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Of Gods and Dreams

Summary:

Izuku tries to live as a minority in a world where his head is in the clouds and his heart in another world entirely.

Katsuki tries to fit in in a world where the only person who believes in him and whom he can trust is someone he can't meet in reality.

(Two boys, two very different worlds, and one bond that binds them together.)

Notes:

This fic has been a long time coming! Me and Glon have been planning this for roughly a year but it's just taking us forever to post it, hahaha. This will take a bit.
We're co-writing this story together with me writing all of Izuku's world and dialogue (even in Katsuki's chapters) and her writing Katsuki's world and dialogue.

We hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 1: Izuku

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The day was bright with the burning sun in the sky and the sound of children’s laughter. The grass sang with the wind that blew across the field and rattled leaves, blowing dirt and flower petals up into the air and into the face of Izuku. A petal stuck to his face for a moment, caught by his hair and blocked by the ridge of his nose, before he shook his head once to dislodge it. The petal flew off into the distance as Izuku blinked to get his bearings and look around. There was a grin stretched across his face and his cheeks were rosy from exertion under the sunlight. He shielded his eyes and called out for his companion knowing the other child was somewhere nearby. He had been chasing him just a moment ago but had been unable to catch up to the other boy’s speed. 

Izuku sniffed the air a little wondering if he could pick up on the boy’s scent, but the air was void of any scents at all. He dismissed the thought as he spotted movement amongst the trees. Izuku ducked down into the tall grass to hide himself behind some bushes. The blond child was climbing one of the trees. His bare feet dangled from a low tree branch as the boy swung himself up onto it with a grunt. Izuku popped out of the bushes and hurried to join the boy, worried he would fall. The child disappeared up into the tree by the time Izuku had caught up.

He opened his mouth to say something when he heard the other boy let out a roar. Izuku yelped as he was tackled to the ground. The other boy groped at his arms and hands and kicked at him, but Izuku realized quickly that it wasn’t with the intention to hurt. Even hitting the ground, he didn’t feel too much pain. It was certainly less pain than he would expect after being tackled, but the thought disappeared as the two rolled. Izuku understood that they were wrestling and began to struggle, but he wasn’t nearly as strong. The other boy moved with expertise that came from someone who rough-housed often. It didn’t stop Izuku’s giggles as they kicked and rolled in the dirt and grass together. 

After a few moments, the blond boy rolled off of Izuku and fell onto his back. Both boys panted, catching their breaths. Izuku stared up, dazed by the sunlight cutting through the high canopy of the trees of the forest they were in. His mind seemed hazy and clear at the same time. He found that he rather liked it. 

He turned his head to look at the boy beside him. The child was grinning with his own eyes closed. His teeth were sharper than what Izuku was used to seeing. And he had a blood-red earring in his ear, which Izuku marveled at. His mother would never let him have an earring at his age. She would be scandalized to see a four year old with an earring like the one the other boy sported. It looked like a small dinosaur tooth, Izuku thought. 

“Hey,” the blond child suddenly called, red eyes snapping open. He turned his head to grin at him still and shifted to climb to his feet, “wanna see something really cool?”

Izuku sat up on his elbows and nodded, already eager to see what the boy could show him.

The other boy held his hands out in front of him, palms up, and concentrated. It only took a moment, but suddenly his hands lit up with lights and a series of pops filled the air. Izuku scrambled to his feet, gaping at the sight of what looked like tiny fireworks going off in the boy’s hands. The sparks popped and scattered, but burned out before any could hit the forest floor. Izuku was stunned at the sight. Could he do that too?

He held out his hands and copied the other boy. But no matter how he focused, he couldn’t get his hands to replicate the sparks. He frowned at his failure with confusion. He looked to the other boy for help but only found a snide smirk on his face.

Izuku tilted his head a little and dropped his hands. “How did you do that?”

The smirk didn’t fade from the other boy’s face. “You dummy, that’s my magic. You can’t copy it.” His voice was smug, haughty as he puffed his chest out a bit. He put his hands on his hips and waited to see if Izuku would try again. Then something seemed to occur to him and his hands fell lax against his form. His eyes blinked a couple of times as confusion crossed his face.

Izuku felt something stir in the back of his mind. “Magic?” He asked. He remembered seeing magic before. He had watched a few anime with it whenever he could watch TV. His mother sometimes put something on for him to watch. But he remembered seeing some of her shows where real people would do magic. It hadn’t looked anything like the other boy’s magic, though. “Like the kind on TV?”

The boy’s red eyes cleared a little and his eyebrows furrowed as he focused on Izuku. “‘TV’?” The way he said it sounded weird to Izuku. Actually, everything he said sounded weird now that Izuku thought about it. He couldn’t quite place what it was, though. “What the heck is that?”

“You don’t have a TV?!” Izuku cried, horrified at the prospect. He couldn’t imagine not having a TV in his house! But then again, the other boy was wearing some strange clothing. And his feet were dirty from running around. He even had some dirt smeared across his face and his skin was tanned from the sun. His hair didn’t look like it had ever seen a brush. Maybe he was a country boy and didn’t have TV where he lived?

Actually-

Izuku looked around him, seeing his surroundings with new eyes. No longer was he distracted by the sunlight or the wind. What was once comforting and effervescent was now weighed down with the understanding that Izuku had no clue where he was. “What?” He asked in a soft voice. His heart fled to his throat and he could feel the ghost of his pulse pick up. He felt cold instead of warmed from the air. “Where am I?” He asked, voice trembling with his mounting fear. 

The other boy looked around as well. He didn’t seem nearly as concerned with their surroundings. He muttered under his breath as he crossed his arms, “Why is it so weird to not have a crappy ‘TV’?” He spun around on his heels and squinted back through the trees to the field they had been playing in. He took a few steps in that direction and Izuku followed him quickly. He didn’t want to be left behind in the mysterious forest. The blond boy’s face lit up with recognition. “This is a clearing close to the village.” He looked to Izuku. “Don’t you know it?” 

Izuku shook his head. He didn’t know how he had gotten there. He didn’t even know who this child who was with him was. Izuku had been positive he knew the boy, though. Almost like how he knew people from his dreams despite not actually being friends with them. Wait, maybe that was what was happening? “Am I dreaming?” He asked.

The boy frowned harder. Izuku almost forgot what he looked like when he was smiling and laughing. “Waddya mean, ‘dreamin’’?” His frown turned into a scowl. Izuku hunched in a little on himself at the boy’s displeasure. “Why would you be dreamin’?”

Now Izuku was positive that the other boy’s words were weird. None of the things he was saying sounded like Japanese. It didn’t even sound like any language Izuku had ever heard before, but that wasn’t saying much since he hadn’t heard many different languages. Despite Izuku not recognizing a single word from the other boy’s mouth, he somehow understood exactly what he was saying. Maybe this really was a dream?

“I...I was at home in my bed.” He explained. “I remember mommy tucking me in.” His hands grabbed the hem of his nightshirt and tugged nervously on it. But he did feel calmer from his earlier fear. If this was a dream, then he didn’t need to be scared. He would wake up and be at home in his bed again soon. “I don’t know this place…” He looked at the other boy, who showed no sign of nerves or fear. His confidence was helpful in calming Izuku down as well. At least he wasn’t alone in this strange dream even though he seemed to have annoyed the other boy. “When did we get here?”

The child pursed his lips. His fang caught on his lower lip as he chewed on it a moment and then said, “We’ve been here the whole time, dummy.”

The whole time? Now that Izuku thought about it, he didn’t know how they had ended up there. He could hazily recall just seeing the other boy and beginning to play with him. It had felt natural. Izuku still felt like he knew this child, but no name appeared to match the face. This was a strange dream. 

