toys for a couple of hours, eaten lunch, and been left to roam the house and cause chaos for too long before the idea of watching a movie (and finally giving Katsuki’s parents a small amount of peace and quiet) was pushed into their little heads.
As delighted as they were to watch a film together, choosing which one to watch was quick to prove itself a challenge.
“Let’s watch All Might: Silver Age.” Izuku said, bouncing on his seat as he talked about watching one of his favourite films ever, again.
“Silver Age sucks.”
Izuku gasped and pointed at him, visibly offended. “That’s swearing!”
“Sucks isn’t a swear!” Katsuki was quick to argue, giving his friend a puppy growl. “You suck.”
“I don’t suck, Kacchan sucks!” Izuku countered with a smile. And yet, his bravado was quick to fade away the closer he got to finishing his sentence, prompting the pup to run away from Katsuki, who was more than ready to inflict violence upon him.
He was taken aback by the sudden bravery, but refused to let him get away with it unscathed. And so, Katsuki did the only logical thing available to him: he chased after him, prompting him to scream even before he got to touch him.
“Katsuki! Stop that!” came Mitsuki’s voice from downstairs, firm and heavy with the unspoken threat her words carried.
Both boys could do nothing other than halt their running around, too afraid to make the alpha woman come upstairs and get told off for real, or - even worse - end up with her calling Izuku’s mum to come pick him up due to the boys being too unruly to handle. It had happened before, just once or twice, but they knew better than to risk their chances and end up spending the rest of summer locked up indoors, bored and alone due to their alleged misbehaving.
“You suck way more, anyway,” Katsuki said with a shrug, managing to wrap up the argument on a high note for himself. “And we’re not watching Silver Age.”
“Okay. All Might to the Rescue?”
“No,” Katsuki said, no further explanation added. “All Might: Nightwatch.”
“I don’t like that one…”
“Why? Are too much of a wussy to watch him fight scary clowns?”
“I think that’s a swear too, Kacchan.”
“No, it’s not. The swear one starts with a ‘p’, stupid,” he clarified.
“Ah,” Izuku mumbled with a nod. “How about the animated series?”
Well, that was something Katsuki could absolutely get behind. He didn’t even bother answering his question, turning the TV on and getting All Might: The Animated Series Plus! on screen for them both.
It wasn’t even half an hour into their gleeful watching, that both pups started getting antsy, shuffling around in bed, and eventually starting to wander about the room. Neither of them had that great an attention span yet, so not even the brightest of cartoons with their favourite hero could keep their butts glued to their seats for far too long.
As they half-watched the TV, Katsuki found himself pulling at the edges of his crumpled blankets, acting on the sheer pull of instinct as he pulled them closer around himself, alongside with a couple of pillows and a giant stuffed All Might he had in bed. Without thinking too much, the child found himself building a cosy little cocoon around himself.
This happened to catch Izuku’s eye, prompting the other pup to make his way into the proto-nest, pulling at the blankets to adjust for the extra occupant, and adding in his coat. It wasn’t long at all before he found himself squirming out of the nest to fetch Katsuki’s pyjamas and a blanket he had next to the bed to add them into the mix. And so, there they were, halfway through turning Katsuki’s bed into a nest without even noticing what they were doing, simply following their incipient puppy instincts in search of comfort.
“No cushions in my nest!” Katsuki ordered with surprising urgency as soon as he realised Izuku was about to dump an armful of cushions in, clearly stolen from the living room’s sofa and dragged into his bedroom without his permission. He had managed to stop him just in time, luckily.
“Why?”
“I don’t like them. They don’t go in the nest.”
“But I like them, Kacchan. This one’s really soft. And really pretty.” Izuku argued, holding up a light yellow cushion with elephants printed on it, trying to convince him.
“No. It’s my nest, so I decide what goes in it.”
“It’s my nest too! I’m building it too!”
“Yes, but it’s on my bed, in my house. So it’s mine.” Katsuki said, a triumphant grin taking over his face as he dominated the interaction and asserted his command over their little nest.
He had been entirely convinced that was enough to win the petty argument, feeling pretty sure about himself until he saw Deku climb into the nest and start tearing it apart. As though he had been struck by lightning, Katsuki was quick to throw himself at the other pup, letting out his best attempt at a scary growl and pinning him down in bed to keep him from destroying his beautiful nest.
“What are you doing?” he rushed out in quiet panic.