But if this was a dream, why couldn’t Izuku do magic too? Why couldn’t he control the dream so he could do magic? And why was he able to think and choose in his dreams? He never could do it before. His dreams had always controlled him, not the other way around. Maybe his mommy would know? He wanted to ask her. He wondered how long he would be dreaming-

“Stop that!” The other boy snapped, startling Izuku with a gasp. The boy’s eye was ticking with irritation, his fists clenched and a scowl deep on his face. His eyes seemed to burn with his own frustration. “Either speak up, or shut up!”

Izuku squeaked, hunching in on himself. He hadn’t expected to be yelled at. He must have been doing his muttering again. He couldn’t help thinking out loud when his mind was being noisy. He murmured an apology before deciding that most of his questions would be pointless to ask a dream person. So he tried instead, “Who are you?”

The boy grinned, pleased with the question. “Bakugou Katsuki!” His voice lifted with pride as he crossed his arms. If it was a name that Izuku was supposed to know, nothing came to mind. Even the way that Katsuki said his name sounded strange on his tongue. But it was similar enough to Japanese names that Izuku was pretty sure he could replicate the syllables. He began to try, testing the name on his lips, but he could tell he was getting it wrong. His tongue kept slipping on the middle syllable of Katsuki’s name because he was missing his two front teeth already. 

Katsuki narrowed his eyes at Izuku suspiciously. “And you? Who are you? And how come you don’t know crap about magic?” He motioned with his hands as if to make them spark again, but nothing came out this time. 

Izuku didn’t answer right away, still attempting Katsuki’s name. Katsuki let out a small growl and repeated his own name. He didn’t seem to like Izuku’s failure to replicate the name. Realizing he was just annoying Katsuki, Izuku gave up and smiled a little sheepishly. He would try the name again later. “I’m Midoriya Izuku. Um...But you can call me Izuku!” He fumbled a bit, and then fell into a polite bow just like his mother had taught him to do when greeting new friends. “I-It’s nice to meet you!”

Katsuki waved a dismissive hand. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Answer the important question, stupid. How can you not know about magic? Are you Deku or some crap like that?”

Izuku straightened and said, “I know what magic is! But I’ve never seen anyone do what you did!” He paused and then scrunched his face up in confusion. “What did you call me, though?” Katsuki stared at him. “Wait…” When Katsuki had said “Deku” he hadn’t understood the word at all. It sounded like it fit on Katsuki’s tongue like his regular language, but no comprehension had come to Izuku. “We’re speaking different words, right? How come I understand you but not that word?”

Katsuki just crossed his arms again and looked unimpressed. He didn’t even seem interested in their ability to understand each other. Probably because he was just a dream. “Deku.” He repeated.

“‘De... ku…’?” Izuku repeated back. “Are you...trying to say my name?” 

“Hah?! Since when is ‘Deku’ anyone’s name, dummy?” Then a mocking smirk twists onto his face as he explained, “A Deku is basically a useless weakling without any magic.”

“Hey!” Izuku cried in offense. “I’m not useless or weak! And my name’s Izuku!”

Katsuki ignored him again. “People who don’t have magic are useless. That’s how things are.” He spoke as if it was common knowledge. Maybe in this dream it was. “Everybody knows that, Deku.”

“It’s Izuku! I-zu-ku!” 

“Yeah, whatever, Deku.”

Izuku felt his cheeks warm with indignation. His eyes watered unable to believe how mean Katsuki was being. They had barely known each other, but he was still being called useless? He didn’t like this. He wanted to go back to playing. Before he had realized he was in a dream. He sniffled once and wiped at his eyes. “That’s mean, Kazuki.”

Katsuki glared at him. “It’s Katsuki. Ka- tsu -ki! Get it right, you dummy!”

Izuku stomped his foot, frustrated. “I’m trying! It’s hard with my teeth missing!” His cheeks puffed up, but he let them deflate quickly. His temper wasn’t one that lasted long. He hesitated and then asked, “Um...Can I just call you Kacchan for now?” Katsuki glared harder at him. Izuku continued nervously, hands waving as he explained, “J-Just until my teeth grow back! Then I can say your name right!!”

One of Katsuki’s eyes twitched again, but finally he huffed and looked away. His arms tightened around his chest and then relaxed a bit. Izuku realized Katsuki looked a lot stronger than him. “Fine. Call me whatever. I don’t care.”

Izuku let out a sigh of relief. At least he had solved that problem. But that still left the bigger one. He looked around them again and moved a little out of the forest. Katsuki followed after him as they reentered the field. Izuku breathed in deeply, but couldn’t smell anything. He rubbed at his nose. He was pretty sure in this kind of place he should be able to smell a lot of things. At least the wildflowers and the grass!

“So, where are we again?” He asked. With his eyes cleared of the dream haze, he could take in all of the greenery around him. He couldn’t believe how beautiful the world in the dream was. Miles of hills seemed to stretch out endlessly. Trees hid most of the view, but even from the field they were in Izuku could see a wide lake. There was some smoke in the distance, but not too far away. If he strained his ears, he could almost make out voices of other people. It was amazing. He had never seen so much life outside of a park before. There were so many colors in one place.

Katsuki took in the same scenery, but didn’t look nearly as awed. He even let out a little yawn. “A clearing close to the village.” He explained. “About as far as we’re allowed to go. The adults forbid going further into the forest.”

Izuku looked to Katsuki now. “Village?” He asked startled. He hadn’t heard someone refer to their city or town as a village before. He rarely heard that term.

Katsuki gave him a flat look from out of the corner of his eye.

“Wh-What?” Izuku stuttered, not understanding the reaction.

“Yes, village .” Katsuki told him sounding suspicious and wary again. His teeth were a little bared as he demanded, “Why so surprised, hah?”

“Well…” Izuku fidgeted with his fingers, “I’ve never been to a village before. I live in a city with my mommy and daddy. It looks nothing like this!” He motioned around them, spreading his arms wide to spin a little to take in the view more. “Where are your roads and cars? And why are you dressed like that?” He pointed at Katsuki.

Katsuki looked down at himself and then at Izuku like he was stupid. But Izuku couldn’t help but think of how uncomfortable Katsuki’s clothes must be. His pants looked loose and they were made of a similar material to his shirt. The shirt looked more like a vest without any sleeves and looked to be made of that same stiff stuff as Izuku had seen on cowboys. He thought it might be called leather, but he wasn’t completely sure. It was softened with age and usage, wrinkled from movement over time. Instead of zippers, there seemed to be buttons and strings that held the outfit closed. He had little wrist sleeves on as well, although they seemed to be decorative instead of useful. Everything he wore were shades of brown except the red tooth earring in his ear. Izuku had never seen clothes like his before.

“You’re the one who’s dressed weird.” Katsuki muttered. “How can you move through the forest unseen in that?” Izuku grabbed the hem of his shirt and looked down on it. He didn’t see anything weird with his clothes. They were just his usual long sleeved pajamas. They were multi-colored and decorated with some of the symbols of the heroes from his favorite TV show. “So you’re one of those Todoroki-people?”

Izuku didn’t really hear the question. “I’m just in my pajamas.” He said as he eyed Katsuki’s clothing. He wondered what it felt like to the touch. They were probably not soft like Izuku’s clothes were. They looked kind of stiff against Katsuki’s body. But he figured Katsuki wouldn’t be too happy with him if he tried to touch him. “Your pajamas look weird and uncomfortable.”

“Hah? These are my day clothes, stupid.”

Izuku really wished that he would stop calling him stupid, but he would let it slide. Katsuki just seemed to have a bad mouth. Instead he began murmuring, “Did you fall asleep in that? Or am I just making you up…? You look like you might be from one of the books mommy reads me. The ones with knights in them and princesses and magic...But I feel bad dreaming you up with such bad clothes…” His voice trailed off as his mind continued to spin questions. 

Katsuki looked thoroughly irritated now and snapped again, “I told you to stop that! Either speak up so I can understand what you’re saying, or shut your crappy mouth!”

“Sorry!” Izuku cried, waving his arms in front of his face. He dropped them as he remembered that Katsuki had actually asked him a question. So he answered, “I don’t know who the ‘Todoroki-people’ are…”

Katsuki blinked, looking genuinely surprised at this information. “How can you possibly not know that?”

“How am I supposed to know about a dream world?!” Izuku responded with some exasperation.

Katsuki frowned. “Why would the Gods send you dreams you don’t understand?”

Which Gods were Katsuki referring to? Izuku didn’t really know much about Gods outside of going to the temple with his mommy once in a while. He didn’t know anything about dreams. “I don’t know?”

“You really are  useless…” Katsuki muttered under his breath, but not low enough for Izuku to miss.

Izuku made the decision to pretend he didn’t hear. It wasn’t like he could help it anyway, and he didn’t really care about the stuff he didn’t understand. “Well if I’m dreaming, can you show me some stuff? Like your magic again?” He asked eagerly. He really wanted to see more of Katsuki’s magic. And what kind of stuff he could do. 

Katsuki cheered up some at the thought. His smirk returned, pleased with Izuku’s excitement and desire to see his magic again. He didn’t hesitate and opened his hands again to let off more sparks. Izuku let out a delighted noise at the sight.

“That’s amazing, Kacchan!!” He cried. 

“Wait until I grow up.” Katsuki preened. “It will be even more amazing then and I’ll be one of the strongest Warriors in the tribe!” Izuku only stared at him with wide eyes. A warrior? Katsuki wanted to grow up to fight and stuff? His magic would only get stronger? Izuku wished his dream would last long enough so he could see all of that. 

But a frown crossed Katsuki’s face as he gazed at the sky. Izuku looked up as well and realized that the sun had fallen far. When had it gotten so late? It had been midday just a few minutes ago! It was a lot stranger to see this kind of thing when he was aware of what was happening. “Ah crap. I gotta go back.” Katsuki said.

“Oh...really?” Izuku asked, disappointed.

Katsuki nodded once. He turned to head in the direction that presumably his village lay when he paused for a moment. He glanced back at Izuku and eyed him before asking, “Want to come see my village? Since you say you never saw one.”

Izuku’s face lit up once more and he beamed. “Yeah!” He hurried to Katsuki’s side and followed the boy. The two of them wound a path that only Katsuki knew and cut through some bushes. There the grass disappeared to dirt where Izuku saw for the first time an actual road. Or, well, what looked to be a road. It wasn’t exactly marked out, but the grass was dead enough from being trodden on so much that it was essentially dirt. The ground felt hard under Izuku’s bare feet. He watched out for sharp rocks and lifted his head in time to see wooden gates to what must have been the village. 

But it was only a brief glimpse before-


Izuku woke up abruptly to being gently shaken awake. He opened his eyes and confusion overtook his brain as the visual stimuli didn’t match up to what he had just been experiencing. Even the feeling on his skin was completely different as his feet didn’t hold any pain from walking on dirt and his body was sleep-warmed. Why was he in bed? And his eyes had already been open, so why were they opening again? He was suddenly aware of all the different scents around him and how much depth they added to his world. He felt very befuddled.

A gentle hand touched his hair and brushed back his curls, calling his name in a familiar way. Izuku rolled over and blinked wide, bleary eyes at his mother as she smiled down at him. “Good morning.” She greeted. “You were sleeping heavily today, Izuku.”

“Mommy?” He asked, and then everything clicked back together for him. He was home in his bed again. Everything he had just experienced was a dream. A sharp sense of loneliness and sadness caused his heart to ache. Water welled up in his eyes a little.

His mother noticed and gave him a concerned look. She lowered herself immediately onto his bed and held out her arms to him for comfort, already releasing some pheromones to calm him. They were familiar and immediately made his body relax a little. “Izuku, what’s wrong? Did you have a bad dream?”

Izuku took his mother’s offer. He escaped the confines of his blanket and entered her arms. His small form was encompassed into her hold as he buried his face into her chest and shook his head. He didn’t really get why he was so sad, but he already missed Katsuki. He especially missed that he wouldn’t be able to talk with him more or see him.

“I had a good dream.” He told her, pulling his head back and wiping at his tears. He didn’t sob, but he couldn’t stop the flow of his tears. He never had been able to. “But I can’t finish it now.”

“Oh.” His mother cooed, half-amused and half-apologetic. “I’m sorry, honey.”

“It’s okay.” Izuku murmured. “I had known I would wake soon anyway.”

“Oh?” Now she sounded curious. “How so?”

Izuku realized this was a good time to ask his mother questions. So he told her everything about his dream. He described Katsuki and his weird clothes. He described realizing he was dreaming but still not being able to do crazy things like Katsuki’s magic. He waved his hands around as he told her about how everything had felt so real but he hadn’t been able to really smell anything. How he had also been kind of scared at first because he hadn’t known where he had been.

His mother looked delighted to hear everything, nodding and making appreciative noises where necessary. Izuku felt a lot better after talking about it, but a small part of him still wished he could go back to dreaming. She waited until Izuku was finished and said, “That sounds like a fun dream!”

“Is it normal to be, um, awake in a dream?” Izuku asked.

She hummed with thought. “I’ve heard that some people can do it. I think it’s called lucid dreaming.”

Izuku mouthed the words. He would remember that. “So is it like my magic?”

“It could be!” His mother nodded once. “You’re very lucky to be able to lucid dream! Sometimes I wish I could do that!”

Izuku giggled. “I hope it happens again! It was a little scary, but I liked it!” He paused and then said, “I hope I can see Kacchan again…”

“Who knows?” His mother asked, rubbing his back a little, “They say the people you see in dreams are the people you’ve seen in real life. Maybe you’ve already met him and don’t remember?”

Izuku thought back to the strange boy with the wild hair and sharp fangs. The way his eyes held flames that didn’t seem to exist in Izuku’s world. There was a vibrancy of that dream world that didn’t feel the same as real life. “I don’t know.” He finally told her. He couldn’t really imagine that boy in Izuku’s world.


Izuku didn’t lucid dream often. In fact, none of his dreams in which he was “awake” ever occurred unless Kacchan was there. Izuku didn’t know why for sure. Maybe Kacchan was a trigger for his mind? It was weird to think about, and at the age of four he definitely didn’t think too deeply on it. It would be something that Izuku would question more as he grew up, but even then that thought process would trickle off because he wasn’t one to really look a gift horse in the mouth. 

He met with Kacchan intermittently over the next couple of months. There were large gaps in time between when Izuku would visit Kacchan, but every visit just made Izuku more and more excited. Between his first dream with Kacchan and his second dream so much time had passed that Izuku had all but forgotten about the strange-looking wild boy with sparks that came from his hands. His dream had been so relatively uneventful in the long run of Izuku’s young mind, and his other, regular dreams tended to be stranger and more exciting. 

The second time Izuku dreamt of Kacchan and his world, it had seemed like a coincidence. But during that time he had “woken up” in his dream again. And for the first time since the first dream with Kacchan, Izuku lucid dreamed. Unfortunately by the time he had “woken up” from the strange dream haze, so much of his dream time had passed that he woke up properly before he could really spend much time with Kacchan.