“Taking out my stuff,” Izuku said, as though he wasn’t wrecking the nest in the process. “That’s my coat, Kacchan, and I found that blanket, so I’m taking them out so I can make my own nest.”
“Wait, no.”
Izuku looked at him, still sandwiched between the bed and the slightly older pup, and waiting for Katsuki to add to his broken sentence.
“Fine,” he said with a dramatic sigh as he let go of him. “It can be your nest too. But it’s more my nest than your nest. And it can’t be lame.”
“Okay,” Izuku agreed, letting Katsuki keep his fragile upper hand on the conflict and returning to the nest. “But I want the elephant cushion in.”
He grumbled, but decided to allow as long as it kept that dumb Deku from destroying the nest.
Katsuki had never wasted too much of his time thinking about Deku. He was just one more immovable factor in his life: there was the weather, the fact that bedtime was at eight whether he liked it or not, and Deku. No matter what, he was always right there, with him.
Sometimes, Katsuki loved the fact that he had such a close friend, an accomplice to whatever mischief he could imagine, and someone to share every mundane aspect of life with. Other times, Katsuki was less keen on having a big scaredy-cat cramping his style in front of other (cooler, often older) children, wishing he didn't have to haul that dummy around everywhere he went. And yet, the one thing he was certain about was the fact that Izuku had always been and would always be there, by his side.
He had been right there ever since the very start of his earliest memories; be it his beach holiday over summer, learning how to ride a bike or the first day of school, Izuku had always been by his side, so it was only natural to know that was how things would always be for them.
Whenever he thought about his future, Katsuki was certain of two things: firstly, that he would grow up to be the best and strongest hero that had ever existed and that he would be best friends with the real All Might. But secondly - and just as important - was the fact that he knew Deku would be somewhere around to witness his success and marvel at how cool he was. He didn’t know how that would look like for them as they grew older, and the fact that Deku was dumb and quirkless made it impossible for him to imagine them as some sort of dynamic duo, but he just knew that Izuku would find a way to be around and help him be the best hero that had ever existed (not that he needed any help, of course).
It took a little more adjusting to finalise the nest, with both staring in awe at the beautiful mound of cuddly stuff they had amassed and feeling rather proud of their puppy nest. Both kids were years away from having instincts inflict any sort of life-altering pull upon them, but they were both mesmerised by the warmth and softness that came over them while resting in a nest they had built together.
“It’s the best nest ever, Kacchan,” Izuku whispered as he cuddled up in the middle of the nest, nuzzling at the blankets and curling up with him.
Katsuki did not dare comment on it, but he couldn’t keep himself from purring out loud, proud of how amazing their nest had turned out.
If there was one thing that Mitsuki and Masaru had learned in the six-and-a-half years of being blessed with that angry whirlwind of a son, it was that a quiet Katsuki was never a good sign. Be it because he had already broken something and was trying to find a way to fix it without getting in trouble, or because he was finding a new and creative way to cause them a new headache, the lack of sound coming from upstairs was enough to strike fear into the very soul of the couple.
With their hearts beating in their throats, the couple decided to go check on the boys and make sure that whatever they had done wasn’t too serious. Mitsuki had been expecting a broken window, or scorched furniture, perhaps a complete and utter explosion of toys all over the bedroom, but nothing could have prepared her for the sight before her eyes when she opened the door to her child’s room.
The mess of a nest that greeted them was enough to bring a smile to their faces and make them swoon. Having young puppies nesting was normal and healthy, a good way for them to explore the pull of instinct that remained mostly dormant through childhood, and - most importantly - very, very cute to the eyes of adults.
The room was silent and still, barring the quiet droning of the TV in the background, which prompted both parents to come in just a little closer to the playnest.
Inside the nest, the two sleeping children were cuddled against each other in a mess of blankets. Katsuki took up most of the nest, starfishing in the very centre of it and partially tangled in two separate blankets, while Izuku slept on his side, curled up against the slightly bigger pup and holding on to a stuffed teddy bear that Katsuk liked to pretend he was too old to play with.
Katsuki had never been a big fan of naps, and Masaru was sure there would be hell to pay once he woke up and was too reinvigorated to heed to his agreed bedtime, but neither of them had the heart to break the cuddle and wake them up. Slowly, both parents stepped out of the room and closed the door behind them, leaving the boys be.
Neither could bring themselves to say it out loud, but they couldn’t keep themselves from wondering whether this would be the first of many - increasingly awkward - times those two would be caught tangled up in a close cuddle within a nest.