The third dream, a few weeks after the second, followed much the same. But three times was all that Izuku had needed to be convinced that this was something real, and something magical was happening to him. He quickly became enamored with Kacchan’s strange and colorful world. His times with Kacchan, though short, had been precious to him. He had followed on Kacchan’s heels wherever the boy would lead him while Izuku was still asleep and he got to see the wonders of Kacchan’s world. The boy had even taught him how to climb trees properly, although Izuku was still scared to climb as high as his brave friend could. Dream or not, the height was scary. And that fear had woken Izuku out of his third dream.

His fourth dream with Kacchan, a couple months after the very first one, had been completely different from the first three. Unlike before, Izuku and Kacchan had been in Izuku’s world. It had been winter time in his dream because the heat of the day had been so strong that Izuku had been thinking of winter the entire time. It had transferred to his dream where Kacchan had shown up on his own. 

Izuku had struggled to wake from the “dream haze” that he was usually under. Kacchan didn’t seem to suffer from it as badly, but then again Kacchan was a dream so it made sense that he was more aware. It did cause Izuku to do some silly things before he “woke” though. He vaguely remembered making Kacchan climb up a tree to get a hat from some tiny dinosaurs. He also remembered that Kacchan had looked so out of place and very confused for someone who tried to hide it. 

Izuku, when he had woken up in his dream, had been excited to show his friend around. He had spent the entire dream chattering Kacchan’s ear off about this and that, showing him the things that Izuku had grown up with. Kacchan had never seen a car, or paved roads like Izuku was used to. He seemed baffled by the tall buildings and the lack of greenery. Izuku had walked him from the park Izuku had been dreaming in to his house, but he had woken before he could even show Katsuki the inside. It had been disappointing, but Izuku figured he could show him next time. He couldn’t wait to talk with him again.

Kacchan was Izuku’s first best friend.


There were voices all around Izuku. The chattering of children and the peals of laughter entered Izuku’s ears, but did not disturb his intense focus. His tiny fingers were clumsy -still tuning his fine motor movements- but confident as he held the large crayon in his fist and moved it with hard strokes. His head was sweaty from sitting in the sun, but his bare hands were cool from the early spring air. His little feet kicked back and forth despite the fact it was messing up his careful drawing a bit. He was too jittery to hold still. 

Izuku was trying his best to recreate an image from the last time he had dreamt of Kacchan and his world. Kacchan had called it something last time -probably the name of the land- but Izuku didn’t remember it. Even if he did, he didn’t know how to spell it. He wasn’t great with his kana yet. So instead he focused on drawing. Which, admittedly, he wasn’t the best at. It seemed like no matter how bright of a color Izuku chose it would never match up to the splendid colors of his dreams. Which was saying something because outside of his lucid dreaming with Kacchan, his dreams were mostly in muted colors. Even the dream that had taken place in his world had seemed dull in comparison. But that could’ve been because it had been winter.

He was outside on the tiny playground with all of his preschool mates. It was the free time after class while kids waited for their parents to pick them up. They were free to do anything they wanted. Izuku had wanted to draw because he wanted to show people what Kacchan looked like. His mommy would be especially proud, he thought, and his stories would have more impact if he could show images with it. Just like in the picture books he liked to look through. But first he would need to draw it.

The bright yellow that Izuku had chosen for Kacchan’s hair wasn’t good enough in his opinion. It was golden like the sun, but Kacchan wasn’t a sunflower. His hair was lighter than that, but his box of crayons didn’t have anything close. The closest thing was the “skin” color one, but he was using that for Kacchan’s face and arms so it would look weird for his hair too. He would have to be satisfied with this.

The good news was that Kacchan had taken to wearing brighter colors in his dreams. Instead of his all-brown ensemble, he would also wear reds or greens too. It made his picture prettier to have Katsuki in his red vest against the very green landscape and the bright blue of the sky. He was rather proud with how his picture was coming out. He wondered if he could fit himself in there somewhere.

Suddenly Izuku’s swinging legs came into contact with something, and a high voice let out a small yelp. Izuku startled badly, jumping high in his seat and having to grab the table so as not to topple backwards. He was shaken as he stared across from him at a little girl across from him. She rubbed at her leg where Izuku had obviously kicked her. Her brown eyes held no anger, but Izuku immediately stuttered out an apology,

“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to kick you!” The girl - someone he didn’t recognize - had appeared suddenly across from him. He had been so engrossed in his work that he hadn’t even noticed a new person. 

She smiled and gave a short giggle. “It’s okay!” She told him. She then leaned across the table and pointed at Izuku’s drawing, almost touching it with her hands. Izuku noticed that they were dark from digging in the dirt. Her pink cheeks also had a smear of the same dark dirt. He wondered what she had been digging for. “What’s that?”

Izuku blushed, a little embarrassed to have his picture seen before it was ready. “Um...it’s nothing.” He murmured.

“It looks pretty.” She stated. She then crawled across the table, startling Izuku more. Her eyes darted over to the teachers. Izuku’s head whipped to look as well, but none of the teachers were paying them any mind. The girl was in the seat beside Izuku before he knew it and looking at the picture more. Her eyes lit up a little. “Wow! You drew this?”

“Ah, um, yes.” 

“I like it!” She decided firmly.

Izuku blushed harder, pleased. “You...do?”

“Mm-hm!” She nodded once. “I thought you were lonely over here by yourself, but you’re just drawing. That’s fun too! Did you want to play with me when you finish?”

Izuku stared at the girl. He had been invited to play by children a few times in the past, but most of his classmates had already developed their friend groups and usually didn’t just come over to him. They didn’t reject him if he asked to join them, but he was usually too shy to do so. He was surprised by this new girl.

“Um...Sure!” He nodded once. “We can play. Hang on.” He carefully folded up his picture into uneven and rough folds before sliding it into his smock’s pockets. He patted it for safety and then began to gather his crayons up. 

“I can wait if you wanna finish.” The girl told him.

“It’s okay.” He smiled at her. He was a little shy about drawing in front of someone else, even if the girl wasn’t particularly scary. He would finish it at home in private and then show his mom. “I wanna play some before my mommy gets here anyway.”

He made sure the crayons were all gathered up and put away properly before hopping off of the bench with the girl. The two of them rushed over to where he could deposit his stuff before they turned to each other. The girl smiled brightly at Izuku.

“My name is Uraraka Ochako!” She introduced herself.

“I’m Midoriya Izuku.” He bowed in greeting and almost got to say “nice to meet you” but she had cut him off before then to say,

“Can I call you Izu-kun?” 

He wasn’t used to having a nickname before. The only thing close was Kacchan’s “Deku”, but he was certain that was still an insult. “Sure!”

Ochako looked delighted at that. And Izuku couldn’t help but feel excited as well. He couldn’t wait to tell Katsuki how he’d made a new friend.


Ochako was from the other class at Izuku’s preschool, so he didn’t get to see her during classroom time. However, he saw her every time the two classes merged for recreational activities. Ochako was someone who was bright and bubbly, but already determined for someone her age. She fit in well with both the boys and the girls in the class, easily switching between wanting to play house with the boys to wrestling with the girls. She was really good at play-fighting, and Izuku liked to join in with her. She was liked by almost everyone. Izuku admired her for it. Even if she was turned down when she asked to play, she bounced back quickly. And she wasn’t afraid to just have a quiet time either.

As her new best friend (as Ochako and Izuku had decided without words) Ochako made sure to bring Izuku with her whenever Izuku was willing. And he rarely could turn her down. Izuku got to know more of his classmates through Ochako’s influence than he had on his own. She encouraged him to talk with people more and she reassured him when his shyness got too bad. Overall, Izuku was delighted to have a new person to call his friend, even if she had claimed him as her own first. 

His favorite part about Ochako was how interested she was in his stories about Kacchan. He didn’t have very many quite yet, but he had assured her that he had a dream with Kacchan in it once in a while. He had already promised to tell her when he had another. She seemed just as fascinated with the world that he visited as he was and she liked to imagine them both there all of the time. She didn’t mind if they spent some of their free time indoors drawing or just playing make believe. She even told stories of her own dreams and wondered what it would be like if she was awake during them.

Ochako was Izuku’s first real best friend.


Izuku was gazing at some flowers he had never seen before. The field was bright with pastel colors that Izuku found himself mesmerized by. His finger trailed across the silken petals of the bell-shaped flowers and almost thought he could feel it, but he wasn’t actually sure if he did. He half-expected it to ring at the touch but it didn’t. Instead he pushed off of his knees and up to his feet, brushing off the dirt that had clung to the edge of his pajama pants. He knew he stood out wearing his dark blue and white clothing, but he didn’t mind too much. He felt safe there.

He allowed his feet to wander, searching for something he felt should be there. He knew the land and the dirt between his toes. He’d been there a number of times before. He couldn’t exactly say how, though. He automatically headed towards the forest, drawn in by a force that he couldn’t control. His mind was hazy without much real thought besides searching for the person he was seeking. He knew he would be that way.

He looked left and right as he came to a small clearing in the forest which led upwards towards a rocky ridge. It was taller than some of the buildings Izuku had ever seen and looked almost crumbly to the touch. He went over to run his hand along the rock when he heard a voice call out, “Oi, Deku! Up here!”

Izuku looked up and up and up the tall ridge and gaped widely to see the small figure at the top. It was another child just like him. Izuku knew him to be his good friend, although his name was slipping his mind. The child’s wide, sharp smile was visible even from how high up he was. The ridge was taller than any number Izuku could count to. For a moment he wondered if the boy had climbed up the ridge’s other side, but somehow he knew that he hadn’t.

“WHOA!” Izuku cried, clenching his fists and backing up to get a clearer view. “How’d you get up there?!”

The blond boy’s grin transformed into something more prideful. Izuku didn’t need to be close to feel it even from where he was at. “I climbed, stupid!” His voice dripped with scorn over stating the obvious. “How else would I get up here?”

That made perfect sense. Izuku wasn’t sure how else he would be able to get up there. And if the other boy could do it, then so could he! All five year olds were taught how to climb walls like that. Izuku was confident he could make it. “Oh right.” He said out loud, mostly to himself. He looked at the wall and nodded. It wasn’t that long of a climb! And he wanted to go sit with the other boy. He was positive the view would be fantastic. 

He searched for a hand and a foothold and slowly began to climb. To his surprise, he felt his body straining under the task. He hadn’t expected to put any effort into the climb at all. His head felt a little fuzzy. It felt like how it looked to see a camera lens trying to focus. His body didn’t stop moving even as he frowned to himself. 

“Have you ever climbed a rock wall before, Deku?” He heard the boy above him call. Izuku glanced up and saw him leaning over the edge of the ridge. He was so far away. He was frowning now instead of smiling. Izuku really wanted to get up there and join him.

He couldn’t even think of responding as he panted and focused on climbing. But his body ached and his hands whispered words of complaint. He felt like he had been climbing forever. Surely he was near the top by then?

He glanced upwards again, but the other boy was barely even closer. Izuku wondered if the wall was growing bigger. He looked down instead and gasped in horror. It was like the entire cliff had shot upwards. The ground was so very far away now, and Izuku no longer felt confident in his climbing skills. His heart raced in his chest and his limbs felt cold. He realized just how little footing he had as he balanced on his toes. His fingers and toes curled in an attempt to cling harder to the rock. His body shook. A soft whine escaped his lips as a wordless call for help. He couldn’t move. He was stuck.

“Help!” He cried instead when nobody responded to his distress, his eyes watering and making his vision wobble. 

He heard a soft snort and then the boy’s voice called down again, “You’re not that high up, dummy. Just give up and let go if you’re scared.”

Not that high up? Izuku couldn’t possibly just jump and hope to survive. That boy was crazy, he decided! Things would be so much easier if he could fly. Then if he fell he could just catch himself with his wings. Or maybe just fly in general without any extra appendages. He made sure to relay this information to the other boy.

The child snorted again. Izuku thought he maybe needed to blow his nose. “Humans can’t fly, stupid.”

Izuku knew this, obviously, that was why he was complaining about it. There was no other way he could think of to get down, though. So he had no other choice but to keep climbing. His hands and legs trembled violently as he reached for his next foothold. His fear made everything unsteady for him. He couldn’t quite reach the next hold without stretching up on his toes, and he was far too shaky and nervous to do so. He was left clinging to the side of the rock. A tear slipped from his eye as he blinked. He whined again. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears.

“A-ah...oh no…” He whimpered realizing he was petrified. He clung to the holds he had with all of his strength. His fingers hurt though and the position he was in wasn’t great. He didn’t know what to do. He was going to fall. He was going to die! He began to cry, pressing his forehead to the cliff and squeezing his eyes shut.

“Oi, Deku! Calm the heck down!” He couldn’t calm down. How could he possibly calm down in this situation? Did the boy not see what Izuku was seeing?! “You’re not that high up! Just climb down; it’s not that far!” He clearly wasn’t looking. How could that child be so high up and then tell Izuku he wasn’t up that high? He was so much farther. Clearly he didn’t have any fear. Maybe he wouldn’t die if he fell, but Izuku was different. He knew he would. He didn’t want to die. He’d rather just cling to the cliff for the rest of his life.

He heard the small crumbling of rocks. He cringed against the wall as some dirt sprinkled on him. He could hear the shifting of fabric and then felt a presence next to him. He still didn’t open his eyes. He didn’t want to see.

“C’mere. I’ll help you get down since you’re too stupid to do it yourself.” The boy’s voice was a lot closer now. Izuku hesitantly opened his eyes. The boy looked completely calm and at ease against the side of the cliff, even if he was scowling at Izuku with annoyance. His holds were sure even as the muscles he had on his small body strained with his own weight. He was confident enough in his own grip that he could hold his hand out to Izuku in offering.

Izuku only stared at him, uncomprehending. Could the child somehow hold him up? Was he going to take him flying? Was he going to make them jump? Oh god Izuku didn’t want to jump!! 

“We’ll die if we fall!” Izuku’s crying had been reduced to just tears being blinked from his eyes. They left trails down his cheeks.

“No we won’t. We’re not that high, you dummy.”

Izuku looked down again. The height was still dizzying to him. He looked back to the other boy, though, and felt some of his courage regather. He knew and trusted this boy despite his fear. With the last dredges of his courage, he managed to get his limbs to work enough to scoot over on the wall closer to the boy. “You’ll...help me?” He asked timidly.

The boy nodded once, firmly, and re-adjusted his own position. “Don’t you trust me, Deku?”

For some reason, the name rang louder in Izuku’s head. Of course he trusted the other boy. There was never a doubt in his mind that if he needed help here, the other boy would assist him. He was his best friend. So he nodded.

The boy’s face relaxed a little bit from a bad scowl to just his normal scowl. He climbed down on his own, moving slowly and pointing out where Izuku should move. He ordered him step by step, directing Izuku even as the other boy climbed down faster. Sometimes he had to climb back up to physically show Izuku that the hold was big enough to put his foot or hand. He didn’t seem to have any problem at all going up and down. He managed to coach Izuku all the way down to the ground.

Izuku’s knees immediately gave out on him the moment he was on solid ground and he collapsed to sit. He let out a tiny disbelieving laugh, and then a couple more with more joy to it. He couldn’t believe he had made it down. He was back on solid ground! He didn’t fall at all! He had climbed up so far and climbed down too! That was the first time he’d ever done that!

He gives the other boy a shaky smile. “I did it! I made it back down!”

The child smirked in response. “Told ya it wasn’t that high.”

“Yeah!” Then it was like the camera finally focused. The picture in front of him became clear and the haze in his mind completely faded. He finally looked at Kacchan properly and blanched a little bit. “Wait. Kacchan?” He looked around quickly. The familiar surroundings finally clicked in his mind as well. He had never been to this area before, but he could tell it was near where he and Kacchan usually met up during Izuku’s dreams in Kacchan’s world. The past few dreams they had been in Izuku’s world. It was almost a little strange to be there after so long. “Are we back in your world again?”

Kacchan gave him a dead stare, blinking once. He looked exasperated as he asked, “Were you not awake again , dummy? How can you stay in the haze for so long? We’ve been meeting like this enough times already. Or are you really that damn useless that you can’t tell when it’s that kind of dream?”

Izuku thought back to his thoughts just earlier. Now that he was properly awake, it was obvious that he really hadn’t been that high up. His dream had made it seem that much taller and scarier. And once again he hadn’t recognized Kacchan properly. But he couldn’t exactly blame himself too much. It was annoying that it kept happening, though. Izuku thought it had been long enough that he could wake up a lot quicker. It was cutting into his time with Kacchan. He’d had way too many dreams where he had been in the dream haze for too long and he had woken up before he’d done anything really fun with Kacchan. 

“Well...um…” It was kind of embarrassing, though. Kacchan was so good at snapping out of the haze now. Izuku couldn’t remember the last time Kacchan had been caught up in it. But then again, Kacchan was part of the dream. It only made sense that he could shake off the haze quicker. “I guess I can’t help it when I’m dreaming. I’m not like Kacchan.” 

“Of course you aren’t, Deku.” He responded smugly. 

Izuku decided that for the sake of not pissing Kacchan off he wouldn’t mention that Kacchan never seemed to notice when Izuku was still in the haze. He hadn’t noticed at all that day. Instead he chose to stand back up. His legs held no tremor in them at all anymore because he was no longer scared. Whatever rush had been going through his head from the climb down was gone like it was never there. It happened a lot in those dreams.

He smiled brightly at Kacchan instead, legitimately glad to see his friend again. He had missed actually interacting with Kacchan. It was an ache whenever he woke up from his dreams and found that he had wasted most of them being silly and caught up in his own unconscious mind. So Izuku was very happy he had snapped out of his haze faster today. He was getting better at it. 

He took note of Kacchan’s newer clothing. It seemed like the more Izuku saw Kacchan, the more interesting his clothing got. Izuku had never asked why he had started wearing colors, but they weren’t exactly colorful clothing. The arm sleeves that he wore were still the same size going up to his elbows, but now they were a bright orange. His vest was that same red color that Kacchan had explained was the color that represented his family. Something having to do with a “fire rat” (at least, that’s what Izuku believed it was called. It was hard to tell with the language thing). Only his boots and pants remained the brown color, but it was darker now like the color of wet soil. He wore more jewelry than before with a matching red fang earring piercing his other ear and a yellow beaded necklace that hung from his neck. It looked like it also had fangs on it too. Izuku wondered if the beads were made out of teeth or bone too, but he was still a little too nervous to ask. Kacchan seemed a little protective over his new jewelry. Izuku hadn’t seen him without them since the first time he had seen them with him. As far as Izuku knew, they were symbols of him officially being part of his tribe. And proof of the manifestation of his magic. Izuku thought they made him look even cooler than before. He was a tiny bit jealous.

He shook himself out of his reverie, caught up in his own thoughts once again. He wanted to catch up with Kacchan while he still had the chance. He never knew when the dreams would end. They’ve been ending earlier over the past couple of months, forcing Izuku to wake up way too early for a kid his age to wake. “I’m glad I’m here, Kacchan. How are you? What have you been up to for the last few weeks? Have you gotten better with your magic?”

Kacchan grinned proudly, displaying his naturally sharper teeth. It made Izuku wonder what it meant that Kacchan’s fangs were bigger than his. It wasn’t by much, but it was distinctive enough. Maybe he had already lost those teeth and those were his adult teeth? Or maybe he was supposed to be an Alpha when he finally presented? Izuku thought it would fit him well. He acted a lot like an Alpha. “What do you think, Deku? Of course I did. Wanna see what I can do now?”

Izuku dropped just about everything he possibly was thinking about. “Yeah!!” He cried, already excited to see more of Kacchan’s magic. He loved watching Kacchan make small explosions with his hands. Every time Kacchan showed off to him, the explosions got a little bit stronger. It had been a long while since the last time he had gotten the chance to see them, though. He couldn’t wait to see how much Kacchan’s magic had grown.

Kacchan’s grin twisted into a confident smirk as he backed away from Izuku to give them both space. Izuku also moved away to a safe distance. He knew he couldn’t really get hurt, but he still didn’t want to risk it. Kacchan took a deep breath and brought his arms to his sides, pulling them backwards with his palms facing forwards and his finger curled. The next moment he let out a cry and thrusted his arms forward, causing a much bigger explosion than Izuku had expected. Izuku could feel the heat even from where he was sitting and his hair blew back from his face. Lights danced across his eyes as Kacchan’s body moved fluidly, following a vicious dance that Izuku would never be able to do. He slashed with his hand like he was holding a sword and used his “free” hand to cause more explosions. Sometimes they blew him a little backwards from their force. He flipped and spun on deft feet, agile but grounded. His every move was purposeful. Izuku could only watch with his heart in his throat at every boom that went off. 

Kacchan ended his practice by losing his imaginary sword and punching towards the stone cliff. The explosion rocked through the rock and left a sizable crater bigger than Izuku was tall. It wasn’t deep, but it was big. Izuku felt like the hole had been punched in his stomach instead, absolutely gobsmacked by the display. Rubble scattered and bounced across the ground. The cliff groaned a little, but held its form. 

Kacchan relaxed, panting a little from the physical exertion and probably his magic, and lowered his arms. His hands were still smoking a bit and there were whiffs of dark clouds fading into the air. Kacchan’s bright, proud grin cut through the smog as he turned to Izuku.

Izuku was on his feet the next moment. His excitement burst out of him as he screamed, “KACCHAN, THAT’S AMAZING!!” He threw his hands into the air and then yanked them down with clenched fists. His body was shaking from watching everything. He ran over to the rocky wall and examined it. He could still feel the heat coming off of it. He couldn’t believe that Kacchan could cause such damage. They were both still so small and young, but Kacchan was powerful. It was so cool ! “You exploded a wall!!”

Kacchan joined him and rubbed at his nose with his finger, still grinning. He let out a little chuckle as he bragged, “And that’s still not the strongest it will be. It’ll grow stronger still.”

Izuku could already see it in his mind’s eye. Kacchan would be able to make bigger bangs than fireworks. He was going to be awesome . “You’ll definitely be the strongest!” Izuku decided. Kacchan wanted to be a warrior, and this was definitely going to be perfect to be a warrior. He would be unstoppable! “You’re only a little kid like me and you can already do this!”

Kacchan only preened under Izuku’s praise. His small chest puffed out and he basked in Izuku’s words. But after a few moments he seemed to deflate and calm a little. His proud grin retreated into a serious frown of thought. Izuku tilted his head a little, wondering what his friend was thinking. Kacchan only examined the damage he had caused. For once he didn’t really speak what was on his mind. Izuku didn’t mind it too much, though. Kacchan could be a pretty reserved person some of the time.

Izuku instead looked down at his own hands. His mind ran wild with the thoughts of various anime he had watched over the years. He had seen shows with people with magic powers and sci-fi anime with rockets and such. He wondered if Kacchan would be able to do any of those things. He decided to ask it aloud, “Is it only from your hands that you can use your magic? Can you do it with your feet?” He imagined Kacchan flying off of the ground like a mecha suit. “Is that as strong as you can go? How much stronger do you think it will get?” 

Izuku then gasped as his wild thoughts culminated into one fantastic idea. “You could totally fly if you tried hard enough! You could look like a rocket ship! Or a firework! You could just, like, BOOM!” He motioned widely with his arms to show how big of a boom Kacchan could make. Then he paused, “Oh...But how will you get down?” He imagined the flying Kacchan plummeting to the earth because he couldn’t slow his fall at all. It chilled him to think about. “That’s a scary thought. Kacchan, don’t try it until you can land safely! I’ll ask my mommy how rockets land when I wake up, and then next time we see each other you can-”

“Oi!” Kacchan cut him off. He had looked thrown off by the sudden influx of ideas that had rushed from Izuku’s mouth, but that surprise had rapidly turned into irritation. He usually got angry when Izuku rambled or got too noisy and asked too many questions. “Slow the heck down, Deku. Whaddya mean I could fly ?”

Izuku was glad he didn’t seem too upset. And that he had caught what was obviously the most important part of Izuku’s very important questions. But he did smile a little sheepishly because he hadn’t meant to have gone so fast. He just hadn’t been able to handle getting all of the words out that had rushed to his brain. He had just gotten super excited. “Oh, sorry. And I mean...like, boom?” He didn’t really know how to describe what he meant. He didn’t know why fire and explosions made things fly. He only knew that he had seen it before plenty of times. And that his mommy wouldn’t let him near fire when she lit small fireworks to show him because it was dangerous. And they go boom just like Kacchan’s magic.

“Like, on TV!” He explained. “The rockets have fire that comes out of their bottoms and they go WHOOSH right up!” He thrusted his hand into the air, pointing to show what he meant. Kacchan’s eyes instinctively followed the movement before dropping back down to watch Izuku again as the boy continued, “And fireworks too! They go upwards with the fire from the bottoms. And when you were fighting, you were blown backwards a little! So if you pointed the explosions downwards, you can go up right? Have you tried it?” He then paused as he saw Kacchan beginning to back away from him with a thoughtful look on his face as he gazed at the ground. Izuku knew immediately what he was about to do and quickly scrambled over himself to say, “Oh! But not too-!”

Too late. Kacchan grinned and pointed his hands at the ground. An explosion about as big as the one that had been used to destroy the rock hit the ground. Izuku was thrown backwards a little and fell on his back. He watched as Kacchan flew upwards as expected with great force. However, the angle was bad. Not only did he fly up, but he flew back as well. He smashed back-first in the cliffside about halfway up.

Izuku screamed in terror. Kacchan looked stunned from the impact. Izuku fully expected there to be broken bones, forgetting that this was a dream and he had no memory of them ever being hurt like that before. His mind was filled with panic as gravity took hold of Kacchan and he pitched forward. He still appeared too stunned to react.

“KACCHAN!!” Izuku shrieked and ran towards the wall. He did the only thing he could think of and held his arms up and open, fully prepared to catch his friend before he could hit the ground.

Kacchan snapped out of it before he fell too far, though. He reacted quickly and caused another, smaller explosion to propel himself back up and against the wall again. This time he only slid a little bit before expert hands found and caught onto an outcropping. He swung a little bit from leftover momentum. He twisted his body to grab on with his other hand as well and his feet searched for footholds. When he was steady, he shook his head to clear it.

Izuku’s hands dropped and curled against his own chest protectively and instinctively. He didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t climb up there to reach Kacchan. He wasn’t sure he was completely safe.

“I flew…” Kacchan’s voice came from above, soft with his own shock. Izuku froze. Kacchan then let out one laugh, and then some more. When he turned his head to look at Izuku, his eyes were shining and his grin was broader than Izuku had ever seen it. “Did you freaking see that, Deku?! I fucking flew !”

Izuku didn’t really know how to process it. Kacchan looked fine, but he still wasn’t certain. He couldn’t see any blood, but Kacchan was so far up too. “You’re...You’re okay?” He asked with a trembling voice.

“Better than ever!” Kacchan called back, high on his own glee. “I fucking flew !”

Assured of Kacchan’s health, Izuku’s own panic began to die down. It was quickly replaced with his own euphoria as he realized Kacchan had done something awesome ! “Y-Yeah! YEAH! KACCHAN, YOU FLEW!!” He jumped up and down as Kacchan climbed down. Izuku rushed over to him and grabbed the other boy’s hands to shake them as he cried, “YOU WERE SO COOL!! I knew you could do it!!”

Kacchan’s cheeks were pink, still grinning from ear to ear. He opened his mouth to say something as his arms twitched to pull away from Izuku, but he aborted the attempt to instead swell with his pride. “Yeah! Of course I could!” He bragged.

“You have to be careful!” Izuku warned. “Outside of a dream it would hurt a lot worse!” He was already remembering the first dream he’d had with Kacchan. How the boy had tackled him from the tree, but how he hadn’t really been hurt. Even in subsequent dreams when Izuku had fallen it had barely hurt. Izuku was positive that what Katsuki had done should’ve hurt a lot. But he looked unmarked from it all. He was barely breathing hard. 

Kacchan sobered up a bit and nodded in agreement. He of all people would know how much it would hurt, Izuku thought. 

“But I’m sure you’ll be awesome! You can show everyone how cool you are!” He continued and then paused for a moment. “But...why is it that we don’t hurt so much in a dream? Because we’re dreaming?” He released Kacchan’s hands to look at his own hands. “If I’m ‘awake’, then should I be able to do magic too?” It was his dream, right? Couldn’t he make anything he wanted happen in a dream? But that first time he hadn’t been able to do any magic. He didn’t know how to make it work.

“You’re Deku. You can’t do magic. Why would it be any different just because we’re in a damn dream, stupid?” Kacchan asked.

“Because in dreams you can do anything , Kacchan. But we’re not awake to do it.” Izuku looked around them. He had questioned this kind of stuff while he had been awake, but this was the first time he had remembered to ask while asleep. This was the first time he had been with Kacchan long enough to ask these questions. He wanted to get some answers before he woke up. 

Kacchan only raised an incredulous eyebrow. 

Izuku asked, “Do you think we could do anything in this dream? Like…” Looking around, the world they were in was empty like usual. In all of the times that he and Kacchan had visited each other, Izuku had never seen another person there. He hadn’t even seen any wild animals even though they were in the middle of a forest. If he strained his ears, he thought he could hear some birds. But he didn’t know if that was just because he was expecting there to be some or not. He doesn’t recall ever seeing or hearing any birds or even bugs before in the past.

“We’re in a forest, right?” He asked. “Near your village? But where are the animals? Do you think we could make some appear?” Kacchan only looked even more incredulous, as if shocked Izuku would even want to see any of the animals from Kacchan’s world. Izuku closed his eyes and tried to picture an animal in his mind. He thought of his neighbor’s dog. It was easy enough to picture it in his mind. He didn’t really know how to make it real, though.

A few seconds later he heard a rustling in the bushes. His eyes popped open just in time for Kacchan’s hand to snap out and grab Izuku’s arm. He pressed a hurried finger to his lips to tell him to be quiet, more serious than Izuku had ever seen him.

But Izuku’s mouth moved before he could follow the silent order and said in a hushed, excited voice, “My doggy!”

Kacchan’s free hand slapped over Izuku mouth and his scowl was dark. Izuku swallowed and pressed his lips together in reprimand as Kacchan hissed in a very low tone, “Quiet. Or you’ll scare them away.”

Izuku’s eyebrows bunched. ‘Them’? Did Kacchan know what they were? But Izuku nodded once and Kacchan slowly released him. He waited another moment to make sure Izuku would stay quiet before he motioned for him to follow. Kacchan then slipped through the foliage silently, his movements barely rustling the branches. Izuku followed him with a lot less success, but managed not to be too noisy because Kacchan led them through an easy area. They were moving into the tree line again. Kacchan ducked down behind some bushes to stay out of sight and grabbed Izuku’s arm to bring him down as well. From there he pointed at some creatures in the trees.

They were small, monkey-like creatures, but they had no actual fur on them that Izuku could tell. Izuku could only see a couple of dark fur-like patches in a couple places on their bodies. Their skin was brown and looked rough -almost like the bark of a tree. Izuku would’ve probably not noticed them had Kacchan not pointed them out. Their fur had a greenish tone that blended in with the tree leaves. Izuku squinted but was unable to make out if they were actually animals that looked like trees or if they were part of the trees themselves. It was a small family of them. Some of their eyes glowed in the shadows between patches of light. 

Izuku could only marvel at the sight. He had never seen anything like them. Even if it wasn’t the dog he had been expecting, this was so much better. He kept his voice in the softest whisper he could as he exclaimed, “Monkeys! Kacchan, did you think them up?”

Kacchan’s voice copied Izuku’s in tone. Izuku had never heard him so quiet before, “They’re called Mankyoods, dummy.” Izuku mouthed the foreign word to himself. It hadn’t translated at all for him. “And I thought about wanting to see a group of their young again.”

“Oh.” That explained why they were so tiny. They were kind of cute, although their glowing eyes unnerved Izuku a tiny bit. They hadn’t noticed the two boys observing them. “But...my dog didn’t appear...so does that mean only you can control the dream?” Izuku frowned to himself and thought for a moment. “Maybe cuz it’s your world?” He nudged his friend a little bit. “Try again, Kacchan! Think of something else!”

Kacchan looked like he had barely heard Izuku, though. His gaze was completely trained on the Mankyoods. His eyes were wide and darted around them like they were a wonder. Izuku wondered if Mankyoods were Kacchan’s favorite animal or something. 

But then Kacchan blinked once and his gaze turned to Izuku after he was nudged. He looked back and forth between his companion and the creatures before asking, “Like what?”

“Like a dog or something!” Izuku suggested, making sure to keep his voice low.

Kacchan’s eyebrows scrunched. “What the heck is a dog?”

Izuku was too horrified to respond. He couldn’t imagine living in a world without dogs. It was too horrible to contemplate.

It took him a moment to recover. “Oh...then I guess you can’t make one. Um…” He decided to try again for himself to make a dog, but after waiting he still didn’t get one. He huffed a disappointed sigh and then asked, “Maybe you can do other things? Like...is there somewhere you wanna go? Maybe we can change the world and go to mine! Or our clothes? Why are we always in this forest-y area anyway?

Kacchan frowned. “Where else would we be? I told you: the adults forbid going too far from the village. And the last few times I tried to take you there, I woke up before we even reached the damn gates.”

Oh, so Kacchan woke up from the dreams as well? Did that mean Kacchan was dreaming? It was something that Izuku decided to ask later.

“Then imagine we’re there or something! Or...is there another place you wanna go? I think we’ll be safe...if you don’t accidentally make any scary animals.”

Kacchan didn’t look pleased with the idea. Or even impressed. “Why don’t we try something simpler instead? Like changing the weather? Or the seasons?” He blinked as if surprised at his own idea. “Actually…” His eyes slid back to the Mankyoods again and he bit his lip. All of a sudden, the colors and life changed completely around them. The bright green leaves were abruptly shades of reds and oranges and yellows. Dead leaves coated the ground and the air felt different. Izuku couldn’t feel a chill, but he imagined that he could. It was abruptly autumn.

“Holy shit…” Kacchan breathed, and Izuku followed his gaze to see that the Mankyoods had changed color as well. Their greenish patches of fur were more reddish and brown than before, allowing them to blend in with the leaves of the tree. Izuku’s gaped with delight. He had to cover his mouth to muffle a giggle and whispered excitedly to Kacchan,

“It worked! Kacchan, you’re so cool!” He could only gaze at Kacchan with wonder. “Do you think I can do that when we’re in my world?”

“Probably. I guess…” Kacchan’s voice was distracted. He wasn’t really listening to Izuku. Izuku didn’t mind.

“Awesome. I can’t wait for our next visit.” Izuku had never seen Kacchan so fixated on something before. He looked towards the Mankyoods too. He decided he wanted to ask, “...What are they, Kacchan? Are Ma...Mankyudes...Those rare?”

“Not rare...but hard to find and easily scared off.” Kacchan didn’t even berate him for messing up the names. “Mankyoods are the Guardians of Nature. My tribe believes that getting to see a group of their young playing around like this is a sign of good fortune. And if there’s only one, it’s a bad omen.”

Izuku didn’t really know what an omen was, but he could kind of get it. He gazed upon the Mankyoods with new-found awe. “So we got lucky today!” He said.

Kacchan’s face abruptly closed off a little. His wonder reined itself back in until his face was back into its neutral frown. “No. Because this is a dream. And we didn’t find them. We made them appear. That’s not the same. It’s cheating.” The Mankyoods disappeared into thin air between one blink and the next, like they hadn’t even been there. 

Izuku startled a little at their disappearance. He wasn’t completely sure why they were gone, but he was a little disappointed. “So what if they’re not real? This is a dream where anything can happen. And I think it’s good luck anyway!” He turned to Kacchan with a determined expression. “You’ll see! This time I’ll be right and Kacchan is wrong. We’ll both have good luck when we wake up!”

Kacchan definitely didn’t look convinced. If anything, his mood seemed to have turned darker. “Yeah, whatever Deku.”


As soon as Izuku began to learn how to write, he began writing whenever he could. He would draw pictures of his adventures with Kacchan and write small notes sounding out words he knew in his head. He couldn’t help talking about Kacchan all of the time because he was the coolest thing to ever happen to Izuku and he was obviously too cool not to tell everyone about. He talked about Kacchan to anyone who would listen, which was admittedly most of his class. Even his teachers seemed impressed by his imagination and his usage of the term “lucid dreaming” at such a young age.

Ochako was his biggest supporter, though. Izuku had come to learn to go to her whenever he had a new story to tell about his and Kacchan’s adventures. She would drop everything to go sit with him and listen attentively. Izuku would gesture widely and use his pictures to show her what he meant. It became a common sight to see Izuku and Ochako spending break time just talking about Kacchan’s world. Sometimes they would even pretend they were from there and choose their own magic to use. It was one of Izuku’s favorite games pretending he could do magic.

This trend followed Izuku into elementary school. He and Ochako had the same class then, which made him happy, but with new students came new dynamics. Some of his classmates had gone to preschool with them and already knew about Izuku’s obsession with his dream world. But there were a new hoard of students eager to listen to Izuku’s storytime. For a while, Izuku was popular.

But by the time they were seven, things changed.

Notes:

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